One-Row Stripes

This photo cheers me up.  It was the view from my hotel room at TNNA in San Diego.  A week ago I was looking at that.  Now I'm looking at snow!

This will be my last post for awhile.  I will be having surgery next week and I am not making any promises about how soon I will be able to sit at my computer.  I have been very busy this week trying to get all of the stuff for Cast On ready for the next photo shoot.  I have yet to sort through all of the things I picked up for product review at TNNA.  Remember that each month there will be a drawing for these products.  You do have to be a member of TKGA to enter.  Just go to TKGA.com and sign in.  You can then register.

STUDENT NEWS

Quite a few lessons arrived while I was gone.  I am going to try my best to review things which arrive post surgery but if I don't get to things immediately, please be patient.  Include your email in the lesson and I will let you know it arrived.

TIP OF THE WEEK

The tip this week doesn't really apply to any of the classes I teach or the Masters Program.  It is just something I find interested.  I've used this in quite a few projects.  I love stripes, especially for children's clothing and this is a way to knit single row stripes without cutting the yarn.  There are some limitations on this technique.  It works best for just two colors and you need a circular needle.  How it works is that you knit a row in Color A.  Instead of turning the work and starting Color B on the purlside, you slide your work down to the right.  You knit the next row with Color B.  Now working yarn of both colors is at the left side of the work.  Turn and using Color A, purl the row.  You then slide the stitches on the needle back to the left.  Purl the next row using Color B.  That is all there is to it.  Very simple.  The advantage of this is that you don't have all of those yarn tails.  The selvedges don't look half  bad as well.  I knit quite a few baby sweaters using this technique.   One-Row Stripes Video

The next time I post, I will show how to do this in the round.  It is a different technique--helix stripes--but it provides the same look.

KNITTING SALON

Salon will be on Sunday from 1-4pm.  I won't pack up the stuff I got at TNNA if you want to look through it.  Most vendors prefer to ship after the show but I did carry home some stuff.

CURRENT PROJECTS

I finished all of the knitting and the pattern for the Coco Jacket before I left for California.  I'm finding it easier to write the patterns before doing the finishing.  I did the finishing when I got home.

I think the cables show up pretty well.  I did do some waist line shaping but it is optional.  Since I know who the model will be, I knit it to her specifications.  The sleeves in the sample are a bit long as she has really long arms. 

I worked on the man's argyle vest (which I am calling Shades of Gray) on the plane and in my hotel room.  I finished it up but I still haven't done the finishing as I plan to write the pattern this afternoon.  I generally take everything with me to the photo shoot but in case I'm not up for the 4 hour drive by the 4th, I am sending everything early next week.  

The final thing I am doing for the magazines is a pair of socks using Miss Babs Shiruku.  I've knit these socks lots of times for gifts and I've had some requests to do the pattern.  The pattern is done and I am almost done with the second sock.  I generally don't work this way.  I almost always completely finish a garment (including the pattern) before starting another.