November 19, 2008

Recent Articles

• Frustrating Mittens

  December 18, 2008 in projects

  In between working on gift knitting, I decided to at least finish one of the fingerless mittens I’m working on for me, using the endpaper mitts pattern. (Ravelry link to my project). The knitting went reasonably well, good practice for stranded knitting, but there’s just one little snag.
  I suffer from irritation sensitivity, sometimes called dermographism. [...]

• Gift Knitting

  December 13, 2008 in projects

  I had the great idea of knitting gifts this year; it’s the first year in a while where I’ve had the energy to even contemplate it! I’m enjoying the process, picking out yarns in colours I hope the recipient will like, picking patterns to (I hope) suit their tastes for wearing as well as mine [...]

• Care of Knits

  December 7, 2008 in TKGA, techniques

  This is the final part of a series that begins with Blocking Notes (Intro).
  Caring for handknits involves a few simple rules. One of the most important is to never hang a hand-knitted garment. It will stretch, and may not bounce back after washing. Fold the garment (don’t fold the same way every time to avoid [...]

• More Blocking

  December 6, 2008 in TKGA, techniques

  Part of a series that begins with Blocking Notes (Intro).
  Yarn Considerations
  In general reading the ball band is a good idea, both for general care instructions, and to know what the yarn is made of. If in doubt, test your blocking methods on a swatch to see what the likely effects will be on the finished [...]

• Blocking for Seaming and After Washing

  December 5, 2008 in TKGA, techniques

  Part of a series that begins with Blocking Notes (Intro).
  Blocking Prior to Seaming
  There are conflicting opinions about weaving in tails prior to or after blocking. In theory it’s a good idea to weave in the yarn tails that won’t be used for seaming prior to blocking, as the blocking process will help them settle in [...]