Oh Nuts

  For all of my knitting buddies A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS ‘Twas the night before Christmas and all around me was unfinished knitting not under the tree. The stockings weren’t hung by the chimney with care ‘cause the heels and toes had not a stitch there. The children were nestled all snug in their beds, but I had not finished the caps for their heads. Dad was asleep; he was no help at all, and the sweater for him was six inches too small. When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I put down my needles to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, tripped over my yarn, and fell with a crash. The tangle of yarn that lay deep as the snow reminded me how much I still had to go. Out on my lawn, I heard such a noise, I thought it would wake both Dad and the boys. And although I was tired, my brain a bit thick, I knew in a moment it must be Saint Nick! What I heard then left me somewhat perplexed-ed, for not a name I heard was what I expected. “Move Ashfor...

This is another free pattern that I found on Ravelry that I really like. Though with this pattern I made a few minor changes to it as I was making them. The pattern calls for 14 points and a size 8 needle. After making one or two with 14 points I decided that I didn't like the way that they looked so I now I am only doing 12 points when I make them and I use a size 7 needle instead. made and taken by me As fas as cotton yarns to use for making these I really like using the yarns  Lily Sugar'n Cream Ombres and  Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co. Peaches & Creme Ombres to make them. The washcloths in the picture are made using  Lily Sugar'n Cream Ombres  and the color name is  Azalea . One thing I really like about this pattern is how easy it is to make because you can easily make two, depending on how loose or tight you knit, out of one skein of yarn. Once you have the pattern down it is really easy to watch movies or have conversations while working on...

The pattern for this blanket is actually for a dishcloth, but I decided that I didn't want to use the pattern to make a dishcloth. Instead, I decided to use it for a blanket. Now the reason why I am doing in reverse is that a while back I had found a blanket pattern on Ravelry for a Mitre Blanket where you start with somewhere between 300-600 stitches on the needles, depending on the size blanket that you wanted to make. That was before you slowly make your way down to one-three stitches at the very end. And I tried making a blanket with that pattern once with 600 stitches and I didn't like it. So after a while I found this pattern and finally decided to give it a try. taken by me The pattern calls for you to use " worsted weight cotton yarn (Lion Kitchen Cotton or Sugar and Cream) and a pair of size 7 knitting needles," to make a dishcloth. To make the blanket I am using size 9 circular knitting needles and six skeins of Lion Brand Homespun in Pearl  and Pain...

Back when I first started getting into knitting, I had gotten one of the "I taught myself to Knit" kits that Walmart sells for Christmas one year. Included in the kit was  a stitch counter, which is now somewhere in my knitting supplies, but I haven't ever tried it yet. Instead, I prefer writing down which row or round I am on. I don't remember why I started doing it this way or why. But it comes in handy, especially if the pattern has sections where you are working the same stitch for multiple rows. While I typically don't do many patterns that call for needing to use a stitch counter or the paper and pen/pencil method, I currently have two patterns in progress that have sections that I need to keep track of which row I am on since I am slowly working on them. The first pattern is a shawl pattern from Darn Good Yarn, while I haven't worked on it in a while, I know where I will be in the pattern when I do start working on it again. Because a few years ago I...

This is the first pattern that I ever used when I first learned how to knit. And I am a little surprised that I still had the pattern. Because for a while I didn't know where I had put it and thought that I had thrown it out. But I found it again and it is being stored in my pattern binder along with the rest of them. While it might look a little disheveled now I still have the scarf that I made with this pattern. Although the label is from a Red Heart Super Saver yarn label I made my scarf with Lion Brand Homespun yarn. Even though it is a beginner pattern I thought I would share it here because it knits up really easy and looks pretty, so it will make great Christmas or birthday presents. Red Heart © Super Saver®: 3 ½ ounces 319 Cherry Red Knitting Needles: 5.5mm [US 9] Yarn Needle Gauge: 17 sts = 4"; 25 r = 4" in pattern. Check your gauge. Use any size needles to obtain the gauge. Cast on 22 stitches. K 2 rows. Now work as follows: Rows 1 & 3 (Right Sid...

This is a Christmas ornament pattern that I found awhile back and really like. This pattern, from  Penny-Wise Knitting , is a Christmas Wreath Ornament pattern. When I found this pattern I immediately knew what yarn to use for it. And I love how easy the pattern is to follow and use. Because of how quick and easy the pattern works up, you can do it in one sitting. Though I had to spread it out over several days because of various other things that came up. I originally made this ornament several months ago for a group project that the fiber arts group that I am a part of was doing last month and part of this month. And I had originally shared this over on the knitting blog that I had started called "The Knit Potato" and then stopped updating back at the end of September. That is partially to blame on starting to prep for NaNoWriMo last month. Though I have been thinking of getting rid of the knitting blog since I haven't been doing much with it. In the meantime her...

As I mentioned in my last post I started another Instagram account titled "The Knit Potato," and that I was going back and forth about starting another blog to share all of my knitting updates and ideas on. Well, I have decided to make the jump and start another blog, also entitled " The Knit Potato ." There is also a Facebook page with the same name where I will be sharing the blog posts as well as Instagram posts. Photo by  Andrew Buchanan  on  Unsplash In case you missed it in my last post the story behind the name "The Knit Potato" is because I own a shirt that says 'If I'm sitting, I'm knitting' on it as well as the phrase couch potato. So I randomly combined the words knit and potato and created the name. It also came about because I follow an Instagram account, and Facebook page, that is called 'Knitatude.' And I wanted to do something that was fun and showed a bit of who I am. So that is how I came to 'The Knit Po...

I am not a Star Wars fan, but that seemed like an appropriate title for today. I have been trying to settle on a topic to write about here but keep getting stuck. Technically I had an idea for a post but I didn't get very far with it. And ironically enough it was going to be a post using the question "What Helps You To Be Creative?" as the prompt/title. So instead I shared the question to my Facebook page to see what people's responses are and I may do another post where I share their responses as well as how I get creative. Photo by  Simon Zhu  on  Unsplash While the picture (<----) is very cool I found it a little funny that on Upsplash, where I get pictures that aren't my own, the picture is titled "Man With Neon Lights Stands In Between 2 Bridges." It doesn't seem as dramatic when you pair it with a title like that. But that is beside the point. Earlier this week or late last week I did a poll on my personal Instagram stories about whet...

Whenever possible I try to include a knit item in with the Christmas present that I give to the sibling that I have for that year. Two years ago I made a scarf for my sister to take with her to school, and last year I gave my other sister a pair of hand warmers that I made. This year my sister's friend T from school joined us for Christmas and was included in the sibling secret Santa and I picked her name. Since T is still in college I wanted to make sure that the presents that I gave her were light and easily transportable. So I decided to make her a hat using pretty yarn that I had found on sale at Jo-ann Fabrics earlier in the year. After finishing the hat, and including a pom-pom on top since my mom and sisters said it finished off the hat, I used the rest of the yarn to make a coordinating ear-warmer/headband. The pattern that I used for the hat is called "Horizontal Rib Hat" and I found it in a knitting book called 'Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders.' For the ...

This blanket started out as an idea that I based off of something similar that a friend of mine did. And the thought for this blanket came to me on Halloween of last year (2017) and I went with it though it took a little bit longer to actually form into a physical blanket. Since I wanted this to be a surprise for my sister and her husband, I knew that I wouldn't be able to make it all myself. So I enlisted the help of my grandma and some friends to make some squares for the blanket. I also made a bunch for the blanket as well don't worry ;). Originally it was supposed to be finished in time for my sister's bridal shower back in April, but that didn't happen. The day before the shower I went over to my grandma's house to start sewing the squares together so that my sister wouldn't be able to see it. As my grandma and I were laying out the squares that we had on the table, we both realized that we needed to add another row of squares as well as make several...

Back in January of last year one of my cousin's got engaged and I had the idea to make them a blanket, though I didn't know what yarn or pattern I wanted to use for it. Then in the middle of February/beginning of March I was at the library across the street hanging out with the Fiber Arts that meets there every week and one of the ladies there was giving away a bunch of free yarn and in the yarn was a plastic bag with three skeins of Mainstays Home 4-Ply Worsted yarn (colorway: Mountain Top) and I took it home. After having it sit in my room for several months of the yarn sitting in my room collecting dust, I finally found a pattern that I wanted to use the yarn for, along with a skein of white yarn that I had so that it went farther. The pattern that I found was the Log Cabin pattern. It is a really easy pattern to follow and you can do it with any type of yarn. The beginning of June I started working on the blanket with the intent of having it finished by the bridal show...

Back in September, I wrote a post on one of my many knitting projects, with this particular project being a Ten Stitch Blanket that I am making from balls of yarn left over from previous projects, etc. Well, today I was able to get more yarn, for free, for the blanket so that I can continue to add to it. <---- The stash for the blanket with the new yarn added to what I still had on hand. As you can see from the picture I have a lot of yarn for this blanket, and that is not counting the couple of balls that I had already set aside to use once I am finished with the purple that I am adding to the blanket. I may have mentioned this group once or twice before but at the library across from my house there is a small cafe inside of it and once a week on Wednesdays, they meet there twice from 9-12 and 5-8 to knit, crochet, embroider, etc. And once a year they have what they call a Stitch-In and what it is is one Saturday in May, which happened to be today, they get together from ...

This is one of the easiest projects that I have done, but it is also one of the longest that I have taken to finish. This project started out as a blanket for my sister to take with her to college, but I didn’t finish it before she left (one of the squares still isn’t finished yet). Since I still wanted to use the four squares that I had already made my other sister suggested that I turn them into pillows. It took me a little while to get around to it, but I finally sewed the four completed squares together and made two small pillows for my sister and her fiancee to use in their home once they are married. I am planning on using the last two squares, one of which is still unfinished, to make either one more small pillow, with each square being a different color, or making two super small pillows out of each square, I still haven't decided yet but I will get to that eventually. They were pretty easy to make since each square used an entire skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Den...

Since it's been a couple months since I last shared a knitting project, now is a good time for me to share one of the projects that I have been working on for a while. Anyhow back in November, we found out that one of my other cousin's was expecting their first, so I decided to make a blanket for the baby. When I started making the blanket I didn't know if they were going to wait to find out the gender or if they were going to find out right away so I pulled out the three skeins of pastel variegated yarn that I had and started working on the blanket. The pattern that I used is called Garter Rib Baby blanket , which I found on Ravelry, and it is very easy to work with, though there were a few times where I accidentally started messing up the pattern but caught myself in time to fix it. The yarn that I used is called 'Playground'  and the brand is Mary Maxim Baby Kashmere, and it took me all six skeins of yarn to complete it. And this is the first blanket that I ...

This knitting project came about when Aaliyah said that she had a hard time getting warm. Since we always pick a sibling to get a present(s) for Christmas, instead of getting presents for 8 people, I got Aaliyah as my person and I decided to make her a pair of hand warmers. I created my own pattern using ideas from other patterns, that I found on Ravelry. Cast on 36 stitches using the long tail method*. Row 1: knit all the way across  Row 2: K3, P3 all the way across Repeat these two rows until you reach your desired length then bind off. I made them 7 1/2 inches long. Repeat pattern to make a second one. I made these using straight needles and used the tails that I left at both ends to sew up the edges. But it is super easy to make these on double pointed needles if that is what you prefer. And I used a size 8 needle, unfortunately, I don't remember the brand name of the yarn that I was using. *If you don't know how to do the long tail cast on method, whic...

Back at the beginning of summer, I learned that another cousin was expecting her first. So I started coming up with color ideas to use, other than green and yellow since I had just used those colors for baby blankets. Since I didn't know the gender at the time I decided to go with gray and purple. The colors that I picked out were Lion's Brand Vanna's Choice: Silver Heather, Eggplant, and Dusty Purple. I picked these three colors because I was originally going to make a mitered square blanket (there is a pattern online for this blanket). But as I started working on it one of the squares was larger than the rest and I knew it would look bad if I kept it that way. So I looked for a different blanket pattern that I could make quickly and easily. And in my searching, I came across the Corner to Corner Blanket (C2C) and I went with it because I knew that I could make it quickly. When I made the blanket I used the Silver Heather and Dusty purple for the blanket. Original...

In the past I have used the Curly Edge hat pattern , which I have shared before, to make baby hats. And I was going to use it again to make two more baby hats, but I wanted to use specific measurements this time because I am giving both hats away as presents. The pattern that I used for these hats is  Basic Baby Hat  that I found on Ravelry, which is my go-to for knitting patterns now instead of Pinterest. The first hat I made using this pattern, I followed the sizing for the toddler hat, but I ended up using the wrong size needle and yarn because it was bigger than it was supposed to be and my 17-year old brother and I were both able to fit it on our heads. I finished it and it is currently sitting upstairs in my room. After looking through my yarn stash I found a yarn that ended up working better. Since I got it for free and there was no label, I don't know what type of yarn or what brand it is.  Since I used my size 6 needles it turned out better than ...

Last week when I was writing my post about the five projects that I am currently working on, I realized that I hadn't done a post for a baby blanket that I finished several months ago. So the pattern I used is called Cotton Twill Squares, unfortunately, I don't remember where I found the pattern for this blanket otherwise, I would share the link for it. The yarn that I used for this blanket was 6 skeins of Patons North America Beehive Baby Chunky in Quicker Clover, and there was a little left over when I finished it, and I found the yarn at Jo-Ann's. Back in January, I found out that one of my cousins was expecting their first baby, as well as a family friend, so I got the idea to make them both baby blankets. For the friend, I finished the Malt Baby Blanket that I posted about back in March. For my cousin, I made this blanket. Even though I was constantly changing between the regular knit stitch and the stockinette stitch I was able to make this blanket fairly...

Call me crazy but I currently have five knitting projects in the works, though only two of them are currently active. As I mentioned in a separate post last week, and one other time before, I said that I was working on a Ten Stitch Blanket. That is project #1. Project #2 is a Log Cabin blanket and the colors for this blanker are white yarn and a variegated blue, green, and purple yarn. Project #3 is another Ten Stitch blanket that I started over the summer, but haven't really done much with. The colors for this blanket are goldenrod and two shades of rust orange. Project #4 is a Corner to Corner blanket, and the colors for that are a light gray and a dusty purple, with possible dark purple accents (I don't know for sure yet). And finally, project #5 is a hat, in a variegated gray, white, yellow yarn. Now you are probably wondering why I am working on five different knitting projects. Well, it didn't originally start out that way. It just started out with the first...

Back at the beginning of April, I wrote a post on how I was knitting a  blanket , using the Ten-Stitch Blanket pattern on Ravelry. I also mentioned that I was making it with a bunch of different colored yarn scraps that I had. Well, the other day I pulled it out again and took it apart. What it used to look like Since you might ask why I took it apart, especially since I had already knit so far along. To start off, back in March of last year I wrote a post on how I am the queen of taking knitting projects apart. As I was working on the blanket, I did take a break to start working on two other blankets, I didn't like where some of the colors were falling. Like white against white, camo on camo, and a lot of the variegated yarns were on the same side of the blanket. Once I took the blanket apart I organized it by color. Since there were bits and pieces of the camo yarn scattered through out the blanket I put them into multiple balls so I could have the color scatt...