Hi Knitters,
I have to tell you how much I love doing magic loop now. As I mentioned in another blog, when I first tried my hands on magic loop, I was surprised that it was not as difficult as it seems. And I do feel more comfortable that I do not to worry about stitch dropping. Relieved! Now I don't really knit with double-pointed when I do hats. Oh...there is no turning back once you tried on magic loop!!!!!! And I was 'warned' by some friends on Instagram a while ago. Thank you guys!
Back to Op. 15. I did it mainly to test out the cable needles I bought from Daiso. Here is what I think about them. One word: secure. I didn't need to worry about dropping the stitch from the hook at all. For this reason, I highly recommend needles in this shape for first-time cable knitters.
However, the material these needles are made of, probably plastic, as not in good quality as those of Clovers. Well, $1.5 for three hooks, what do you expect. But they served me well and as you see, I finished a hat with them. Mission completed. That's good enough.
I do recommended knitting with stitch makers. Or you may get lost easily. This is optional.
About the Pom Pom. Isn't it cute? I made it with Hamanaka Pom Pom makers. May blog about this in another entry. So many things to blog about......... good to be busy.
Back to Op. 15 Hat Pattern. Again... Here is the basic info:
Material: One Skein of Cascade Yarn Longwood
Colorway #12
Tools: US#6 double-pointed needles
US#7double-pointed needles
A cable needle
A Pom Pom Maker with 7cm diameter
Stitch Markers (Optional)
Size: Fits head of 40-48cm circumstances
Gauge: 20 Stitches X 27 Rows = 10cm X 10cm
Skills you need to possess are: Casting on, Knit, Purl, Knit 2 together, Purl 2 together, Make 1, Pom Pom Making, Cable knitting.
Oh please note: I knitted with #7 Knitter's pride Cubics for the body of this hat. The the gauge is bit tighter than knitted with #7 of other brand.
I would say Op. 15 will be good for children of 8 to 14. Not too big. Not too small. Pattern is now available on both Etsy and Ravelry. Have Fun and
Happy Knitting
Hi knitters,
It is so good to talk about cable knitting. Just by understanding the concept of cable knitting, you will be able to create a lot of irresistible knit. Let's start.
First of all, let's talk about our special tool required by cable knitting.
Unlike most of the stitch you can just deal with the knitting needles, you need something extra. And the secret weapon is called "cable needle".
The shape of Cable Needles comes in two forms. One is symmetric one with the middle part concave a little bit. Don't know what it's called. A picture is worth a thousand words.
And the other one is in a J shape with one side longer and the other one shorter. I prefer J-Hook to the other options. As a forgetful person, I made a habit to insert the stitches from the longer side and knit the stitches from the shorter side. This is not what everybody does. They often do the opposite. Just suit yourself.
Is there any way you can save money by not buying any cable needle? Yes, there is. If you have double-pointed needles, you can just pick one of the right size. But do use the short double-pointed.
So basically what you need to do is to follow:
1. Separate the stitches involved into two groups. For example, when you see a C6F, there are 6 stitches involved. Divided them into 2 groups. Let's call them group A and group B. Then it will make 3 stitches belong to group A and 3 to group B.
2. Insert all the stitches of group A into the cable needle.
3. Place the cable needle either in front or back of your project. The abbreviation will tell you.
4. Knit all the group B stitches from the left needle.
5. Knit all the group A stitches from the cable needle.
Done. Easy? What you need to know is what the instruction says.
To reinforce what is written above, I made a YouTube tutorial to demonstrate how to do cable knitting. You will see how simple it is.
There is one more thing I would like to share. I usually pick a cable needle with a bit smaller than the needles I'm knitting with. For instance, when I knit with US #8 needles, I use cable needle with something like #6 needle.
There is no size mark on cable needle. However, it is very easy to tell which one is smaller. No need to worry about that.
Knowing how to do cable knitting is an invaluable benefit for every knitter who wants to have more fun. There are some knit I create that requires cable knitting skills. Op. 4 and Op. 13 are both good exercises. Later I will talk about other kind of cable knitting. Excited already? Anyhow,
HAPPY KNTTING
Hi Knitter,
I'm so so happy to announced that Op. 14 Hat Knitting Pattern is finally finished. Though the skills needed for this patterns are not difficult, writing out this complicated pattern made me dizzy...and it would be very easy to make mistake in the pattern.
Well, it does not mean that knitting Op. 14 is difficult at all. It was the writing, not the knitting that held me back. Skills required are in intermediate level: Cast On, Sewing for bind off, Knit, Purl, K2tog, P2tog, Cable knitting, twisted cable knitting. Nothing difficult. Just follow the instruction step by step and you will be fine.
And as I mentioned, I did it in Magic Loop style. It is not a must. You can always do it with double-pointed needles as the pattern says, or with circular needles.
I do encourage you to use stitch makers for this pattern. And put marker wherever I have it "spaced out" in the written pattern. It helps understand the structure of the pattern.
Material: On Skein of Plymouth Yarn Company
Encore Colorspun colorway #7750
Tools: US#7 (4.5mm) double-pointed needles
US#8 (5.0mm) double-pointed needles
A cable needle
Stitch Markers (Optional)
Size: Fits head of 50-55cm circumstances
Gauge: 17 Stitches X 25 Rows = 10cm X 10cm
Unfortunately I didn't take any pic of the yarn before I started working on Op. 14. My fault. This lovely yarn is made of 75% acrylic and 25 % wool. Product of Turkey. Like other worsted yarn, this Encore Colorspun is a little bit rough, not as soft as Uptown Worsted. That is probably before there is wool in it. And as you can see, it's very good for cable knitting. The colorway is named Lime Frost. Fresh....
And what did I put beside the left yarn? That's a tillandsia. Cute?
Oh, almost forgot to mention. Op. 14 pattern is now available on both Ravelry and Etsy. Go for it!!!
Next project will not be a hat. It will be a project that needs more than one skein of yarn. Stay tuned and
HAPPY KNITTING
