Diagonal Ruffle

Diagonal ruffle is my latest pattern release featuring an alternative way to pick up stitches along a knitted surface.  Usually, when picking stitch from a surface, there will be a noticeable purl bump at the base.  If using the same colour yarn as the surface, this will not matter much, but if using a different colour, the purl bumps (same colour as the surface) will show prominent as in colour change in garter stitch.

In this dishcloth pattern, the pick up stitches seem seamlessly coming out from the surface.  When finished, you will not find any visible purl bumps.

This beautify and  easy dishcloth pattern is available at my Ravelry store

How can you teach an old furball new trick ... like fishing lol

Ice Fishing is a dishcloth pattern inspired by the two furballs at home.  Everyone knows that cats like fish and with being winter in here now, the best recreational activity for the furballs will be ice fishing for them. And yes, you can give the cat a fish to feed him for a day or you can teach him to fish to feed himself the rest of his life ;), but having superior intelligent than us mere mortals, my furballs know better that they don't need to do anything to earn their living.

In this dishcloth, the twisted rope edge (bottom right) is a honest attempt to mimic the crochet version (top left).  Think I can do better but I love the final version none the least.

 The rope gives the 3D effect to a 2D dishcloth which is part of my present design concept.  The simple diamond pattern works well with the free twisted i-cord rope and I am sure the free dangling fish will be something the furballs like playing with too :)

The twisted rope edge might takes a bit of time to make, but it worth the time and effort. The whole project will take about 4 - 6 hours to complete. It is in both written instruction and knitting chart. Simple photo tutorial is also incorporated to assist in making the twisted rope edge.

It is now available in my Ravelry store

Furballs and Hearts :)

The two furball CEOs in the "office" is hurrying me to publish the latest heart pattern so that they will not need to model with the hearts anymore, and as I wrote this blog, one of them is sitting next to me pawing me for attention.  Sometimes, I wondered why my progress was that slow.

Eighth Heart in One String is my second last pattern in the Heart / One String series.  In this pattern I explored surface texture by incorporating a seed / moss stitch pattern.  I also experimented with a different set up in knitting in bias and it turned out nice.

It is not a pattern for colour work.  The purl stitch will make it impossible to have it both sided using two colours or more. Also with the pattern repeat, it became very difficult to find a repeated pattern to change the colour yarns.

This pattern is a quick knit as gift for holidays and special occasions.

The pattern is now available on my Ravelry store .

Happy Knitting!

Long Fish or is it Unagi?

One late night at home while I finished the sample for a new design, we held an adhoc conference and the furball CEOs insisted on naming the dishcloth in something they like ...... like catnip, mouse, fist, etc.  They said the special edge resembled a long fish, so we finally decided the name to be "Modern Unagi"

Modern Unagi is my latest dishcloth design with a special two colour "flat twisted" edge.  The main bodies is constructed with a sharp corner wave pattern that accentuatse the corners of the twisted edge.  Also since the wave pattern is made with knit and purl stitches (no slipped stitches like the herringbone), so the rectangular shape is maintained pretty well without blocking. 

The three sections of the dishcloth is held together seamlessly by intarsia.  Although there is a right side and wrong side to this dishcloth, the intarsia in the wrong side is well arranged and presentable (meaning there is no need to hide :p)

The pattern is now available in my Ravelry store.  It is in both written instruction and knitting chart. Mini photo tutorial is also included to help in explaining the intarsia technique.

Happy knitting!

"Too many hearts, too little time", said Moo Moo

All roads lead to Rome and Sixth Heart in One String is my latest attempt to knit a piece of heart dishcloth using a very different approach.  Instead of mitering, I changed to knitting in bias which is a more familiar technique to dishcloth knitters.  But to make sure everyone on their toes, I changed the normal increase pattern to make it interesting.

Just like all my previous hearts, the Sixth Heart is knitted in one string of yarn from start to finish without breaking or adding yarn to construct the shape.  It guarantees the integrity of the piece and less yarn tail to weave in.

This piece also let me find an ideal place to use the modified kfb and an unusual bind off  technique (at least for me, I don't do it that often and didn't see a lot of it in other patterns).

Sixth Heart in One String and my other heart patterns are now available in my Ravelry store

Enjoy the knitting :D

Working Cat

Cat Mat was conceptualized after knitting the bias Grandmother's Favourite Dishcloth a few times and started to realize its potential.  GFD has inspired me to write out 3 knitting patterns, and Cat Mat is the first one.

It is called Cat Mat because my two furballs lay on it as soon as it was off the needles, so my friend said should name the piece Cat Mat.  The design is of a sophisticated cat looking back at you ...... and you can see his wavy tail and one could tell the mischievous thought in that little brain that is wired for world domination 😁.

Instead of using the tradition knit and purls stitches to construct the cat, I opted to use modified cable slip stitches, bobble stitches and picot stitches to create a 3D space from a 2D surface of the dishcloth. Also being a perfectionist myself, I make sure that the purl bump selvedge is all round without interruption which made it different from the GFD.  That requires a different cast on and bind off from GFD.

During the test knit, the testers gave me valuable input for improvement and thus the addition of a mini photo tutorial to guide the knitters through the two  most difficult rows in the pattern.

In the pattern, I also include simple instruction in making a stockinette and seed / moss stitch body.  This is also inspired by the testers. To say the least, this is a one string piece - no cutting or adding to yarn and only two yarn tails to weave in. 😃

The pattern, Cat Mat, could be purchase from my Ravelry store and I hope you will enjoy as much as I have knitting up the cat knowing they will probably be sitting on the kitchen counter looking pretty and cute lol

"Heart Fatigue" for Furballs

I am too happy to publish two patterns at the same time, Second Heart in One String and Third Heart in One String, but looked like my furballs were not as enthusiastic as me (facepalm). I think they were tired my heart knitting.  They are now napping and not helping in photo bombing (sigh)

The Third Heart is particularly suitable for a two colour combination (half and half). The two decrease columns in the centre make a decorative focal point compatible with the knit stitch column in the Second Heart.

Special thanks to all the test knitters to make this pattern error free (if you find more error in the pattern, blame it on the furballs, HAHA)

You can find the pattern on sale in my ravelry store.

Enjoy the knitting and thank you for your support :)