Tag Archives: crochet

Q for You: How do you block your finished knits?

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How to block knitting

The web is full of articles and blog posts about how to block finished knits. I don’t feel like it’s that deep of a subject, but it’s one that everyone has their own idiosyncratic little twist on. Which is what I love about these Q for You discussions — you just never know what ingenious things might be said!

I know that virtually everything should be “blocked” when the knitting or crocheting is finished, as it not only allows you to shape your finished piece into its finest glory, but it also causes the individual stitches to stop resisting and relax into their new poses. It’s absolutely critical for all kinds of things I don’t actually knit, like intricate lace shawls with scalloped edges. Some will find this scandalous or naive, but I personally think it’s less critical for the kinds of things I knit. I do block my sweaters. I block a shawl even if it’s just a triangle, because it will be a much, much nicer triangle after blocking. But I don’t always block the little stuff — mitts and hats and such — especially if they’re just ribbing and/or stockinette. I figure it won’t be long before they need a soak for cleaning purposes anyway, am I right?

My blocking method is totally 101: I fill a plastic tub or large bowl with barely lukewarm water and some rinseless wool wash. (Like Eucalan or Soak.) I drop in the knitted item, squeeze it a little bit, very gently, to get it good and waterlogged. Then I leave it for at least half an hour. When it’s had a good soak, I hold it against the side of the bowl and tip out all of the water. Then I press it against the side of the bowl, pour out that water; repeat. When I’ve gotten out as much as I can, I gently squeeze it (never wring it) in my hands. Then I lay the object flat on a dry towel (or two, depending), roll up the towel, and stand on it, walking back and forth across the towel roll if it contains a sweater, before laying the knit flat on a dry towel on my kitchen table, shaping it as necessary. To speed up the drying process and, more important, keep the cats away, I point a fan at it while it dries. The only time I have ever felt the need to use blocking wires and pins was my Textured Shawl, and in that case it was well worth the extra effort.

I know other people use shampoo, salad spinners, spin cycles on top-loading washers, and also have VERY strong opinions about blocking … so let’s hear it. What’s your blocking process or best tips?

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PREVIOUSLY in Q for You: Who do you knit for?

Triangle sweater update and Elsewhere

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Martha McQuade Gridjunky yarn bomb Pittsburgh bridge

Happy Labor Day! Otherwise known as Monday, for those of you not in the USA. Before I get to the links, I want to make sure everyone got the update on the Nikki Gabriel triangle sweater pattern post from last week. There is a copy on its way to me from my new best friend, Melissa. There were a couple of others who acquired it and who I’m putting in touch with others who craved it. And for everyone else, Nikki Gabriel has said she’ll have it available on her site “very soon.” Huge thanks to everyone for all the input!

So with that, here’s a long overdue Elsewhere:

— New 2-ply merino yarn from Purl Soho, Worsted Twist (plus lovely new video knitting tutorials at the Purl Bee)

— And congratulations also to Linda (From the Purl Side) on the launch of her new venture, Kettle Yarn Co.

— Josef Albers’ color theory lessons, now in app form

— Apartment Therapy on the string art trend

— Coveting Z’s sweater

— Yoko Ono crocheting while blindfolded

— Nice interview with the multi-talented Martha McQuade

— Hooray, more yarn trucks! — outreach-style from my friends at Haus of Yarn in Nashville plus a yarn-filled former fire truck in Ottawa, Canada

— Amazing yarn-bombed Pittsburgh bridge

— This Gridjunky photo essay about how he (un)does what he (un)does

— Totally preordering “Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting,” especially after seeing this excerpt at the New Yorker (via @caitlin_newman)

— Mini-collection of student-designed free vintage-inspired patterns from Rowan

— Best goat video ever — the last minute is the best minute (via @TrueBritKnits)

— Not sure whether to laugh, cry or order one of each: cat-inspired sock yarn

— And if that’s not enough links for you, may I point you to Caitlin’s latest lovely list

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Oh! And ICYMI this week is the mega-tutorial, How to improvise a top-down sweater. It’s clearly time to get those Fall sweaters started!

Going, going, almost gone

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Fringe Supply Co. ticking stripe project bag

It’s been an especially crazy week this week but my favorite kind of crazy — photo shoot crazy! I’m having Fringe HQ shot today by my friend and frequent collaborator Michele Lee Willson, — or rather, that was the plan. After all the mad preparation, it got cancelled at 10:00 last night because they closed the Bay Bridge a day earlier than we anticipated. Anyway, in prepping the space, I realized one old friend that will be (would have been?) seen in the photos will very soon be gone from the shelves, and that’s the adorable ticking-stripe Project Bag. When my friend Johanna helped me get those produced for the holiday shop last year, we were just moving as quickly as possible and worrying about bringing production costs down later. Unfortunately, it turned out to be really complicated to sew (no matter how simple it may look) and instead of future batches costing less, they were going to cost even more. So, alas, no future batches. (At least not of this design.) And the limited supply is dwindling.

I started out with quite a few more of the natural version than the ticking version, so I still have a couple dozen of each of those. But of the ticking, only 9 remain. So if you have had your eye on it, now’s the time to act.

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Anna Dianich is living my dream life

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Instagram photos by Anna Dianich of Tolt Yarn and Wool

Before I say anything, take 10 seconds and watch this. (Whistling …)

Right?

Sometime last year, I found myself following a perfect stranger named Anna Dianich on Pinterest. Not sure how we came to be following each other, but she had a board called My Yarn Store, where she repinned all sorts of yarn store images that looked, cumulatively, very much like my dream yarn store, so one day I asked her if she was just dreaming or actually making this store. Fast forward a year or so, and Anna has become an Internet chum* of mine and I’ve been enjoying watching her life and store evolve on Instagram, which she joined a few months ago. (I also had the pleasure of meeting her, much too briefly, in June.)

It turns out she’s living the dream: life on a farm in the adorably named Carnation, Washington; handsome contractor husband, who built the house; sheep and other assorted farm animals; four adorable kids. (Ok, so kids don’t factor into my dream — none for me, thanks — but man are hers cute. I mean.) (To be honest, that sheep video gives me the sort of feelings I imagine baby pictures give other women.) (No wait, that didn’t sound right …) Annnnd, of course, the perfect yarn store in progress. I asked her on Wednesday how she got to this point, and this is my attempt at a very short summation:

Raised in Hawaii, she became a photographer after studying at the Art Institute of Seattle. (That explains why she wins at Instagram.) As did her husband. Learned to knit, inherited her grandmother’s spinning wheel, decided she must have sheep, moved to the farm. Like you do. Kids and donkey arrived along the way. As for the store, I’ll give it to you in her words:

The fall of our first year in the new house my older girls started an outdoor education program at Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall, and through that school I made some amazing friends. These ladies I met were all crafty and we began to meet at each other’s homes on Thursday nights to knit, sew, and laugh and cry. We were and still are the Crafty Aunties! This amazing community of mamas, makers, crafters has been a huge inspiration for me and is probably the main reason that I decided to open Tolt Yarn and Wool. Our little valley is in need of not only a yarn store but a place to gather and create and be near other crafters and makers. I want to build a community because I know how much it means to me, and I want to bring that to others.

All of this to say that if you aren’t following @toltyarnandwool on Instagram, you really should be.

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*Chum and customer — when I asked her about the store on Pinterest, Fringe Supply Co. didn’t even exist yet. Now I can’t wait to see the totes hanging in her completed shop this fall.

Our Tools, Ourselves: Sandra Juto

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In Our Tools, Ourselves, we get to know fiber artisans of all walks, ages, styles and skill levels, by way of their tools. For more on the series, read the introduction.

Sandra Juto in her illustration and crochet studio

I’ve been aware of illustrator and crocheter Sandra Juto for a while — dipping into her photo-rich blog and, more recently, her Instagrams — but when her Berlin apartment appeared on Freunde von Freunden last Fall, I made a note to myself to contact her about Our Tools, Ourselves one day. Her apartment is amazing but, naturally, I wanted to see and hear more about her life as a crocheter. Happily, she obliged —

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Do you knit, crochet, weave, spin, dye, sew … ?

Most of my yarn work is crochet, but sometimes I knit as well. I do everything by hand since there are no machines for crochet and also my knit work is 100% handmade. I like the slow process of it.

Tell us about your tool preferences and peccadilloes.

My knitting needles are made of wood (bamboo). I prefer them as they are lighter and don’t make noise while knitting. Most of my crochet hooks are from Clover — I use the “steel soft touch” ones and I love them. Since I changed to them, from the traditional metal ones, my wrists feel much better. I also wear Wrist Worms while working as they keep my wrists warm and I can work a couple of hours more during a day than if I don’t wear them.

How do you store or organize your tools? Or do you?

My tools are all over the place: in jars, in handbags, on desks, on the floor. Somehow my spare crochet hooks always get lost, strange!

Sandra Juto illustration and crochet studio

How do you store or organize your works-in-progress?

They are also all over the place — my studio is not very organized (as you can see in the pictures). I need to store everything visible; if I put them into boxes I forget they exist.

Are there any particularly prized possessions amongst your tools?

No, yarn, needles and hooks are quite cheap to buy.

Do you lend your tools?

No, since they are cheap I tell my friends to buy their own or I give them a couple of hooks as a gift.

What is your favorite place to crochet?

Most of the time I crochet/knit in front of my computer, cross-legged on my chair, watching TV series, documentaries or movies. Another favourite place is to go to a coffee shop where I can people watch as I work. Having made over 3000 pairs of Wrist Worms by now I don’t need to keep my eyes on my hands anymore. The great thing about my Wrist Worms work is that I can bring it anywhere — sometimes I spend time with friends in a bar doing crochet and chat. It’s also perfect to bring on long journeys.

What effect do the seasons have on you?

When it comes to work there is no real effect to talk about, except for right at this moment (late July) when it’s actually too hot to dig into wool, especially the project I’m working on now — a granny-square blanket which is almost finished, so the whole thing rests on my lap while crocheting it together, and two kilos of alpaca doesn’t go too well with a heat wave.

Sandra Juto Wrist Worms and granny square blanket

Do you have a dark secret, guilty pleasure or odd quirk, where your fiber pursuits are concerned?

I tend to feel empty on the inside when I don’t have any yarn available in my studio, it’s quite an addiction (luckily my only one).

What are you working on right now?

Right now I am stacking up Wrist Worms for the coming Fall as well as making a granny-square blanket of alpaca, I think it’s the 6th or 7th I’ve made. It will be available in my shop as soon as it’s finished. It’s such a great thing to know that my blankets are now living all over the world (Switzerland, Sweden, Hong Kong, USA, Australia, Germany etc).

[Editor’s note: That blanket has since been finished, sold right away, and went to live in Finland. Follow Sandra on Twitter for future announcements, and she also recently posted a granny-square blanket tutorial on her blog.]

Sandra Juto studio detail

PREVIOUSLY in Our Tools, Ourselves: Elizabeth Yong (aka Primoeza)

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Photos © Sandra Juto

Tools, glorious tools! And the perfect pouch for them

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New Stitch & Hammer tools and pouch at Fringe Supply Co

I’m so excited to be able to post this today — especially since it looked like it might not happen this week. And I have been waiting FOREVER to share this with you—

You’ve all seen my little blue clutch that I use for my tools, which my husband gave me for my birthday last December. (Most recently seen in this morning’s post!) Well, I love it to pieces, but for this purpose I’ve also wished it was just a little bit bigger. I cram an awful lot of stuff in there. So I got in touch with the maker, the amazing Amy Tremper of Stitch & Hammer, and she made my dream come true! Today I can finally announce that this beautiful new Stitch & Hammer pouch is available at Fringe Supply Co., along with the perfect assortment of old-school tools to go in it. Check it out!

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Weave In, anyone?

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Weave-It Weave In vintage pattern booklet

You know that surprise package I got from Meg last week? Turns out there’s more to the story. I was so stunned at the sight of the sweater spilling out of the little padded envelope that I failed to notice there was something else in there. Meg’s coworker Marissa — my new favorite person! — ran across this groovy, vintage Weave-It pattern booklet somewhere, and thought of me! As you can see, it’s called Weave-It Weave In, which I can only guess is the weaving equivalent of a “love in.” And it’s undated, but clearly circa 1968. It looks like Marissa may have paid even less for it than the original $1.25 cover price, but this thing is priceless. With bonus crochet recipes sprinkled throughout! Such an amazing gift.

What Marissa couldn’t have known is that not only have I been longing to spend some time with my long-neglected Weave-It, but I had just returned from the trade show with a Zoom Loom in my bag — the new toy from the Schacht loom company. The product and package have, uh, a different design sensibility than the original Weave-It, but as the very nice woman in the booth explained to me before giving me my own Zoom Loom, they’ve made several meaningful functional changes to the frame, which seem really smart. So I’m eager to set the two looms up in a little head-to-head competition.

How long do you think it would take to weave enough squares for my very own Hostess Robe?

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Happy 4th of July to all who are celebrating today!