Pin of the Week: Tips for Finishing Knitting

If you’ve ever knit a sweater or another big project you know that it’s not always done just because the knitting is finished. There are some little things that you can do that make the finished knit look so much better, so that people will be impressed when you tell them you knit it yourself.

Back in 2011 Kristen from Kristen Makes was doing a knitalong of her Cadence sweater and spent a post talking about the little details that could be prettied up after the knitting was done.

There was that weird unevenness where the slip knot is, the gaping underarm hole, a bit of lace and stockinette that could be smoother.

One by one she tackles each of those problems, showing that it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to take your knitting project from OK to great.

These tips are great reminders to look back on whenever you finish a knitting project.

Don’t forget to check out more goodies on my Knitting Pinterest board!

[Photo via Kristen Makes.]

The butterfly on this piece — the Owl Butterfly Playmat by Sophie’s Stitches — caught my eye before I even knew what the project was. Now that I’ve give it a closer look I’m still not 100 percent sure what it is meant to be for, but I still love it.

I think it’s maybe to give you a flat surface to roll dice or play cards on, but there are no images of the project in use so I’m just speculating on that. If you know what it is, be sure to let me know!

What it physically is is a worsted weight mat (the sample is worked in cotton) that measures 14 by 24 inches, or 35.5 by 61 cm. The impression I get from the pattern notes and the photos is that you knit the rectangle plain and the butterfly is stitched on after using duplicate stitch, which is provided as a chart.

Of course you could choose to knit some of the colorwork as you go, either using stranded knitting or intarsia techniques, or maybe some of both. It just looks like a lot of duplicate stitch (and it is!) so knowing me if I were making this project I’d probably try to knit some of it instead of stitching it all.

The pattern also suggests that you can knit a second plain mat to sew on the back and cover up all the yarn ends, as well as making the mat thicker and a little more stable. There’s also a photo that shows fabric sewn to the back, which is also a good option if you have some fabric that has a bit of grip.

I like the graphic on this one enough I might just make it as a table pad for our entry way table. You can always make the mat part a different dimension, just make sure you’re centering the image if you do.

You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Sophie’s Stitches]

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