The very first thing I did after opening my eyes this morning was to pick up my latest project and start knitting. This sweater pattern has been quick and easy and is now nearly finished….and I CAN’T WAIT!
This is the best part of knitting, for me. By this point in the process, I’m usually sick of the thing (I would never be mistaken for a process knitter!) and I’ve gathered at least three other patterns that I’m champing at the bit to get started on; so now I’m more than ready to tidy up the bits and pieces, wash, block and dry the item, and finally admire my FO. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: circular needles, FO, grey, picot hems, process knitter, Radiant Sweater, Ultimate Sweater
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t was July 2010. I had recently discovered lace knitting….and I loved it!
Having already completed a stockinette wool shawl with some nifty lace edging, as well as a shawlette with a small lace pattern in the body of the piece, I had just started my third lace project, a pattern entitled Estonian Flamingo Knitted Lace Stole or Scarf by Melanie VerMeer, knit entirely in lace patterning.
I had chosen a lovely white mohair laceweight yarn for this project; and in spite of having to tink more often than I wanted to, I had gotten far enough along to actually begin to see the lace pattern forming.
It was so pretty! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: blocked, discoveries, FO, kitchenered, lace knitting, melon, mohair, shawlette, silk, Wedding Wrap
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I love it when I can find helpful tips out there in The Land of Internet, and they’re fairly easy to come by when you subscribe to the right online newsletters.
Every crafter likely has his or her favourites; and one of mine, Knitting Daily, is a short, well-written little blog by editor Kathleen Kubley, whose posts appear in my emailbox every morning like clockwork. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: crafting, helpful tips, Knitting Daily, set in sleeves
You’re looking, let’s say, for a sweater pattern. You sit down at your computer, find your pattern online, pay your money, and presto! – you’re ready to start knitting. Or better yet, you find a free pattern that meets your needs, and copy or download it onto your computer. As long as you have a printer, just how easy can it possibly get? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: begin knitting, download, file management, knitting, knitting patterns, pattern file, picture file
In my unending quest for balance, I microscrutinized my recent post on wool and decided that I have to write a little something about synthetic yarns too, if only to be fair. After all, I’m not a complete yarn snob; I’ve actually experimented a bit with synthetics as well. As a matter of fact, years ago when I was knitting for my own little ones (during what I like to call my “Early Period,” before I put my knitting bag down one day and didn’t pick it up again for thirty-five years), I used synthetic yarns exclusively.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: acrylic, boucle, dank, fetid, landfill, superwash wool, synthetic yarns
I admit it, I’m a wool junkie. I’m the one in the yarn store with her eyes closed and her nose deep in a ball of wool, sniffing ecstatically. Just as I can’t walk past a sculpture in a gallery without touching it, I simply have to take a sniff when I pass a ball of wool. And I think it’s fair to say that I’ve never sniffed a ball of wool I didn’t like. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: alpaca, angora, cashmere, Clara Parkes, goats, merino, mohair, qiviut, stash, tussah silk, vicuna, wool
