Fixin Stitches

I'm the first to admit that I'm not perfect and nether is my knitting. I do, however, have perfectionist tendencies. If I've made a mistake in the row I'm knitting (or even a few rows back) I'm undo my stitches and fix it. Usually if the mistake is over five rows ago, the mistake stays! As my Mom says "It adds character"!

Today I'm going to share with you some ways that I've found helpful in fixing knitting mistakes...

There are many useful tools to keep in your knitting "toolbox".
Some of the great tools in my collection are a stitch holder
(a wonderful gift, from a wonderful friend!)
and a crochet hook.

A crochet hook is great for reversing a stitch from knit to purl (and vice versa). This was something amazing I discovered while working on a complex pattern. I had made a mistake with a few stitches but did not discover it until I was working on the next row. Because it was only a few stitches I didn't want to undo the row I was working on and half of the previous row to fix a few stitches.

With my previous row on the left needle, my fixed stitch on the stitch holder, and my current row on my left,
I removed a stitch off my left needle and took out the working yarn from the stitch.

Here is a close up view.
On my left needle you can see the first stitch
is currently knit.

After taking out the working yarn, I moved the working yarn in
front of the stitch and using my crochet hook pulled it through to the back
of the loop. The stitch is now purl.
I added it onto my stitch holder and continued correcting stitches.

I have found that this is an awesome way to correct stitches without having to take out an entire row for a few stitches. I hope you find this helpful. Let me know if you have any questions!

Happy Crafting!

Diagonal Knit Headband

I was recently approached by Decal Drama because they like my crafts and wanted a craft of mine to feature on one of their mini-giveaways! I've been waiting a few weeks to share this with all of you and I'm excited to say that today is the giveaway starting @ 3 Pacific! Go check out Decal Drama's Facebook page here and my Facebook page here. To enter the mini-giveaway like both of our Facebook pages, like Decal Drama's status and comment on it. It's as simple as that!

I decided to knit a headband because they're so popular right now. If you've read my blog before you know that any recipe or pattern is a jumping off point for me and I make it my own. This headband was no different!

You can find the original pattern here. 

The changes I made:

In section 1, I did not knit the icord and I repeated until I had 21 stitches instead of 29. (If you want to change the width, the number of stitches needs to be divisible by 4 and add 1 because Daisy stitch in section 2A is done in increments of 4 + 1.) 

Because I made the headband narrower in section 2B, row g, K 6, K 9 wrapping 3 times, K 6. (This is to create elongated stitches. Instead of wrapping the yarn around the needle once and knitting, wrap the yarn three times and finish knitting the stitch.)

Row h, P 6, Sl 4 dropping extra wraps, put all 4 stitches back on left needle, slide last 2 stitches over the first 2 stitches, P those 4 stitches, P 1 dropping extra wraps, Sl 4 dropping extra wraps, put all 4 stitches back on left needle, slide last 2 stitches over the first 2 stitches, P 6.

(Insert your needle knit wise into the wrapped stitch, slipping the stitch over to your right needle, dropping the wraps in the process. Do this for 4 stitches, then move them back to your left needle and slipping the last 2 stitches over the first 2 but not off the needle. Purl the 4 unwrapped stitches. Purl 1 dropping the wraps. Slip the last 4 wrapped stitches to your right needle and proceed in the same fashion as the first 4.)

In section 3, I knit 4 rows and knit a buttonhole in the middle of the 5th row and in the middle of the 11th row. I also sewed a coordinating button on section 1 (the first end).

Thank you to my beautiful model Tamara! Go check out her blog here.

Now go to Facebook and enter the giveaway!

Happy Crafting!

How to Knit: Purl Stitch

So you've learned how to cast on and the knit stitch with the How to Knit Tutorial series. If you need a refresher or are new to the series you can click on the bold words above and it will take you to the previous tutorials.

Today I'm going to teach you the purl stitch. The two basic stitches of knitting are the knit stitch and the purl stitch. These two stitches will be used in combination to make everything! When I started to refresh my knitting skills, a few years ago, I took a class from Joann's Fabric. The teacher didn't know how to knit left handed (which I do) and all she kept telling me was that I wasn't doing it right. So what I had to do was go home and watch youtube videos in order to teach myself how to knit properly. My knit stitch looked like the purl stitch and I couldn't purl to save my life. The problem was that I was wrapping my yarn around the knitting needle backwards and it made the loops on my needle twisted and very hard to work with. I didn't have the easiest time learning how to knit but now that I do I love it! So I'd like to help others learn as well!

Purling is opposite of knitting.
Insert your needle from the front and pointing down.

Wrap the yarn clockwise (this is the only part that's the same as the knit stitch).
Pulling it through the stitch.

and pushing the stitch off the needle.

Repeat through the row. Inserting the needle through the front and down.

Wrapping the yarn clockwise.

pulling it through the back and pushing it off.

The purl stitch gives you this bumpy look.

Here is my video tutorial for the purl stitch:

Happy Crafting!

Basket Weave Scarf: Scarves for Christmas

This scarf was a bit hard to find a pattern for. I have a strict rule (so far) that I won't pay for a knitting pattern. I will keep searching the internet until I find one similar or a different one that I like that's free. I had found a scarf pattern similar to this but it was $10 for the pattern. So I started on a hunt for a pattern for N's scarf. I remembered a baby blanket pattern that I had pinned previously on pinterest. It is a basket weave pattern blanket that I adapted into a scarf. I LOVE the way it turned out. I keep telling my husband with each scarf I knit how much I love the scarf and I hope that those that receive the scarf will love it even a quarter as much as I do!

The scarf has a border of seed stitch (six rows on the bottom with three stitches on each side). The basket weave is done in increments of six and I did the scarf twenty four stitches across (so it is still divisible by six and works with the pattern). The seed stitch border is shown below in bold.

K P K  P K P K P K P K P K P K P K P K P K  P K P

P K P  K P K P K P K P K P K P K P K P K P  K P K 

K P K  P K P K P K P K P K P K P K P K P K  P K P

P K P  K K K K K K P P P P P P K K K K K K  K P K

K P K  K K K K K K P P P P P P K K K K K K  P K P

P K P  K K K K K K P P P P P P K K K K K K  K P K

K P K  K K K K K K P P P P P P K K K K K K  P K P

P K P  K K K K K K P P P P P P K K K K K K  K P K 

K P K  K K K K K K P P P P P P K K K K K K  P K P

P K P  P P P P P P K K K K K K P P P P P P  K P K

K P K  P P P P P P K K K K K K P P P P P P  P K P

P K P  P P P P P P K K K K K K P P P P P P  K P K

K P K  P P P P P P K K K K K K P P P P P P  P K P

P K P  P P P P P P K K K K K K P P P P P P  K P K 

K P K  P P P P P P K K K K K K P P P P P P  P K P

P K P  K K K K K K P P P P P P K K K K K K  K P K

K P K  K K K K K K P P P P P P K K K K K K  P K P

P K P  K K K K K K P P P P P P K K K K K K  K P K

K P K  K K K K K K P P P P P P K K K K K K  P K P

P K P  K K K K K K P P P P P P K K K K K K  K P K 

K P K  K K K K K K P P P P P P K K K K K K  P K P 

(Follow this pattern until your desired length. Finishing with the seed stitch border.)

P K P  K P K P K P K P K P K P K P K P K P  K P K 

K P K  P K P K P K P K P K P K P K P K P K  P K P

P K P  K P K P K P K P K P K P K P K P K P  K P K 

I have come to the conclusion that I love multi-color yarn and the pattern that it creates within the pattern!

A close up: basket weave is alternating blocks of knits and purls.

I loved the look of this scarf so much that it is the background for my CraftyRDH Facebook page. I would greatly appreciate it if you all would follow my blog and like my Facebook page.
Happy Crafting!