Follow along and discover your next inspiration as we cast on for projects we love, explore new techniques, and dish about the latest and greatest from Knit Picks.
Meet the team »
Lee Gant
is an amazing designer & knitter – she has 12 patterns already in
the IDP program and always has more in the works! Her patterns cover a
wide range of styles, from beautiful spring & summer tops to lovely
cold weather sweaters, both for children & adults. She’s one of our
favorite designers to work with & we wanted to know a bit more
about her…So here it is in her own words!
What a nice thing to do on this dreary Monday morning – announcing our Mastering Color Knitting winners! So I picked out some comment numbers this morning using my trusty Random.org number generator. And here are your winners!
Read more »I’ve been knitting for over 20 years, and I’ve learned to latch hook,
embroider, sew, do needlepoint, and a lot more. But I was undeniably
terrible at crochet. Really, really bad. I would love to show evidence
of some of my epically failed attempts, but I threw them in the trash
years ago. The trash never forgave me.
When we started getting more crochet books, and several of my
coworkers mentioned an interest in learning to crochet, I thought, hey,
why not? It’s been years now, maybe my old crochet hooks have forgotten
what I’d subjected them to. I decided that this time, I am actually
going to learn to crochet, and remember it. We were all talking about
goals with our crochet – everyone else is going to make things.
My goal is just to crochet something that is not utterly horrible. Like,
it looks like I meant to do that.
So, Nina and I signed up for a learn to crochet class! I could chain
when I got there, but that was it. I then learned how to single and
double crochet, and then it clicked – I was terrible at crochet because I
did it completely wrong. So, with my newfound confidence, I kept
going with my little swatch. In the class, the instructor suggested we
make a little bag out of it, so I began to crochet in the round
(correctly! …mostly). I realized that it was going to be a very ugly
bag. Very, very ugly. So… In my typical fashion, I completely ignored
what I was supposed to be doing.And the results…
Meet Carl!
Ever wondered what those weird symbols mean? Tried to make sense of all the grid lines? Welcome to the world of lace charts, which are a stitch-by-stitch representation of a knitted item! I’ll discuss how to read a chart, why they are set up in certain ways, and what that pesky ‘No Stitch’ designation really means.
Unfortunately due to a hand injury, I couldn’t demonstrate any techniques in this lesson – so it’s all about charts! I will demonstrate lots of stitches in the next lesson, including different variations of the YO, nupps and bobbles. I’ll also go more in-depth about cast-ons and double-yarn bind-offs – thanks for all your questions!
Enjoy!
Not long after I started knitting, my mom decided to show me how to
crochet as well. My grandmother is an amazing crocheter – she has made
her grandchildren & great-grandchildren so many crochet afghans and
I’m lucky to have several in my possession to keep me warm. And my mom
did crochet more than knitting for a long period of time, so she thought
she should teach me that too! Unfortunately, while I picked up
knitting fairly easily, it wasn’t the same story with crochet. I just
couldn’t get it & got so frustrated. So I abandoned the hooks &
turned deaf ears to everyone who told me “It’s fun and so much easier
than knitting!”.
But I’ve been becoming more interested in crochet
in the past few months, especially with the addition of crochet
patterns to the IDP program. There are so many that I love, but
most of all is Lauren
Osborne’s Adva Scarf
Kelley chats with Anna Hrachovec, author of Knitting Mochimochi.
3 easy ways to listen…
I got my yarn (Stroll Tonal Gypsy) and wound it… enlarged the chart for my selected pattern (Diamonds Shawl from Crochet so Fine)… got my crochet hook… and ready to go… At first I started reading
the pattern since crochet charts were not familiar to me… but I
ripped out several times and thought UGH!!! so I tried the chart…
what a difference! just like knitting charts make life easier, so
do crochet charts, so don’t let them scare you away! and a little
hint: get a highlighting pen and mark the rows as you complete them…
makes it much easier to find your spot… I also do counting a head of
time on some of the larger repeats, so I don’t have to stop at each
row…
I have been so excited about New England Knits since we first started seeing pictures from it and I finally got my very own copy!
We’re all pretty excited about it here – in fact Kate & I
unknowingly both tweeted about how excited we were about it. I went to
the coast this weekend & with the cool weather there, it was
perfect time to thumb through it & think about all the lovely
cardigans I want to make! And goodness, I think I want to make every
single project in this book – something I haven’t seen in a book for a
very long time – well that doesn’t include cute toys like Knitting
Mochimochi! 🙂
Since finishing my first real colorwork project (the Grab a Pint Mitts
I wrote about awhile back), I’ve been wanting to get more & more
into colorwork. Well, lo & behold, Melissa Leapman is putting out a
brand new book called Mastering Color Knitting! Perfect timing right?
There are some neat patterns included – I really like this scarf included in the double knit reversable section
We love our sock blanks!! And, after several months of secretive planning and knitting, Tina and I are thrilled to be able to share a few of our experiences as we worked out the details and then enjoyed our own dyeing and knitting pleasures.
Sock Blank Information
Blank Dyeing Tutorial – Video
Blank Dyeing Instructions – PDF
Dye Pattern Techniques – PDF
Sock Blank Knitalong
Free Toe-Up, Two-at-a-Time, Magic Loop Sock Pattern
Sock Blank Materials
Sock Blanks
Jacquard Acid Dyes
What’s On My Needles
To keep up with my knitting progress during the week, be sure to check out my personal blog.
3 easy ways to listen…
Music used in this Podcast
Introduction: A Sunken Ship Irony – Reflection at Sundown [http://spotlessrecords.com/asunkenshipirony/]
Book Review: Jim Ronayne – The Three Brethren [http://www.jimronayne.co.uk/]
What’s On My Needles: Beyond The Pale – The Music Plays Me …
