Italian Dish Knits

Archive for 2017

Knit Christmas Stars & Elves

December 9, 2017

Christmas Stars & Elves

I wanted to share some fun little Christmas ornaments to knit up quickly. It’s such a busy time of year and we all love fast little projects to knit. The stars are an old favorite pattern and they are really fun to make. The little elves are adorable and will require you to drink some wine 🍷 because you stuff them with corks. So double the fun!

The little elves knit up very quickly. These are based on a pattern called Korkinesse, in Norwegian. There was an English translation but that’s no longer available. So I used a modified version on Ravelry and then modified that version to come up with a pattern. You can visit my Ravelry page for more details. Here is how I knit them:

Using fingering weight yarn and US #2.5 circle needle. I used the Magic Loop method.

CO 4 st. Join in the round.
1) *kfb* (8 st )
2) *K1, kfb* (12 st )
3) *kfb, k2* (16 st )
4) *k2, kfb, k2* 3 times, k1 (19 st)
5) P19
6-17) k12 rows
18) k5 BO 9, K4
19) K5, CO 10, K5
20) P13, P2 tog, P5 (19 st)
21) K
22) P
23 – 26) K (4 rows)
27) K2 tog, K3, K2 tog, K5, K2 tog, K2, K2 tog, K1 (15 st)
28 – 29) K
30) K2 tog, K1, K2 tog, k4, k2 tog, K1, K2 tog, K2 tog (10 st)
31-32) K 10 st
33) K2 tog, K1, K2tog, K2tog, K1, k2tog (6 st)
34) K
35) K2 tog, K1, K2 tog, K1 (4 st)
36) K2tog, K2tog
37) K2 tog

Pull yarn through remaining stitch. Leave a 10” tail. With a crochet hook, chain about 10 stitches. With a tapestry needle, attach tail of yarn to chain base, forming a loop. Secure. Bring CO tail up through bottom with a crochet hook.

I’ve knit the stars many times. This year I wanted some cranberry and snow white stars. A quick and easy project, you begin by knitting in the round and then just working on 10 stitches at a time for the individual star points. Here is the free pattern for the stars. The pattern has you stuffing the stars just with the loose yarn ends, but I filled mine with a bit of polyfill, for plumper stars.

Stars Collage

IMG_E0116

Thanks for dropping by. I wish you a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year! And, as usual, I hope you’re making something!

Elaine

fireplace decoration

Posted in gifts, holiday stuff, knitting | 9 Comments »

How to Pick Up Dropped Stitches in Your Knitting

November 7, 2017

Beginning knitters very often will confront dropped stitches at some point in their knitting. This can strike fear in them, if they don’t know how easily this situation is rectified. Even several rows of dropped stitches is not a problem to fix. Below I show you how to pick up single dropped stitches and then I show you how to pick up several dropped stitches.

I thought about breaking this post into two different posts, one for knit stitches and one for purl stitches but then I decided to do it all in one single post. So this post is long. If you are only interested in how to pick up dropped purl stitches, scroll halfway down the post for that. I do knit stitches in the first half of the post and purl stitches in the last half. I also have a video in the post to help you.

It helps to knit a swatch of stockinette and practice dropping and picking up stitches, until you are completely comfortable doing it.

Knitting without fear!

PICKING UP DROPPED KNIT STITCHES:

First, you need to know a knitting fundamental – how a stitch should sit properly on your left needle. Each stitch has a “left leg” and a “right leg”. In a knit stitch, the right leg will be in the front, like this:

twisted knit stitch.jpeg

Why do you need to know this? Because when you pick up stitches, very often they are twisted and you will have to place them back on the needle the correct way. It’s a no brainer, once you know how a stitch should properly sit. So, after you have picked up a stitch, make sure it is not twisted, as you will see at the end in this photo tutorial:

How to Fix a Single Dropped KNIT Stitch:

Dropped Knit Stitch 1

Dropped Knit Stitch 2

Dropped Knit Stitch 3

Dropped Knit Stitch 4

Dropped Knit Stitch 5

Dropped Knit Stitch 6

Dropped Knit Stitch 7

Dropped Knit Stitch 8

How to Fix Several Rows of Dropped KNIT stitches:

Dropped Knit Stitches 1

Dropped Knit Stitches 2

Dropped Knit Stitches 3

Dropped Knit Stitches 4

Dropped Knit Stitches 6

Dropped Knit Stitches 7

Dropped Knit Stitches 8

Dropped Knit Stitches 9

And here is a video to help you. (First half of video is knit stitches, last half is purl stitches) Purl Stitch Instruction starts at 3:20.

PICKING UP DROPPED PURL STITCHES

How to Pick Up a Single Dropped PURL Stitch:

How to Fix Several Rows of Dropped PURL stitches:

I hope this post helps you never to hear dropped stitches! Refer to video within the post if you need more help.

Happy Knitting!
Elaine

Posted in knitting, techniques | 4 Comments »

Pink Sideways Knit Baby Cardigan

September 1, 2017

Here is another little baby sweater from OGE Knitwear Designs. I love her patterns – nearly seamless being the key feature for me but just so cute! I wish she was on Instagram (how can she not be!) so I could tag her, but she just doesn’t have an account. This little sweater was a really unusual construction – it’s knit sideways and then you just sew up the sleeves.

There are two stitch versions you can do and I chose the Hurdle stitch. This was a fun pattern and created a really interesting texture.

I used a Superwash Merino yarn from Cascade Yarn. It’s nice for a baby project, so you can just throw the sweater in the washer and dryer and not worry about it. And the merino is super soft for babies.

The pattern maker does a great job writing her patterns – they are clear and have photos showing you exactly how to do this unusual construction. She makes it easy for you.

Knitting this on circular needles made it easy to pick up and put down and the project, since there was a lot going on here with stitches on holders for some of the construction.

I added two sparkly buttons, which made me very happy!

Pattern: Sideways Knit Cardigan
Yarn: Cascade Yarns Merino Superwash 220
Needles: US #4 Circular Addi Lace
Ravelry Page

Posted in baby stuff, finished objects, knitting | 1 Comment »

“Lilla Koftan” Little Cardigan

April 7, 2017

Lilla Koftan sleeve and front

I love going into yarn shops wherever I travel, don’t you? Ever since I walked into my first yarn shop in Chapel Hill, North Carolina when my oldest son was a baby in 1988, I was hooked. I love the women in yarn shops – so eager to help you and so excited about the yarn they sell. A good yarn shop has a big table where knitters come and work on their projects, either for the help or just for the friendship. Recently while visiting our son in college, I walked into a yarn shop in Evanston, Illinois – CloseKnit – and this shop was one of those great little yarn shops. The women were having a great time and laughing and there was a big table right in the middle of the shop. I saw this yarn on display with a little sample swatch knitted up and was so intrigued with it that I bought a couple of skeins. It’s a German yarn called Schachenmayr Extra Fine Merino 120 and, when knitted up, kind of looks like Fair Isle. I love it. But what’s really great about it is the texture – it’s extra fine merino, but has a really nice firmness to it that I like. It held up so well after blocking – sometimes wool can relax too much after blocking and I hate that. This yarn retained its structure.

Lilla Koftan top

Lilla Koftan upside down

This free (!) pattern is called “Lilla Koftan” which means “Little Cardigan” in Swedish. It is a pattern by Petra Orrbeck and I really liked it. It’s my favorite technique for a sweater: top down, seamless, sleeves put on holders and then knitted in the round. And it has a little garter yoke and garter trim. Perfect!

Lilla Koftan start of sleeve

I knit the whole thing on #4 circular Addi Lace needles and then did the sleeves using Magic Loop, instead of DPNs. If you need a tutorial on Magic Loop, here is mine (along with a video to help you). Magic Loop is my favorite way to knit in the round.

Lilla Koftan sleeve on needles

Using #4 needles and DK yarn, this made a tiny sweater – probably a 6 month size. So cute.

I modified the pattern just a tad:
1. I only did 3 buttonholes (because I like that look)
2. I did M1 increases instead of the yarn overs she suggested.
3. I did 22 rows for the body instead of 17 as the pattern says.
4. I did 11 rows of garter stitch for the trim instead of 9.
5. I did 22 rows stockinette for sleeves before garter trim

Lilla Koftan cardigan side view

Lilla Koftan stitches detail

This pattern, making it the size I did, took exactly 2 skeins of this yarn – I only had about 7 yards left! It was a close call. So that’s about 260 yards. This yarn is a DK weight although the company web site lists it as a Lace weight. That just is a mistake.

Lilla Koftan buttons