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Showing posts from August, 2021

Faded Sweater Rescue

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

Nice Finish

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