Monica Knits

These leg warmers were designed for cool weather and winter walking and are knitted with acrylic yarn for quick laundering. They feature feature 1 x 1 ribbing at the ankle and calf, a seed stitch buttonhole placket, shell buttons and a baby cable rib stitch. These are knitted from the ankle upwards and the buttonhole band is either knitted on or sewn on afterwards. The buttonhole band has a self-facing for aesthetic and structural purposes. To make it easier to pickup stitches for the buttonhole band, a chain stitch selvedge is knitted for the body, excluding the ribbing rows. These leg warmers use my preferred baby cable stitch pattern.   

Flower SprayI was introduced to cross stitching at age 26 by the plant nurse at the foundry where we both worked. I was the only female in manufacturing, so it was nice to spend my lunch hour with another female professional. In addition to projects for her home and family, she cross stitched small designs that could be sold at a church bazaar to raise funds for charity, like Christmas ornaments, and inspirational or entertaining wall hangings and desk ornaments. Read about other cross stitch inspirations...

Shank Buttons Buttons sewn to knitwear generallly need shanks, due to the thickness of the fabric. Whether they are integral to the button as in this photo, or thread shanks matched specifically to the button and garment, is a matter of personal preference. For both leg warmer designs, I used flat buttons with thread shanks, because I liked the button colors and shapes. Read more .... for instructions on creating a thread shank.

In yesterday's article I discussed preparing cross stitch fabric for stitching. I thought a photograph showing packaging of the fabric would better illustrate why there could be folds and creases that need to be removed. All except one of these packages is Charles Craft Aida cloth--I turned a few over so that you could see the fabric color and pattern instead of the label. Cross stitch fabrics come in a range of stitch counts as well, although I have only shown 14, and 27 count fabrics. Mostly I use 14 count, however I also use 18 and 27 count fabrics. The count I use is determined by the desired final size of the project and the fineness of the detail. Read more ...