creative jewish mom

Knitting With Rope

 

Knitting with rope? Well yes, of course, what else would someone like me be doing at a time like this with Hanukkah just days away and not a decoration in site? Spending time on something totally unrelated to the task at hand makes perfect sense to those of us who will recognize the crafty procrastinator in me! It all started with that trip to the hardware store on Thursday when I spied a small spool of 3-ply light weight cotton rope that had my name written all over it.

So, Thursday night I knitted a potholder, and now I'm knitting another, but thought I'd introduce you to this idea before showing the finished projects, because it may very well strike your fancy, and you may very well want to pick up some rope and some giant needles, say, today! Of course the right needle size is quite variable depending on the diameter of your rope, but here I'm using a US 17 (12mm) needle, which produces a nice weight fabric that's not too tight. Think about it.......and I'll be back soon with the finished pieces, great little last minute gifts I might add......ahhh, so really this wasn't totally unrelated to the task at hand, now I have a nice little gift for a nice neighbor who will appreciate the notion of knitting with rope. Phew!

 

Make Care Tags For Your Handmade Gifts!

Don't you think it's a great idea to include a care tag with the next handmade gift you'll be giving? After all that time and effort, it certainly makes sense to let the recipient know how to care for their gift. Be it sewn, knitted, crocheted, or anything else that might require washing. And even a humorous care tag would be great too for any kind of hand crafted gift.

In retrospect I should have included an extra button on the card, along with the yarn scraps   (for the mending that we hope won't ever be necessary!) okay, next time! You can certainly keep it simple like I did—a piece of cereal box cardboard, the care instructions taken from the wrapper on your skein of yarn, and a nice supply of yarn in the colors you used.

That's it. Plus I think it adds a special touch to your gift, don't you? I'll be back later to show the whole sweater you see here, and in case you missed the post about crocheting button covers, you can find that here, you'll never stress over the buttons again, since these are perfect! See you soon!

Knit With Rags And Make A Rustic Table Runner, Or Two, Or Three!

I really honestly can't believe I made this! Mostly because this was a result of absolutely no planning on my part, I just started knitting! I didn't decide how much of each color, I pretty much just made balls of "yarn" from pillow cases, and each band of color represents a pillow case. Even that little pink and white striped setion was a happy accident due to a pattern on the fabric! I know you're going to run to your linen closet right now and check out your pillow case collection right? Go for it, you won't be sorry!  The resulting knit is nice and thick and textured and yet cozy at the same time. Perfect for summer outdoor accessories! See my previous post here about knitting with sheets and great time saving tips for cutting pillowcases and comforter covers. Though if you'd like to make a table runner, I'd advise doing 3 stitches on each end in garter stitch (knit every row) for a much nicer finish— my  edges rolled under a bit so you can't see them, but I wish they looked neater!

As with all the projects I've been doing with rags lately, this one is so great I really think you'll be hooked, even if you don't love knitting! I'm currently in the middle of a second strip like this one, and hoping to finish it for a gift for my daughter's birthday on Sunday  (you'll just have to wait and see what it's going to be!)

So crafty friends,  if you've got a pile of this (above left) then while you're relaxing this summer, you can make this (above right). And if you don't know how to knit, so then learn! Basic knitting and with large needles (#17) like the ones I've used is really  quite simple. I'm quite sure that there are tons of videos on youtube that will teach you everything you need to know.

Happy crafting and please do let me know if you knit something with rags, I'd love to see it! And feel free to ask me any questions in the comments section, I read each and every one. and if you'd be so kind, please click on the stumble it button to help share this with others!

You Can Knit With Sheets!

I don't know about you, but for me the idea of knitting with sheets is just downright exciting! And look at the gorgeous results! My excitement may have something to do with the fact that I've just finished crocheting a nice sized rug from sheets, (I'll be sharing that soon) and was in the need of something just a bit different!

So yesterday when I was watching the kids in our small blow up pool, I grabbed my large #17 knitting needles and some left over yarn made from sheets. I used 1" wide fabric strips, but you can certainly go narrower and use smaller needles. Though because the rags have raw edges, I wouldn't recommend going much narrower than 3/4" because of unraveling.

I really don't know what this will be, possibly a pillow cover or a bathmat (though the idea of stepping all over it just seems a bit silly). The only limitations with knitting as opposed to crocheting are of course that the size of your project is dependent on the length of your needles!

Now if you can find giant circular needles, or even make some yourself, then you're all set! The large knitting needles I have are hollow inside, so affixing a plastic covered wire between the two needles shouldn't be that difficult. Just keep in mind that a very large rug would be very heavy to work with, and you would definitely benefit by sitting at a table and resting the work on the table.

For information on how to turn sheets into yarn, see my previous post here.

I would advise doing a test run before you start ripping up your sheets, as far as the appropriate width of "yarn" for your given needle size. And do take note, you'll need lots of sheets! (Just the lavender band on this sample was a whole pillow case!) but I'm sure your family and friends will be more than happy to empty out their linen closets when they see what gorgeous things you're making! Enjoy, and let me know how it goes!

Knit A Cozy Cabled Afghan And Crochet The Border!

Once upon a time I was in a yarn store on the Upper West side of Manhattan and spied some hand-dyed variegated wool yarn that I just couldn't resist. I was very very into green at the time and well, you know how it goes! I saved this bag of precious stash, not knowing what to do with it. Finally a few years back in an effort to "use what I have" I decided to knit an afghan with the yarn. I had only one major problem, I didn't know how many stitches to cast on as I had no idea how to calculate how far the yarn would go, and there was no one around to ask.

Being an inexperienced knitter (and sleep deprived from a young baby) it didn't occur to me that I could probably even locate this info in a knitting book on one of my very own shelves. So I decided that the best thing to do would be to knit a decent sized rectangle, and then crochet a border as thick as the left over yarn would allow. Interesting idea, I must say! I decided to crochet a border using the bobble stitch, which looks a bit like knitting, and as it turned out I had quite a bit left to make a hefty border.

I'm so glad I used up that yarn, one less item on the "someday" list. My only problem now is that the too precious to use yarn has become a too precious to use afghan! Silly me, I'm sure my kids will jump at the chance to curl up with this one anytime, and why deprive them? I'll let you know what I've decided.

Until then please drop me a line, or leave a comment, and if you would be so very kind, click on the stumbleit button (in the right column at the top and bottom) to help me share the delights of creativity with an even greater audience ! Okay, begging just isn't my style, but really, if you could just click on that button and recommend my site, I would be so very appreciative.

Knit An Afghan To Match Your Decor Exactly!

Here's a really simple and relatively quick knitting project that I highly recommend! Plus it's a great confidence booster and you'll get lots of compliments when friends realize that you've actually whipped it up yourself. And even better, you can create something that really truly matches your decor.

As you can see from the photo, the fabric on my couch is gold/brown with taupe green leaves. To create a knit to match I choose four strands in different colors (gold, beige, light green, dark green) and knit them together (as if they were one strand) on large needles, size 13 US to be exact. This technique of knitting together a few strands of different colors is great, give it a try!

You'll Need:

• 3 skeins color A, 3 skeins color B, 3 skeins color C, 3 skeins color D
• knitting needles suited to knitting four strands of your chosen yarn together

How To:

1. First knit a small swatch to make sure you're happy with the results. And this swatch will help you plan how many stitches to cast on.
2. Decide on the width of the afghan you'd like to make and cast on the number of stitches necessary to achieve this width. Make this calculation by measuring the swatch.
3. Plain knitting tends to roll at the edges, so to avoid this I planned an all around border of garter stitch (knitting every row, no purl on alternate rows) which means knitting the first 6 rows in garter stitch and then the last four stitches on each end in garter stitch as well. Consult your swatch to figure out how to get an even border around, namely how many horizontal stitches match the width of 6 rows.

Note: As far as choosing colors for the afghan, if you don't have any specific color scheme you'd like to match, so knit something that looks like the sea by choosing a mix of greens and blues, or knit something that looks like a field of spring wild flowers by choosing for example red, yellow, white and green. I chose to trim my afghan with fringe, but you don't have too, you could make pompoms in all the colors and sew them onto the last row (this would be fabulous!) or even make yarn tassels for just the corners. And by the way, chunky knits go quickly, so you still have time to make this as a gift for the holidays!

Be Fearless And Knit Something Original!

This post is for the experienced knitters, the knitting daredevils and the beginning knitters who need some inspiration to get started. First of all, my apologies for the fact that I can't supply you with a pattern for this beauty. I knit this quite a few years ago and can't believe today that I actually was able to do such a thing given my serious lack of knitting knowledge! But I was apparently fearless, as I had fallen in love with a photo of a cabled shawl for a toddler. I decided that I could use that pattern for reference and make something for myself, and this was the result! On my daughter it looks a bit like the original design, only there are long tails in front which make it more like a triangular scarf for me.

So if you've always dreamed of knitting something special, go for it! When there's a will there's a way. And if you see that it's not going as you'd hoped, you can always un-ravel your work and use the wool for another project. You may have lost some time, but probably gained some valuable practice that will hopefully be of use for another project!

Note: And if you by chance have fallen for this shawl, so print it out, and take it to your local knitting store. I'm sure they can help you figure out a pattern for this, or find something comparable. And if that doesn't work, so cut a triangular piece of fleece fabric, sew on a few cute buttons, and call it a day!

A Cozy Striped Scarf: Simple To Knit And A Great Gift!

There's nothing like a chunky hand knit scarf to ward off the chill of Fall! I'm don't claim to be a knitting expert by any means, but simple scarves, blankets and hats are certainly within my abilities, and I'll be posting a few simple knitting projects this week and next to inspire those of you who've always wanted to knit, or who haven't picked up their knitting needles in years. Knitting is therapeutic and relaxing, and a great craft for Fall and Winter.

The idea behind this striped scarf was to knit something using only naturally colored wool—yes, sheep really come in these three colors: creme, grey and dark brown! Use my pattern as an example or come up with something that pleases you! And did you know that you can recycle wool from old sweaters by quite simply unraveling them? Many knitters scour thrift shops for large sweaters to unravel!

Materials:

• 1 skein each of creme, gray and brown naturally colored wool
• knitting needles to match weight of wool

How To:
I'm leaving this up to you! Cast on the number of stitches according to the width of scarf you'd like to make
and figure out a pattern of a jumbo rib, such as knit 6, purl 6, across the width of the scarf. To prevent rolling at the edges, do a garter stitch for about 4 stitches at each end.

And if this How To is just too minimal for you, let me know and I'll measure the width and length of my scarf and tell you just how many stitches and rows I knitted of each color. But you really don't need this information— stretch yourself just a bit and you'll find this project to that much more satisfying.