Author Archives: Coffee Tea Knits

Tutorial Series: K2tog and P2tog

Posted in K2tog and P2tog, Tutorial Series by

One way to decrease a stitch in knitting is by doing a K2tog on the knit row/round or a P2tog on a purl row/round. K2tog stands for knit two stitches together and P2tog stands for purl two stitches together. The videos below show both ways of decreasing one stitch in right handed knitting.

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Written Steps for K2tog:

  • Insert the right needle from back to front of the second stitch on the left knitting needle and then insert it into the first stitch on the left needle
  • Wrap the working yarn around the inserted right needle
  • Pull the right knitting needle and working yarn loop into and through the 2 stitches on the left needle
  • Keep the working yarn loop (the new stitch) on the right needle and slide the 2 stitches off the left needle
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Written Steps for P2tog:

  • Insert right needle front to back into the first two stitches on the left knitting needle
  • Wrap the working yarn around the right needle
  • Pull the working yarn loop on the right needle through the two stitches on the left needle and keep the loop (new stitch) on the right needle
  • Slide the first two stitches off the left needle
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~coffeeteaknits.com

© Coffee Tea Knits. All text and images for personal use only. All Rights Reserved.

To Crochet a Cardigan

Posted in 2023, September 2023 by


Last month I completed my very first crochet cardigan. It is based on the free crochet pattern called In the Clouds Cardigan by Grace of For The Frills. The cardigan is beginner friendly and the pattern comes along with a video tutorial on how to crochet this cardigan. The video tutorial for this cardigan was very helpful.

I picked this cardigan because it had a similar crochet moss stitch pattern (single crochet, chain one) yet where the single crochet was placed gave a different texture to the crocheted item. This textured crochet stitch pattern was also my inspiration to design and crochet the Four Sections Blanket pattern.

Briefly, the body of the free cardigan pattern is worked sideways (lengthwise) beginning from the first front panel, then the back, and ending with the second front panel leaving gaps for the armholes. The shoulders are seamed. The sleeves are crocheted flat and then seamed to the armhole edges. The ribbing for the body, sleeves, pockets, and neckband are crocheted separately using smaller crochet hooks and then seamed to the cardigan.

My cardigan looks quite different from In the Clouds Cardigan. Although I used the sideway technique and the same stitch pattern, I made several modifications to the cardigan. The cardigan I crocheted is not oversized nor does it have any pockets. Worsted weight yarn that I had purchased some years ago was used instead of the bulky weight yarn recommended in the pattern. My gauge was different and so were the crochet hooks that I used.

The biggest modification was in the sleeves of the cardigan and the neckband ribbing. Since I didn’t have enough yarn left to crochet long length sleeves, I decided to pick up stitches along the armhole edges with a knitting needle and purled both sleeves (pictured below) ending with a repetition of [Knit 1 through the back loop, purl 1] for the ribbing of the sleeves. For the neckband ribbing, I crocheted several rows of the moss stitch pattern all along one front, the neck and down the other front.


There are two main lessons I learnt from crocheting this beginner friendly cardigan pattern. One is that you need more yarn for a crochet cardigan than for knitted cardigan, and the other is that crocheting a cardigan takes less time than knitting one.

I am satisfied with how the cardigan turned out. Since the time to crochet a cardigan is much shorter than knitting one, I will definitely be crocheting more sweaters. There are several free crochet patterns available on For The Frills website that are quite lovely and beginner friendly. Some patterns also have video tutorials. I can’t wait to crochet another cardigan or a pullover using these free patterns by Grace.

How has your experience with crocheting cardigans been? Share some of your experiences in the comment below.

~coffeeteaknits.com

© Coffee Tea Knits. All text and images for personal use only. All Rights Reserved.

Tutorial Series: Purl and Un-Purl

Posted in Purl and Un-Purl, Tutorial Series by

The purl stitch in knitting looks quite different from the knit stitch. The videos below show how to make purl stitches and how to undo (un-purl) those stitches for right handed knitting.

The Purl Stitch:

  • Insert the right needle from front to back of the first stitch on the left knitting needle
  • Wrap the working yarn around the inserted right needle
  • Catch the loop made made by the working yarn (the new stitch) with the right needle
  • Slip the loop (the new stitch) onto the right needle and the first stitch off the left needle


Un-Purl (undo the Purl stitch):

  • Insert left knitting needle into the purl bump below the new stitch on the right needle
  • Catch the left side of the purl bump above the working yarn and place the loop made onto the left needle
  • Slide the new stitch on the right needle off the needle
  • Pull the working yarn (dropped stitch loop) away from the stitch on the left needle

~coffeeteaknits.com

© Coffee Tea Knits. All text and images for personal use only. All Rights Reserved.

The Four Section Blanket Pattern

Posted in 2023, July 2023 by


I bought the yarn for the Four Section Blanket almost a decade ago when they opened a new Hobby Lobby store near me. I was still a novice knitter dabbling in knitting a top down sweater and wanted to use this yarn for that. I tried to knit a sweater with this yarn but for some reason it didn’t happen. The yarn languished in my storage bin for years till a couple of months ago when I took it out from storage and crocheted this Four Section Blanket.

Four separate pieces of the same size are crocheted for the Four Section Blanket using a crochet moss stitch pattern for the border and a mix of single crochet, chain 1 stitch pattern for the four pieces. Although both stitch patterns have single crochets and chain ones, the placement of the single crochet results in a distinctive looking pattern. Each section has a round of crochet moss stitch pattern as its border edge. The four pieces are then joined using the zig zag crochet slip stitch method. The border of the blanket is finished with several rounds of the crochet moss stitch pattern. The finished blanket measures about 42 x 44 inches.

The Four Section Blanket Pattern (text and images for personal use only)

Yarn: Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn! in Terra Cotta Colorway (4 skeins needed for this blanket)
Tapestry needle to weave in ends
Gauge: 4.5 stitches/inch
Crochet hook: US size I-9 or 5.5 mm 
Abbreviations:
sc: single crochet
[…]: pattern repeat

With US # I-9 (5.5 mm) crochet hook, make a slip knot and chain 80 stitches

  • Row 1 (RS): Skip the first stitch, [single crochet the next stitch, chain 1, skip the next stitch] repeat […] till the last stitch, sc the last stitch (on the slip knot side), chain 1 and turn
  • Row 2 (WS): Skip the first stitch, [sc the next stitch, chain 1, skip the next stitch] repeat […] till the last stitch, sc the last stitch, chain 1 and turn

Repeat Row 2, 72 more times.


Repeat Row 2 (RS) more time
One Round of Crochet Moss Stitch Border:

  • Turn and pick up 37 stitches and crochet in moss stitch pattern (pick up a stitch and sc, chain 1, skip the next stitch and repeat) all along the left side – As shown in the video above
  • Turn and pick up 40 stitches and crochet in moss stitch pattern along the 80 chain stitch edge
  • Turn and pick up 37 stitches and crochet in moss stitch pattern all along the right side
  • Turn and pick up 40 stitches of the last row (bind off row) and crochet in moss stitch pattern along that last row.

Slip stitch into the first stitch of the round and pull working yarn through. See the finished first section below.


Make three more identical square shape pieces (about 18 x 18 inches each).

Join the four small pieces with zig zag slip stitch crochet method or any other join method of your choice:

Join the last row (bind off row) of first completed piece to the 80 chain stitch edge of the second completed piece with the zig zag slip stitch crochet join method moving from right to left

Join the last row (bind off row) of the third completed piece to the 80 chain stitch edge of the fourth completed piece with the zig zag slip stitch crochet join method moving from left to right.

Join the two large rectangular shaped pieces with zig zag slip stitch crochet method or any other join method of your choice:

Starting from the bottom to top, join the two rectangle pieces with the zig zag crochet slip stitch method


Crochet Moss Stitch Border:

Round 1 (RS): Make a slip knot with US size I – 9 (5.5 mm) crochet hook, and starting from one corner of the joined piece, bring the slip knot through (from back to front) the corner stitch (beginning of round), sc into the corner stitch, chain 2, sc into the same corner stitch, chain 1, [sc into the next chain 1 space, chain 1] all around the joined piece with a repeat of [sc in the corner stitch, chain 2, sc into the same corner stitch, chain 1] at each of the corners. 

Repeat Round 1, 5 more times with [sc into the chain 1 space, chain 1] all around the joined piece with a repeat of [sc into the corner stitch chain 2 space, chain 2, sc into the same corner stitch chain 2 space, chain 1] at each of the corners chain 2 space. 

At the end of last round sc into the beginning of round corner stitch chain 2 space and pull working yarn through.

Weave in the ends, wash and block the Four Section Blanket

~coffeeteaknits.com

© Coffee Tea Knits. All text and images for personal use only. All Rights Reserved.

Tutorial Series: Knit and Tink

Posted in Knit and Tink, Tutorial Series by

Welcome to the first video tutorial here on Coffee Tea Knits. The knit stitch and how to tink (knit spelled backwards) or unravel that stitch is shown in the two videos below.

The Knit Stitch:

  • Insert the right knitting needle from back to front of the first stitch on the left knitting needle.
  • Take the working yarn around the top of the right needle and wrap it between the two needles on top of the first stitch
  • Catch and pick up the working yarn loop (the new stitch) with the right needle
  • Slip the first stitch off the left needle and onto the right needle for the new knit stitch

Tink (to undo or unpick the knit stitch):

  • Insert the left knitting needle into the v – shaped stitch below the first stitch on the right needle
  • Catch the left strand of the v – shaped stitch with the left needle and slip it onto the left needle
  • Pull the first stitch on the right needle off the needle
  • Pull the working yarn (loop) out of the stitch now on the left needle

~coffeeteaknits.com

© Coffee Tea Knits. All text and images for personal use only. All Rights Reserved.

The Summertime Market Bag Pattern

Posted in June 2023, June 29, 2023 by


I am all for window shopping and retail (yarn) therapy.

You sometimes find the most unexpected things that just have to be purchased.

A market bag is a useful thing to take along for these shopping trips especially if you live in a place where plastic bags are not easily available.

These knitted or crocheted market bags can be for personal use as well as for gifting. They are also reusable and eco-friendly.

For me as a knitter and crocheter, making handmade market bags gives me one more reason to continue yarn therapy.

The Summertime Market Bag Pattern (text and images for personal use only)

Yarn: YarnspirationsTM Caron Cotton Ripple Cakes yarn in the French Vanilla colorway. The yarn is discontinued but may still be available at Michaels etc. For the Summertime Market Bag 1 cake (240 g) of this yarn was used. 
Tapestry needle to weave in ends
Gauge: Not really needed since the center out crochet moss stitch squares can be customized to any size.
Crochet hook: US size F-5 or 3.75 mm for the crochet moss stitch squares and US E-4 or 3.5 mm for the shoulder strap
Abbreviations:
sc: single crochet
[…]: pattern repeat

The Summertime Market Bag is crocheted in the round using the center out crochet moss stitch pattern. The crochet moss stitch square starts with a crochet magic ring.


In a crochet magic ring pictured above (there are many tutorials available online on how to make a crochet magic ring) pull up a stitch with the US F-5 crochet hook, sc once into the ring, chain 2, place marker, sc into the ring, chain 2, place marker, sc into the ring, chain 2, place marker, sc into the ring, chain 2, place marker, and sc. Pull on the yarn tail to tighten the gap (pictured below).


Round 1: Insert the crochet hook into the chain 2 space of the first marker and sc, chain 2, sc, chain 1 all in the same chain 2 space (see below). Remove the first marker and place it as the beginning of the round marker. [Insert hook and sc, chain 2, sc, chain 1 into the chain 2 space of the second marker. Remove second marker]. Repeat […] this for the third and fourth marker in their chain 2 space.


Round 2: [Sc, chain 2, sc, chain 1 all in the same chain 2 space of the first corner with the beginning of the round marker. Sc in the next chain 1 space between the first and second corner (see picture below), chain 1]. Repeat […] for the second, third and fourth corners till the beginning of the first marker.


Repeat the Round 2 till preferred size is reached ending with a sc in the chain 2 space at the beginning of the round. Cut the working yarn and pull through the sc stitch. There was a total of 34 round repeats for the Summertime Market Bag.


Make another crochet moss stitch square of the same size.
Wash and block the two squares (wrong side pictured below)


The two sides and the bottom of the two squares are then joined together using two strands of the yarn and the crochet zig zag slip stitch method.


The Shoulder Strap: Insert US E-4 hook from right to left on top of one side of the joined square, pick up and single crochet 11 stitches (pictured below) for the shoulder strap for about fifteen and a half inches ending with the right side row. Cut yarn and pull through the stitch. Repeat the same on the other side of the joined square. Join the two shoulder straps using the crochet slip stitch join method.

Weave in the ends to complete the Summertime Market Bag.

~coffeeteaknits.com

© Coffee Tea Knits. All text and images for personal use only. All Rights Reserved.

Sheltering Tree Shawlette with Indie Dyed Yarn

Posted in June 15, 2023, June 2023 by

I knit another Sheltering Tree Shawlette with hand dyed super wash merino yarn by Cozy Color Works in the Jersey Peach colorway. I purchased this yarn about 4 or 5 years ago at either a wool walk or the NJ Sheep and Wool Festival. Each hank of hand dyed yarn by Indie Dyers is unique and a work of art. This 550 yards of fingering weight merino yarn is unique in its colorful speckles, its softness, its warmth and lightness.

The yarn also shows the stitch definition of The Sheltering Tree Shawlette Pattern well. There were some modifications made to the pattern. I knit this shawlette with US Size #5 circular needles, added a few more garter stitch rows for the border and omitted the eyelet row. This Sheltering Tree Shawlette is wider and longer than the previous one. The speckles in the yarn added pops of color and made knitting this shawlette fun.

~coffeeteaknits.com

© Coffee Tea Knits. All text and images for personal use only. All Rights Reserved.

The Reverse Side Dishcloth Pattern

Posted in May 26, 2023 by

In knitting patterns there is a right side and a wrong side for a row or a round. It does not mean that the wrong side (the inner side) pattern can’t be reversed and be on the right side (the outer side). I sometimes like the reverse side of the pattern just as much as the right or outer side. The Comfy Hat Patterns are an example of patterns with both the right side and wrong side as the outer side of the hats. When I completed knitting the Spring is in the Air Dishcloth last month, I liked how the two different colors of yarn gave a striped textured pattern on the reverse (wrong) side of the dishcloth (pictured below). The striped textured pattern on the wrong side led to the Reverse Side Dishcloth pattern.

The Reverse Side Dishcloth pattern is the reverse side of the linen stitch pattern in two different yarn colorways. In this pattern I used Capri Eco Cotton™ by Loops and Threads® yarn made from recycled cotton in two different colorways. Stitches are cast on, the round joined and the dishcloth is worked by knitting towards the center with decreases every other round till 8 stitches remain. It is then finished with the duplicate crochet stitch running diagonally beginning at each corner and moving towards the center. Reverse single crochet stitch pattern is used as an edging for the border.

The Reverse Side Dishcloth Pattern (text and images for personal use only)

Yarn: Capri Eco Cotton™ by Loops and Threads® yarn in Yellow (Colorway 1) and Pewter (Colorway 2)
Knitting Needles: US #10 for cast on and US #8 circular needles to knit the dishcloth
Crochet hook: US size 7 or 4.5 mm crochet hook
Tapestry Needle to weave in ends
Gauge: 5 stitches/inch
Abbreviations:

  • K: Knit
  • P: Purl
  • K2tog: Knit the first two stitches on the left needle together
  • ssk: slip slip knit (slip 2 stitches to right hand needle then insert the left needle in front of the two slipped stitches and knit them together
  • pm: place marker
  • sm: slip marker
  • BOR: beginning of round
  • wyif: with working yarn in front
  • *…*: pattern repeats within a section
  • […]: repeat pattern for each of the 4 sections within brackets

With US #10 knitting needles cast on 148 stitches with Colorway 1 (Yellow) yarn using the long tail cast on or the thumb method.
Transfer all stitches to a 16 inch US #8 circular needles, place a BOR marker and join round to knit the following making sure the stitches are not twisted. 

  • Setup Round 1: With Colorway 2 yarn (Pewter): [P1, pm, ssk, (*K1, slip1 wyif* repeat *…* 16 more times), K2tog, pm] repeat […] 2 more times, P1, pm, ssk, (*K1, slip1 wyif* repeat *…* 16 more times), K2tog, slip BOR marker – place all the yarn tails on the right side of the knitting (pictured below)
  • Round 2: With Colorway 1 yarn (Yellow): [P1, sm, *K1, slip 1 wyif* repeat *…* till marker, sm] repeat […] 2 more times, P1, sm, *K1, slip 1 wyif* repeat *…* till BOR marker, slip BOR marker  
  • Round 3: With Colorway 2 yarn (Pewter): [P1, sm, ssk, *slip1 wyif, K1* repeat *…* till 2 stitches before marker, K2tog, sm] repeat […] 2 more times, P1, pm, ssk, *slip 1 wyif, K1* repeat *…* till 2 stitches before BOR marker, K2tog, slip BOR marker 
  • Round 4: With Colorway 1 yarn (Yellow): [P1, sm, *slip 1 wyif, K1* repeat *…* till marker, sm] repeat […] 2 more times, P1, sm, *slip 1 wyif, K1* repeat *…* till BOR marker, slip BOR marker 
  • Round 5: With Colorway 2 yarn (Pewter): [P1, sm, ssk, *K1, slip 1 wyif* repeat *…* till 2 stitches before marker, K2tog, sm] repeat […] 2 more times, P1, pm, ssk, *K1, slip 1 wyif* repeat *…* till 2 stitches before BOR marker, K2tog, slip BOR marker 
  • Round 6: With Colorway 1 yarn (Yellow): [P1, sm, *K1, slip1 wyif* repeat *…* till marker, sm] repeat […] 2 more times, P1, sm, *K1, slip 1 wyif* repeat *…* till BOR marker, slip BOR marker 

Repeat Rounds 3 – 6, seven more times. There are 20 stitches left on the needles after these repeats. For the next two rounds knit the following:

  • Round 1: Colorway 2 (Pewter): [P1, sm, ssk, K2tog, sm], repeat […] 2 more times, P1, sm, ssk, K2tog, slip BOR marker – 12 stitches remaining
  • Round 2: Colorway 1 (Yellow): [P1, remove marker, p2tog, remove marker], repeat […] 2 more times, P1, remove maker, p2tog, remove marker, P1, slip BOR marker – 8 stitches remaining

Cut the working yarn (yellow – colorway 1) and pull it through a tapestry needle. Remove the BOR marker and insert the tapestry needle through the remaining eight stitches and pull them tight to close the gap and secure yarn on the right side of the dishcloth.


The Duplicate Crochet Stitch*:

With size 7 (4.5 mm) crochet hook and colorway 1 (yellow) yarn make a slip knot and chain one.


Insert crochet hook from top to bottom and pull the chain 1 stitch through the corner stitch.


Duplicate stitch crochet by inserting hook top to bottom and pulling the yarn up and slip stitching it with the loop (stitch) on the hook.


Insert the hook for the duplicate crochet stitch in the colorway 1 (yellow) knit stitch and skip the colorway 2 (pewter) knit stitch. Continue with the duplicate crochet stitch till you reach the center, break yarn and pull it through the last stitch.


Reverse Single Crochet Edging and hanging loop* (Optional):

Reverse Single Crochet edging: Starting at the cast on edge and on the left of the center duplicate crochet stitch (see picture below),

pick up the cast on stitches and reverse single crochet in a clockwise direction with size 7 (4.5 mm) crochet hook all around the dishcloth edge with Colorway 1 (yellow) yarn. Slip stitch into the first reverse single crochet border stitch and crochet 12 chain stitches. Slip stitch into the reverse single crochet stitch on the other side of the center duplicate crochet stitch.

Weave in the ends, wash and block the Reverse Side Dishcloth.

* Several video tutorials for the duplicate crochet stitch and reverse single crochet are available on YouTube 

Happy Knitting!

~coffeeteaknits.com

© Coffee Tea Knits. All text and images for personal use only. All Rights Reserved.