Year of Stash Socks 2011 Challenge (by Deb Wunder)

Since I knit (and crochet) in public a lot, I am often asked why I knit and crochet.  The short answer is usually that, “It’s cheaper than therapy and I have socks (or whatever I am working on) when I’m done.”

When asked about spinning (I will use a drop spindle in public), the answer is that, “It’s cheaper than therapy, and I have yarn when I’m done.”

In truth, though, I knit and crochet because it’s what I do.  It’s what I’ve done ever since my parents taught me when I was a kid.  And, yes, I said parents.  My mother taught me to knit, but Pop taught me to crochet. (Pop also taught me the joys of geometrical design, but that’s another column.)

Like many craftspeople, I have my strengths and weaknesses.  My strengths are my color sense, and my love of textural knitting.  My weakness is designing, although I can claim one of the first toe-up sock patterns on the Web (“Deb’s Almost-Easy Toe-Up Sock),”  at Socknitters.com.

Currently, my favorite things to knit are socks, shawls, and shawlettes.  My favorite designers are many:  Wendy Johnson, Cookie A, Vickie Howell, Ysolda, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Mary Ann Beattie, and many others.  I have at least five projects going most of the time, and I switch back and forth depending on mood, event I will be at, and whether I can do the pattern from memory, or need a printout or proximity to a computer.

My current main project is the Year of Stash Socks 2011 Challenge.  This challenge involves making at least one of the offered patterns each month, or a “plain vanilla sock” of one’s choice.

When I am not plying needles or hooks, I am either making beaded jewelry, writing (I’m a freelance writer by trade), reading, walking, or some combination of the above.  I live in Brooklyn, NY, with a roommate and two cats, and I love to show off my city, wander through parks and museums, and try most of the ethnic foods so readily available in New York (Indian and Hispanic are particular favorites).

I look forward to meeting many of you online, and possibly in person if you are ever in New York City.

 

How do you make Christmas stockings? (by Ina Gilmore)

When my friend Erika asked if I could design a Christmas stocking, I thought, “Why not?”  Why let something small—like never having knit one before—stop a knitting project? 

Deciding to start at the beginning with some basic research, I plowed into the project.  After studying Christmas stockings’ construction, I decided it wouldn’t be any harder than knitting socks.  And was pleasantly surprised to find they were easier to knit than I thought.

So just how do you make Christmas stockings?

1. Knitting Christmas stockings is very similar to knitting socks.  Yes, the original Christmas stockings were actually stockings children wore the rest of the year.  So, the overall pattern is roughly the same as a sock pattern.
2. Modern Christmas stockings tend to be larger than socks. Larger in diameter and leg length, although the foot is often knit shorter.
3. To hide the stocking stuffers from little eyes, their stockings are often knit in stockinette stitch rather than a lace pattern.  Stockinette stitch is also a traditional pattern for stockings.  Stockinette stitch even gets its name from knitting stockings.
4. Because most Christmas stockings are knit in the round, stockinette stitch is all knit stitches.  Many knitters prefer the knit stitch to the purl stitch.
5. If this is one of your first projects knit in the round, the yarn and needles are usually heavier than those used to knit socks to be worn.  This makes knitting Christmas stockings easier, especially if you’re not used to knitting with either a set of double-pointed needles or two circular needles.
6. Christmas stockings usually are knit from the top down, although there’s no reason they couldn’t be knit from the bottom up.  You might have to adjust a motif or graph if you’re knitting your sock in more than one color.
7. Because the stocking is for decoration, the heel usually looks squared and is often different than the main stocking color.
8. The toe is often the same contrasting color as the heel.
9. And left-handed knitters will be happy to note that Christmas stockings can be knit left-handed, too.  If the pattern has an asymmetrical motif, you may end up with a mirror image unless you reverse the graph.  The good news is most Christmas motifs are either symmetric or can be just as lovely as a mirror image.

So you can see that knitting Christmas stockings isn’t so complicated after all!  And they’re fun to knit, then display or give away.  There is a picture of the Victorian version of Christmas Stocking to the left on this page.  See all 3 designs on the Stocking Kit page. 

Keep knitting to your heart’s delight — or someone else’s…Ina

When you’re ready to try a Christmas stocking, check out the kits The Naughty Knitterz made from the patterns I designed.   Find all three kits at http://theknittingyarn.com/stockingkits.

Article Source: http://theknittingyarn.com/?p=2506

Fixing a tight cast-on (by Ina Gilmore)

For the longest time, I had trouble knitting socks.  I’d cast on and the cast-on row was much tighter than the rest of the leg. Which meant I either had socks that fit in the leg and were too tight at the top cuff or the top fit and the rest of the leg was too loose.  Nothing worked.  That is until I knit my first pair of toe-up socks and discovered this elastic bind-off.  It was perfect! The leg fit me right and the bind-off was elastic enough. So of course I thought I’d just have to get used to knitting toe-up socks.

Almost immediately I found a traditional cuff down sock I really wanted to try. One I really needed to knit following the pattern before I tried it toe-up.  I searched and could not find a cast-on that was elastic enough. In frustration, I put the pattern aside and started another project.  A scarf. One with a lace pattern knit starting in the center, with a provisional cast-on and that’s when I had my “A-ha!” moment.

A provisional cast-on enabled me to knit the sock from the cuff down, remove the provisional row picking up the “live stitches” and use the elastic bind-off.  It worked! And quickly became my favorite cast-on for traditional socks.

Provisional cast-ons are used for a variety of projects including:

• A toe-up sock cast-on.
• Knitting from the middle out to the ends. This works especially well with a one-way design such as a cable or some lace patterns as in the scarf I knit. It also works well for patterns closed at both ends, such as knitting a ball.
• If you start a project but want to decided how the end will look later. One example is knitting a pair of socks, but you’re not sure how you want the cuffs to look. Knit the socks, and decide at the end.
• If you’re not sure you have enough yarn for a project. If you start a pair of socks above the ankle and knit the feet, you can then go back and knit the legs deciding on length. Or even changing to another yarn at the same place.

Wondering how to cast-on provisionally? This video shows you three techniques.  They all work and help you knit happy!

Are you a beginner?

If you’re a beginner you’ve come to the right place. Is casting on still a challenge for you?  Do you know a knit from a purl? Have you figured out how to ball your yarn or what the best yarn is to use for your project?  Let the experienced knitters on this site help you.  Help with knitting advice, tips and general guidance and some basic direction.

If you’re a beginner we want to hear from you. Tell us what challenges you.  We collectively will help you develop you knitting skill.  We’ve included a few videos that we believe offer good insight to basic knitting techniques. Naughty Knitterz  is here to enable collaboration and to help you master the craft of knitting.

One thing…remember try not to get frustrated and Knit Happy!