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 »
Wow! A lot of you sent us pictures of your custom dyed sock blanks, and we were really impressed with the results! In case you’re curious and want to see all of the stunning dye blanks, I’ve made a slide show so everyone can see the contest entries, and it is posted in the Dye-Along group here.
As an absolute beginning crocheter, I have a lot to learn. This weekend I learned that I need to darn in my yarn ends as I finish each block. Otherwise, I will spend many mind-numbing hours threading the needle, weaving the yarn and cutting the yarn. Threading the needle, weaving the yarn and cutting the yarn. Threading the needle, weaving the yarn and cutting the yarn.
All without the assistance of football!! Well, American football. There was plenty of soccer so I guess I should be glad there was something interesting to watch.
Read more »I’m being rather slow on this project – too many other things going
on… but this last weekend I really dug in and got some work done on
it…
I am absolutely thrilled with my crochet progress but I have to
admit that I had to make the center square five times! It has been
thirty years since I had to learn how to read a pattern and make new
stitches! It’s been a good mental exercise. I’ve been pleased with how
comfortable the Soft Touch crochet hook is to hold for hours.
I raced through the body of my sweater in order to stay ahead of the
class, but even if you haven’t finished that sections, you can always
start on a sleeve!
Knitting sleeeves can be a welcome break from
working the torso of a sweater–they are more portable, and smaller, so
each round goes much faster and the length gows perceptibly, for a real
feeling of accomplishment! In this lesson, we’ll go over the math
behind sleeve shaping, and discuss some potential modifications that
allow you to get custom sleeves!
Click the link below for the handout:
And
check out our videos, where I (somewhat tiredly–apologies! I should
maybe not shoot these lessons on Monday!) walk you through the math and
show how the formulas in the handout gave me the sleeve I want!
Here is the absolute beginning of my Gail Shawl! What an ugly tangled looking mess! I couldn’t resist showing it to you, though because I wanted any potential lace knitters to see that everyone’s lace looks bad when it is on the needles. Particularly the first few inches because the knit fabric is so light, it can’t show its’ own structure.
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Hi there! As you’ll see in this week’s video, my sweater is coming
along swimmingly! Now that I am deep in the process of working the waist
shaping, I am remembering why my row counter is my best friend!
This week, we’ll be discussing how to calculate the increases
and decreases that will shape the torso of your sweater to the finished
dimensions you desire. It may be helpful for you to look over and print
out this week’s handout so that you can follow along with the video
lesson, in which I’ll be walking you through all the math required in
this step. I promise, it’s not terribly hard 🙂 Click the link below to
get the handout:
And check out the videos below!
Read more »Hello, everyone! This week in the Design a Sweater Class, we’ll be
discussing hem treatments, calculating your cast-on, and begin knitting
our sweaters! This is a fun step for me becuase I really feel like my
project is underway now! Here’s the ribbing pattern I chose for my hem:
Ok, are we all ready to start swatching? Last week we discussed yarn
choices and design dreaming, and this week we are going to solidify our
yarn choices (if you haven’t already!) and find the right needle to get
the fabric that your design requires! I’ve done some extensive
swatching (the results of which I share in the videos below) and have
settled on knitting my Swish Worsted on US 6 Zephyr needles.
Swatching can seem boring when you’re itching to cast on a
project, but it is one of the most essential parts of the design
process, so it deserves a lot of time and attention! In this lesson,
I’ll be giving tips on how to swatch for the fabric your design needs,
and then covering the measuring of gauge from your swatch, and the
measurements needed for a succesful knit. All this information ins
contained in the pdf linked below, which also has diagrams and blanks
for you to fill in with your personal gauge and measurments. Don’t
worry if you’re math-phobic; I’ve done my nest to keep it simple and to
walk you through all the claculations step-by-step!
Lesson 1: Swatching and Measuring
Read on for more info and Videos…
Read more »I love lace projects, for several reasons.
1. Lace can be big and dramatic and ornate in a way that is hard to pull of in regular garments.
2. Lace accessories can be colorful without overwhelming the wearer.
3. You can wear the same lace scarf every day for a whole season without your coworkers wondering why you never do laundry.
4. Lace shawls make great gifts and you don’t need to know a person’s exact measurements to make them one.
5. Lace is super fun and engaging to knit!
6. Lace yarn is delicate and beautiful and you get a whole lotta yards in just one little ball.
All
of these are reasons I love lace, and all of these reasons inspired
these two new lace kits, which I spent almost a year thinking about
before actually writing the pattern! The Seasons Shawls, one for Spring and Summer and one for Fall and Winter:
