Enter our “Wackiest ‘Re-use'” Contest

What’s your wackiest “re-use?”
We all do it, right? We all have things around the house that we use in a creative way–a way that they weren’t meant to be used for. We may not have even thought about the fact that those “re-uses” are each a tiny step towards helping to keep the planet green.
I mean, is there a more creative group than knitters? We take yarn and turn it into everything from sweaters to dish cloths to baby toys. And knitting a reusable grocery tote just takes it to the next level of green-ness, reusable-ness and cool-ness.
To enter this contest we’re looking for your wackiest, most creative re-use. Post your contest entry in the Give One Away Knit Along. The winner will receive one of our quickly-becoming-famous organic gift baskets including chocolate, a candle, and of course Knit Picks yarn and needles.
We have a feeling that we’re all going …

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It’s a sleeve!


Okay, I know a lot of you have probably knit dozens and dozens of sleeves in your time, so the fact that I finished one measly sleeve might not seem very newsworthy. But this is my first sweater! And I’ve finished my first sleeve! This feels like a major accomplishment. I’m one step closer to a whole sweater. Of course at the rate I’m going, I’ll be lucky to finish it by fall when the weather gets chilly again, but that’s okay.
Actually, it turned out knitting a sleeve wasn’t all that different from knitting my legwarmers (except that I’m double stranding Gloss Lace and adding in stripes of Bayou Shimmer instead of just using one strand of worsted weight yarn).
Legwarmer:

Sleeve!:

I’ve been getting lots of moral support from the Classic Lines Cardigan …

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New Video Tutorial – Basic Embroidery

Now that the Gurumi Family kit has launched, we’ve added a video tutorial on how to work basic embroidery stitches (back stitch, satin stitch, and French knots) on your knitted fabric. You can use these stitches for much more than just the faces on amigurumi characters, though. For example, I recently finished knitting a sweater vest in WotA Persimmon Heather and I’m using scraps of WotA Kettle Dyed in Timber to add embroidery details around the neckline and at the back shoulder. <

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I just want to spend the entire day knitting!

Woke up this morning in one of my hibernating moods. I just want to stay home and knit all day long! I’ve turned the heel on my second Lindsay sock and am moving along nicely down the foot.
I need to put my Classic Lines Cardigan back on the needles. On Friday I had put it on a scrap piece of yarn to check the fit. Back on the needles and I will have a few inches of simple stockinette knitting.That’s it! Nothing too exciting but I love both of those projects!
I did have time for knitting this weekend. I worked on my sock while wandering around the Vancouver Farmer’s Market with Xena’s breeder. And, while I was knitting at home I listened to a collection of African music on my iTouch. Then I had a scathingly brilliant idea! (From one of my favorite movies – The Trouble With Angels) Whenever …

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Lace Shawl – Finished!

Yahoo! Finally finished with my modified version of the Lady’s Circular Cape from Victorian Lace Today, knit in Shadow lace yarn in the Spring Green Heather color. It was a little boring to knit, which is why it took me so long – I was always finding more interesting things to knit, but now that it’s done I love it! Shadow is really warm, with a nice weight and drape without being too heavy. I really like the shape too (the photo makes it look like a semi-circle, but it’s really more like 2/3 of a circle) – the ends are just long enough to wrap around me and to stay on my shoulders without constant adjustment. To get this shape, I knit 9 of the 12 repeats that the pattern called for. I also made the shawl a bit deeper (higher – more rows) than the …

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Loving this Organic Cotton

I’m finally making visible progress on my pullover in Simply Cotton Sport:

And I am LOVING this yarn! It’s so soft and halo-y and just a pleasure to work with. In the Malted Milk colorway, I get incredible stitch definition that really shows off the twisted rib of this charming design (Bottoms Up by Alice Bell, click here for the info on Ravelry), and did you notice?! I am finished with the first ribbing section! At 55 rows with over 200 stitches per row, you can probably imagine how crazy all that twisted rib made this thrower. The next section is not much better but is already going faster, and now that I can see the pattern emerging, I have new motivation to finish soon. It is getting to be t-shirt weather here in the Northwest, and I want to wear this! And then, I …

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Mr. Foster has left the building!


Well, it was inevitable – all the Mr. Foster kits have left the warehouse and are headed to their new homes. Now he’s available as a downloadable pattern online! All of his outfits from both kits and the pattern to knit the doll are included.
To knit all his outfits, you’d need two skeins of Essential/Stroll in Burgundy, and one each in Navy, Ash, and Bare. Or, go wild and choose your own colors – no color is too much for this Monkey!
Check out the pattern here! <

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Totally Mesmerizing Felici Socks

Well, it’s not our new free pattern, but I’m going to try to pass these off as a summer of socks project:

I picked my 2 favorite colors of Felici (Tyrian Purple and Aquarium) and knit them up as high socks in 3 by 3 stripes. I worked the ribbing and toe of the first sock in Purple, and the same parts of the second sock in Aquarium, because apparently tall stripy purple-blue-yellow-green socks aren’t already quirky enough for me! My favorite part of this project, though, was definitely the afterthought heel:

which I knit in the same color, on each sock, as the cuffs and toes. Afterthought heels are so easy! Here’s how you do them:
(For a top-down sock)
Knit to the point in the leg where you want the heel to go.
With waste yarn, knit the heel stitches (typically …

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