Pattern Chart Hack

For those of you who haven't seen this chart-tracking hack, I present it in the hopes it will help at least one person.  For complicated patterns, we often need to track what row we're on. Sometimes that results in a printed copy that you mark off and then erase the marks for the next repeat.  The trouble there is that after a few repeats, the paper wears out or turns too grey to see the marks. Yes, there are clickers you can use for row counting, but visually, it's easy to have your eyes jump to the wrong row.

I offer an alternative: place the page you need to track into a clear sheet protector and make your marks with a wet-erase marker.  The advantage is that you can make lots of marks and simply use a wet paper towel to erase them all later, e.g. between repeats.  The advantage of a wet-erase over a dry-erase marker is that once it dries, you're unlikely to accidentally wipe it off by brushing your hand or the work over the page. 

This wet-erase tactic is what I'm using for the Nordic Blanket pattern.  The written instructions are in one sheet protector and the graph in another.  You can see I've also marked in the graph where the written instructions change.  The beauty of this is that I can erase those extra marks along with the strike-through lines once I've completed the repeat.

Written instructions, including tally marks and struck-out lines in wet-erase marker.

Graphic chart with completed lines struck through in wet-erase marker.

If you're knitting in a place where you won't have easy access to wet paper towels, you can simply bring extra sheet protectors and move the page to a fresh one, or turn it over in the same sheet protector to hold you over until you can erase the marks.

Hufflepuff Scarf

I've finished the Hufflepuff 5th Year scarf for my future kid-in-law, altered to have fringe instead of ribbing at the ends.  Shown here being modeled by Jet Shee(p):

Yarn Philosophy

Yarn Philosophy: The end of one skein is just the beginning of another.

Spaghettification Yarnblob

One of the dangers of being too close to a black hole is spaghettification.  If a Yarnblob got close to a black hole, would it stretch long enough to create a whole skein?

Rainy Saturday Yarnblob

Rainy Saturday Yarnblob defies your gloomy skies and low temperatures!

Fuzzy Brown Afghan

I finally finished this one (yay!). I used the Sonoma colorway of Bernat Blanket yarn, and the Angled Eyelets Blanket pattern from Bernat/Yarnspirations (the “came-with-it” pattern printed on the label). It turned out nicely, I think; the pattern called for a solid color yarn, but that’s boring. I like how this colorway varied between pooling and striping.

The yarn created a thick material that’s balanced out with the eyelets so it 's warm but doesn’t get too hot, and thankfully, doesn't shed.

This blanket is sheep approved!

Blue Chenille Afghan

This is an afghan I finished several weeks late for Yule, using Bernat Blanket in Teal Dreams and the Horseshoe Cable Blanket pattern, also by Bernat:

The model is Lucy, who claimed it as her own long before it was finished.

I chose the Teal Dreams colorway in part because of the non-canine recipient's preference for blue, and in part because solid colors make for boring knitting. Seriously. Boring. Note that the pattern calls for a solid brown. The brown is a nice color and all, but I'm a knitting rebel and rarely ever use the same colors called for in a pattern. So, multi blue seemed the obvious choice; despite the colorway name, it really is way more blue than teal.

Lucy gives it two paws up.

In addition to my color requirements, I also wanted a yarn that would knit up quickly, and that would be fuzzy and soft. Bernat Blanket fit the bill on all counts. Normally, I despise working with chenille. We still tell tales of the green chenille teddy bear I crocheted for my best friend. There was green fuzz everywhere for months while I worked on the thing. Thus, my experience with chenille is not one of fond memories in the making, but of constantly cleaning fuzz off myself, the floor, the furniture, and innocent bypassers caught in the fuzzy green cloud, the likes of which is surely banned by the Geneva Convention.

As one might imagine, I started the blue afghan project with much trepidation, expecting once again to produce an unbreathable, inescapable cloud of fuzz, this time in a blue camo-ish pattern of airborne suffocation. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to find that Bernat Blanket was not only easy to work with, it also held together very well. In fact, there was almost no loose fuzz at all. Whatever magic Bernat used to hold this yarn together was the right choice. Innocent bystanders everywhere can rejoice and breathe easy in the presence of this yarn, even in the absence of a lint remover. I'm actually tempted to make myself a green one. That is, once the teddy bear flashbacks stop.