Kniting Needle Preference

My favorites are bamboo and wood knitting needles. I only have birch wood needles so far though so I'm not sure the difference in knitting with them if any noticeable difference would occur. I like them because they are light and the feel of them, they don’t get cold like metal needles. I like metal needles for just throwing into my bag because they bend instead of break. I’m always a little worried when I put my wooden needles in my bag. Circular needles are good when you are going to be sitting close to other people. Long straight needles keep on hitting and poking the people beside you. Circular needles are good for traveling also. I prefer shorter 10” needles to the 14” long ones, unless that is what you need for a pattern.

Austin Yarn Crawl

Since I've been in Austin, Texas Feb. the 16th, 17th and 18th. I've been splitting the time with my husband to try and visit all the yarn stores in this town while he wishes to visit all the Half Priced Book stores. It is looking like at the last few not well internet known LYS I won't have any more money to buy anything but that just means I've found so many wonderfully inspiring yarns to call my own so far. I sort of the threw out the rule that was set up at the begining of the trip to only buy three skeins at each store when I walked into Hill Country Weavers. Before this trip my stash only consisted of yarn that could be found at Hobby Lobby, Michaels, & Walmart; it was mainly lion brand yarn which I like. I ran out long ago of the yarn I bought at the only other yarn store I'v ever been too. I forget what it was called but it was located in Sommières, France

Mon. Feb. 16th: My first yarn store to visit was Gauge knits. The nicest/youngest yarn store owner of all the stores in Austin. Clean and organized, everything is off the floor even the cubby hole shelves that are mounted on the wall. Everything is grayscale colored except for the yarn which makes the yarn stand out. Smaller selection of yarn than other stores but an awesome selection. It took me a while to choose which ones I liked the most because I couldn't buy it all. They have seating in the front where you can hang out and knit and a large seating area around a table in the back and more comfy seating. My choice as the most stylish yarn/knitting store.

Wed. Feb. 18th: Went to The Knitting Nest today. I walked in and walked around stacking skeins in my arms. their yarn was on white cubby hole shelves against one wall and two iles of waist height shelves, in metal wash tubs and hanging from racks. they have a simplistic setup of all white with rainbow colors of yarn. The wooden floor and large dark wooden table for classes are nice accents to the store. The 2 ladies in the store were nice and the stores mascot dog was sleeping in his little pin. They have a nice setup of an all wooden balling station with a yarn length measurer. the only disapointment that I didn't bring up was their shirts have a sign saying they are $18 and she charged me $20.

Thur. Feb. 19th: I went to Gauge knits today. I saw on their website that they have a Third Thursday Open Knitting group from 4-6pm. There were 3 other ladies and one of the store owners that was there when I went there the first time. One of the ladies was making a Barbie poncho, one was making a double sided kitty scarf that was going to say "YUMMY" before the letters are reversable and two seaters were being made. I couldn't help myself from buying a skein of "Rio de la Plata" 100% merino wool in a mulicolor ply of cappuccion, iguana, sudan brown, sparking grape, sky blue and red orange when I was leaving.

Fri. Feb. 20th: Visited bluebonnet yarn shoppe today. They had mostly mixed synthetic yarn. The store was pretty laid back, some of it had fallen on the blue carpet; this seemed to be a norm. Not my favorite selection of yarn and I noticed the same books were more expinsive than other stores. In the end I found some past issues of vogue knitting winter 07/08 and fall 08 that I got and a skein of "Elsebeth Lavold" silky tweed a 40% silk, 30% cotton, 20% merino extra fine, 10% viscose in 17 green dye lot 7

acorn hat pattern

I plan on making this pattern available to be bought at a later time, but before I do I want some people to knit and critique the pattern (for design and the written pattern itself
) for me and in exchange the pattern will be free for them. If you are interested in following through this proccess reply to this post or message me on ravlery. 2 Spots still available as of 2/14/09.

DFW Fiber Fest

This sounds pretty cool, vendors and classes.

DFW Fiber Fest is a yearly event that occurs in April in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. It is dedicated to offering classes from both nationally known and local teachers in crocheting, dyeing, hand knitting, machine knitting, spinning, weaving, and other fiber arts. Other related topics such as button-making, colour choices, are also offered.

For 2009, DFW FiberFest is held on Friday - Sunday, April 24-26, 2009

at theAddison Conference Center

15650 Addison Road

Addison, Texas 75001

Map Website

ravelry group
dfwfiberfest

How to knit a ruffle

Ruffles are usually something you want to add to something. It tends to look better that way. Rather than just going into a ruffle pattern instead of Binding Off and then picking up the stitches and making the ruffle pattern.

There are some different ways to pick up and knit stitches. One way is to tie the yarn you are going to make the ruffle with to the tail yarn that is the left over from the Casting On at the beginning. And using a crochet hook, I tend to use a size 5/H, pick up the yarn (you are using for the ruffle) with the hook and pull through last loop of every row along that edge. You want to pull the loops through so that they come out on the top. You can then slip the loops off of the crochet hook and onto your knitting needle.

1. pick up the number of stitches divisible by 4.


2. Purl


3. Purl 2, Make 1, Knit 3, [Purl 2, Make 1, Knit 2] 4 times, Purl 2, Make 1, Knit 3


4. knit the knit stitches, purl the purl stitches and the new stitches (make 1).


5. Purl 2, Make 1, Knit 4, [Purl 2, Make 1, Knit 3] 4 times, Purl 2, Make 1, Knit 4


6. repeat row 3


7. Purl 2, Make 1, Knit 5, [Purl2, Make 1, Knit 4] 4 times, Purl 2, Make 1, Knit 5


8. repeat row 3


9. Purl 2, Make 1, Knit 6, [Purl 2, Make 1, Knit 5] 4 times, Purl 2, Make 1, Knit 6 [You can continue to make the ruffle wider just increase one after every purl stitch on the right side and repeat row 3 for every wrong side]


10. Bind off stitches in the pattern (meaning bind off knit stitches as knit stitches and purl stitches as purl stitches. (ruffle instructions from "boutique knits")

Make 1(M1) can be interchanges with Yarn overs (Yo) instead either way it makes a ruffle.

M1 (Make 1): Lift the yarn lying between the stitch just worked and the next stitch and place it on the left hand needle, then knit (from learn2knit.co.uk )

YO (Yarn Over): When working on the knit side of Stockinette Stitch hold the yarn at the back of the work. Pull the yarn forward between he two needles and over the right needle to the back of the work. Knit the next stitch. (from knit 911. com )