Free Pattern: Lent/Easter Basket

Wow ... I haven't posted here for a while! But my knitting needles have been so busy, I haven't had time to post.


Here is a Lent/Easter basket I designed for our family celebrations based on an idea in Hannah Fettig's Closely Knit -- a book I highly recommend you check-out: she has some amazing ideas in there!

I made the basket in maybe 3 hours -- finishing in plenty of time to set our table for Ash Wednesday (Feb 25, 2009), the first day of Lent on the Catholic Calendar. We kept our basket filled with an alms box, rosary box (for evening prayer) and flowers (to remind us that Easter -- and Spring -- WERE coming!).

Fettig's version of the nest was for a palm-sized nest with eggs for pincushions. I changed her design, working from the center-out, using thicker yarn and created a nest large enough to hold our Easter goodies: a family's worth of peeps, jelly beans, chocolate eggs, DVDs, family game and a parade of "custom-designed" hard-boiled eggs.

We're still using this basket for our Easter celebrations -- in the Catholic Church, Easter Sunday lasts eight days (till today) and the Easter Season is celebrated thru Ascension Thursday (when we believe Jesus ascended to Heaven) and ends on Pentecost (the day when the promised Holy Spirit comes down to us on Earth, the birthday of the Catholic Church!). Good thing I made this big!

I've decided to offer this pattern to you, my readers, as an Easter gift. It's mindless and fun knitting and really looks like a bird's nest in this glorious "dark sheep's gray" from Bartlett Yarns.

Easter Nest Basket (inspired by Hannah Fettig's "pin cushion nest" from her Closely Knit)

• needles (dpns/circs as needed): US size: 10.5, 13, 15
• yarn: 1 skein Bartlettyarns "Bulky" (80 yds, 4 oz.) in dark sheep's gray

w/ 10.5 dpns, CO 4 and join. K rnd;
k 2 in each st (8); k rnd on 8 sts;
k 2 in each st(16); k rnd on 16 sts;
*k1, k2 in next st*; rep from * to * rnd (24); k rnd on 24 sts;
*k2, k2 in next st*; rep from * to * rnd (32); k rnd on 32 sts;
*k3, k2 in next st*; rep from * to * rnd (40); k rnd on 40 sts;
*k4, k2 in next st*; rep from * to * rnd (48); k rnd on 48 sts;
change to US 13 needles
*k2, k2 in next st*; rep from * to * rnd (64); k rnd on 64 sts;
*k3, k2 in nest st*; rep from * to * rnd (80); k rnd on 80 sts;
working even on 80 sts, change to basket st --
rnd 1-2: *(p7, k3)*; rep from * to * rnd
rnd 3: k rnd
rnd 4-5: *(p2, k3, p5)*; rep from * to * rnd
rnd 6: k rnd
change to US 15 needles
rep rnds 1-6 of pattern; BO loosely (or do another few rnds to finish ball of yarn, then BO loosely).

Wash in hot water to felt; while drying, fill basket with plastic bags packed in to help shape (or use a large platter/bowl to shape). Here's a close-up of the side of the nest with the basket stitch just about-visible after felting.

ENJOY!

Sometimes I sew ...

I don't just knit (although my kids would tell you I do!). Here are some basic sewing books that I've found that are quite good ...

1. Alvarez, Beverley – Kids Can Sew: Fun and Easy Projects for Your Small Stitcher – Barron’s Educational Series, Inc (Hauppage, NY). 2004. Barron’s does a great job with producing craft books for kids that are attractive, well-laid-out and have fun, doable projects. This one focuses on using a sewing machine to make all kinds of fun things to wear and use. The directions are a bit minimal, so you do have to have a little experience with sewing to use this book.
2. Cantrell, Alice – Sewing with St. Anne – Little Way Press (Twain Harte, CA) 2002. I really like the clear, clean explanations of hand- and machine-sewing in this book. The projects are very cute and useful. Again, I think this one errs on the gender-specificity of its presentation. Boys should also learn to sew!
3. Cantrell, Alice – Tea & Cake with the Saints: A Catholic Young Lady’s Introduction to Hospitality and the Home Arts – Little Way Press (Twain Harte, CA) 2007. This book has great little projects to make a house a loving place of beauty of creativity.
4. Cherry, Winky – My First Doll Book: Hand-sewing – Palmer/Pletsch Publishing (Portland, OR). 1994. This innocuous book will have a child sewing his/her own dolls in no time thanks to the simple, clear and direct instructions. Creativity is encouraged by describing different ways to do the face, clothes, hair, etc. Don’t let its size fool you.
5. Cherry, Winky – My First Embroidery Book: A Name Sampler – Palmer/Pletsch Publishing (Portland, OR). 1994. A great first step with embroidery is stitching on gingham – the squares make for easy positioning of stitches and regularity of stitch size. Another great, easy to follow stitching book that has tons of great advice and information.
6. Cobb, Mary – A Sampler View of Colonial Life – Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT). 1999. This is the kind of cross-curriculum book I love to use in my home-educating adventures: this one combines American History and needlework by explaining the history of the colonial sampler and teaching the reader how to make the sampler (from making the cloth through the stitching and on to creating other stitching projects like a copy book).
7. Davis, Tina – See and Sew: A Sewing Book for Children – Stewart, Tabori & Chang (New York) 2006. This is a fun, spiral-bound volume that starts with the basics and really teaches children (both boys and girls!) how to hand-sew. I particularly like the retro look of this book which gives the idea of hand-sewing as being a traditional, homey well-loved craft for children.
8. Fryer, Jane Eayre – The Mary Frances Sewing Book – LACIS Books (Berkley, CA) 1997. Reprint of a volume from the early 1900s that teaches how to sew through a story about a little girl and her imagination. Lovely, vintage feel with interesting projects, aimed at older girls or adults.
9. Gagnon, JoAnn & Corrie Gagnon – Stitches & Pins: A Beginning Sewing Book for Girls – Bunkhouse Books 2002. This is a great project book from a homeschooler and her daughter. The projects are useful and include great, clear instructions.
10. Kanamori, Miyako – Happy Gloves: Charming Softy Friends Made from Colorful Gloves – Penguin Group (New York). 2007. This is one of the cutest books I’ve seen in a long time. All the projects in this book – for making squirrels, chipmunks, ducks, dolls and even teapots – are created from knitted gloves! And are they cute!
11. Karol, Amy – Bend-the-Rules Sewing: The essential guide to a whole new way to sew – Potter Craft (New York) 2007. Fun and funky projects that gently lead the reader not only toward sewing but also give the reader the confidence to go beyond the projects and create your own!
12. Llimos, Anna – Easy Cloth Crafts in 5 Steps – Enslow Publishers (Berkeley Heights, NJ). 2005. This is a great fabric craft book for pre-sewing fun – the projects go from easy to hard (although none is too hard) and use glue, staples or tape to make the objects. This one is fun for the younger kids who are too little for real sewing. The projects are fun too!
13. McAllister, Buff – Sewing with Felt: Learn Basic Stitches to Create More Than 60 Colorful Projects – Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA). 2003. The wonderful thing about learning to sew with felt is that you don’t have to worry about fraying edges and you can just worry about stitching the felt to the background. This book walks the reader through every step of the way – encouraging the reader to go beyond the wonderful projects shown. This is beautifully illustrated and the directions are clean and clear.
14. Nicholas, Kristin – Kids’ Embroidery: Projects for Kids of All Ages – Stewart, Tabori & Chang (New York). 2004. Nicholas was former creative editor for knitting yarn company Classic Elites Yarn and famous for her colorful designs. Here she brings her beautiful color-sense to a step-by-step book on embroidery, explaining all the basic stitches and suggesting amazingly fun projects. If you only get one book for your kids to learn embroidery, you should get this one!
15. Rothschild, Sharon Franco – Sweater Renewal: Felting Knits into New Sweaters and Accessories – Potter Craft (New York). 2008. So you have a pure wool sweater you accidentally shrank or you see a sweater in a thrift store that has beautiful colorwork but is the wrong size – this book will help fix the situation. Rothschild has over two dozen projects that demand that you find wool sweaters to shrink. These projects get the creative juices flowing to go beyond her clear directions and start creating your own recyclables.
16. Ryan, Jenny – Sew Darn Cute: 30 Sweet and Simple Projects to Sew and Embellish – St. Martin’s Press (New York). 2009. For simple, but fun, sewing projects, this book is one of the best. The projects are practical (glass case, laptop bag and bibs to name just a few) while developing a sewing skill-base. This book includes patterns for making a crochet-hook case and a multi-pocket crafting apron. Very cool!
17. Sadler, Judy Ann – Kids Can Do It: Embroidery – Kids Can Press Ltd (Tonawanda, NY). 2004. This is a beautifully illustrated, step-by-step guide to embroidering. An added bonus: the projects are cool!
18. Sealey, Maricristin – Kinder Dolls: A Waldorf Doll-Making Handbook – Hawthorn Press (Gloucestershire, UK) 2001. A classic! This one leads the reader step-by-step through the process of creating the beautiful cloth dolls that are a traditional gift for all children in Germany. These dolls are gorgeous and come in all sizes. Beautiful!
19. Stapleton, Dorothy – Kids Can Quilt: Fun and Easy Projects for Your Small Quilter – Barrons Educational (Hauppauge, NY). 2004. This book might even get me quilting. The projects are fun and look doable with the great illustrations and directions. My 8-year-old daughter can’t wait to start – always a good sign!

There are tons of others too ... but these are the ones I particularly like. The Winky Cherry and Tina Davis ones are lots of fun!

Books: for brand-new or nervous knitters

I love knitting. I love knitting books almost as much! I love to read about techniques, ogle the gorgeous fair isle or aran sweaters, read about how others do what they do when they ply two sticks and a string. I love to read ... and knit ...

Another thing I love is recommending knitting books. Many people ask me for advice on this book or that ... or I give them my critique even if they don't ask! I take pride in sifting through the knitting twaddle that's out on the market (and there is quite a bit!) and only recommending the ones that I own (or really WANT to own) in my personal knitting library (which, needs must, be kept small so dh doesn't go over the top).

As I said, I love recommending the good knitting books. For instance, here's a blog post on a fairly exhaustive bibliography I put together back in 2007; then there was the post about discovering two books with my designs in them; a post about MY book; recommended books on sock knitting; a post about some recent "finds"; and my most recent post on books for those who wanted to go beyond garter stitch.


But today, I found a book that will help all the beginners and nervous knitters out there. This is one that I am so impressed with and can't believe it was published 4 or more years ago and I'm just seeing it now. This will be my new "go to" suggestion when folks ask about starting out or wanting to go a bit ahead.

First Knits: Projects for Beginning Knitters by Luise Roberts and Kate Haxell is a perfect book for those who have never knitted ... but want to try ... as well as for those who have started knitting but don't understand some of the technical terms or want cool but easy projects, etc.


This book will guide you slowly, step by step, through your first garter stitch projects including how to measure a swatch, "get gauge" and other techniques. Then you'll move on to purling, ribbing, cabling, shaping, colorwork, button-holes, and more! The illustrations and text are very understandable and detailed.


The projects you'll make include garter stitch booties, garter stitch hat with flaps, cushion cover, backpack, heart cushion, adorable stuffed rabbit, knitting a true, in the round cap, cable handbag, lacy shawl, jacket socks, striped throw and a baby jacket. And these things are not only really cute, they're useful and fun and span old and young alike.


Although this book is a paperback, the cover is made of heavier-than-usual stock with overleaves that include basic abbreviations, tips and other information for quick reference.


This is definitely a book to add to your wish-list if you want to knit ... or want to knit better ... or want to teach someone else! Really excellent!

Books: when you're ready to go beyond ...

... a garter stitch scarf.

Here are some books that are currently out in the book stores that are really great for learning about knitting and going beyond garter stitch.

1. Melissa Leapman's new book, Knitting Beyond Scarves has wonderful illustrations and directions for increasing, decreasing, purling, reading directions, etc. Her projects are a bit "young" but I really liked a few of them and thought they'd be fun for new knitters to try. She's got a style that is very attractive but easy to follow.

2. Knitting School: A Complete Course is also excellent and should carry you pretty far in learning all the ins and outs. This book covers lots of things that many of the other how-tos don't. I like this as a reference-shelf book that you'd look into when you're stuck or don't understand a particular instruction.

3. Knitting in Plain English by Maggie Righetti is a chatty, really well-done book about how to knit, follow directions and make things. This is great if you want a gentle approach. It's a classic that doesn't have the glossy, fancy pictures but definitely covers ALL the basics. A fun book to read (ok, if you're a knitting-geek, that is!).

4. Debbie Bliss' How to Knit: The Definitive Knitting Course includes some great projects. She walks you through the process quite nicely. This is the one my teenaged daughter uses alot when she has a question about how to do something or for a simple project. She covers doing things like cable patterns and color-work ... but starts the reader out with baby-steps to earn confidence.

Those should help anyone trying to go a bit further with their knitting. There's so many knitting books on the market now that it can be hard to find those truly worth buying and keeping. Please post in the comments section if you have any other books that are "must haves".

GWOY: January 2009 swatches

The Great Wall of Yarn for the January 2009 TNNA convention is one of my favorite things to do ... I love getting the latest yarns ... playing with them and designing with them .... knitting up swatches that show the yarn to the best advantage.

Here are the swatches I did this year (only two as the package was crushed by USPS and one skein was lost in the mail ...):

This one is O-Wool's (fully organic wool) "Legacy Bulky" in a lovely clay. I used #10s and did this cable pattern (with slight re-drafting of stitches) from Melissa Leapman's latest book Continuous Cables (which is one of those books every knitter should have on their shelves if only to do these cool, out-of-nowhere cable patterns!) This yarn is luscious and knits up beautifully! This yarn would make a spectacular hoodie with cable patterns throughout -- can't wait to start designing one.

This second swatch is SWTC's "Jezebel" (a hand-dyed sock yarn) which I did here in a toe-up, short-row heeled baby sock. The pictures don't do justice to this beautiful purple-shaded yarn that knits up in a delicious "hand" on #2 needles. I did a "heart" lace pattern on the top of the foot with a 2x2 rib sole ... than a mock-cable ribbed cuff that would hold the sock on but look a little more "posh" than a simple rib. Gorgeous, yes? Well, maybe you should see it in "real life"!

I love this opportunity that being a member of AKD gives me ... the chance to swatch with the latest and greatest from the yarn companies (with a special thanks to Heidi at Trendsetters for all she does to get this GWOY out, in and up!).

Happy knittin'

For those who think knitting is just for girls ....

... may I introduce Maury the Knitting Mouse and our new mascot here at By Hand, With Heart.

Don't you just love him? My dear MIL got him for me at Thanksgiving -- something she normally doesn't buy and something I normally wouldn't like, but this guy is just so cute. And not only does he knit, he sings "Deck the Halls"!

Merry Christmas to all my knitting buddies! May Santa bring you lots of great knitting stuff ... let me know what he brings.

Books: Great Christmas ideas ....

... or uses for your Christmas bucks!

I haven't posted since October 1st ... but I have been knitting up a storm (primarily for Christmas gifts, but also for another knitting book that should be out this Summer/early Fall). I've also been reading lots of the new knitting books that have exploded on the market lately. Here are some ideas for your reading and knitting pleasure:

1. Knitting history -- do you love it as much as I? I love reading about knitting, especially if the book can lay flat and I can knit while I read. If you've already got the classics: Richard Rutt's A History of Hand Knitting, Anne McDonald's No Idle Hands: A Social History of Knitting, and Susan Strawn's Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art than your shelves REALLY need Nicky Epstein's latest opus, Knitting on Top of the World: The Global Guide to Traditions, Techniques and Design. This book is destined to be a classic in the knitting history panoply. Epstein's designs are a bit outre for me, but the information and the suggestions and just the shear inspiration of this work make it worth the money! The pictures and coffee-table styling of the book make it a great read-while-you-knit kind of book.

2. Technique books -- I'm sure you own all the classic stitch dictionaries like the Barbara Walker A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (vol. 1 thru 4), the Vogue stitchionaries (vol 1-3, vol 4 is [shudder] crochet!), or the Harmony Guide books from Interweave Press. Melissa Leapman has managed to go WAY beyond any of these with her latest two books, both on cable knitting: Cables Untangled: An Exploration of Cable Knitting and Continuous Cables: An Exploration of Knitted Cabled Knots, Rings, Swirls, and Curlicues. The first does a great job of dissecting cables and proving once and for all that cables are NOT hard to execute. The projects within the book cover the variety of hand-knit items where cabling looks great. The second book explains how to make design your own cable panels and pieces by explaining how to make cables grow from nothing (by hiding increases and decreases within your knititng) and how to design cables that imitate fancy celtic knots, braids and even nautical rope! Again, the projects are a great variety, using the techniques described earlier. But both of these books go beyond just being simple pattern books ... and this is why I'm highly recommending them for Christmas gifts (or Christmas money spending) ... the last one-third (if not more) of each of these books contain a cable dictionary -- smallest bits of cable pieces that can be joined together to create your own cable patterns. I predict that Melissa Leapman, based on these two books, will soon join the ranks of Barbara Walker and Vogue Knitters as classic authors for knitting designers.

Merry Christmas -- and let me know if you get any knitting books for Christmas that can compete with these.