Knitting

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Giveaway: The Knitter’s Book of Finishing Techniques

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the knitter's book of finishing techniques

Congratulations to knittingdancer!

We could all use a little help when it comes to finishing our knitting projects well. Of course the knitting itself matters a lot, but finishing can really make or break a project. If your buttonholes are a little wonky or you don’t pick up stitches evenly for your edging, you project is just not going to look that great.

The Knitter’s Book of Finishing Techniques by Nancie M. Wiseman aims to help knitters finish as well as they start, with tips on things you would think of as finishing, like bind offs, picking up stitches and seaming. But it also includes tips on casting on stitches, increasing, decreasing, using selvedge stitches, making buttonholes, even things like how to store finished sweaters.

It’s a really great and concise guide to a lot of issues that perplex knitters.

If you’d like a chance to win a copy of this book, leave a comment on this post before the end of the day Sunday, June 21. If you want, tell me the area of finishing with which you have the most trouble. For me, lately, it’s grafting; I always seem to do it backward!

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing, and good luck!

Comments

  1. I find binding off and finishing edges around collars and button bands tough. What a wonderfully useful book this would be to have.

  3. The hardest thing is setting the sleeves in. it is like grafting in a circle…. horrible to do. I always bind off before I remember to three needle bind off and then I am committed to grafting in a circle…again.

  4. I have double/triple vision. I’m already disabled from my back problems and now it’s harder to see so I’ve been trying to figure out what I’m capable of doing. I recently started knitting and crocheting, something I haven’t done since childhood. I’m currently making sweaters for Christmas gifts. They look nice but I know they could be better. This book would be an awesome help! Thank you for the possibility of getting it.

  6. Seaming pieces together to make it look good is my “tricky” and sticking with the same ol’ same ol’ bind off because I don’t want to worry I can’t fix a mistake and then I think I’ll ruin my piece lol

  7. Eeeeek, Any kind of Finishing would be helpful for me as I am useless at doing anything more than stitching. I seriously need to learn how to do stuff properly but then I’ve only just pushed myself back into knitting after the 8ft long unfinished Scarf I started while pregnant with my daughter, she’ll be 14 in November lol
    She has had lots and lots of Dresses and Costumes. But anything Knitted or Crocheted comes from her Aunt and Granma lol

Have you read?

Fun Halloween Cowls to Knit

One of the fun things about knitters is that we will use a holiday theme on any kind of project. From Easter bunny socks to Christmas sweaters, there’s no combination of holiday motif and knitwear genre we won’t combine. 

Case in point: Halloween cowls. 

This fun cowl from Sweet Vireo Designs features large carved pumpkins and little cats and skulls. It uses two colors of DK weight yarn and I love the multicolored yarn for the background color on this one. And the braids! So cute. 

Spooky Season by Jocelyn Tunney (also on Ravelry) uses fingering weight yarn in two colors to make a design with crescent moons and eyes. There are two circumferences and two heights available so you can make it a neck hugger or a slightly bigger project if you like. 

Make more moons with the Broom Riding Cowl from Vanessa Ewing Knits. This two color pattern looks extra fun with a multicolored yarn for the colorwork, but you can use a solid as well. It calls for DK weight yarn but there is also a fingering weight version if you have some yarn in your stash you want to use. 

Jinx Made has another fun Halloween cowl, this time covered in skulls. South Philly Skulls uses DK weight yarn and comes in two lengths, and there’s also a matching hat pattern, both of which can be found on Ravelry. 

The Ghost Stories cowl from Melissa Knit Wear is a two-color cowl with ghosts of different sizes on the body. It uses DK weight yarn, and average sized skeins will allow you to get two cowls out of two skeins. It also calls for stitch markers to help you keep your place in the chart. 

Or stitch up a cowl with a giant bat on it. The Nightling Cowl from Jen Immer uses DK weight yarn in two colors and has moons and a large bat on it. This pattern can be found on Ravelry. 

How about spooky trees? The Weirwood Cowl from Andrea Krüß-Anders is inspired by the weirwood trees in the Game of Thrones books, and is worked in two colors of fingering weight yarn. You can find this free pattern on Ravelry. 

If a bandana cowl is more your thing, try Cowloween from Tellybean Knits (on Ravelry). This colorful design is worked from the top down and features pumpkins, ghosts and candy colored stripes, and is worked in a light fingering weight yarn. There are kid and adult sizes available.