Italian Dish Knits

Finding the Time to Knit

January 5, 2014

I’ve knit for 24 years now and in that time, I’ve been a very busy person. I’ve raised three children, worked full time, worked part time, and then finally stayed at home and now I write a food blog. But in all that time, I’ve always found time to knit. Always. And when people see my knitting projects, the one remark they always make is, “Gee, I wish I had time to knit”. But they do. They just don’t know it.

Here is a photo of me 23 years ago with my second child, Nick, the day I am leaving the hospital. Note the item on the bed as I am waiting to go home. My knitting bag. Yes, I knit in the hospital after having him. I always take my knitting bag with me if I think I might get the chance to get in a few rows. That is how you get a project done. It may take a while, but you get it done.

I think the biggest problem with people thinking that they don’t have time to knit is that they think they have to have an actual block of time to just sit down and knit. Well, I can tell you that I almost never do that. I knit when I’m watching TV or a movie, when I’m riding in the car, when I’m on a plane or maybe when I’m sitting and chatting with someone. I almost never sit down and just knit. I might listen to an audiobook as I knit or talk on the phone. I take my knitting sometimes if I know I’m going to be waiting in the doctor’s office. If you watch TV in the evening and knit for just 20 minutes every night while you watch, you will get something done.

I usually have two projects going at the same time – one that maybe is a little more complicated, that requires me to follow a chart and so demands that I have to focus a little and a second project that is just “idiot” knitting and doesn’t require that I follow a pattern. Then I can decide which one I can work on in any situation.

I hope for 2014 you will be inspired and start a project with the commitment that you are going to pick it up whenever you can. I have my knitting sitting in a basket on the sofa so that it’s very accessible. I have a knitting bag that I can just throw it into and take it with me if I need to.

Also, if you haven’t joined Ravelry yet, do so right away. It’s a community of knitters worldwide who share projects, thoughts and tips about knitting. It’s a constant source of inspiration for me and might be for you, too. Reading good knitting blogs like Yarn Harlot and Little Cotton Rabbits helps, too.

Now go forth and knit!

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How to Make a Crochet Magic Ring

October 21, 2013

I promised you guys I would post the pattern for the grey crochet squares I’ve been making and I am going to do that next. But first, I wanted to post about how to make a Magic Ring to begin each crochet square. It makes the center of your squares look a little nicer, so I feel it’s worth doing.

If you have ever crocheted, most patterns have you start out by chaining a few stitches and then joining them into a ring. But when you do it this way, there is always a gaping hole in the middle and it just doesn’t close up. Not good. If you start your project by doing a Magic Ring, you can cinch it up tight and it looks great. Let me show you the difference:

Circle made using a regular chain 5 loop joined with a slip stitch – notice the gaping hole in the middle

Circle made with Magic Ring. No gaping hole in the middle!

I made a little video to show you how to do this. Once you get the hang of it, you do it without thinking. So try it a few times – the results are worth it.

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Fall Things

October 13, 2013

Well, I’m still here. Although it was summer and I was fitting in other things like gardening and golf, I was still doing some needlework. I’ve been working on this grey crochet throw for months now, making all these squares to join. It’s been really enjoyable and I had to teach myself how to crochet and read crochet patterns to do it and I’m so glad I did. Although I’m a huge knitter, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed aspects of crochet – one needle (hook) and no tinking! Tinking is knitting backwards, when you make a mistake. You don’t have to do that with crochet – mistakes are so much more easy to deal with. I am missing my knitting needles, though, so I may have to pick up a knitting project before this throw is finished.

On the one hand, I’m sad that it’s fall but on the other hand there will be much more time for knitting and crocheting. I love the fall weather and I even kind of like raking leaves. I hate the heat and I wait all summer for this kind of cool October weather, with dry air and sunshine and cool temps. My kind of weather. Perfect for golf.

We’ve eaten the last of the sweet corn around here. A bit of a letdown. Signs of fall are everywhere. Everything involves pumpkin. I made Jen’s fabulous version of Pumpkin Cake with Caramel Frosting. It was amazing.

I’ve been doing the Kitchn Cure, daily assignments of things to organize, declutter, clean and refresh your kitchen. It’s so great. Sometimes you get desensitized to the disorganization right in front of you. I like my kitchen/freezer/fridge a little more now. I really did reorganize my pots and pans and clean out my pantry.

We are starting to do some campus visits for my youngest son. We are going to be empty nesters at this time next year. It was fun to be back at my husband’s alma mater for a campus tour. It really is a beautiful campus – it’s fun to see it through the eyes of my son.

I am going to be writing up and posting the pattern that I’ve cobbled together for this crochet square – some of you have asked for it so I’m going to make a written version of it. I’m also going to photograph and post how to make a magic ring – something that I think a lot of crocheters would like to know. It took me a little while to get the hang of it, but I think I have a pretty easy version of it for you to try.

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Crochet Squares

April 25, 2013

Are you on Pinterest? I love Pinterest. I get so many great ideas from that site. Being a knitter, I love all the gorgeous knitting photos there. But one photo recently caught my eye . It was photo of a crocheted throw, all in grey. It looked like it was made up of a bunch of crocheted squares. I wanted to make a throw like that.

Problem is, I’m not a crocheter. I crocheted a Granny Stripes afghan this past year, but it was a no brainer. There was no pattern and you just did the same stitch over and over. So in order to make this new throw, I was going to have to learn crochet and learn how to read a crochet pattern. So that is what I’ve been doing these past few weeks. Because of all the great tutorials on the internet, it was pretty easy.

Then I had to pick out a yarn. I only knit with wool, never cotton or acrylic or anything. I did a test square out of wool and it looked like this:

I wasn’t happy with the stitch definition. The photo that I saw in Pinterest looked like it might have been made from cotton or blend, something heavier. I bought a skein of Cascade Pima Cotton and did another test square. It was just right – the cotton really shows the stitches well and it had the feel I wanted.

Flower Burst Crochet Square #3 from Chris Simon (above)

This is a square I cobbled together from two patterns

I decided to add just a little bit of color to some of the squares, although most of them will be grey. I cobbled together parts of two different crochet squares to come up with one that I like.

I’m having a blast crocheting – it’s so easy, goes so fast and it’s way easier than knitting to rip back and fix something. So I’m going to be knitting a bunch of crochet squares in the coming months. When I get them all done and crocheted together, I’ll post the photos.