Seed Stitch Hand Towel

For being a knitter, I have a disturbing lack of household linens. With my local crafting store's sale this week of 25% off all yarn, I figured it was time to change that.

I chose Lily Sugar N Cream Scents (the Aloe Vera), but any 100% cotton that gets gauge would work. Also, please not that yardage is approximate; I used one full skein of the Scents as well as part of a second one. I put a rubber band around the second skein to keep my measurements consistent, but I wasn't precise about the inches so there were times I measured 15 inches past a full yard and rounded it up to half a yard.


Seed Stitch Hand Towel
Yarn: Lily Sugar N Cream
Yards: Approximately 135 yards
Needle: Size 7
Gauge: 16 sts and 32 rows in st st = 4"
Measurements: 9.5" by 16"

Cast on 38 stitches.

Row 1 (right side): K1, P1 across.
Row 2: P1, K1 across.

Repeat rows 1 & 2 until piece measures 2" from cast-on edge.

Row 3: (optional) Knit across
Row 4: (optional) Purl across
Row 5: (optional) Knit across
Row 6: (optional) Purl across

Note: These four rows create the thin stockinette "dip" in the towel. It's purely aesthetic so you can choose to ignore this section and work the entire towel in seed stitch.

Row 8: K1, P1 across.
Row 9: P1, K1 across.

Repeat rows 8 & 9 until piece measures 13.5" from cast-on edge, ending with a wrong side row.

Row 10: (optional) Knit across
Row 11: (optional) Purl across
Row 12: (optional) Knit across
Row 13: (optional) Purl across

Row 14: K1, P1 across.
Row 15: P1, K1 across.

Repeat rows 14 & 15 until work measures 2" from the stockinette "dip" in the towel.

Cast off loosely.

Close up shown below:

Textured Diagonal Baby Blanket

I've been working on a new project for the last couple of weeks and thought I'd post the pattern.

Textured Diagonal Baby Blanket

Yarn: Bernat Baby Jacquards, 2 balls

Needles: Size 8 36” circular needle
Size: Small
Across the center of the blanket (which is knit diagonally), the blanket measures about 28". Mine came out as a 22" by 21" slightly skewed psuedo-square. It would be suitable as a stroller or car seat blanket or as a security blanket for a toddler to carry around.

Important terms:

YO: Wrap your yarn over your right needle.

PM: Place marker
SM: Slip marker

A Note about Gauge:

Gauge is not crucial for this project. I knit a couple test swatches of stockinette and seed stitch until I liked the look of the fabric.

Special Notes:

Yarn is held doubled throughout. I used my ball winder to wind the skein into a center pull ball, then I divided the ball in half by pulling the center and outer strands until the ball came unwound and rewound the ball on my winder with the yarn held double.

This blanket is knit in two separate pieces and grafted together using a three-needle bind-off. It is recommended that you use two circular needles (one for each panel), but you could set the first panel aside on waste yarn and use the same circular for the second panel. This would make it more difficult to graft the two panels together, but it's knitter's choice.

Stockinette:

With yarn held doubled, Cast on 3 stitches.

Row 1: K1, PM, YO, K1, YO, PM, K1. (5 stitches)

Row 2: K1, SM, P3, SM, K1. (5 stitches)

Row 3: K1, SM, YO, knit to marker, YO, SM, K1

Row 4: K1, SM, Purl to marker, SM, K1.

Repeat rows 3 & 4 until blanket measures 5 inches.

Seed Stitch:

Row 1: K1, SM, YO, (K1, P1) to marker, YO, SM, K1

Row 2: K1, SM, Knit the purl and purl the knit stitches to marker, SM, K1.

Repeat rows 1 & 2 until seed stitch section measures 5 inches.

Continue to alternate between stockinette and seed stitch panels until you no longer have yarn to complete a row.
Make a second panel in the same way as you completed the first & connect the two panels (on the wrong side) using a three-needle bind-off.

An in-progress photo.

Finished blanket

Cable-Swaddler

Yarn: Worsted Weight (I used some Factory Mill Ends yarn I picked up at A.C. Moore)

Needles: size 8 16” circular & double-pointed needles

Important terms:

C6F: Remove three stitches from left needle and hold in front of work on a cable needle. Knit the next three stitches on the left hand needle and then the three stitches from the cable needles.

C6B: Remove three stitches from left needle and hold in back of work on a cable needle. Knit the next three stitches on the left hand needle and then the three stitches from the cable needles.

K2tog: Put your right needle through next two stitches on left needle from front to back. Knit as one stitch.

YO: Wrap your yarn over your right needle.
PM: Place marker
SM: Slip marker

Gauge (in the round):

One pattern repeat (3-by-3 cable and 3 purl stitches) should equal 1.5”.

I knitted a 27 stitch gauge (three pattern repeats) with four purl stitches on either side to account for the fact that I was knitting a circular gauge swatch so I cast on a total of 35 stitches. The cables are turned every sixth round.

Pattern:

Cast on 108 stitches. Place a stitch marker to mark the end of the round.

Work a Knit 6, purl 3 ribbing for 1.5”.

Round 1: *YO, K2tog, Knit 2, K2tog, YO, Purl 3 stitches. Repeat from * around (108 st).

Round 2-6: Knit 6, purl 3 around.

Round 7: Turning round A: (C6F, purl 3) around.

Round 8-12: Knit for five rounds.

Round 13: Turning round B: (C6B, purl 3) around.

Complete rounds 2-13 until work from cast on edge measures 14”.

Begin Decreases:

Round 1: [Knit 14 stitches, K2tog, SSK, PM] around. (96)

Round 2: Knit around.

Round 3: [Knit 12 stitches, K2tog, SSK, SM] around. (84)

Round 4: Knit around.

Round 5: [Knit 10 stitches, K2tog, SSK, PM] around. (72)

Round 6: Knit around.

Round 7: [Knit 8 stitches, K2tog, SSK, SM] around. (60)

Round 8: Knit around.

Round 9: [Knit 6 stitches, K2tog, SSK, PM] around. (48)

Round 10: Knit around.

Round 11: [Knit 4 stitches, K2tog, SSK, SM] around. (36)

Round 12: Knit around.

Round 13: [Knit 2 stitches, K2tog, SSK, PM] around. (24)

Round 14: Knit around.

Round 15: [K2tog, SSK, remove markers] around. (12)

Round 16: Knit around
Round 17: [K2tog, SSK] around. (6)
Bind off and sew closed.

Welcome to the Jungle!

Welcome, welcome. Grab a cup of tea, put your feet up and settle in for a read, would you?

I tried about half a dozen times to edit my "about me" section, but I keep getting a code that I think stands for "This is us telling you to get off our domain." This is, to reiterate the blog description, a combi-blog. I'm an aspiring author and I've been writing short stories and poetry since first grade...which isn't to say that I still have all of that writing packed away some where. A lot of it went mysteriously missing and I suspect my mother has something to do with it. She likes to spring clean which means throwing every bit of paper that isn't a receipt or bill out once a year.

I also happen to be a self-taught knitter so this blog will have a posts about writing and posts about knitting. Mostly knitting, though, if we'll be honest. I love to share all the little tidbits and tricks I pick up as I continue to learn and my Facebook friends are no longer interested in reading my millionth status update in one week about my "super fabulous gauge swatching skillz!!!"

I'm also hoping to throw in posts about books because I do enjoy reading (I think it's a given with any aspiring author), whether they are non-fiction knitting books or novels that I've read recently. There will also probably be a lot of posts about books that I *want* to read, with hopes that people will comment with their opinions. I like to have different perspectives other than mine crowding my head when I'm perusing the local library/bookstore/Amazon. :D

So...just popping in for a friendly chat, a few hellos and an invitation to please feel free to comment until your fingertips get callused and numb. I love to read and respond and I'm looking forward to building a good following!