Independent craft blog since 2007
Dorinda from Flower Girl Designs shares a free pattern for making this kitchen towel hanger. This hanger will work with any kitchen towel. You just loop the towel through the hanger and hang it up. Go to the free pattern.
[photo from Flower Girl Designs]
Technorati Tags: sewing, tutorial, free pattern, kitchen, towel, holder, loop
If your knitting basket contains three unfinished projects but somehow none of the yarn you need for the next one, this might be useful news. The Knit Picks Friends & Family Sale is offering 20% off sitewide with promo code 10FRIENDS26.
It’s an opportunity to shop for a planned project, fill a gap in your needle collection or gather supplies for handmade gifts. And yes, a little browsing is allowed. Just perhaps check the yarn cupboard before ordering another six balls of the colour you apparently already collect.
Browse the Knit Picks Friends & Family Sale here, and enter 10FRIENDS26 at checkout.
The advertised offer is straightforward:
Check the current promotion terms, availability and delivery costs before completing your order. If you are shopping internationally, confirm delivery to your location and the checkout currency too. A yarn bargain still needs to make sense once postage joins the party.
A sale is most useful when it helps you make something you already want to knit. Here are the areas I would browse first.
Start with the pattern, then work out your yarn requirements. Check the recommended weight, fibre, total yardage and care instructions before choosing a substitute.
For a jumper or cardigan, buy enough of your chosen colour together and check dye-lot information where available. Running out halfway through a sleeve is frustrating enough without discovering that your replacement yarn is a slightly different shade.
If you fancy something smaller than a garment, our feature on a simple triangular shawl for beginners offers a little inspiration. Check the designer’s pattern requirements before shopping, then swatch if you substitute yarn.
Dishcloths are practical little projects for gift baskets, teacher presents and those occasions when you want to make something thoughtful without signing yourself up for six weeks of knitting.
Our easy diagonal knit dishcloth pattern for beginners is a good starting point. Choose a smooth cotton in a suitable weight, check its washing instructions and think about colours the recipient will actually use.
Prefer a hook? This beginner crochet dishcloth pattern is another option for turning cotton yarn into a useful handmade gift.
A small stack of cloths tied with a ribbon looks lovely. More importantly, it is a gift that can earn its keep.
Knit Picks carries needles, hooks and knitting accessories, so it is worth checking your supplies before browsing.
Look at the projects you make most often. Do you need a particular circular needle length? Are you forever borrowing the same needle tips from another unfinished project? Has your tape measure disappeared into the mysterious place where stitch markers go?
For interchangeable needles, check compatibility with the cables and tips you already own. Buying a useful addition is far more satisfying than discovering that your lovely new purchase needs an entirely different system.
My favourite way to approach a yarn sale is with a short list beside me:
It leaves room for an enjoyable purchase while reducing the chances of buying beautiful yarn that has no realistic job waiting for it.
And if you are planning handmade Christmas gifts, choose projects that fit the time you actually have. A few finished gifts will bring more pleasure than an ambitious pile of December deadlines.
Whether you need yarn for a cosy shawl, cotton for useful little gifts or the needle size missing from your collection, the Knit Picks Friends & Family Sale is worth a look.
Shop Knit Picks using this link and enter 10FRIENDS26 for the advertised 20% off sitewide offer. Check the current terms and your order total at checkout.
Choose something you are excited to make, put the pattern with the yarn when it arrives, and give that next project a fighting chance of becoming a finished one.
