Simple Knitting Tips: Mark your progress

Let's face it--no matter how much you love garter stitch (I love it A LOT), sometimes in the midst of a very long garter stitch project (especially a rectangle or square without any shaping), it can be a challenge. You knit and you knit and it can feel like you're getting nowhere.

To give myself a reference point so I'll know I AM getting somewhere, I put in a marker when I pick up the project for the day. When I put it away at night, I can see, "Oh, hey, look. I knit 400 inches of this today." Sometimes I exaggerate.

That simple step helps me enjoy my garter stitch project much more. This can also be helpful for any other all-over pattern stitch that seems unending: stockinette stitch and seed stitch come to mind. Just put a locking stitch marker on your project, attached to the yarn so it won't get moved up each row, and you'll know at a glance how much you have managed to knit since you started for the day. You can also use a small piece of yarn, in a contrasting color, tied on in the same manner.

See? Progress! Yay!

Try it on your next basic project and see if it doesn't give you more of an ongoing sense of accomplishment!

Knitting...Oasis

You may have noticed something new around here...a new logo! I am so pleased with how it turned out.  In the process of having it made, I told several people the source of the name KnitOasis. What I discovered in the course of these conversations was that no one (other than my family) knew how I had arrived at the moniker.

Much like the origins of knitting, the exact date of the origins of the name "KnitOasis" are shrouded in the mists of time. I remember playing around with different options, and settling on this one for several reasons:

• It's a play on my own name...."Tamara" means palm tree.
• Knitting can be like an oasis of calm in the stresses of life, a fact that I wanted to spread to people through my classes and blog posts.
• One theory of the origins of knitting is that it began in Arabia, in a beautiful desert oasis.
• I liked the short, catchy sound of it: Knit Oasis!

Discussing the birth of a company's name isn't usually a hot topic, I know. Even a marketing nerd like myself can understand that most folks aren't really all that interested.

I share all this with you today because I want you to know that what I do here means a lot to me. I have always wanted to bring worth and value to people's lives, and I believe that teaching them to knit is an important way to do that. Sharing my struggles with keeping knitting a priority, with finding my tribe, with wearing all the other hats I must wear in the course of a busy day, are all shared in hopes that you will find that common ground that somehow keeps us all sane. Here's a recent example of this: the other day I read that article floating around social media excerpted from Rob Lowe's book, about sending his son off to college. Of course I cried while I read it, but I came away with such a sense of reassurance. The feelings I am experiencing as I face my first born going out into the world are OK. They are more than OK, they are so natural that even ROB LOWE experienced them! I can't tell you how much this helped me feel less crazy.

Does that mean my aim in life is to help you feel less crazy? I think it does. Picture yourself comfortably reclining in a hammock stretched between two trees, overlooking the most picturesque pond you can imagine, a cool breeze ruffling your hair, your knitting in your lap and refreshing beverage at your side. Do you feel saner, even if only for a moment? I know I do. If you could see the length of my pattern design to-do list, the piles of papers on my desk, the menus that need planning, the trip preparations that need to be made for the above-mentioned first-born's summer ballet trip, and then look with me at the clock and see that the morning has mysteriously evaporated, you'll know how much I need that oasis, too. That calming breath that slows us down long enough to hear that voice in our head that says, "Hang in there. It'll all get done, even if you take a 15-minute knitting break."

Think of the shiny new logo as a renewal of my commitment to you, to continue to make this a home on the web for knitters looking for instruction, patterns, connections, resources, and hopefully, a lot of fun.  An oasis, in fact.

Big thanks to Amy at absquaredesign.com for the amazing logo! I love it!

Crazy for Eights Afghan Block (Charity Knit-a-Long)

So I just started knitting one day and came out with this. I have knit it three times now in an attempt to get it perfect. The first two were just the tiniest bit wonky and believe me when I say I don't want to pass wonky on to you. 

I might have just skipped writing this one up altogether since it gave me so much trouble, but I was seen knitting it at Knit Night and Monday Morning Knitters and there was an absolute clamor for this pattern. So I persevered. For you. Please, knit it in good health and when you come to the blanket sewing up party, don't laugh at my wonky blocks. Thank you. **

Crazy for Eights Afghan Block

You'll need: US Size 7 needles or size needed to achieve gauge of 5 sts = 1 inch; Worsted weight acrylic yarn. Finished size should be 7” x 9”.

Cast on 32 stitches. Knit 6 rows for border, then begin pattern

Crazy for Eights Afghan Block

You'll need: US Size 7 needles or size needed to achieve gauge of 5 sts = 1 inch; Worsted weight acrylic yarn. Finished size should be 7” x 9”.
CO 32 stitches

Knit 6 rows for border, then begin pattern
Row 1 (and all other RS rows): Knit all stitches
Rows 2, 4, 6: K6, p20, k6
Rows 8, 10, 12, 14, 16: k6, p4, k12, p4, k6
Rows 18, 20, 22: k6, p4, k4, p4, k4, p4, k6
Rows  24, 26, 28, 30: k6, p4, k12, p4, k6
Rows 32, 34, 36: k6, p4, k4, p4, k4, p4, k6
Rows 38, 40, 42, 44: k6, p4, k12, p4, k6
Rows 46, 48, 50: K6, p20, k6
Knit 6 rows for border. Bind off all stitches. Weave in ends.

**All trouble it was giving me has been resolved. I finally got it to come out at 9 inches.

"May the 4th Be With You" Sale

Today only in the Ravelry store, save 20% off any pattern using the coupon code "HANSOLO" at checkout. Sure, I could have used the code "LUKESKYWALKER" or "C3PO" or "VADER" but really, for those of you women in my generation who saw the first three Star Wars movies as they were released, was there any character with more star power than Han Solo?  Remember these awesome Han Solo lines?

"Look, Your Worshipfulness, let's get one thing straight. I take orders from just one person: me."

"That's 'cause droids don't pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose. Wookies are known to do that."

"Bring 'em on, I'd prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around."

Tough guy, all the way. So, what was I saying? Oh, yeah, a sale! Enter the code "HANSOLO" at checkout or I'll send a Wookie looking for ya.