Knots in my knitting?

I have always, always, always avoided knots in my knitting. I was the queen of invisible joins, weaving in ends, spit joins, Russian joins. Heck I even taught a class on joining yarn invisibly. I hated knots in knitting!

But not anymore! Check out this youtube link for a wonderfully easy way to join yarn with two knots, trim the ends, and continue knitting. So easy and it works!

I tugged on my joined yarn, and it did not give way. I knitted it up and the knot was truly almost invisible.

You know that saying about "Never say never"? I guess it's true!

Seriously, dude, we're doing it wrong!

I was checking out the latest pins on Pinterest, and came across this. A charming, hand knitted hat at the very low sale price of $150 CAD. ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS IS THE SALE PRICE!

I could knock one of these off every day, and make about $1000 a week after expenses!

I'm not sure why this gets my goat, but it does. I see some fabulous knitting and crocheting in my shop, and the crafter can't even recover the cost of the yarn when they try to sell the item. And, please understand this is not to say I object to this price. Eight skeins of good quality yarn to recreate the hat may cost  in the region of $80, but you could make at least 6 hats from that yarn. Your knitting time from start to finish would be about 2.5 hours, so that adds another $30 to the total  per hat based on minimum wage. So the total outlay for each of the 6 hats is $40.I am assuming you have the knitting needles, scissors and notions already on hand. So, could one sell it for $40. I doubt it. $20? Probably not. $10? Maybe, but you'd get the "I can get one at Walmart for $1.99" as they were pulling out their wallet.

How can we as hand knitters, crocheters, weavers, and spinners put an end to the undervaluing of our work? I have some ideas - the first one is for all of us to figure out the actual costs of  materials and labour, add a bit for ourselves and price accordingly. Secondly, the use of better quality materials is critical. Cheap acrylic items are available everywhere. Creating with cheap acrylic only cheapens your work.

So often, I am asked if the samples in my shop are for sale. Sometimes they are and I price the item at the retail cost of the yarn. Nothing for the labour, just the yarn. And 9 times out of 10, the customers says it's too much - they can get one at Walmart or Zellers for less.

This hat is not even well knit - all the knit stitches are twisted. But it does have a cool label inside that states it is hand knit in Berlin, and made from virgin wool. Click on the photo to enlarge it, and a link to the website is here There are several hats similar to this one in style and price in the Sale section of the website.

I have to wonder if any of these hats are actually purchased by a real human being. But, if you did want to make yourself a knock off, here's the pattern. It looks like it is a loose, roving style yarn similar to Rowan Big Wool. Based on that, and the number of stitches I can count in the photos, you'd use a size 10 mm knitting needle (circular or double pointed) and cast on loosely (see yesterday's post) 48 stitches. Join in the round and knit in k1, p1 rib for 7 rounds changing colour (there are 8 in this hat) when and if you want to.If you want your stitches to be twisted as shown in the actual hat, knit into the back of the stitch every time.  Purl 1 round. Resume ribbing until piece measures 30 cm. Begin decreasing for crown. Knit 2 together across the round - 24 stitches remain. Next 2 rounds, knit 2 together across the rounds, 6 stitches remain. Break yarn, and draw through the remaining stitches, secure well. Weave in ends. Done. No pompon, no nothing. And you've got yourself a $150 hat. Be sure to enclose a copy of the web page with the item description and price on it so the lucky recipient knows its value.

Wait, don't do that. They'll think you're crazy for spending the weeks grocery money on a hat!

Loosen up, will ya?

One of the most common yells requests for help that I get is that the knitter has cast on too tightly and now the hat, sock, mitten or whatever will not stretch enough to put on. I really can't tell you how many tops of socks, cuffs of mittens and neckbands I have cut off, picked up the stitches and reknit for customers. Yes, I really do use scissors and cut off the first couple of rows, pick up the stitches, knit a few rounds, and then bind off loosely.

Here's my most recent repair project - lovely socks that need to be loosened up.

I have already cut off the cast on edge of one sock and am in the process of picking up the live stitches. Trust me when I say it's far easier to cast on loosely than it is to do this fiddly work. If the yarn was a little bit heavier, I could unpick the cast on edge (I did try this), but I had to resort to the scissors. The knitter couldn't even watch when I took out the shears and started to cut.

Now, I have to make sure all the stitches on the needle are from the same round, then I will knit a few rounds in knit 1, purl 1 ribbing. Then, I will incorporate my sooper sekrit method for loose bind offs.  And it works every time. No learning a new way of casting on is required. You can use your usual bind off. Just make this teeny tiny change to the pattern, and I'll you'll never have to fix a tight cast on or bind off again. (Thank goodness!)

When I am about 2 or 3 rounds away from binding off, I knit a round like this: *Knit into the front and back of the first stitch, purl 1 and repeat this across the round. Then on the next two rounds I *knit 1, purl 2 across the round. Then I bind off in my preferred way. This method increases the number of stitches on the last couple of rounds by 33% and is barely visible.  This sock was knit from the toe up and increased in the as discussed. I often use this method when I knit toe up socks to ensure the cuff isn't too tight.

When knitting socks from the cuff  down, you can also use this method in reverse. Let's say your sock pattern calls for a cast on edge of 60 stitches. Cast on 90, and for the first two rounds do the *knit 1, purl 2 across the rounds. Then do a decrease round of *knit 1, purl 2 together across the round. Then continue in the knit 1, purl 1 rib. If your pattern calls for a knit 2, purl 2 rib and a cast on of 60 stitches you would cast on 75, and do a knit 2, purl 3 rib. Decrease one purl stitch each pattern repeat after a couple of rounds - knit 2, purl 1, purl2 together.

For a visual example, here is a sock with a knit 2, purl 1 ribbed cuff. When I was almost finished the cuff, I increased one stitch every repeat as follows - knit 1, knit front and back of next stitch, purl 1. The next two rounds were then k2, p2 ribbing. I bound off using the ordinary k2, pass second stitch over first stitch method.

See how the top of the cuff flares out? Here's a close up of the edge.

Now, here's how it looks on my sock form. No flared out edge now! Just a nice smooth edge to slip on your foot and up your leg.

You can see the K2 P1 ribbing here.

Trust me when I say, try it, you'll like it. And so will the lucky recipient of your lovingly hand knit socks.

Recipes - cooking and knitting

Mr Knits and I have been so busy this past holiday season. As he would say, "We've had more company than you can shake a stick at!" But, it was fun! His son Dan and his wife, Kiwi moved back to Taiwan on Thursday, so we had a lot of visiting to do while they stayed at our house for a week. What fun we had! We taught Kiwi how to play euchre (she is a card shark, I'll have you know) and she taught me how to cook some Taiwanese dishes. My favourite, phonetically spelled "Fanstia Chow Dan" is so easy to make, but oh so tasty. Chop up a tomato, and pan fry it in a bit of butter until it's limp, whisk together some eggs (2 per person) and pour it over the tomato. Cook the egg until it is almost done, then drizzle some soy sauce and Thai chili sauce over the egg/tomato mixture, scramble slightly, and finish cooking - about another minute. Done! Fabuous! Must make some - now!

I did a bit of knitting while they were here, and I'll share this quick neckwarmer recipe pattern with you.

It's made from one skein of Teva Durham's River - a lovely blend of 90% cotton and 10% cashmere. the colours I have available are:

The neckwarmer is a very soft and stretchy bit of fabric, knit in a very uncomplicated pattern stitch which Dan said looks like chainmaille, so here goes...

With size 8 mm needles, loosely cast on 28 stitches, and knit one row. Now, begin the pattern stitch which is simply *knit 1, knit 1 in the row below. Repeat this row until you have about 3 feet of yarn left, and bind off. Sew the cast on edge to the bind of edge, weave in the two ends, and you're done.

close up of the stitch pattern

If you want to get fancy, you can provisionally cast on the 28 stitches, and then graft the two ends together. I choose not to be fancy, and you can hardly tell where the seam is. You can also use this as a super soft and warm headband if your ears are too cold. It looks great all sparkled up with a rhinestone brooch too. The best part? Right now, the yarn is on sale for only $5.49 per ball! Three balls would make a great inifinity loop scarf. You know, it's never to early to get started knitting for next Christmas. It's only 349 days away!

finished neckwarmer

We have Zippers!

I forgot to tell you! And I can't believe I forgot, because I have been waiting since September for this zipper assortment to arrive!

These are the chunky nylon toothed zippers, in two lengths 7 inch closed end, and 22 inch separating, in 15 wonderful, bright, happy colours. The closed end zippers are great for knitted and sewn bags, neckline opening, etc. and the 22 inch separating are just the thing for cardigans and jackets.

I can't believe there are 2 shades of pink zippers. It's a selection
made in heaven for this pink lovin' knitter! And look at the orange
and lime green. I am smitten!

And the boring, but essential "repair" zippers - jeans (metal teeth), skirt, dress in a variety of sizes from 7 inch to 22 inch:

White, brown, beige, grey and black. boring, but necessary.

I may not have the selection you can get in the big city, but what I do have will probably look after all the common zipper needs, and at a great price!

Now you don't need to go hunting for the right zipper for your project - just come see me.