Year: 2021

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Hooks and Needles – The Aadi Cowl

designbcb - aadi cowl

This has been off the hooks and needles for a while. I thought I announced the Aadi Cowl but it may have been everywhere else but here…so here it is! The Aadi cowl is available as a pattern only; though I could certainly be persuaded to add it as an item in the shop. Cowls tend to sell better as patterns. 

If you want to make it, purchase it right here.

The end of summer and the beginning of fall is a great time to fatten that wardrobe with cowls. The shorter cowls are a great, drop in purse accessory that can be brought out when the sun goes down and the chill comes up. A short cowl can be draped around the neck and allows you to enjoy the scenery without bulking up with a hat or sweater (though there ain’t nuthin’ wrong with that under the right circumstances.)

The yarn is Lion Brand Touch of Alpaca – Read the review.  

One of the good things about this yarn is the texture. I mean, you can see it in the photo. The texture makes it look like it took much more work than it did. This would be a great piece to go with a plainer jacket or coat. It can carry the style because of the texture. If you really want to step up the bling, add some pearls into the mix. 

 

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Knit on Demand

I looked up knitting and went to the end of the internet to see what was there. And what I found was an article where folks knit on demand. The soldiers needed to stay warm. They needed all sorts of knitted goods but socks were in high demand. (You can read the article here.)

Everyone got in on the action: men, women, girls and boys. Schools knit, churches knit. Japanese and African-American knitters formed groups.  The AA group was formed to make sure African-American soldiers received not only socks but other items as well.

Socks were the most requested because they kept poorly constructed boots from transferring cold directly from the ground.

The Special Olympics called for blue and white scarves for their athletes. It was a specific blue and the answer was so great, Red Heart ran out of the yarn.

If we hopped in the way back machine, we would find men doing most of the knitting and women doing almost none. But these days, it’s considered a thing that men knit and crochet. One Olympic story centered around Tom Daily and his knitting prowess. What he did helped make knitting a thing just as the pandemic made crochet cool.

There’s no telling how long the current trend will favor knit and crochet – and granny squares; granny squares are hot – but history believed in knitting and crochet long before we were born. For those of us that love it, we can connect with that history in a tangible way. It adds to that feeling that it isn’t just something that passes the time. It has a story all its own that’s worth knowing. 

 

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The Best Yarn to Use – Part 2

The best yarns to use - Last Train to Knitsville

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The last time we talked about the best yarn to use, we talked about the kind of fiber: wool, acrylic, blends. Some folks will swear off acrylics whiles others (like me) like it just fine. But another consideration of yarn choice is weight: Fine/Super fine, DK, Worsted, Bulky (chunky), Super Bulky. For a very basic chart of yarn weights, click here.

For the longest time, I used only worsted weight. I wasn’t interested in a thicker yarn and I most definitely wasn’t interested in thinner yarns. I told myself I could happily live in the land of the worsteds.

But an interesting thing happened. I would be sitting in the choir loft at church and I would have the urge to knit with Lion Brand Thick and Quick yarn using Lantern needles. I had no idea if it was the needles or the yarn that was the great push but it happened week after week and I finally gave in.

My husband got me a pair of the needles. I purchased the yarn and I knit it up. My life changed. I went from using just worsted to using bulky. I even went down to using some DK weight.

But that’s where the rainbow ends. I do have some super bulky and I do have some lace weight and I will be happy to not use them again. Super bulky skeins aren’t very big, so you need a lot of them. The lighter weights do not lend themselves to mistakes and everything takes longer.

These yarns do have champions: the bulky yarns create signature conversation pieces and the lighter weights produce beautiful shawls and gossimer scarves. I would need a new personality to want to make them. 

Give different weights a try. Purchase one skein of something – should be good for a headband at least. If you like them, you can expand the stash and the experience. If not, organize a yarn exchange with some friends – someone is bound to like them and you can ger something better suited to you in return.

 

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Crochet Snobbery

I am going to confess to some crochet snobbery. I founded a knitting group that used to have more than 400 members.crocheted afghan in fall colors from beverlybochenek.com When i moved it off a paying site to Facebook, I culled the group down to about 40 -50 or so and of those, there is a small cadre of regulars. Here’s the thing: hardly any of them knit. Yes, I have a knitting group where many of the members don’t. Knit, that is.

A few of us do both. And our most accomplished knitter/crocheter prefers crochet over knit.

I do not. I still prefer knitting.

See this afghan? It’s stunning. I love the colors; I love the look of it. The techique of putting it together is a great tool in my tool box. This is crochet. But in my mind, this is more of the exception of what crochet looks like more than the rule.

Granny Squares May be the Culprit

This afghan and the Kravitz scarf I make, along with a host of hats, all explode the myth of crochet being junky and boxy. This afghan has beautiful drape and the yarn color flows to paint a lovely tapestry. I did none of the color work. I am a firm believer in letting yarn do the work it was designed to do.

But I also know there are other granny squares that make me want to cringe. Mostly it has to do with color choices but it makes the work look dated – not vintage type dated – old and dated.

As I write this, I have a pattern for a granny square scarf in mind. I have pulled the yarn – Red Heart Super Saver Ombre in Green Apple – and I will be using the black handled Susan Bates 5.5mm hook. I imagine three rows of granny squares and some fringe. It will be boho but not vintage. It will be lovely; worked with join as you go.

I am working at getting over my crochet snobbery. It will take some work but it’s worth doing. There is a great deal of beauty in crochet stitches (though an endless double crochet strains my artistic sensability.) I appreciate the artistry my club members display and I like what I create. 

This will require an attitude adjustment. I think I’m ready to make it. Knitting will probably always be my first love – but there’s enough to go around for crochet.

 

 

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The Need to Knit – and Blog About It

The need to knit is not stopped by something as inconsequential as a hospital stay. I was in the prep room waiting to be wheeled into surgery. I needed something to do and I had orders. That was valuable knit time. 

I remember when we got our first PC and discovered that thing called the information super highway – or the Internet. There was some contraversy about Al Gore discovering it or some such thing. 

And then there was that thing called a blog. 

My blog was originally called the Knitter’s Restaurant because it was going to serve up all kinds of knitty dishes. It was on Blogger. Then I moved it to WordPress and a web host called Ipage. Moved from them when they started to get a little fishy and have been here with Inmotion for the past few years.

The blog itself has gone through some versions. But I believe we have settled into what feels right – talking about crochet, knitting, yarn, projects and that knit/crochet life.

I don’t think I had my shop when I started the blog. I don’t know which came first; the shop chicken or the blog egg. They are both crossing the road though. I’ve had my Etsy shop for twelve years. I think the shop might have come first. 

There’s a great deal to explore in this life and the stops on this train land in places that are fun, spiritua; and free. Glad and blessed to share it.

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Hook and Needles: Double Knit Wash Cloth

So, what’s on the hook and needles? At the moment, I have one thing going. Double knit wash cloths. Dish cloths are still popular on Etsy. I have some in my shop. But these new ones are a little different.

  1. They are going to be select your own color. The exising cloths are sold as a set but these will be one offered at a time and buyers can choose what color is available.
  2. . These are double knit. Durable and soft for both skin and for household use.

As you can see, the yarn is Premier  Home. It’s 85% cotton and 15% polyester. I will do a yarn review and it will be generally a good one but this is quite splitty.  Be that as it may, it’s also very pretty and the double knit makes for a squishy cloth that will feel good in the hand even if it’s just used on dishes.

Just one project going…for now. I have some design time on the books for tomorrow and I’m thinking of adapting a pattern for a bag into a cowl and then maybe do the bag and have a potential matching set. Thinking about it; it would look great as a cowl.

 

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The Best Yarn to Use

What’s the best yarn to use?

The one that makes you happy. Happy when you’re using it and afterward.

While cost certainly is a factor (no one should go broke getting yarn) the costliest yarn isn’t worth a thing if you find you don’t like the drape, the color or the feel of it. On the other hand, you can find some really nice yarns on the shelves of any craft store. Craft stores have stepped up there yarn games of late. They’ve started to include some wool blends and natural fibers other than cotton on their shelves.

When I first learned, acrylic was the yarn of choice. Red Heart Super Saver was the go to yarn. It was inexpensive – OK, it was cheap – had some fun colors and you could tunr out a scarf with it in almost no time or money. Today, RHSS, is not on my list of yarns to buy. 

My yarn snobbery is almost nonexostent but RHSS is a beginner’s yarn and I don’t purchase it to make items I’m going to sell at designbcb. But my stash is about 97% acrylic yarns. I never really got into paying lots of money for a ball of yarn. For one, I didn’t have it. Second, I didn’t see the need. But I have relented from time to time and I have some wool, wool blends, cotton, bamboo and even some silk and camel hair in the stash.

Some folks swear off anything acrylic but I don’t have any more joy knitting with merino or alpaca than I do with a really nice acrylic.

Cost is the most important factor to me. I am likely to purchase a yarn and it is going to take up residence for months in the stash – Some members of my stash are over ten years old. Spending a lot of money on something that may never be used makes no sense to me. Nor do I want to feel that it’s so precious it can’t be used.  My projects will end up on sale or as a gift so I can’t grow attached to fiber that makes them.

This is my year of yarning dangerously so no new yarn is coming in unless it’s going right back out for a project. I will be shopping the stash and I suspect I will find things I forgot I had. I’ve already discovered treasures from the move. I will enjoy my yarns whether it’s made, grown or grass fed.

To read about choosing the fiber for your project: Read this article from The Spruce Crafts.

 

 

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First Knitting Project

 

The first knitting project seems to be a scarf – but it isn’t. That’s how it was when I learned to knit – before there were circular needles. Actually, that’s not true, circulars were around about 40 years before I was. But still, scarves were the things to make first. But nowadays, the first thing we teach new knitters, is to make a swatch. That swatch can easily become the first knitting project.

A swatch is a block of knitting or crochet that is used to measure gauge – or how many stitches there are per inch with a specific stitch. Usually the swatch measures 4×4 inches. I am not from the ‘start by making a swatch’ tribe. I learned about swatches after I learned to knit. They weren’t interesting to me so I don’t make them. I also don’t teach knitting so I am not going against the new norm nor am I teaching a new generation of knitters to rebel. IF you have to make a swatch, make it something that can be useful.

Using a swatch for its intended purpose provides a need; but what do you dio with it afterward?

  • You can unravel it and use the yarn in the project you’re making that uses that yarn.
  • Save them and create a long scarf or blanket with them. (That will require a great many swatching opportunities.)
  • Make them into coasters or cozies like their knit counterparts.
  • Save them and place them into a personalized stitch/yarn dictionary. You can review the collection every year and toss those yarns which have been discontinued and you no longer have in your stash.

As I said, I don’t swatch – mainly because I don’t want to – but also because I don’t make fitted garments so it’s not a necessity. But I am a little intrigued by the swatch dictionary and I could do something of a swatch compromise by making squares and checking the gauge. It’s not a swatch; it’s a square. 

If you need some ideas on what to make first, check out this article from Spruce Crafts.

 

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First Crochet Project

I don’t remember what my first crochet project was. I didn’t have yarn; I had a spool of thread I would crochet and then unwind. When I did get a bunch of yarn, it came with knitting needles so I moved towards knitting and didn’t crochet.

Crochet didn’t come back to me for decades until after I was married. My mother-in-law knit and crochet but was leaning towards crochet because it was easier on her hands and her eyes. Wanting to impress her, I purchased a ton of needles and hooks, some yarn and a book with knit and crochet afghans and I decided to do a granny square.

Except, it was more of a granny cup. I wasn’t getting the hang of what I was doing wrong. Though I started a knit group; most of the women crocheted. I asked one of them to show me where I was going wrong. I learned about increases and making corners. saved my crochet life and opened up to new possibilities. It wasn’t long after,

I sold a granny square afghan.

What is a good first crochet project? Dishcloths seem to be the popular first thing to learn. It’s shorter than a scarf, at least. Know what’s even shorter than a dishcloth? A coffee cup cozy. There’s tutorial in Knitsville U from Winding Road Crochet to talk you through them. It’s an easy to understand video and each pattern uses only single crochet. Get some pretty yarn and these simple projects carry a big impact.

I said before I am gaining a healthy respect for crochet. When I want to unwind, I will go to a project project because it’s easier and tactile. Don’t get me wrong; I love my knitting but crochet has earned a spot. I truly enjoy it.

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Knitting Vs. Crochet

 

Knitting Vs Crochet: do you have a preference?

The debate continues: which one is better? It is an ancient argument.

For the record, knitting is older – way older.

This is knitting.

This is crochet.

They are different – though people tend to use them interchangeably.

I learned them both at the same time but my sister got me some yarn and needles and knitting won out. It would be more than 20 years before I picked up a crochet hook.I was married and learned my mother-in-law had to give up knitting in favor of crochet because of her eyesight and pain in her hands.

It was frustrating because I wanted to make granny squares and ended up with granny cups. Then a friend introduced me to the crochet corner. I made the squares and then the blankets and the sold the blankets in my shop.

Crochet is fun and has an elegance but knitting is my go to. I find there are more things to create with knitting than with crochet. I find the stitching more beautiful.

So I don’t make this post extremely long, here is an article by none other than Martha Stewart to talk you through the differences between the two.

I am gaining respect for crochet. It is faster. Mistakes are easier to fix and the right stitch combinations are lovely. The half double crochet is my favorite and paired with either a single crochet or double crochet, makes a lovely stitch.

But knitting is flat out beautiful. The smoothness of the stockinette stitch and the texture of the bamboo stitch and the fact you can blend the two if them together and make a beautiful fabric is still fascinating to me.

There are two projects going: a knit set of golf club covers and a crochet afghan. The covers have faux cables in them. Cables don’t look good in crochet. They instantly looked dated to me. But the flow of the afghan pattern is lovely and you just want to touch it. Crochet is more sensual because you’re always touching the fabric. In knitting, you are always touching the needles.

I am finding I don’t want to choose between them anymore and I am happy I know how to do both and to design in both.