Coasting Along

Howdy future Knitteratti!

You may have noticed that I have been posting “how-to” video’s on the Tubes and here on Lattes and Llamas.  This project had 2 sources of inspiration: 1.) Many of my social media friends reached out to me to say they can’t knit, but want to.  I cannot let a travesty like that stand, so I had to do something. 2.) I am a shameless self promoter and like to be filmed with my fibers.  Mmmmmmm… sweet, sweet fibers.  But I digress.

The first videos are a 4 part series where we will learn to make a coaster.

Cute, right?  Here is the pattern we’ll be following.  There are also notes at the bottom on how to follow a pattern, so don’t let the abbreviations scare you away.

Coaster Pattern

 by Megan-Anne of Lattes and Llamas

Yarn: worsted weight in the color of your choice.  I recomend cotton or acrylic for this project since a coaster can take some abuse.
Needles: US 11, or size needed to obtain gauge
Gauge: 20sts and 22 rows=4″x4″square

 CO 20 sts

R1-5: Work in garter st (K all sts)

R6: Knit

R7: K5, P10, K5

Repeat rows 6 and 7 six times (for a total of 17 rows including the 5 garter rows from the beginning).

R18-22: Work in garter st (K all sts)

BO across.

If this is your first time following a pattern, here are some notes:

1. There are some very common abbreviations used in just about every knitting pattern.  Here they are: K=Knit, P=Purl (so K2 means knit 2 stitches, and P2 would mean purl 2 stitches), R=row, sts=stitches, CO=Cast on, BO=Bind Off.

2. Gauge refers to the number of stitches and rows needed to make a certain size square.  So in this pattern a coaster is 4 inches long and 4 inches tall which equals 20 stitches wide and 22 rows tall.  Sometimes, your knitting will be looser or tighter than the pattern maker’s was.  When that’s the case, you can switch to larger or smaller needles so that you work will come out to the right dimensions.

If you have any other questions I LOVE helping new knitters.  Drop me an email at dr [dot] daisyespresso [at] gmail [dot] com and I’ll help in any way I can.

~Megan-Anne

Hot for Nevill