Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

Jolie’s recipe for Nicky Epstein’s Knitted Buttercup This is a significant variation of the flower on page 22 of Knitted Flowers (New York: Sixth&Spring Books, 2006). The changes: specified cast on in the round not back and forth with seam centered and straight rather than slanted decreases threaded center rather than bound-off center bead instead of french knot felted instead of not felted Nicky's design is probably easier for the novice knitter to execute, certainly less fussy on the decreases. If you have the book, try both her approach and mine and see what you think. Use size 9mm/US 13 needles Samples made with Cascade 220, color 8555 (black) Yarn held double throughout Each flower uses about 6-7 grams/13¼-15½ yards Makes a 7-petal flower Flower is worked in the round on double-pointed needles, two-circulars, or a magic loop. Special techniques: dec 5 into 1 (worked over a group of 5 stitches)= slip first stitch knitwise, slip second stitch knitwise, knit third stitch (...

In the process of chaos control this autumn, I did look around at items that needed a little love. Actually, I looked around to see what needed to be tossed or donated, and what needed just a little bit of my time. This Lantern Moon bag needed a little attention. I bought it some years back at Purly Gates. I liked it a lot, but the bamboo fractured on one side. (Another bag in the shop had the same problem.) This is a wonderful project bag for a small project, but it has also been a fabulous handbag. So I didn't want to throw it out. The solution? Nicky Epstein to the rescue! I pulled out the copy of Knitted Flowers and began to browse. I decided that a few black felted flowers, artistically placed, could be just the thing to save this cute bag from the trash. While I do like Knitted Flowers , I have to admit that this book is not without its flaws. There are no diagrams, just pictures of finished flowers. This means that you may be surprised when knitting the Five...

The Cuddly Hubby gave me some alpaca fiber for Christmas. This batt is rather interesting in that it appears to have color but doesn't. The alpaca fiber is white. But it appears to be pale blue and pale pink because it has been carded with blue and pink angelina fibers. Angelina is a rather Christmas-appropriate fiber, as it is basically tinsel, just on a thinner scale. After reading Deb Menz's wonderful book Color in Spinning -- thank you to JennaB the Yarn Pimp for lending me her copy -- I need to spend some time considering how I divide this batt. I also need to consider whether I want a single, double, or triple-ply yarn. In this case, multiple plies might allow me to create some interesting color variations. Plying pink on pink will produce pink, but plying pink on white should produce a paler pink. And I need to see if the pink and blue will blend visually to produce purple. Also, I need to think about how long I would like the color changes to be. Do I want st...

Last year , I had a post similar to this. As it is the giving season again, here is another post on some unusual gift choices for the knitter who already has everything. While I'm at it, let's just make sure that we know what "everything" is. In this case, "everything" means the knitter has a pleasingly generous stash, favorite needles in the full run of sizes, needle cases, bags, notions, all the best books, subscriptions to good knitting magazines, and dvds featuring Lucy Neatby and Elizabeth Zimmermann. In other words, you've run out of the obvious things to purchase. Page Points: Levenger recently redesigned and renamed these Page Nibs . They are thin clip-on bookmarks that you can leave in the book . They are perfect for marking interesting patterns in your knitting books. Some clever soul ought to include a sample with any purchase of a Barbara Walker stitch treasury, so that you can mark interesting things as you thumb through for that other...