Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Rules For Caring For Summer Yarns…

by

 

This is taken directly from Handknitting.com’s newsletter, here: http://www.handknitting.com . Be sure to sign up, lots of good stuff!

  • If your yarn is a natural fiber, you should be able to avoid dry cleaning completely if you want, because all natural fibers have been processed with water somewhere along the production process.
  • Don’t put it in the dryer unless the ball band specifically says to do this.  Even then, don’t put it in the dryer with anything that will cause friction (heavy fabrics like jeans) or snagging (velcro, bra hooks, big buttons, etc).  Never use “hot”–the “low” setting is best for knits.
  • When machine washing any knit item, always turn it inside out.
  • For best results use a mesh lingerie bag, on gentle cycle, at the stated temperature.  The temperature you see on ball bands underneath the washing machine symbol are in Celsius degrees.  20 degrees = cold water, 30 degrees = warm water, and 40+ = hot.  If its going in the dryer, keep it in the bag.
  • Always set your rinse cycle to cold.
  • If your yarn is synthetic or silk, you should follow the laundering instructions on the ball band. Silk should never be put in a washing machine.
  • If you want to machine wash and/or dry you must do a gauge swatch, and then launder the swatch as you plan to launder the finished item.  Even in preshrunk yarns, there may be some change in the gauge.

Have you read?

Beyond Basic Pumpkin Knitting Patterns

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork. 

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn. 

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look. 

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me. 

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. 

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.