Knitting Tips and Pattern Giveaway

Hello everyone! I'm Kendra Nitta from missknitta's studio. I'm a handknits designer, and my knitting patterns have been featured in Jane Austen Knits, the One Skein Wonders series, Knitcircus, Knitty, and many other books and magazines. 

Today, I'm excited to be sharing a brand-new CraftFoxes How-to and a giveaway to celebrate the new pdf edition of my fingerless mitts pattern, M is for...! My CraftFoxes How-to teaches you what to do when your knitting directions say to work increases "in pattern." Designers use this phrase when they want the piece to have a uniform look, like with the all-over ribbing in the M is for... mitts. 

photo copyright 2011 Knitcircus

Many beginning and even intermediate knitters find adding stitches "in pattern" daunting, and it's tempting to skip over instructions you don't understand with the hope that it will all work out. I learned the hard way that ignoring an instruction to work increases "in pattern" is not the best idea if you want your finished object to look like the pattern photo, and it may really affect the fit, particularly if ribbing is involved! 

For instance, if you just knit all the M is for... increases instead of working them "in pattern," you would lose that strong architectural line between the thumb and the fingers which is formed by the ribbing. In its place, you'd have a weird trapezoidal strip of stockinette stitch on about half of each side of the hand. Worse, the mitts would be way too floppy and big without the ribbing pulling them in to hug your hand! 

Don't let this happen to you! Click over to my How-to to demystify working increased stitches "in pattern," using the M is for... mitts as an example. (Psst! In case you don't know how to increase yet, a great resource for learning how to work whichever increase is specified in your pattern is KnittingHelp.com.) 

I hope enjoy Knitting How To: Increasing in Pattern. And be sure to keep an eye on my website, missknitta's studio, in the coming months — in addition to releasing the M is for... mitts as a pdf, I also have two brand-new designs appearing in an upcoming book by the fabulously talented Sarah Barbour of Rope Knits, due out this summer! Happy knitting!  

And now for the giveaway . . .

photo copyright 2011 Kendra Nitta

Three lucky winners will receive a free PDF copy of the M is for... Mitts pattern!

To enter, fill out the Google form below telling us one knitting skill you'd like to master. This giveaway will close on Monday, June 25th at 11:59 p.m. EST. CraftFoxes will do a random draw from the qualifying entries and announce the winner on Tuesday, June 26th! 

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And if you'd like to get started on your M is for... Mitts right now, Kendra is offering CraftFoxes readers a 50% discount on this pattern in her Ravelry store until the end of the month! Just enter the coupon code JUNEFOX12 when you check out.