If you design projects and following charts is a big part of a particular pattern, using graph paper is important. Now you can always go to an office supply store and get what they have…or you can print your own, created to the exact specifications you need.

ABCs of Knitting provides a free graph paper designer that allows you to input the number of stitches and rows you need. You print it out in a PDF format and voila — easy charts that make your pattern look professional and easy to follow!

Attention, aspiring designers! AslanTrends has announced their first knitting challenge 2009.

I’m giving you this much notice (you have until August 10 to get your entry forms and items submitted) because you’ll need to plan; plans may change; you might need to start over, etc.

You can enter in one of two categories:

• Full-size garments or afghans
• Accessories-sized hats, scarves, bags, baby blankets

What can you win? Prizes include cash, yarn and a year’s subscription to Vogue Knitting magazine.

Visit the AslanTrends site for entry forms and official rules to the contest. Good luck!

Image: stock.xchng

This YouTube video shows that you don’t even need yarn and needles to knit. Apparently, Ramen noodles and chopsticks will do just fine.

It looks like a basket of scrumptious yarn, but it’s actually a puzzle. For those times you can actually put the needles down, this Springbok puzzle will remind you of your favorite hobby while you piece it together.

If putting puzzles together is another pastime you enjoy, combine it with your love of yarn for something you’ll love looking at in the process.

Image: Springbok

Sometimes, you create something and it’s so lovely that you don’t want to “ruin” it by using it. So you drape it over the back of the sofa or fold it and put it away, only to take it down every now and then to admire it. I made some dishcloths once for my aunt (dishcloths, people, dishcloths) and she admitted that she let them sit for months before she actually used them because “they were so nice.” She only broke down because she didn’t have any other dishcloths to use.

On one hand, I’m really touched that she thinks so much of a simple dishcloth that I knitted when my skills were still pretty new. On the other hand, I’m like “Use the dishcloths already! That’s what they’re for. I can make more!”

I hear knitters and crocheters make these beautiful things, but refuse to wear them/scrub up with them/bring them out into the light of day. If you go through the effort to create, then I feel that project should be used for its intended purpose. Otherwise, why spend all those hours making it?

If you have anything at all hiding in a closet, sitting in a chest, tucked away in a drawer — if you are at all proud of it — by all means, haul it out. Use it, wear it, scrub with it until it’s worn through with holes. After all, isn’t that why you made it in the first place?

I am notoriously picky about what I’ll knit. I think it’s because I know I’ll invest so much of my time that I have to be happy with the end result. I like a challenge, but not all the time, so my projects are usually a mix of simple to complex. Plus, if I don’t want to think one day, I’ll pick an easy project out of the bag.  

So, how do you select projects to work on? Do you work on multiple items at a time? How do they differ? Do you keep an easy one on hand for when you’re watching TV, while a complicated one awaits for when you have quiet time?

I wish I had a picture of my ugliest project to show you, but I don’t. Wisely, I never snapped a photo of this hideous handbag that I made a few years ago.

I made it in purple variegated yarn, trimmed it in acid-green fun fur (*shiver*), stuck some handles on it and lined it with more acid-green satin. (I have absolutely no explanation for all the acid-green.) At this point, the bag is probably taking up room in a landfill somewhere because I decided not to keep it. It was fugly.

However, as with any other project I’ve ever completed (or not completed), the fugly bag taught me some things:

• How to sew a lining into a bag
• That I don’t like knitting with fun fur
• That I don’t like fun fur…period
• How to choose good stitch patterns for a more sturdy bag
• That acid-green isn’t my color

I know that sometimes, we make things that later make us question why. Why did I make this dishcloth/doily/shrug/toilet roll cover/unidentifiable object? Instead of wondering who you can foist these ugly projects onto, try to turn it into a learning experience.

You can learn something from everything you make. Projects can teach you not only the best way to do something, but the best way not to do something. You may find a new way to cast on that works for you the majority of the time, even if the project that taught you that ends up being a dud. You might nearly complete a Fair Isle hat, only to learn that stranded knitting isn’t your thing.

Whether you complete an item or not, the great thing about working with yarn is that you’re always learning something. Our projects, all of them, teach us new things all the time.

The next time you finish a project, or leave it languishing in the bottom of your basket, ask yourself what you learned. You just might be surprised by the answer.

It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been knitting or crocheting for 50 years, or whether you just started. There’s always something to learn.

With this new year still fresh and full of possibilities, have you made any crafty resolutions for 2009?

Maybe you want to try a new technique, but have always been worried about the results. It’s only yarn — you can unravel it and start over. If there’s something you haven’t tried yet, come on…what’s the worst that can happen?

Join a local knitting or crochet circle. Take a class if you’re a beginner and you just can’t figure something out. Teach someone the craft.

What are you going to do this year that you haven’t done before?

Image: Photos.com

If “wicked” and “dark” describe your sense of humor, you might enjoy this “scary” knitting video. If, however, the sight of helpless stuffed teddy bears suffering horrible fates makes you cringe, just check back in tomorrow.

The music is pretty snazzy, though!

Source

One of the best things about making your own projects is that you can have full creative control over it. You choose the yarn, the color and if you’re brave and adventurous enough, you can create your own unique patterns.

What to do when you need a button, but you can’t find the perfect one? Or they’re just too expensive or you just really feel like making your own?

This tutorial on making a crochet button teaches you how you can use materials you probably already have at home to make just the button you need. It’s quick, easy and saves you money, which is what some of the best craft projects always do.