BLOG: FreshStitches

Too tight foundation row?

June 22, 2010

For some amigurumi pieces, you’ll need to crochet a foundation row, instead of working straight out from a circle. An example is when I was crocheting the leg of Gordon the Flamingo.

Sometimes, when you begin with a foundation chain, the stitches in the chain can be too small, making the top of the leg look a little anemic.

But don’t worry… there’s an easy solution!

If your foundation rows tend to be a little tight, all you need to do is go up a hook size when you crochet the first chains! For example, my pattern called for a size H hook, so I would use a size I to crochet the foundation chain. Then, continue as usual (with your normal sized hook). And, as you can see below, the top of the leg flows nicely into the rest of the animal… no chain-induced restriction!

This tip will also work wonderfully on blankets, or any other piece where the chain row tends to get tight.

Here are handy links to all the crochet troubleshooting posts. . .

Return to the main table of contents for Let’s Learn to Crochet Amigurumi.

Happy stitching!

Free Knitting Pattern: Easy Peasy Socks!

June 15, 2010

I just designed a pair of socks for my beginning sock knitting class… and have made the pattern a free download! These socks are designed with the first-time sock knitter in mind. Sock knitting can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. All you need to be able to do is work in the round, decrease and pick up stitches, and you can make these socks!

Click here to download!

These are worsted weight socks, which means that they’ll be warm, and work up quickly. They may not be the socks that you want to wear every day, but I think that you’ll be a less discouraged sock knitter if you learn the basics on a project that you’ll finish quickly. Save your pretty self-striping sock-weight yarn for your next pair.

Warning: This pattern is annotated with lots of helpful hints & notes… it’s sorta like a transcript of what a sock class with me is like. This is probably very boring if you’ve knit socks before!

Notes on the pattern for those interested in teaching: I designed this pattern to teach first-timers to knit socks, so there are a number of simplifying design features:

Short cuff, so it’s quick to get started learning ‘sock-y’ things
No leg, same reason as above
No need to keep track of ‘needle 1 and needle 2’ like some sock patterns… because everyone always looses track!
Heel flap is worked in stockinette, no fancy pattern to remember
Only one round to remember for gusset decreases, so you don’t need to keep track of what round you’re on
Worsted weight goes fast!

As with all of my patterns, you’re welcome to sell anything you make with the pattern. Please do not sell or repost the pattern itself without permission. 🙂

This sock pattern makes use of the ‘ssk’ decrease. This is a decrease over two stitches, and is not achieved by ‘slip 1, slip 1, knit 1’. If you are unfamiliar with this decrease, please check out this video.

Need more help?

Need more sock help? I recommend the visual-oriented learners take Donna Drachunas’s Knit Sock Workshop on Craftsy. It’s a video course, so you’ll learn everything you need to know!

Happy stitching!

Best,
Stacey

Free Pattern: crocheted square washcloth!

June 9, 2010

Who doesn’t love crocheted washcloths? This pattern is worked in the round, so you can make the washcloth as large as you’d like without too much advance planning!

You’ll need:

yarn Cotton works best, I’ve used a worsted weight yarn to make the washcloths pictured
a hook Use the hook size recommended on the yarn’s ball band. I use a size H for worsted weight yarn
a stitch marker (optional) (for marking the start of the round)

Of course, you can use any size yarn that you’d like, as long as you use a crochet hook to suit. For the washcloths pictured (which are about 8″ square), about 50-60 yards was used.

The Pattern

abbreviations
sc: single crochet
st(s): stitch(es)

pattern notes
If you’d like to get the ‘ridges’ that are shown in the sample washcloths, then crochet through the back loop only. For a ‘more traditional’ look, crochet through both loops. This decision is purely stylistic, and you’ll have a great washcloth either way.

The general pattern is that you’ll sc 3 times in each corner stitch. The row-by-row pattern is written out below. For this pattern, each round will finish a stitch or two short of what you may expect. It’s done this way so that the written pattern is less complicated. Just roll with it for a round or two, and you’ll quickly discover the general pattern… and can continue on your own!

To start, ch 2
Round 1: Sc 8 times in 2nd chain from hook (8)
Round 2: * Sc 1, sc 3 in next st. Repeat from * 3 times. (16)
Round 3: Sc in next 2 sts. * Sc 3 times in next st, Sc in next 3 sts. Repeat from * 2 times. Sc 3 times in next st, sc in next st. (24)
Round 4: Sc in next 3 sts. * Sc 3 times in next st, sc in next 5 sts. Repeat from * 2 times. Sc 3 times in next st, sc in next 2 sts. (32)
Round 5: Sc in next 4 sts. * Sc 3 times in next st, sc in next 7 sts. Repeat from * 2 times. Sc 3 times in next st, sc in next 3 sts. (40)
Round 6: Sc in next 5 sts. * Sc 3 times in next st, sc in next 9 sts. Repeat from * 2 times. Sc 3 times in next st, sc in next 4 sts. (48)

Keep working this pattern until your washcloth is the size you want! The general pattern is to single crochet three times in each corner stitch… and to keep going! Easy!

Best,
Stacey

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Using a Nostepinne

May 25, 2010

In this blog post, I’m going to show you how I used a sunscreen bottle to wind a beautiful center-pull ball of yarn!

When you purchase yarn that comes in a hank, you’ll need to wind it before using. You can usually wind your yarn at your local friendly yarn store when you purchase it… however, if you want to wind your yarn into a ball at home (maybe because it’s midnight and you’re itching to start a new project), you’ll have to come up with something else.

Some folks own a their own ball winders… but, the nice ball winders can be pricey, and the cheap ones can be unreliable. I used to wind my yarn on my hands… but you either wind up with a ball (pretty, but not center-pull), or you wind a center-pull ball on your hands, which makes your fingers feel all squished. (Read here for why you may want to use a center pull ball.) I’d heard about using a Nostepinne for winding balls… and not being one to splurge on new tools, I decided to give it a try, but using a sunscreen bottle.

A Nostepinne is (usually) a wooden stick used to wind beautiful balls of yarn. One end of the Nostepinne is tapered, so that the ball easily slides off. Since a ‘real’ Nostepinne doesn’t have too many intricate details, I found a suitable replacement in my medicine cabinet… a bottle of sunscreen! I found this set of instructions for using a Nostepinne.

I grabbed my sunscreen, and set to work. I used the ‘football-shaped’ method of winding yarn, simply because it was quick and easy. As I wound more balls, the process got to be quite quick. Below, you’ll see a photo of the yarn still on the bottle.

Then, I pulled the ball off of the bottle, and it looks lovely! It sits nicely (doesn’t roll around) and is center-pull. Yay!

So, you don’t need to buy a ‘real Nostepinne’ to get great results. Find something in your cabinet and give it a try!

Here are handy links to all the posts about yarn. . .

Return to the main table of contents for Let’s Learn to Crochet Amigurumi.

Move on to the lessons for the basic crochet stitches.

Happy stitching!

A finished Clapotis and some tips

May 5, 2010

Tips for knitting Clapotis
Just the other day, I finished my clapotis, a wonderful scarf/wrap pattern by Kate Gilbert available as a free download on knitty. Clapotis is a wrap that makes use of dropped stitches for a great finished texture. It’s a very popular pattern (over 14,000 people on ravelry have made it), and no wonder! The pattern is easy to remember and it’s fun to do!

tips for knitting clapotis
After a successful Clapotis attempt, I learned a couple tips and tricks to share. These tips will be most useful once you’ve familiarized yourself with the pattern.

selecting a yarn Keep in mind that you’ll need to drop lots of stitches (on purpose) for this pattern. That will be easier to do if your yarn isn’t fuzzy or sticky. I used a 50% wool 50% silk for mine, which I loved, but dropping the stitches took a bit of effort because it clung to itself. If a yarn is hard to unravel, then it’s going to be hard to drop stitches.
switching yarns If you’re using multiple balls of yarn, you’ll have to change yarns at some point. Some folks are ‘switch yarns at the end of the row’ people, but I’m a ‘switch yarns in the middle of the row’ sort. If you’re like me, it’ important to switch yarns in the middle of a k3 sequence. This will ensure that your change isn’t near a stitch that will be dropped, and also give you solid surroundings to weave in your ends.
customizing Don’t forget that you can change the size from what is called for in the pattern (either by changing the number of increase repeats- to alter width- or the number of straight repeats- to change length)! Mine is much longer than what is called for, so I can wrap it around me oodles of times! If you’re looking for a quick project, you can do a skinny scarf version.
knitting through the back loop Don’t forget to knit through the back loop… especially the row after you’ve done your yarn overs! If you forget on this particular row, it will look very sad when you drop the stitches. And, the saddest part is… you will have knitted lots of rows before you find out!
instead of stitch markers If you’re low on stitch markers, you can purl the stitch that you’re going to drop. This will remind you when to knit through the back loop without oodles of little rings. (thanks, Ravlery, for that tip!)

If you’re interested, you can check out the full details of my clapotis project. I loved it so much, I’ve already started a second one!

How to work with two yarns at once

April 29, 2010

I often get asked about the best way to work with two yarns at once. So, in this post, I’ll talk about the pros and cons of three different ways of working with a double yarn.

Of course, for any amigurumi pattern, you can crochet with two yarns at once, use a bigger hook and follow the pattern… and you’ll end up with a bigger animal! Fun! (shown above: a giant Nelson the Owl!)

Working with two balls of yarn

The most obvious way of working with two yarns at once is to simply hold two strands of yarn together from two separate balls of yarn.

advantages

If you purchase your yarn already in balls, you don’t have to do much… just find the ends and go!
If you want to do some interesting yarn combinations (such as hold one strand of plain yarn together with one strand of beaded yarn- which I’ve done when knitting a felted bag), no additional work needs to be done.
Since the balls of yarn are independent, it’s okay if one ball is longer/shorter than another. Just work on a new second ball when one runs out.
You can hand-wind your balls of yarn. Since you can work from the outside of the yarn, there’s no need to make center-pull balls (which either require a ball winder or a specialized hand-winding technique).

disadvantages

Balls can sometimes be unruly. With this technique, some people struggle with keeping both balls of yarn in the same place, or keeping them from becoming hopelessly tangled. If you want to avoid this, consider winding two center-pull balls, and only working from the center. This eliminates (at least lessens the amount of) the ‘rolling-around factor’.
If you purchase your yarns in skeins, you’ll need to wind two skeins at a time to work in this technique. This can sometimes be inconvenient.
If you’re working on a small project that doesn’t need two balls worth of yarn, this technique requires modification. You can divide your yarn in half, and work with two smaller balls, but in my opinion, this eliminates the ‘easy advantage’ of this technique.

Work from two ends of a center-pull ball

A second technique is to work from both ends of a center-pull ball: holding the yarn that comes from the center together with the yarn that comes from the outside.

advantages

You only need to wind one ball of yarn at a time: particularly great if your project requires only one ball of yarn, or an odd number of balls.
You can do this ‘straight off the shelf’ with many yarns packaged as balls – most are center-pull.

disadvantages

You’ll need to make center-pull balls… which either require a ball winder or a specialized hand-winding technique.
This, like working with two balls at once, can sometimes become tangled and a little unruly.

Winding two balls of yarn together

A third technique is to wind two balls of yarn together, and then knit or crochet with the two ends.

advantages

This technique is easy to work from: no ends or stray balls to get tangled.
You can hand-wind your balls of yarn. Since you can work from the outside of the yarn, there’s no need to make center-pull balls (which either require a ball winder or a specialized hand-winding technique).
If you purchase your yarn in skeins, winding two yarns together takes half the amount of time as winding two separate balls of yarn.

disadvantages

If you purchase your yarn already in balls, this technique takes extra time to get started.
If you’re working on a small project that doesn’t need two balls worth of yarn, this technique requires modification. You can divide your yarn in half, and then wind these two smaller balls together…but that makes this technique more time-intensive.

So, there you go! Hopefully, one of these techniques will be right for you!

Best,
Stacey

How to divide a ball of yarn in half

April 5, 2010

The other day, I started another pair of two-at-a-time socks. I can get one pair of socks from a 220 yard ball of yarn… but to do this technique, you need to separate the ball into two smaller balls of yarn. So, how do you get two even balls of yarn without using a yardstick to measure the yardage?

I find that the easiest way to divide a ball of yarn in half is to weigh the ball of yarn as you wind it into a second ball. A postage scale is great for weighing yarn, because it is often fairly accurate to a tenth of an ounce… something your regular bathroom scale won’t do.

For my socks, I was using a ball of Ella Rae, which weighs 3.5 oz. So, I pulled the yarn out of the center of the ball and began winding. I knew I would want to stop winding when the scale read 1.8 oz (which is close to half of 3.5… with rounding).

P3110014

Just to verify, I weighed the ball that I had just wound, and it was 1.8 ounces as well! An evenly divided ball of yarn!

How to uncurl the cord on your circular knitting needles

March 22, 2010

It’s one of the biggest problems with circular knitting needles: the cord is often all twisted! When too curly, the needle is difficult to work with… and it’s often in it’s curly state when it comes out of the package or after being stored for a while (as pictured in photo 1, above). Fortunately, it’s an easy problem to solve.

To untwist a curly needle cord, just soak it in warm water (photo 2, above)!

The warm water relaxes the cord, and it will come out nicely uncurled… all ready for you to begin knitting! How easy is that?

Free Pattern: Persephone slouchy beret

March 3, 2010

This slouchy beret is deceptively simple to knit, and makes use of one color-changing yarn and one complimentary solid color to create a gorgeous design. In this sample, I used handspun yarn as the colorful yarn, but any number of commercial yarns would look wonderful, including: Noro Silk Garden, Crystal Palace’s Mochi Plus or Noro Kureyon.

For this pattern, you will need:

100 yards of a variegated worsted weight yarn (I used handspun, but see suggestions above)
100 yards of a complimenting solid color (I used Stonehedge Fiber Mill’s Shepherd’s Wool… super soft merino!)
size 5 (3.75mm) 16 inch circular needle
size 5 (3.75mm) double point needles for the top
a stitch marker
tapestry needle
a length of 1mm elastic (optional)

Persephone Slouchy Beret: the pattern
Gauge: 6 sts/in
MC: solid color
CC: variegated color

With MC, CO 100 sts
Rounds 1-6: * k1, p1. Repeat from * until end of round.
Round 7: * k2, m1. Repeat from * until end of round.
Round 8: * k6, m1. Repeat from * until end of round. (175)
Rounds 9-10: With CC, knit in each st.
Rounds 11-12: With MC, knit in each st.
Repeat rounds 9-12 (essentially, knit while switching colors every two rounds) until piece measures 5.5″ from end of ribbing. This is approximately 50 rounds. Add more rounds for more ‘slouch’, fewer rounds for less.

Helpful Tip: twist the strands of yarn when you are switching colors (as when working intarsia). This will prevent a gap from forming between the color changes.

Now, begin your decreases
Decrease Round 1: * k2tog, k23. Repeat from * until end of round.
Round 2: * k2tog, k22. Repeat from * until end of round.
Round 3: * k2tog, k21. Repeat from * until end of round.
Continue in this pattern (one fewer knit stitch between decreases per round) until 7 sts remain.
Cut yarn, and thread tail through remaining sts and knot!

This brim is slightly loose. To assure a snug fit, run elastic through the brim, or use a smaller size needle when working the ribbing. Wear proudly!

I was inspired by the changing of the seasons in designing this hat. I love the variation in color across the beret, and it’s versatile enough to be used as a winter hat, or a stylish spring beret. Hence the name.

According to Greek myth, Persephone was abducted by Hades and (making a long story short) was tricked into spending 3 months of each year in the underworld. Her mother, goddess of fertility of the Earth, was so distraught at losing her daughter that nothing could blossom on Earth in her absence. Upon Persephone’s return, her mother delighted, and the Earth blossomed with new fruits and vegetation. (Get it? Winter and spring!)

Enjoy!

Morris and Sons: Sydney, NSW, Australia

February 3, 2010

store: Morris and Sons (formerly Tapestry Craft)
address: 50 York St, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
website: www.morrisandsons.com.au
date of visit: January, 2010

This is my last post about the yarn shops I visited in my recent trip to Australia (although, fingers crossed that I’ll go back soon!). And, although I don’t mean to play favorites, I saved the best for last: Morris and Sons. It’s my favorite probably because it’s most like what us Americans think of as a ‘yarn store’: it’s a destination for people in love with yarn. What do I mean? They have Sit & Knit sessions, they have knowledgeable salespeople… gosh darn it, they have staff who are on Ravelry! And the staff will chat with you about what they are working on, and what they recommend, because they know their stuff. I really love that. And, as you can see in the photo at left, they have a table! Because they teach classes! It’s wonderful, really. Coming from America, I didn’t think any of this was too exciting, until I went to a large number of yarn stores that just sold yarn. I’ve come to love the community aspect of a yarn store… and this place has it.

Okay, enough of my ramblings about the greater functions of yarn stores in society… onto the details. Morris and Sons is a two-floor store, with needlepoint and such on the top floor, and knitting & crochet yarns on the bottom floor. Like I said, they have classes, a table, a book corner and of course, lots of yarn. As is the case in most places in Australia, the focus tends to be on lighter weight yarns (because it’s really warm!), but this place has a sizable selection in all weights. Noro, Jo Sharp, NZ Naturally, Debbie Bliss and Fila di Crosa are just some of the lovely brands that are there. And… here’s the most exciting part: for each type of yarn they have, they knit up an entire ball into a swatch! So, not only are you able to see how the yarn looks when it’s worked up, but you can get an idea of how much is in a ball… hooray!

In addition to yarns, there is also a wonderful needle/notions selection… including interchangeable circulars. And, although I haven’t yet ordered, they have an online shop, so it’s easy to browse their stock.

One final note for visitors… it’s right in the heart of downtown, so it’s really easy to get to! Get to either the City Centre or Wynyard subway stops, and just ask a person on the street, “I’m trying to get to York St., between Market & King”, and you’ll be pointed in the right direction (Sydney actually isn’t too big of a city). So, if you’re in Sydney, there’s no excuse not to stop by!

Need more help?

Working with two balls of yarn

Work from two ends of a center-pull ball

Winding two balls of yarn together

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