No don’t leave. I promise its not that hard, not the way that I do it. Double sided knitting can get pretty complicated but it doesn’t have to be. Today I’ve got three videos which show how to make these little pot scrubbers. They are the perfect thing to try if you’ve never done double sided knitting. Give me a chance to talk you into it.
Tinking is not much fun. But sometimes you need to undo that knitting and then you only have two choices: pull out the needles and start ripping, or undo one stitch at a time. Tinking is the one stitch-at-a-time way.
The crochet Bullion Stitch, aka the Roll Stitch, is one of those vintage stitches that you don’t see much in patterns today. But its still around…. hiding out in the occasional flower motif and adding a little something special to stand-alone embellishments. Its not the easiest stitch to make. I should say, its not the easiest stitch to make well. Which is why I cheat when I make my bullion stitches.
I do love a good cheat.
Continue reading Sunday Stitch – Making Crochet Bullion Stitches the Easy Way
Love Noro. In my not-so-humble opinion, no one does color like Noro. Of all the yarns they make, Taiyo is my favorite in Colorway No 1.
Its nice right? Right. But its twisty. As you stitch with it it doubles back on itself and that can be a pain. If you’ve worked with Noro you’ve encountered this. All their singles are overspun. A more generous soul would call them energized singles. I’m not that generous and I want it to stop twisting. So I take the time to “finish” my Noro yarn with steam.
Continue reading Taking Some Twist Out of The Noro (and other yarns!)
The sewing in of ends can put a powerful frown on a knitter’s face. Any sewing of any sort seems to be might unpopular among knitters. While I haven’t yet heard of a way to make those sweater pieces graft themselves together (if I do I’ll run straight here to you!) I can share a way of weaving in those ends as you knit. Maybe that will relieve the knitting community of some of its terrible, tapestry needle inflicted burden!
Continue reading Sunday Stitch – Weaving In Ends As You Knit (no sewing!)
I’ll never be a dyer of fiber or yarn. I leave that to others. I have a mommy that dyes fiber with stuff she finds in her backyard and a close friend that dyes yarn with commercial acid based formulas. Mostly I just play assistant and/or appreciative audience. Mostly I just say things like “Ooo! That’s pretty.”
Continue reading Spinning in Cowgirl Boots – A History of Red Dye
Good morning*, Happy Sunday and have you ever tried Tunisian Crochet?
This little tutorial is to get you started. I demonstrate the Tunisian Simple Stitch. There is LOTS more to this style of crochet. You could fill up whole books with different Tunisian stitches (and people have). This is just one, just the Tunisian Simple Stitch.
To many people it looks like knitting. It’s not. There is another Tunisian Stitch (Tunisian knit stitch) and it looks EXACTLY like knitting. Its not either. Tunisian is made with a hook.
What’s a Distaff? Its a highly sophisticated precision instrument toy for handspinners. And it usually does not look like this.
Continue reading Sunday Stitch – How to Make and Use a Beaded Wrist Distaff
If you’ve ever seen a knitter work cables without a cable needle it probably looked like a magic trick. Magicians are never supposed to reveal their secrets… but I always do. I can’t help myself.
These cables look like regular 2×2 cables, and that’s just what they are. Except I made them without a cable needle and I demonstrate how in the video below.
But I want to confess something first. I almost always use a cable needle myself. When I’m making a cabled knit, and I usually want the cables to be very prominent and defined and so I use the cable needle. I need to! Usually I’m working my cables very tight and with lots of tension to make them pop out.
Personally, I only cable without a needle under the following conditions:
Here is how!
Give it a try the next time your cable needle is at home (or under your fridge). Some knitters really take to this method and use it all the time. Cabling is much faster when you don’t have to fiddle with that extra cable needle.
P.S. Here is The Bad One trying to find, and steal, my cable needle. Ha! There isn’t one!
P.S.S. The general wisdom is that a designer should never show a design before its published because people will steal it. I don’t think that’s true but if it is I’m willing to risk it. Here are two designs I’m working on that have soft, squishy cables (which I’m working without a cable needle). The blue hat is done and I should have it ready to share soon. The multicolor shawl is far from done and I need to get off my butt and make some progress on that. What do you think? Feedback is love!
-twists, aka mock cables.Today I’m plying two strands of undyed polwarth wool and telling The Tale of The Three Spinners (Die drei Spinnerinnen). The wool is from last year’s Yellow Rose Fiber Fiesta in Sequin, Texas and the tale from from the Brothers Grimm. When I was buying it (the wool, not the fairy tale) I got swept up in the excitement of being at a fiber show and I did this: “I need 6 ounces of that polwarth. No 8 ounces. No ten!”
Now I have to spin up all ten ounces of it. This is me at my wheel. I look exactly like that.
Continue reading Spinning in Cowgirl Boots – The Tale of the Three Spinners
Roving Crafters 