Welcome to our little bit of knitterly Heaven- I'm so glad you found your way here!
Our goal is to teach beginning knitters some tricks of the trade as well as to work enough swatches to have a finished afghan by the end of the year! Join along with us as we learn about patterns, cables, lace, and some other handy techniques! A new pattern will become available each month ranging from newbie to adventurous. So stop on by, pick your pattern and knit along with us!

All patterns can be found here as well as on Ravelry.com!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Hello knitters- welcome to 2012!  I am really looking forward to another great year of knitting with you.  As I said in a previous post, the patterns will be coming out around the middle of the month and there will usually only be one pattern (some months will have a bonus pattern).  As always, the patterns are available on Ravelry, so you can start a project page and share your work :)  I've also started a new group called "Year of Swatches."  If you search that under the groups page, you should be able to find it.  I'd like to build a community around these patterns, hopefully so I can get to know you better as well as answer any questions you might have about the patterns. 
Well on to what you've really come here for... the knitting!
I've started the year off with a really simple pattern.  Like last year, I am using US7 needles as well as worsted weight yarn (a soft acrylic to make it washable friendly- I have two little one's in the house so its gotta go in the washing machine). 

January Swatch:
Diagonal Stripes
Cast on 42 stitches

Lower Border Rows:
Rows 1, 3, 5: K1, P1 across 
Rows 2, 4: P1, K1 across

Pattern Rows:

The borders for the left and right sides are in parenthesis.

Row 1: (P1, K1, P1, K1, P1) *P1 K3 repeat from * until 5 stitches remain (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 2: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) P2 *K1, P3 repeat from * until 7 stitches remain K1, P1 (P1, K1, P1, K1, P1)
Row 3: (P1, K1, P1, K1, P1) K2, *P1, K3 repeat from * until 7 stitches remain P1, K1 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 4: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) *K1, P3 repeat from * until 5 stitches remain (P1, K1, P1, K1, P1)


Repeat these four rows until square is approx 9 inches from cast on edge.

Top border rows:
1, 3, 5: P1, K1 across
2, 4: K1, P1 across
Bind off all stitches

Happy knitting!

2 comments:

  1. Off to a good year, Happy New Year

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  2. I'm a beginnerish knitter and I love your blog! (I found you through Ravelry.) I had a suggestion. Maybe I missed it, but it would be helpful to see a stitch count (not sure if that's the right term) so I could adjust the square size. I guess that knitting does this...I know that I often see this in a crochet pattern, ie: multiple of 4+2. Thanks for a great blog! morganfam7

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