Happy New Year!

If you have ever wanted to learn to knit, or if you have friends or family that would like to learn how to knit, I have a brand new video aimed at absolute beginners out on YouTube TODAY!

Materials you will need: Wood or Bamboo straight needles, about 10″ long, in size US 8, 9, or 10. AND Worsted weight (#4) wool or wool blend yarn, in a light color.

Give yourself time and patience, you will be learning a new skill! It will take time and practice for it to feel comfortable.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:58 Knitting Needle Types
01:36 Knitting Needle Materials
02:18 Needle Sizes
03:08 My Needle Recommendation
03:15 Yarn Weights
04:17 Fiber Types
04:57 Yarn Balls versus Skeins
05:44 Ready to Knit!
05:51 Slip Knot
06:32 Casting On (Knitted Cast On)
13:00 How to hold the yarn and needles
14:36 The Knit Stitch
20:14 The Purl Stitch
25:08 Combining Knit and Purl
29:23 Some Tips
31:23 Keep Going!!
31:59 Binding Off
36:51 Conclusion

I hope you find this video helpful — either for yourself or to forward to a friend or loved one — and that you learn to enjoy this awesome handcraft as much as I do! If you find it helpful, please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel. 

Happy Knitting, and Happy New Year!

I had a quick weekend trip to Rhinebeck in mid-October, and then I turned around for a long weekend getaway with friends to SAFF (Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival).

We arrived at our rental house on Wednesday, and had a relaxing few days together! The house we rented was on a steep, one-lane mountain road – so it was a bit nerve-wracking leaving and returning to the house!! The view was quite nice, though:

We ate dinner one night at Postero – I had the best beef (prime rib) I have had in a long time! It was a superb restaurant, and will definitely aim to go back there the next time I’m in the area.

Headed to SAFF on Friday afternoon, and then again on Saturday.

I bought quite a bit of yarn this time around!

The best part about this trip was getting to spend so much time with my friends. We ate, drank wine, knitted, chatted, and generally had fun just hanging out for most of our time there. It was simply lovely. <3

I tried doing a livestream from SAFF on Saturday – like I did from Rhinebeck – but the cell/internet was so bad that the livestream dropped the instant I got into the building. I did take some video, though, so I’ll put a video together soon and post it to my YouTube channel.

So anyway, that was my SAFF trip! 

Until next time, Happy Knitting!!

 

Hi everyone!!

I’ve had a very busy couple of months! October was Rhinebeck (NY Sheep and Wool) – a “just for fun” trip, and then SAFF (Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival) – also “just for fun”.
And then in November was the TKGA Retreat in Portland, Oregon (I was one of two teachers at the retreat, teaching 4 classes) and the the Unwind Getaway Retreat in Blowing Rock, NC (I was one of 4 teachers, teaching 3 classes).

Now, I’m done with all my teaching gigs for the rest of the year! Whew!

I thought I’d do some write ups/recaps of all of these events for you. I’ll start with Rhinebeck:

This year, Rhinebeck was a hybrid event with virtual classes but in person vendors (and some online vendors too.) Masks were required indoors (or they were supposed to be required) and barns and buildings were one-way traffic (again, or they were supposed to be.) Many people didn’t follow the “supposed” to items. But it was mostly open-air, so I didn’t ever feel too unsafe.

I was able to livestream to my YouTube channel from Rhinebeck – so check that out below if you’d like to get a first-hand look at what that festival is like!

I drove up (in one shot!) from NC – took me about 12 hours! I arrived on Thursday night and then went to Indie Untangled on Friday. My ticket was for 11:30-1pm, so I slept in, then headed over for my shopping time. So many neat indie dyers I had never heard of! And some familiar faces (Queen City Yarn was there!) I bought some yarn (which happened to be the only yarn I bought all weekend.)

I hung out at the picnic area most of the afternoon with friends (in the hot blaring sun!!) then had dinner out with friends that evening.

Then Saturday was Rhinebeck! The weather was nice – windy and cloudy and threatened rain, but the rain held off until about 4:30. It got a little bit hot in the afternoon.

Kristy Glass flagged me down at the entrance for her “Tell Me About Your Rhinebeck Sweater” video, which was very cool! (Check out her video for some *amazing* Rhinebeck sweaters!) Once inside, I made a bee-line for Dusty’s Vintage Buttons, and then did some laps around the barns.

I met up with friends at lunchtime and we had a quick photo session:

At 2pm I did my YouTube livestream, and I left the festival about 4pm or so.

Drinks with some friends for a few hours, then dinner with friends again that evening, and then I did the 12 hour drive home on Sunday.

A quick weekend trip, but it was SO much fun! If you ever get a chance to go to Rhinebeck, you definitely should go!

Stay tuned for a SAFF recap in a few days!

Until next time, Happy Knitting!

 

Last week I showed you Mosaic knitting, and all the ins and outs for it!

This week I talk about how to read (or write) Mosaic knitting charts.

They are very similar to “regular” knitting charts – there are just a couple main differences.

Only one chart row is given for every 2 rows (in other words, the WS rows are not charted.) This makes sense when you remember that the 2nd row of each color is worked exactly the same as the first (so just knit the sts that were previously knit, and slip the slipped sts again. No need to even refer to the chart.) But if you do want to follow the chart, read the same chart row over again, this time from left to right!

The first and last stitch of each row are always worked in the working color. Therefore, the color blocks will alternate going up the sides of the chart, as you can see in this example:

Whatever block is present in the first spot of the row is the color you should be working with. (Remember, yarns are not carried across in Mosaic knitting like they are in stranded knitting. You are only ever working with one color in a given row.)

The stitch multiple or repeat will be noted, but remember as well that any number of stitches can be used in Mosaic knitting. Simply follow the chart row from right to left until you only have one stitch left, then knit the last stitch. It doesn’t really matter if you can’t complete a multiple! Then follow your knitting back on the WS and repeat the process with the next color.  Your motif/pattern will not be centered in your fabric this way, but it still works just fine.

Here is a video talking about these charts:

 

I hope this was helpful!

Until next time, Happy Knitting!

 

Last week I compared Slip Stitch knitting with Mosaic knitting. Mosaic is a sub-set of Slip Stitch knitting.

This week I’m going to dive deeper into the topic of Mosaic knitting!

There are a few rules that need to be followed in order for a pattern to be considered Mosaic knitting.

1. Only one color is used per row. (typically two colors are used in a project, but you can sometimes see more than two.)
2. Each color is used for two rows before switching colors.
3. The second row of a working color is exactly the same as the first (stitches that were worked are worked again, stitches that were slipped are slipped again.)
4. All stitches are slipped purlwise, with the yarn held to the WS of the work.
5. The first and last stitch of a row are always worked (this anchors the color at the edges.)

Some other things of note:

You can use any number of stitches in a project. You don’t have to worry about sticking to the stitch multiple. Since the 2nd row is worked the same as the first, you just repeat your motif until you get to the last stitch, then knit the last stitch. Now, if you want to center your motifs in a fabric you will need to figure out your optimal stitch count to do so, but if you’re not concerned about that, you don’t have to bother.

Mosaic patterns are all very geometric. The slipped stitches create vertical lines and 90 degree angles. Any “diagonal” lines are actually stair steps in the pattern.

You can work Mosaic knitting in either a garter-base fabric or a stockinette-base fabric. Most Mosaic is garter based. (This helps keep the designs “square”.)

Shadow, or inverse, Mosaic patterns repeat the motif, flipped along the horizontal axis, in a light color and a dark color – sort of like a picture negative. 

“Magic” Mosaic patterns exhibit 4-way, or rotational, symmetry. No matter which way you rotate the design, the design presents the same. (You may notice the “dots” in the  sample below, since Mosaic knitting only slips stitches, in order to have longer stretches of a solid color, you actually alternate slipped “dots” of the opposing working color in order to avoid very long floats in the fabric. Mosaic knitting does not have long floats. These “dots” recede when viewing the pattern and the other color dominates.)

Also, when changing color at the right edge, or at the beginning of a round, always be consistent with how you drop and pick up the yarns.

Here is my YouTube video talking about Mosaic Knitting, and I cover all of these points, and have a few examples to show:

I hope this was informative! Next week I’ll talk about reading Mosaic Knitting charts (they are slightly different than “regular” knitting charts.)

Until then, Happy Knitting!!

Today, I want to talk a little bit about Slip Stitch knitting and Mosaic knitting.

But first, in case you missed it –  I had a few video tutorials hit my YouTube channel over the last few weeks. I posted a couple videos on weaving in tails at a color change and in Fair Isle knitting, and a video talking about my 5 favorite knitting reference books. Check those out if you’re interested! I also had my first livestream on Tuesday (a Knit With Me and Ask Me Anything), and I will be holding those monthly, so subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when I schedule my next one!

Going forward, since producing my YouTube videos is quite time-intensive, I will not post a corresponding blog post to go along with them unless there is a good bit more info to share in this written format. Today is one of those instances. So, do make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel as well so that you don’t miss any content from me!

With all that said, let’s get to today’s topic!

Slip Stitch knitting is a type of knitting – with the only requirement being that stitches are slipped! The stitches could be slipped knitwise, or purlwise, and they could be slipped with the yarn held to the WS or the RS. They could be slipped on just one row, or slipped over the course of multiple rows.

Mosaic knitting is a sub-set of Slip Stitch knitting. Mosaic knitting uses slipped stitches, but it also follows other “rules”. (I will have a more in-depth video and blog post next week on Mosaic knitting.)

Basically, Mosaic knitting always slips stitches with the yarn to the WS of the work, two rows of one color are worked before switching colors, and the second row in the set of 2 rows is worked the same as the first row (worked stitches are worked again, and slipped stitches are slipped again.) Mosaic patterns are very geometric.

Not all slipped stitch patterns are Mosaic, but all Mosaic knitting is Slip Stitch.

Here is my video quickly comparing the two techniques:

I hope this was informative! Stay tuned next week for a more in-depth look at Mosaic knitting!

Until then, Happy Knitting!!

 

Today I have a video for you showing my favorite way to work jogless jogs.

Stripes in the round inevitably have a “jog” at the color change, unless you do something to mitigate this. It’s due to the fact that in the round knitting is a spiral, and there is no seam where color changes can be hidden.

With this method, you simply begin knitting with the new color, and work all the way around. When you get back to the first stitch in the new color, you  knit into the row below. This hides that stitch and lifts the join a bit, minimizing the “jog”.

Pros:

1. This can be used for any size stripe, from one row, to multiple rows.
2. The number of rows of each color is maintained.
3. It is not fiddly, and is easy to work.

Cons:

1. The color change location shifts one stitch to the left with each color change. This can get tricky with items that have to have a “beginning of round” maintained at a single location. You’ll have to mark the color change spot separately from the beginning of the round.

Here’s a video showing you the technique:

Today I have a quick video showing you how to work the “two-circular” method. This is my favorite way to knit socks (I prefer it over the magic loop method.)

 

Hopefully this is helpful – it’s really very easy!

Until next time, Happy Knitting!!

Today’s post is a special request from a viewer! She wondered if I had a video showing the figure 8 specifically on reverse stockinette, since I briefly mention in my one figure 8 video that the process can be a bit different in that stitch. So here you go!!

The figure 8 for reverse stockinette is exactly the same as in regular stockinette stitch, but there is one trick you can do to get it lined up just perfect:  place the one side directly under where the seam will be!

Here’s a video showing you this:

I hope this is helpful!! Let me know if you have any special requests for me, I’m happy to add you requests to my lineup!

The three needle bind off is really easy! You just need a third needle (or a crochet hook) and you’re good to go!

Here’s a video on how to work it:

You are knitting into the first stitch on each of your two needles, then working a basic bind off on your right hand needle as you go.

The keys with this bind off are:

• You need the same number of stitches on both pieces
• Don’t bind off too tightly, or too loosely

This bind off is a great one to use at shoulder seams, since it’s stable and sturdy, and can typically support the weight of the garment on those seams.

Until next time, Happy Knitting!!