Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Yarn, the Movie, Set for U.S. Tour

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Have you heard about the movie Yarn? This documentary by Una Lorenzen made its American debut at SXSW in March and has also had a showing in Newport Beach, Calif.

It’s all about the knitters and crocheters who are keeping these yarn crafts alive by “reinventing our relationship with this colorful tradition,” profiling yarn bombers, crochet playground makers and more.

Here’s the trailer:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC10LplOF0M&w=560&h=315]

There will be several screenings of the movie around the country through the summer, first in New York City next Friday and Boston next Saturday. They would love for you to come out and bring your knitting or crochet, so check it out if you’re in those areas.

I haven’t seen it yet but I have a screener so I’ll let you know all about it as soon as I have (and LA folks, stay tuned for a giveaway when the movie comes to your area in July).

Does this movie sound like something you’d want to see? International readers (or Austinites), have you seen it? I’d love to hear what you thought.

Have you read?

Classic Dishcloth Knitting Patterns

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use. 

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make. 

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!). 

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn. 

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart. 

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern. 

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.