What makes one sweater look hand-crafted and another one look home-made? Good yarn and good stitches help, but often the real difference is in the finishing. Even a premium yarn and most careful knitting can be wrecked with slap-dash blocking or seams. Here are four tips for making knitting look professional. [...]
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How much money have you spent on yarn you knitted into sweaters you never wear? How much time have you spent knitting, or fixing mistakes, only to stuff your finished sweaters out of sight forever? Perhaps one was a wrong style for your body shape, another was a wrong color for your complexion or your latest pattern had misleading photography. [...] So you want to pick up knitting? Congratulations, you have great fun ahead. Let’s start off right by choosing which knitting needles are best for beginners. Also pick a yarn you can see easily–NOT eyelash yarn or one all lumpy-bumpy, loopy or a yarn made like railroad tracks. You’ll go wacky learning how to knit if you use wacky yarn. [...] There are two ways your knitting gauge can be all wrong–the number of stitches per inch and/or the number of rows per inch. Wrong gauge spells disaster for your sweater, no matter how well you knit each stitch. What do you do to fix your gauge so your project isn’t ruined from the get go? [...] Do you have trouble finding knitting patterns that fit and flatter you? How many sweaters have you made that highlighted a body flaw in the worst way? How many sweaters remain unfinished because the instructions were unclear? If you find a knitting pattern you think you’d like to make, how many ways can it fail you? Let me count the ways. [...] Knitting needles come in such amazing variety, it could make your head spin. There are circulars, double pointed needles, or straights in metals, woods, plastics, et cetera, all with different points–blunty stumpo to lace pointy. Throw in the yarn you choose for a particular project and you add more confusion. Which will work best with this yarn in that pattern in your unique hands? Is it all trial and error? [...] |
Helpful Links
Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Cast On Video Tutorial Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off Photo Tutorial TECHknitting Sweater Knitting Pattern Generator Meg Swansen explains Elizabeth's Percentage System on Math4Knitters podcast Knitmore Girls podcast on ratios #78 Knitmore Girls podcast on sizing, fit and ease Brass Needles podcast Episode 48 with Gail Carriger's segment on sweater sleeves (about 7 minutes in) Brass Needles podcast Episode 49 with Gail Carriger's segment on sweater necklines (almost 9 minutes in) Fabulous Crochet Designer Vashti Braha Start Knitting Socks for Soldiers  
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