Knitting

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Shhhhh. Don’t Say the “C” Word….

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TreeBut it’s coming, you know. Christmas. The time when all of us (yes, I’m including myself) break into this little drama, it goes something like this:

Myself: I can knit. I can knit fast. See Terrye knit. See Terrye knit fast. See Terrye knit something for everyone on her gift list……… See Terrye throw yarn across room in frustration (yes, it has happened). Don’t be shocked, if Eunny can tie knots, I can throw yarn… just saying…tree_stocking

Reality: Dude! We go through this every year. You cannot do this. It is an unatainable goal. Just give it up already….

Every year. Just like Rudolph, Frosty and all of the other yearly dramas. We could actually probably sell the rights to that movie. But.. I digress. Being as “The Season” is rapidly approaching, Tina, from the Phoenix Knitting Examiner is here to bail us out.

Go here for the above patterns plus more! http://www.examiner.com/x-6976-Phoenix-Knitting-Examiner~y2009m11d5-Have-a-Merry-Little-Knitting-Christmas?cid=examiner-email

Comments

  1. Great link… The panicky knitting season has begun.
    I have a number of “tween” nieces, nephews and cousins that I like to do a little holiday something for. This year I made some cute mini Christmas sweater ornaments out of leftover sock yarn. They’re the perfect size to hold a little gift card or a little cash for their favorite things. I ask the moms – usually the preference is coffee, juice, make-up and itunes. $5 or $10 goes pretty far for these kids and is easy!
    Oh, yes and I knit the ornaments this summer while waiting for my own kids at summer school!

Have you read?

Knit Back at AI Patterns with the AIlephant

Lots of craft designers are understandably frustrated about the proliferation of AI “designed” patterns and photos of projects that have no basis in reality. People who don’t know how to tell if a project is AI are often also frustrated when they see a picture for something but there’s no pattern because it’s not real, or they buy a pattern that doesn’t actually explain how to make the thing or ends up looking totally different from the picture. 

Some designers have taken it upon themselves to try to make some of those AI patterns that we see online, often with hilarious results. 

Katherine Foster was inspired by a famous AI elephant to make what she calls “AIlephant,” which is now a free knitting pattern on Ravelry. 

Her prototype uses worsted weight yarn, but you can use whatever yarn you like to make different sizes of elephants. 

The elephant features a cable running down the trunk and a different cable pattern on the back. It’s worked in pieces that are joined and stuffed as you go. It uses German short row shaping on the body and includes written instructions as well as a chart for the cable patterns. 

Reading through the pattern, it sounds a little fiddly, which makes sense because it was designed to look like a pattern that isn’t real. But it’s doable, as evidenced by the handful of projects you can find on Ravelry. The ears on her version aren’t quite as big and round or maybe don’t sit in quite the same place as the AI version (which if you haven’t seen it there’s a photo of that on the projects page, too). But it’s a pretty honest replica of a dishonest photo, and a really cute elephant in its own right. 

If you make this one I would love to hear about it!

You can grab the free pattern on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Katherine Foster]