Thumb Cast On

I've been teaching the girls to knit. They have trouble remembering how to cast on because they only do it once per garment. I've been very frustrated trying to find a drawing of the thumb-cast on that Mom and I learned back in the 1960s. Maybe someday I'll find the book we learned from and be able to post the drawings for posterity. FOR JOY! One of the lists I read gave a link to a British site that illustrates the thumb cast-on. If my directions below don't work, go here http://www.coatscra fts.co.uk/ Crafts/Knitting/ Howtos/How+ to+Cast+On. htm

In the meantime, here is how I cast on.

Thumb Cast On
1. Estimate how long your tail needs to be. If my cast on is for 30 stitches, I wrap the yarn around one needle 30 times and make slip knot after last wrap. This gives more than enough yarn for the tail.
2. Hold the tail-end yarn with the last three fingers of your left hand.
3. Wrap clock-wise around your left thumb until you can see an X where the two pieces of yarn cross. (It won't work if you wind counter-clockwise).
4. Insert your needle under the left side of yarn.
5. Take the ball-side of the yarn and yarn over the needle. (Come from underneath and wrap across the top.)
6. Slip the loop on your left thumb over the needle, and snug down stitch by pulling on the tail-end.
Repeat until all stitches are cast on.

Provisional Cast-On
I have done a provisional cast on that is rather like this, wrapping around the thumb and slipping it over the needle without anchoring it with the ball-side yarn. It isn't as firm a cast on, but it will give you a starting point for adding stitches within a garment.

Drawstring Knit Bag

When I was working on the most recent incarnation of the Toad Rock Tie, I had a lot of trouble with my yarn. It was very slippery and kept falling off the ball and making knots in itself.

My solution was to make the small drawstring bag above. I have since made two more. My second effort was made with size 6 needles/ size F crochet hook. It wasn't that much bigger in the base than the first, just taller. I didn't care for it. The third was made on size 8 knitting needles/size H crochet hook. The base is five rounds wide. It makes a very satisfactory bag for a standard sized skein of worsted. The key must be to increase the size of the hook/needle combination as you enlarge the bag. Oh, yes, for my largest bag, I switched from the bands of knit and purl to a k2, p2 ribbing. It worked well. I made my large bag from scrap yarn. It may take a bit more than one full ball of yarn if you are starting with a new ball.

These bags are quite handy because they keep your knitting together inside a larger bag. In a pinch you can drop your coins, or even an entire wallet in with your knitting and carry them as a purse.
Purse-sized Drawstring Knitting Pouch
1 ball Sugar n Cream cotton yarn (worsted weight)
1 size F crochet hook
Size 6 (4.00 mm) circular needles
Stitch marker
Pendant tread cutter (optional)

Crocheted base:
Chain 5 and join.
Foundation row: Chain 3. Join. 4 sc in circle.
Rd1: Chain 3. 2 sc in each of the 4 stitches.
Rd.2: Chain 3. *2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next stitch* repeat to end.
Rd.3: Chain 3,*2 sc. in first stitch. 2 sc. in each of next two stitches*. Repeat to end.
Stop here for small bag.
(Medium bag. Use a size 8 needle, and size H crochet hook) : Rd. 4: Chain 3, *2sc in first stitch, 3 sc. in next three stitches*. Repeat to end.)
(Large bag Size 8 needle, size H crochet hook) : Rd. 5: Chain 3, *2sc in first stitch, 4 sc. in next four stitches*. Repeat to end.)
Knitted sides: Remove crochet hook. Slip knitting needle into loop. Pick up one stitch around in each single crochet. You will be working from the inside out. What you knit will show as a purl on the finished bag.
Patterns:
Purl band: Knit five rows.

Knit band: Purl five rows.

Drawstring row: *YO, k2t* Repeat to end. If you do not come out even, include the last stitch in the k2t.

Small bag: Purl band, Knit band, Purl band, Drawstring row, Knit band, Purl band. Bind off.
Medium bag: Purl band, Knit band, Purl band, Knit band, Purl band, Drawstring row, Knit band, Purl band. Bind off.
Large bag: Purl band, Knit band, Purl band, Knit band, Purl band, Knit band, Purl band, Drawstring row, Knit band, Purl band. Bind off.
Crochet chain 28” (30”, 32”) long for drawstring. Knot end. If you want to attach a thread cutting pendant, slide it on after chain is finished. Slide it to the center of the string. Starting at center, weave both ends of string (one left, one right) into openings, Both can come out the same opening at the end, or have one opening each, as your spaces allow.
copyright Iris I. Jones 2006

Basketweave Afghan

I have always thought of this as Jolene's afghan. She says she got the pattern from Kathy and I'm not sure to whom Kathy gives the credit. It's a wonderfully easy and adaptable pattern. Use 1 strand of baby yarn with size 6 or smaller needles and it's a great baby blanket. Use 1 or 2 strands of worsted weight with size 10 needles, it's a lap robe (bottom afghan). I used two strands together of Lion Brand Homespun on size 15 needles and made an afghan that nearly covers a twin bed. It took 6-8 skeins of yarn.

Sorry about the cheap camera. It doesn't reproduce color well. The top afghan is the one made with 2 strands of Homespun knitted as one. It's actually a denim-blue called Williamsburg. The "red" one underneath is actually fuchia. It's made with 2 strands of knitted worsted on size 10 needles. The fringe is crocheted.
You can tell the top afghan is made with larger needles than the bottom one -- the squares are nearly twice as big.
PATTERN FOR AFGHAN:
Cast on 100 stitches using a circular needle with a long cable.
Row 1 *K10, P10* across.
Row 2: *P10, K10* across.

Rows 1-10: Repeat these two rows five times.
Row 11 *P10, K10* across.
Row 12 *K10, P10* across.
Rows 11-20: Repeat these two rows five times.
Repeat rows 1-20 until afghan is the size you want -- usually 100-150 rows. Another way to think of this pattern is that each square of Knit or Purl is 10 stitches wide and 10 rows high. The full afghan is 10 squares wide and either 10 or 15 squares high.

Fringe :
Row 1: SC in first knit stitch. *Chain 10; SC in 5th knit stitch.* to end.
Row 2: Chain 5. *SC in center of first chain. Chain 10.* continue around. Secure last stitch.
Add fringe in center of each chain section.

Family Stitch n Bitch --Learning to Knit

Hm -- I wonder if the flak about that term has settled yet? Someone was tying to copyright the term and make anyone who used it back off. I haven't heard anything lately... Well, my girls love the phrase. We'll be Stitchin n Bitchin whether it's called that by name or not. That's Kelly on the far right, Becky holding the book and Jen hiding in back. Lala is perched on her Mom's lap.
Three weeks ago it hit my daughter Jen that I really am moving to Kansas and Mom won't be just a holler away anymore. Suddenly it was "Mom! Teach me to knit before you go!" Gladly! So off we went to the yarn store for needles and yarn, not only for Jen, but also for granddaughter Lala (age 7). That evening we popped in one of my favorite videos (The Taming of the Shrew with Liz Taylor and Richard Burton) lined up on the couch and they learned to cast on and make the knit stitch.

When I explained the term "frog it" (for "rip-it, rip-it, rip-it" when you must tear out a mistake) Lala went into peals of laughter. She loves frogging. Last week she spent hours at the kitchen table, building popsycle stick buildings, then frogging them. It's a wonderful, all-purpose word -- sort of like the Scandahovian "Oof-tah!" we picked up when we lived in Minnesota. (Oof-tah can mean "Ah, go on with you!" "Oof, that's a long way down to pick up so small an object", or "Dang, I'm tired. Let me sit here a minute," or just about anything else.)

Jen and Lala have most of the traits of beginning knitters. They started off knitting too tightly. (They've worked out of that one by now.) Lala drops stitches. She will put the needle in, yarn over, then go to the next stitch instead of pulling the yarn through and slipping off the left needle. Jen adds stitches. The last stitch on her needle will roll, showing two threads where it should show one. She sees those two threads as two stitches and knits in them. Now that we've identified how the mistakes are made, we know to watch for them and fix them. Again, we have fun with it. If Jen should oops! and drop a stitch its "Oh, I did a Lala!" If Lala should add a stitch, it's "Oh! I did a Mommy!!" I was glad to learn the stitch making ditties that I've posted below. I'm hoping they will help Lala remember to finish her stitches.

The second weekend after they learned to knit was a Reyes weekend. (He lives with his Dad but visits his Mom every other weekend.) Becky, Jen's best friend, came over that weekend to learn to knit. Another trip to the yarn store! (Oh, such torture.) Back in the DVD player with Taming of the Shrew and now there are more folks learning to knit than will fit on the couch. Becky picked it up quickly. (The knitting, not the couch. ) Lala introduced her into the fine art of frogging. Lala really would have more knitting to show for her efforts if she didn't enjoy frogging so much...

Come Sunday a very dejected Reyes (age 9) looked at me. "Can't I knit, too?" "Of course you can!" Hobby Lobby isn't open on Sunday, so for Reyes we went to Michaels. He has his own Lion Brand Kids Needles. His are size 10, cause he's the oldest. Lala's are size 8. He picked yarn from my yarn stash and back to the couch for his first knitting session. Don't teach an ADD boy to knit with the TV going. He got about 8-10 rows done before he had to go back to Dad's house, but America's Favorite Home Videos took it's toll on our knitting session. I'm not sure how much he learned.

So now our knitting session is Jen, Becky, Lala and Reyes. The following weekend Jen's other best friend, Kelly, came to learn to knit. Becky came as well. It was my last day at the Library. The girls fixed supper and we had potluck, video-fest and Stitch n Bitch. Not a bad way to finish the day. It was the last viewing of Taming of the Shrew. (I had to take it back to the library; I'm going to miss having staff priviledges and getting to check 3 day videos out for 2 weeks.) Kelly pulled a few Lala's and as many Jen's but she caught on quickly.

The adult girls are making garter stitch scarves on size 15 needles with Homespun yarn. (Lala and Reyes have smaller needles are are using a cotton worsted.) Each approaches the learning process differently. Kelly, the newest knitter, is still uptight about it. She struggled with working too tightly and how to form the stitches. I had her working with regular worsted weight yarn, but I could see her frustration factor rising, so I rummaged in my stash to find her some Homespun. She frogged the first project and cast on with the Homespun. "Oh! I love this. It's working!!" Once she had a different yarn she was home free. Not only is Homespun soft, it has a curly nature. Those wavy threads doesn't want to be pulled down as tightly as worsted weight, so Kelly has a natural "brake" on the 'too tight" factor.

Jen has finished her first scarf. It has a wasp waist at the bottom and waves in and out as she learned how to count her stitches and keep from adding stitches. There are a few holes where she dropped stitches, but she doesn't want to tear it out. "It's my masterpiece! I made an entire scarf!" Much as Julie noticed when I taught her to knit last fall, the quality of the work improves in the last 1/3 of the scarf. Jen has started scarf #2 with some Lion Brand Jiffy Thick and Quick. It's working up beautifully. No wavy edges, no dropped stitches. Jen has mastered the garter stitch scarf.

Becky, on the other hand, doesn't want mistakes in her first scarf. She only has about three feet finished because she has frogged freely to repair dropped or added stitches. The yarn she is using has a subtle varigation to it. When she first noticed that one section was darker than the other, it worried her. Was she doing something wrong? Now she has knitted far enough for the repeat to show. She spends time admiring the cloth that is growing under her fingers and enjoying it's changes. Isn't this why we all knit? It's so much fun to watch something that was nothing -- a ball of yarn~ grow and become beautiful?

Lala just likes being included in what the grown-ups are doing. She get's frustrated easily and brings me her work to fix stitches. I may suggest she work on her weaving next time if the knitting isn't satisfying. It's more important that she have a good experience with handicrafts than that she finish anything properly. Now, I wonder if I've already packed all of the Knifty Knitters? She and Reyes were getting pretty good with those last winter.

Next Friday will be our last session before Pat returns. When he gets here, we fill the U-Haul and head North. Becky hsd been here during the week. She's been so good to help Jen and I move furniture or boxes or whatever it takes as I pack to leave this house and Jen moves into it. We're going to have Reyes next weekend and invite Kelly to come back. I hope to get a good photo of our group to post with this blog note. I want to teach at least one of them the purl stitch before I go. Jen isn't ready to learn it. She says she wants to be secure in the knit before she learns something new. (Not a bad idea). Perhaps Becky or Kelly will be ready. If not, I'll refer them to Julie, Jolene, Elisabeth, and the other knitters at the library when they are ready to learn. Jolene can always find the knitting video for them. Hm... I can send them the link for www.knittinghelp.com, too.
I'm so glad to see the girls knitting. They have a tradition to keep up now. Weekend videos and SnB.

Knitting Ditties and Tying a Bowline

Have trouble remembering how to form knit and purl stitches? These ditties remind me of the story about the rabbit running around his tree* that we taught Brownies when they were learning knot tying. (I was so-o-o-o bad about tying the bowline that my rabbit couldn't even find the tree!)

By the way, these ditties work. I taught them to Lala on a Monday night. She was the first of our Stitch n Bitchers to learn the purl stitch! The next day she took her yarn to school and was teaching the kids in her second grade class knit and purl stitches during show-n-tell. That's pretty good for the girl that was forgetting to finish her knit stitches before she learn the poems.

To help you remember the knit stitch: 

In through the front door,
Run around the back,
Out through the window,
And off pops Jack!


This translates as: (Knitting American style)

In through the front door -- insert your right needle from front to back of the first loop on the left needle.  

Run around the back -- Loop your yarn from the bottom around the back of the fabric bringing it onto the needle. You will be looping the yarn from underneath, between the back of the fabric and the right needle, and laying the yarn over the needle.

Out through the window -- draw the yarn that is laying across your right needle point through the loop that is on the left needle.

And off pops Jack -- Tug gently to form a new loop on the right needle, and then slip the other loop off the left needle. The left loop will form the "knot" that secures the loop on the right needle. (If this doesn't work right, the stitch will not form and you will drop the stitch.)

and the purl stitch:

Under the fence
Catch the sheep
Back we come
Off we leap.

Under the fence -- Insert right needle from back to front into first loop on left needle.

Catch the sheep -- with yarn pulled to the front of the fabric, slide it underneath the right needle and over so that it is laying in front of the loop on the left needle.

Back we come -- using the point of the right needle, guide the yarn through the loop on the left needle to create a new loop on the right needle.

Off we leap -- Slip left loop off of left needle, and allow it to tighten at the bottom of the loop on the right needle. Again, if this step doesn't finish and create the "knot" your stitch will drop and disappear.

NOTE (6/30/09): Oral traditions are always evolving. My grandkids have already modified these to be:

In the door,
Run around the back,
Out the window,
Off jumps Jack.

and

Under the fence,

Catch a sheep,

Out the window,

Off we leap.

*For the curious, I searched the Net and found this tutorial on tying a bowline from Boy Scout Troop 184 in Tranquility, New Jersey. (Unfortunately, the site had been removed, so the link no longer works. :( iij 5/09)

The Bowline

It is time to put your first accomplishment to use. We will dip into Nature Studies to come up with the mnemonic or memory aid for tying the Bowline. Form an Overhand Loop about two feet from the running end of your rope. The part of the rope in your left hand is a tree. The standing end is the trunk of the tree. The Overhand Loop is a rabbit hole at the base of the tree. The running end is the rabbit.

The story goes: the rabbit comes out of the hole (through the Overhand Loop towards you), runs to the back (to the right) around the tree and goes back into the hole from which he came. Now grab hold of the running end and the part of the loop which is closest to the running end in one hand and the standing end (the tree trunk) in the other hand and tighten the knot.

The question of which way does the rabbit go is frequently asked. Consider the loop which forms the letter “P” to be the direction pointer and go straight back on that side. The result will be that the running end will be inside the noose. If the running end winds up on the outside of the noose, the knot is not a true Bowline (called a Left-Handed Bowline, no offense, Lefties) and it will be a much weaker knot.

I have lost the illustrations that originally came with these directions, but I did find this website that gives step-by-step photos. http://www.wikihow.com/Tie-a-Bowline-Knot

Balloon Ball Winder

Do you have a few skeins of yarn that needs rewinding, but it doesn’t justify the cost of a mechanical ball winder? Here is a simple manual version. You will need:


* A package of small balloons. The ones I used were marketed as water balloons.
* Your yarn.
* A pair of scissors.
* A bit of time and patience.

1. Blow up the balloon so it is about the size of a small egg.

2. Tie the end.

3. Loop the end of your yarn around the end of the balloon. (It is not necessary to tie it.)

4. Wind the yarn around the balloon.

5. Vary your direction frequently, but do not cover the end of the balloon.


6. Wind all of the yarn onto the balloon, being careful to cover any places where the balloon shows through.
7. When you finish, the ball should appear solid, but the top of the balloon will still peak out.

8. Tuck the tail end of the yarn around the last section of windings so it will not come loose.

9. Pull up on the knot of the balloon and snip a small hole to let the air out.

10. Occasionally the balloon will pop, but it usually collapses slowly.

11. Remove the balloon and pull out the center thread.

12. Squeeze the yarn to reshape the ball.

13. Viola! Your own hand made center pull ball!

Second Shrug

I'm working on Ashley's shrug now. She's 5'6" and likes extra long sleeves. I'm making her shrug with the needles the pattern called for and am making each section 24-25" long (roughly 4 stripes plus the cuff). Her's is a tone-on-tone pink shrug, using two dyelots of the same Lion Brand Lt. Pink 101. One dyelot is considerable paler than the other so I'm making a striped shrug -- 3" cuffs (lt. pink), 5" stripe (darker pink), 2nd 5" stripe (lt. pink) etc.

Jenessa's Drop Stitch Shrug by Hazel Spencer

I am making shrugs for the 5 granddaughters for Christmas. I made the test version for Lala to see how the pattern worked. Lala picked the colors. Didn't she do a nice job? Pink cuffs and flecked main body. I think it's prettier than the picture that came with the instructions. (I'm not a doting grandma!! )
This is a nice pattern, easy to follow and very adaptable. I made Lala's smaller by using size 7 dpns and size 9 straight needles. To get the 3/4 length sleeves, I made each section (sleeve, back, 2nd sleeve) 14" long.
Here is the pattern as I found it on the website http://www.knitlist.com/99gift/shrug.htm


or http://www.hazelroselooms.com/project_files/Jenessa.pdf


A hot fashion accessory that used to be Gramma's bed jacket, but we won't tell them! I whipped this one out in a couple of evenings for my teen niece. It would probably be most acceptable in black or something sparkly! It's easy and fast and fits most teen girls through young adults. But it's adaptable by your gauge.
I used worsted weight yarn and size 8 dps and 10 straight needles. This pattern makes sleeves to just below the elbow, but you can make them any length. Measure your teen!
A little aside: If you are making this as a surprise gift and need to know, ask her her height. This is the same measurement as she is from fingertip to fingertip with her hands out at each side. Subtract 12 inches (length of two hands) and you have the length a wrist length shrug needs to be.
On the dps cast on 32 stitches evenly, place marker to mark first stitch.

Cuff: k2 p2 ribbing for 2 inches. (I stopped the ribbing and did two knit rows for the increase rows.)
Next row: increase evenly 8 stitches.
Next row: increase evenly 8 stitches.

Begin drop stitch thus:
Row 1: *yo k1* around.
Row 2: * drop yo, k1* around. Repeat these two rows ending with row 2 until piece measures 12 inches from CO (or measurement needed for your sleeve length) continue working drop stitch thus:
Row 1: *yo, k1* to marker, turn.
Row 2: *drop yo, p1*
Repeat these two rows for 20 inches. (Change to straight needles as soon as your work flattens enough. You don't have to change needles but it's less awkward) At end of 20 inches knit back onto dps and join in a tube again knitting sleeve length to match first. (Remember that you won't be purling anymore!)
1st decrease: knit 2 together 8 times evenly
2nd decrease: knit 2 together 8 times evenly

Cuff: k2 p2 for 2 inches,
Bind Off.
Tuck in ends.

You're done.

---

This pattern is Copyright © Hazel Spencer 1999 all rights reserved. E-mail Dorleska@tds.net