Sometimes when working with more than one color in crochet, I’m thinking stripes, it is more practical, and economic, to carry the yarn and not cut it until you are finished with it. Cutting the yarn creates more ends to weave in, very few of us actually enjoy that, and it often uses more yarnContinue reading “Carrying Yarn in Crochet”
Category Archives: tips and tricks
Airing Out Woollies
About once or twice a year, depending on when I think about it, I air out my woollies, refresh the mothballs and move things around. This is to head off the moths, check for damage, deal with an infestation if needed and switch things out for the season. I will post in future about howContinue reading “Airing Out Woollies”
Picking Up Stitches to Knit
Knowing how to pick up and knit/purl stitches is a valuable skill that is pretty simple to learn. Most knitters worry about leaving holes when they pick up stitches. That is a legit concern but there is an easy way around that to give you the assurance and confidence that your finished work will lookContinue reading “Picking Up Stitches to Knit”
Caring for Your Body While Stitching
While stitching has many health benefits, it can be hard on our bodies if we aren’t intentional and careful. I know many of you have probably heard this before, but are you listening? Have you applied what you’ve heard? In this convenient, everything-at-your-fingertips-on-your-phone world, it has become all too easy to sit in one placeContinue reading “Caring for Your Body While Stitching”
Swatching
A couple of weeks ago when I wrote the post about Gauge vs. Tension I said that I would write another post and share some details about swatching, so here we are. There are many crocheters and knitters who don’t like swatching and never do it. Swatching is still stitching, I’m not sure why weContinue reading “Swatching”
Bag of Tricks Lesson 1
I am a Western knitter! Still a left handed knitter but a Western knitter. The Western part, thankfully, doesn’t change how I read a pattern. It does change how I want to teach others how to knit moving forward and what words and phrases I will use when writing patterns. It’s not the Western partContinue reading “Bag of Tricks Lesson 1”
Vintage Crochet Technique #1
This is the first installment in what I am hoping will become a series, not scheduled but shared as I stumble upon them, of vintage crochet techniques. What do I mean by that? Techniques in crochet, either in the stitching or in the writing, that were the “norm” about 40 years ago, but that confuseContinue reading “Vintage Crochet Technique #1”
Spit and Splice and other Joints
There are many different ways to join a new ball of yarn or a new color, some are neater than others. I published a tutorial yesterday of 3 of my favorite ways to join yarn together. Here I will also include some pictures of a couple of those joins in action. The Magic Join isContinue reading “Spit and Splice and other Joints”
Preparation Counts!
From cooking to road trips to movie night, preparation can make a big difference. Like many other areas in life, fiber arts is no exception to this idea. The better you prepare for a project, the better that project will go. For a new stitching project you gather the yarn, thread, tools and instructions. ThenContinue reading “Preparation Counts!”
Tutorial Choices
I love love sharing the different tricks I discover, learn and to take a word from Elizabeth Zimmerman, unvent. There are many ways to share those. In person and that is my favorite. Through photo tutorials, which I have done a few of and the easiest for us all I think, video tutorials. These takeContinue reading “Tutorial Choices”
