We're nearly at the end of the second week of the lace knitalong and already there is plenty to admire. The brief for the KAL is simple: knit a lace project, post photos on the Ravelry forum and tag your project with SN2LAL.
Read moreKnitting in Germany
I had a great trip to Damsdorf, Germany last weekend, to visit Strickmich! Headquarters. We had great weather (not too hot!) and Martina and Peter and the family were so welcoming. One of the best things about it was that I got absolutely LOADS of knitting done. Since the hot weather started here in the south-west, the kids have been finding it really hard to get to sleep in the evenings. This means that my normal 90 minutes of knitting between their bedtime and mine has dwindled down to 45 minutes if I'm lucky, which frankly isn't enough to keep my sanity! So it was a welcome break to have travelling time and then a relaxed weekend with Martina and her family to recharge my knitting batteries somewhat.
Read moreMason-Dixon Knitting Field Guides
The new Mason-Dixon Field Guide (No. 7 Ease) has landed here at Arnall-Culliford Knitwear Towers! These little books are crammed with joy – joy just oozes out of them! They each contain a few patterns and heaps of reasons to stop what you're doing and cast on.
Read moreWill yours be a summer of lace?
On Sunday our Something New to Learn About Lace Knitalong kicks off! Unlike other topical kick offs, this isn't about winning or losing, and there certainly won't be any penalties... just lots of knitters working on lace projects and sharing their progress, hints and tips. Now is the perfect time to wind your yarn, maybe knit a swatch or two, and find a project with some lace!
Read moreOpen Studio with Martina Behm
I am travelling to Germany this weekend (my first overseas travel in a LONG time!) for an Open Studio event with Martina Behm. I'm super-excited about it on so many levels!
Read moreVideo: Fixing Mistakes by Tinking
Learning to fix a mistake in your knitting is really empowering. I remember in my early knitting days I would traipse down the hill to the local yarn shop whenever something went amiss in my knitting. The owner, Tina, was really patient with me, and picked up dropped stitches, helped me to rip back, and eventually, once my confidence had grown, she showed me how to fix my own mistakes. It really marks a change in your relationship with your knitting when you are able to get a project back on track on your own.
What was I thinking?
Dearest blog readers,
Please accept my humblest apologies for my choice of knitting projects. I appear to be working only on projects that consist of endless stocking stitch. There won't be much excitement to report for weeks to come, as I plough through the bodies of not one but two fairly plain, 4ply, adult garments. I shall endeavour not to post endless photos of incremental changes in the length of the stocking stitch bodies that I'm knitting on, but at the same time, would welcome encouragement to stick with my knitting, as it will all be worth it in the end.
What was I thinking?
Read moreVideo: Blocking Using Pin Combs (Knit Blockers)
Have you come across pin combs before? I had seen them mentioned a while ago, but it wasn't until we started work on Something New to Learn About Lace that I got around to ordering a set. I have the KnitPro Knit Blockers that we now stock in the shop, and I absolutely love them! I have had a set of blocking wires for nearly ten years, and they get used a LOT. I find my wires so useful that it had never really occurred to me that I would want to use anything else for blocking lace. For peaked or scalloped edges, I think that wires are still the best way to go, but depending on the size of your project, pin combs are a brilliant way to pin out straight edges. They are certainly faster and easier than wires over short distances.
Read morePicking and Flicking
And no... this is not where I write a disgusting post about personal habits, but rather, a discussion of knitting styles! Let me start by saying there is no right and wrong in knitting styles. It's definitely a case of what works for you, and I'm definitely not an advocate of any one style being "better" than another. There are hundreds of different factors that come into play when individuals work in different knitting styles, but there are definite benefits to being comfortable with more than one.
Read moreVideo: Blocking Lace Using Wires
Blocking lace is completely magical. You cast off, and have a piece of fabric that to be honest, could look like a tangled hair net, and transform it into a thing of beauty. The image above shows how different the unblocked mini-Aphaca scarf looks from the finished, blocked blanket. Blocking can be carried out with a minimum of equipment (just a clean, dry space, towel and some pins), but some extra bits and bobs can make the job far easier and faster. And faster blocking leaves more time for knitting, right?!
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