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Review: 3 Skeins or Less

December 22, 2016 by Sarah White

3 skeins or less by tains gray reviewI love knitting ebooks because they keep me from having quite so many books on my shelf, but I do tend to forget they exist, which is a shame when it comes to reviewing books, because I often miss ones I wish I’d looked at earlier.

So it is with 3 Skeins or Less by Tanis Gray. I’m glad I’ve given it a look now. It’s full of accessories that use a relatively small amount of yarn, from a bunch of great designers so there’s a lot of variety to be found.

There’s an entrelac lace stole designed by Heather Zoppetti, mitts with a ton of Latvian braiding by Ann Weaver, a mesh-stitch mobeius cowl from Åsa Tricosa, a buttoned cowl bedecked with stripes and an open dot pattern from Kirsten Kapur, even a lace camisole designed by Sauniell Connally.

Some of these skeins are obviously bigger than others, such that three can get you a top, a shrug or a shawl, but there are lots of little projects here, too, including hats, mitts and socks. Check out all the patterns on Ravelry. About half of the patterns are accessories like hats, mitts and socks, while the rest are larger projects.

If you’re the sort of person who buys yarn a skein to two (or three!) at a time without much of an idea of what you want to make with it, this book has a lot of lovely ideas to make for yourself or to knit as gifts.

If you’ve looked at this book or made any of the patterns from it, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

About the book: 144 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published October 2014 by Interweave/F+W. Retail price $24.99.

Next Pattern:

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Knit a Linen Stitch Hot Pad

Linen stitch is one of my favorite knitting stitch patterns that, every time I use it in a project, I think about how I don’t use it often enough. 

It’s an easy stitch to make, with slip stitches done with the yarn held to the front of the work on the right/front side and to the back on the wrong/back side, which makes the strand of yarn a visible part of the pattern. 

It also makes a fabric that is thick and looks kind of like a woven fabric.

I recently used linen stitch to make a double-thick pot holder, which I worked in a kind of interesting way. I didn’t want to have to do any sewing on the project, so I started it from a crochet cast on and picked up stitches from the side of the cast on to make the hot pad all in one piece in the round with the edge sealed. 

This requires working on two circular needles, which is another technique I don’t use that often and am always reminded how much I like it when I do. 

The combination of double thickness and the stitch pattern makes for a hot pad that’s already pretty thick, but I also added a bit of old towel to the inside before I closed up the end to make it super thick and extra protective for your surfaces. 

I found the engineering challenge of this construction method to be a lot of fun, but you could also just knit it as a tube (casting on twice as many stitches as I did) and sew up the ends by hand when the knitting is done. Either way you’ve got a useful and pretty addition to your kitchen, whether you work it in a solid color, stripes or as a stash busting project will all your cotton odd balls. 

You can grab the pattern over at Our Daily Craft, or check it out on Ravelry. 

40+ Hot Pads You Can Sew For The Kitchen [Sewing]

A Cozy Knit to Calm Your Mind

Double Knit an Infinity Scarf

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