Knit this cozy coffee sleeve from leftover sock yarn. It’s a win-win: help the environment AND make room in your stash for more sock yarn!
Visit my Pattern Store for the FREE download.
Author: Knit Purl
Stitches West
I had a wonderful time at Stitches West in Santa Clara, CA from February 17-20. Thousands of knitters attended classes, fashion shows and shopped the marketplace. I was busy teaching mini classes in the Skacel booth located in the marketplace. I had standing room only classes teaching Judy’s Magic Cast On, Magic Loop and Lifelines. It was great to meet fellow knitaholics and introduce them to my website. I will be at Stitches South in April so look for me there if you are in Atlanta!
Thumb
Every mitten or glove deserves a thumb with no holes in the gusset. Learn to pick up stitches and follow my tips to make a tidy little thumb for your next hand warmer.
Lifelines
A lifeline is a piece of waste yarn inserted through a row of knitting. This waste yarn acts as a safety net allowing you to unravel your knitting back to this point without the fear of losing all of your work. When working a complicated design, insert a lifeline after a successful row and you can always return to this point should your knitting go awry later. This video demonstrates how to utilize a lifeline and three options for inserting them into your knitting. Take the fear out of your knitting!
The Bewitching Hour Rule
If you make a mistake in your knitting late in the evening, resist the urge to rip it out. Put it aside until tomorrow. Chances are the mistake won’t look as daunting in the morning when your eyes are sharper and you are rested. 11pm is my bewitching hour and I never rip out after that time. If you want to keep knitting after your bewitching hour, grab an easy project and knit til the wee hours!
The Scale Can Be Your Friend (Dividing a Skein of Yarn)
I have found that the best use of a food scale is to weigh your yarn. (My friend the Weight Watchers instructor hates when I say this!) I purchased a digital food scale that displays both ounces and grams. They can be found at many large retail stores (Target, Walmart, etc.) and are fairly inexpensive.
When making socks out of a 100g skein, I place the yarn on the scale and keep winding a ball off of the skein until the scale shows 50g. Voila! I now have two 50g balls of yarn allowing me to knit two socks at one time without having to use both ends of the skein. (This can get a bit tangled and I don’t like anything to slow me down.)
I also use the scale to weigh completed socks to help me determine if I have enough yarn remaining to knit the second sock. For example, you knit a sock for a long foot and you are unsure if you need to purchase more yarn – weigh the completed sock and compare it to the weight of the yarn left over. If the completed sock weighs less than the weight of the remaining yarn then you will not need to purchase more yarn.
If you want to knit two socks at a time with a questionably short yardage amount – use the scale to divide the yarn evenly and knit two toe up socks until the yarn is gone.
I have been midway through a sweater project and not sure if I have enough yarn left to knit the last sleeve. I will just weigh the finished sleeve and compare that to the amount of yarn I have left. This has saved me from being a little short on yarn and then scrambling to find the right dye lot.
Center of Attention in NYC
I have been excitedly preparing for the Trekking Knit Along for many months. In true form, I took a break from sightseeing last summer in NYC to knit a spell in Times Square. I can be seen knitting my Center of Attention socks while my daughter waited for Broadway tickets. I never mind waiting as long as I have knitting with me. Where are some crazy places you have been spotted knitting?
Axis Cable
I am in love with this cable pattern! This interesting design features cables flanking stationary center stitches. As with all cables, just a little bit of work gives your knitting BIG results. Watch the video to learn this surprisingly simple cable. Prepare to be dazzled!