5 KNITTING HACKS: My first ever youtube video!

I don’t know about you, but I can get lost in youtube pretty easily. It’s like the black hole of the internet. SO MUCH WASTED TIME. I’m extremely guilty. So, what else should a good upstanding citizen like myself do but add to that miserable lovely vast ocean of video??

But in all seriousness, I hope this video is just a tad bit more helpful the cat-doing-flips-off-the-couch ones you may have watched in the past. I present to you: 5 Simple Knitting Hacks!

In this vid, you’ll find out how to use a bobby pin to assist you in two of your knitting needs, as well as how to ALWAYS ensure you have enough yarn for your long tail cast on. Also, though not quite a hack (I’m stretching it just a bit), I give you a suggestion for the bestest knitting app eva’! I never hear people talk about this particular one, so I thought I’d include it as a hack of sorts. And you’ll have to just watch the video to figure out the rest!

I know it’s not the best quality ever, but I’m working on it! Hopefully with each video, things will get better and better until finally I’m creating viral knitting videos every single week really good content for you guys. ;)

Have a good week,

Grace

PS: Please go check out my updated Japanese Flower Crochet Pattern page! The lovely Stitchin Stacy created a tutorial video for the pattern; so if you're into that kind of stuff, go check it out!

My Current Works in Progress

Happy new year! I hope you all had a safe & fun new year's eve!

In the spirit of all things reflective, today I'm going to be showing all of my WIPs that have been carried over from 2015 to 2016. You should know (and I'll talk about this more later) that I received a new camera for Christmas, so enjoy these beauty shots!

 Let's dive in! 

#1: Sock Yarn Crochet Blanket (incredibly long-term)

 

For whatever reason, I have a ton of sock yarn. I've only knit actual socks out of sock yarn once so I don't know how I have amassed such a collection. I'm ok with it though because fingering weight yarn is just so pretty. The only problem is that I own a lot of pretty. I need to use some of it up, so I decided to crochet myself a blanket. As you can tell, it's not even close to being done (and probably won't be next new year's day either to be honest) but it's all about the process, right?

#2: Crochet Collar (sort of finished)

This little darling is technically finished, but it hasn't been blocked, so I'm still calling it a Work In Progress. I got inspired by the cute collared dresses that are oh-so-trendy right now. I LOVE those things. They're so vintage looking and precious. With this pattern though, you can turn any old high-necked shirt or dress into a fashion statement. The pattern will be up next Friday!

#3: Scrappy Hexagon Blanket (somewhat long-term)

Somehow I ended up with a bunch of scraps of Red Heart in various colors and a whole pound of red acrylic. I still, to this day, have no idea how, but I'm not complaining. This blanket was inspired by a few things. 1) Cozy Thing's Felicity's Lipstick Granny Blanket & 2) Le Monde De Sucrette's Love at First Sight Hexagons. Both of which I've loved for ages. 

This blanket almost looks like it was taken out of a home & garden magazine in the 70s. I like it that way.

#4: Big Huge Granny Blanket (almost done!)

 

Look at that gorgeousness. This one is kinda like that fingering weight blanket in the fact that it's was created out of a need to get rid of old yarn. I compiled all of my old acrylic and went to work. I only have two more colors left to go!

#5: The Mermaid Shawl (Almost done - pattern coming soon!)

Here's the only knitted item currently in my list of WIPs. It's my Mermaid Shawl - a knitted take on the classic crocheted crocodile stitch. I'll be releasing this pattern in February. I'm in love with it.

And that's it! I hope you guys enjoyed this little post about my WIPs. Tell me what you think about them in the comments below!

Until next week,

Grace

The Stories Behind My Most Popular Patterns

It's almost Christmas. Obviously, this doesn't come as a surprise to you; you're well aware of this fact! And with Christmas comes new years. New years, I must say, is one of my favorite "holidays" out of the year. I'm that weird person who's obsessed with productivity and time management so I love looking back on the year and reflecting on what I accomplished. I'm going to take some time today to do just that, and you get to read it! In this post you'll find the stories behind the creation of the 3 most popular patterns that I have on Ravelry. I'm measuring popularity by the number of favorites each pattern has. I think it'll be fun to look back in a few years and compare the numbers. :)

Let's go!

#1: Tulip {2380 favorites}

Man, this thing. I published it August 3rd, 2013. I had NO idea it would do as well as it has. So how was it created? Well, if you look back even just a little bit on this blog, you'll see that crochet used to be my main focus. I started out as a crocheter and have slowly made my way into the knitting realm. There was one point when I was sitting right in the middle; I was just as much knitter as crocheter. I remember there was a pile of colorful yarn laying on the table (always a dangerously inspiring situation). This yarn was destined for this bag, the solid granny square bag, which is crocheted (picture to the left). You can get more information by clicking the link, but the simplified explanation of the construction of that crocheted bag is this: Crochet a square made in the round, increasing on each of the four corners until the base is as large as you want. Then, just stop increasing and crochet the sides straight up in the round. I loved crocheting these bags, but this particular afternoon the idea dawned on me to try knitting it. The (sort of) same construction could be applied. And ta-da! About a month later, tulip was born! It's a super simple pattern which yields an absolutely stunning how-did-you-do-that kind of result. I love it.

#2: Crochet Japanese Flower {1847 favorites}

 

 NOTE: That's not my picture!! One of my favorite things about this pattern are the magical things that people have done with it. One of those magical things is featured above.

This pattern was born out of necessity. It was published on February 5, 2012 (WHAT EVEN) around the time of my Japanese flower OBSESSION. I was seeing them everywhere (emphasis placed on this particular post from Lucy of Attic24) and I needed to make some of my own. The problem was that I couldn't seem to find a pattern in English that looked the way I wanted it to. So I made my own by zooming in on (what else?) Pinterest photos. I think it came out quite nicely, and apparently other people think so too! Yay! Find the free pattern right here!

#3: The Wavelength Shawl {661 favorites}

This thing is one of my favorites. Who am I kidding; they're all my favorites, but this one holds a pretty high rank. After publishing Tulip and realizing people really enjoyed the whole "chevron" thing, I decided to play around with it some more. I knew I wanted to make a garter shawl, and I knew it had to have really inventive construction, while still being dead simple. I sat down with a pen and a fresh notebook and started doodling and playing with yarn. A few months later, I had a finished product. It was finally published on June 6th, 2014.

Also, throughout the process of knitting this, I was engrossed in the Legend trilogy by Marie Lu. If you've ever read this, you know it's dangerously addictive and heart-wrenching and beautiful and suspenseful and and and (can you tell I'm still emotionally attached??). Anyway, the navy yarn I knit the shawl with (Knit Picks' Capretta) is named "Admiral." If you've read the Legend books you know how nicely that name pairs with the storyline. I was quite pleased with myself throughout the process and I still call this the Day and June shawl in conversations sometimes. :) (Appropriately, it was published on a day in June!)

There you go folks! There's a peek into how my brain works. I like taking multiple things from different creative worlds and mashing them up into one grand combo (or at least I hope it ends up grand!). 

I look forward to the new year and all the patterns I'll meet :)

I may or may not blog next week (bc Christmas) but I'll try to get something up for your guys!

Merry Christmas,

Grace

Four Free Christmas Themed Fair Isle Charts

Hello all,
This Friday I have a little bit of knitting inspiration for ya. A while ago, I designed a few Christmas-themed fair isle charts because I wanted to try my hand at fair isle designing. Today I thought I'd share those charts with you guys! I hope you enjoy them!

All four of these charts are 36 stitches x 54 rows. You can fit them into any panel of plain stockinette in any project, just as long as that panel is at least 36 stitches x 54 rows. To print them, right click on the one you want, and click "Save picture as.." Save it to your computer, then open it up and click print!

 1) Pointsettia

 2) Christmas Trees

 3) Hollyberries

 

 4) Reindeer & Argyle

Let me know in the comments what you would use these for! A bag? A sweater? A stocking?

Until next Friday,

Grace

Last-Minute Christmas Gifts to Knit - A Round-Up

It's officially the Christmas season! You know what that means: finish up ALL the Christmas knitting! Oh, you haven't started anything yet? Well, me neither.

Here's a collection of quick knit-up-in-an-afternoon-or-two gift ideas. I must say though, just because they're quick to make doesn't mean they lack that WOW effect!

1. For the homemaker... Rollicking Bauble Ornaments by yours truly!

2. For the coffee drinker... Forest Folk Cup Cozies from Stitch & Unwind

 3. For the fashionista... Cable Knitted Ear Warmer from Mom Advice

 4. For the kiddo... Knitted Christmas Trees from The Twisted Yarn

 (perhaps just knit the trees up and include a little kit full of decorating supplies?)

5. For the dude... Sideline Beanie also by yours truly (it's my blog, I can self-promote, OK?!)

6. For the tween... Gift Card-igan (converts to a phone case after the fact!) from Simply Notable

And there ya go! I hope this post gave you some gift-giving inspiration.
Until next Friday,
Grace