I am celebrating a project completion. I was on the phone with Holly Chayes, who does admin things for me, and she suggested that we take a moment to celebrate the completion of the Menu of Techniques. We’ve been working on this for several years. Most of the delay is my fault, because I have…
Technique Talk
A Deeper Look. More to Love in Action Charts
There is more to love in Action Charts, but for some knitters they are just too different to comprehend at first glance. Last week I posted about Action Charts, but at over 800 words I felt I needed to continue in another post to give this topic the best explanation. Symbols and Why I Have…
Will This Yarn Work for This Project?
The question most of us have when we pick up a yarn, or pick a project we want to make is “Will this yarn work for this”? I love to swatch, so I am always trying things out and have come up with a formula for getting a sense of a yarn, but quite honestly,…
Relationship Formula for Non-Math-y Knitters
The relationship formula is called other things, but I think if you aren’t a math person, it is better to describe what it is doing. I use it a lot: figuring new stitch counts, finding size relationship numbers, calculating yardage, weight, or other measurements. I use it so much I should have a spreadsheet for…
Tips and Techniques for Meeting Knitting Goals
I thought tips and techniques to get you to your 2017 knitting goals was in order today. I’ve got a lot of content available to you and anyone else, so here are some things I’ve written that you might be able to use now. Work in Ends (weave in ends). If you’ve been knitting,…
Unorthodox Approach to Blocking
Today Mitch caught me employing an unorthodox approach to wet blocking. I put a swatch I’ve been working on into a bath this morning, and then moved on to working on projects in my office. A while later (the water was still warm-ish), Mitch commented that he didn’t think he’d ever seen the needles go…
Techniques Needed for Medallion Shrug Swatch
Most knitters assume we know the techniques needed for what we want to knit. We do until we do something different from our usual knitting. I seem to specialize in techniques–but even I keep finding new techniques needed for things I want to knit. It is often as I embark on something that I find…
When Your Assumptions are Wrong
Despite all my admonitions, and the knowledge I have, I still sometimes make the wrong assumptions. Such is the case with last week’s knitting project. I really just wanted to test my calculations, but I didn’t do a gauge swatch. I am reporting this to you because I think it is easy to get cocky….
Buttons and Buttonholes on Your Knits
Buttons and knits are such a great combination, that I thought I had a blog post about this, but apparently I haven’t spoken about buttons yet. Buttons as Perfect But Imperfect Closures Although they seem like perfect companions, there is often a pulling/gaping issue with buttons and buttonholes. Buttonholes in knits aren’t always stable, and…
Double Decreases and Increases Distort Fabric
Double decreases and increases and how they distort fabric sounds pretty ominous, doesn’t it? These decreases and increases are often used in knitting for texture and surface interest. They are used to create the undulations in lace, and they can do other wonderful shaping things as well. I’ve been working on a Eventide, a sweater…
Binding Off Within a Row
How can the instruction for binding off within a row be made clearer to the knitter? I’ve found a way that works for me. I need to have every stitch accounted for in the instruction, but when you are binding off within a row, some stitches have a dual role. Why There is Confusion When…
Row Gauge Questions Answered
Here your row gauge questions will be answered! Row gauge can rear its head whenever you are working a pattern in anything beyond a two-row stitch pattern. Sometimes it is nearly irrelevant, other times, it is a huge potential issue. You may not have given a lot of thought to row gauge questions, but here…
