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My Waaayyy Cute Sweater Jacket and A Note About Sizing.

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This is one of the projects currently on the needles here at knitting.craftgossip.com

It’s from Sandra, The Knitting Magazine, Dec. 03. (pretty bad scan, the magazine is close to totalled). I ran into a snag, as the pattern is supposedly written for a size 12/14. Not so much, unless over in Austria, their sizes differ markedly from ours. I guess the lesson here is pay attention not only to sizing but measurements. So after trying it on and finding it way too small (probably a size 6 I would guess) I decided to add a 2×2 rib panel on either side of the front, between the design squares and the fur yarn border. We’ll see how that plays out, I just finished the bands this morning.

This was a quick knit, enjoyable and easy, not boring but not too intensive either, I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, which I adore!

Now to find the perfect closure! Any ideas?

A note came across my desk about adopting a puppy or kitten for a Christmas present. I love critters, I’d have a houseful if I could get away with it, (hubby would not be happy), but I would love to encourage you, if you’re thinking along those lines, to visit either the local kennels or a rescue center. These animals are probably not the cute puppies and kittens, but they desperately need loving homes. Another option, you know all of those leftover swatches, squares and unfinished afghans, or the yarn you can’t stand to knit with that you don’t want to throw away? Why not whip up a blanket and donate it to your local animal shelter.

Off my soapbox now, off to knit some more, spin some more, and cuddle with Bu-Dawgh, my 60 lb lap dog shar-pei/spaniel thing. He has wrinkles! Lots of them! And he’s cute!

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Embellish Your Knit Dishcloth with Flowers

One great thing to knit when the weather is warm (or honestly any other time) is dishcloths and washcloths. They are fun and easy projects and a great way to play with new skills. Pretty washcloths make cleaning a tiny bit more fun, and they’re great to have on hand as a quick addition to a store-bought gift. 

The Daisy Delight Dishcloth from Yarnspirations is a fun one for using leftover bits of green in your cotton yarn stash. What looks like the bottom in the picture is actually the left side as you knit it, and each little color section is worked with its own ball of yarn, intarsia style. 

That’s a little fiddly for a washcloth, but the effect is cute, and it’s a simple way to learn the basics of intarsia knitting (as well as reading a chart) if you don’t already have those skills. 

One the knitting is done, you add the flowers with a bit of lazy daisy embroidery, which is really easy to do even if you’re not that into embroidery. You could also potentially add flowers in duplicate stitch if you’d rather. 

This may be the most work you’ve put into a dishcloth, but isn’t it adorable? It would be fun to use as a hand towel through the spring and summer, and if you already have some leftover green yarn from other projects it should be pretty easy to do. 

You could also take this same concept and make it different colors. All dark green stems with stars on top might be reminiscent of Christmas trees, or brown with daisy stitch on top in different colors could be trees in the fall. 

However you stitch it, this looks like a fun little project for knitters who are comfortable with intarsia and reading charts or who are ready to try those skills. 

You can grab the free pattern from Yarnspirations. 

[Photo: Yarnspirations]

Book Review – Dishcloths for Special Days [Knitting]

Book Review – Holiday Knit Dishcloths