Maker Goals 2021

On Instagram, I saw nicolespdesigns make a sort of bingo card for her 2021 knitting goals. I thought that was a really good idea and decided to make my own. Feel free to save this and fill it out yourself.

To see mine follow me on Instagram..

WIP Wednesday: Yellow Vintage Cardigan

I was trucking along, finally I had the desire to get some knitting done on this cardigan. I started it almost a year ago and I was ready to get it off the needles. It came to the time for me to measure my front piece to see if I was almost done, how much longer I had to go before starting the next side of the front. "Cool, I've already knit four inches, so I just had three more to go." That’s when I realized, “wait… did I forget to do the neckline shaping? NOOOO!!!” I did, indeed, forget the neckline shaping. I went through all of the three stages of grief:

Stage 1: I should probably just start the whole thing on fire and pretend like it didn't happen

For about a good half hour, I thought seriously about scrapping the whole thing. Maybe even throwing the thing in the fire pit. I hadn't put a lifeline in and didn't want to go through the hassle of either trying to put in a reactive lifeline, or ripping it back and trying to pick up the stitches.

Stage 2: Pretend it was intentional

After talking myself out of throwing the whole thing in the fire pit, I decided it really wasn't that big of a deal and I'd just continue on with no neckline shaping. But the little voice in the back of my head kept repeating "are you sure this is what you want?" Until it was screaming "ARE YOU SURE THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT?!" Until finally…

Stage 3: Rip back and fix it

Yep, so, in the end I decided I needed to actually rip out those four inches and do the neck shaping. Since I didn't have a proactive lifeline, I had to do my best to put in a reactive lifeline. It was a little difficult with the yarn overs and the decreases and I did flub up a bit, but I still managed to not drop a single stitch.

So, are you happy you did that?

Nope. I think the neck shaping looks stupid and idiot me didn't learn from my past mistake and I didn't put a lifeline back in after all that trouble. Soo..., the neckline is staying how it is. I'm sure someone with more experience with different neckline shapes would have been able to foreseen themselves not liking the shape, but you don't know what you don't know until you know. So, I'm just taking this as a learning experience.

Anyway, if you want to get real time updates on my knitting failures (and successes too!) follow me on Instagram.

Freebie: Printable Hang Tags for Gifts

Up your handmade gifts with these free printable hang tags. These are perfect for anyone who gives a lot of hand knit or crocheted gifts. Whether you make birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day or Father's Day gifts, these hang tags are just what you need.

If you like this printable and find it useful, please consider buying me a coffee so I can continue to bring you guys free printables. For more information about what it means to buy me a coffee click here.

Annual Christmas Sweater: I won't let myself be great

In 2016, I planned out a much more complicated sweater than I actually knit. In 2017, I planned out a much more complicated sweater than I actually knit. Am I becoming predictable?  If you’ve missed my other three sweaters, check out this handy tag I made to get all caught up, then hop on back here to read about another sweater that wasn't exactly as epic as I had wanted it.

No color work? What gives?

2017 was going to be the year. I was finally going to go all out, big Intarsia Christmas tree smack dab in the middle of my chest. The ornaments were going to be bobbles, maybe big, themed buttons. It was going to be awesome. But guess who had to nix that idea because she hasn’t learned Intarsia. Yeah. That’d be me. Why won’t I just let myself be great?

But Mandi, that still doesn’t explain the one color sweater. I’m talking in circles because I honestly don’t know. I think I had it stuck in my head that I needed to knit something out of my Bernat Handicrafter Book 538 (I was today years old when I learned that it was Handicrafter, not Handcrafter). I soon realized that none of those sweaters were my idea of Christmasy. It didn't matter, though, I had my heart set on a vintage inspired sweater and this pattern was the only one that had an overtly Christmas theme.

So what pattern did you use?

I ended up going with Style No. 53 (such a sexy name for a knitting pattern, no?). I heavily modified it. It was originally a cardigan with the design panel centered on each side of the front. All I did was center that panel on the front to make it a pullover. The pattern called for set-n-sleeves, but I wasn't about to try and figure out how to shape them in pattern so I converted them to dropped sleeves. I have to be honest, I do this too often. I really don't think a dropped shoulder is the best look on me. But it's the easy option so this is what I lean to most. I need to fix that and step outside my comfort zone. Maybe next year.

Next Week

So, that concludes my backlog of Christmas sweater posts. This whole process has been fun to see how much my sweater knitting has improved. Next week… well, next week I'm supposed to have this year's sweater done, but procrastination has set in and we're not celebrating Christmas until the middle of January, so we'll see what happens.

Wanna see if I finish my current Christmas sweater by Christmas day? Follow me on Instagram to see all my work-in-progress shots.

Annual Christmas Sweater: Round Yoke Redemption

My 2015 sweater was riddled with fit issues and poorly thought out color substitutions. The following year, 2016, I set out to be far more ambitious than I ended up actually being. Here I go trucking along sharing my annual Christmas sweaters if you’ve missed the previous two sweaters check out my handy tag here to get caught up.

Round Yoke Redemption?

In 2015 I knit an ill-fitting round yoke sweater. I could say the reason I knit this one in 2016 was because I wanted to redeem myself and show that I could knit a round yoke sweater that actually fit me. But that’s not exactly the case. That’s not the case at all, actually. What I had really set out to knit was an all over colorwork sweater with dropped sleeves. Once I got going on the all over patterned sweater, I realized it was going to be too much of a chore to knit, and I wasn’t about to do any stressful knitting on a tight deadline. So, I opted to change it to a simple round yoke.

My original idea for the all over pattern.

I wasn’t overly happy with the decision though. I love the sweater and it turned out great, but to me, at the time, it felt like a cop out to do two round yoke sweaters two years in a row. I low key wish I could revisit this one year and do the original all over pattern I was planning on. But I’ll probably think it’s a cop out, too. (haha)

Leftover Beads

When I was still planning on knitting the all over pattern, I ran into the dilemma of the snowmen’s faces. I’m not too keen on knitting with three colors at a time, I had done that in my previous Christmas sweater and really I had no desire to do it again. My two options then were to knit the whole thing leaving the faces blank and then duplicate stitching the eyes and nose on later. Or using beads to act as the coal and carrot. Since I’d rather adopt a pack of opossums and raise them as my own children than duplicate stitch anything, I decided to go with the beads. It was perfect, I had a ton of leftover beads from my first Christmas sweater so I would finally be using up those beads and I wouldn’t have to duplicate stitch.

Fast forward to after I swatched, the beads were transparent, I tried to pretend I liked the look, but I really didn’t so I had to buy opaque ones. Keep in mind, at this point, I was still knitting an all over pattern. Needless to say, I have a whole new set of beads that I don’t know I’ll ever use. Haha, I’m the worst.

Did I meet the deadline?

Every year I set a deadline to have my Christmas sweaters blocked and wearable by Christmas Day. Every year I’ve made that deadline. Every year except the year I knit this sweater anyway. I don’t remember exactly why I didn’t have it done on Christmas Day, but I do know that was when the tradition of going to my grandpa’s house to celebrate with family on Christmas Day ended and we all got together at a later date. I’m guessing when the actual get together date was set I was like, “Screw it! Now I got a whole ‘nother week to finish this thing.” I ended up casting off on Christmas Day and had it blocked maybe the next day. But in my mind, that doesn’t count as meeting the deadline even if I didn’t need to wear until a week later.

Next Week

To date, this was my most successful Christmas sweater. It fits just like I had intended it to fit with the one exception that the sleeves grew A LOT during blocking. The sweater also taught me another important thing. I do not care for round yoke sweaters. I don’t have any real reason for it, they’re just not my cup of tea.

Next week, I’ll be sharing my 2017 sweater. If you don’t like spoilers stop reading. The 2017 sweater is by far my subtlest Christmas Sweater.

Don't miss my progress on my 2018 Christmas Sweater(vest)! follow me on  Instagram to see all my work-in-progress shots.

Annual Christmas Sweater: Black Santa... Gnomes

Back in 2014, I started a tradition where I knit myself a Christmas themed sweater to wear every year for my family’s Christmas get together. If you read this blog regularly, you’re probably thinking, “Yeah, you knit that one sweater that one year and then abandoned the idea.” While that may be more characteristic of me, I am happy to inform you all that I have indeed knit myself a Christmas sweater every year since 2014… I just haven’t posted about any of them on the blog. But this December, that’s going to change. Each week this month, I’m going to be sharing each of my sweaters on here, finally.

The Concept

The only thing I knew going into the 2015 sweater was that I wanted to incorporate a black Santa. I was first thinking about an intarsia Santa smack dab in the middle of my chest complete with 3D pom pom on his hat. But I don’t know how to do intarsia so I scrapped that idea and decided on a round yoke sweater instead.

Like my previous year’s sweater, I used a mix of patterns to achieve the results I wanted. For the overall body, I used Winter Doldrums by Carla Pletzer as a jumping off point. It’s a great free pattern in multiple sizes that did exactly what I needed it to do. At that point, I had never knit a round yoke sweater so, me being me, I also bought a Craftsy class with Amy Detjen just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything big. And then for the colorwork, I used a modified version of Nisse by Tasha Moss for the Santas and I made up my own color pattern for the trees.

I wanted to keep the overall feel of Tasha’s pattern the same. I wanted it to look like the Santas were standing on snow in front of a blue sky. I knew I didn’t want the original carrots that Tasha had in her pattern because what the hell do carrots have to do with Christmas? Carrots, in fact, do not have anything thing to do with Christmas. But if I’m calling the white part of the sweater snow, and the blue part of the sweater sky, then why the hell are there evergreen trees underground? I don’t have an answer for that but whatever.

Still not considering the logistics of the evergreen trees, I trucked on to the Santas which I figured would be simple enough. Swap the blue jackets for a nice Christmas red and swap the peachy skin color for the dark brown skin color and I’d be good to go. Fast forward to me showing the sweater off and a person saying, “Cool! I want a Santa Gnome sweater.” Well, I don’t but that is indeed what I knit for myself and I’m going to have to live with that regret for the rest of my life.

The Fit

Ufdah. The only word I can think of to describe the fit of this sweater is bad. First, I knit the entire body too short. If I remember right, I wanted it to be a little more cropped because I have a 50s inspired skirt that I wanted to wear with it. But in order to get the color pattern to fit, I had to give it too much positive ease for the look I was going for. In hindsight, I should have cut one of the repeats in half and I wouldn’t have had to fudge to get the fit so much. But hey, the oversized crop top is kind of back in style. I guess I’m a trendsetter. Is it trendsetting when it’s unintentional?

The second issue is that I knit the sleeves way too long. I don't know, I must have thought I was knitting this sweater for Kevin Garnett or something because there is no other explanation for why I knit such long sleeves. With the freakishly long sleeves and the cropped body, the whole sweater looks ridiculous laying flat after I wash it.

The third issue I had with fit is the neckline. As I was decreasing, I was getting more and more worried about it fitting over my head. This was mostly because when I switched over to the 16-inch circular needle, it made the whole thing look super small, which is to be expected. The more I decreased the more nervous I got about it. I was knitting on a deadline and I wasn’t about to knit it too small, not be able to get my head into the thing and then have to reknit it. So, I stopped my decreases too early and ended up with a neckline that’s too wide, which coincidentally, is sorta in style right now, too. I really am a trendsetter.

So, You Hate the Whole Thing, huh?

You might be surprised to learn that I don't hate this sweater. Fit issues and color pattern blunders aside, I’m still really proud of it. It still amazes me sometimes that each year I’ve set out to knit a Christmas sweater and each year I actually do. That’s some character development I never expected from myself. And you know, maybe the Santa Gnomes have grown on me over the years.

Next week, we’ll take a look at my 2016 sweater. Spoilers, it’s another round yoke and there were no ill-fated color changes that were made.

Don't miss my progress on my 2018 Christmas Sweater(vest)! Follow me on Instagram to see all my work-in-progress shots.

This Gal's Gift Ideas for the Knitters in Your Life

Tell me if this sounds familiar. The holidays come along and you're making gift list ideas for all the people in your life. It's going great, one person is getting their favorite superhero apparel, another person is getting that book they've been talking about. Gift cards for another person to their favorite store. Then you come up to that one person who has a highly specialized hobby, let's say knitting. You have no idea what to get that person. Well, don't worry because this gal's got you covered. Below are 7 budget-friendly gift ideas for that knitter in your life.

1) Novelty Stitch Markers
(from left to right; DIY charm: $12, Charm from Sucre Sucre Miniatures: starting at $8, DIY charm: $11)

2) Small Scissors $7 to $10

3) Emergency Fix Key Chain $2.49 via Knit Picks

4) Needle Threader $1.79 via Joann Fabrics

5) Darning Needle $3.59 via Lion Brand

6) Locking Stitch Markers $5.99 via Joann Fabrics

7) Ring Stitch Markers $4.99 via Joann Fabrics

Still looking for more ideas? Check out my comprehensive list of ideas for gifts for knitters.

If you're a knitter yourself let me know what you like to get as gifts.

Free Vintage Knitting Pattern: 1960s Chunky Cable Pullover

Keep warm during sweater season in this classy 1960s cable rib pullover. This raglan sleeve sweater would be perfect for chilly Autumn nights by a bonfire or staying warm on a lazy weekend during the winter.

This sweater is knit from the bottom up in pieces with raglan sleeves. It features a rolled turtleneck and a chunky cable rib stitch. There are three sizes with bust measurements of 32”, 34” and 36”.

The pattern calls for 1,400(1,400, 1,680) yrds of worsted weight yarn in 100% wool or 50% wool and 50% nylon.

If you’d like to size this pattern up or down, I highly recommend Tasha’s knit-along on her website By Gum By Golly. Or check out some other sweater knitting resources.

Specs

Publication date: Early 1960s
Publication name: Columbia Minerva
Gauge: 9 sts = 2" 6 rows = 1"
Sizes: 32", 34" and 36" bust

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Knitter's Life Printable Set + Freebie Yarn Swatch Card

My number one challenge right now is how to organize my knitting notes. About a year and a half ago I released my first knitting binder printable, I still love those printables, but I wanted something different. As I’ve gotten into bullet journaling, I tried to think of a way that I use some bullet journal style spreads into my knitting notebook. That’s how the Knit Life Printable Set was born.

Included are 11 pages set up like bullet journal spreads, complete with dot grid. The pages range from project pages to needle inventory logs to swatch cards. Hop over to my Etsy shop to see the full details. And keep your eyes peeled here because, in the early part of 2019, I'm going to do a video flip through of my knitting notebook to show you how exactly I use this printable set.

Speaking of swatch cards, I’m offering the swatch label card free today. These are perfect for keeping track of what needles and yarn you used for any given swatch. If you’re like me and never remember where you wrote down that information then these cards are for you. All you have to do is fill out the card, punch a hole in it and then tie to the swatch. No more random bits of paper floating around. I like to print them out on cardstock for stability.

Don’t forget to check out the whole Knit Life printable set available on my Etsy shop. And stay tuned to the blog, because in the early part of 2019, I’m going to do a flip through of my knitting notebook and you can see in detail how I used this printable set.

Fresh off the needles: Keia's Golden Gopher Sweater

There’s no real reason that such a simple sweater took so long to knit. Or any sweater really. But what are you going to do? It did, in fact, take over seven months to knit. I got it done just in time for my sister, Keia to wear on our visit to my mom’s hometown last weekend.

Yarn chicken again? Girl, what is wrong with you?

I know right? This is the second time I’ve done this on a sweater I knit for Keia. I don’t know what it is that makes me under-estimate the amount of yarn I need for her sweaters. In my semi-defense, I wouldn’t have had to worry about it at all had I stuck to the original plan and just knit a plain stockinette stitch sweater. Either way, I did have more than enough yarn which makes my yarn chicken record 2-0.

I guess I’m a liar

Ha ha. Remember in my last sweater post when I swore that my next sweater was going to be knit using an actual pattern? Yeah, well, I lied. I turned to my trusty whatever that book is called once again. I used the drop shoulder sized in the adult 36 chest. As I mentioned earlier, I was planning on knitting another stockinette stitch sweater but veered off course when I was browsing through my vintage booklets and found a sweater with a broken rib stitch. I liked the look of it and decided to use it for this sweater. And I am quite happy with the results.

I’m not even going to end this post saying that the next sweater I knit will be from an actual pattern because the next sweater I knit is going to be my annual Christmas sweater and I never knit those from patterns. But I will say this, I will make it my 2019 goal to knit at least one sweater from an already written pattern. How’s that?

If you want to watch me follow through on that promise, or you want to see updates on my Christmas sweater, follow me on Tumblr, and, Instagram.

Fresh off the needles: My First Mittens

Who knew a pair of mittens could make me so happy. I don’t know what it is but they just make me so inexplicably happy. On a whim, I cast these on one Friday afternoon and had them finished on Sunday morning. So, it might be the “instant” gratification that makes me so happy. Or it’s just that the yarn reminds me of a carnival. Who knows.

The Yarn

It’s not something I would normally use. I’m always drawn towards the beautiful colors of variegated yarns, but usually never buy them, because knit up, they just don’t suit my taste. But when I saw this Dorothy colorway by Dyebolical Yarns I couldn’t resist. The colors are so pretty and vibrant. My favorite part is the little pops of purple that it has. I hadn’t noticed it in the skein, but every now and then the purple would come up and I’d get so happy. The only way I can describe it is with the dancing lady emoji. 💃

The Pattern

I used a Tin Can Knits pattern and you honestly can’t go wrong with Tin Can Knits patterns. The pattern is called The World's Simplist Mittens and they weren't lying. The was so clear and to the point. Plus, there's a blog post to go along with the pattern so if  I got stuck there was an easy way to find an explanation. I couldn’t have chosen a better pattern to follow for my first pair of mittens. Really, it’s not an exaggeration to say this will be the only mitten pattern I’ll ever need. It comes in five sizes (toddler to adult large) and four different yarn weights/gauges (fingering to chunky). So, unless I eventually decide I want a different stitch pattern on my mittens, I'm pretty much set with this pattern.

So, what’s the verdict? Will you knit another pair of mittens?

I will most definitely knit another pair of mittens. Next time though, I plan to make them convertible so I can have a little bit of freedom for my fingers. I hadn’t worn mittens since I was a kid and honestly didn’t even think about the fact that you can’t use your fingers. So, honestly, I’m not even sure how much wear they will actually get. Right now I’ve used them mostly for scraping off my windows in the morning and driving.

Once I get the convertible mitts down there’s going to be no stopping me. I hope everyone is ready for endless mittens because I’m already planning on making at least 100 more pairs.

Have you knit mittens before? Let me know in the comment section or connect with me on Instagram. I’d love to hear from you.

Free Vintage Knitting Pattern: 1940s Valentine's Day Pullover

This 1940s pullover’s all over heart pattern is perfectly kitschy without being over the top. Styled the right way it’s perfect for a night out with your honey but can also be dressed down for a cozy night at home watching your favorite romantic comedy.

The Heart Pullover is knit in pieces from the bottom up with set-in sleeves. It has an all-over pattern of stockinette hearts against a reverse stockinette background. There are three sizes with bust measurements of 29”, 31” and 33”.

The pattern calls for 284(284, 340) grams of fingering weight yarn in 100% wool.

If you’d like to size this pattern up or down, I highly recommend Tasha’s knit-along on her website By Gum By Golly. Or check out some other sweater knitting resources.

Specs

Publication date: 1946
Publication name: Handknits by Royal Society
Gauge: 7sts x 8 rows = 1in x 1in
Sizes: 29", 31" and 33" bust

Freebie: Gift List Planner Printable

It's that time of the year again, time to start thinking about Christmas gifts. I don't know about anyone else, but I can get a little overwhelmed when trying to figure out what to buy everyone. That's why I created this little printable to help me.

This one page printable is perfect for planning your holiday gift giving. With it, you can be sure that when we get a few days before Christmas you won't be scrambling to come up with ideas because you forgot someone. There's enough space to brainstorm five gift ideas for eight different people.

Tips:

• Place it in a central area in the house and people can jot down ideas for what they want
• Print two copies double sided if you need more room.
• Use one box as a brainstorm for the person, (what are their interests, have they mentioned things they want?) Then the box next to it can be used to jot down actual items you intend to buy them.
• If you want to be more environmentally friendly, download the GoodNotes App and fill it out digitally.

If you like this printable and find it useful, please consider buying me a coffee so I can continue to bring you guys free printables. For more information about what it means to buy me a coffee click here.

Fresh Off The Needles: Keia's Sweater

I have to admit, this sweater had me 10 different kinds of nervous. Not because the sweater itself was hard. It’s just a plain stockinette sweater. No, this was my first time knitting a sweater for someone who isn’t me.

I offered to make my sister, Keia, a sweater sometime last summer. I was a little worried before I even started the sweater. I felt like there were a hundred things that could go wrong. My anxiety only intensified, when it looked like it was coming out way too big. But when I finally seamed the shoulders together, and Keia tried it on, it turned out it fit perfectly. That’s one downside to knitting a sweater bottom up, you can’t try it on as you knit.

The only thing I would change is I would knit the sleeves much smaller. They're not terrible, but they'd look and probably feel a lot better if they were a smaller.

Before I even cast on, I knew I might not have enough yarn. Initially, I wasn't aware of how big she wanted the sweater to be. When she told me she wanted it closer to a men’s small than a women’s small, I started to worry. Luckily, for me, I was able to just barely knit this entire sweater with the 10 skeins that I had ordered. I did have to sacrifice a round on the collar though.

The Pattern

My original plan was to find a pattern for a full cabled sweater. But in the end, I decided to to go super simple so I could get the general feel of what Keia wanted from a sweater before I dove right in with a complicated sweater. I used the Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd. It’s well documented that I love this book. It’s perfect for when I’m knitting just a plain stockinette sweater and need a launching off point.

Since Keia didn’t want a super fitted sweater, I had a lot of leeway. She likes her cozy clothes to be a men’s size small, so that’s what I aimed for. Since she didn’t have anything that had the fit she was looking for. I used the yarn craft council to find the right measurements. It was and always will be an invaluable resource for sizing.

I knit the entire body in the round until the armholes then knit the fronts and back separately. The whole thing was a breeze really because I opted to do a drop shoulder instead of a set in sleeve. Sometimes I feel like going the dropped shoulder route is cheating, but then I realize, “who the hell said knitting was supposed to be hard?” I need to remember this every time I start making knitting more difficult than it has to be.

The Yarn

The yarn I used is Knit Picks Swish Worsted in the Jade colorway. This yarn has quite a bit of negative feedback on Ravelry. But I've used it a few times and can't complain too much. I'm not going to pretend like it wears super well because it doesn’t. It gets pretty fuzzy pretty quickly. But I like the look of fuzzy sweaters, and the fuzz doesn't shed, so it doesn't bother me too much.

Even though I’m super happy and proud that I’m at this point where I can pretty much make up my own simple sweater patterns, I’m 100% ready to just sit back and let someone else worry about all the nitty gritty math details. I swear that the next sweater you see me knit is going to be someone else’s design.

To see what other sweaters I have planned for the year, follow me on Instagram.

Fresh off the needles: The Pickle Hat

After one last heat wave a week ago, I think it’s safe to say we’re in the full swing of fall. It’s finally time we get to pull out our hand knits. I knit this hat that I’ve dubbed the Pickle hat approximately two heat waves ago and I’m so happy I finally get to share it.

The Pattern

This is the second time I’ve knit Seaforth by Karie Westermann. For whatever reason, when I knit it the first time, I decided to make the larger size, which I never do. The thing turned out too big and now I hardly ever wear it. It was so fun to knit, though, I knew I had to make another one.

The pattern is clear and concise, it even gives you some great tips so you can modify it if need be. I’m not all that great with lace patterns. I’m so not great at them that I’ve given up ever trying to knit shawls with lace. But this pattern is only four rounds and incredibly well written which makes it easy enough even I find it extremely simple.

The Cast -On

This is in no way anything revolutionary, but my new favorite cast on for hats is the German Twisted cast on, which is the cast on I did for this hat. It’s super stretchy and is incredibly comfortable to wear. I especially like it for baby hats. A lot of times, when I use a regular long tail cast on, my niece will grow out of the brim of a hat even though there’s a ton of room left in the actual body of the hat.

The Yarn

In January, I made it a goal that I would support indie dyers. My first purchase was this wonderful worsted weight yarn by Dyeabolical Yarns in the Okie Dokie Atrichokey colorway. I love this yarn so much. The color is perfect. But since I’m not too familiar with what an artichoke looks like, I was always thinking of pickles whenever I was knitting it. Hence the name Pickle Hat.

My favorite thing about this yarn? This was my first time using indie dyed yarn, so I wanted my pattern choice to be perfect. I think I cast on at least half a dozen different hats. This yarn held up through all of them. I love a yarn that can handle my severe indecisiveness. It also leads me to believe that it’ll wear well over time.

One of the main reasons I haven’t been buying more indie dyed yarn is because a lot of yarn dyers have shop updates, where they dye up batches of yarn and then put it all in their shop and when it’s gone, it’s gone. Without fail, I always miss them. Either, I find out about the update too late, or when there is an update, I don’t have the money in my budget to order. What I loved about ordering from Dyeabolical Yarns, is that she dyes to order. Which means, I was able to order when I had the money in my budget to do so and I don’t have to worry about it.

I couldn’t be more happy that this is the pattern I settled on for this yarn. They work so well together and it’s already becoming one of my favorite hats.

Wanna see more of my indie purchases? Follow me on Tumblr, and Instagram for constant updates.

Tutorial: Easy DIY notebook cover

This post contains affiliate links, which cost you nothing, but when you buy something through these links I get a small commission.

As someone who’s found it hard to transition my writing and note taking into the digital age, I love me a good old fashion notebook. But when you love notebooks as much as I do, and if you’re always picking up a new one every trip into Target, then you know that eventually, the pickings become pretty slim. That's what inspired me to start creating my own notebook covers.

Sometime last year, I finally joined Pottermore and was sorted into Hufflepuff House. Since then, I've been a diehard badger. I decided to create my own little notebook cover to show off my Hufflepuff pride. That's when I thought, “Hmm, maybe other people feel this passionately about their own Hogwarts House.” Doubtful, but I still decided to create printable book covers for all four houses.

The Printable

What's included:

[1] Four page PDF, each page has one cover sheet

These printables were designed for this specific Miliko notebook. I like it because the clear cover allows me to customize it with little effort. And I can be sure that my new custom cover sheet won't be damaged in my bag. I also dig that they come with different paper options: lined, dot grid and square grid.

Printing tips
Print on high quality
Use the page range function to choose which page you want to print
Use the borderless print function if your printer allows it.
Use a high-quality paper

The Tutorial

Gather Your Supplies
Miliko Transparent Hardcover Notebook
Scissors
Pencil or pen
Paper
Screw hole punch with 4mm bit
Paper clips
Printable book cover
Glue stick (optional)
Straight edge cutter (optional)
Piece of wood (optional)

Step One

Using a sheet of the notebook’s paper as a guide, cut the printable to size. I like to use paper clips here to avoid unwanted shifting while I’m cutting.

Step Two

Still using your notebook’s paper as a guide, on the back of the printable, shade in where the holes should go.

Step Three

If you’re worried about damaging your work table, place a scrap piece of wood down.

Double check to make sure you marked the holes on the correct side. Then, using the screw hole punch fitted with the 4mm bit, punch holes where you made your markings.

A few hanging charlies won’t be the end of the world, but let’s try not to repeat the 2000 presidential elections.

Step Four

Using a pair of scissors, clip the holes open creating a clean frayed edge.

Step Five

Push the frayed edges in between the spirals. I used a mechanical pencil, but you could use a pen cap, paper clip, knitting needle or anything that’s handy.

You can leave it as is. Or if you want some added reinforcement, you can use the glue stick and glue the new cover sheet to the first page of your notebook.

Now you can go and show off your house pride. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram and tag @thisgalknows to show me your finished house notebook. When you're done doing that, come back here and tell me what Hogwarts House you're in.

If you like this tutorial and printable and find it useful, please consider buying me a coffee so I can continue to bring you guys free tutorials and printables. For more information about what it means to buy me a coffee click here.

Fresh off the needles: Poison Ivy Sweater

Finally! I have a finished object to share. I’ve said it before, but, man, does my knitting mojo go away in the summer time. I’ve actually had this done for at least a month but wasn’t about to risk a heat stroke to take a few pictures to share with you guys. I finally got a decent day to take some pictures over the weekend and can finally share.

The Pattern

The pattern I used Columbia Minerva 747 from the Festival of Sweaters booklet. It was first published in the late 1960s. Which is my favorite fashion era, in case you were wondering. I wish I could share it, but since it’s still under copyright, I can’t. But you can buy it off Etsy here.

Sometimes, vintage patterns can be a bit hairy to work with, but this one was very straightforward and easy to follow. I didn’t even make too many revisions to it. I did end up casting on fewer stitches so that I wouldn’t end up with as much positive ease as the pattern called for. But that wasn’t too big of a thing. I also knit it all as one piece instead of in pieces like the pattern called for. Also, no big deal.

What I’ve learned

Button placement is important! I didn’t have a ton of problems with the spacing of the buttons. I found a great site that helped me figure out how to space them. So, I’m happy with that. But I didn’t even consider how far into the button band I should actually sew on my buttons. As a result, the cardigan kind of pulls apart when fully buttoned up. I’ll probably take them off and fix it. But it’s something I now know I have to think about beforehand to save myself a headache. I also chose buttons that are a little bit too small for the button hole I made. So, I might end up with a whole new button choice as well.

All that reverse stockinette? Did you really purl every row?

Yes! I’m aware that I could have turned the sleeves inside out then knit every row. But I’m a firm believer that you shouldn’t shy away from the purl stitch. I did for too long, so it takes me twice as long to finish a purl row than it does a knit row. So, I convinced myself that I had to purl every round of my sleeves. By the end of the second sleeve, my purling speed had improved greatly. I don’t dread the purl row anymore. This was probably the single greatest thing I’ve done for my knitting.

Why call it Poison Ivy?

Since I knit the bulk of this cardigan about a year ago, when I was watching Batman v Superman on repeat, I knew I wanted to give it a comic book inspired name. My first thought was the Kryptonite Sweater, but then when I realized that the stitch pattern had sort of an ivy feel to it, I named it after one of Batman’s villains, Poison Ivy.

I'm actually already planning to knit this sweater again but in a golden color. If you don't want to miss in progress shots, and more fun stuff, make sure to follow me on Instagram and Pinterest.

The 11 best places to get vintage knitting patterns

Over the last couple of days, I’ve had the sudden inspiration to knit and sew all of the vintage. I’ve even finally finished my most recent vintage sweater and a skirt from a vintage sewing pattern. I have to attribute this sudden burst of inspiration to Mad Men. I finally finished the last season, and although Don Draper makes my skin crawl most times, the fashion in it always reminds me of how much I love the 60s style trends. It’s not hard to imagine, that that has lead me to obsessing over finding all of the available. I thought it’d be useful to have all the links to my favorite sites in one place.

Free Patterns

When I first started out on my vintage knitting journey, I never thought there would be so many patterns available for free. Here are below are a few of my favorite sites that share from their stash.

Free Vintage Knitting
Subversive Femme
The Sunny Stitcher
Musing from Marilyn
Purple Kitty Yarns
Vintage Pattern Files

For sale

Sometimes you find a picture of a knitting pattern, or see someone knit from a pattern that isn’t available for free so you need to buy it. There are two options, you can either hope to find someone selling a PDF pattern or you can hope to find the actual physical copy.

PDFs
**Please note** I’ve never had any experience buying pdf patterns, so I can’t speak for the quality of any patterns from the below sites

The Vintage Knittng Lady
Etsy - Search for the name of the pattern, and you might have luck.

Physical
Etsy
Ebay

Secondhand shops or antique shops - This isn't something I'd do if I were looking for something specific, but most of my stash does come from antique shops
Estate Sales - Again, it's not something I'd do for something specific, but I have had luck finding piles of pattern booklets at estate sales.

Where are some of your places to get vintage patterns, let me know and I'll add them to the list.

Don't forget I've been sharing vintage patterns on this site and I'm planning on sharing more over the next few months, follow me on Instagram and Pinterest to make sure you don't miss one.

Three Ways to Get Out of a Knitting Rut

This post contains affiliate links, which cost you nothing, but when you buy something through these links I get a small commission. 

You guys, I don't know if it's the incredibly shitty news coming out of my home state, the warm weather, or maybe it's the way the planets are aligned, but I haven't felt like knitting at all for the last couple of weeks. This has really gone on long enough. I'm desperate for something to change, so here are some things I'm going to try over the next few days to snap myself out of this rut.

Scroll through Ravelry

I honestly don't know what spurred this rut that I'm in. I have a few not so fun projects going on right now, so that may be part of it. Maybe what I need is to start a new project. My thought is, if I go through all the wonderful projects and patterns on Ravelry, maybe it'll spark something in me and I can get excited about knitting again.

Organize my knitting binder

A few weeks ago, I talked about my method of organizing my knitting binder. At the time I really had no desire to go through old projects and organize them. But now I'm thinking if I take the time to go through my finished objects it’ll inspire me to want to create some more finished objects.

Go through stitch books

Sometimes I just need something small and a little challenging to remind myself what I love so much about knitting. I’m going to try to pick a few stitches and make a few swatches. Who knows, I might even come up with a fun sweater pattern while I'm at it.

Some of my favorite stitch books books are:
400 Knitting Stitches: A Complete Dictionary of Essential Stitch Patterns
The Essential Stitch Collection: Creative Guide to the 300 Stitches Every Knitter Needs to Know

Also I'm really enjoying the 100 Days of Stitches Jennifer from Brome Fields Knitwear is doing and can see myself getting some inspiration from there.

What are some of the ways you guys get out of a knitting rut? Let me know in the comments.

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What I'm knitting this summer

I don’t know about anyone else, but I always find it really hard to motivate myself to knit once the weather starts to warm up. I get very little knitting done in the summer. But once those cool September nights come back my needles are flying.

With all of that said, none that really makes much sense to me since I'm not an outdoor type of person. I tend to sit in my air conditioned house most days anyway. So, why am I not knitting?

This summer I'm going to try my hardest to get myself prepared for winter. Below are some of the things I’m going to work on.

Hats

I always have it in my head that I want to knit a new hat for everyone before winter comes. But I tend to start planning them way too late, and then by time I get to picking the pattern and yarn, winter is almost over.

Seaforth by Karie Westermann
“Once Upon a Time” Inspired Ruby Beret
Ravelry Hat Bundle
Pinterest Hat Board

Sweaters

I just don't have nearly enough finished handknit sweaters in my life. Plus I’ve promised my sister at least a dozen cozy sweaters and have finished exactly zero for her.

Beatnik by Norah Gaughn
Que Sera by Kristen Kapur
Ravelry Pullover Bundle
Ravelry Cardigan Bundle
Pinterest Sweater Board

Socks

I have so much Knit Picks Felici to knit through. And I like the idea of socks for when it's too hot to have thick yarn running through your fingers.

Bubbles Down the Drain by Staci Perry
Froot Loops by Kristi Geraci

Does the warmer weather tend to slow you guys down when it comes to knitting? What are some things you do to get over it?

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