My current project (a hooded cowl) ended up having a lot of shaping to get it to drape correctly and I ended up using German short rows to accomplish that. I thought I’d share this easy technique that eliminates the unsightly holes or odd stitches and invisibly blends into a stockinette fabric. Let’s get to … Continue reading German Short Rows: easy and invisible!
Lately I have been taking a bit of a break from stranded colorwork for a more relaxed approach. Don’t get me wrong; I still adore color in my knits but sometimes I just don’t want to think about it too hard. Thus, I’ve fallen back into the fun technique of marled knitting. You might not … Continue reading Marling: a more laidback colorwork technique with interesting results
Knitting in horizontal stripes is part and parcel of the craft. It’s easy to do since that’s the way the stitches are laid down in successive rows. Vertical stripes or color blocking, however, is not as commonly seen and I think that’s a shame! It’s a technique that can produce some simple yet elegant visual … Continue reading Vertical Stripe and Color Block Changes
I'm usually pretty utilitarian when it comes to sock cuffs. I save all of my fancy details for the body of the sock, whether it's a cool texture or some color work. But a while back I designed some fancy lace socks and I decided that they needed some over the top fancy cuffs as … Continue reading Fancy Sock Cuffs
I've been Christmas knitting lately and had the occasion to knit buttonholes to finish off the front of a vest. I had made buttonholes in the past and while they worked, they weren't great. They were not super neat and they had an annoying loop of yarn at one end that consistently caught on the … Continue reading Beautiful (and easy!) Buttonholes
There are a lot of different cast-on methods out there but I have to admit that the cable cast-on is my all time favorite. I use it about 95% of the time and I loooove the way it looks. Recently, I happened to watch a video of someone performing this technique (sorry, I don't remember … Continue reading My Take on the Cable Cast-on
Shawl knitting offers a lot of fun choices for the knit designer. After some general conceptualizing, the first specific choice is always: hmmmm, what shape of shawl do I want that shows off my stitches or texture or color work the best? If the answer is an equilateral triangle shawl, there are a couple of … Continue reading Try the CDI for triangular shawl magic
The best way to wash a woolen garment is by hand in cool water with only gentle squeezing to get rid of the excess water when done. This, of course, is a giant pain in the butt, so countless folks have resorted to throwing their woolies into the washer to save time (washers are a … Continue reading Yes, you CAN felt superwash wool
Today, I'm writing up a different kind of post. Instead of a knitting technique how-to or photos of some of my pieces, I thought I'd share some of my favorite, I might say even indispensable, online resources that I go to again and again. Some may well be familiar to you but maybe you'll see … Continue reading Online resources for knitters
Using multiple strands of yarn to create a colorful fabric is one of the most beautiful forms of knitting, imho. This is also known as Fair Isle knitting, (named after an island of Shetland in northern Scotland where it has long been practiced), particularly when traditional colors and motifs are employed. Instructions for the pattern(s) … Continue reading Interpreting Color-work Charts
Lizzie Knitzz 