Maggie the Dog Loves Headbands made from Darn Good Yarn

Check out what Debbie made! Aren’t these colors divine?!

Made with Silk Sari Ribbon

Made with Silk Sari Ribbon

Made With Silk Sari Ribbon

Check out what Fay did:

Click to get the yarn

and now the inside...

Have you checked out this awesome etsy shop yet? Feride is a Darn Good Yarn wiz! Check out a few of her awesome craftiness!

Click here to get the yarn

Click here to get the yarn

OK give it a second… there is a video you should watch that will load right here.

Click here to get the Premium Recycled Silk Sari Yarn

This cool headband is super easy to make and it only takes a 1/2 a ball of Darn Good Yarn’s Premium Recycled Silk Yarn.

So, you can use size 5 needles and it will make a nice tight stitch.

On DPNs or circulars, CO 3 and make an i-cord for about 4 inches (or however long you want the tie tails to be and how you’re going to tie it in the back). Remember, as you break the silk in and wash it, it will stretch a little so if you’re not sure, go shorter.
After you have the first side of the tie done, you’ll start some very simple increases by making one at the first stitch and last stitch of the row for every row until you have the desired width. I brought mine out to 11 stitches. You can increase in your favorite fashion. Your hair will cover it up probably so don’t worry too much. I like KFB (knit front and back).
Now, here is where you get to be creative and you should think about how many stitches you should have on your needles now. You can go straight garter (all knit stitches) or you can really play around with the stitch pattern. Remember to account for the number of stitches you have on your needle. For example, double moss stitch (which is fun and easy and doesn’t allow for too much stretching) is created in multiples of 4’s so you would only want 12 stitches on your needles.

If you started on DPN’s and you haven’t moved your work onto straight needles you can do that now. If you’re on circulars, you can keep the work on there. You’re not joining the work in any way but working back and forth as you would on straight needles.

Put your work down for a second and measure your head. Where are you going to wear your headband toward the front of your hairline, behind your bangs? Measure it from the middle of your left ear, over your head, the the middle of your right ear.  This is a great approximation of how long the body of your work should be. Again, remember, there will be some breaking in over time so while it seems short, it’s not.

About 12-13 inches will do though in case you don’t have a tape measure handy.

So after you’ve knitted the body up, start decreasing one the first and last stitch  of the row down to where you have three stitches. Straight needles users, put your work onto DPN’s and circular needle. Make up that i-cord for the same length you made the first one. Bind off and weave in any ends of course.

You’re done… that was easy yes?

Recycled Silk Sari Yarn Headband Free Knit Pattern

Recycled Silk Sari Yarn Headband Free Knit Pattern

She wanted to share an easy basketweave baby blanket pattern with you for free. She makes these blankets and sends them to Romania.

And if you know me, you know I’m a knitter that needs pretty, easy and quick patterns!

It is an easy basketweave pattern with an eyelet border that can be easily enlarged to make an afghan or larger blanket. Here is the link: http://www.forgive490.com/EasyBasketweaveBabyBlanket.php

Click here to get the Free Pattern!

You could totally use our banana fiber yarns to make a beautiful and colorful blanket!

Nicole's Recipe a la Banana Fiber Yarn in Tokyo Billboard

Click here to get our solid colored Banana Fiber Yarn

Click Me For the Pattern!

Designed and Crocheted by Chriss Smith (in cahoots with Nicole, of course!)

This fun and colorful project is worked all in the round. The bag is designed to fit yoga mats up to 26″ high and 5 1/2″across when rolled up. This pattern is rated at advanced beginner.

Materials Needed:

3 Balls of Darn Good Yarn Premium Sari Silk
size 5.5 crochet hook or size to obtain gauge
Darning needle
1 coconut button
6 yards of sari ribbon (you can substitute this with a solid colored recycled silk. We tried black and it looked stunning!)

Click Here For the Pattern!

Click here for the pattern

This is such a fun project! The entire bag is worked in the round, and includes tapestry crochet techniques for the Om symbol. The bright jewel tones and earthy feel is just such a great mix for a Yoga Mat Bag. You can also use it for those Pilates fanatics too!

Click Here For the Pattern

The finished bag can be worn across the body or backpack style, and the drawstring closure keeps your mat secure. This bag is gorgeous and versatile.

But I had to ask our great knitter Faith the same thing. Read what she has to say!

Click here for Faith's Slipper Pattern

I also design cross-stitch and blackwork patterns and write for various publications, including a review zine.

Click Here Tibet Sari Silk Poncho Knit Pattern By Faith!

MMMMM it's wine time!

How to make the Darn Good Yarn Wine Bottle Bag

Get a pair of size 15 needles,
get 2- 100g balls of the yarn we call the blender

Click here to get me! The Blender

You can get a little bit of ribbon too (or you can use left over yarn) This will be used in the finished product.. I’ll explain in a little bit

So, this one is easy: Cast on 39 sts and work in moss stitch (k1, p1) until your rectangle measures 6.25 inches long. Now stitch up the side. Ok now measure 3 inches down. Remember that ribbon? Yes? Well weave it in and out of your project. When you slip the bottle of wine in, you’ll use this to tighten the bag around the neck of the bottle.

Don’t like wine? Find some olive oil and use the same mechanics to give a stunning gift!

Not only is the inside goodies great but this bag totally has a chance of being re-used and will make your present look like the best one under the tree or on the table!

close up!

I actaully had a recent request from client in Norway for me to knit her up this very pattern. Look at what she said, (thanks Carmen!)

I got the scarf in the mail today, it was really gorgeous! I got it earlier than expected, from the United States to Norway in 5 days! The service here is really great too! I absolutely recommend trying the recycled silk yarn to everyone! You’ll hear from me again
Thank you Nicole!

So, come on, let’s knit one up. I promise it won’t take long. It’s an easy easy pattern and if you check out the video I show you how I like to tie mine up in my hair..tres chic yes?

Here’s what you need to make this:
The Darn Good Accessory Kit, click Here for more info.

And here’s the more than easy how-to:
CO 13 sts.
K1, P1 every row…woo hoo (I love mindless patterns sometimes because they’re great for newbies and they are medatative! Om!)
So how long are you going to make it? Well, this is totally up to you. I usually use 1 and 3/4 balls of yarn but I love a long skinny scarf. If you want even more drama keep going. Want shorter than shorten it up!
BO, weave in ends and style it up and look cute!

Look at you go!

How to flaunt it: See My Video

As a scarf. This type of scarf is meant to be wrapped a couple of times around your neck. Here’s how to get the look as shown by moi. I take the end of my Darn Good Accessory and place it about in the top third of my torso and wrap around my neck like that then tie it off to the side (so it doesn’t look like a tie). I never start by hanging the scarf in the middle behind my neck because I think you don’t get to show off as much as the scarf and your ends can’t be uneven and you don’t get to make a cute tie in it.

As an awesome headband. Because this Darn Good Accessory is done in moss stitch it grips onto itself and doesn’t shift making it the perfect candidate for a headband. So, here’s how to do it. Put your hair up into a high ponytail and cover your part. It doesn’t even need to be neat because it will be covered by the DGA. So, depending on if you want part of the DGA to hang down your back or not depends on if you start the headband in the back or front of your head. So, choose the base of your head or just at the front of your hair line at your forehead. From there, find the center of your DGA and wrap symmetrically around your head with both hands, switching ends with your hands when it crosses over keeping the scarf tight. The trick to making it flat is to pyramid the wraps as if you were putting grip on a tennis racquet or tape on a road bike handle. The cool part about this DGA is that you don’t need to knot it for it to stay in place you simply need to tie it. You can take your hair out at that point of leave it up…whatev:-). Be prepared to get some compliments!! Pair with some mellow colors to wear so you highlight the scarf.

As a cool belt over a long shirt. You could have it go around once and let the ends hang or you could double it around and make it like a little corset look. I totally recommend a nice sold dark color with this option though… you don’t want too much going on in your outfit!

Get the Kit Now! ON SALE! 1 T-shirt Pencil Case Kit

Here are the instructions to make the T-shirt yarn:

>How to make T shirt Yarn

So here is the pattern,
CO 8 sts with the recycled silk and your recycled T-Shirt

Work in garter for 13 inches.

So, a note, the knitting will be tight but that’s what it’s supposed to do so your pencils don’t fall out!

After you’ve knitted up the body, let’s work on the flap, we’ll do this row by row:
Row 1: K2tog, knit to end
Row 2: K2tog knit to end
Row 3: Knit
Row 4: Knit
Row 5: K2tog, knit to end
Row 6: K2tog, knit to end
Row 7: Knit
Row 8: Knit
Row 9: K2tog, knit to end
Row 10: K2tog, knit to end

Now you have two stitches left. Go ahead and make 4.75 inches of i-cord.

Cool, almost done!

Now BO and leave about a 6-10″ tail of yarn. You’re going to now use this tail to draw the i-cord into a loop and sew/weave that remaining yarn into the base of where the flap stopped and the i-cord started. This will create a button loop for you!

So now, fold the pencil case so it looks like the finished product pictured here. Can you see where the button should be? Good, sew the button there with the hemp.

OK, so take the hemp and sew up the edges! Oh yea, now you’re all done, and your friends will be green with envy!

So you need to know how to make T-shirt yarn? Well it’s easy! For this example, I used a medium shirt, which due to my “incredible” laundry skills shrunk to a not so flattering belly shirt! And yea it was stained from hair dying experiments! So, that shirt was a perfect candidate…which one are you going to use?