Ribbing with twisted stitches

I read in Elizabeth Zimmerman's book Knitting Without Tears: Basic Techniques and Easy-to-Follow Directions for Garments to Fit All Sizes to twist your stitches when working ribbing.  Why on earth would you intentionally twist your stitches?  Well, your ribbing really pops when the stitches are twisted.

I decided to try this and here's a few tips I discovered:

• Don't twist your stitches as you knit them onto the right needle (right handed knitting).  This makes them difficult to work when you make your way back to knitting them off.
• Instead, twist the stitches as you are knitting them off the needle.  In other words, knit and purl each of your stitches through the back loop.
• Purling through the back loop can be a little intimidating so if you are working in the round, you can opt to just twist the knit stitches and not twist the purls.  You will be consistent since you are working in the round.

Try working some ribbing with twisted stitches and compare them to regular ribbing.  You will definitely notice a difference.

Circular knitting needle storage/organization

I wanted to share how I organize/store my circular needles.  I am struggling with this currently since I have a bunch of needles, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to buy more needles.

I found these little gadgets at Dollar Tree.  I liked the pink color.

 It is just a little expandable organizer.  It has tabs that can hold a paper so I could write the description if I wanted, but I just left them blank.  I put the needles in size order so it is easy to find what I need.  I also keep the needles in their original packaging.  Most of the needles have what size and brand they are marked on the needle or cord itself so it isn't necessary to keep the original packaging.

The problem I am having is that the elastic that wraps around to keep it closed is losing it's strength.  I have so much in it that the elastic has become worthless so I have a ribbon that I tie around it to keep it closed.  The front flap doesn't stay lined up properly when it is closed anymore.

I have to find another storage solution, but I don't want to spend a lot of money.  Any suggestions?

Brioche Stitch - kromboomssloot snood

I have been studying how to knit brioche patterns.  I have a great book by Nancy Marchant.  You can find it here.  I like the instructions and the patterns.  There are patterns for one color, two colors and three colors.  Some patterns are reversible.  The projects in the book are beautiful.

I demonstrated one of the patterns, which is knit in the round, and uses any even number of stitches.  You can watch it here.

I like paperback books, but I don't like how the pages don't lie flat when you have the book open.  I took my copy to Staples and had it spiral bound.  I also had the front and back covers laminated since I carry this book around in my backpack.

The covers are still nice and pretty even though this book has been carried around with me for at least a year.

Happy Knitting!