Rowenta Steam Iron – Steam Kicks it for Blocking!

Just got my hands on this beauty and I couldn’t wait to try it out. Course, being a knitter, I needed something “knitty” to use it on. And this one really came through.

I love the cord reel. Very handy, nix the messy cord tangles. It’s easy to hold, and while a bit heavy, it’s very well balanced, even with my old arthritic hands and arms.

It has multiple temperature settings, as you would expect, but what really rocks is the burst of steam. And this is perfect for blocking. The fine tip point makes smoothing out those lace edges super easy. Of course you don’t want to directly iron your knits, I never do anyway, seems to crush them, but the burst of steam makes it so you don’t have to. There are multiple steam settings also, from a bit of steam to a full blown explosion. Startled me at first but I love that feature.

I didn’t like the 8 minute shut off feature, but I suppose that’s necessary, for safety. Heats up quickly too. We’ll see how fast it cools down. Oh, it has an auto clean feature, important when you run over bits and pieces of interfacing, not speaking from experience or anything….

I’d highly recommend this iron to any crafter or even just for ironing shirts I suppose. And we’re doing a giveaway!

Check it out here: http://craftgossip.com/blog/giveaway-celebrate-national-craft-month-by-winning-the-rowenta-focus/2011/03/22/

Next Pattern:

A Simple Sweater Knitting Pattern to Play with Color…

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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