techniques | Italian Dish Knits

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Mitered Squares Throw With a Fabric Lining

March 3, 2014

This is one of my favorite projects ever. This pattern has been around for a while and I was late to the game on it. It is the Mitered Crosses Blanket that Kay Gardiner made for Japan tsunami relief a couple of years ago. There are over 900 project pages for it on Ravelry. I loved this pattern so much and really loved making it. One of the best things about this pattern is that the project, up until the time that you assemble all the blocks, is very portable. I took these squares everywhere with we while I worked on them.

I changed quite a few things from the original pattern, though. The original called for mitered crosses, of course. I decided I didn’t want to do the crosses and did squares instead. I really like the way they turned out. The squares are super easy to make and after a short time, you don’t even need the pattern. There’s no counting of rows – yay! – you just have to remember to do the decreases on the right side and none on the wrong side. Just make sure you have a stitch marker to mark your corner, where you do your decreases.

I also did not use Noro Silk Garden for two reasons: I feel it’s a little scratchy and it’s very expensive. So I searched and found a striping yarn that substituted very nicely – Crystal Palace Mochi Plus. The colors in Mochi Plus were stunning and it was a hard decision on what colorway to use. I loved Lake Trail and Leaves & Sprouts but eventually settled on Autumn Rainbow because I started this in the fall and the yarn exactly matched the colors I was seeing all around me. The yarn stripes slowly, which I really liked for this. It is a one-ply yarn so it could be a little felty. For the background color, I used Cascade Yarns 220 Heathers in Doeskin Heather.

I blocked all the squares first before I sewed them together. And I did sew them together. I did not do the three needle bind off. I just thought that sewing them together would be a lot faster. If you want to do the three needle bind off, be sure to read Kay’s post about how she did it.

The i-cord edging takes a while to do but it is SO worth it. It really finished the throw. I did the edging in the striping color instead of the background color, which the pattern called for, and I really think it adds something. It took me several days to do it, just working a little bit on it every day. Some people are intimidated by the thought of i-cord but it’s so easy. Here is how you do it:

you start out with three stitches on your needle (left). With the left
needle, pick up a stitch (right). Knit that stitch.

You now have four stitches on your needle. Transfer all those stitches
over to your left needle (left). Knit the first two stitches (right).

Knit the last two stitches together, through the back loops (left).
Now you have three stitches again. Repeat. Easy!

After I finished the edging, I decided the “wrong” side of the throw was so unattractive I wanted to cover it up. Plus, I felt the throw needed a little bit more structure. So I decided to add a flannel fabric lining. I wasn’t sure how to do this – I knew I could cut the fabric, hem it on my sewing machine just fine but then I wasn’t sure how to attach it. This post from TECHKnitting helped me a lot. It’s about how to use an overcast stitch by hand so that the stitch gives a little, which is required because of the stretchy nature of the knitting.

the overcast stitching shows but it is still
preferable to doing a blind stitch because
it gives ease to the knitting

name labels from
Ananemone Etsy shop

The finished blanket is about 44″ x 33″. Each block is about 11″ square. I did 12 blocks so it’s not a huge blanket, but rather just a nice throw to put over your lap. Between the 100% wool yarn and the flannel, it’s pretty toasty.

Pattern: Mitered Crosses Blanket
Yarn: Crystal Palace Mochi Plus in Autumn Rainbow
Cascade Yarns 220 Heathers in Doeskin Heather
Needle: #6 Circular Addi Lace
Ravelry Page

Posted in blankets, knitting, techniques, yarn | 34 Comments »

Super Stretchy, Super Easy Sewn Bind Off

March 25, 2012

When I posted about my finished Guernsey Wrap, I said that I would write about the sewn bind off that I did to finish it. Jared recommended a stretchy bind off in the pattern and so I did Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bind off. I think it’s my favorite yet. It’s not only easy to execute but it has a nice finished look to it and is super stretchy. Here is how it’s done:

Cut your yarn to a length about 3 times as long as the knitting and thread it onto a needle. Insert the needle into the first two stitches, purlwise . . .

. . . and draw it through

insert the needle into the first stitch on the knitting needle as if to knit, draw the yarn through and . . .

. . . slip the stitch off

Repeat.

This creates a super stretchy bind off that actually resembles your long tail cast on. My new favorite.

Posted in knitting, techniques | 11 Comments »

Green Stripey Socks with an Afterthought Heel

April 27, 2011

When I got this great yarn at Rae’s, I wanted to get going on some socks. This is just a plain, stockinette sock using the technique I learned at Rae’s to knit socks without a pattern, toe-up. I decided to knit the leg in plain stockinette because I just wanted the self striping yarn to show without any texture.

Barbara, who teaches that sock class at Rae’s, really prefers an afterthought heel, placing waste yarn as you knit, which is easily picked out later for the heel. Having done socks with both a gusset/heel flap and the afterthought technique, I’ve come to prefer the afterthought heel, too. It’s by far the simplest method, requiring no pattern or keeping track of short rows and Barbara feels it’s the most comfortable to wear.

Another bonus with an afterthought heel – you basically knit a whole tube for the sock, from toe to cuff, and so it doesn’t interrupt your self striping yarn or any other pattern that you’re doing.

I also did a Russian bind-off for the cuff, which I really liked using this method (love this lady’s accent). I had tried the Russian bind-off in Wendy Johnson’s book, Socks from the Toe Up, and did not like that version at all.

Pattern: None!
Yarn: Pagewood Farm, Forest Camo
Yarn for Toes/Heels: Yarn Hollow Bitty/Jade
Needles: US #0, circular, using magic loop
Ravelry Page

Posted in finished objects, knitting, magic loop, socks/footwear, techniques | Tagged afterthought-heel, toe-up | 7 Comments »

Duplicate Stitch

March 31, 2011

Sometimes if I want to add a little color to my knitting, but I don’t want to introduce a new yarn just for a few stitches, I will use duplicate stitch when the knitting is finished to add the color. It’s easy and quick and your little bits of color actually show up better, I think, than when they are knitted in. I’m using this technique on the Andalus Mittens that I am knitting right now.

Thread a tapestry needle with the color you wish to introduce.

Step #1: Insert your needle from the wrong side of the work into the bottom of the “V” of the stitch you want to color:

Thread tapestry needle through the middle of the stitches of the stitch above the stitch you want to color:

Bring needle through:

Insert tip back down into the bottom of the “V” of your designated stitch and then bring it up at the bottom of the “V” in the next stitch you want to color:

Finished Duplicate Stitch:

Knowing this technique allows you to add any little bits of color on your knitting anywhere you want! In a future post, I’ll show you how to correct color mistakes using duplicate stitch.