My sister insists on wooden knitting needles. As she’s a genius knitter, I bow to her expertise when she tells me that wood is the best choice for working with real wool.
Lightweight yet strong, wooden knitting needles are naturally warm to the touch, which is apparently much nicer for those knitters who are troubled by arthritis. Or, I suggest, for those who just love the feel of smooth wood!
No dogs allowed at your digs? No worries! Thanks to British knitwear designers Sally Muir and Joanne Osborne - you can knit your own faithful companion.
Give a listen to Kay and Ann of Mason-Dixon Knitting, as they perform on the Nashville Bandwagon Show with a side-splitting-funny country song: "Pardon Me (I Didn’t Knit that For You)."
Sara knitted a Thanksgiving turkey hat (complete with drumsticks) for her newborn boy who was in NICU. "I may have been slightly unhinged at that point," she says. But what did she do the next year? Knitted another one sized for a 1-year-old baby! You secretly want to knit a turkey hat, too, don't you?... [read more]
I have to thank Amanda for this find, in a round-about way. She got it all started by spotting a pretty pale blue chain-link scarf at Entre Nous, and that…
In today’s guest post, Pelf Nyok bring us another stand-out crafter from Malaysia with a look at Mabel’s gossamer-fine knit work… It’s inspiring to know that, less than a year ago, the creator of these delicate shawls was a total novice to knitting!
~ Jen
Two weeks ago, we had a peep into April’s collection of hand-made jewellery, so this time around, we’re going to look into another Malaysian’s collection of knitted shawls.
If you do not know Mabel, you will not believe that she had only started knitting less than a year ago. In fact, she did not knit her first shawl until February 2007 and even then, she was still learning to read charts and knitting in new ways and using new stitches.
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How can a crafter turn an image into a custom pattern for a knitted motif — quickly and easily — without spending a fortune?
It’s not as difficult as you might think, to make your own knitting pattern, and you can do it for little or no cost at all. Suddenly, all sorts of creative possibilities come to mind —
Here, for example, is a chart for knitting a Union Jack flag motif in three colours. (Click on the thumbnail image to see a larget version, or feel free to grab the printable PDF knitting chart to stitch up a UK flag as you wish.)
Now, let’s talk about how that knitting chart is made…
Here are three different ways to chart out a pattern onto a grid — without having to invest in some of that delicious but high-priced stitch-mapping pattern-design software — and each method has its strengths and weaknesses.
A lot of this will apply to a wide range of grid-based needle crafts and art projects, too — crochet, needlepoint, petit-point, cross stitch — possibly even related crafts like fabric-paint embroidery, if you’re into pointillism techniques — as well as beading and mosaics, so don’t go away, even if knitting is not your craft of choice!
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