Mother’s Day Gift Hints

Mother’s Day is this weekend! If your mother or grandmother or mother-in-law is like me, they would enjoy gifts related to their hobby.

I am always running out of room to store my projects and thought these items fromKnitting Warehouse are great! There are so many choices and are not overly expensive.

How about getting a good set of circular needles? She would then have most of the desirable sizes available at her fingertips. The Knit Picks et is a good choice.

A very good idea that keeps on giving is a magazine subscription to her favorite publication. There are many to choose from, but my favorites are Interweave Knits, Vogue Knitting and iNknitters

if none of these suggestions work for you, then you might consider a gift card at her favorite yarn store. Mom, or Grandma can use the card for a class or even to add to her yarn[/tag] stash!

Update 05/11/07 I just spoke with an individual at INknitters magazine. It seems that due to hurricanes in Texas, where they are located, they will no longer publish the magazine. However, back issues of the magazine will be available in approximately one month. Check INknitters website for updates.Â I am sad to see the magazine cease publication.

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn.

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small.

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches.

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come.

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you.

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?).

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry.

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns.

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]

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