the grey lady’s skein holders
if you find yourself celebrating memorial day in nantucket (aka the grey lady) this weekend, do check-out the nantucket whaling museum (more…)
shaking it up with color
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of the dream,
Wandering by lone sea breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams; —
World losers and world forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems
– Arthur O’Shaughnessy, Music and Moonlight
THE LO-DOWN
the first time we laid our eyes on 2 color shaker stitch, we thought it was a miracle. vertical stripes appear while knitting horizontally, it almost seems as if accomplished through intarsia, in which colors changes occur after every stitch. and, when we flipped it over, we were even more impressed by how the color variation subtlely shifted. shaker stitch fabric is double layered and has got a lot of stretch, making it perfect for anything comfy and cozy.
that said, 2 color shaker stitch can be a little tricky at first and can seem a bit counter intuitive; you’re actually knitting into these things that look like purls and vice versa. once you’ve got a few rows under your belt, however, it whips up in a breeze. we’ve provided a step-by-step tutorial that will hopefully clear up any confusion. (more…)
tutorial: shaker stitch in 2 colors, knit flat
2 color shaker stitch knit flat is a bit tricky, so we’re providing a step-by-step tutorial to show you how we do it. (more…)
very un-queen of hearts
I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. There goes the shawl again!”
– Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
THE LO-DOWN
sometime around valentine’s day, we picked up a bit of yarn that we had lying around and started futzing around to make a heart pattern. we started with one colour knits & purls and constructed a heart motif. being all in one shade, the heart motif is rather subtle–and, very un-queen of hearts. but we think it might make for an interesting pattern if repeated over and over again. to make it pop, one could either embroider the outline of the heart with a different coloured yarn, or use a contrasting colour with intarsia or fair isle technique. (more…)
mr. centipede’s crossed stitch
“My friends, this is the Centipede, and let me make it known
He is so sweet and gentle that (although he’s overgrown)
The Queen of Spain, again and again, has summoned him by phone
To baby-sit and sing and knit and be a chaperone
When nurse if off and all the royal children are all alone.”
– Roald Dahl, James and the Giant Peach
THE LO-DOWN
this two row repeat is easy to remember and just as fun to stitch. it makes a fun crossed stitch pattern that reminds us of its distant cousin, the wicker stitch in its relaxed form. when stretched out horizontally, crossed-stitch is almost lacey, it kind of looks like a thick 1 cm cable connected by lacey ladders in between. or if you really squint, a bit like a thick centipede with two thin little legs sticking out at each cross stitched segment. (more…)
cabling in the land of illusions
A couplet in smaller characters was inscribed vertically on either side of the arch:
Truth becomes fiction when the fiction’s true;
Real becomes not-real where the unreal’s real– Cao Xueqin, The Story of the Stone: Vol 1
THE LO-DOWN
we love cables! but often times, we find that faux cabling fits life on the go a bit better (no bothering with a cable needle when riding on a train, plane or automobile). this faux cable stitch is really a simple rib stitch with a twist — every few rows, a slipped stitch is passed over 2 knitted stitches. as an added bonus, the back of the piece is a neat K1, P3 rib stitch — making it a cable with a neat and presentable back-side.
which begs the question: is it a cable illusion, or a really great stitch?
one more thing to note: the swatch stretches out a lot horizontally when lightly steamed. before blocking, it measured a 4″ square. post steaming, it grew 3/4″ in width. (more…)
two laces in one
The two oaks lean apart for light.
They aren’t as strong as lone oaks
but in a wind they give each other lee.
— William Meredith, A Couple of Trees
THE LO-DOWN
gauge really matters when it comes to lace stitches. on the left, we knit a lacey leaf pattern with worsted weight camel yarn on US6 needles. the pattern ended up coming out like a really organic cable pattern rather than something full of holes and curves. on the right, we re-knit the same stitch pattern on US6 needles using a bit of lace weight yarn that we had in our stash — that simple change brought out the lacy-ness of the pattern. we held the swatch up to the light so that the pattern would better pop. (more…)
double, double
Double, double toil and trouble
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble– William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act IV, Sc. I: Three witches
THE LO-DOWN
whenever you spy seed stitch (or point de riz, as the french would say), double seed stitch is never very far behind with all the confusing nomenclature in tow. double seed stitch is sometimes known as double moss stitch; moreover, there’s a similar knit pattern, except that it features a “K2, P2” repeat, which sometimes goes by double seed stitch as well. did we confuse you enough already? fortunately, double seed stitch is a very easy knit stitch — you alternate between knitting a “rib” and a “seed stitch” row.
seed stitch and double seed stitch are quite similar; however, with fewer purl bumps, double seed stitch ends up being a wee bit softer to the touch, and a tad bit more stretchy. plus, if you stare at it long enough, and at a certain angle, it looks as if you’ve got a diagonal rib running across. although, if you’re going after a diagonal effect, there are other stitches we would send your way.
(and yes, we’ve got macbeth on our minds. . . ) (more…)
warrior wicker
The strongest of all warriors are these two—Time and Patience.
– Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, War and Peace
THE LO-DOWN
wicker stitch (aka criss cross stitch) is kind of like a hybrid between a cross stitch and a 2 stitch cable. no cable needle is required to make this stitch; however, the tightness of the stitch does make the knitting process a bit more challenging. the wicker pattern produces a surprisingly dense, rigid and unyielding fabric — we kind of imagine it to be perfect for making things suitable for doing battle with old man winter, an arresting area rug, or anything that needs to stand up to a lot of wear and tear. as it is, our swatch is making for a fantastic coaster for all those pesky mugs of tea we have floating around.
the flexibility of the fabric will increase somewhat through use of a larger pair of needles. for our swatch, we selected US6 needles with our baby camel worsted weight wool; the resulting swatch stands up straight when leaned against a wall! (more…)
seeds of time
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear– William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 1, Sc. 3: Banquo
THE LO-DOWN
known in the US as seed stitch, our cousins across the pond sometimes refer to this stitch as moss stitch, which back on our side of the pond, is something we call double seed stitch. our minds go dizzy trying to keep the different names for this basic stitch straight. we’ll just call it seed stitch for now, and it refers to a stitch where (if knitting in the round) the knit stitches are purled in the next row and vice versa.
because fabrics made with this texture do not furl, the seed stitch is a wonderful alternative to the garter stitch for borders. it’s also pretty darn swell all by itself. the seed stitch is less stretchy and a bit thinner than the garter stitch. it takes just 36 rows to knit a swatch 5 1/4″ in height versus 46 rows in the garter stitch.
we’re pretty much enamoured with this charming and timeless stitch, and we’re almost always knitting up seed stitch, and its close relative, the double seed stitch, on our needles! (more…)