Introducing a multi-faceted and talented, fiber artist who does it all: knitting by hand or machine, crochet, dyeing, weaving, metallurgy, and more. Christina is a business woman running her own custom knitting business, in addition to being the yarn & knitting expert for a local hobby/craft chain, and does all this on top of home-schooling her two very active sons. The modern woman....super-woman! We are very lucky that her busy schedule allowed her to spend a day sharing her expertise with us.
While introducing herself and outlining her plan for our day, she modeled a vintage pattern T-shirt sweater, whose pattern she modified to incorporate a yoke, with yarn she had dyed herself. She also brought a fan favorite, a Northern Sky full circle shawl whose beads, on a background of night sky colored yarn, represent the different stars in the constellations of the northern hemisphere sky. "Stunning" is too understated a word to describe it, but it's the closest the thesaurus offered to fit the description.
Christina invited us to jump into her presentation, at any time, with questions on any topic. She agilely juggled it all.
TIPS:
On blocking:
- a natural fiber garment that has been blocked will "lose' the blocking if washed in hot or even warm water, acrylic is not a problem as it's
not a natural fiber
- garments washed in cold water will 'hold' their blocked shape
Beaded cast-on crochet chain stitch method for a circular project [hat, circle shawl, etc]:
-for the first bead......thread it on....grab & wrap around your hand a loop of yarn, where the yarn crosses for a second loop, the bead must be inside the loop, the next 4 steps make the first round of the pattern
- the working yarn will be the yarn on the "top' of the cross,
- work over both the working yarn and tail, so the tail won't need to be woven in later. KEEP ALL STITCHES on the crochet hook.
- when the correct amount of stitches are on the needle, sort them evenly among double-pointed needles [DPN]
- now tug firmly but carefully on the "tail" yarn to close the circle with the bead covering the center 'hole.
- continue according to pattern directions adding additional beads, one-at-a-time, with a crochet hook.
Knitting in round:
- put a safety pin or safety pin style stitch marker on the first stitch to always know where the beginning row starts.
- put another marker at the beginning of each row as it will shift as the rows increase the dimension of the project
Terms/things to look up later
Magic Circle Cast on
Use a crochet hook and a set of dpns
Tip: Loop Cast-on: do 1 extra st & drop it when you knit back to eliminate the one large loop that tends to happen when doing the Loop Cast-on.
Provisional Cast-on A
Provisional Cast-on B
With a high contract yarn, crochet cast on with a crochet hook:
Tip: You could also use a "nook" which is a crochet hook with a hole through the needle.
Tip: If you cast on too tightly on a regular basis, instead, hold two needles together and cast on over both needles. Then pull one needle out and knit as usual.
Blocking your project
Go to the fabric store and get a couple yards of terry cloth to roll your projects in
Go to Costco and get a package of their rubber floor tiles
Invest in Blocking Wires
Get stainless steel T-pins (20 are included in the above kit, but you probably will want more....)
You can also block just using cotton string and pins to keep costs down
Projects from Plant fibers - iron the project
Project from Protein fibers - wet block, spray lightly or steam
Blocking a triangular or crescent shawl:
Blocking PI Shawls
Blocking Acrylic (also known as "killing" acrylic)
Blocking hats
Blocking Cowls
Tip: When knitting a shawl beginning with a tab in the top center, cast on and knit with a needle size one size larger to make the tab lie flat when blocked.
Note: European 4-ply is our fingering weight; Hedgehog is finer (skinny single)
Tip: Cast off using a crochet hook
Note: Superwash wool goes thru a chemical process which removes the "burrs" on the yarnn which makes the wool itchy.
Tip: for really scratchy wool fibers - use regular hair conditioner in the water to soften the fibers
Tip: to dye plant fibers do direct dying with the "Tie Dye" brand of dye
Increasing
Increasing with a M1L or R
Increasing in a 1 by 1 rib
Increasing in a 2 by 2 rib
Knitting with Beads
Knitting Machine Discussion
Tip: when cabling, slip the sts to the cable needle kwise, then knit those sts thru the back loop
Things that we like that aren't necessarily knitting related:
While introducing herself and outlining her plan for our day, she modeled a vintage pattern T-shirt sweater, whose pattern she modified to incorporate a yoke, with yarn she had dyed herself. She also brought a fan favorite, a Northern Sky full circle shawl whose beads, on a background of night sky colored yarn, represent the different stars in the constellations of the northern hemisphere sky. "Stunning" is too understated a word to describe it, but it's the closest the thesaurus offered to fit the description.
Christina invited us to jump into her presentation, at any time, with questions on any topic. She agilely juggled it all.
TIPS:
On blocking:
- a natural fiber garment that has been blocked will "lose' the blocking if washed in hot or even warm water, acrylic is not a problem as it's
not a natural fiber
- garments washed in cold water will 'hold' their blocked shape
Beaded cast-on crochet chain stitch method for a circular project [hat, circle shawl, etc]:
-for the first bead......thread it on....grab & wrap around your hand a loop of yarn, where the yarn crosses for a second loop, the bead must be inside the loop, the next 4 steps make the first round of the pattern
- the working yarn will be the yarn on the "top' of the cross,
- work over both the working yarn and tail, so the tail won't need to be woven in later. KEEP ALL STITCHES on the crochet hook.
- when the correct amount of stitches are on the needle, sort them evenly among double-pointed needles [DPN]
- now tug firmly but carefully on the "tail" yarn to close the circle with the bead covering the center 'hole.
- continue according to pattern directions adding additional beads, one-at-a-time, with a crochet hook.
Knitting in round:
- put a safety pin or safety pin style stitch marker on the first stitch to always know where the beginning row starts.
- put another marker at the beginning of each row as it will shift as the rows increase the dimension of the project
Terms/things to look up later
- Mattress stitch vs kitchener stitch
- Jogless seam
- Weaver's knots
- Etsy: Gossamer Web
- Socks: after thought heel
- Bavarian knitting
- Bosnian toe
- Dragon Tails Cowl
- Suspended bead bind-off
Magic Circle Cast on
Use a crochet hook and a set of dpns
- Make a loop with the end of the yarn, working yarn on top
- Pull working yarn through with the crochet hook, and leave the loop in the hook
- add a total of 8 single sts on the crochet hook (do not use the tail!)
- work toward the tail, incorporating the tail within each stitch
- Put 2 sts onto each dpn, slipping from the butt end of the crochet hook
- After all 8 sts are distributed, grab all the dpns so nothing falls off
- Pull the tail to tighten the circle
Tip: Loop Cast-on: do 1 extra st & drop it when you knit back to eliminate the one large loop that tends to happen when doing the Loop Cast-on.
Provisional Cast-on A
- Cast on using a scrap of yarn using whatever cast on you prefer
- knit 1 row of mercerized crochet thread to create a row of "ravel yarn" that will be pulled out later
- Then knit with the actual project yarn until you need to join
- Pick up live sts at the beginning of the actual yarn froom the loops of the "ravel yarn"
- Pull the ravel yarn out
Provisional Cast-on B
With a high contract yarn, crochet cast on with a crochet hook:
- Crochet a chain with as many sts as you need, plus a few extras
- Put a st marker in the last loop to a) mark the end of the chain, b) keep the chain from unraveling until you're ready and c) pull out and unravel when you're ready to join.
- The chained crochet sts look like : <<<< on the top. Pick up the "purl" bump on the other side of the chain
- Pick up those sts onto the crochet hook
- When ready to join, unclasp the st marker at the end of the chain.
- Slowly take out one chain st at a time, putting the knitted st on the knitting needle when the that becomes loose.
- When picking up the live st from the chain as it unravels, the front leg of the knitted st should be closest to the needle tip.
Tip: You could also use a "nook" which is a crochet hook with a hole through the needle.
Tip: If you cast on too tightly on a regular basis, instead, hold two needles together and cast on over both needles. Then pull one needle out and knit as usual.
Blocking your project
Go to the fabric store and get a couple yards of terry cloth to roll your projects in
Go to Costco and get a package of their rubber floor tiles
- 8 pcs for $10 in the car cleaning supplies area
- They are heat resistant
- Screw them to a wall to create a blocking station that you can stand and use (otherwise use them on a large table or floor and you have to bend over)
Invest in Blocking Wires
- $19.70 at overstock.com includes twelve 36-inch rigid wires, two 24-inch flex wires, 20 steel 'T' pins, wire, blocking instructions, sturdy storage tube and yardstick
- https://www.overstock.com/Crafts-Sewing/Knit-Lace-Blocking-Wires-Kit/3344217/product.html?TID=QV2:VIEWALLDETAILS
Get stainless steel T-pins (20 are included in the above kit, but you probably will want more....)
You can also block just using cotton string and pins to keep costs down
Projects from Plant fibers - iron the project
Project from Protein fibers - wet block, spray lightly or steam
Blocking a triangular or crescent shawl:
- Use a tape measure
- Put a pin at the top center of the shawl, pinning the tape measure to the shawl so the tape can rotate outward from the pin.
- Then pull the tape measure out to the desired distance and pin the project in place
Blocking PI Shawls
- Use a tape measure
- Pin the tape measure in the center of the shawl,
- Rotate the tape in a circle, pulling the edge out and pinning in place
Blocking Acrylic (also known as "killing" acrylic)
- Iron on the wrong side of the project
- Steam on cotton, without a pressing cloth
- It looses stiffness, softens decreases density to create extra movement
Blocking hats
- Blow up a balloon inside the hat
- Do NOT blow up the balloon and attempt to put the wet hat ON the balloon
Blocking Cowls
- Use an umbrella swift or
- Fold in half and weave blocking wires thru both sides of the cowl until dry
Tip: When knitting a shawl beginning with a tab in the top center, cast on and knit with a needle size one size larger to make the tab lie flat when blocked.
Note: European 4-ply is our fingering weight; Hedgehog is finer (skinny single)
Tip: Cast off using a crochet hook
Note: Superwash wool goes thru a chemical process which removes the "burrs" on the yarnn which makes the wool itchy.
Tip: for really scratchy wool fibers - use regular hair conditioner in the water to soften the fibers
Tip: to dye plant fibers do direct dying with the "Tie Dye" brand of dye
Increasing
Increasing with a M1L or R
- When doing it in the round, it doesn't matter whether the M1 is right or left...it won't be seen.
- But if its done on an edge it will show and you should be careful about what the pattern calls for. Remember: M1R: pick up from the back, knit thru the front; M1L: pick up thru the front, then knit thru the back.
Increasing in a 1 by 1 rib
- k - pfkb
- p - kfpb
Increasing in a 2 by 2 rib
- You don't need to think that much
Knitting with Beads
- use a size 7 fillet lace crochet hook (or a 1.3mm regular crochet hook) and a #8 bead
- Put the bead on after you do the K2tog on that st and knit that st on the next row.
- If that st is slipped on the next row, the bead moves around.
- Use a bead iin place of a knitted nup or bobble
Knitting Machine Discussion
- The Ultimate Knitting Machine - an inexpensive first knitting machine
- https://www.amazon.com/Caron-The-Ultimate-Sweater-Machine/dp/B000WV051Q/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1490920260&sr=8-5&keywords=the+ultimate+knitting+machine
Tip: when cabling, slip the sts to the cable needle kwise, then knit those sts thru the back loop
Things that we like that aren't necessarily knitting related:
- Check out Burgers & Beer restaurant across from the Bow Tie Cinemas on the Boulevard....their Boozie Shakes are worth the trip!
- Josh Early Candies: get the jelly beans with the pectin - they are THE BEST! His chocolates are wonderful too.