Here’s a list of the classes I taught on the Craft Cruises, August 2017, cruise to Alaska. I loved the students and teaching these classes. Continue reading “Alaska Cruise Classes”
How to wind yarn by hand
When I was a girl we wound all of our yarn by hand. We bought most of our yarn for the year at the big fall Leewards sale, enough to fill the trunk of the Buick. Continue reading “How to wind yarn by hand”
A Dandy One-Row Buttonhole, some . . .
1) You know how it is when you’re knitting a welcome-to-the-world sweater for your new grand-nephew on the way and you have everything under control, right?
~You’re ahead of schedule (smug smile).
~The sweater is pretty adorable (more smiles).
~And then the little guy arrives a few weeks early. (No problem. Let me sew on these buttons and this puppy is flyin’ south).
~And then . . . Continue reading “A Dandy One-Row Buttonhole, some . . .”
A Dandy New One-Row Buttonhole
Every 15 or 25 years I become obsessed with getting rid of vast amounts of stuff. Right now I’m going through pounds of paper. How the heck did I find the time to scribble all those notes? And clip out all those bits and pieces of magazines and newspapers with helpful hints? Continue reading “A Dandy New One-Row Buttonhole”
The Never-Ending Garter Stitch Afghan and how it will help you
The Never-Ending Garter Stitch Afghan is a wedding gift for my youngest niece and her Beloved who were married last December 5. I know, I know . . . it’s a little late. And I won’t make excuses, but I will tell you what happened. Continue reading “The Never-Ending Garter Stitch Afghan and how it will help you”
Afghan 101
First published by Patternworks in 1993, Afghan 101 is one of the most useful things I’ve ever written. I use it every time I make a blanket. You can get it HERE. For FREE. And I encourage you to pass it on.
And notice that I didn’t make you give me any of your information before I gave it to you. I would, however, love it if you joined my email newsletter group. Somewhere between once a week and once every few months you’ll get an email with article links, YouTube news, extra knitting tips, random yarny ideas, special offers, an occasional story and maybe my locally famous “Blackberry Cobbler for the Potluck” recipe which has nothing to do with knitting, but it’s really good. AND . . . you get to help me shape new programming and tools. I listen closer to the folks in my email group. I just do . . . Here’s your chance to join us.
The Don’t-Show-Bethany Shawl Pattern Link
Carol D. wrote me shortly after I sent out the big email and asked for a link to the shawl pattern for my daughter-in-law. Sorry. I didn’t think to include it.
Not only is it here, it’s free. And Heidi Alander, who gifted it to us, is Finnish. I’m very fond of Finnish design these days. And my first boyfriend was Finnish and his design was cuter than anything I could imagine at the time. Even now, when I look back 50+ years, I think he was well designed.
So if you get a chance . . . thank her. Here’s her Nurmilintu Pattern.
Szia,
Cheryl
p.s. Szia is not Finnish. It’s Hungarian. My grandparents were from a small village in Hungary and I still have family there. It’s a bit like “aloha” or “ciao,” but with a different accent. One of those all-purpose hi-bye words. Very handy 😀
p.p.s. What’s even handier for those of us who speak English is that it’s pronounced just like “Seeya,” the truncated form of “I will see you later, alligator.”
Cables and Clearing the Decks (Pattern Included)
1) CABLES . . . They are one of those knitting techniques that make you look like a magician. They can twist, turn, trellis, and trek across a fabric in endless Celtic Knot variety and yet they are soooo easy to do, especially when you make them without a cable needle. I’ve seen several demonstrations of how to do that, but I still like my method best. It’s fast and straightforward . . . minimal dancing back and forth between needles and I show it to you in today’s video. (That’s not to say I might not learn a better method some day, but for now I love mine.)
2) On the same page I put the video, I put a “pattern” (not like others) for this totally reversible scarf I made for my son . . .
and on the way to find the directions for it I found . . .
3) I HAD USED IT FOR A PROP in the YouTube video in which I showed you my Graph-Paper-Row-Counting trick which is one of my favorite time-saving techniques ever. I had forgotten that. (I can’t keep track of what’s in all those videos . . .) so I embedded that on the same page and now that page is a tidy bundle of cable information for you. And now for the BIG NEWS . . .
4) CLEARING THE DECKS . . . I was one of those weird people in college who couldn’t do her homework until her bed was made. Things need to be tidied up a bit before I can take on big projects. And that’s one of the reasons I dug out that old footage and used it in today’s video . . . cleaning out, organizing . . . because I’m taking on a “YUGE” project this year.
Sweater 101 will soon be 25 years old. (It was originally published by PATTERNWORKS in September, 1991) and . . . well . . . it seems like a celebration is in order . . . but I have a ton of odds and ends to finish up before I get to serious work on it. Like “The Stairway to Heaven” that just arrived last week in the studio needs to be rigged (as in sail-boat-style rigging . . . ) . . . but I can’t explain all that today. I have to run. Much to do. Meanwhile go to THIS PAGE and have some cable fun.
Szia,
Cheryl
Cables, Cables Everywhere
First, a new video on how to cable without a needle. This is so much faster than juggling a 3rd needle. If a cable is very wide, like 12 or 14 or 16 stitches, it’s probably prudent to use a cable needle but otherwise this technique is absolutely dandy.
Second, here’s a shot of a scarf I made for my son last year. I used Capra Yarn from KnitPicks which is 85% Merino and 15% cashmere blend, DK weight. It was about 6-1/2″ wide and I made it 6′ long. He’s a little taller than that and my rule of thumb is that scarf should be as long as the person for whom it is made.
It’s entirely reversible because the cables are on both sides. Here are the directions for it:
Cast on 52 sts, size 6 needles. K4 P4 across the first row ending with a K4. For all subsequent rows knit the knits and purl the purls as they present to you. On rows 5 and 8 of an 8-row repeating pattern, do a 2 x 2 left cable cross on the knit sections.
Third, I did have to use my graph paper row counter trick to help me keep track of which row I was on. And LOOK!! The video I made explaining my slick graph-paper-row-counting trick used this very scarf as the illustration. I had forgotten that. What a pleasant surprise.
Confidence, Common Sense, and the Sound of Spring
1) In my quest to encourage** you to trust your common sense and not worry about following patterns exactly, I made a long video. Sorry . . . and not sorry. Some things take time. I work through the “Daphne Jumper” sweater pattern with pencil and paper and adapt it to an “imperfect” gauge.
Because there aren’t enough years left in this body for me to work through patterns for all of you, the best I can do is demonstrate my process and hope it helps. The video and pattern download links ARE HERE.
[**Encourage derives from the Old French encoragier: en- “make, put in” + corage “courage, heart” so to “make strong or hearten.” I love that. :D]
2) I forgot to tell you last time . . . I now have the entire contents of The BOND Bombshell available as downloadable zip files, by individual programs or all at once. The whole enchilada download is 1.7 GB so get yourself to a fast connection before you try to pull it out of the clouds. I go to my local library when I have to do these kinds of things.
3) I have a small, seasonal pond on my land and last night, while I was recording the close ups for this video, the frogs were riotous. I’m not kidding. They’re loud enough to wake me up at night sometimes (and they are so tiny.) I’m not sure if you can hear them on the video, but they made me laugh.
We’re getting whiffs of spring here in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. and it’s even reflected on my needles. Both main projects I’m working on are green. Here’s one of them, and boy is it a fun knit! Especially because the other is the never-ending garter stitch aghan. I’m really into garter stitch these days. It’s restful.
Szia, Cheryl
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