1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love silk yarn - it has that dry feeling that I like very much.
Acrylic yarn is the yukkiest, I think.
2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I decided to use the top drawer of a small chest of drawers in my knitting room (my spare bedroom and studio). It works very well and is large enough to hold the entire 30-year collection.
3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I've been knitting for 45 years and my mother taught me to knit. I'd describe my skill level as advanced - I'm designing things now. But I still learn new things frequently thanks to all the cool knitting bloggers!
4. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I crochet, tat, embroider, sew, quilt, a little weaving and paper arts.
5. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I don't wear ponchos, but living in upstate New York requires being able to wear lots of things to keep warm. A hat is necessary most of the winter, and scarves do a wonderful job of keeping the cold away.
6. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Simple shapes made of fabulous fabrics that I invent as I go along. I also like intarsia color knitting.
7. What are you knitting right now?
Er...umm...about 20 different things.
8. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
My current faves are wood straight needles.
9. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Both!! They are wonderful! I recommend getting them to anyone who is pretty much continually knitting.
10. How old is your oldest UFO?
I would have to say at least a year, but I don't really care to keep track. Eventually if it's become totally uninspiring I rip it out and make something else that holds my interest.
11. Is there anything that you collect?
Yarn and interesting hand made papers.
12. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Book: Knitting Beyond the Edge by Nicki Epstein
Yarns: Just about anything by Colinette
Needles: I'm starting to try smaller guages, so I'd like to get some nice wood needles in size 7 and smaller.
Subscriptions: I don't subscribe but buy interesting issues of Knitter's, Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, Knit1, and others that are attractive.
13. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Gloves.
14. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
No - they scare me!
Showing posts with label knitting journal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label knitting journal. Show all posts
Friday, December 15, 2006
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
In the studio
I'm starting to do some of the things that wise knitters who write books recommend, and I'm pleased with the results.
Although it has taken more than a year to get up and running, I now have a knitting journal that contains all the labels of the yarns that I use with a sample strand of the yarn wrapped around the label. That way I not only know what I've used for projects, but the care instructions and fiber contents. I use transparent tape to stick the label to the page, or a stapler.
And now I've begun to make swatches, but that's still a rough practice and I wouldn't call it a habit yet. I've swatched a few yarns and put them on the pages of the journal with the labels, just to see what they look like worked up into fabrics, not much writing. Over the past few days I swatched a cotton and silk blend, then figured out from the swatch how to create a nightgown by using measurements to figure out how many stitches to cast on and approximately how many rows it's going to take.
The swatch is stapled onto the journal page along with sketches of the garment and measurements as well as a record of the guage and which needles I'm using. Tape will eventually let go, so I'll probably start to use the stapler to fasten things to the pages or sew them in, which I have also tried successfully.
It's not a complicated garment, but it was very cool to design it using a plan rather than something in my head that has no rational basis for completion, just a hunch. Once I'm done with the gown, I'm going to make a hip length kimono with short sleeves from the same yarn, same guage. I'm diggin' it. And I also need the gown and kimono.
Photos to come when I get in the mood with the camera.
Although it has taken more than a year to get up and running, I now have a knitting journal that contains all the labels of the yarns that I use with a sample strand of the yarn wrapped around the label. That way I not only know what I've used for projects, but the care instructions and fiber contents. I use transparent tape to stick the label to the page, or a stapler.
And now I've begun to make swatches, but that's still a rough practice and I wouldn't call it a habit yet. I've swatched a few yarns and put them on the pages of the journal with the labels, just to see what they look like worked up into fabrics, not much writing. Over the past few days I swatched a cotton and silk blend, then figured out from the swatch how to create a nightgown by using measurements to figure out how many stitches to cast on and approximately how many rows it's going to take.
The swatch is stapled onto the journal page along with sketches of the garment and measurements as well as a record of the guage and which needles I'm using. Tape will eventually let go, so I'll probably start to use the stapler to fasten things to the pages or sew them in, which I have also tried successfully.
It's not a complicated garment, but it was very cool to design it using a plan rather than something in my head that has no rational basis for completion, just a hunch. Once I'm done with the gown, I'm going to make a hip length kimono with short sleeves from the same yarn, same guage. I'm diggin' it. And I also need the gown and kimono.
Photos to come when I get in the mood with the camera.
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