Swatching in circles

To swatch or not to swatch, that is the question.
The answer in many many cases is “yes – you should”.
Don’t worry, I won’t spend this time trying to lure you over to the side of pro-swatchers. Today I want to talk about swatching in the round.
When you are knitting a project in the round it is imperative you test swatch in the round too.  I am sorry to say that this is something I did not learn, till later in my knit-life.  It seems that the difference in our tensions from flat knitting to circular knitting can be extreme! Extremely extreme!
So if you are about to knit a project that requires you to knit in rounds then follow these steps to make a swatch.

1.  Using the needles you would like to knit with (these will be either circular or double pointed needles) cast on stitches sufficient enough for a swatch.  It is desirable to have at least 10cm to measure, since most gauges are given over 10cm. If my swatch is for a stocking stitch fabric I like to do a little boarder of garter stitch so that the swatch won’t curl as much when I am trying to measure, but this is optional. Work your first row.

2.When you get to the end of the row drag your stitches to the other needle point. Don’t turn your piece to the other side!

3. Leaving a long stretch of yarn flopping across the back or the knitting, work into the stitch you have positioned near the tip of the needle (the first stitch in the previous row).

Repeat steps 2 and 3.  Eventually you will get something that looks like this on the back side.  You see how it is important to keep those runs at the back as long as possible so your swatch can lie flat for measuring.

Once the swatch is blocked many people, myself included, will snip the long runs at the back before measuring.  This is usually more accurate and you can get a better feel for the fabric you’ve created that way.

Now go ahead and measure.

Of course there are other ways to swatch in rounds.  Some folks prescribe knitting a hat first (when I say some people I mean Elizabeth Zimmerman).  Others will start a sleeve and and call it a swatch.

If you are joining us at the Sock Master Class, please make a swatch in the round before class.  Sock Masters will be making their socks using their gauge to calculate the size, so you will need a proper swatch.

Sock Master Class
Thurs June 6, 13, 20, 7-9pm
Call 416 533 5648 to register

If you are interested in swatching (and who isn’t?) I really like what Robin Hunter has to say on the matter in her blog How to become a Professional Knitter. I’ve only recently discovered her blog, but have since enjoyed very much reading about what fellow knitters do, and how they do it.  Perhaps you will too.

Craftily yours
Kristin

I heart hearts and groundhogs!

There’s still time to make your sweetheart one of these guys for Valentines day.

It’s an oldie, but a goodie.  A pattern of mine that was published in the wonderful online knit magazine Knitty.  You can find the pattern there for free too. If you are down with the double pointed knitting needles then this pattern is a breeze and fun to make too.  I have made plenty over the years.
The heart on the left is the only heart I kept from all the plenty. The heart on the right is a mini version of the heart (great for pinning on your sleeve or lapel). The mini heart pattern is found here.  The left heart is improvised.

I kept this heart partly for the very special yarn it was made from.  Leftovers from socks I made for my Dad, my last bit of fuzzy, neon, orange, angora, and hand dyed cashmere from Handmaiden yarns. Using bits and pieces from projects-past made this heart even more special to me.  The cable is a nice touch too.
Lots of other folks have made their own versions of the heart.  See them on Ravelry.  There are currently 710 to peruse.

If you decide to make your own heart here’s a tip!

Beginning the heart is the hardest part.  You must cast on 6 stitches and join in the round and immediately increase stitches.  Over the years many have cursed my name trying to accomplish this.  Over these same years I have learned some tricks to make lighter work of this tricky maneuver. This is how I do it.

1. Cast on your 6 stitches onto a double pointed needle

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2. The next instruction is to increase the stitches with a (Kf&b, K1) repeated, but first you must join the round to start knitting in a circle. Instead of dividing the stitches onto the double pointed needles try joining the round like you would if you were making an I-cord. First move the stitches down to the other point on your double pointed needle.  Let the yarn drape over the back of your work as you insert your needle into the first stitch closest to the tip (the first stitch you cast on). Work your Kf&b into that first stitch making sure you give some tension to the stitch to close the circle.  Continue working the stitches on the needle making your increases as you go.

3. You will now have 9 stitches on your double pointed needle

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4. Reorganize your stitches on the double pointed needles, 3 stitches on each needle and join in a round.
If 9 stitches still seems too puny to start using all  your double pointed needles on, then use the I-cord technique to do your next row. This will increase your stitches to 12.  Now get out the rest of the needles and put 4 stitches on each.

Apply this I-cord technique to anything that requires you to cast on only a few stitches and then knit in rounds, like the Knit Cafe’s Tedster pattern or the Wee Owlie too.

Happy Groundhog Day, 2 out of 3 groundhogs say spring is coming early!
Craftily yours
Kristin

hex!

With the Crochet Blanket Class close at hand (it starts on July 22) I thought I would share my version of the blanket.
I was inspired by Maurie Todd’s beautiful creation below.  In fact I outright copied her.  Noro Sock yarn for the middles: that ever-changing yarn that gives you all the colours in the rainbow in just one ball, and a solid coloured sock yarn for the outside.

But since the recipient of this blanket was still in diapers, I  picked some peppy colours.  Lorna’s Laces Firefly for the background.
I found making this blanket addictive, especially the happy little middles that I stacked up and admired. Then I unstacked them and ordered them, reordered them, puzzled and plotted, and restacked them.  Then I made more.  Attaching them all together was not so bad either.  They were crocheted together with NO SEW SEAMS! Something you will learn in class.

When it was all done – I was not!

The finished blanket had wavy edges thanks to the hexagons and all their angles. Those of you who have made the blanket will know what I mean.  To remedy this I made “half hexagons” and added them along the edges that needed them (2 of the 4). Necessity being the mother of invention – I taught myself how.  Others have gone before me and done the same but they were not around.

This is what I did…

the perfect blendship!

This weekend is the Friendship Bracelet Workshop

Embroidery floss is the traditional medium of the friendship bracelet!
I think we might get experimental with mini skeins too!

I look forward to this upcoming crafternoon.  Here are the details:

Friendship Bracelet Workshop
Sunday May 27, 1-3:30
$30, materials not included
children of all ages are welcome
call to register 416 533 5648
more on friendship bracelets here

All morning I’ve been “down the rabbit hole”.  This is how I describe the phenomena of being swept away from web link to link, with no visible end.  Eventually you take pause and wonder how you arrived at where you landed.  This time spent in the hole I have no regrets about.  I learned so much.
I think it started here ↓These instructions on how to make a garter stitch tab at the beginning of your shawl project may not interest everyone, but I urge you all to check out Tricksy. This site is replete with interesting things like this↓
It was just the other day, I was admiring the well-marked  paper pattern I was working from.  Decorated with chicken scratches, check marks, and circles, it was full of the history of my knitting adventures.  I wondered to myself how folks with iPads managed to follow a pattern, unable to draw pictures and make notes where necessary.  I mumbled to myself “I bet there’s an app for that”, and of course there is.  A PDF reader in fact.  Read about it here
I will never get the hours back I spent playing with this Chart Maker, but I don’t care!

I also found, in no particular order:

this very useful head/hat size chart↑

a tutorial on how to weave in ends which includes weaving into ribbing stitch!

a how-to decode decreases: how to make them, how they look, and when to use them.

There was more
but I think that is quite enough for today!
Apologies if you get trapped in the rabbit hole.

Craftily yours
Kristin

this and that

This is timely↓

A delivery of Eucalan wool wash!  It cleans your hand knits with less toil with it’s no-rinse formula.  Good timing – as one day soon we will be packing away our woolies for the summer season.  Keeping wool clean keeps it safe from moth threats.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure they say.   Eucalan comes in 500ml bottles or trial sized 100ml for $11 and $4 respectively and worth every penny! If you are involved in moth guarding or moth warfare have a look at this post for some ideas on how to fight the good fight.

How about that ↑ ? More linen from Louet has arrived!  Restock of popular colours like pewter and natural, aqua and eggplant.

This is fun↓

K                n               i              T

You too can write llama love notes.  Go to Llama Fonts!

This is useful ↓

I added this link to a very nice tutorial on how to cable without a cable needle to my Pinterest Account.  It really caught on!  It seems a great deal of other knitters are interested in getting rid of their extra needle when they do their cabling projects.  I intend to give it a go.  Novice cablers – check out this ↓

Iwona just finished this cabled cowl – the sample for our upcoming learn to cable class.  This lovely simple cable project is extra great as it is reversible (the same on both sides).  Without the buttons it makes a perfectly wonderful scarf too!

Cabled Cowl Class
Monday May 7, 6:30-9pm
$30, materials not included
call to register 416 533 5648

Craftily yours
Kristin

It’s in the mail

This past weekend we were happy to host the gals from Dear Toronto who took over our window gallery to make this wonderful installation.  A winter wonderland with letters not bound for Santa Claus but notes addressed to our fine city.
Hand knitted envelopes hang in wait for passers by and knitters to fill them with their thoughts of and wishes for Toronto.

The envelopes are knit with Cascade 220, one of our most popular yarns and a yarn which we recently restocked.  Many sweet colours including the enchanting hue used for these envelopes (a complex purple called Galaxy) some neutrals and greys and brights too have come home to roost.  Cascade 220 Sport too!

Since it is the time for giving gifts I thought you all might benefit from this idea.  We had an old 2011 knitting calendar hanging around and we decided we could re-purpose it nicely- like so↑

To make your own envelopes (for gifts, Christmas cards or otherwise) take an envelope of favored size and shape, then unglue and unfold it.  Trace around it on a stiff piece of paper or cardborad (in this case we used an old file folder).  Cut it out and this will be your template.  You can then trace around it onto calenders or other papers to make your envelopes.  Cut these out and  fold your paper into shape.  We used a glue stick to hold it all in place, but double sided tape or other glue would work too. There you have it! Now you have fancy gifting envelopes and you recycled too!

Along with the Cascade 220 came some  Brown Sheep Burly Spun in deep charcoal and Misti Alpaca in creamy white.  Both are very popular yarns, so if you needed them to finish off something for the holidays they are now at your disposal.

Craftily yours
Kristin

night owls to take over the knit cafe! read all about it!

Nuit Blanche comes but once a year.  It takes about that long to come up with a project worth doing and then to execute with crafty conviction.
For those who are not familiar: Nuit Blanche is an arts festival that  is celebrated in many cities around the world.  It began in Paris, hence the frenchie name and for the last 5 years Nuit Blanche has been part of the cultural life of Toronto too. This year on Saturday October 1rst the city will be taken over by all manner of artistic endeavors.  The fun doesn’t start till 6:59pm  and won’t end till sunrise (approximately 6:59am) so eat your Wheaties! See the Scotia Bank Nuit Blanche web page for details about the event.  See below for a preview of the Knit Cafe’s plans for the night.
Stitch wizards  have been crafting these little buddies!  They will take center stage for the Knit Cafe’s 2011 Nuit Blanche exhibition called Tecolote (the spanish word for owl).  These night owls were created by a host of talented folks.  In the picture the one on the left was made by Iwona and the one on the right was made by Ray.  Ray’s owl was knit in Noro Silk Garden.  I think I may have let loose a squeal when I saw him for the first time, but can you blame me?  He is going home with Iwona so don’t get any ideas …but I digress.

Ray’s owl and his owl friends will be celebrating the Day of the Dead starting Oct 1 at 6:59pm.  You will have to come by and see exactly how this is done but until then here is another sneak peak into our preparations.
 Mexican Paper Flowers made from bright colours of tissue paper!  Yesterday there was even more paper arts then needle arts at the Knit Cafe.  Many happy flowers were assembled for the big night (this coming Saturday).  Thank you to all who came and helped out!  Cameron was especially helpful as you can see.If you would like to make your own tissue paper flowers, and you might as they would be a great project to do with kids or with kids of all ages, and they would bring joy, joy, joy to any party planners heart!  There are some good tutorials here and here.The Knit Cafe will be open all night long on the night of October 1.  Come join us and see our knit installation; bring your knitting and stay a while.  Coffee and treats will be served all night to boost endurance.  If you are not available to come and see us during Nuit Blanche you will be able to check out Tecolote on your own schedule.  It will be our window display for October into November.

If you would like to know about the Knit Cafe’s Nuit Blanche exhibitions past have a look at Knit City, Cirques des Hiboux and Knit Magic, unfortunately there are no pictures available from our Late Great Pom Pom Event from 2007, but maybe that is really for the best.  Some things are just too fluffy to document.

Till soon
Craftily yours
Kristin 

well rounded

One door closes and another opens.
Today is the last day of the Knit Cafe’s summer sale.  I will be packing it all up in a short while. I will take down the signs and reshelve the yarn, but I am happy to take that sale sign down.  Happy – because I know it will be replaced with something lovely.  We are so lucky this month to have a guest artist to exhibit her work  in our Knit Cafe window. Keily Stewart is her name and felting is her game.
Pictures will follow at a later date of the exhibition itself but for now and for the next few weeks I thought I would devote some time to exploring the wonderful world of felt!
Expect some eye candy, some art, some DIY projects, and expect the unexpected. There is a whole big bad felt world out there and when I say “bad” I mean good, in a Michael Jackson-esque way.
For day one of felt fodder lets begin with the most simple of felt shapes: the sphere. Balls!
Pretty crafty wreath! Find it on Pickles with a little “how to” to go with. 

and here↑ a ball is transformed.  See how it is done in this tutorial on needle felting animal heads also from Pickles. Hooray for Pickles!
For ones more sophisticated side you might want to try this↑
This trivet under teapot  provokes imaginings of chilly, white, bright mornings in a homey Swedish abode full of birch wood and white paint, colourful ceramics and of course felt.
There is a tutorial for this project too. Have a look and see at the Purl Bee .

More felt fun to come.  Till then-
Craftily yours
Kristin 

crocheting on the edge

A super sunny DIY for a scorcher of a day.
This sweet project is the brain child of Cassie and her blog You Go Girl.  There is a wonderful tutorial there with clear and detailed photos on how to accomplish this crocheted edging.
I was smittened right away when I saw this and decided to try my hand at it. Coincidentally I had just inherited some cloth napkins from a friend that looked like they might appreciate a little reno.  So I went to work and there were some discoveries along the way!
I began with a straight from the horses mouth approach except I changed the materials slightly choosing Valdani Perle Cotton over baby weight yarn and a 3mm hook instead of a 3.75mm.
Truthfully my first attempt was a failure.  The blanket stitch I stitched was spaced too far apart for the tension of the crochet, leaving the trim pulled  and the edges of the napkins curling in.
Backing up to the drawing board  I resorted to the first rule of careful knitting/crocheting: check your gauge!  I stitched some crocheted scallop edging all on its lonesome and then measured the distance between the midpoint of each scallop and the edge of each and found that I should have been spacing my blanket stitches .75 cm apart instead of the half inch the tutorial suggests.  Oh you live and you learn!
The second attempt went swimmingly. I did make a few changes however:
1. I chose to make the length of my blanket stitches shorter (as well as closer together) so that the bars did not reach under the hem of the napkin but fell midway through.  I felt the shorter stitches were more appropriate for the delicate perle cotton.
2. I did not double strand my cotton as  I made may blanket stitches.  Waste not /want not!
3. When blanket stitching I did not use a length of cotton 15 times the circumference of the napkin  as the pattern suggests.  Since my yarn was not double stranded  I would not need so much.  Also I found I preferred to add on a new length from time to time rather then pull a ridiculous length of yarn through every stitch and watch the resulting tangles ensue.  Word to the wise – when blanket stitching  pull your yarn through slowly and carefully, remember to breath, and eat some chocolate as the tutorial suggests.
4. When single crocheting  through my blanket stitch I only made 2 single crochets in each space (not three).  I compensated for this later when making my scallops skipping only one single crochet (instead of 2) in between each scallop. 

With one wee ball of Valdani Perle Cotton I edged one full napkin and got 2 sides of the scallops finished on the second.
You could have fun trying out different kinds of edgings on all manner of whatnots.  A skirt hem for example, or a pocket edge, a table cloth or a tea towel, or even some pillow cases.  This is a page from one of my favorite crochet resources- Super Stitches Crochet. A glossy book with pretty pictures and easy to follows charts and written instructions for all sorts of crochet stitches, textures and edges too. Check it out next time you are in the Knit Cafe.

Happy stitching all!
Craftily Yours
Kristin

friendship

I thought I would share this little nugget that I discovered on the blog called Honestly WTF.  It delivered me into a whirlwind of nostalgia and revery of summer crafternoons when I was but a fledgling.  

I think this craft might be the catalyst for hours of entertainment for me and my niece this summer at the cottage.  If you (like me) need a memory jog on how it is done you can check out this great friendship bracelet tutorial here 

Today my longest-time and bestest-friend gave me these: the prettiest of all flowers.  She got them for for being a smarty pants.  She’s a Doctor now, a full fledged PHD, but still delivering flowers and joy to her old pal.  
I picked out these colours of Valdani hand dyed embroidery floss using this sweet bouquet as inspiration.  Valadani floss is available at the Knit Cafe in all affable and chummy colours – enough for all your friends!