Tag Archives: Free Pattern

Vacation and Patterns

This has been a gloriously busy and relaxing week all in one. We  chose to stay at home on in order to get some projects finished around the house. Those are coming along a lot more slowly than planned. They will be finished before the week is out. My vehicle developed engine trouble and spent a day at the mechanic's shop being repaired. 

Most importantly, there has been lots of time for us just to be together as a family. When left to our own schedule, we tend to eat several small meals a day.  Our family talks a lot and meal or snack times are the perfect time to indulge in this activity. We have been enjoying the freedom to do this.

I have added a new page to this blog with some free patterns on the right side bar. It is titled Rose Trellis Ensemble. The set includes patterns for a cloth and towel. I have also added more Flickr widgets on the left side bar.

Free Pattern

Here is a pattern for a dish or wash cloth knit on the diagonal

Hillsandvalleys2

Hills and Valleys

Materials:

100% Cotton Yarn  Peaches ‘n’ Creme 1.2 ounces-Yellow
Knitting Needles: size 7 ( 4.5 mm )
Gauge: does not matter
Finished size: varies depending on how large you want it to be.

Abbreviations used:
CO= cast on
K=knit
P=purl
Inc=Increase: knit in front and back of stitch unless otherwise stated
K2tog=knit 2 stitches together
P2tog=purl 2 stitches together
Bo=bind off

Pattern:

    Cast on 4 stitches.
    Row 1: Knit  across

Increasing Rows:

Row 2:Inc 1 in first stitch, then knit across the row.
Row 3:Inc 1 in first stitch, then knit across the row.
Row 4:Inc 1 in  first stitch, then purl across the  row
Repeat Rows 2-4 until one side of the cloth is the length you want it to be.
The yellow cloth above has 44 stitches across and measures 7 3/4 inches on each side.

Note: I like to end the increase rows by doing a purl row ( row 4 ) It is up to you.

Decreasing Rows:
Row 1: Knit across row to the last 2 stitches, K2tog   
Row 2: Knit across row to the last 2 stitches, K2tog
Row 3: Purl across row to the last 2 stitches, P2tog
Repeat Rows 2-3 until there are 4 stitches left on the needle.

BO and weave in loose ends.

If you have have any questions, please let me know.

Pattern Revision as of March 28, 2008:

The ending corner of this cloth tends to look not quite right with the pattern written the way it is. I have experimented and have re-written as follows:

Repeat Rows 2-3 until there are 5 stitches left on the needle.

BO and weave in loose ends.

This has the effect of making the first and last rows have the same number of stitches in them. Please let me know what you think of this change.

Please be advised that this pattern is copyrighted to Norma R. WAMPLER and Oct.2007-All Rights Reserved.
You may PRINT OUT A COPY for personal and charitable use only.

Coasters

It has been coaster knitting time in my house for the past week. We have a wooded kitchen table that sometimes lives a hard life. My family is quite loud in their protesting when a protective tablecloth is placed on it. The compromise to this situation is that coasters will be put under glasses, cups and bowls. Serving dishes will have mats, such as dishcloths or potholders, under them.

My part of the compromise is to provide  an ample supply of the coasters and mats in assorted colors and sizes.  Inspired by this site  and this one, I made these coasters.

Tealcoasters1
These are made from Peaches n Creme Teal Ombre.

CoastertrioaI used Peaches ‘n Creme Aztec Ombre for the top cloth and Sugar ‘n Cream in Patio Pinks.   

Rnbwbrtcoastersb
These are made from Sugar’Cream Rainbow Bright.

The pattern I used was a modified version of Grandma’s Favorite:

Using size #7 ( 4.5 mm ) Bamboo needles:

  • cast on 3 or 4  sts
  • knit across the first row
  • increase by knitting in front and in back of the first stitch of the row, knitting across the rest of the row
  • did this until 30 sts on needle
  • The next row : knit to last 2 sts, then knit 2 tog.
  • continued decreasing until 3 or 4 sts. on needle and bound off.

The first set, which were the Rainbow Bright coasters were made with 3 stitches cast on. I chose to use  four stitches for the other coasters because it looked nicer that way to me.
They measure approximately 4 3/4 inches square before washing. They have not been washed yet so the final measurement is not known.
I weighed them on the kitchen scale this morning and learned that one coaster weighs 0.4 ounces. Five coasters weigh 2.2 ounces.

This is not the most interesting or challenging bit of knitting I have ever done. It is meeting the need my household has for coasters quickly and easily. 

Scarves

For quite a while I have also been considering the enormous size of my stash; the amount of storage space in my house and the relationship between the two. My stash is too large for this house. That is all there is to it.

I am also keenly aware of the needs of those less fortunate than my family and I. Even when life has been hardest we were blessed to have a roof on our head; a bit of food on the table and our other basic needs met. If we had needed more blankets, hats, scarves or other warm items my hands and stash could have provided them with a minimum of time and effort. Others are not so fortunate. I know. I was a home health nurse who went to some of the poorest sections of our metropolitan area and witnessed some of the needs. .

These two facts, combined with the inspiration from this post: 40 Days For Others: Scarves, have resulted in much of my knitting or crocheting time being devoted to knitting scarves to be given to at least one local charity.

StashScarfa

StashScarvesb

I cannot claim credit for the pattern since there could be one already written for it. What I did was use 4-6 strands of yarn, depending on the thickness of the strands and a pair of # 19 knitting needles. The yarns were not always the same texture or thickness. My goal is to have a thick warm item.

I cast on 14 stitches ( For those who understand the concept of multiples I used Multiples of 2 plus two. ) and worked a 2 x 2 ribbing of Knit 2, Purl 2 one row and Purl 2, Knit 2 on the next row. I did these two rows until the scarves measured about 60 inches or one of the strands of yarn ran out. For a couple of scarves there was more than one skein of the same color in my stash. If the scarf wasn’t quite long enough to suit me, I just attached the next skein and continued. The width is about 5 inches.

For the first couple of scarves, I knit the first row or 2 before starting the ribbing and knit the last row or two before binding off. I didn’t the way this looked and decided to just work the entire scarf in ribbing.

I must give credit to my resident Color Experts also know as Husband and Child #1. They very willingly gave their help with color and texture choices for these items.