I’ve been playing with glass blowing lately…mostly with borosilicate glass. I keep getting requests at my studio for classes so I figured I’d better get good at it. I’ve dabbled and played but now I’m actually studying. Don’t I have enough glass techniques to know about? (not really, you can’t get enough glass, can you?) So I thought I’d explore glass blowing here too. A good start is with Wikipedia and traditional glass blowing. I’ve tried that too but don’t have quite the interest since so much equipment is required. Won’t rule it out completely but one thing at a time. Wikipedia does give a bit of information regarding blowing and they always have suggestions for further reading. You Tube is also a fabulous source of information on blowing. Both boro, lots of boro, and off hand. Take your pick. And it’s so much fun to watch!
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Get Your Squish on with This Cozy Blanket Knitting Pattern
I have recently gained a great affection for the knitting stitch known as fisherman’s rib. It’s sort of like brioche, but it’s easier to knit, and make sit super squishy, warm, non-curling fabric that is great for all sorts of projects.
A few years ago I knit a fisherman’s rib scarf for one of my daughter’s teachers, and that post is consistently one of my most popular, so I guess a lot of other people like this simple stitch, too.
The way it’s made is by knitting into the row below, which gives the ribbing more depth and stretchiness than standard ribbing. Once you get the hang of it, it’s actually really easy to do. I’m working a pattern in half fisherman’s rib right now (so that’s regular ribbing on one side and fisherman’s rib on the other) and I don’t even have to look at my knitting to know where to work into the stitch any more.
If you’re already a fan of this stitch, or you want to see what all the fuss is about, the Squishy Fisherman’s Rib Blanket from Bernat is a great place to start.
This pattern uses super bulky yarn, so you can stitch it up in no time. I noticed that for the yarn it calls for, Bernat Softee Chunky, you would only need three balls of yarn, which makes the cost of the blanket less than $15 (OK, maybe a little more if you have to pay for shipping).
The blanket is rated easy, and as knit comes out to about 38 by 48 inches, or 96.5 by 122 cm, which is a nice size for snuggling on the couch. But since the pattern is based on 1×1 ribbing, you can easily adjust the size to make it bigger if you want.
You can grab the free pattern from Yarnspirations.
[Photo: Yarnspirations]