Knitted Felted Nesting Bowls

Image and pattern from Craftfox

We stumbled upon an adorable pattern on Craftfoxes for felted bowls that nest inside each other and decided to give it a try! It's wonderful for beginning felters, and would make a great handmade gift or be a cute addition to your Easter decorations. It's quick and easy, check it out!

We recommend a bulky yarn for this project. Drops Eskimo or Schachenmayr Wash Filz-It are both great choices and felt the easiest.

We picked three different shades of Eskimo for tonal look to these bowls. Each one is a different color.

Supplies:

Size US 9 Double Pointed Needles

3 skeins Eskimo or Wash Filz-It

         (You can choose the same color or different colors)

This pattern »

A sink or a washing machine for felting

Find all the supplies you need in our Webstore

Follow the instructions in the pattern and end by felting either by hand or in your washing machine. It just takes some hot water and some friction to get these yarns to cling to themselves and turn into a felt material. The only little difference we made to this pattern is we did not bind off and pick up stitches, we simply continue to knit the entire way. They ended up looking like mini hats before felting!

Before felting

After Felting, the bowls need to be shaped on a mold while drying

  We promise you have things around your house that you can use as molds. Be creative! We used a candle, an oatmeal container, a vase, and a metal kitchen spoon holder.  You can use bowls for more of a bowl shape than a cylinder or basket shape.

Knitted bowls stacked before felting

Knitted bowls stacked after felting

Happy Crafting and Felting! 

Send us your photos of your finished felted bowls on our 

Facebook page

Big Knits

We have a new yarn in our midst that has so many possibilities, we're dedicating a blog post to it!

It's called Magnum, and let me give you some stats:
It's a Super Bulky Weight (That means it works up on BIG needles, US 15-19)
Made of 100% Peruvian Highland wool (That means its great quality and definitely soft)
It has gorgeous heathered colors (that means no bland solids, but beautiful mixes and dimension)
With 125 yards per skein, just one skein gets you a long way.

Find all Magnum Colors in our Webstore

You can knit Cowls, Hats, Scarves, Sweaters, or anything on this yarn. 

We think it would be fun to ARM KNIT with Magnum!

Grab a skein of Magnum and use your arms as needles for a big bulky scarf that you can make in under an hour!

If you missed our post with the Arm Knitting tutorial,  find it here.

You can find a wide range of patterns using Magnum on Ravelry. Check out this page to get you started.


If you don't want to knit with your arms, we have tons of BIG needles in stock to use with this yarn.
Big Double Point Needles
Big Circular Needles

Happy Crafting! 

Our Favorite Woolly Winter Hat

As the weather cools down you definitely want something to keep your ears and your head warm.

We love this hat pattern: It's simple, it's fast, it looks great. 

Make a few for yourself, make a few as gifts.  This is a great project for beginners because it utilizes some of the basic knitting skills like ribbing, decreasing, and using circular and double pointed needles.

 

The pattern is available for free here 

We made a few adjustments to this pattern:

• We used a size US 10.5 needle for the ribbing, and a size US 11 for the rest of the hat. Keeping the ribbing a little smaller helps this hat stay on your head, and we like the look of a tighter ribbing. 
• We used Eskimo instead of Andes.  We particularly love the Eskimo colors for this project. You can stick with Andes or use Eskimo as a substitute.

Eskimo Color 27 is a beautiful brick color that lends itself well to the Autumn Season.

We have a lot of great Eskimo colors to make this hat in. We love the color mixes because they give a fun variegation of color.  But we also carry solids in every hue of the rainbow. You could also choose a few colors and make a striped version! This pattern is very versatile.

You only need two skeins of Eskimo for this hat! Find all the available colors in our Webstore. 

Or you can use 1 ball of Andes. Browse all the Andes colors in our Webstore.

                                                                             

Post your hats to our Facebook page when you're finished!

Happy Crafting,

We Love Lace

Knitting lace patterns can seem intimidating if you've never worked with them before. They often involve yarn overs and dropped stitches, which can seem a bit mysterious until you've mastered them.

We have the perfect pattern for those of you who have never tried a lace pattern and want to learn, or even those of you who just want a simple, interesting scarf pattern.
Instead of using very fine lace yarn for this, its easier to learn on thicker yarn or by holding yarn double.

DROPS Design 127-26 is made in its original version with Fabel, so it has some fun color variegation, but there are many different ways to make up this scarf. If you love the color changes and wash-ability of Fabel, shop all our colors in our Webstore.

If this pattern seems a little scary, watch these tutorial video to get some practice with these techniques:
Dropped Stitches Tutorial Video
Yarn Over Tutorial Video

Print this pattern for free

In the store, we have a version made with two strands of Alpaca held together, which gives this scarf a cozier and bulkier feel. Holding two colors together also gives more of a tweed color effect to the scarf. Browse all our Alpaca colors if you like this looks of this scarf best.

And stuck on our needles currently is this same scarf made with Cotton Light and Glitter.  Glitter is a great addition to hold along with thicker yarns to add to patterns you want some to have some pizzazz! It's a metallic and shiny thread in a variety of colors which adds sparkle without adding bulk. And usually just one bobbin of Glitter is enough for a whole sweater.

Order some Glitter from our Webstore.

The Cotton applied to this pattern makes for a super soft and washable scarf. Doubled up on a cool fall day, this scarf is warm without being itchy or too hot. This is also the cheapest version of the scarf, since Cotton Light only runs $2.90 per skein. Take a look at our Cotton Light!

 

Make your own version of this scarf and post the finished results on our Facebook or Ravelry page! 

Once you've mastered this lace pattern, you can make this adorable sweater with it!

Find the pattern here. 

Happy Crafting!

           XO

Cutout Sleeve Sweater

We just designed this awesome cutout sleeve sweater at Nordic Mart, which we also like to refer to as the "Hardcore Sweater."

This sweater is awesome because it looks like something you could find at H&M or Forever 21, but this one you can make yourself in any color you want! The other awesome feature of this sweater is that its constructed from a basic sweater pattern, so if you don't like the open sleeve look, just close the sleeves for a plain sweater!

 It can be made in a ton of fun colors. We used Cotton Light for our versions, but any DK weight (group B in Drops yarns) yarn will work.  It would be great to see it in Lima, Merino Extra Fine, or even our newest limited yarn Drops Loves You #4 !

To stick with our original pattern:

Browse all of our Cotton Light Colors.

Click here to view and download the free pattern! (pdf file)

You can also find this pattern on Ravelry.

It uses between 8 and 12 skeins of Cotton Light (read: between 25 and 35 dollars! Score!) and size US 8 needles.  You can find all of the supplies in our Webstore.

Post photos of your finished project on our Facebook Page, we would love to see some differing colors or yarn varieties on this stylish project!

Happy Crafting,
XO

Amber's Sweater

We love taking inspiration from Drops yarns and various patterns and making them our own. Our staff member Amber made some alterations to an awesome pattern, so we're sharing it with you!

The pattern is the Charlotte Cardigan designed by Deborah Wilder.  It is available for purchase on Ravelry here.

A lot of our customers made this sweater in their local knitting class, so we've seen a lot of great versions come through the shop. The original pattern is a short sleeved cardigan. This picture is of our great customer Eldra and the version she made in Big Merino!

Amber decided she liked pullover sweaters more than cardigans, and altered the pattern accordingly. She used Drops Merino Extra Fine to make stripes and longer sleeves, added buttons to the top, and we LOVE the results.

To make your own:
To extend the sleeves, follow the long sleeve option in the pattern until you reach the desired length. Amber went with 3/4 sleeves just past her elbows.
She knit the top of the pattern as it is written to make the neck opening, and then joined the two sides to continue down the body of the garment.
She then picked up stitches along the right edge of the opening and added a section with four button holes. She picked some wooden buttons and voila! A very cute pull over version of the Charlotte Cardigan.

If you need some help with buttonholes, here are a few tutorial videos to help you out.
Button Holes, vertical
Medium sized button holes
Small button holes

It's a very cute cardigan by itself as well, so whether you stick to the pattern or make some alterations, this pattern gets 5 stars from Nordic Mart!

Merino Extra Fine is a great yarn choice for this sweater since its lightweight, super soft, and Superwash treated, making it machine washable! Browse all our Merino Extra Fine colors in our Webstore.  You can also use Big Merino, or any yarn in our DK or Worsted groups

We can't wait to see your versions, share them with us on our Facebook or Ravelry page!

Happy Knitting, XO

Arm Knitting - Stylish Scarf

Most knitters know how to knit using all types of needles, whether it be straight or circular needles, long or short, small or large. But did you know you can knit with your ARMS?!

When you find yourself lacking a pair needles you can still make awesome creations using just some chunky yarn and your body.

We're going to show you how to knit this awesome scarf using arm knitting! By substituting other yarns you can get a chunkier scarf, different color combinations, and even other projects such as rugs, blankets, or pillowcases...The possibilities are endless.

Lots of colorful Delight

For this project we used one strand of a bulky yarn (DROPS Andes) held together with THREE strands of DROPS Delight. The color changes in this scarf  from red to purple to blue are from the Delight, but you could stick with two solid colors for a more tweed-y looking scarf. This is a fun scarf to experiment with.
The bulkier your yarn is the less "loose" the stitches are going to look, and you'll wind up with a denser piece.   Try holding three strands of Andes, Three strands of Eskimo, or a bunch of strands of a thinner yarn.  It could look neat with different colors of Fabel. Let your imagination run wild.

Arm knitted stitches

You can find all of our yarns in our Webstore to make your own arm knitted scarf.

 How To Knit with your arms:
(and make this scarf)

1: Make a slip knot with a long tail and put over your right arm. Tighten, but keep it a bit loose so it is easy to slide on your arm.

Slip Knot to start with

2: You will now cast on stitches in the same way you would long tail cast stitches onto a needle.  Pretend your arm is the needle in this instance. 
If you need more help casting on, watch this video and envision your arm as the needle. The video is a bit easier to see than these pictures.

Casting on...

3: Cast on Ten stitches

Ten stitches cast onto your arm.

4: To knit your first stitch, hold the yarn that is attached to your ball in your right hand (the arm that has all of the stitches on it)

Grab the yarn with your right hand and pull the first stitch on your arm over your hand while pulling the yarn you are holding through the stitch.
This will make what looks like a loop.

5: Now put your left hand through this loop and tighten the stitch onto your left arm by pulling the working yarn.

The arrow indicates the loop to put your hand through

6: Hold the yarn in your right hand again, and repeat the process. Grab the yarn with your right hand and pull the next stitch on your right arm over your right hand.
Put the loop you've just formed over your left hand and tighten onto your left arm.

Hold working yarn in hand

Pull stitch on your arm over your hand

Place loop/stitch that is formed onto your left hand

7: Continue this with the rest of the stitches until they are all on your left arm. You have just arm knitted one row!

Knitted one row, now onto the second

8: Now reverse the process.  Hold the working yarn in your LEFT hand and pull the stitch over, forming the loop that you place your right hand through.
Continue to do this until the end of the row.

9: Knit as many rows as you want to obtain the correct length for your scarf. We continued until the scarf would wrap around your neck twice, but it can be made shorter or longer, depending on the look you want! It is easy to judge the length as you go and adjust the length.

Once your piece starts to make progress...

10: Bind off the same way you would on needles. Knit two stitches and then pull the first stitch you made over the second stitch and off of your hand.  Knit another stitch (so there are two on the your arm again) and pull the previous stitch over the new stitch and your hand.  Watch this video if you need more help binding off. 

11: Once you've bound off, take the cast on edge and bind off edge of your arm scarf and place them together.  Seam them together by weaving yarn into each stitch across the row loosely and tying off at end.

12: Voila! An arm-knitted scarf. You can do this with chunkier yarn or with more stitches to make rugs or blankets with a tighter weave. This scarf wraps around your neck twice, but it can be made shorter or longer, depending on the look you want!

Finished product! We love it.

Post whatever arm knitted projects you come up with or your finished versions of this scarf to our Facebook Page!! We want to see them.

Happy Arm Knitting

XO,