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 »
I’ve been steadily honing my crochet skills over the past few weeks. I
started with some plain, square dishcloths in single crochet, then amped
things up when I started and finished a Granny Stripe blanket in two weekends and finally I’ve tackled my first project “in the round”! I was inspired to pick up one of my smaller hooks when I spotted Yvestown’s free crochet Flower Coaster Pattern on Pinterest yesterday.
This week, we have another bonus episode of the Knit Picks podcast and it is chock-full of adorably scary projects perfect for Halloween!
First, Stacey talks with Anna Hrachovec of Mochimochi Land about her newest book Super-Scary Mochimochi. This latest collection of patterns still highlights the cute and clever knitted tiny toys that Anna is known for, but with a scary and creepy twist! Hear all about Anna’s design process for this book, what some of her favorite patterns are, her inspiration for the designs, along with fun behind-the-scenes stories.
Next up, Stacey chats with crochet designer Deja Jetmir about her newest eBook Wonderfully Horrific Crochet. In her book, Deja celebrates all of the camp and fun of classic horror themes with 14 patterns for crocheted softies. Hear all about how Deja started designing her own crochet patterns and learn more about the design …
Welcome to the Knit Picks Stash! This is our staff blog where we share personal knitting adventures, show off new tutorials and videos, and give updates on new products for Knit Picks.
Kelley
Owner,KnitPicks
Kerin
Designer
Alison
Director of
KnitPicks
Stacey
Relationship
Manager
Kim
Merchandising
Manager
Amy
WebDeveloper
Heidi
GraphicDesigner
Hannah
GraphicDesigner
Jenny K.
Education
Coordinator
Jenny C.
MarketingSpecialist
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I’m beginning to appreciate the knitting side benefits of my gluten-free, bake-free lifestyle. Two weeks ago I was feeling a bit like a mad, obsessed knitter. That was before I began to see the results of the hours and hours of knitting.
With chilly weather quickly approaching, it’s time to start thinking
about gloves. But one big problem with most gloves is that you have to
take them off (or make do with chilly fingertips in fingerless gloves)
to use your touch screen devices. What’s worse than missing an important
call because you can’t get your gloves off in time? Naturally the fiber
industry has stepped in with a fantastic material – Conductive Thread! We now carry the thread, and a great pattern that makes use of it. The In Touch gloves feature a circuitry-inspired motif and small pads of Conductive Thread on the fingertips.
The way the thread works is by completing the circuit between your
finger and the capacative touch screen of your phone, tablet or other
device. As long as the thread touches both your finger and the screen,
you can use the device just as you would with no gloves on at all! It
doesn’t take much, either…
This week’s Freebie Friday features one of our favorite designers:
This is Jennifer Thompson‘s Roadtrip Shawl – a beautiful semi-circular shawl. It is knit from the top down with ragalan style increases – and is perfect when you are the passanger on a fall road trip!
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I was skimming through the bookshelf here at work last week when I spotted Coastal Knits by
Alana Dakos & Hannah Fettig. I love the photography in this book,
not to mention the lovely patterns! I was especially struck by the Sand and Sea Shawlette. It’s the perfect size and height to be either a comfortable fall scarf or worn as a small shawl.
In this week’s podcast episode, Kelley gets a chance to talk with designer Audrey Knight about her newest book Reversible Scarves! Audrey began knitting in 2004 and quickly began exploring the world of design. Hear all about her transition from knitter to knitwear designer, and how she came up for the idea for her book which features reversible patterns that are sure to “cure the wrong side blues” as Audrey says. Kelley walks through each chapter of the book, and chats with Audrey about the unique patterns and techniques for creating your own reversible patterns and designs.
You can find Audrey’s newest book here:
Reversible Scarves eBook
Reversible Scarves (printed version)
And don’t forget, Audrey also has several designs in the IDP program which you can find here:
Audrey Knight’s patterns
3 easy ways to listen…
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For last week’s technique of the week, we started our embroidery series with an introduction to the back stitch. This week, we are going to keep with our embroidery obsession and show off the satin stitch! This embroidery technique uses a series of flat stitches (short or long depending on your motif) to completely cover a section of your fabric or knitting. This makes the satin stitch a great technique for when you need to fill in an area of a motif that is already outlined with the back stitch or crochet chain stitch.
Here is Kerin’s finished motif that shows off the satin stitch to fill in the petals.
To help you get started, check out our new video tutorial that shows you how to do the satin stitch!
Read more »This weekend was one of the Knit Picks staff’s favorite festivals – Oregon Flock and Fiber! I think pretty much all of us have gone every year to drool over pretty yarn and fiber and this year was no exception. And after a gloomy dark Friday, Saturday was full of gorgeous sunshine (but still cool enough for some knitwear!) so it was a perfect day to drive out the Canby Fairgrounds.
This year, since I’ve gone to a lot of yarn festivals this year, I actually was more interested in seeing the cute animals! Several of us met up before the duck herding demonstration to watch the herding dogs show off their skills.
