I have lots of straight knitting needles, and a few bent ones. Keeping track of the mates for them was hard for a while, as I didn’t have a needle organizer. I was going to make one, but I never bothered enough to find a good pattern. Being a cheap yankee and a compulsively creative sort I came up with these little gems. They keep needle sets together in pairs or sets of pairs. If I just want to take one pair with me, the individual keepers keep them together in my bag.

When you are using the needles you can leave the Keeper on one of the needles (for individual Keepers).

Use your imagination. I just made these up.

Crochet Heart Needle Keeper

I forgot where I got this heart pattern online but it’s a very good heart pattern.

Use size J crochet hook and worsted weight yarn.
Round 1: Chain 4. Make all of the next stitches in the first chain. 3 trc, 3 dc, chain 1, 1 trc, chain 1, 3 dc, 3 trc, chain 2 slip stitch.

Round 2: Chain 3, in first trc make sc and hdc, in next stitch 3 hdc, in next stitch 2 hdc, sc in next four stitches, chain 1 dc in trc, chain 1, sc in next four stitches, 2 hdc in next stitch, 3 hdc in next stitch, hdc and sc in next stitch, chain 3 and slip stitch in center.

Round 3: Chain 3, sc in top of chain 3 from previous row , 2 sc in next stitch, sc in next stitch, 2 sc in next stitch, then sc in each of the next stitches until point of heart, chain one for point, sc in next five stitches, then sc in next st, 2 sc in next stitch, sc in next stitch, 2 sc in next stitch, chain three and then slip stitch in center of heart. Pull the loop to the back and fasten off.

Mini Sweater Needle Keeper

I used two tone Fisherman’s wool and about a 4 mm hook. It looks like I did the sleeves in single crochet and the body in half double crochet to allow larger holes. Sorry, just make this one up as you go. I see 8 rows total including the sleeves and body. The body is about 8 or 9 stitches wide and the sleeves add another 5 stitches to each side.
Try this: Chain 11, turn and hdc in 2nd from hook, hdc 8 across, ch 2, turn and hdc 8 across. Repeat until you have 6 rows. Chain 7, turn and hdc in 2nd from hook, hdc across to end, then ch 7, turn and hdc in 2nd from hook, hdc across to end.

Little Brown Hat Needle Keeper

I did this one in brown Fisherman’s Wool by Lion Brand. Use a 4 millimeter hook and crochet in a very small ring. Chain stitch around in a spiral, increasing as you to go keep the disk flat and expanding, until you have about an inch wide disk. Then crochet even to make the sides of the hat for about three quarters of an inch, then start increases again to make the brim. Fasten off. You could make a slightly larger hat to hold more needles if you like.

Fuzzy Fun Fur Needle Keeper

Using one color Fun Fur and a contrasting or complementing color of another yarn of any thickness you like. Crochet a chain fifteen links long – or whatever you like. Turn and single crochet back. Tie off. Use a hair brush to gently bring out the trapped fibers of the Fun Fur Yarn.

Chunky Keeper for Large Needles 

Using Thick and Quick by Lion Brand and a P hook or so, chain a length, turn and slip stitch back. Tie off in a tassel.

Little Bi-color Wreath.

Use a 4 or 5 mm hook and two strands of yarn in different colors. Crochet a ring the size you like, then chain stitch around one more time. Fasten off and leave a little tassel.

Little Pants

I used denim color wool by Pattons and a 4 mm hook. Chain 13, turn and sc in second stitch from hook. Sc across to end, ch 2 and turn, sc in top of second sc from that end and sc across. You are now at the center of the waist band of the pants. Ch 2, turn and sc in next stitch, sc 4 times. Chain 9, turn and sc in second from hook, sc across. Ch 2 and turn, sc in second from hook, sc across to bottom of second leg. If you are lucky and I was right the legs should be the same length.

Little Red Cup Keeper

This was just a small disk crocheted dc with increases in each stitch round one, then work even on round two. forms a little cup around the needle knobs.

Multi-needle Needle Keeper

I used two strands of rainbow cotton yarn, having selected sections so that different colors overlapped each other. Using a K hook, this one is just a long enough single chain. Stop when it’s the length you want and tie both ends in a tassel-like knot.

Larger linked Keeper for Large Needles.

Using a large hook and two or three strands of different color yarn chain a length, turn and slip stitch your way back across. Tie in a tassel.

For the last month or two I have been getting lots of spam subscriptions to the posts on this web site. In the course of a day I get 20 or more junk registrations for updates, which I have to manually delete.

If you would like to register for normal updates by email please use the Contact Eric page and include the user name, email and password you would like to use and I will register you myself.

OR

I suggest you use RSS and get updates via a newsreader. It’s very easy to use.  On the right side of this page at the edge of the window you see a floating tab with an orange icon. Click that and you will be led to subscribe to updates to the blog. You can collect the updates in your gmail account or use newsreader applications built into your browser, or other programs or web sites that support this.

If anyone has an idea how to stop these spam registrations I’m all ears.  I have tried captcha, but judging by the time stamp on the registrations they are being done manually, by a human, every few minutes.

I know you haven’t seen anything new here in a while. I’ve been working on other things that need more attention. I have just moved this site to a new host that is much faster. I was on Godaddy but their servers are very slow compared to Hostgator, and they were not able to help make them faster, so, end of story, end of Godaddy for me. This site is so much faster now, especially the back end where I work mostly. I hope you like it.

I do have a few things to post about here for knitting, but not feeling too motivated. If you have anything you want to hear from me about, let me know. I respond well to such interest. Have a great day. – Eric

Hello, I came across this blog from a Ravelry thread and now I’ve got it bookmarked!

I learned to cable a few months ago for a project that only involved very small cables, but many of them. I quickly decided I’d go mad if I had to use a cable needle every five stitches, so I looked up how to cable without a needle. Like you probably were, I was quickly terrified at the thought of dropping stitches, so I figured out my own way which is and expansion of some things I’ve read elsewhere.

By slipping various groups of stitches back and forth, you can transpose the two sets of stitches before you ever knit them, and you never need to take a stitch completely off the needle. Say you want to do a left twist in a four-stitch-wide cable. You slip two stitches together to the right needle (always knitwise), slip two more stitches together, then slip all four stitches back. If you want a right twist, slip all four first and then do the pairs. Obviously this becomes more awkward for wider cables, but it’s far preferable to any of the alternatives, for me.

I made this scarf recently for a gift and it turned out great. This is a squishy, loose-knit scarf and the pattern is reversible, and looks good for a man or woman depending on the color you use. You may be able to finish it in three hours or less.

There is another, newer free pattern with a hat here http://knitforbrains.net/patterns/fast-knit-manly-geometric-hat-and-scarf-but-she-likes-it-too-free-pattern/ and a Faux Cable hat here http://knitforbrains.net/?p=960

By the way, sorry I haven’t posted much lately here. I grew a handlebar moustache this summer (2010) and have been doing a lot of blogging for that at www.handlebarmoustachelife.com. Take a look.

For this scarf use just one skein of Lion Brand Thick and Quick Yarn or another yarn just as thick and long (108 yards or 98 meters) – or even multiple strands of thinner yarn, on 15mm thick needles (US size number 19) for a ~5 foot scarf about 5.5 inches wide with no fringe.

I did this one with a simple looped cast-on of 12 stitches so followed the pattern in sets of 4. You could make it wider but the scarf would be shorter if only using one skein. If you are using all wool you can make a nice invisible splice of the yarn – looks like no break at all – and add more for length or width increases, but I used just one skein and got a nice scarf good for cool nights. It would be very suitable as a muffler to fill in around the neck to keep someone warm. I like the squishy-ness of it and will make a similar one for myself when all this darn knitting for gifts is done.

The pattern is simple. I’ve heard it called a dragon scale stitch. It forms a pattern of right triangles that have great texture due to the proximity of knit and purl stitches above, below, left and right in the grid. You have to pay attention or you can easily get mixed up. Once you get a repeat done you can use it as reference for the next set of rows in the pattern.

I actually tested this pattern that I typed and had written it all backwards at first, so now what is below is correct. Again, once you get a couple sets of rows done you can use them for reference as to what you do next rather than having to read the pattern constantly. Just be sure you are building your triangles in the right direction if you are doing it by sight.

You might balk at the pattern because it switches form purl to knit a lot, but I did it with portuguese knitting style and it wasn’t a problem. The texture is rich and looks great.

OOPS! I originally posted this with “repeat three times” instead of the correct “repeat two times”. Sorry.

You can alter the pattern if you like by adding stitches to each repeat and rows to match, so it could be 5 stitches by 5 rows instead of the 4 and 4 I have here, but write it out and test it, of course. You can also make a wider scarf by adding another block of 4 and cast on 16 using the same row by row instructions below, but it will use more than one skein of Thick and Quick – or make a shorter scarf.

Cast on 12

Row 1: K12

Row 2: *K1, P3*, repeat two times.

Row 3: *K2, P2*, repeat two times.

Row 4: *P3, K1*, repeat two times.

Row 5: P12

Row 6: P12

Row 7: *K3, P1*, repeat two times.

Row 8: *K2, P2*, repeat two times.

Row 9: *K1, P3*, repeat two times.

Row 10:  K12

I hope this might help you with some last minute gift needs. It’s pretty easy on the fingers with the large yarn and needles. I was getting sore doing another scarf with the same yarn on size 15 needles. Happy Holidays!!!!

Here’s another, crappier picture of the texture.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere I’m working on a Glengarry hat for my kilt wearing times, so here is the results of my second test knit with pattern changes. The pattern was inspired by the one in Folk Hats by Vicki Square, and I’ve made a bunch of changes, so I may publish the pattern in then next month or so.

One thing I did was make it shorter in the back, as that is what I see in some “authentic” ones on the web. I also expect to be wearing my intended black version in a New England July at the Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival in my home town of Northampton, Massachusetts, so I have worked in ventilation by putting yarnover “lace” holes in the top. There is also some texture added as I tried to put in diagonal lines with purl bumps but missed or misplaced a few, so it looks rather sloppy/rustic/whatever. This one is just a test of various pattern changes I made anyway.

Here are a bunch of pictures of this version. My black one may be made with single ply wool. I’m also considering upsizing it then felting it down again to fit to see what that does to the fabric.

I knitted this half Continental style (stockinette side) and Portuguese style when I was working with purls facing me, since purls are very easy with Portuguese style knitting. See my article on better short row methods also. It’s listed in Techniques and on the Site Map tab on the menu bar above.

And I invite your ideas and comments!

From the side.

From the back angle

Front view. I wonder if felting will help it keep a better shape.

Top view. See the ventilation? Smart! To wear it in winter I could knit a liner.

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• Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival Home Page
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• Alberta student wins battle to wear kilt at high school graduation (calgaryherald.com)

Andrea Wong is known for her gread DVDs on the Portuguese style of knitting and travels to teach it as well. I did a wikipedia search for the phrase “portuguese knitting” and got a surprise. In the list of results was an entry for the word “andrea”, stating that in the Romanian language it actually means “knitting needle”! How about that. The Romanian version of the name Andrea is spelled “Andreea” so as to distinguish it, but it doesn’t mean knitting needle in that spelling.

Small world of words.