Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

Sometimes I start a blog post but, for whatever reason, fail to publish it. This is one of those. But now seems like the time.   The Echo I started by writing this in the autumn 2019: Sometimes the universe is just . . . strange. That's what makes it interesting. I am coming out of one of the most tumultuous periods of my life. A quick run-down of what has happened in 2018-2019. September: the passing of my knitting mentor, Jan Stephens. October: both cats sick November: the passing of Brûlée December: father-in-law ill January: the passing of my father-in-law as well as members of knitting guilds; Cuddly Hubby moves back to Maryland February: The Whole Nine Yarns closes June: return of STITCHES to Atlanta after a long hiatus October through June: intense care giving for Vincent, followed by his passing June: arrival of new cats, Ozymandias and Ramses August: arrival of expensive piece of fiber arts equipment, an Ashford 16-shaft table loom . There was also a lot of expens...

You never know where you are going to find something worthy of your attention. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I shopped at the JoAnn's in California, Maryland. Yes, this is a big box store. This particular JoAnn's is not large. It is maybe half the size of the typical grocery store? The aisles are narrow and the store is packed with craft materials. I was shopping for a roll of plain paper so I could draft a sewing pattern. They didn't have it because, as the nice clerk explained, they are a small store relative to other JoAnn's locations. Quilters and sewists must compromise much of their clientele, if the shelves of beautiful cotton print fabrics are any indication. As long as I was there, I figured I might as well browse the craft books. There was a cute Star Wars -themed recipe book. There was a crochet book with adorable animal blankets. And there was a copy of Adventure Cables by Meghan Jones. I didn't buy the book ini...

As we approach Thanksgiving in only a week, it seems a good time to reflect on the power of gathering and gratitude. One thing the pandemic taught us was not to take in-person contact for granted. Talking to people over the phone or Internet is not the same as being there. Yes, some things can be done via video chat. But humans are fundamentally social creatures. So much of knitting is about making for others and connecting with others. While that can be done over distance, it is much easier in person. Kathy Zimmerman's Fall Fling retreat 2021 Since July I've taught at Fiberworld (virtual), Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival, Kathy Zimmerman's Fall Fling retreat, Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair, STITCHES Expo at Home (virtual), and Unwind retreat. Consistently, the best thing is not the shopping or the presentations, but connecting to other knitters. Seeing what people have been making is a special joy. Much of walking around the market at SAFF was for me simply greeting peop...

Recently I've been trying to focus on the half-worked projects lying around. One of those was a repair — a very difficult repair. Back in 2011 I reworked the Serpent of Eternity socks in a way that involved double-knitting. And then at some point, I wore them and put them in the wash. There was a weak spot in the yarn at the top of the sock. The movement in the wash broke the yarn. I ended up with a hole in the double-knitting. I had tried previously to mend this, but failed. Finally, I found a day when I thought the stars might be aligned. I started by putting pins in the hole to prevent further raveling. The pink is a cable needle in the interior of the i-cord edge. Then I spent a lot of time looking at the sock. I knit this a decade ago. Did I even remember what I did? The technique I used was a monochromatic double-knit. There was no purling in the sock. When I wanted a purl, I knit from the other side of the work. The result is the yarn ju...

The alternative title of this post could be "I Do Not Need a Rigid Heddle Loom, Right?" If you are paying keen attention to this website, you may have noticed the STITCHES Expo at home button. I'm teaching three of my most popular classes online the weekend of 8-10 August 2021. Last week there was a special Zoom meeting preview for previous attendees of STITCHES online. It was a chance to run down the class offerings. For those of us who are teachers, it was a chance to show class samples and answer any questions potential students might have. I've done this sort of thing before for other online classes. No worry. And then Myra Wood shows up with her Crazyshot class. I have an 8-shaft and a 16-shaft loom. I do not need a rigid heddle loom. I do not. I do not. I do not. Shortly after the preview ended, I went over to Myra's website and bought her book. I love Myra's sense of design, geometry, and color. Her work is jubilant, which is why I find it charismatic....

There's a transition from new knitter to experienced knitter to advanced knitter. And there's a transition from person who knits or person who is learning to knit to knitter as an identity. And then there's old knitter. If you have a knitted sweater old enough to have faded from wear and love, you might be an old knitter. This is not a bad thing. Maybe not an old knitter so much as a wise knitter or a sage knitter? I have been knitting long enough to have reached that milestone. I have dear hand knit items that have faded. They are still good, but they look worn. What is a knitter to do? Overdye! I've taken classes to learn how to use Jacquard acid dyes. But they only work on protein fiber. They are great on wool and silk. Not so great on linen or cotton. I live in Atlanta. While I do have plenty of animal fiber in my stash, it isn't uncommon for me to knit with mixed fibers. I have a red gansey I knit back in 2004. It was my fi...

I'm delighted to have several in-person shows on my schedule for the latter part of 2021. One of them is Fall Fling for Kathy's Kreations . I'll be teaching reversible cables and knitting faster. Since it is a weekend-long retreat, there is extra time. I'm developing a module on hat design. I started out with Casquecade (see brown hat, above). This is an easy ribbles hat. This was also my attempt to create a simple but interesting pattern that might sell on Ravelry. Fail! I thought the most popular patterns on Ravelry tended to be easy and quick? I thought they tended to be more conservative in style? I thought this hat would be appealing, especially since it is top-down. Wrong! I admit I do not understand what other people want to knit. The pattern was not a waste of time. The overall approach is a useful template. Cast on with a center-out reversible cast-on at top of hat. Increase using Y-increase or W-increase until hat fits...

There's nothing like a deadline to create motivation. I'm teaching virtually at Fiberworld this weekend. My class numbers, alas, aren't great. Perhaps many of us are tired of being online? I hope we will continue to have a mix of in-person and virtual events. I like in-person events, but it is also nice to take a class without the hassle and expense of travel. For some people — especially if you are a caregiver or live in a rural area — virtual gatherings are the only option. The three classes I'm teaching this weekend are " Easy Reversible Cables ," " Essentials of Versa Lace ," and " Illusions in Shadows ." The shadow knitting class is the most recent addition to my repertoire. As is my habit, I debuted it at South Carolina Knit Inn 2020. As is also my habit, I try to have a well-researched class. When I design a handout, it is meant to be ongoing reference. Sometimes I keep my own handouts in my knitting bag...

Humans are excellent at using tools in creative ways, often in ways beyond the original design. Today I was shopping at Publix. I was in the tool section and discovered this little round box: As you can see from the label, this is a bamboo salt box. It is meant for storing salt. The lid swings open. There is a magnet to hold the lid closed. Of course, I immediately saw it could serve another purpose — stitch marker storage! This would be a lovely way to store other small notions. Or it might be handy as a place to put little things that will get lost if left sitting on the table.

One of my most popular classes is Brioche Rosetta Stone . As far as I know, I'm one of the few instructors who shows how to work brioche stitches using the yarn over & slip method as well as the knitting into the stitch below method. I was chatting with other instructors at a STITCHES event . One said she doesn't teach brioche because she can't fix it. For the most part, I can't fix it, either. In class, I tell students to knit a few rows and then pick back up and carry on. Mistakes are common when learning brioche. If you spend all your time trying to fix them, you won't learn the maneuvers. Fixing brioche is one of the most difficult things you can do in knitting. I would rather fix double-knitting than fix brioche. But a number of students have requested video showing how to do it. I had a swatch of brioche on my needles after a virtual presentation for South Carolina Knitting Guild . It seemed like a good time to shoot some video....

In addition to fiber arts, I love tabletop games. As a child, we had many games in my house. The flowering of "Euro" games in the past 25 years has intensified my enthusiasm. You can imagine my delight when one of my Mensa friends said she had accidentally backed a new game twice on Kickstarter and would I like the spare copy? The game is ArchRavels . It is a knitting-themed board game. Swoon! The basic game mechanic is acquire yarn, craft objects, redeem objects for points. There's a six-card market. In the example below, yarn available includes 1 yellow, 1 orange, 2 of any color, 1 orange & 1 yellow together, 1 blue, and 2 green. The yellow in the lower left is the top of the discard pile. A player choosing the shopping action picks from those cards, then adds the wooden colored tokens to his or her personal yarn bowl. Each player has slightly different skills, adding to replay value. In the example below, Derrick is a...

A third approach to adding beads with crochet is a hybrid method. This involves pre-stringing, so has all the caveats about stringing multiple colors in order, difficulty in fixing mistakes, and fraying yarn. It also has the advantage that if you strung correctly, the beads are not going anywhere. This method is slow because not only is the bead secured by being strung, it is secured again by pulling a loop through the bead. You'll need beads with large holes for this technique. In technique video 5 the hybrid method is used in between stitches. The result in double crochet is a horizontal bead that is very secure. In single crochet, the result is more angled. Also, this method means the bead is on the chain, and can interfere with making the next row of stitches. This method is best suited to adding beads on a final edge or adding looping swags of beads in a chain stitch edge. In technique video 6 the hybrid method is used in the middle of making a...

If pre-stringing beads for crochet is unappealing, then maybe adding loose beads as you work is better? Once again, there are advantages and disadvantages. On the upside, there are greater options for improvisation and creative freedom. You can change your mind, rip back, fix mistakes. And you aren't dragging yarn through lots of beads, so less likely to damage yarn. On the downside, you have loose beads. Have you ever tipped over a container of beads? It is amazing how far they go! Another positive is since you are pulling a loop through, two strands of yarn pass through the center of the bead. It feels more secure. In my series, technique video 3 shows adding an unstrung bead in between stitches.  The result in double crochet is similar to a pre-strung bead between stitches — horizontal orientation that is reversible. There is a little piece of yarn that goes underneath the bead but the bead has two strands going through the center. Single cr...

Like many fiber artists, I am multi-craftual. I don't crochet a lot. But I know how to crochet. For some projects, crochet is the appropriate choice. Crochet is stiffer than knitting. For items that take hard wear, crochet can be a good solution. And there are a lot of lovely lace patterns in crochet. I decided to investigate adding beads to crochet. Since I like crochet lace patterns and beads go well with lace, this seemed like a good idea. And I found I wasn't always happy with what I got. Specifically, I was often unhappy with little strands of yarn that went around the outside of the beads. In knitting, beads are often reversible. In crochet, sometimes so and sometimes not. And I was specifically unhappy with how there didn't seem to be a way to thread a bead on to a crochet stitch. A double-crochet is a nice sturdy post. Surely there must be a way to get all of that post through the center of a bead? My experiments resulted in a series...

  This is the fourth and final post in my series on four-row feather and fan. The first post was about stockinette and reverse stockinette. The second post was about ridges and valleys. The third post was about garter. The final group of variations are four based on welts. These are two rows of stockinette followed by two rows of garter. Their rhythm when working back and forth is knit, knit, purl, purl once established. 13. k p p k  reverses to  14. p k k p 15. k k p p  reverses to  16. p p k k Version 13: stockinette Row 1: knit in pattern Row 2: knit all Row 3: purl all Row 4: purl all In this version, the welt is directly above the pattern row, as rows 1 and 4 recede while 2 and 3 advance. The fan portion much resembles the broccoli crowns from version 10 with a valley below a purled pattern row. The welts through the feather section show, but they are more subtle than some of the other options in this group. The decr...

This is the third post in my series on four-row feather and fan. The first post was about stockinette and reverse stockinette. The second post was about ridges and valleys. Continuing through the options, the next variations are just two — knit garter and purl garter. 11. k p k p  reverses to  12. p k p k Version 11: knit garter Row 1: knit in pattern Row 2: knit all Row 3: knit all Row 4: knit all Unsurprisingly, garter stitch produces a rough texture. The feather pattern is essentially obscured, although the two ridges are subtly different, with one ridge being thicker than the other. Once again, we encounter the outlined filigree in the fan section, as we saw in version 8 when placing a valley on row 3. Version 12: purl garter Row 1: purl in pattern Row 2: purl all Row 3: purl all Row 4: purl all The purl garter is surprisingly nice. There is a subtle difference in the two ridges through the feather section, but to my eyes it ...

This is the second post in my series on four-row feather and fan. The first post was about stockinette and reverse stockinette. Continuing through the options, the next group produces three rows of stockinette with a ridge of purls or three rows of reverse stockinette with a valley of knits. This is the largest group, accounting for half of the sixteen options.  3. p k k k  reverses to    4. k p p p  5. k p k k  reverses to    6. p k p p  7. k k p k  reverses to    8. p p k p  9. k k k p  reverses to  10. p p p k The consideration for these variations is where will the ridge or valley appear in relationship to the pattern row? Variations 3, 5, 7, and 9 are simply the purl ridge executed on row 1, 2, 3, or 4. Similarly, variations 4, 6, 8, and 10 are their inverses, with a knit valley executed on row 1, 2, 3, or 4. The ridges: Version 3: ridge on pattern R...