Let’s end the week with a real treat, shall we? Confident Knitting designer Janette Budge was kind enough to take the time to answer some questions about lambing and life on a Shetland croft! Janette’s lived on Shetland her whole life and is a woman who has worn many (handknit) hats, from helping out on the family farm, to working in IT, to a career in Clinical Aromatherapy, as well as being a knitwear designer and tutor. So grab a cuppa and settle in for a great read!
Read moreTutorial Round-up: Stranded Colourwork
It’s been so exciting to see some really stunning versions of Janette Budge’s triumph of a toque, the Variance Hat, coming off the needles. Quite a few folks have tackled this as a first colourwork project, which is brilliant to see! Even though Janette’s design features eight shades of J&S 2ply Jumper Weight, you never use more than two colours on any given row, making it a very approachable introduction to colourwork (and one that is sure to wow your knitting and non-knitting friends alike).
Read moreThe Joy of Toe-Up Socks
I have some finished socks to show you, and oh are they bringing me joy!
Read moreKnitting Know-How: Understanding a Pattern With Multiple Sizes
When you think about it, knitting patterns are really an impressive bit of technology, in the broadest sense of the word. The best patterns manage to succinctly convey all the information you need to successfully turn a bit of yarn into a fully realised knitted object. And, very often, they include instructions for making that item in various sizes. Today, we’ve got a quick crash course in reading knitting patterns written for multiple sizes.
Read moreThere's more than one way to start a toe-up sock! (Crochet Provisional Cast On and Grafting Video Tutorials)
I love that my day job focusses on helping knitters learn new techniques. And I find it particularly fun when I can suggest using techniques in a way that might not be immediately obvious. Today, I’ve got a pair of video tutorials for the crochet provisional cast on and grafting, skills that you’ll use individually time and again over the course of a knitting career. But they’re also a pair that work together particularly well. I’ll dive into some of their more common uses in today’s post, but I also want to highlight a perhaps less obvious application: they make a great way to start toe-up socks if Judy’s Magic Cast on isn’t your cup of tea.
Read moreCatching Floats in Stranded Colourwork Knitting (Two Video Tutorials)
For this month’s Confident Knitting project, we’re focussed on floats! If you’ve ever knitted colourwork that’s turned out a bit lumpy and bumpy, or that looks a bit loose and sloppy, it was probably down to the floats being too tight, in the first instance, or too loose, in the second. Even floats equal even, beautiful stranded colourwork! Today, we’ve got two tutorials to help you catch your floats for even colourwork!
Read moreVariance Hat + Catching Floats in Stranded Colourwork
Happy release day! April showers were in short supply in our neck of the woods. If you too are still waiting for May flowers, never fear, today’s Confident Knitting pattern is bloomin’ marvellous. Take a gander at this spring-y beauty, the Variance Hat by Shetland designer extraordinaire, Janette Budge!
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