Winter Class: Argyle Vest

Design is not just
what it looks like
and feels like.
Design is how it works.
[Steve Jobs]

Teaching classes is an asset for a knitting-pattern designer. At least it is for me. Not only do my students inspire me by their requests and enthusiasm, but they help me clarify the pattern details and how to word the instructions. I have been composing a basic vest pattern in multiple sizes and gauges for an argyle technique class. Here are details of the fun parts of the pattern and how the design works:

• Each of the eight students selected yarn colors in DK or light worsted weight from their favorite brands (Cascade 220, Berroco Ultra Alpaca, Brown Sheep Nature Spun, Rowan Creative Focus). I customized color charts (shown above) for each student to use with her written pattern.
• The lower edge is ribbing that is knit in the round so it lays nicely on the hips.
• The body is knit in two parts (back which is plain and front which is argyle) but the seam starts above the ribbing. Two stitches are added at the beginning and end of each piece as a seam allowance to produce an easy to sew, tidy seam.
• The armholes are finished with applied iCord and the V-neck is finished with ribbing and an invisible bind off.
• Attention is paid to smoothness of the fabric. Yarn joins and wraps follow the suggestions in the book shown below.
• The accent lines are worked in duplicate stitch.

An excellent source for refining intarsia technique is Intarsia—A Workshop for Hand & Machine Knitting from the studio of Sealed with a Kiss (Sherry and Keely Stuever). Select this LINK to download a sample swatch pattern for argyle intarsia.

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Free Knitting Pattern: Basic Hat

If a woman rebels against high-heeled shoes,
she should take care to do it in a very smart hat
[George Bernard Shaw]

Our autumn is so sparkling and fresh that I can’t imagine needing a hat, but I know the cold winds will come so I thought I would offer a simple hat pattern. Two of my favorite people agreed to model the two variations. Josh, on the left is wearing the regular watch cap. Rachel is wearing a cloche version. Both take about 220 yards of yarn, are knitted in short-row wedges and joined with a 3-needle bind off. The cloche is joined unevenly allowing a step cuff to be pinned up with a broach.

Select this LINK to download this free printable PDF pattern.

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Simple Sock

Turn your wounds into wisdom.
[Oprah Winfrey]

It happened yesterday on her way to the yarn shop—my friend took a misstep and fractured a bone in her foot. Not knowing it was fractured, she went on to the shop where she was cared for with an ice pack while she received a knitting lesson and the concern of new friends. Later, after she returned home from an urgent care center, she emailed me that one silver lining to her injury is that she now has a good excuse to sit and knit.

In case you need a dose of caregiving along with new yarn, here’s a LINK to the website of the shop she visited — Yarntiques in Johnson City, TN.

Meanwhile, instead of sending her a get-well card, I’m posting this LINK to another free PDF pattern that other folks might like too (even if you don’t have a good excuse to just sit and knit). I designed this to use when I teach sock workshop classes. It includes the basics of sock knitting and the non-stop heel in a quick-to-knit project. To make it even simpler, you can choose to knit stockinette instead of the k3, p1 ribbing. This will fit a small child.

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Free Knitting Patterns

A hug is a great gift – one size fits all, and it’s easy to exchange.
[Author Unknown]

Since I can’t give you a hug, I’ll offer you knitting patterns. I’ve added a category link to the left column (scroll down) for free patterns. That will bring up posts that include a free pattern. There is also a free sock pattern in the Sock Workshop (links in left column as well), and on my website:

• Marshfield Sock
• Small Fair Isle Project
• Tiny Non-Stop Heel Sock

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Pine Tree Sock

We can learn a lot from trees:
they’re always grounded but never stop reaching heavenward.
[Everett Mámor]

Before I moved into this house that has been my home for twenty years, someone fixed a planting bed around the front to give the facade curb appeal. On the west corner, they planted a small blue spruce. It was about 5 feet tall and very pretty. It grew. It is still very pretty but now stands considerably taller than my two-story house, fills the 15 feet between the house and the sidewalk, and hugs one corner. It is the right tree planted in the wrong place. I know that I should have a tree service come remove it, but I don’t have the heart to do that. It shelters my office from the northwest wind in the winter and is a privacy shield in front of my windows when I work at night. I’ll wait until the city or one of the utilities demand that I remove it. Meanwhile, it inspired me to include it in my knitting patterns.

This sock was knit using a DK weight or light worsted weight microfiber. I did that out of curiosity. It turned out soft, can be machine washed and dried, is really inexpensive, and wears like iron. I prefer woolen socks, but wear these a lot. Some day, I’ll knit it in wool.

Because of the yarn weight, it is knit on only 52 stitches. A little cable decorates the cuff ribbing and the sides of the socks. The trees are worked in knit and purl stitches. The gusset for the heel is created by working increases before the heel is turned. The heel turn is worked using short rows back and forth. I use variations of this style of heel on most of the socks that I knit.

You are welcome to download a printable PDF file of the pattern at this LINK at no charge.

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Patricia’s Scarf–2

I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things…
I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind.
[Leo F. Buscaglia]

Here it is—finished. The first part of this project is at this LINK (two posts ago).

I was a busy bee this week trying to get this done. On Thursday, I took my friend to the hospital at 6:30 a.m. for outpatient surgery. I was working down the point by the time she was in recovery, and did the last decrease as the nurse said we could go home.

The first post for this project ended with the pattern for the neck shaping. The right tail has 4 increases that are a mirror image of the ones shown on the left-tail chart.

The first chart below starts on a right-side row—read from right to left. To create the join at the back of the neck, work in pattern across the right long tail, cast on 25 stitches, then continue on across the left tail.

On the wrong side, follow the chart from left to right, purling the stitches above the 25 cast on stitches. This row finishes the trees on the long tails.

The second chart below (also read from bottom to top) shows the shaping of the back collar. Work two decreases on each right-side row—inside the border texture stitches on each side. The trees are centered on the 13th stitch of the 25 stitches that were cast on for the back of the neck. It might help to use a stitch marker.

The third chart (read from bottom to top) continues on to show the rest of the collar. The point is formed with 3-stitch decreases once there are only border stitches left. These two collar charts are divided only because I was putting them on the internet and needed to keep the image sizes small.

Select this LINK to download a printable PDF file of this pattern.

JOIN at BACK of NECK

SHAPING the BACK COLLAR

FINISHING the BACK COLLAR

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Owain’s Hat

I was just thinking,
if it is really religion with these nudist colonies,
they sure must turn atheists in the wintertime.
[Will Rogers]

I purchased a couple of pounds of fine Leicester wool when I was at Noah’s Landing in Ohio. My daughter spun it into yarn and encouraged me to knit it for our little Owain. Here is the winter hat. If you are interested in knitting this pattern, I’ve made a PDF version that you can print at no charge. Select this LINK to download the pattern.

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