#needleworkmonday :: A Knitted Red Table Mat for Practice

Happy #NeedleWorkMonday everyone!

Last week, I was using a cheap red yarn as stuffing for my little handsewn hexy pincushion. This week, I wanted to practice my continental knitting and purling and decided to use the cheap red yarn for this purpose. I think there is nothing to lose if the knitting and purling didn't work considering the yarn is cheap.


My challenge with continental knitting so far was tension. I have tried several times doing this style of knitting and my fingers were unable to control the tension well, resulting in holes in the middle of the knitting and purling.

At one point, I was knitting using continental style but purling using English style.

In case you are wondering, here is a video on the difference between continental style and English style knitting and purling. I wrote a bit about the difference between this two styles last year too.

I chose a pattern that was meant for a dish cloth but I wanted to finish off the yarn which was why it became a table mat instead :D. The pattern was from weefolkart and it was very easy to work.

First, I cast on 34 stitches and knitted the first 7 rows:

Then, the pattern began with:
Row 1 - Knit 4, Purl 26, Knit 4 (and all odd rows)
Row 2 - Knit all the way (and all even rows)
until the last inch where I knitted 7 rows again to complete the border.


This was suppose to be a square wash cloth but I wanted to finish off the yarn, so I continued knitting the pattern longer before I ended with the 7 rows of knit.


And I could keep going because there was a difference in texture on the project which gave a variation instead of a mundane knit:


I liked how the red accentuates the pattern:


The border is really cool:


As I worked the pattern, I really liked the texture of the pattern and the way the stitches created a border for the piece. I kept working until I finished the red yarn.


I realised that this cheap red yarn that I didn't quite like was pretty alright for this project. I liked how red it turned out and how neat the stitches turned out too.

I began to get the hang of the tension and I am liking continental style knitting and purling. The method is much faster than English style, now that I am getting used to it. It needed my fingers to get used to the method and I had to sharpen my motor skills which was quite rusted.

Quite frankly, I can't believe I completed this project using continental style, no cheating at all! It looked really nice on my table and the cool thing is that both sides can be used :)



Plus, easy to wash and dry too! :)

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Here's wishing everyone a good week ahead and
Happy #NeedleWorkMonday! Take care everyone!

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