Building on the theme of “what I find helpful in my knitting” – this week I’m sharing inexpensive tools and simple techniques for tracking your progress and modifications as you work through knitting patterns. Whether it’s a colorwork sweater with multiple charts, or a simple accessory, you need to know where you are in a
Fiber Arts
Knitting Needle Review, Part 2: Fixed circulars and DPNs
It’s time for Part 2 of my knitting needle review, this time focusing on fixed circulars and double-points (DPNs). Once again, there is no affiliation or sponsorship at play here – all the needles that I use I’ve either purchased myself or received as a gift that was purchased. I like to knit the bulk
Knitting Needle Review, Part 1: Circular interchangeable sets
As I’ve gained practice and experience with knitting, I’ve tried many different tools, and I’m starting to settle on my favorites. In this first of two videos, I wanted to review interchangeable knitting needle sets in particular, and share some observations, complaints, and personal recommendations for the features and brands that I like the best.
Fiery Foliage scarf captures the colors of autumn
Continuing with my interest (obsession?) with sequence knitting, as well as a deep appreciation for the work of Karida Collins, owner of Neighborhood Fiber Company, I developed this large scarf with another one of the NFC gradient packs. The fun pompons are decorative as well as functional, providing weight to the ends of the piece that
Don’t Wait Up: a versatile shawl, scarf, and poncho in one
After months of experimenting with colors and textures, Don’t Wait Up is finally ready for you to knit for yourself. This versatile and large-yet-lightweight piece of fabric can be styled in many different ways. Wear it as a wrap, poncho, scarf, or hooded cape. Based on my experiments with both hand-spinning random colors and playing
Bethel Socks: new knitting pattern for warm feet this winter
I just love the Vermont Sock Yarn from Wing & A Prayer Farm, so when Tammy let me design another pattern for socks I jumped in with both feet (literally and figuratively). The Bethel Socks are based on my popular hat and mitts pattern, and the cushy texture makes a great sock as well. Find
Garden State Sheep & Fiber Festival: Sheep, yarn, and fiber friends.
We had a great time at our first Garden State Sheep & Fiber Festival, an event with a small-town and agricultural focus. Big thanks to everyone who came by to say hello and chat with us – it’s nice to be able to do that at some of these smaller shows. Links to the organizations,
Overdye effects: depth of shades vary by starting tone.
By a change of mind, or by accident, sometimes we end up with yarns that we no longer like the color of. Often, this can be a great opportunity to create a new custom color. In a previous post I discussed over-dyeing a variegated yarn to unify the color palette across the skein. This time,
Eco-printing on sock blanks: direct dyeing with plant parts
Eco-printing is a method for directly transferring the shape and color of whole plant materials to fabric or paper. I’ve tried this technique in the past, but only on cotton fabric. I knew it must work on wool as well, and immediately thought of using sock blanks as a canvas. For these first experiments, the
Dyeing wool with black hollyhocks: blue made easy
This year has afforded several opportunities to try new-to-me natural dyes, and this week I’m discussing my first trial dyeing with black hollyhocks. The flowers resemble a very dark purple, verging on black in the center of the flowers. Use the petals only for dyeing. If you want to add hollyhocks to your garden you