Toil and Trouble – a free knit pattern

I’ve been on a bit of a double sided knitting kick lately and I’m sharing two free patterns for making pot scrubbers.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble

W. Shakespeare in Macbeth

Sunday Stitch – Double Sided Knitting

Today lets try Double Sided Knitting!

No don’t leave. I promise its not that hard, not the way that I do it. Double sided knitting can get pretty complicated but it doesn’t have to be. Today I’ve got three videos which show how to make these little pot scrubbers. They are the perfect thing to try if you’ve never done double sided knitting. Give me a chance to talk you into it.

Weekly Rec – I Can’t Resist New Patterns

I won’t live long enough to make everything I want to make. I don’t stitch fast enough and I keep getting distracted by other things like eating food, sleeping, and cleaning out the microwave. At the rate that I get things done, I have enough planned projects to keep me busy for the next 50 or 60 years.

I might get another 50 or 60 years on this earth. Maybe. If I’m very tough (only the tough can handle getting old), very lucky in traffic, and don’t meet up with any homicidal microbes, I could live that long. Maybe. I might even have enough wits and eyesight left at the bitter end to weave in my last yarn tail and wrap the final wool-y thing around my shoulders before scooting off to a condo in the sky. So if I stop looking at patterns right now, today, I have a razor-thin chance of finishing up everything I want to make.

But that won’t happen. I added four new things to my que just this month. I’ll probably add at least four more next month. Why? I can’t stop looking at patterns. I download them and read them like they were stories and if I like the story the pattern tells, I add it to the list of things I want to make.

Summer of Shawls

Summers are my time. I love the heat and hate the cold. For me, summers are that magical time of year when heat is freely available and all I have to do is step outside into a powerful sunbeam and let the warm seep into my bones.

Ahhhhhh.

But sooner or later, life forces me to go inside. Inside there are air conditioners. Not just ordinary sit-in-the-window air conditioners. These are Texas sized air conditioners and they are being controlled by Texans. Texans cannot be trusted with air conditioning. They get completely out of control and will not listen to reason.

Sunday Stitch – How to Tink

Tinking is not much fun. But sometimes you need to undo that knitting and then you only have two choices: pull out the needles and start ripping, or undo one stitch at a time. Tinking is the one stitch-at-a-time way.

The Missing Knitting Needle Problem That Needs to Be Addressed. Immediately.

Dear ACME Needle Company,

I’m writing to call your attention to the missing knitting needles in your line of products. It may have escaped your notice, but there are needle sizes that you do not offer. This is a grave oversight in my opinion and one that needs to be corrected at the earliest opportunity!

The Chambered Nautilus Tam – a pattern review with helpful tips!

My Chambered Nautilus Tam (a pattern by Elizabeth Zimmermann) is done. It was easy… once I knew what I was doing. Here is how mine turned out, what I think of this pattern, and a few helpful tips for anyone interested in making their own.

Can’t Stop Knitting

Not much of a post for today. I’d apologize but… I’m not feeling very sorry about it. After too many days of only knitting a little here and a little there, I’m back at it with gusto and I don’t want to stop. Not even for my much-loved blog!

Weekly Rec – Online Stitch Libraries

A crafter can never have too much yarn, too many patterns, or too many websites on which to waste hours and hours thinking about yarn and patterns. Which is why we have online stitch libraries. These are collections of patterns, motifs really, that have been organized by helpful souls and available for free.

I’m Coming Out From Under A Cloud

It’s been a tough two weeks for me as you may have been able to tell from the rambling and chaotic direction of my recent posts. If that didn’t tip you off, the lack of any progress whatsoever on my projects probably did! But I’m back on track and I have the pictures to prove it.