Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Shhhhh. Don’t Say the “C” Word….

by

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?

Learn a Flower Bobble Technique to Knit a Fun Shawl

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier. 

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project. 

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible. 

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge. 

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects. 

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy. 

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project. 

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Xandy Peters]