How does pi shawl shaping work? The geometry of pi shawls is only possible because of the stretchiness of knitting. That is, the ratio between the diameter and the circumference is constrained by math, but the ability to work large sections without increasing is only allowed because the knitting is malleable. Basic Pi Shawl: For a […]
Category Archives: Knitting
A clip of the five-year-old Swedish pet rabbit in action has had more than 700,000 YouTube hits since surfacing on a blog a week ago.
Have You Any Organic Wool? by Donna Druchunas (Email me) (Sources for eco-friendly fleeces and yarns are posted at the bottom) What could be more natural than wool? Many people assume that wool is organic because it is a natural fiber. Some use the term organic informally, referring to wool that is not processed with […]
The availability of qiviut changes frequently. When I was working on Arctic Lace, I was able to obtain yarn for knitting and photos of fiber from only a few manufacturers. As we went to press, the companies listed in the book as sources for qiviut sell it as a raw material or in the form […]
Working with mohair yarn can be a challenge. Because the yarn is so fuzzy and the fibers are clingy, the yarn will stick to itself as you knit, making it almost impossible to rip out. If you do have to rip, slowly unknit the piece stitch by stitch, using a sharp scissor to separate the furry halo if it gets stuck together. But be careful not to cut the core of the yarn!
Two things happened this weekend that made me think of this: On Facebook, Gaye Glasspie aka GGmadeit, has a weekly knitting Q&A and she asked who was going to Vogue Knitting Live. Well, I’m not, and it’s because I can’t afford to go to a knitting event unless I’m working the show. People often make assumptions […]
Yarn speaks to me. It tells me what it wants to be, and so much more. The yarn I love most is made of wool, the wool of sheep. I love its accent, how it tells me where it grew, about the sheep it insulated, about the pasture it roamed. Each breed of sheep has its […]
Are you ready for a new season of Sherlock? Season 4 started this week on PBS (in the USA). This year, while you’re watching, you can get inspired for some great new knitting projects. Sherlock Knits, a new book by Joanna Johnson, includes ten patterns inspired by the series. But it’s even better than that! The book has […]
We’ve just wrapped up our fall teaching season with the Vermont Fall Knitting Retreat at Trapp Family Lodge. What a fantastic time and a wonderful group of knitters. Anne Berk, author of Annetarsia Knits: A New Link to Intarsia joined me and we spent the weekend on colorful knitting techniques, enjoying the beautiful lodge, and singing songs […]
I like to make small projects. I like them in summer, when it’s too hot to have a big wooly sweater or afghan on my lap. I like them in fall and winter when I’m rushing to get something warm to put on my head or gifts to hand out to friends and family over […]