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 »
This week we have two adorable free patterns from the wonderful Natty Knits!
First up is Baby’s First Football.
Surrounded all my life by football fans, I think this is adorable and wish I had it when I was making a few baby gifts a while back for some football families. Even if you’re not a football fan, the size of the football is a great size for babies & small children to grasp and play with.
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From scrounging in my sock yarn stash comes great things.
Like this Woobie Puppy designed by Kris Carlson!
Read more »I think that by now, we’re all pretty familiar with the gorgeous shot of the Palette family that’s been in the catalog and on web since September of last year. I know it particularly well because Kerin and I are the ones who sat down and sorted each ball into the lovely color order that you see here and I’m the one who sat down AGAIN and resorted it after the photography department was done with it in order to label each ball correctly in catalog. I can’t tell you how long this took, only that I’m getting pretty good at spotting the differences between Thicket and Briar Heather!
Waltz into the world of Jane Austen with this romantic crochet collection. Elegant and feminine, these 36 designs will whisk you away to the Regency era of balls, high tea and delicious gossip about who is courting who. Chances are one of these fanciful garments could even bring a Mr. Darcy into your life!
There is a lot to be said for simplicity: crisp hem and small gauge goes a long way in basic knitwear. The Light Basics collection features six sophisticated, classic designs that you can wear as staple, go-to garments, or modify with your favorite stitch or color patterns using the included knitting graph paper. Each of the garments is designed to be used with any fingering weight yarn, and can be worn separately or together.
This week, Jenny and Stacey get a chance to chat about all of the wonderful new yarns and collections coming out this month! First and foremost is our brand new crochet thread, Curio. Hear all about our lovely new #10 crochet thread and get inspired with pattern ideas.
Following the crochet theme, Jenny and Stacey introduce Serenity, our first ever collection of crochet designs featuring 8 independant designers.
Next, Jenny and Stacey talk about the other three new pattern collections including Light Basics – a collection of garments and accessories all knit in fingering weight yarn, Reversible Basics – a collection that incorporates reversible patterns and details into the designs and Ballerinas in Pink, a collection inspired by turn of the 20th century French fashion and art. Finally, Jenny and Stacey give a few highlights and suggestions from the summer yarn and book sale.
You can find all four of our new collections at the links below (available as ebooks, printed books, and individual pattern downloads):
Serenity Crochet Collection
Light Basics
Ballerinas in Pink
Reversible Basics
3 easy ways to listen…
After chatting with Jen Lucas about her book, Sock Yarn Shawls, for podcast 215, I could not resist trying one of her patterns.
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A riff on the Babette Blanket
This blanket was inspired by the Babette Blanket, and by my stash. I love the bold, multi-color splashiness of the Babette Blanket, and I had some Chroma worsted samples to play with. I’ve called it a “Nanette Blanket” after my middle name (Nan), and the bumbling character from the musical “No No Nanette.” This was definitely my typical, bumbling experimental project!
Read more »I’ve never been one to shy away from public crafting. In fact, if my hands aren’t busy all the time, I basically just fuss and fidget and drive myself nuts. So, it’s no surprise that many of the folks at the fine coffee and food establishments I frequent are well enough acquainted with me to ask much more specific questions than “Is that called yarning?”
In fact, one barista was surprised when the sweater I’d been working on for some time wasn’t with me for a few weeks, when she knew it wasn’t finished. Well, there’s a good reason for that, I explained, as I was busy crocheting a doily. I messed up!
I’ve knit in public quite a bit over the years – when I lived in Massachusetts, I knit about 2 pairs of socks a month just on my 2-3 hour daily train commute!
Now most of my public crafting seems to be in dark places – bars, coffee shops and especially the movies. I can’t seem to go to the movies without my project – if I don’t, I spend most the film fidgeting, which doesn’t seem to please my other half. It gets so annoying that I’ll realize that I’m nearing the heel turn in a pair of socks that I’ll have to cast on for something new before we head out to the movies!
(Note: I have done a short row heel while watching a movie in the theater. I don’t recommend it, unless you like ripping it out and redoing it when you get home.)
So my craft in public projects tend to be small (so they fit in my bag!) and easy stockinette patterns – things I don’t need to look at when working – which is why I don’t crochet in public very often – I still need to look down at my project when I’m crocheting. My first choice is generally socks – I use the Two at Once, Toe Up, Magic Loop Socks Pattern all the time now (that way I don’t drop my DPNs!).
