If you follow me on Instagram, you already know that I amused myself on my travels to Yarnover and Stitches United by knitting tiny pussyhats.
They’re an homage to the pussyhats worn during the Women’s March last January. After all, you can’t wear a hand-knit hat year-round, but you can wear a tiny pussyhat lapel pin, right?
If you’d like to knit one of your own, here’s the recipe: Using pink sock yarn and your favorite sock needles, JMCO 15 sts onto each of two needles. Work stockinette in the round for 1". Work 3 rounds k1 tbl, p1 rib. BO in pattern. Using the tails and a tapestry needle, with RS facing, sew a stitch or two in each top corner to define the ears. Weave in ends. Attach with safety pin.
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Speaking of Stitches United... it was great fun to peruse the weaving, sewing, embroidery, and quilting on display in the Market. Of course, I was especially taken by the quilting. My favorite quilt was by Michelle Renee Hiatt, on display in her Sew on the Go booth.
If you're into quilting, do check out her website!
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Here’s a topic that cropped up in my classes at both Yarnover and Stitches United: When binding off, do you ever find yourself with an annoying “ear” that sticks out at the end? It may be because you’re threading the tail through the last bind-off loop. Doing so creates an extra, unnecessary link in the bind-off chain.
Instead, try this: After binding off and snipping your yarn to create a tail, simply enlarge that last bind-off loop until the tail pops free. Yes, the loop will disappear – but that’s the point! No extra loop, no annoying “ear.”
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Continuing with my explorations into wedge shawl design, lately I’ve been knitting a series of sample mini-shawls. The goal is to figure just how fast these “start small, knit until big enough” shawls should grow. Is increasing an average of two stitches per row enough? Is an average of four increases per row too many? Does the answer depend on the type of stitch pattern in use, and if so, how?
My first samples (shown above, not yet properly blocked) are inconclusive. On average, the one in the upper right grows two stitches every row, and it seems okay – the top edge of the shawl looks like it would block straight – but what if it were knit in a different stitch pattern? And the other sample, which grows four stitches per row on average, might be okay, or it might buckle at the back neck when worn. Who knows? More testing is required!
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Are you a stitch maps fan?
If you are, you’ll want to be sure to like the Stitch Maps page on Facebook. I do my best to post there regularly: a “Did You Know?” Tip of the Week, a Stitch Pattern of the Week, and a Tidbit of the Week. To be sure to see all the posts, tell Facebook you want to see Stitch Maps first in your News feed!
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