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by Knit Picks Staff on May 26, 2010
I’ve always wanted a pair of those little Mary Jane slippers, the kind they sell at Target around Christmas time with the little rubbery nubbins on the bottom. The problem is I have small feet. I wear size 5 ½ in womens, size 3 in kids, size 4 in men’s. Small. All those cute Target slippers slide right off my cold little feet. So now that I’ve learned to knit, I was browsing Ravelry for a new project so that I could expand my repertoire beyond scarves and wristlets, and I found a pattern that shall remain anonymous for very easy, beginner Mary Jane slippers. Perfect! I could make them just my size. And I already had the perfect buttons picked out. I cast on my 30 stitches of Cadena in Coal and started garter stitching. As I began knitting, I had the creeping suspicion that these were going to be much ... |
Category Archives: Inspiration
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 26, 2010
I love watching NASCAR races. I was trying to remember how this came to be, and I think it stems from going with my family to Champ car qualifying days at Portland International Raceway when we could get free passes. My Dad and brother absolutely loved going, and Mom and I would tag along and sit under the makeshift lean-to awning and read – back when they would let you camp out for the day on the grassy banks around the track. There’s something about the sound and the excitement and unpredictability. What I like even better about stock car racing is that they smash into each other and into the walls and yet, many times, THEY STILL KEEP GOING, albeit with sheet metal flapping. Repairs are attempted with baseball bats and ... |
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 26, 2010
Wow, the office move is on Tuesday, but we’re already almost done! It’s amazing what you can do when you all work as a team. It’s also amazing what you discover lurking in some mystery box – and how these random things can be a little spot of inspiration. As a garment designer, I’ve always got an eye on fashions and trends (whether good or bad!) and after a while, it kind of blends in together. It can get to be difficult to glean inspiration out of something you’ve seen a hundred times! But, going through all of our yarns, notions and random bits and bobs of office accumulation, I found some real gems of inspiration. One was the project yarn wall. When you see our yarn in a catalog or online, it’s arranged in some order – often in rainbow order. It’s easy to gravitate toward colors you like that way, ... |
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 26, 2010
It’s moving day at the KP office. Actually, what was moving day is dragging into more of a moving week or two. We’ve got a LOT of stuff. “Now where in the world are they moving to?”, you might be asking yourself. That’s a fair enough question. And it’s kind of hard to explain. See, this used to be Tina’s office downstairs, but now she’s in this office upstairs. And all of KP used to be downstairs right here, but now they’re moving upstairs into this room, and almost everyone who was in that room is moving to this room, except for the few random individuals who belong to no specific department and are being peppered liberally throughout the building where ever space allows. I think it’s ... |
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 26, 2010
or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Flat Pattern Construction by Modifying It I have a confession to make: I’ve never knit a sweater flat. The first sleeveless top that I made was in the round, and ever since I’ve never seen a compelling reason not to knit all of my sweaters that way. Oh, I certainly knit certain parts flat and sew them together, but with every sweater I’ve made there’s always been an “in the round” component (whether it was written into the pattern or not). I see the benefits of circular construction to be numerous: For one, seeing it in “body form” helps me visualize if it looks the right size, and if I still have doubts, I can try it on. For two, I personally hate knitting flat. It’s not that I dislike purling, it’s all the turning back and forth. It breaks my rhythm, and I ... |
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 26, 2010
Swatching – what a waste of time, right? I mean, it’s yarn, what’s it going to do? Well, I’ll tell you! There are so many cool things that swatching can do for you, especially when you’re not entirely sure what you want in the first place. Take, for instance, a self-striping sock yarn, like Felici: The idea that a self-striping sock yarn could only be used for self-striping socks is just silly. But what else could you use it for? The cool thing about the new colors of Felici is that the stripes are evenly sized – which means they’re totally predictable. That allows you a lot of great options if you weren’t so keen on socks. For example, when you run two strands at a time, it works up to worsted gauge. So why not try out a worsted gauge self-striping sweater? Or big comfy slippers? The possibilities are endless ... |
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by Alison on May 26, 2010
Oh no! Knitting catastrophe! Just kidding. I’m writing a two-at-a-time sock tutorial, and the test knitter just returned the samples. Inside that pile of treacherous circulars and Essential sock yarn are six sock stages, knit in duplicate, all ready for photography. < |
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 26, 2010
While gathering yarn in preparation for my next ad, I shot this photo of a pile of new summer yarn colors. We were still waiting for Comfy to come in, so it’s M.I.A., but you get the idea. We had a lot of customer requests for MORE GREEN yarn colors, so we did our best to fulfill those wishes. The yarn on the top is one of my favorite new colors of Shine Sport: “Leapfrog”. It’s such a friendly, earthy green, and I can’t resist that name. Clockwise from that is Crayon “Cashew”, Shine Worsted “Laurel”, CotLin “Kohlrabi”, Shine Sport “Sycamore”, and Mainline “Oregano”. Looks healthy, huh? While I’m talking summer yarn, I have to talk a little about the new line, Comfy. When it finally did come it and I was hanking up a skein for my ad, I couldn’t stop petting it! It is ... |
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 26, 2010
Spring fever has reached record highs here at the Knit Picks office. Samples of the soft, yummy, new spring/summer yarns are finally here, and we’re all a twitter trying to get photos taken, catalogs printed, new ads designed, new patterns tested, and of course, before any of that can actually be completed, we have to swatch, swatch, swatch! Being the most inexperienced knitter on staff, I’ve excused myself from swatch duty and appointed myself as head documentarian instead. That means I’ve been taking photos of all my frantically knitting co-workers. I’m sure they’ll look back fondly on this week and be thankful I took pictures once the mania dies down. If not, I hope the rest of you will at least appreciate the sneak peek into the inner workings of Knit Picks. Christy has (almost) singlehandedly wound every ball of ... |
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 26, 2010
I started the Curved Shawl from Victorian Lace Today back in August. It is my first real, full-sized lace project. I set it aside for a few months because I was worried I would run out of yarn (Autumn Heather Alpaca Cloud). I made the body of the shawl a little wider and longer than the pattern states, so I’m not sure I’ll have enough yarn to finish the border – aarrgh! I was hoping to avoid the potential problem by just not working on the shawl, but I just realized the only way I will find out the answer is if I knit it. So, now, the joy of lace knitting is renewed – it’s amazing how addictive it is, and yet I forget how addictive it is if I let it sit too long. ... |
