Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

Well, here we are in October. For us southeastern crafters, we should be coming up on Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair. But we all know what happened to Asheville on 27 September 2024. I had expected to spend this week planning and packing and driving up to the mountains for a lovely weekend with friends. This year SAFF and Rhinebeck were again scheduled for the same weekend. I understand that beginning next year, SAFF is on the fourth weekend for a decade. That means 10 years of Rhinebeck weekend followed by SAFF weekend. The world is slowly moving back into alignment. Dragon side In anticipation of SAFF, I worked diligently and monogamously on Dragons' Lore . This is the two-faced double-knit scarf designed by Rik Schell of Purl's Yarn Emporium . I purchased the scarf kit in January when I was nearby at Kanuga. I'd had nearly annual conversations with Rik at SAFF. I knew he had developed an alternative way of working two-faced double-knits

Yes, Dragon Con was wonderful as always, thank you for asking. However, I did something that was not entirely well-considered. I wore a lovely lacy shawl and a shoulder dragon at the same time. Somehow, a thread in the shawl tore, creating a hole. If this happens to you, what do you do? First, do not panic. That does not mean do not react. Strong language is acceptable in this situation. But you do not want to react in a way that makes the situation worse. When I discovered the tear, I took off the shawl, gently wadded it up, and put it in my suitcase. I did not want to stretch it, which could make the hole bigger and encourage even more stitches to run. So first thing is: do not make the situation worse. As you can see, I added some pins to hold stitches. This prevented stitches from running farther and creating even more mischief. I waited for a quiet morning after a good night's rest. Then I set about the repair. I was fortunate to hav

I just got back from Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival. It is a wonderful show. Thank you to Laura, who picked it up and kept it going after the pandemic. The students are wonderful. I am especially grateful to the repeat students who have entrusted class time to me year after year. You are all dear to my heart! I mention this because the "upcoming" section in the blog sidebar is getting thin. My schedule is opening up. I have not been putting in proposals. I am intentionally making 2025 a year of staying at home and getting things done. That 90-page handout from my Folk School class looks a lot like a rough draft for a book about reversible knitting. Additionally, registrations in knitting classes seem to be down. Crochet is having a moment. Knitting not so much. Now might be just the time to skip what had been my regular circuit of shows, do a new show here or there, or teach for a guild, but not overload my schedule. Speaking of overloaded

My normal practice with e-mail newsletters is to edit aggressively. Although I am not a quilter, I left A Crafted Cottage in Suwanee in my whitelist. It is a sweet little shop catering to quilters by offering quilt fabric, quilting supplies such as templates and thread, and long-arm quilting services. Once a week on Wednesdays, Frank comes to the shop to drop off repaired sewing machines and pick up machines that need repairs. For a long time, I have wondered about the sewing machines that belonged to my grandmothers. The one from my maternal grandmother is a Singer 66-6, serial number AC741270 (shown above). It is still in its much-used cabinet. And it still has its user manual and attachments. It has been in my possession for about 25 years. I had never attempted to plug it in or turn it on. I didn't even know if it was safe to do so. The other machine is a Singer 401A, serial number NB700931, that belonged to my paternal grandmother. She was an accomplished

I don't always buy a new knitting book in time to get a book review written up. In this case, I managed to pre-order Short-Row Colorwork Knitting by Woolly Wormhead. Sixth & Spring Books are the publisher, meaning the book was available for pre-order from the Vogue Knitting website . I ordered this book for a specific reason. I had tried designing with the "eye" or "leaf" shape in short rows a few years ago, but had trouble with the fabric not lying flat. I suspected it was because I was turning the short rows too close together — only one stitch difference horizontally. Woolly Wormhead does not address that concern specifically. However, when I look at the eye-shaped patterns, I can see they typically turn the short row with one stitch separation. In German short rows, this either means creating the new double-stitch two stitches before the last turn, or working the double-stitch from the last row, working a stitch, and then creating a

The satisfaction of making things is much connected to the beauty of the thing made. When you yourself craft something beautiful and of high-quality, the personal satisfaction is what encourages/compels you to do more. Climbing the skill ladder, however, sometimes means you make things that are ugly. Behold! obverse reverse What is this? This is the obverse and reverse of my swatch from Harry Wells' "Colorwork the Easy Way: Mosaic Knitting" class at The Knitting Guild Association Next Level Knitting Conference a couple weekends ago. I either attended in real time or watched the replay of eight of those conference classes. While I had done mosaic knitting a long time ago, I thought a refresher from an excellent teacher might be good. The pattern at the bottom of the swatch is the pattern worked in class. Of course, I then decided I wanted to work it reversibly. My first attempt was not entirely successful. But above it, you can see t