HoB Mitts free pattern

I've been itching to make something using Lion Brand's Cotton-Ease yarn ... but it has been nearly impossible to find it. I guess all the yarn stores in my area just don't carry it. Yeah, I know, that doesn't make sense to me, either.

But I finally found some in stock at JoAnn. I'm not too sure about the color (Taupe), but I bought what I hope is enough to make a shawl.

In the meantime, I decided to experiment with a pair of fingerless mitts. This HoB Mitts pattern by Mechee Meador is very nice - quick and easy.

I used a provisional cast-on of 35 stitches so I could add an i-cord edging to the finger opening and also graft the side seam after working the thumb gusset. The other thing I did differently was to work the entire mitt in garter stitch, omitting the stockinette panel.

Asymmetrical Lines free pattern

Asymmetrical Lines by Miwa Kawamura is a very nice (and free) knitting pattern for a triangular scarf in squishy garter stitch. It's a great way to show off the colors in some striping or variegated yarn.

I had a small amount of the Hobby Lobby Jazz Stripe left over after finishing the Jazzy Infinite Granny Square blanket, so I used that yarn here and added some Boysenberry Red Heart With Love for contrast.

The designer’s third photo is very helpful in figuring out the instructions to the start of part B row 3.

Trying filet crochet

If you're ever in the mood to mix things up a little, try filet crochet.

This Heart Filet Block 2 free crochet pattern by Belle Tracy is just one example of the endless possibilities to be found in the filet crochet genre.

The block above measures about 10 by 10.5 inches with 1 round of sc border.

Rather than making a lot of individual squares and then assembling them to form a blanket, one could conceivably do a foundation row that's long enough to allow for multiple "squares" to be worked contiguously, which would be a bit of a brain-bender in the beginning but would save a lot of work on the finishing end of the job.

Jazzy Infinite Granny Square Blanket free pattern

Want to make an afghan that works up quickly and easily and looks great? Try this free Granny Square Baby Blanket Pattern by Lauren Brown. The stitch pattern is the same as for a traditional granny square, but instead of finishing off after a few rounds and having to join together a bazillion little squares to form a blanket, this version just keeps adding rounds until you reach the desired finished size. I love it - sooo easy.

I'm completely satisfied with the pattern, but I was rather displeased to discover that Hobby Lobby has altered its spin (literally) on the Jazz Stripe colorway.

I purchased the yarn that I used to begin this blanket more than a year ago, and I only had a small amount of one skein left. (See first photo.)

So I went online and ordered some more skeins of the SAME colorway with the SAME product number, but when I opened up the delivery and started working, it was immediately apparent that this new version of Jazz Stripe was exceedingly more mottled than its predecessor. (See second photo.) And what makes this even worse is that the product photo on Hobby Lobby’s website still shows the OLD version of the yarn. GRRR.

This isn’t a dealbreaker for me, and of course Hobby Lobby has every right to change its colorways. And, YES, the old and new colorways still match overall. I’m just disappointed with the change is all.

Double Warm Headband pattern modification

The first time I made the 1898 Hat, I thought the lower band portion of the hat would make a great (and warm!) headband. The only tricky part was going to be figuring out how to finish off the top edge to mirror the look of the modified i-cord used on the hat's bottom edge.

So I browsed through the hat's gallery of finished projects until I found one by Sal, who had worked the hat band as a headband, just the way I had pictured it! :-) Sal said all it takes is to work an i-cord bindoff to make the top edge of the headband look like the bottom edge.

Following the hat pattern's directions, work through the part where you pickup the stitches at the top of the band. Then, instead of knitting a crown for a hat, work an i-cord bindoff. To invisibly join the ends of the i-cord bindoff, see this video.