Honeycomb Cable Stitch

First off, I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and that your new year is starting off great. It's February and as familiar as blogging is to me, this almost seems completely new because I haven't posted anything for a while. Not to make excuses, for during my absence, we took a much awaited trip to visit our family and friends for Christmas and I had a lovely time with my family especially my sisters. So, please bear with me as I try to pick up where I left off.

I am starting off this first blog post for the new year with this nicely textured stitch called the honeycomb cable stitch. This pattern is from newstitchaday.com and you can find the pattern here.

For the past couple of weeks, I knitted a few hats featuring this lovely stitch using two sizes of needles and worsted-weight yarn that is 100% acrylic.

These hats were knitted using flat knitting, there is a running seam to secure the hat. As you can see, there is just a slight difference between the two hats as far as the honeycombs. I used US 7 straight needles for the seafoam and US 9 straight needles for the gray.

I was not crazy about how the seafoam hat's top turned out. I thought the twists were not well defined. I do love the color, though!

The gray hat turned out to be a better fit. The natural tension of the stitch made the seafoam hat a bit tighter  with the smaller needles.

















For this navy version, I added a pompom on top although I think a bigger pompom would have complemented the stitch more.

This lovely stitch took longer to knit but I would have to say that it was worth it. I hope that you will enjoy this stitch as much as I did. If you're craving for texture, it would be perfect for any project that you have in mind!

Happy knitting!




Reference and Pattern Source: http://newstitchaday.com/honeycomb-cable-stitch/


Full credit goes to newstitchaday.com for the pattern used in this post. Thank you, #newstitchaday for this lovely pattern!

Alaska Winter Nights Hat

With just 5-6 hours of daylight a day, winters in Alaska can be long and daunting. Add to that the bitter cold from below zero temperatures which we are currently on for a few days now. It is beautiful, though... like a picture perfect winter scene straight out of a Christmas card.

There are actually a couple of inspirations for this hat: our Alaska winter nights and the reminder that I had from a book. I am currently reading Max Lucado's Traveling Light which is a great book that talks about how we can turn to God and entrust Him instead of some of our daily baggage: burdens that are not meant for us to bear. View my Instagram post.

At this time, I would like to share with you some features from this hat, The pattern is pretty straightforward but I will be working on a PDF version soon which I will eventually post here.

I used a pair of US 8 knitting needles and 100% acrylic yarn of the same brand in 4 colors. The first 10 rows was a (K2, P2) rib, followed by stockinette for the rest of the hat. I started with a dark gray for the first 2 bottom rows of colorway, followed by another 2 rows with silver gray, and 1 row of white. This was followed by the decrease rows and ultimately turning to the white color for the top of the hat until fastening off.

That said: I think it's neat to be able to find inspirations for our craft, whatever it may be. I personally have a sense of satisfaction whenever ideas come from unexpected sources. So, my friends, let's continue to challenge ourselves. Let us stay alert and be engaged. An idea or two is just out there for us to discover.

Thank you for visiting and happy knitting!

Chunky Pompom Winter Hats

Hi, friends! I have recently introduced the Chunky Pompom Winter Hats Collection that I have on my Etsy shop.

These warm, chunky hats use a nice wool and acrylic blend that is soft and comfortable. There are color choices that you can choose from and customize your own hat style with. These hats are made to order. Check out my Etsy shop for more details! 

On a side note, I posted a photo tutorial a little over two weeks ago on how to make these adorable and fun pompoms. You can check it out here: How To Make a Pompom

 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

How To Make a Pompom

Hello, friends! Wow! September sure did come and go very quickly. I was engrossed with knitting and the Etsy shop that I barely had time for some serious blogging.

Before I get deeper into my post for today, I would like to share with you this photo from this morning. I am just so humbled and blessed to witness such beauty. For me, it is an assurance that God loves us and cares for us in magnificent ways. I hope you find inspiration in everyday things. (smiley face inserted here)

As my way of saying goodbye to September, I put together a photo tutorial for you on how to make a pompom. Pompoms are so versatile and fun. They can put the pow in your accessories. You can make them in different sizes, using different colors and materials.

In this tutorial, I used a chunky yarn for my pompom to finish off a fun winter hat using the same yarn.

I hope you find this tutorial useful. You can use this same technique in customizing your pompom. Try making one using multiple colors at a time. Have fun and get creative!

I would love to hear what you come up with! Post a comment, drop a note, and thank you for visiting!

Diagonal Basketweave Cable Stitch

Hello, everyone! It's been a while since I have posted on this blog. We have been busy celebrating and enjoying our summers up here in Alaska. I hope you are making the most of it as well.

Lately, I have been working on some experiments with this gorgeous yarn. This bulky yarn is 80% acrylic and 20% wool which I think is a very nice blend. The recommended knitting needle size is US 10.5 but for this specific pattern, I used US size 13.

This pattern is from knitting-bee.com. It is called the Diagonal Basketweave Cable Stitch. You can find this lovely pattern here. Knitting Bee offers both patterns for the smaller and medium size cables. The pattern that you see on the photo below is the Diagonal Basketweave Cable Stitch - Small.

Now, the reason for using bigger needles is to achieve a more drapery effect. This pattern makes for a very dense and tight cable stitch but if you want your finished item to be a bit more loose, you can certainly try using different sizes of knitting needles.

US 11 knitting needles

US 13 knitting needles

Reference and Pattern Source: http://www.knitting-bee.com/knitting-stitch-library/cable-knitting-patterns/diagonal-basketweave-cable-stitch-small

Full credit goes to knitting-bee.com for the pattern used in this post. Thank you, #knittingbee for this lovely pattern!