Knitting

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Pin of the Week: Two-at-a-Time Cast On

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two at a time cast onI know I’m not the only person who pins things on Pinterest and then never looks at them again. (Please tell me I’m not alone in this!) So to help encourage me to look back at those things that I’ve pinned I decided I would start sharing some of those pins with you.

(Incidentally, if you want to see my knitting pins, check out my Knitting pin board. Have a pin to share? Let me know!)

This week I’m looking back at a great tutorial from Knit Freedom about how to do a two-at-a-time cast on for the Magic Loop method. You’ve probably heard of doing two-at-a-time socks before, which is excellent because you don’t have to deal with second sock syndrome, and your socks will always come out the same length.

But it’s great to knit other tubes two at a time, too. Think about knitting two legwarmers to the same length, or avoiding having one sleeve of your sweater come out half an inch longer than the other.

This tutorial includes step-by-step written and photo instructions as well as a video, so no matter how you learn you can figure it out from this page. So great. And it reminds me I need to knit two-at-a-time more often!

[Photo via Knit Freedom.]

Comments

  3. Thanks for the pin, Sarah! I love knitting two-at-a-time, and I’m really happy you liked my tutorial enough to share it here on your blog!

  5. Thank you for this info. For me I hate doing the first sock, it feels like it take forever. the second is a breeze, I enjoy the journey of seeing it come together. Now it can only get better. Thanks again

Have you read?

Patchwork Blanket Knitting Patterns

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns. 

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn. 

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options. 

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners. 

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set. 

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn. 

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers. 

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.