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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Oh no! Knitting catastrophe!
Just kidding. I’m writing a two-at-a-time sock tutorial, and the test knitter just returned the samples. Inside that pile of treacherous circulars and Essential sock yarn are six sock stages, knit in duplicate, all ready for photography. <
Read more »Swatching – what a waste of time, right? I mean, it’s yarn, what’s it going to do?
Well, I’ll tell you!
There are so many cool things that swatching can do for you, especially when you’re not entirely sure what you want in the first place. Take, for instance, a self-striping sock yarn, like Felici:
The idea that a self-striping sock yarn could only be used for self-striping socks is just silly. But what else could you use it for?
The cool thing about the new colors of Felici is that the stripes are evenly sized – which means they’re totally predictable. That allows you a lot of great options if you weren’t so keen on socks. For example, when you run two strands at a time, it works up to worsted gauge. So why not try out a worsted gauge self-striping sweater? Or big comfy slippers? The possibilities are endless …
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How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Flat Pattern Construction by Modifying It
I have a confession to make: I’ve never knit a sweater flat. The first sleeveless top that I made was in the round, and ever since I’ve never seen a compelling reason not to knit all of my sweaters that way. Oh, I certainly knit certain parts flat and sew them together, but with every sweater I’ve made there’s always been an “in the round” component (whether it was written into the pattern or not). I see the benefits of circular construction to be numerous: For one, seeing it in “body form” helps me visualize if it looks the right size, and if I still have doubts, I can try it on. For two, I personally hate knitting flat. It’s not that I dislike purling, it’s all the turning back and forth. It breaks my rhythm, and I …
It’s moving day at the KP office. Actually, what was moving day is dragging into more of a moving week or two. We’ve got a LOT of stuff.
“Now where in the world are they moving to?”, you might be asking yourself. That’s a fair enough question. And it’s kind of hard to explain. See, this used to be Tina’s office downstairs,
but now she’s in this office upstairs.
And all of KP used to be downstairs right here,
but now they’re moving upstairs into this room,
and almost everyone who was in that room is moving to this room,
except for the few random individuals who belong to no specific department and are being peppered liberally throughout the building where ever space allows.
I think it’s …
Wow, the office move is on Tuesday, but we’re already almost done! It’s amazing what you can do when you all work as a team. It’s also amazing what you discover lurking in some mystery box – and how these random things can be a little spot of inspiration.
As a garment designer, I’ve always got an eye on fashions and trends (whether good or bad!) and after a while, it kind of blends in together. It can get to be difficult to glean inspiration out of something you’ve seen a hundred times! But, going through all of our yarns, notions and random bits and bobs of office accumulation, I found some real gems of inspiration.
One was the project yarn wall. When you see our yarn in a catalog or online, it’s arranged in some order – often in rainbow order. It’s easy to gravitate toward colors you like that way, …
I love watching NASCAR races. I was trying to remember how this came to be, and I think it stems from going with my family to Champ car qualifying days at Portland International Raceway when we could get free passes. My Dad and brother absolutely loved going, and Mom and I would tag along and sit under the makeshift lean-to awning and read – back when they would let you camp out for the day on the grassy banks around the track. There’s something about the sound and the excitement and unpredictability. What I like even better about stock car racing is that they smash into each other and into the walls and yet, many times, THEY STILL KEEP GOING, albeit with sheet metal flapping. Repairs are attempted with baseball bats and …
I’ve always wanted a pair of those little Mary Jane slippers, the kind they sell at Target around Christmas time with the little rubbery nubbins on the bottom. The problem is I have small feet. I wear size 5 ½ in womens, size 3 in kids, size 4 in men’s. Small. All those cute Target slippers slide right off my cold little feet.
So now that I’ve learned to knit, I was browsing Ravelry for a new project so that I could expand my repertoire beyond scarves and wristlets, and I found a pattern that shall remain anonymous for very easy, beginner Mary Jane slippers. Perfect! I could make them just my size. And I already had the perfect buttons picked out.
I cast on my 30 stitches of Cadena in Coal and started garter stitching. As I began knitting, I had the creeping suspicion that these were going to be much …
This is Spencer, our intrepid photographer. He’s getting all his lights set up in my kitchen so we can photograph a special dyeing tutorial for our June catalog. We were very fortunate to have an overcast day so we didn’t have to deal with bright sunlight coming in the kitchen window.
This is Alison, who has outlined every photo we need to take to go with the step-by-step instructions she’s written. The only free space in the whole kitchen for her to take notes was between the burners (don’t worry – they weren’t on at this point!) on the stove.
Hard at work. Honestly, tutorial photography days are really fun! What I like best is the “behind the scenes” look of all the piles of supplies and things that are just outside the photos …
The wonderful lace and after five projects are arriving in the mail… !
These are the projects that the Knit Pick’s test knitters have knitted for our May catalog using new spring yarns. The oohs and aahs are heard throughout the building – I even caught our catalog manager in my office sneaking a peak in the boxes that had just arrived. She said she couldn’t stand the wait any longer It becomes like Christmas every day! Here’s a sneak peek of some of the projects…
I’m frantically getting the July catalog projects out the door… it’s always a hustle and bustle in the Knit Picks office. Of course the hustle and bustle usually follows me home, so I just haven’t been able to stop for even a little while so I can start a new knitting project… but I will. Hopefully by this time next …
To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, we’re having a “pot(luck) at the end of the rainbow”. Doesn’t everything look delicious? Alison baked that bread from scratch. I had no idea she was so multi-talented!
In addition to wearing a green sweater and gorging myself on bread, vegetable pie, red pepper and asparagus curry, strawberries, and chocolate, I’ve decided to get into the spirit of the day by making a list of all our green yarns. I love making lists. Here we go.
Lace weight:
Lost Lake Heather (Shadow)
Moss Heather (Alpaca Cloud)
Tide Pool Heather (Alpaca Cloud)
Fingering weight:
Green (Palette)
Mint (Palette)
Grass (Palette)
Ivy (Palette)
Verdan…
Terrain Twist (Essential)
Lily Pad Multi (Essential)
Meadow Multi (…Woodland Sage (Gloss)
Arugula (Felici)
Grass (Risata)
Sport weight:
Cilantro Heather (Telemark)
Rosemary (Telemark)
Pesto (Telemark)
No…
Grass (Shine Sport)
Green Apple (Shine Sport)
Moss Heather (Andean Treasure)
DK weight:
Lime (Crayon Boucle)
Spumoni (Twist)
Moss (Merino Style)
Asparagus (Merino Style)
Key Lime (Cot Lin)
Moss (Swish DK)
Asparagus (Swish DK)
Grass (Elegance)
Worsted weight:
Pampas Heather (Wool of the Andes)
Thyme (Wool of …
