knitting « GOODKNITS // a knitting & crochet blog

Knitting: a new stitch and some sweet patterns

By Lisa Gutierrez on 09/20/2013

Here are three more posts for the Craftsy knitting blog:

Stitch Help: Half Brioche
A photo tutorial for the half brioche stitch. It’s a nifty little stitch to have in your arsenal. It’s squishy and super stretchy.

Beyond the Beanie
A collection of knit patterns for your head. Relevant for those of us that are just tired of knitting the same beanie over and over.

Knitting for your home
Six patterns for you to knit up for your house. Pillows, poufs, rugs, and even a lampshade!

Go take a look and knit something awesome this weekend! Have a safe one. Sunday is the first day of Fall! How excited are you?

The more you know…knitting edition

By Lisa Gutierrez on 09/10/2013

Hey, folks! I’ve been writing a few posts for the Craftsy Knitting blog. Six have been posted already, including a tutorial for knitting on leather. I have covered crochet on leather here on this blog, but the Craftsy post shows another method for those not so inclined to use a crochet hook.

I also wrote about the short row heel. It’s a post for those who aren’t quite sure how to knit it up. It can be added to pretty much any sock pattern!

You can see my other super amazing posts on Craftsy HERE! I love writing tutorials and posts for beginners. It’s my life’s mission to spread the love of yarn.

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Knitting: garter & lace hat

By Lisa Gutierrez on 08/21/2013

I wrote a blog post about understanding and adapting stitch patterns. You can find it on the Craftsy blog HERE.

In the post, we explore a simple stitch pattern and I discuss how you can adapt it for working in the round. I plugged it into my basic hat pattern and turned it into a beret! The pattern is available (free!) on Craftsy. Check out the post linked above and let me know about your favorite stitch patterns…

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Knitting: mason jar cozy

By Lisa Gutierrez on 07/16/2013

This little jar has been getting a lot of use lately. I thought I would spruce it up a bit by knitting a little cozy. You can make this in under an hour, I’d imagine. It’s the perfect beginning knitter’s project! A giant swatch. No button holes and you don’t even have to add the duplicate stitch design, but why wouldn’t you? It’s cute as heck.

Download the free pattern from the Craftsy pattern page, here: Knit Mason Jar Cozy.

If you aren’t familiar with the duplicate stitch, check out this tutorial I wrote up for the Craftsy knitting blog– [HERE]

A word of caution: glass jars are pretty slippery. I made the cozy as snug as I could without distorting my stitches. I also made sure my fingers could still touch my glass when the cozy was in use. It just makes me feel more confident that the jar won’t slip out while I’m carrying it. I don’t think they’re too practical for children!

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Knitting: a cardigan for Andrew

By Lisa Gutierrez on 05/30/2013

Pattern: Go Buffalo by Terri Kruse
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light (4 skeins oceanic mix, 1 skein mahogany mix)
Needles: US 3
Mods: used a different needle size, so I made the largest size to fit my 5 year old; changed the stripe pattern; added pockets and elbow patches

I think he likes it?

This pattern was supremely easy! I guess the only thing I would change next time is adapting it to work in the round. I’m not afraid to steek, so I don’t really know why I knit this flat. I think I’ve evolved as a knitter to not hate purling so much.

I adjusted the stripe pattern to fit my yarn stash. I increased the amount of blue between the stripes every repeat. The first bit has only 4 rows of blue, the next has 6, the next has 8, the next has 10…and so on! The last 3 have 16. I added the pockets and elbow patches because I had like half a skein of mahogany left over and didn’t want it to go to waste. Plus, they’re stupid cute.

For the pockets, I picked up about 20 stitches and then knit stst for 26 rounds and k2ps for 6. I attached as I went. The elbow patches are your run of the mill “circles” started with 6 stitches, increased by 6 every round to 48. They’re more like hexagons.

This sweater is beautiful and I only had to give up one piece of candy for these photos. Win!