My Favorite Stitch Holders

Tools/Notions, Work in Progress, ,

I hate sewing seams to assemble sweaters. If I wanted to sew, I’d crawl around on the floor cutting out fabric, then sit at the sewing machine.

Instead, I like to make sweaters in the round, whether bottom up or top down. When I make bottom-up seamless sweaters, I’m going to have to put stitches on holders at both underarms on the body and on each sleeve. If I don’t have enough needles of the correct size to leave all three pieces on needles until I can join them for the yoke, I put each sleeve and the body on holders while I work everything up to the underarm joining point. Continue reading...

Using Ring Markers for Double Decreases

Avoiding Errors, Tools/Notions, Work in Progress, ,

Elizabeth Zimmermann’s astounding Baby Surprise Jacket (and its larger Toddler and Adult versions) rely on double decreases to do the first part of the shaping. Her recommendation is to put a coil-less pin through the two stitches that result after each of the two double decreases in the first decrease row. Continue reading...

Computers Are Alive

Uncategorized,

Most of us think that computers are just machines. I’m here to tell you, computers are organic. They’re alive. They can hear, and they can sense our moods.

If you are stressed, if you’re behind schedule, if you need your computer to do something right now, well, try to not say anything about it. Try to remain calm and cheerful. Because your computer knows when you’re agitated. Continue reading...

Stopping in the Middle of a Row

Avoiding Errors, Work in Progress,

I’m not sure who first proclaimed that knitters should never put down their work in the middle of the row.

What planet did that person live on? Most knitters I know have to stop once in a while to eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, answer the phone, bathe kids, feed the cat, do laundry, cook, clean, shop, snuggle with their significant others, and otherwise stop knitting (OK, so some interruptions can be pleasurable). Oh, I forgot work, didn’t I? Continue reading...