I’ve been meaning to learn how to knit a top and, with summer coming on, I’ve been looking at beautiful cotton and linen sleeveless tops posted to Ravelry. I’ve been daunted by the idea of using up a lot of beautiful yarn and ending up with something wonky and shonky but it was high time to give it a go. Continue reading
After a few more sales over at my Etsy store, I decided it was time to invest in fabric labels that I can attach to some of my creations.
I’m in two minds about labels because I personally am not a fan of brands being splashed large. I know though that others like labels so I’m happy to give them a go in a style I’m comfortable with and I wanted to share the steps I took.
While I know that there are ways to print these myself, I would prefer to let someone else look after it who’s done it many times before. I looked around online for Australian label suppliers and Etsy-sellers, read up on their design needs, materials, sizes, and printing methods. Continue reading
Following my stranded knitting experiment, I settled on a quick project that would test out my skills. A headwarmer!
Oh dear, it didn’t go as I’d hoped.
I made up a basic repeatable pattern and knit it up with 10 ply (aran) yarn. As a flat piece I think this would have worked out well after blocking. As a piece of headgear it unfortunately falls short in the most important factor – horizontal stretch. Continue reading
My recent obsession with knitting stripes has been a lead in to trying stranded colourwork knitting. I love the look of two-colour knits for socks, mittens, beanies and jumpers and I’ve been keen to try it out.
There are many different techniques and holds for both continental and English-style stranded colourwork knitting so if the following doesn’t work for you, don’t give up, check out some articles and videos, and you’ll find the most comfortable method for you. Continue reading
Sticking with my current obsession with stripes and double pointed needles, I decided to work up some fingerless mittens. I didn’t put much planning in and unfortunately I paid the price.
I looked for a pattern online with roughly the same type of yarn and used their stitch counts and general approach but I didn’t check the hand size they were aiming for and I didn’t knit a gauge swatch (oops).
My own wrist is very thin and I have a long palm and hands. I tried the first mitten on as I was making it. I could see that it wasn’t looking quite right and I made a few adjustment because I was keen on the stripes and trying out the yarn. When the first mitten was done it floated around on my hand! I tried it on a friend’s hand and she also found it awkwardly proportioned. Oh dear. Perhaps I could shrink and felt them, I thought, so I made the second one anyway.
I’ve never felted anything before so after some googling for instructions I gave it a try and, while it might not appear so from the photos above, the mittens have shrunk a touch so they’re not as large as they were but they are still roomy. The wrist area above the ribbing is still too wide. The shape of the mitten between the wrist and the thumb does not follow the shape of a human hand. The thumb hole feels slightly tight and awkward. And they don’t even look felted! Continue reading