Making-the napkin efforts

You may remember that over the years, I've knitted a fair number of napkins.  There's been Wipe, Waves & Stars, and even, simply, the knitted napkins.  All of these work, and they are washable, and some of the bright colors even appeal to my kids.  You can also get some of these patterns here on Loveknitting.com.

However, there's worry about them.  The Professor thinks he will ruin them in the wash (he hasn't) and that he can't dry them. (he can.)  Since they aren't dried in a dryer, they are rough, and that can hurt when cleaning up faces covered in jam, ice cream, or yogurt.  (Ouch, according to a survey of two twins.)

So, I looked at the leftover remnants I'd chosen for knitted tunic pockets, a while back.  I ripped the remnant into 6 napkins.  Two full size, and four cocktail/luncheon size, if you're curious.  And, I eyeballed the hems, folded the fabric over twice, and went to town on my ancient Kenmore sewing machine.  Today?  The table has new, bright, shiny napkins on it.  If my Professor reads this:

Yes, you can wash them.

Yes, you can dry them in the dryer.

Please use them, instead of the tattered old ones. :) 

Here, Sadie demonstrates what the napkins are for.  Note location of napkin, it is good at catching drooling while one dozes off.

After I removed the napkins, Sadie was awake and somewhat put out...but I finally got a great photo of her.  I did have a bigger image of her all stretched out.  She is one long tall drink of water!  However, that photo showed how dusty the area all around my Canadian Production Spinning Wheel is.  Ahem.  This is why one crops photos...and chooses the one with the least dust showing...Guess I need to, uh, dust, and spin on it again someday soon!

knitting for home

I really like knitting (and designing) things for my house. After all, you can only wear so many handknits at once, but your house? Well, your house can "wear" a lot more knitting at once!

For Knit Green, I explored a few concepts that the professor and I have worked on in our home. A while ago, we decided to transition to using only cloth napkins. This wasn't a hard transition as the dirty napkins rarely amount to anything near even a small load of laundry, and we saved money on buying paper napkins. It also saves energy--no trees being made into napkins, no trees cut down and trucked out to be processed, no napkins trucked into the grocery store for us, etc. Yes, everywhere else still uses paper napkins...but we can only make a difference a little at a time!

Of course, (since I'm a knitter), I started coming up with knitted napkin ideas. First came these napkins, and they're for sale on my website as a download. For Knit Green, I broke out of the neutral colors and went for brighter colors! (Note: brighter colors also hide more dirt and stains!) Here are Waves and Stars: Knitted Napkins....another couple of patterns in the book. This is one of those situations where the book says there are 20 patterns, but technically there are two patterns here, not just one at a time, so you're getting more patterns for your money!

If you choose machine washable and dryable yarns (cotton or cotton blends work well), these napkins are work horses. Use and enjoy them, throw them in the wash, and put them right back out on the table. They're fast to knit, too!


Another fast project are these knitted curtains. They are designed to use either a regular curtain rod (cafe curtains) or to use a decorative curtain rod with little knitted button tab loops. The sample curtain is made from a friend's handspun, but any sportweight yarn will do, and the project is fairly flexible. It's ideal for a little simple knitted interior decoration!

I'm hoping to find time to make more curtains like this for my new (old) house. We've got long windows, perfect for this kind of window treatment.

In other news, I'm off to Virginia (near Washington, D.C.) and New York this weekend. I'll be seeing family, hopefully teaching and signing books, and going to Rhinebeck, aka New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, to sign books. I'll try to keep posting about the projects in Knit Green in the meanwhile! If you're going to be at the festival, come by and see me on Sunday, October 18th, from 10-12 as I sign books! Can't wait to see you!

So, do you like knitting for your home? What projects do you like best? Ever considered knitted napkins or curtains?