All posts filed under: knitting

knitting the diamond hat, a free pattern by anne mizoguchi

Published by fairfaxhill

One of the first knitting projects I finished this year is the Diamond Hat, a pattern you can download for free on the Ravelry website. This was a good project to practice my colorwork technique and tension (both still a work in progress). Surprisingly, I was able to finish it super quickly, which makes it a great gift idea. One thing I noticed was that my ribbing was slanting to the left a bit. Do you see it? The ribbing is not a typical knit one, purl one. Instead, you knit the ‘knits’ through the back loops, which makes the rib be more defined. I liked the resulting rib, but the slanting edge was bugging me. That’s why I decided to block the hat. Blocking sounds scary to new knitters, but actually, it’s a pretty easy process. You need a bucket, warm water, wool soap (or baby shampoo), and a few clean towels. This pattern is easy to follow, and you can have a lot of fun experimenting with different color combinations, something I’ve been …

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november plans and ideas – wk.47

Published by fairfaxhill

I was thinking this morning, that on a typical week I find so many ideas for projects I want to try, that I have trouble keeping track of them all. I keep a paper journal where I save photos of things I’d like to make, names of websites I stumble upon and want to revisit, recipes I think we’ll love, gift ideas, etc. My paper journals are complemented with apps like Evernote and Pinterest, and quick snapshots saved on my phone. So, today I had an idea. What if I gave myself a recurring task to review my notes once a week, and select my favorite things to share with you? I got this idea from reading this article on creativity, which I revisit often and has inspired me to try other things like drawing and thinking up my own knitting patterns. I will comb through all my notes every weekend and share them on the blog on Sundays. This will a) motivate me to write more often, b) give all my favorite notes a …

knit swatch with the word love on it

quarantine knitting update

Published by fairfaxhill

It’s so silly, but one of the highlights of my day has been getting an email from Paradise Fibers saying that my order is on its way. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I’ve been following Arne & Carlos’s Quarantine Knitting Mystery KAL to try to keep my mind off the coronavirus and to help manage my ever-growing anxiety. This is one of my blocks so far. I love this green, but I’m craving red or pink! I am truly amazed at how many people have joined this KAL (short for knit-along and my first one ever). The work that some of the knitters are sharing is just wonderful. Quite a few of them were lucky to have many different colors stored away in their homes to make each square different. Or, they had lovely palettes to choose from. Others, like me, had fewer color choices, but still, it’s fun to see all the possibilities. I like the yarn I’m using, but as I kept knitting new pieces, I started longing for some red, pink, …

worsted yarn wpi

what to do with yarn that has no label

Published by fairfaxhill

A good friend sent me a message this morning asking for some advice on what she could do with some yarn she had gotten as a gift, to which I answered, “Join the Arne and Carlos knit-along!” But she said she had other plans, like knitting a poncho or a kimono. That sounded fun! I recommended signing up for a Ravelry account to search for poncho patterns. There are so many patterns on Ravelry.com — not only that, you can search by yardage, by the exact brand of yarn you have, by type of project. It’s really a fantastic tool for knitters and crocheters alike. Unfortunately, she said that wouldn’t work, since she had no idea where the yarn labels were. From the picture she sent me, it looked like a medium weight yarn, but it was hard for me to tell from the photo alone. My first recommendation was to knit up a swatch. Cast on 20-24 stitches and knit until you have close to a square. Measure it and see how many stitches …