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.
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Since much of the US is in the midst of the dog days of summer, we thought it would be a good time to show off this week’s Freebie Friday pattern.
This is IDP designer Mara Jessup‘s Summer Stripes Felted Water Bottle Holder. During the summer months, I’m chugging water like there’s no tomorrow and having a cute holder to carry my bottles around in is a no brainer.
Read more »As a sentimental type, I want to first express how simultaneously wonderful and difficult the experience of judging this contest was. Looking at each board almost felt like meeting a person—some humorous, some artful, some obvious nature-lovers or foodies or film enthusiasts. I was particularly touched by the numerous personal (and fab) “vintage summer photos” of yourselves and family, no matter how unsure you were of your hair in the 70’s. As mentioned in the original post for the contest, I maintain that summer (faults and all) is a magical time; even for the myriad who aren’t winning a spiffy prize, I hope that entering this contest reminded you of that, even in the slightest way. Oh, and I’ll also add – I learned that VERY MANY of you folks are lovin’ some Fifty Shades of Grey this Summer of 2012. I am positively scandalized!
One of my favorite recent additions to the catalog has been on page two
of the last two issues: the new glamour images under the table of
contents and Alison’s letter. Heidi and I have loved coming up with new
ways to feature our yarns in these fun little scenes each time.
The Five-Way Cable Shrug is designed by Lily Chin. It is a free pattern!! (it’s also available in her gorgeous book Power Cables.) It is a simple design that is made stunning and practical by strategically placed buttons and crocheted loops. This so completely appeals to my love of useful knit projects.
Read more »Yesterday, after we rolled out our brand new and lovely Sunstruck needles, I saw a reverberating message throughout our social media channels: “Whelp! Found my (insert birthday/holiday/what-have-you) present!”. But why wait? What if you could win a full set of interchangeable Sunstruck needles?
This week, Kelley gets a chance to catch up with designer Mary Scott Huff. One look through her book The New Stranded Colorwork and you can clearly see that Mary’s passion is definitely colorwork knitting. Which is exactly why she’s the perfect person to write a book of the techniques for color knitting! Her new book Teach Yourself Visually Color Knitting highlights Mary’s expertise on the subject alongside clear, concise images that will help new knitters learn to master colorwork. Kelley talks with Mary about this unique process of writing a technique-based book, along with getting a few handy tips and tricks as Kelley and Mary walk through each chapter of the book which includes intarsia, entrelac, stranded colorwork, and even embroidery! Mary’s enthusiasm for color knitting is so infectious; you’ll be tempted to cast on a color knitting project right away.
You can find Mary Scott Huff’s latest book here:
Teach …
Weaving in your ends is one of the last steps in finishing pretty much any project, and is almost impossible to avoid one way or another. Now, how you weave in yarn ends – that is a whole other story! There are so many different ways to weave in ends. Some knitters save all of the ends for last, some weave them in every few inches as they go along their projects. And sometimes, it also just plain depends on what kind of yarn you are using!
And in this case, we have a handy video tutorial that shows you just how to make sure those ends stay woven in when you are working with smooth yarns and plant-based fibers like cotton and linen blends. So grab your tapestry needles and get ready to finish all those projects that have a few (or many!) leftover ends still hanging out.
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I knit some wee veggies yesterday! I rediscovered Wendy Phillips’ FREE Carrot and Raddish
pattern tucked away in the middle of my (rather extensive) Ravelry
queue and quickly knit one little radish and two cute carrots.I was so charmed by them that I couldn’t help myself and added some beady eyes and stuck sewed some pin backs to them. Now I’m ready to venture out on the town, taking my little garden along with me!
(photo from Endless Summer Braid pattern page)
Remember when I was thinking about knitting a collection of headbands to use in Mexico instead of hats? Well, last week I found myself without any projects in progress. Except for a pair of socks, I didn’t have anything ready for me to knit.
I scrounged around in our office yarn stash but I only came up with a couple of matching colors in anything I found appealing. It was exactly the incentive I needed to try some of the headbands in my Ravelry queue
Read more »We’ve had a lot of recent new additions to our office – babies! So several of us have been scrambling as to what to knit up for these little darlings and but IDP Designer Nona Davenport has released a free pattern that is the perfect solution.
(It doesn’t hurt that she has an adorable model!)
Baby Tubie Socks! These are cute little socks, modeled on the classic knee high tube socks. Perfect for babies of either sex!
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