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 »
Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Opinionated Knitter
was one of the first books I bought as a knitter. I loved the photos,
stories about the various school houses she lived in and more
specifically, the story behind her Baby Surprise Jacket. Fast forward six years and I had still not knit a single thing out of The Opinionated Knitter. However, after years of gazing longingly at my favorite pattern book, I was
finally able to rally my courage and make my own “Baby Surprise Jacket”.
I have to admit that putting the finishing touches on any project is not my strong suit – mainly because as soon as I bind off my last stitch, my brain automatically categorizes the project as done. And most of the time, there is still a lot to do until it reaches the official status of finished object! Whether it be seaming, grafting, or weaving in ends, I usually take a break from my project before I muster up the enthusiasm for tidying up any loose ends and finishing everything up.
However – when I do get into the finishing zone, I usually take a whole day to wrap up any projects I have laying around that need those finishing touches. And since motivation for a finishing spree doesn’t happen too often, I do take advantage of it when it strikes and I end up feeling a huge sense of accomplishment (and relief). Although I do tend to put off the finishing aspect of my projects, knowing which techniques to use and how they work is a huge help!
Mattress stitch is one of the more common techniques you might come across and it allows you to stitch together two pieces of stockinette stitch fabric, side by side. This method is nearly seamless and it is hard to tell where the seam lies from the right side. On the wrong side, you’ll find the first stitch of either side tucked away. And for those of you who might be putting off seaming up those sleeves or stitching together parts of your sweater, we’ve made a Mattress Stitch video tutorial to help guide you along, step-by-step!
Wow, thanks for all of your great entries in the Knits For Nerds Contest – I had a lot of fun reading all of your nerdy loves! Alas, I only have 2 copies of the book so I loaded up the Random Number Generator & came up with our winners
Winner #1 – Meli Santiago!
Her comment:
Nerdy-ness is a trait passed down in my family. My dad was a Trekkie and a Star Wars fan. Passed that down to me, who adopted Firefly, Doctor who, and Torchwood on top of that. Now I’ve got my phone that is completely Doctor Who-ified. It plays the Theme song when someone is calling, the TARDIS sound when I get a text message, and the background screen is of the tenth and eleventh doctor. (10 is my favorite) Squee!
Winner #2 – Jenifer!
Her commnet:
Um. My last name is Spock. Pretty sure I win on that alone 😉 I am a Firefly and Doctor Who freak. Husband, kids are all Star Wars nuts, I love the original and Next Gen Star Trek series, and I can quite pretty much quote any Harry Potter book, and am a firm believer that Cedric Diggory would have beaten the minions of Team Edward into the ground.
In addition, I also make and donate Jayne hats to the PDX Browncoats for their annual Can’t Stop the Serenity screening to benefit various charities. Also, did I mention that the “Status is NOT quo?” and Dr. Horrible is one of the best creations of Joss Whedon… I could go on with my love of DC Comics, but I’ll stop.., 😉
Thanks again everyone – this was a really fun contest! Stay tuned for more contests here on the blog!
I’m due June 17th, so I thought I should slow down with all of my 100% wool projects for the kiddo unless they were sized a bit larger. Still, I wanted to make some super-tiny newborn clothes, so I pulled out some Simply Cotton Sport from my stash.
Several of us in the office have eReaders and lament when they get scratched or banged up from putting them in our bags. If that’s the case with you, check out our Freebie Friday pattern this week!
This is Cozy Fire – a new pattern by Danna Rachel Cauthern! Designed to use on your Kindle Fire or Kindle 2 or 3, this cute little case will keep your eReader nice & safe!
I’m now three weeks into the knitting of hubby’s new sweater. That’s
about the longest I can usually pay attention to a project – but I’m
only through the sleeves!
I think this proves a couple of rules of knitting for other people.
1: Don’t underestimate how long things take to knit, and 2: If you let
the recipient pick the pattern, be prepared to face the consequences!
I did some pre-searching through all of my pattern books and found
several all-over cable designs that were nice and rhythmic and easy to
memorize. I presented these to my hubby, and his reaction was pretty
dry. So I let him look through my books, and he picked quite possibly
the most difficult cable pattern he could have! It’s the Baroque Cable
from Barbara Walker’s third treasury.
The long tail cast on is probably my favorite go-to cast on. I love the rhythm of it, how quickly my stitches appear on the needles, and how it has a bit of stretch to it while still being sturdy. I also find that when I use the long tail cast on, my next row is always very easy to knit. It is also the cast on I primarily use for most of my projects, unless the pattern specifically states otherwise (and even then, there have been times I turned to my trusty friend – the long tail cast on).
Having had such a good relationship with the long tail cast on, I was shocked when I learned that it wasn’t always the go-to choice for other knitters. Some mentioned it was too finicky, that it looked confusing, or just that it seemed like too many steps for a simple cast on. And being such a big supporter of the long tail cast on, I couldn’t resist making this video tutorial all about the long tail cast on – filled with step-by-step instructions as well as a few tips and tricks.
I have had Sara E. Kellner’s Vintage Rabbit pattern in my Ravelry queue for ages while I waited to have enough of just the right color yarn for it. So, when I discovered a mini stash of Wool of the Andes Worsted tucked away in a basket: two balls of Painted Desert and one ball of Oyster Heather I already had the perfect project in mind!
With Spring fast approaching, it’s almost time to start putting away
the woolen sweaters and coats. But you’ll still need something to keep
the chilly air at bay! How about the cheerful new Lilypad Shawl kit?
This shawl features a bold design of lily pads and flowers on a pond.
The lilies are worked in intarsia, and their simple shapes and coloring
are good for someone new to the technique. (If you need some pointers
on Intarsia, check out this video tutorial!)
