Murphy's laws on knitting

Surely every crafter has felt that the validity of Murphy's laws will eventually become evident in the craft making process as well as in any other area of life. Here are some knitting related laws, which I most often experience:

• You have found a great position in your comfy knitting chair, taken the needles, started to cast on and planning not to move yourself for the next hour or two – only to discover that the fresh cup of coffee was left in the kitchen downstairs...
• As soon as you cut off the cast-on yarn tail that keeps messing with your knitwork, the work is doomed.
• Yarn runs out when 99 per cent of the work is completed.
• The yarn needed to finish a work is sold out in all the yarn stores within a reasonable distance, globally in online shops and its production discontinued.
• The more time you have spent on a knitting work, the more closer to the end you will realise that something went wrong at the beginning.
• The weather is fine and sunny, when a long knitting day indoors awaits, and turns dark and rainy, as soon as the work is finished and you want to take photos of it.
• If knitting work seems to go well, you have obviously miscounted the stitches.
• All horizontal surfaces shall be filled with unfinished knitworks.
• Every project takes longer than you think.

Cool Current wristwarmers pattern

Keep your hands warm with these wristwarmers like flowing currents when taking a stroll by the water. Or make a holiday gift – today is a good day to start. The cuffs or wristwarmers are an easy one skein project for softer yarns. My sample is knitted with pure alpaca wool Indiecita by Filcolana, colour 228.

Für deutsche Anleitung bitte runter scrollen!

Materials:
• Fingering weight yarn approximately 50 g/1.7 oz, 160 m/176 yds, gauge 26-30 stitches per 10 cm/4 in
• Double pointed needles 3 mm/US 2½
• Cable needle
• Stitch marker

Here is the knitting chart followed by written instructions:



*...* – repeat the pattern between asterisks
skp – slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over
c3f – cable 3 front

A
Cast on 56 stitches, divide sts onto 3 or 4 needles and join to work in the round. Place marker to indicate the beginning of round.
Rd 1 *k4, p4*

Not too convenient to handle the first rounds on double pointed needles, but it gets easier round by round. If the yarn is very slippery, use bamboo or wooden needles.

B
Rd 2 *k2, skp, k1, k2tog, yo, k1, yo*
Rd 3 knit all stitches
Repeat rounds 2 and 3 until work measures 31 rounds or 7 cm/3 in.
C
Rd 32 *slip next 3 stitches to a cable needle in front of work, k3, k3 from the cable needle, k2tog, yo*
Rd 33 *p3, k5*

That was the most difficult part, from now on it goes much faster towards the end.

D
Rd 34 *p3, k3, k2tog, yo*
Rd 35 *p3, k5*
Repeat rounds 34 and 35 until desired length.
Cast off all stitches (*p3, k5*). Bind off yarn and weave in the ends.
Knit the other wristwarmer the same way.

All done now – time to admire your work!

Notes:
• When using other gauges, increase or decrease the stitch count, keeping it a multiple of 8
• If not sure how long wristwarmers your yarn will be enough for, weigh the skein every now and then while knitting the first one and cast off when half of the skein is knitted
• Help for knitting abbreviations can be found in lots of places, e.g. Knittingfool, KnittingHelp, Vogue Knitting

I would love to show off your finished work, so feel free to post a link in the comments or send me a photo. All comments and questions are mostly appreciated, my e-mail address can be found on my profile. Thank you for taking the time to try it out!

* * *

Strickanleitung für Armstulpen
Ob für einen Spaziergang entlang des Ufers oder als Weihnachtsgeschenk vorgesehen – heute ist ein guter Tag mit diesen „fließenden“ Armstulpen anzufangen. Die Stulpen sind ziemlich einfach zu stricken und dafür braucht man nur ein Knäuel. Ich habe reine Alpakawolle, das Indiecita von Filcolana, Farbe 228 verwendet.

Material:
• Dünneres Garn etwa 50 g/160 m (Maschenprobe 26-30 M/10 cm)
• Nadelspiel 3 mm
• Zopf- oder Hilfsnadel

Strickschrift:


*...* – wiederholen

A
56 M anschlagen.
Rd 1 *4 M re, 4 M li*
B
Rd 2 *2 M re, 2 M re überzogen zus str, 1 M re, 2 M re zus str, 1 U, 1 M re, 1 U*
Rd 3 Alle Maschen rechts str
Runden 2 und 3 wiederholen, bis die Arbeit 7 cm oder 31 Runden hoch ist.
C
Rd 32 *3 M vor die Arbeit legen, 3 M re, 3 M der Hilfsnadel re str, 2 M re zus str, 1 U*
Rd 33 *3 M li, 5 M re*
D
Rd 34 *3 M li, 3 M re, 2 M re zus str, 1 U*
Rd 35 *3 M li, 5 M re*
Runden 34 und 35 bis auf gewünschte Länge wiederholen.
Alle Maschen abketten (*3 M li, 5 M re*), Garn abschneiden und in die Arbeit verstecken.
Die andere Stulpe genauso stricken und fertig!

Ich würde gerne nach dieser Anleitung gestrickte Stulpen hier vorstellen, ihr könnt ein Link zu eurem Blog als Kommentar posten oder Fotos mir per E-Mail schicken. Alle Fragen und Kommentare sind auch willkommen, meine E-Mail-Adresse ist in meinem Profil zu finden. Danke, daß ihr eure Zeit mit dieser Strickanleitung verbracht habt!