Design a Sweater, lesson 6: Working the Yoke

The yoke is the most complicated part of a raglan sweater, but I think you’ll find that if you take it slow and work
carefully, it is not very hard at all! The trickiest thing is that the raglan decreases and neckline shaping will be worked
at the same time.This is also the most exciting part of the sweater–we are
nearing the finish line and for the first time, you’ll get to see your work really start to come together. Pun intended.
Let’s get started!

Read on for the videos and worksheet:

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Knitpicks.Com x DressHead Floral Casual Dress

Knitpicks.Com x DressHead Floral Casual Dress – Coral Pink Base
This knitpicks.com x http://www.dresshead.com/c/casual-dresses/ floral casual dress creates all the joy of spring and summer time freedom. A coral pink base is complemented by multicolored flowers and a contrasting trim waistline. Made of soft and breezy polyester, this romper dress will suit all body types and create quite the interest with its unique style of tailoring. Perfect for sea side and beach wear, casual lunch in the sun, or a garden picnic, this dress will look best paired with small sandals or beach foot wear. Sure to be one of your favorite and most repeated casual dresses this season! Garment measurements with reference to a Ladies size XS are: bust circumference of 84 cm, waist circumference can expand from 64 to 90 cm, and total dress length from shoulder to hemline of 81 cm.

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Interview with cheezombie

I think I’ve made it pretty much known to everyone that I love cheezombie‘s patterns.

When I first started as the IDP Coordinator, the program wasn’t open to submissions quite yet & an early part of my job was inviting interesting designers to submit patterns. cheezombie was one of the first designers I contacted – her designs are so much fun!
So of course I had to interview her…and her answers cracked me so much I couldn’t wait to put it up
How long have you been knitting? I taught myself to knit about 6 years ago from “Knitting for Dummies” (very apt title I might add, I knit through the back loops for 2 years before I figured out that was what I was doing).

Who taught you to knit?
Duh, should have read all the questions before I started typing! Being a self-taught knitter has been a trip …

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Overdyeing socks

I finally finished the socks I’ve been knitting from the sock blanks
I dyed with Kool-Aid. My husband and I are adopting 3 teenaged siblings
from Russia, and one likes pink, and two like red. I had dyed 3 sock
blanks: pink for Liza (watermelon cherry), red for Dasha (cherry), and
dark red for Max (black cherry). Three sock blanks. Three kids. No
problem, right?

3 Sock Blanks

And here are the finished socks!

 

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My Crochet Goldfish

Learning to crochet has actually been pretty fun. I made a little
goldfish cat toy that I saw on Ralvery and thought it might look good
made in our Canary Cotlin yarn. It was so fast to learn how to crochet.
After looking though a few books and watching crochet video tutorials,
I managed to pick up the single, double, and half double crochet
stitches pretty quick. I was able to crochet the body of the goldfish
on the plane to Palm Springs.

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Dyeing Supplies Shopping List

When we sent out last week’s e-mail, I mentioned that summer is a great time to take advantage of all the canning supplies that are available everywhere from Safeway to Target. Here is a list of what I keep on my dyeing shelves.

Hot Water Canner – This looks like a huge soup pot.
Jar Rack – Designed to hold the jars while the water is boiling. I use it the traditional way if I am dyeing small amounts of fiber or yarn actually in jars of dye solution. If I am steaming, then I turn the rack upside down and place the plastic wrapped fiber or yarn on it above a couple of inches of simmering water.
Wide Mouth Quart Sized Canning Jars – Wide mouth is really the only way to go. Easy to measure in dye stuff, easy to put in and take out the fiber or yarn and easy to stir around or poke as needed.
Wide Mouth Rings and Caps – I store solution in wide mouth jars so I need the rings and caps to put on the top.
Canning Jar Lifter – This is an item you might think you can ignore figuring you can use plain hot mitts. Don’t! It is so much easier and safer to use this tool.

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Let’s review, shall we?

One of the benefits of blogging, at least for me, is a certain element of accountability. I feel like I need to keep you up to date on my fiber adventures. That keeps me relatively focused.

I’ve had a bit of a lace revision of plans. I can’t explain it but the Gail shawl just never captured my heart. I kept picking it up, knitting a bit and then setting it down for days. Once I finally accepted the fact that I needed to “let it go”, I went for a bit of a wander in Ravelry and found a new pattern for my beloved Alpaca Cloud in Smoke Heather.

 

 

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Design A Sweater, Lesson 5: Planning the Neckline

I am not usually a monogamous knitter, and the recent heat has made my
wosted-wool sweater project even less appealing. So I am a little
behind myself and I suspect some of you are, too! In the next phase of
our sweater designing, we will work the yoke and neckline, which means
two sets of calculations that must be worked at the same time! To make
that a little easier on everyone,and to give you all some time to catch
up, I’ve divided this section into two lessons. This week’s video
covers the basic shaping and construction o fthe neckline, and gives
ideas for how to decide what knid of neckline you want.

Watch the videos below:

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A bit of a photography experiment

I love my Motorola Droid! It’s taken a couple of weeks but I feel like I have apps that will allow me to leave my iTouch behind. I’ve become completely dependent on my little droid. It is always with me!

Now that I’m settled, I want to learn how to take great shots using my Droid camera. This is my first blog photo and I can see that I have a lot to learn. How to focus, for one thing. Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to be sharing my photo adventures with you. Ideally, I would like to become comfortable and savvy enough to pop off shots whenever I want.

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