Blog Posts

Fairy Godmother of Knits

Dulac illustration of FG sending C to ball
https://www.art.com/products/p602717138-sa-i4020372/millicent-sowerby-cinderella-gold-coach-1915.htm?upi=P7GVES0

The book available on Amazon

What I wish for …

I wish to be the person who can provide the knitted garment of your dreams. I want my scarf to feel like a warm hug from a loved one. I want my hats and other things to remind you, no matter where you travel in this seemingly embattled world, that you are loved unconditionally. If you have sensitivities that block you from mainstream knits, I want to conjure something that accommodates you while including you among the community. If the only obstacle between you and your dream is the right knitwear, I want to wave my magic needles and get you into the castle!

I believe that you deserve to feel the softest bamboo or cashmere, or even silk or bison, next to your skin, no matter where you hail from. I believe that many ethical alternatives to cheap acrylics exist, and I wish to bring them to everyone who wants to make a difference to climate change while being thoughtful to animals.

I wish all people could have the opportunity to appreciate the wonderful aspects of natural fibers in their clothing. Wool can protect the animal that grows it, sustain the spinners and dyers that transform it into yarn, inspire the knitter who uses it to craft a garment, protect the wearer, then biodegrade to replenish the earth and nourish the next animal that comes along to begin the cycle again. I want to participate in any efforts to optimize that cycle, to further its beneficial expansion.

Birthday Gifts–for you!

My birthday is this month! Since this is the Internet, I won’t specify which one, or when, but I will be giving gifts to celebrate!

You heard that right! All through the month of July 2016, I will be using 10% of all profits from sales of ready-made items to fund the creation of handknitted goodies which will be donated to charitable organizations. All current prices as o 12:01 am, July 1, 2016, will remain exactly the same, so my clients will not perceive any difference in the quality or cost of their purchases. But each item purchased will contribute to the support of several of my favorite charities. I will be inquiring as to each organization’s needs, and tailoring Gift Items suited to them. As the profits come in, the Gifts will go out, and the love will spread across the world.

To add to the love, I will be creating a new line of knitters’ jewelry for sale: progress keepers, stitch markers, and scarf pins to make even the act of crafting as delightful as possible. Look for them in the next week at my Etsy shop.

I will also be knitting up Handy Hearts, wonderful knitting notions holders which are themselves knitted, using a pattern designed by Mama Linda, aka Stoneybrooke, and available for a free download on Ravelry.com. Each Heart will hold a tape measure, darning needle, stitch markers, and an attached leash with a lanyard hook and a buttoned loop upon which to attach your own pair of scissors. It will have plenty of room to add your own knitting essentials as well, so that no matter where you knit, you will never find yourself without a crucial tool. Handy Hearts will be added to the Etsy shop soon.

Please share this opportunity with everyone you know, and tell them they can get themselves a treat while simultaneously treating someone who really needs it.

I will soon be posting the names of my charities, along with a list of my planned donations for each, in a future post on this blog. As the Gifts are funded, I will also post pictures of the Gift Items and, depending on organizational policies, pictures of the recipients as well. If you buy yourself a Treat Item and wish to attach a message of encouragement and hope for the recipient, I will make that available during checkout and I will pass the message along (anonymously or not, as you wish).

I believe this will be my happiest birthday ever!

New offering for my readers!

I am now an Amazon Associate!

As of today, I am an Amazon Associate, which means that I have agreed with Amazon.com to offer my readers a link to one or two of their products, which will be relevant to my posts either by reference or by being similar to something I’ve referenced, and Amazon has agreed to pay me a little something in return for advertising on their behalf in this way. It won’t cost you anything extra above the posted purchase price, but it will help me keep the blog moving forward for my business.

Please keep in mind that I intend to only choose products to link which I am willing to use myself, and which will help you improve your knitting as I would like to improve my own. And just because you click on the link, it doesn’t require you to go ahead and complete the transaction if you don’t like what you see on the product page. You will always have an opportunity to choose whether to proceed or not.

As my first attempt, here is a link to a well-known brand of interchangeable needle cables, which will be an excellent tool to use for My Provisional Cast-On, described in my last post. I don’t know if it will be perfectly compatible with other brands of interchangeable needle tips, but perhaps a previous buyer will have a helpful comment or review posted.

Enjoy!

Knitter’s Pride Interchangeable Single Cord 16″ Yellow

 

My Way: Provisional Cast-on

I have decided that there has got to be a better way to accomplish a desired pattern than simply doing as the designer tells me to! There are about 15 different cast-ons listed on Wikipedia (Casting on (knitting))! Although each has its pros and cons, and each is best suited to a different effect, I don’t have to master them all, just the ones that pertain to my own projects. Since I customize designs to fit my clients’ body types and fashion styles, I have every right to customize patterns and techniques to fit my own knitting style. With that in mind, I have decided to create my own menu of techniques, from which I will choose the most effective of My Ways to create the desired garment, both to save time and to save myself some aggravation.

I once saw a billboard that described my working style particularly well. It said: “I’m not lazy. I’m a convenience enthusiast!” I am going to figure out the method that takes the fewest steps, for the least amount of expenditure (either time or money), and that gives the most pleasurable result. If a method annoys me in any one of these three areas, I will not use it!

After working on a lace cowl where the pattern called for a provisional cast-on and a Kitchener graft, and spending one full hour pulling the crocheted scrap yarn off the live stitches (to which it had partially felted), followed by two more hours studying the Kitchener’s stitch in my reference book and following the illustrations (did I mention the cowl was 81 stitches wide? That’s the four steps of the Kitchener for both sets of 81 stitches = OMG!!!), I vowed never to paint myself into that particular corner again. I guess I’m just a rebel that way!

In the case of this cowl, the lace at both ends of the fabric needed the softness and invisibility of a provisional cast-on and grafting; on that point the designer and I agree. But the pattern specified a crocheted cast-on, and I have picked my last felted scrap! So here’s what I have in mind for the next such project.

My Provisional Cast-On

Using the Backward Loop method, cast on the number of stitches specified by the pattern. Start with a slipknot on the needle and hold it with your right hand with the working yarn in your left. Make a gun with your left hand, holding the yarn in your palm and slip your thumb from back to front under the yarn. Move the point of the needle from front to back under the strand lying over your thumb and pull to the right. Drop the thumb and pull the loop tighter, holding it secure with your right forefinger. Repeat until you have the requisite number of loops on the needle.

Knit into the front and back of each stitch along the needle, ending up with twice the number of needed stitches. This should be designated as Row 0. Turn the needle and, securing the stitches with the free fingers of your left hand, take up two separate, fresh needles of the same size in your right hand together, with points aligned and facing the point of the original needle in your left hand. One needle should be the soon-to-be-working needle and the other should be an interchangeable needle tip on a cable with a cap on the other end.

Slip the last knitted stitch onto one needle, then slip the previous stitch onto the other needle, and repeat backward to the beginning of the original needle until it is empty and each of the other needles has the exact same number of stitches. Remove the needle tip from the cable and replace it with another end cap. These stitches will be provisional. Use the other needle to begin the pattern and knit up (do not knit the first pattern row too tightly). Be careful to count the next row as Row 1 of your pattern.

When you are ready, replace the end caps on the cable with needle tips and you are immediately and automatically ready to knit down or Kitchener (you’ll only need one tip for grafting, with one cap on the other end as security) as needed.

Comparison: My Way vs. the Other Way

With the crocheted cast-on, I had to crochet, with a hook and a length of scrap yarn, a chain of 81 + 4 links (step 1), pick up stitches in each purl bump of the chain with the working yarn onto my knitting needle (step 2), then, after knitting the last pattern row, undo the chain while catching the released live stitches with a second knitting needle (step 3), and finally, with a blunt-tipped yarn needle and “enough” of a tail end of the working yarn, Kitchener the two sets of stitches together (step 4). With My Way, I cast-on (step 1) with a knitting needle, double the stitches in a knitting manner (step 2) with the same circular needle, slip stitches to the working needle and a circ cable with only one tip (step 3), and replace that tip with a cap. I won’t count exchanging the caps and tips as a whole step, so the grafting is step 4.

With My Way, the number of steps is equal; I’d use one fewer type (though the same total number) of needles; only knitting skills instead of both knitting and crochet; and absolutely no scrap yarn to felt with my working yarn. After all the hard work of the fabric body, just a few twists on the end of one cable and I will be ready to Kitchener. That would have saved me a whole hour on my cowl! In my mathematics of convenience, that adds up to a win for My Way!

From here on…

Every time a pattern says “crochet a provisional cast-on” I’m simply going to dig out a spare interchangeable circ and perhaps a couple dpns of the proper size and say an inward “Hah!” of triumph!

Welcome to Tailored!

Tailored is a new business, where orders are customized for a great fit, whether you need a particular size or color, a specific fiber to avoid allergic reactions, or a unique structure that’s never been seen before. All items are hand knitted by a real person, so some may take a little more time and cost a little more than you might be used to. But all are made with love, so they are worth the wait and the price.

My name is Natalie, and I will be managing the posts on this blog. I would love to hear your thoughts, wishes, and ideas! I look forward to your posts.

In the future, I will post articles about alternative fibers (basically, anything other than sheep wool), knitting, and those who love knitted things. Eventually, you will be able to place orders through this site. Hopefully, customers will also share their reviews and photos after making their purchases.

We are here to serve your needs and desires for handcrafted knits. Thank you.