Oolong knits

I love simple geometric textures and Right Angle by Georgia Farrell has just got it right. It is an easy knit, but, if you go for it, be careful getting a loose drape and a nice positive ease which is not oversized, otherwise you may find it doesn't look good on.

In this post , I'd promised to review "The Principles of Knitting" by June Hemmons Hiatt, so here it is. This huge book is probably the most complete that will ever be written on knitting techniques. I doubt that anyone else besides its author will ever find the time, the patience and the perseverance to surpass it. To cut a long post short, I can start by saying that I highly recommend any serious, ambitious knitter to own this book. This is, in my opinion, the best knitting reference book (that I know of, of course). The pros: Very complete. There are, of course, some techniques missing from this book, but as I said above, this is probably the most complete book you can find. It is also complete in explaining almost every possible way to achieve a result. June doesn't just present the way she thinks is best, she explains every other way she has ever heard of achieving the same result, because she understands and respects the fact that everyone is different a...

This is the first time I include a child's pattern in candy. The good news is that the Antler Cardigan by tincanknits includes pretty much all sizes from tiny baby to huge adult. A very simple idea with a very beautiful result.

Last week I've published the pattern for the front of the cardigan. The back of the cardigan is pretty much the two front pieces glued together without the collar shaping, which makes it even simpler. For this particular cardigan, I've chosen not to knit a cable, but instead add a bit of texture for interest. This means the knitting begins with some ribbing, continues in stockinette stitch and ends in reverse stockinette. Pattern Cast-on 68 stitches + 2 selvedge stitches (optional) 2x2 rib (rows 1-11) odd rows (WS): SE, (p1, k2, p1) repeat up to last st, SE even rows: SE, (k1, p2, k1) repeat up to last st, SE stockinette (rows 12-77) From rows 12-63: Even rows: SE, knit all stitches, SE Odd rows: SE, purl all stitches, SE Armhole shaping Rows 64-65: Bind-off 4 stitches, ES and continue to work in established pattern Rows 66, 68 and 70: SE, k1, ssk, knit up to 4 stitches, k2tog, k1, SE All other rows: work in established pattern reverse stockinette (rows 78-9...

Star Crossed Slouchy Beret by Natalie Larson is one of the most popular designs on Ravelry. I took the picture from CherishedOne's project , which contains a lot of modifications to the original pattern. Use at your own risk.

16st horseshoe cable (8 row repeat) purl side version Odd rows (RS): knit 16 st Rows 2, 6, 8: purl 16 st Row 4: RC8, LC8 RC8/LC8: slip 4 st to cable needle and hold in front/back, purl 4 st then purl stitches on cable needle. knit side version Rows 1, 3, 7 (RS): knit 16 st Even rows: purl 16 st Row 5: LC8, RC8 RC8/LC8: slip 4 st to cable needle and hold in back/front, knit 4 st then knit stitches on cable needle. In my swatch I'd worked both a 12st and a 16st horseshoe cable and I've decided I prefer the 16st one. I'm going to knit a panel of this cable on the front pieces. The 16st horseshoe is a 8 row repeat pattern with one single row with two cable crosses and all other rows in stockinette stitch. So this is a very simple cable and you can find the details in the yellow panel on the right (I like working the crosses on the purl side, but most people prefer to work them on the knit side, I include instructions for both). I've mentioned selvedge stitc...

For someone who loves knitting socks, I don't include many socks in my candy, do I? This week's in an exception. Froot Loop by Kristi Geraci vertical rib-like design make them a favourite of mine. The lace is pretty but not too lacy and not as boring as plain rib. And the pattern is free. Can I make a confession? I'm starting to feel that the emphasis on free on my blog is a bit ridiculous. Surely we can all afford to pay a few quid for a pretty pattern. But being free ain't a bad thing either. One thing in its favour is that, before deciding to go with it, you can take a peek and check if the pattern is too difficult to execute and not worth the effort. The good news here is that those pretty loops are actually quite easy to do.

I've cast-on 24 stitches for a swatch in order to test my stitch choices: reverse stockinette, 16 stitches horseshoe cable, 2x2 ribbing. That went well and I liked the look of my swatch. Of course, in addition I've got my gauge : 16 rows and 11.5 stitches per 10cm (4in). Now that I have gauge, I want size. Despite having a limited amount of yarn, I want a comfortable cardigan with lots of positive ease . I've decided to go for a large size with 112cm of bust circumference. That makes a 64 stitches cast-on for the back and 32 stitches for both fronts. Don't forget to add two stitches to the cast-on for selvedges! I may be mistaken, but I don't think that waist shaping makes sense with so much positive ease. I also think that super-chunky yarn will never provide the right drape for an A-shape piece. Therefore, I'm knitting a standard square shape (or no shape if you prefer). Because I'm seaming and picking up stitches, I want to add selvedge stitches to m...

Stone Fence by Thea Colman . When I was at university I had a light, dark green, cotton sweater that was similar to this one (no cables, though, just the lace in vertical panels). I wore for many years, it was one of my all-time favourite pieces of clothing. Of course I have a plan to someday knit a copy. Maybe this is the reason I like this sweater so much. Or maybe it's just objectively beautiful. You decide.

I'm making a cardigan and I'm documenting the process in a new series. I know what you're thinking... "Didn't she start a series on making a sweater that never went beyond the first post?" I know, I know. But this time is for real. Promise. In this first post I'll discuss my design options and choices. My cardigan started, as is often the case, as yarn. A while ago I'd bought quite a good amount of Rowan Thick 'n Thin yarn in order to make a sweater. This yarn has been discontinued, but hopefully I own enough that I'll be able to finish my project. This yarn, being of the thick and thin variety, is actually quite hard to design for. Choose the right stitch and design and you'll love the result, choose anything else and you'll get a non-descriptive ugly thing. The problem is with the bad stitch definition, as I'll discuss bellow. Having chosen the yarn, I have a tentative size for my needles , the recommended one, which is 9mm...

Botanical Yoke Pullover by Purl Soho . I'm speechless, but the photo says it all. Incredibly beautiful.

Last week's post was on tight sock cuffs, it is only appropriate that this week's one is on elastic cast-ons. These are essential for knitting cuff-down socks, but they are also useful for many other projects, like, for example, the collar of top-down sweaters or the cuff of hats. This is not the first time I write on this subject, but I'm not very happy with my previous posts. So this one is going to be a lot more detailed and to the point. Here is a list of the cast-on methods I find the most relevant (other people may have other preferences): the long-tail cast-on is quite elastic and it works in most cases, but I personally find it a bit tight for sock cuffs. The recommended workaround is to use larger needles or even two needles. This post in Twist Collective explains why this may not be the best solution. However, note that the author used a separate piece of yarn for the tail and, if you use the true long-tail method, you'll find that the yarn can redistrib...

Ashland by Julie Hoover is a sweater with unusual stranded colourwork. It reminds me of barbed wire fences, but its beauty contradicts this.

A common problem with socks is that they tend to sag down the ankles. A common mistake is to believe that this is because the sock cuff is too loose and making them tighter. However, the reason for it is exactly the opposite. If a sock is too tight at the cuff, it tends to go down to the ankle where the leg is thinner. If your socks have this problem, try adding some shaping at the leg by adding extra stitches in the top region of the socks. Note: in the following I assume you're knitting "standard" mid-calf socks. Needless to say that ankle socks do not have this problem and for knee high or even longer socks shaping of the leg is always required. The general rule of sock knitting is that the foot and the leg of most people have about the same circumference. So, except for toe and heel shaping, most sock recipes create a long straight tube. Needless to say, this rule is not exactly true and the great advantage of knitting your own socks is that you can easily obtain ...

Pole Dance by Hypercycloid Designs is a free pattern for a very original and quite striking pair of socks.

I've written a post on short row heels before, but after a few experiments decided to make a more general post on the main methods for making sock heels. So here it is. Before I begin, I really like this Tess Knits post on her favourite methods to knit socks. She makes them nice and easy, which is the way I like them, and doesn't neglect to consider how to later fix holes on toes and heels. The post provides a toe-up recipe and for the heel she uses either a short row heel or the afterthought one. A disclaimer: there are an endless variety of heels out there. Some are variations of the main methods I'll include in this post, others are heels specially designed to get some specific effect. A honourable example of the latter is the Skew sock . This post does not attempt to be in any way comprehensive, on the contrary, my objective is to include only the most popular methods. Afterthought heel This is one of the most popular heels. Lately, I have heard so many people ...

Nennir by Lucy Hague is a complex Celtic cable (in a free pattern), which you can use to knit a cowl (as she suggests), or any other project you fancy.

When I'm not in a mood to knit and read simultaneously, I find garter stitch too boring. Then I like to knit something a little more evolved. For those times, I'm also knitting a pair of nice socks. I love the stitch and I love the yarn which is quite soft and has pretty, if a bit unusual, colours (the lousy out-of-focus I'm-too-lazy-to-take-another-one photo doesn't make them justice). The pattern is Salazar Slytherin by Angela Tennant, I'm not using her pattern exactly, just the stitch and a sock recipe of my choice. The yarn is Zitron Trekking XXL in colourway 589. I'm using 2.5mm needles, the only size I own for sock yarn.

I'm a big mathematics lover, so, when I saw the name of this pattern, I was like: peano with an e, peano with an e, it can't be? Yes, it is! A pattern inspired by the space-filling lines of Peano. Oh. My. God. I can't believe someone thought of this. How amazingly original. And how beautiful is the result. I love it. Peano No.2 by Nathan Taylor , a very nice pattern for a man's scarf, done using double knitting (I know, not for the faint of heart).

Once I've started, I can't seem to stop. I've got all carried away showing my work here. This time I'm showing a real WIP, not just a sampler. This is a bed-runner (just a big rectangle), in two colours, knit in biased garter stitch. The thing I love about biased garter is the nice edge one gets. This is what I chose to show today. In the future I may post the complete project and even the pattern, which is so easy it's really no trouble to write down. Oh, before I go. This is the project I've mentioned last week. The one which allows me to knit and read simultaneously. Something I love doing. I've already read "The lesser bohemians" by Eimear McBride, while knitting it. Heavy reading, but lovely poetic writing. I wasn't able to read for a few days after finishing it. Really, truly, HEAVY stuff. (spoiler alert) We're talking about incest, rape, child abuse, self-harming, suicide, drug and sex addition. I needed time to digest it. I...

Ingrid is a good example of the importance of the colour palette in fair-isle. In the picture on the right, you see Colorfox's choice of colours, which, in my opinion, is a great improvement over the original project . The designer of this beautiful pullover is Isabell Kraemer.

I've been knitting a lot lately and therefore have lots of work to show. Here again I'm showing another sampler of stitches and not a wearable piece. This is a sample of several mesh-like lace stitches. I'm planning a summery (I know that it's late, Winter is quickly approaching my woods) light top and am working on several stitch choices. The idea is to include only a few of these, the ones I like better and to repeat them in an almost random way. I've learned a few things with my sampler. One is that using larger needles than recommended (which I've used) is not better for this opened type of lace. The holes are too big for my taste. So next time I'll go for the size recommended or even the one below. I want my top to be lacy but not too holey. The second is that choosing a few stitch patterns and repeating them is more pleasant to the eye than a sampler of all different stitches. I'll probably still do another swatch before embarking in the final ...

Lace Boxy by Pooki is one of Ravelry's most popular projects. While Pooki claims to have used the Cancun boxy lace top pattern by Erin Kate Archer, and incorporating modifications from the Boxy pattern by Joji Locatelli, she actually did the opposite. This may seem a minor point, but it's not. The Cancun boxy is a shapeless top made of two identical squares sewn together. Joji's Boxy, on the other hand, is a beautifully shaped sweater. Note the perfect shape of the shoulders and collar and the addition of short sleeves. Shaping details can be laborious to work, but they pay in the end, when the sweater falls and drapes beautifully on the body. If you're considering using the Cancun pattern, take in consideration that this pattern is free but also badly written, read these notes for corrections.

I've noticed that most knit-bloggers use their blog to post on projects they're working on. I almost never show my own knits in here and the reason is simply modesty. I have a hard time believing that anyone cares to look at my silly stuff. Even when I love the result myself, I tend to think that is only because I did it and am consequently very partial to it. The photo on the left is a cable sampler (you can click to enlarge it). It's actually only a square of cables right now. But wouldn't these look great on a sweater or a cardigan? One day they'll be... I've used a chunky yarn and 7mm needles. Cast-on: 54 stitches. The pattern described in sections from the outer edges to the centre: Slip 1st stitch and knit last for nice edges; 3 stitches in moss stitch; 1 stitch in reverse stockinette; aran braid; the cable from the Celtic Cable Neckwarmer (used only 28 stitches from the central panel, i.e. excluded 2 stitches from each outer edge). Moss sti...

Hitofude is a beautiful, feminine, lace cardigan. It has a clever construction. It is knit flat and in one piece, and, in the end, two edges are knit together to form the sleeves. The sleeves are simple rectangles, but the body uses increases to obtain the beautiful fan-like shape.

I've written quite a few post of do's and dont's, but only today did the idea of dedicating a post specifically to things I personally do not recommend other beginner knitters after learning the hard way to not do it. This first post is a good example of what I have in mind. Knitting a sweater with no collar shaping is not what most knitters would call a mistake, or even tell you to never do it. On the contrary, most often this is recommended for a knitter attempting a first sweater. The idea is to make your first sweater as simple as possible, by focusing on the absolutely necessary, like, well... including arms, for example. So you'll find plenty of patterns and tutorials recommended for the beginner that focus on the top-down, knit in the round, raglan-shoulder sweater, which is perceived as the simplest of methods to knit a sweater. Very often these do not include any form of collar shaping. I followed one of these tutorials and... I still haven't manage t...

Remember the Almost Garter scarf that featured on Candy a few weeks ago? You may have found it too plain to feature as candy, but I saw some potential in the stitch if one used one's imagination. Lately I've been finding quite a few projects that do indeed incorporate that stitch with very nice results. Diving In is one of this. It is a triangle shawl and, best of all, it is free and not really a pattern, but more like a recipe, inviting the knitter to use his/her imagination to produce a unique piece.

I've written a short post on the Brioche stitch before. But now that I'm working on a hat, there was a new technique that I needed to learn and that you can't find on the link I recommended in that post. When working Brioche, decreases are a bit more challenging, because, in order to keep in pattern, you needed to work them in pairs. There are special techniques to do this and the basic 2-stitch decreases are explained here (the same webpage I'd recommended before). However, to obtain the beautiful effect you can see on the image on the right (this is Opari by Ysolda Teague), you need a four stitch decrease. And I've found a very good video that explains how to do it

Sarah Hatton is best known for her work with Rowan truly elegant and sophisticated magazines. Stockport , which is available for free, is a good example of the type of designs that Rowan is famous for: very easy on the eye, not so much on the needle. This is a design for the experienced knitter. In addition, a lot of knitters complain about the collar not laying flat on the chest unless you make some modifications to the pattern. Don't let this dissuade you of giving it a try, most knitters who did were very happy with the results.

This is a post on increases and decreases, and in particular on the correspondence between those worked on the purl and knit sides. In this post I talked a little about it, and I was sure I'd written another post on this subject before, but I cannot find it. So I must write it, even if I risk repeating myself. This subject is particularly important for Portuguese knitters, because when we read a pattern that is knit in the round, for example, we must translate it before knitting, since normal patterns are written for working on the knit side, but when knitting Portuguese one works on the purl side. Even patterns that are knit flat are often easier to execute when translated, simply because all varieties of purl stitches (ex: p2tog instead of k2tog, pfb instead of kfb) are easier to execute. To be begin with, here is a simple translation table of the main stitches: knit purl k2tog p2tog ssk ssp kfb pfb This may seem very simple, but there is a further complication. When ...

Kate Davies is the most romantic of designers. Owls is her most popular design and for a good reason, as you can check for yourself in the photograph. No words needed, right? I love all of her designs, so be sure more will feature here in the future.

When we think of sheep, we think of creamy white fluffy animals, but sheep actually come in several more colours. The main reason that sheep tend to be white is that they have been selected this way for centuries for the purpose of dying its wool. There is no need to explain why white wool is ideal for dying, and other shades are not. Thus the proverbial black sheep getting its bad reputation solely from the fact that its wool is less profitable for the shepherd. Still, even if most sheep are white, there are still plenty of breeds for which the original diversity of colours has been preserved. In Great Britain, for example, a lot of the traditional breeds have a fleece that is unsuitable for making fine garments. Their wool was traditional used for other purposes, such as stuffing pillows and mattresses. Obviously, there was no need to dye wool for this purpose and hence nobody ever bothered to select a particular colour. When you think of fair-isle, you usually think of intricate...

The Almost Garter Scarf by Norah Gaughan is just one of those really brilliant ideas. Simple, understated but beautiful. Using a circular needle (or double pointed needles) and two strands of yarn, you knit every row and get a squishy fabric that is almost garter, but not really. It is actually equivalent to 2 knit rows, 2 purl rows repeat. If you love stripes, like I do, the colour-play possibilities are endless. The photo I chose is from Woolymountain's version . Her colour choice is amazing. You must absolutely use your imagination (combine it with other stitches?) and colour preferences when knitting this (extremely) easy scarf. Great for left over yarn too.

Before I forget, this post is about horizontal buttonholes only. Eyelet buttonholes are easy to do, but because they're so small, they are mostly used in baby clothes. Vertical buttonholes are more work than justified (tip: most vertical-looking buttonholes you'll find are actually horizontal ones knit on a vertical band). If you're going to knit a piece with buttonholes, always test your buttonhole. For simplicity, knit it in your gauge swatch. There are two reasons to do this, (1) test if the method you've chosen looks good for that particular yarn and that particular pattern (specially if you're not knitting a plain stockinette pattern), (2) test if the button fits well. In terms of fit, check, not only, if the button can go through, but also, if it's small enough that you cannot see the buttonhole if you place the button to the side of the hole and even if you stretch it a bit. Ideally the hole should be as small as it allows the button to go through, bec...

In the last two weeks, I've featured designs by Jared Flood, the founder and creative director of Brooklyn Tweed . Brooklyn Tweed is not only a design team, but also a yarn brand that produces amazing heathered yarn in the most beautiful shades. Today I've chosen a design by Michele Wang, one of Brooklyn Tweed's in-house designers. Rowe is a "luscious oversized sweater coat" (not my words). Look at those cables. Fabulous!

From what I could gather from the literature there are only two types of short-row heels, then there are many variants of these two types. They vary mainly in construction and to distinguish them I'll name them † the standard short-row heel and the boomerang heel (the trapezium when stretched looks like a boomerang). The figure shows their respective constructions schematically (the standard method is on the left). † A small disclaimer: as far as I know there is no standard naming for these two classes of methods. As most often in the world of knitting terms, there seems to be some confusion with people using the same term to name different techniques and different terms for the same technique. I don't claim the terminology I've chosen to be either the correct one or the best one in any way. The standard method is obviously symmetric and therefore it can be used in socks worked from the cuff-down or the toe-up. The good news is that the boomerang method can be ...

Dark green on a man is my favourite sweater colour. Fort , another design by Jared Flood, is not quite dark enough or quite green enough, but you get the gist.

Now the Rio Olympics are over, I'd like to add my two pence (more like one penny) to the whole debate over sexism in sports. In particular, sexism in media coverage of sport events (which leaves out other important subjects such as education of girls, fair pay, etc.). I'm not really interested in this subject per se, but more on the way it highlights the more general problem of sexism in media and the way it affects "normal" people in their everyday lives and not just the famous people that feature in it. If you doubt there was plenty of sexism in the media coverage of the Olympics, you can read this Telegraph article (it concentrates on tweets, but this leads to a good amount of general media coverage too, including TV and press). If you have no doubts on this subject, read it for laughs, some of the stuff there is hilarious. My favourite is the one where a random guy decides to give some advice to an Olympic cyclist on Twitter. His post starts "First lesson ...

Jared Flood is one of my favourite designers and I can't believe I haven't included one of his designs in my Eye-candy series yet. I could wear anything this guys designs and anything he includes in his Brooklyn Tweed publications (which feature many other amazing designers). All of his work presents the same understated elegance that gives his brand a definite identity. Pastel colours, lots of cable work and some lace, the patterns Brooklyn Tweed publishes are usually quite sophisticated, involving careful attention to details. I confess I had a hard time deciding which project to choose, so I chose his latest project at the time of writing this post, pretty lame, uh? This is Caspian .

Have you noticed how the most popular patterns on Ravelry are for shawls and socks? The obvious reason for this is that most knitters don't have much time to knit. Hence they prefer to work on small, fast to knit projects, instead of spending months, or even years, knitting something big, like a sweater or (don't even think about it) a queen-sized blanket. There is however another and much less obvious explanation for this. I consider myself a knitter who above all else loves to knit sweaters. So I was a bit surprised when, looking at my projects, I found out that I have knitted more shawls and scarves, and as much socks and hats and even home decoration items (this last one really surprised me), as I have knitted sweaters. The reason for this is quite simply that even if I've spent a lot more time knitting sweaters, I've finished other items a lot faster. In addition, I have the habit of, whenever a sweater starts feeling frustratingly endless to knit, I stop for a...

Fantom Bohus is not a pattern, it's only a project. A beautiful one. Bohus always is beautiful, but this project in particular uses some truly beautiful hand-spun yarn. Have I said beautiful enough? The only down side is that neither the pattern nor the yarn are available for the modest knitter, so this is pure eye-candy. To look at and be inspired to create your own ideas. Beautiful colour combination, ain't it? Yes, I just wanted to say beautiful one more time. Two actually.

One of the ugliest faces of sexism is how men think they own beautiful women and that beautiful women exist only for their pleasure. I've seen many instances of this, for example, when men feel entitled to insult or be aggressive if a beautiful woman does not preserve and present her beauty as they think she should. I have a lot of white hair for my age and the first strands of white started to appear on my head when I was only a teenager. This is not as unusual as you might think, the reason why most people believe that men start to grow grey earlier than women is because women who are grey from a young age always dye their hair. Think Clooney and Gere are sexy, but can't name an actress, model or any female public figure who is grey and not truly old? Now you know why. I also have a funny story about why I started dying my hair in my early twenties. On a sunny day, I was insulted on account of my grey hair and ordered to dye it by a very aggressive, angry random man in th...

Olilia is a beautiful crescent shawl. You may find more beautiful shawls, but it's unusual to find a free pattern with this level of complexity. This is the reason I thought it mostly definitely deserved to be featured on my Eye-candy series. Don't get me wrong, by saying this, I don't mean to imply that its beauty is not reason enough to include it. It is. The fact that is free just adds to its awesomeness.

If you don't know what steek means, here is the short explanation: steeking is a technique that involves cutting knitted fabric and then doing your best to fix the awful mess you end up with. OK, that's not exactly what steeking is, it actually involves preparing the fabric first so that you avoid the mess. A lot of people are terrified of cutting knitted fabric and, no matter what you hear experts say, they have good reason to be. I've tried steeking two times and both times I've ended up with an ugly mess. So if you want my advice, never attempt it on an actual project. Steek some swatches until you get everything right, and then steek some more swatches until we're sure that you really have gotten everything right. Kate Davies (*) has written a wonderful tutorial on this technique. You can't get better than this, this tutorial is incredibly detailed and the photos are amazingly useful. It runs for 4 posts in her blog: the first post gives an introductio...

A lovely sweater named after a lovely song by Sting. Practical Arrangment [sic] is not a proper pattern, but a project on Ravelry. However, if you have some experience on knitting a sweater from the top-down with raglan-shaped shoulders, the notes on this project are detailed enough that you can easily follow them as a pattern. Easy project with beautiful results thanks to the beauty of the yarn used (and some nice shaping too).

I've been using the Stash2Go App and I highly recommend it. The App is available both for Apple and Android devices and it is at quite an advanced stage of development. The shortest way to describe what this App does is to say that it's pretty much Ravelry on a App. Its name is a bit of a misnomer, because it provides a lot more than a stash database. After you log on to your Ravelry account through Stash2Go you'll be able to check and edit most of your Ravelry page, including projects, favourites and stash. You'll also be able to search Ravelry patterns, projects, and yarns. As I said, you can do almost anything you can do on Ravelry from it. The one feature I love about this App is the ability to upload photos directly from my phone camera to my Ravelry's project page. In only a few minutes I have a photo of my latest FO uploaded, no more excuses to leave an ugly "No featured photo" white square on my projects page. But as I think I made it clear eno...

Stacked increases and decreases is a knitting technique that yields amazingly beautiful, intricate colour-work. Most patterns that use this technique are paid, and well worth the money if you take the results into account. Today I chose a free pattern instead, since, even if it's not as visually striking as other patterns using this technique, it is a nice introduction to the technique itself. Stack Overflow is a cowl (the other half of the cowl is barely visible under the top one, if you look at its photo carefully), which is knitted flat, then grafted in the end. So the pattern is perfectly adapted to be knitted as a scarf too.

Picking the right yarn for a project is often the most challenging part of knitting one. I say this because I think that knitting is a lot more pleasant than difficult, and as for picking a pattern, Ravelry has made it really easy. There are so many beautiful patterns available for any type of project to choose from, that, even if you don't get the perfect pattern, you're sure to get something you'll love to wear with only a bit of effort and time. Sure some patterns are badly written or too difficult for your skill level, that is where again Ravelry comes to the rescue. I highly recommend checking the comments, the ratings, and even read through some of the project notes other ravelers have written on any pattern before you cast-on. Now you've picked your project, what yarn to use? That lovely yarn you've just added to your stash? The one recommended by the designer? The many substitution recommendations, based on what other people have used for this pattern, y...