With holiday knitting on the go there is a problem that inevitably comes up: pairs. There are always pairs of things to be knit for December, pairs of mittens, pairs of socks, and there are always pairs of that favorite gift, a cowl for Aunt D AND Aunt T, scarf for hubby AND your brother. How do you make the perfect pair?

Marshmallow - an upcoming pattern from TCK

1. Dyelot: Make sure you have enough yarn in the same dyelot. You don’t want to have the tip of mitten 2 to be a different color. If you are working in a hand dyed yarn definitely think about alternating rows, to avoid pooling in sock number 2 that didn’t happen in sock number 1.

2. Make notes. I can’t stress this enough. Note how many rows you did in the cuff, how many rounds in the thumb, what needles you used, what cast on method and, of course, any changes you made to the pattern. Anything you will want to be the same, make a note.

3. Measure. Make sure they are the same. If you can count the rows or rounds that is great but measuring keeps you honest. This advise sounds obvious but who doesn’t need a little reminder every once in a while?

4. It’s not that fun to knit the same thing over and over. Instead of knitting the same hat pattern keep it varied. Something similar sure, the same, maybe not. At least vary up your yarn choice to keep the interest going. I realize there are a few knitters out there thinking ‘What?! I love knitting the same thing!’ but you know you are a rare breed of knitter! I always think it will be fun to knit a sweater 5 times (I’m looking at you Antler, sure there were 3 kiddie versions but still…..), but by the end I’m ready to throw a half finished garment into the netherworld of my stash closet never to be seen or heard from again. Variety is the spice of life. It’s just a suggestion. There are a ton of great new patterns and magazines in the shop to check out. Knit something new and different!

This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2012 at 12:36 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.