Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Build Your Knitting Skills with the Rebecca Page Knitting Summit

by

There are lots of ways to learn about knitting and build your skills these days. We can watch videos, read books and blogs and learn from people we know. If you want to learn a lot in a short period of time, a summit is a great way to do that.

I’m one of the teachers for the upcoming Knitting Summit from Rebecca Page, and it looks like it will be a great opportunity to boost your knitting skills quickly.

There are 23 different classes, covering all sorts of topics including colorwork (stranded, mosaic, intarsia), lace knitting, sock knitting, natural dyeing and so much more.

My class is all about knitting fingerless gloves.

I have really small hands (and wrists the same size as my 13-year-old’s) so other people’s patterns for mitts don’t usually fit me well. And my hands are cold pretty much all the time so I have knit myself a lot of fingerless gloves through the years.

This course covers three different methods for making fingerless gloves: working them flat and seaming them, leaving a hole for the thumb; working in the round but working a portion flat to make a hole for the thumb; and working in the round and knitting a thumb gusset so the thumb is covered a little bit, too.

We’ll cover how and where to measure your hand, how to knit and measure a gauge swatch and just a tiny bit of math to ensure your mitts fit you (or anyone else you want to knit them for).

The knitting summit takes place Jan. 23-27 and is totally free to attend. You’ll get an email each morning that gives you access to that day’s classes, which you then have 24 hours to watch.

If you need more time you can also grab a VIP pass, which gives you unlimited playback, plus access to courses no one else gets.

 

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

Yarn Cozy Knitting Patterns

I’ve been toying with the idea of making a yarn cozy or yarn ball holder on the circular knitting machine, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. In the meantime, here are some yarn cozy knitting patterns you can make with knitting needles. Use yarn to hold you yarn!

In its simplest form, a yarn cozy is just a sleeve or a little basket that holds your yarn when you’re working with a center-pull ball so it doesn’t fall apart when you knit. The easiest ones I could find are from Love in Stitches KN, which has a regular size and a mini size. They’re worked with sock yarn and there are options for making them with ribbing, faux cables and with self-striping yarn.

For bigger cakes there’s a project called We call it the “bail holder” from Nicole LeBlanc. This pattern is available on Ravelry and you can use any yarn and make it any size you like. It features an I-cord edging that has a loop in it so you can thread they yarn through the loop to keep it extra contained as you knit.

Another large one that has a slightly fancier pattern is this one by Mareike Meye. You can use any yarn and any gauge, and slip stitch pattern worked in different colors on the sides makes it a little more fun and uses a bit more stash. A strap buttons across the top to hold the ball in place and you can add a buttonhole to the middle of the strap to thread the yarn through. Check this one out on Ravelry.

Adding lace to a yarn cozy makes it fit a wider variety of balls and expand or shrink a bit as needed. Jennifer Sugarman’s Ball Sack uses sock yarn and is made to hold sock yarn. It has the option of making I-cord or using ribbon or cord you already have to make a drawstring at the top. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

Another lacy option is the yarn ball holder from Frugal Knitting Haus. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has an easy mesh lace pattern and an I-cord drawstring that’s sewn together at the ends so you could loop it over your wrist while you knit if you like. This pattern is also on Ravelry.

Speaking of wrist yarn holders, I also found this one form Knituition. This one uses sport weight yarn and has a spiral rib pattern on the body. The strap is attached to the bag with D-rings, or you could make it a little longer and just sew it into the bag.