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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This week we are featuring a big favorite around here – the Classic Lines Cardigan.
This is an older pattern but one we just simply love. Our own Alison wrote it – her one & only pattern so far – and it just looks good on everyone.
Read more »As the days get both longer and warmer, cotton yarns come to mind as we get ready for breezy summer projects. This week, Kelley catches up with Alison to review the variety of cotton yarns that are available through Knit Picks! Get inspired for your next summer project as Kelley and Alison discuss the different properties, characteristics and uses for the different Knit Picks cotton and cotton blend yarns. Kelley also shares behind-the-scenes details on what inspired her to expand the cotton selection to include customer favorites like Shine and CotLin. Not only will this mini crash-course in cotton yarns help you pick out the right yarn for your next project, you just might be tempted by Kelley and Alison’s project ideas that make the most of the unique properties of the variety of cotton and cotton blends that are available.
3 easy ways to listen…
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Pets love presents too and a new toy is usually an easy, fast knitting
project that can be tucked into the nooks and crannies in your travel
bag. I found the sweet Nibbles the Mouse pattern on Ravelry yesterday and got busy with my double pointed needles and some leftover pieces of Palette I’ve had at my desk.
The cable cast on is a great cast on method to have in your arsenal of knitting tricks, and yet oddly enough, it actually doesn’t have a lot to do with cables at all! The Cable Cast On is a way of casting on your stitches in a way that creates a strong, yet flexible foundation row that works well for edges that you don’t want to stretch out. This method also leaves you with a neat appearance on both the right and wrong sides of your work. Additionally, because it produces a firm and strong cast on edge, the cable cast on is one of my favorite ways to cast on stitches in the middle or end of a row and it also works particularly well on top of a section of bound of stitches, like a buttonhole.
And if you are anything like me, instructions can sometimes tend to turn into a jumbled mess when I am trying to learn a new technique on my own. However, watching the fluid motion of a technique is all it takes for things to click and make sense – which is why we have a video tutorial to help you through your first cable cast on! Like all new techniques, this cast on can seem a bit tricky at first but it is a great cast on to know as every method has its unique advantages.
Read more »We had a taste of summer weather this weekend so Kerin, Jenny K., Hannah and I all went for a scenic drive – which, of course, ended at the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival. None of us can resist pretty yarn & fiber!
Photo of the Upstream Alpaca booth
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I love this pattern! Beth promises that it is easy to memorize and she is not kidding. It’s a progression acros sixteen stitches. Sixteen stitches that fit nicely on each of my four DPNs.
Read more »Sleeves… check. Body…. check. Front to shoulders… check. Back? working on it!
(Sorry about the grey-on-grey – I didn’t pick the color of the blocking board, unfortunately!)
All I have left to knit on hubby’s sweater is the upper back! I’m
already about two inches into it. But, because of the sheer beastly size
of this sweater, progress has been slowed. 
It’s just so hard to carry the darn thing around at this point that
I’ve actually been working on a couple of other, smaller projects as
well.
When I received an invitation to a Ravelry group called Socks of Doom, I had a few mis-givings. Would this be a collection of hopelessly confused sock knitters, a support group for sufferers of Second Sock Syndrome or, maybe, yikes! knitters darning heels!
It turned out to be a sock knitting competition. I had no idea these sort of things existed. The idea is that two, paired up sock knitters race against each other to see who can knit a pair of socks first. Whoever loses – dies!! 🙂
Yes, there are rules. And, no, I absolutely could not resist. The first pattern assignment (I sound like a sock knitting version of Mission Impossible) is the Nutkin pattern by Beth LaPensee.
(photo from Ravelry pattern page)
Read more »Spring is in the air! We’re (not) enjoying a very wet cold spring here in Pacific Northwest but there is hopeful sunshine just around the bend. And as much as we complain about the rain, we do love our green landscape. And that’s the inspiration behind this week’s Freebie Friday pattern!
This cute baby blanket is the Swirling Leaves Baby Blanket by our own Kerin and her clever creativity is all over it.
Read more »We’ve all been there. The anxious phone call from a friend or family member asking is there was any way to stretch out the lovely handknit or crocheted project “just a bit”. And after a few investigative questions to determine just exactly how much just a bit was and why the fit was off, the real reason reveals itself – the gift that was carefully made stitch by stitch was accidentally thrown into the wash or taken care of in a way that wasn’t good for the yarn. After having this happen on an occasion (or two), I knew that things would be different for my knitted gifts in the future after I saw these adorable care labels we have at Knit Picks!
These small care labels are perfect as that little reminder to the recipient as to how to wash your gift. We even made a video tutorial that shows exactly how to sew the labels onto your knitted or crocheted project in two different ways. The first way shown in the video lets you attach the label in a way that can be easily removed (if you want the recipient to know how to care for it, but be able to snip the tag off) and the second way in the video will show you how to firmly attach the label in place by using a simple backstitch.
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