Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

The Eleven Twelve Sweater is a Lesson in Customizing Knits

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I love it when designers have a lot of different test knitters for projects and give them free reign to play with their designs. You end up with a wealth of variations that can be really inspiring to the rest of us knitters.

A great example of that is the Eleven Twelve sweater from Tina Tse. It’s a pretty straightforward top-down, circular yoke sweater that uses a textured slip stitch stripe pattern.

If you look through the photos on the Ravelry project page you’ll see so many different options for what’s sure to become a favorite sweater. There are some who chose a rather neutral color scheme, while others went bold. There are long sleeved and mid-length sleeve variations.

One even used scraps of yarn to make stripes of many colors instead of using a single contrasting color, which is a great tip for people looking to pare down their stashes — more color is always OK!

The design is worked in sock yarn and comes in 10 sizes. You can use her pay what you can model if the suggested price of $12 isn’t feasible for you.

[Photo: Tina Tse.]

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Yarn Cozy Knitting Patterns

I’ve been toying with the idea of making a yarn cozy or yarn ball holder on the circular knitting machine, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. In the meantime, here are some yarn cozy knitting patterns you can make with knitting needles. Use yarn to hold you yarn!

In its simplest form, a yarn cozy is just a sleeve or a little basket that holds your yarn when you’re working with a center-pull ball so it doesn’t fall apart when you knit. The easiest ones I could find are from Love in Stitches KN, which has a regular size and a mini size. They’re worked with sock yarn and there are options for making them with ribbing, faux cables and with self-striping yarn.

For bigger cakes there’s a project called We call it the “bail holder” from Nicole LeBlanc. This pattern is available on Ravelry and you can use any yarn and make it any size you like. It features an I-cord edging that has a loop in it so you can thread they yarn through the loop to keep it extra contained as you knit.

Another large one that has a slightly fancier pattern is this one by Mareike Meye. You can use any yarn and any gauge, and slip stitch pattern worked in different colors on the sides makes it a little more fun and uses a bit more stash. A strap buttons across the top to hold the ball in place and you can add a buttonhole to the middle of the strap to thread the yarn through. Check this one out on Ravelry.

Adding lace to a yarn cozy makes it fit a wider variety of balls and expand or shrink a bit as needed. Jennifer Sugarman’s Ball Sack uses sock yarn and is made to hold sock yarn. It has the option of making I-cord or using ribbon or cord you already have to make a drawstring at the top. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

Another lacy option is the yarn ball holder from Frugal Knitting Haus. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has an easy mesh lace pattern and an I-cord drawstring that’s sewn together at the ends so you could loop it over your wrist while you knit if you like. This pattern is also on Ravelry.

Speaking of wrist yarn holders, I also found this one form Knituition. This one uses sport weight yarn and has a spiral rib pattern on the body. The strap is attached to the bag with D-rings, or you could make it a little longer and just sew it into the bag.