Sock Update

The sock I'm working on is coming along quite nicely. I finished the heel, and am on the home stretch. If I'm lucky, I'll finish it tonight and have pictures to post tomorrow. Next I think I'm going to try my hand at cable knitting. I found a poncho with cable knit that I'm going to attempt. Either that, or cable twist socks. I've really enjoyed knitting socks, so I think I may stick with them for a little while.

Yesterday I was looking at the different kinds of yarn I can use for socks, when I came across this. It's white yarn that you can color yourself. I also found instructions for dying yarn with Kool-Aid. I'm going to have to try this stuff out.

Casting On

I sometimes always have problems when I cast-on a new project. I run out of yarn before I've cast-on enough stitches. I'm usually 1-2 stitches short of enough. It's not a big problem when I'm making little things like dishclothes and scarves that don't require very many stitches. It's not hard to pull 10-20 stitches out and recast them, but recently I started my first knit afghan that starts with casting on 103 stitches. It took me 3 tries before I had enough yarn, and then I had like 2 feet left over at the end. Does anyone know a really good method for measuring before you cast-on?

I made the Afghan pattern up from something I saw in a store somewhere. It's still on the needles, so I don't know how wide it will be, but here it is:
Use large circular needles (I'm using US15 I think)
Use a heavy yarn (I'm using Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick in Fisherman)
CO 103 sts
Row 1: K3, P2. Rep to end.
Row 2: P3, K2. Rep to end.
Rep these rows until afghan is desired length.

If you don't know the abbreviations, check the chart. I'll post pictures later.

I hope you all have a safe and happy memorial day weekend.
Happy knitting!

I'm a freaking genius!

Yesterday I posted that there is a table of knitting abbreviations on the bottom of the page. What I really wanted to do was make a link that will automatically take you to the bottom of the page, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. Today I figured it out! Now on the sidebar there is a link that says "Knitty Abbreviations" and when you click it, you automatically got to the bottom of the page, just like I wanted! That is all.

New additions

I've added some links to the side bar and a table of knitty abbreviations to the bottom of the page. Hope they're helpful for you.

It's been a couple days

I'm to the point in my sock pattern where I have to put half of the stitches on a stitch holder. I looked in the usual places I keep my knitting stuff and couldn't find my stitch holder. I go pissed off because I couldn't find it, and a task that should have taken minutes(finding the stitch holder), turned into a 7 hour reorganization adventure. I found the stitch holder about 3 hours in, but by that time I was at the point of no return. I unpacked boxes, repacked boxes, moved furniture, yelled, cussed, threw things, etc. In my rage, I also managed to find 6 trash bags worth of stuff that my life can function well without, so I threw it all away. But, alas, I found the stitch holder and am free to continue with the sock project.

Free Patterns

I love free knitting patterns. I've got a 3-ring binder that I keep all of my free knitting patterns. It's awesome. It's got dividers in it and is split up into several different categories, then the categories are organized by level of difficulty.
Anyway, I have several places I get my patterns. Most of my patterns came from Lion Brand's Website. This is an index of their free patterns. They also have a good Pattern Finder page. You can search it by keyword or by category. The categories you can search by include skill level, yarn, item type, size, and also what publication they appeared in. They also have free crochet patterns.
About.com is also a great knitting resource. They have an index of original knitting patterns, as well as a readers pattern library.
Lily's website has a few free patterns as well, though as far as I can tell, they're just the patterns from inside the yarn sleeves. Free crochet patterns here also.
And always a fan favorite, search free knitting patterns on Google.
I will also be posting all of these links on the sidebar by the end of the week.
Happy knitting.

Socks

I am currently working on my first sock. It's also my first attempt at using double pointed needles. I started it on Tuesday. Things are going well so far. This is the beginning.
This is how far I was Tuesday night.

This is how far I was Wednesday night.

And this is how far I am now.

I had a little scare because I thought I was doing my purl stitches wrong, and I thought I was going to have to tear the whole thing out and start over. The good news is I looked it up, and I've been doing it right all along. I'm so glad because I've also been knitting an afghan, and I started thinking I was purling wrong on it too.
Here's a link to the sock pattern. I'll post the afghan pattern and pictures later.

Diagonal Knit Dishcloth

This is one of my favorite patterns. I got it from my grandmother. It's great for beginners and experts alike. It's really easy, and can be finished in a couple of hours. This is a completed dishcloth. All that's left to do is work in the tails. Here's the pattern:

Cast on 4 sts.
Row 1: K2, yo, K across.
Repeat Row 1 until there are 40 sts on needle.
Row 2: K1, K2tog, yo, K2tog, K across.
Repeat Row 2 until 4 sts remain.
Bind off.

I use Lily's Sugar'n'Cream yarn for this dish cloth. It's a cotton yarn. Try it out. If you have any problems or questions, let me know.

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to That's Knit-tastic. I've been knitting for a couple of years now, and have recently gotten more involved with it. I started this blog to share my patterns and knitting projects with others on the web. I hope you enjoy it.