So I knit a row and the knitting is on row A. Then, because I knit with my left, I hold a on my left. Then I knit a row so now the knitting is on B. Then I switch so now I’m holding B on my left. So in other words I’m holding the empty stick on my right? What kind of stitch is that?????.?

If you filled your right needle with stitches, and then swapped hands so that the full needle is now in your left, it’s simply time to start knitting the next row. What stitch you choose to do is up to you. You could use knit stitches, in which case you would wind up with garter fabric, which is reversible and nice for scarves. Or you could do purl stitches, in which case you would wind up with stockinette fabric, which is not reversible and tends to curl. Or you could do a combination of knits and purls or tweak the stitches around into lace or fancy textures.

A lot of people have trouble with the second row because they over think it. I’ll go through it slowly. With your working yarn hanging down, examine the first stitch. It is probably more loose than the other stitches, specifically, the collar around it’s base is probably bigger than the collars around the other stitches. This is normal, but you do need to take it into account. Use your thumb to stroke that collar downward, and hold it in place while you move the yarn UNDER the needle and to the back, and then wind it around the fingers of your left hand, however you are used to doing it. Now use your left thumb to keep that loose collar out of the way while you insert the tip of the right needle into the first stitch, making sure not to hook that loose collar in the process. Either wrap your yarn around the right needle tip, or use the right needle tip to hook the yarn, and pull it through the stitch on the left needle. Let the old stitch from the left needle drop off. Now it should look more normal to you and you can continue knitting.

My boyfriend & I are opening a cross-stitch business: making patterns/kits & selling them, making the actual crafts, etc. We seem to be stuck on finding a name for our business though! Our names are Justin & Lauren, if that helps in any way. Please help us out & give us some name ideas!

Thank you!!! ^_^

Cross Stichers
Needle & Thread
J & L’s Needlework
Stiches & Thread
Crafts R Us
Handyman Crafters
JustinLauren Crafts
A Stich in Time
Patterns, Needle, & More
JL Crafts
Crafts & Beyond

Particularly interested in the North Woods Christmas and Victorian Garland stocking patterns found in this issue.

no not yet

I have an amazing primary care doctor and would love to do a cross stitch for her to put in her office. I have only found two patterns, neither of which I care for. Does anyone have any suggestions?

You might be able to find something you like at Walmart, if not you can check at a hobby store. I don’t know if they have anything like that at hobby stores or not. If neither of those places are what you’re looking for you can just draw your own pattern on the material and do it in any colors that you want.

my local craft stores do not carry this product

I buy my counted cross-stitch supplies from 123stitch.com because they carry so much and offer discounts on almost everything. Try searching their website for "petite braid" under the "Thread" category. Hope that helps.

Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, Joann Fabrics, Pat Catan’s, (ANY craft store) Ebay, Etsy, Amazon, Target, Tuesday Morning, closeout or salvage stores. They are very readily available.

I have a friend who is an avid knitter. I would like to buy her a set of bamboo needles for her birthday but know nothing about knitting. I see there are so many lengths and diameters available. She makes everything from socks to blankets. What would be a good size set for her? Also circular or straight? Thanks in advance.

The size you use depends on the thickness of the yarn and what you are knitting. For socks and mitts you would use 4 double pointed needles. For afghans or sweaters in the round you would use a circular needle and for anything else the regular pair of 2.

I would suggest for a regular set of 2 you get a pair in the somewhere in the range of American sizes 4 to 8 or metric sizes 3 3/4 to 6. the most commonly used size for sweaters is 4 1/2 and 6 metric or 4 and 6 American–mine are 14 inches long

I looked through my sock pattern book and the most commonly used for socks is a set of 4-metric 2 1/4 or American 0 double pointed needles.

Circular needles are sized like the regular set of 2—-I would suggest a metric 6 or an American 8

The reason I gave you metric and American sizes is I don’t know if you are from Canada or the US. Our sizes in Canada are metric

Every autumn I start knitting for the cold weather, and it seems like I don’t stop until the snow starts melting. Hats, mittens, scarves, sweaters, socks….
So before all that chaos (but since I have a thing for needle crafts) I decided to try cross stitching.. The thing is, I’m used to having a complete item when I’m finished with a knitting project. With cross stitch, I have a few pictures of various sizes, but that’s it! What do I do with theses pieces?

I see cross stitch hung in picture frames, or on decorative pillows, but is that all? It seems like cross stitch is just an embellishment to projects for people who enjoy sewing, but I don’t have sewing needles or frames or pillow filler or baby clothes or backing fabric or anything just laying around…

What kinds of projects can I do? Any suggestions or info on this new little craft I’m trying would be appreciated.

Thanks!

A close relative is needlepoint, which can be used for chair seats.

Cross stitch panels can be used as decoration in things like glasses or scissors cases and you can often find kits for these. They can be inserted into plastic mugs: http://www.leisurearts.com/cross-stitch/mugs-for-mom-dad-cross-stitch-patterns.html or put under clear light switch covers (such as you find for use with special wall papers). The small ones can be mounted in clear fronted magnets and used on the fridge.

You can also purchase special AIDA cloth items to embellish without having to sew. Such as hand towels and baby bibs. These are ready made items that have a section of AIDA for working counted cross stitch already built in.

I am knitting a simple hat with circular needles and I don’t really know how to decrease yet. I know the concept of it, knit two stitches together etc. But I don’t know when to knit two together. So I have a total of 80 stitches. Can you tell me, specifically, when to decrease and when to knit normally? For this pattern I knit two and purled two. Thanks for any help!

If you are following a pattern., the pattern will tell you when to decrease. Otherwise, you will knit until you have the hat the length you want it to be. That could be 6" or it could be 8"–or it could be more. If you want the top of the hat shaped, you’d start decreasing at that point.

You can, of course, just gather the hat by cutting the yarn, threading the yarn into a tapestry needle, and running the yarn through all the stitches, then pulling the stitches tight. That will produce a puffy top.

If you want it shaped, though, the usual way to do it is the divide the hat into segments and decrease each segment evenly. You’d need to divide the number of stitches by a number that divides into it evenly. For example, with 80 stitches, you can have 10 segments of 8 stitches, 8 segments of 10 stitches, 5 segments of 16 stitches, 4 segments of 20 stitches, or 2 segments of 40 stitches. Using 10 segments of 8 stitches will decrease very rapidly. Using 2 segments of 40 stitches will decrease very slowly. Probably the most practical division would be 8 segments of 10 stitches or 5 segments of 16 stitches.

Let’s say you decide on 8 segments of 10 stitches. To do the first decrease, you would knit 8 and knit 2 together, using up 10 stitches. Then you would repeat around–knit 8, knit 2 together. That’s abbreviated k8, k2tog. Then you’d knit a round. Then you’d have 8 segments of 9 stitches, so the next round would be k7, k2tog and repeat around. Then knit a round. Then k6, k2tog. Then knit a round. Then k5, k2tog. Then k a round. Next round, k4, k2tog. Next round, k. Next round, k3, k2tog. Next round, k. Next round, k2, k2tog. Next round, k. Next round, k1, k2tog. Next round k. Final round, k2tog. You would then have 8 stitches left. Cut the yarn, leaving about 12" to 18" of yarn. Thread it into a tapestry needle and run it through the 8 stitches, then go around again, pull the yarn tight and fasten off.

Yes.I bought one there a few weeks ago, they have a pretty big selection. You can go on their website and see which ones they carry.