Category Archives: Knitting

5 things you can do take your knitting to the next level

Don’t let your abilities (or lack there of) hold you back. There are simple things you can do to improve your knitting. I’ve found these 5 to be the most effective.

1. Knit every day- even for just 5 minutes.

You know the saying… practice makes perfect. There’s something to that. The more you do it, the easier it gets. A lot of knitting is muscle memory and that takes time to build up. Your hands and arms will get into a rhythm. If knitting still feels awkward- just keep going. It will get better.
Plus, the more you knit, the more you’ll want to knit. If you can carve out 5 minutes, it will likely turn into 10 or 15, and then the easier it gets, the more likely you’ll be able to knit while watching TV (without losing complete track of what your favorite characters are up to) or while chatting with your spouse or your friends which will make it easier to do more often and expand your skills.

2. Try one new thing in every project you cast on

Have you tried cables? Lace? Increases or decreases? Knitting in the round? Colorwork? Mosaic knitting? There’s a whole host of types of knitting and techniques to learn. Don’t feel like you need to try something drastic or overly complicated if you’re not ready.
If you love knitted cabled scarves but haven’t done something knit in the round, then maybe you want to look for a plain (or even a cabled) sock or legwarmer pattern (instead of say a colorwork sock).

3. Listen to knitting podcasts

I started listening to knitting podcasts to keep me entertained while I cleaned my house. It was (and still is) great for the entertainment value and honestly it wasn’t until about 6 months into listening that I realized the educational value. Somehow during those hours of dishes, laundry and toilet scrubbing I picked up lots of tips about sock knitting methods, how to create a looser edging on a triangular shawl, how to choose different fibers (animal versus plant etc), and many other incredibly useful things. Listening to a conversation about a topic you’re interested in is a great way to absorb information you may not otherwise seek out.
- Some of my favorites for this purpose: The Knitmore Girls, Knitting Pipeline, knit.fm.

4. Make use of your local library

If you regularly hit up your library for the latest beach reads or non-fiction best sellers, take a peek at their knitting magazines or craft books. There are thousands of resources available for free! Take advantage.
Plus you never know, as you’re checking out those books your librarian may mention that she’s a knitter too and then you’ll know more person you can share tips with and go to for questions (yes, that did actually happen to me!)

5. Browse YouTube

Need to kill 10 minutes at the end of your lunch break? Want to wind down at the end of a busy day but don’t have the attention span for a 60 minute television show? Type in a knitting related search team on YouTube and get lost in that rabbit hole for a few minutes. There is so much learn and most videos are short.
- Tip: if something doesn’t look quite right or you’re having a hard time seeing well enough to learn what you need, find another related videos. Remember, YouTube is a free service so while there are plenty of gems out there there is also a bunch of junk. Look for videos with good lighting and a mix of close-ups and shots where you can see more of the context of what someone is doing.

Before you know it, you’ll be sharing tips with your friends and casting on those things you thought only “real knitters” could make!

Stitches Midwest: First Impressions + Marketplace

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The Trip

I left for Stitches Midwest on Friday August 8th on an early flight to Chicago. It was a beautiful, sunny morning in the Northeast, but I was a bit delayed due to a broken wheel on the plane. After that 30 minute delay I was on my way! I knit in the airport while listening to podcasts and then used the nearly 3 hour flight to catch up on some sleep.

Remember that tip of being well rested before you jump into the stimulation overload that is a knitting convention? Yeah, I neglected to follow that good advice. Dan and I spent Thursday night watching Season 3 of the Killing and got fully absorbed! Oops. That’s where napping comes into play. I felt like myself again when I landed in Chicago.

A very kind listener and new friend, Michele, picked me up at O’Hare and we enjoyed the drive to Schaumburg. We had such a lovely chat the whole way there (and then some)… between some GPS issues, my inability to troubleshoot a Droid navigation system and getting lost in conversation, we overshot the convention center by about 20 minutes and had to backtrack! Ooops. At least we were enjoying each other’s company! Thank you again Michele! I really appreciate it!

The Arrival

I purchased my ticket for the Market upon arriving.

Tip: I got a coupon from Webs which saved me a good bit of money. I think they do this for each Stitches Event so check their website if you’re planning to attend. I pulled this up on my phone and showed it to them. No printing necessary.

While the allure of the Market was strong, it was nearly noon when I arrived, bags still in hand, so I headed through the convention center up to the second floor for the podcaster meet up.

The Renaissance hotel and convention center is beautiful, isn’t it? I’m not sure when it was built but everything felt so fresh and clean as if it was just built for this event. And they had some fun touches to welcome all the crazy knitters.

The podcaster meet up (both Friday & Saturday) was held here, on the second floor of the lobby near that really cool fire pit. Friday’s meet up was a bit quieter than Saturday’s but both were so much fun and a great opportunity to meet new people! I had a blast and it was a great way to ease into the event on Friday. {More on all of the great people I met later this week}

The Market

From there I headed down into the Market. The showroom floor is huge, which makes it really hard to capture on camera. This is a view from the back, right corner of the space (where the concession stand is– I had to grab a snack to act as lunch on Friday so I’d have enough energy for all the shopping).

I was thoroughly impressed with the quality and variety of the vendors at Stitches Midwest!

I have been to NY Sheep & Wool (Rhinebeck), NH Sheep & Wool and Fiber Revival in MA which are all wonderful events that I would recommend to any of you, and while I enjoyed shopping at those markets, they pale in comparison to the selection at Stitches Midwest.

[Kismet Fiber Works Booth: Stephanie & Angie]

I’ll tell you more about my purchases and some other fun antics from the event in upcoming posts, but in the meantime I wanted to share some sights from the Market itself. I’m always fascinated to hear about events others have been to, even if realistically I’ve never get to them myself, but then I’m usually left wondering what it looks and feels like there so I hope you enjoy this little virtual tour of the Market.

[Molly, Susie & Danie shopping in the GnomeAcres Booth]

[Lost City Knits]

[ Sara demonstrating her Sirka Counter in the Grellow Gray Booth]

[Cary of Jelby, Becca and Sarah from Another Crafty Girl in their shared booth]

Market Tips

If possible, allow plenty of time to look around. There is a lot to see and its really easy to be overwhelmed by all of the sights, sounds and temptations. If you’re anything like me, you’ll need a break. It was great to go sit and enjoy lunch or just relax and knit in one of the sitting areas and enjoy some down time.
Wear comfortable shoes. I know, I’m a broken record, but this concrete floor is completely unforgiving.
Bring a water bottle with you. You can purchase water but the lines are often long and the cost is high. If you bring your own you can refill periodically (there are water fountains, or as we call them, bubblers, at the end of every couple aisles) so you don’t have to carry around a full, heavy bottle all day.
Shop with friends! Why, you may ask?
- You may be drawn to a particular color only to get it home and look in a mirror to realize its a terrible color for your skin tone. Shopping with a friend can help you avoid this costly mistake.
- Even if you don’t specifically ask them to, your friends will likely keep an eye out for things they know you’re looking for. It’s so easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of beautiful yarn + fiber that you may miss something (gasp!).
- You’ll have more eyes on the crowd! Looking to spot Franklin Habit, Stephen West, Amy Herzog? Four eyes are better than two. Six or eight are even better than that!
- It’s just MORE fun to shop with friends… to have someone to show your best finds to! Someone to laugh at how ridiculously excited you are! Someone to tell you you’re getting cranky and need to go get some food. Someone to knit with when you need a break.

I stayed with 7 great girls and met so many more! More tales about that in upcoming posts, but here’s a sneak peek at the damage 8 girls can do in 2 days at Stitches Midwest!

until next time…

FO in Focus: Rainton Hat

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Today’s FO (Finished Object) is the Rainton Hat by Katya Frankel from Head to Toe: Kids’ Knit Accessories

Rainton Hat knit by Boston Jen of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast

50mm lens at f2.0 1/40 ISO 320

My Project Notes:

Needles: US 6 (4mm)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in the Mystic Purple Colorway (used 36g)
Cast on: July 31, 2014
Cast off: August 2, 2014

Blocking |

I didn’t have time to block the entire hat for fear it wouldn’t dry in time. Instead I wet my fingers and used them to dampen the bind off edges of the hat. I then laid it out on a blocking mat and used T pins to pin down the brim. I staggered each layer so I could pin down each edge separately. I knew there would be some rolling because of the stockinette fabric, but I wanted it to look a little more polished. I’m happy with the result.

Photographing the FO

The Model | Photographing a baby hat without an actual child to model it is a tricky proposition. In order to see the real detail of the pattern the hat should be worn, filled out, not just lying flat. As you can see here, while its nice to capture the actual shape of the hat, its a bit lack luster.

50mm lens at f2.0 1/40 ISO 320

Again, there are no children in our house, much less a newborn, though we do often have little ones coming to visit and so our supply of teddy bears, beanie babies and other toys runneth over. With that in mind I got to searching. It was just this past Sunday morning (before the party where the hat would be gifted), and after a puzzled look from Dan about what on earth I was doing, and a quick explanation where he’d stored the “excess” of toys (down cellar AKA out of his way), I got to looking for a suitable model.

Did I mention we have a lot of toys for a house with no kids? Well, we do…. but it took awhile to find just the right one. An orange tiger? Not the right sized head and the color definitely clashed. Some already had hats on. Others had colors that were just jarring with this purple. But this teal teddy was just the man (woman? child?) for the job!

The Set-up | I like to use my armchair in the studio for photographing hand knits in certain situations. This seemed to be a perfect opportunity. Teddies are often placed in the crook of the chair (as are babies). I also like that while the chair is neutral and provides a background free of distraction, its also not pure white and has a little texture which adds visual interest.

Rainton Hat knit by BostonJen of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast

50mm lens at f2.0 1/30 ISO 320

The Angle | I like to take photographs of FOs (finished objects) from various angles because there are often little details you can capture from one direction that may not be visible from another. You may not think to point the camera down from above and shoot the top of a hat but there’s a lot of detail there that you may miss if you just take shots from head on.

Rainton Hat knit by BostonJen of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast

50mm lens at f2.0 1/30 ISO 320

The Settings | I’ve listed the camera settings under each image for your reference. I shot these using my Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 [Affiliate Link]. I love that it can get down to an aperture of 1.4 though that wasn’t necessary for this shot as I would lose too much detail. With a 2.0 f-stop I was able to get some clear details on the top of the hat for example, and then the rest of the bear faded away to let the eye focus on the subject (the hat).

Tip | If you’d like to start playing around with manual settings on your camera, try the AV or Aperture Priority Mode. It’s hands-down my favorite of the modes on a dSLR that will help do some of the work and make some of the hard decisions for you. (I still use this more than Manual settings for everyday use)

If you want a shallow depth of field, like we have here with the top of the hat, set your f-stop (your aperture) to the lowest number possible with your lens. The camera will automatically determine the right shutter speed to match.
However you’ll also want to set your ISO (lower if you have a lot of existing light or higher if you have less available light).
You can also set your White Balance if the light in the room is casting a specific color on your subject (using the Tungsten white balance setting, for example, can help correct light that’s overly yellow). Sometimes this isn’t necessary. In many situations the Auto White Balance setting will work just fine.