A behind the scenes look at a knit project

This is the chart instructions for these hand warmers.  It's similar to a cross stitch chart and eliminates writing out each specific stitch  for each row

 

 

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I found that it helped to mark the needles (and I used 2 different colors)  RS for the right side and WS for the wrong side when reading the chart.   Notice the markers to separate the 3 different sections?

 

The piece is sewn together leaving an opening for the thumb.

I thought I'd show more than just a finished project this time.  I knitted these cabled hand warmers from a chart. At first glance a chart looks intimidating but the secret is to know "how" to read it.  You start in the right hand bottom corner and read the first row from right to left then the 2nd row reads from left to right.  The "key" shows the symbols that represent the different stitches.

When starting the pattern, I'd forget if I was on the right or wrong side so I tried 2 things - different colored needles and post-it notes with RS and WS written on them and attached to the needles.  This helped a lot. 

Also different about this pattern is the hand warmers are worked from side to side and not top to bottom (or bottom to top) as many are made. A lot of times when I  make something, it's because I want to try the technique. It's like a challenge to me and makes figuring the pattern out worth it. I also made this pair to  match the brown cowl that I finished not too long ago.

Then I whipped up these 2 crocheted cowls last week.  The red one is a "re-purposed" project.  I'd knitted a scarf from this red yarn a few years ago and liked the color but hadn't worn the scarf much. Since I'm so into cowls lately, and hadn't been able to find a shade of red that I really liked, I "untangled" the scarf and crocheted this cowl.