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Grab a Chance to Learn Seamless Knitting from the Pros

April 17, 2017 by Sarah White

the art of seamless knitting
Shelia is our winner.

This is another one of those books that I love because it’s just really smart and helpful and has great patterns, too.

The Art of Seamless Knitting by Simona Merchant-Dest and Faina Goberstein really grounds knitters in good techniques before presenting any patterns, so if you take the time to read all that material (and you should) you’ll start out feeling a lot more comfortable about where you’re headed.

The first chapters of the book cover things like different ways to construct garments seamlessly, how to read patterns and charts, preventing jogs in patterns worked in the round and ensuring you make a garment that will fit by measuring, swatching and altering if necessary. It even makes changing up patterns seem less daunting as it covers adding and subtracting length with and without shaping and designing your own garments with and without sleeves.

The next three chapters take you through different kinds of projects — with lace, cables and textured stitches — that can be worked seamlessly. They offer tips on designing garments with those sort of stitches, how to work shaping within designs and how to combine patterns to make a garment with more interest. Each chapter also includes a few sample projects (there are 12 in all) to get you started. Check them out on Ravelry. I love the cabled tunic and the lace stockings.

This is a really smart, well thought out book and the patterns are pretty, too. You’ll want to knit them and then take your new knowledge and confidently alter patterns or design your own with just the stitch patterns and shape that you want.

If you’d like a chance to win this book, leave a comment on this post before the end of the day Sunday, April 23. I’d love to know if you have any experience designing or altering patterns and how that experience has gone for you in the past.

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

Next Pattern:

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Comments

  1. Denyalle says

    April 17, 2017 at 3:01 pm

    The only experience I have in altering patterns is accounting for a mistake I made that I don’t want to frog it out!

  2. Lori Thorne says

    April 17, 2017 at 3:16 pm

    I make a lot of hats that I knit using magic loop techniques and it makes it a lot easier! That’s the only way that I use for no seaming knitting!

  3. yolanda says

    April 17, 2017 at 7:20 pm

    I’m a pattern follower…so I have no experience designing or altering patterns. This book looks like a wonderful chance to do just that.

  4. Sheila says

    April 17, 2017 at 7:56 pm

    I almost always make up my own designs. Sometimes it works great, sometimes I do more frogging than knitting, but I get there in the end. Resources like this book to help my planning, so I can do more knitting than frogging would be great!

  5. Katelyn M says

    April 18, 2017 at 12:03 am

    The only alterations I have done are to lengthen a pattern. I find cute patterns that are too short for my liking and just add length to them. Thanks for the chance to win.

  6. Linda Rumsey says

    April 18, 2017 at 4:07 am

    I have altered patterns with varying success. As I hate seaming this book sounds fabulous!

  7. Carrie Anne says

    April 18, 2017 at 10:28 am

    This book sounds like a great resource as I only knit seamless sweaters.

  8. Amy McGlynn says

    April 18, 2017 at 10:52 am

    I have no idea how to alter patterns, but I would love to learn!

  9. Margie says

    April 18, 2017 at 11:12 am

    I’ll make minor alterations to a pattern on occasion and the sweaters have come out…well…ok. It’s not often that I’ll knit a sweater anymore because I’m never thrilled with the finished item.

  10. pattipanuccio says

    April 18, 2017 at 11:26 am

    I can never learn enough.

  11. dianelaces says

    April 18, 2017 at 11:40 am

    I love the look of that cover sweater. Cables are one of my favorite techniques.

  12. knittingdancer says

    April 18, 2017 at 11:42 am

    I have changed stitch patterns in shawls if I don’t like that particular stitch. I liked to make them a little different from the pattern.

  13. Kristi says

    April 18, 2017 at 12:15 pm

    I have altered a pattern when the size that I wanted is different from the original pattern.

  14. Kitten WAW says

    April 18, 2017 at 2:48 pm

    I usually create my own designs, sometimes making it up as I’m knitting. I hate seaming, so I even figured out a way to do saddle shoulders without seams.

  15. joyce hancock says

    April 18, 2017 at 3:54 pm

    I haven’t designed any patterns, but I am certainly all for knitting a sweater without any seams in it. Sounds like a helpful book.

  16. martha donley says

    April 18, 2017 at 5:30 pm

    I have knit many sweaters that were written flat, in the round so they are seamless.

  17. Julie Goltermann says

    April 18, 2017 at 8:52 pm

    I have been knitting for a few years, maybe 6 or 7, and still have so much to learn. I have altered a little by adding stitches, length, to ensure right fit, but didn’t really have any guide to follow for this. Sounds like a wonderful resource.

  18. Heidi Kirsch says

    April 19, 2017 at 7:07 am

    I’ve turned a skirt pattern into a shawl. I liked the repeat & thought it would make a nice shawl. It does. I also find that if I knit a scarf or hat and like the print, I’ll attempt to make a set.

  19. Kim says

    April 19, 2017 at 8:13 pm

    I can barely follow a pattern, let alone alter one!

  20. Arlene Laurance says

    April 20, 2017 at 10:30 pm

    I am apple shape so alway have to alter patterns to fit. So far used top down patterns. Still working on getting jumpers to fit to flatter. Would like to design own jumpers from scratch.

  21. asteride says

    April 21, 2017 at 10:03 am

    I just love seamless sweaters! I made already a few for myself and family members. Sometimes I follow the pattern and other times I just like to play around the pattern and make my own version. In the end it worked fine. I’m still wearing my hacked sweaters.

  22. Jeanne says

    April 22, 2017 at 5:43 pm

    My experience altering patterns is usually limited to changing sleeve length and girth, unfortunately through trial and error ????

  23. Calypso says

    April 23, 2017 at 11:18 am

    I need this book! I want to knit a cotton sweater for summer and would love to learn how to make a seamless one.

Have you read?

Embellish Your Knit Dishcloth with Flowers

One great thing to knit when the weather is warm (or honestly any other time) is dishcloths and washcloths. They are fun and easy projects and a great way to play with new skills. Pretty washcloths make cleaning a tiny bit more fun, and they’re great to have on hand as a quick addition to a store-bought gift. 

The Daisy Delight Dishcloth from Yarnspirations is a fun one for using leftover bits of green in your cotton yarn stash. What looks like the bottom in the picture is actually the left side as you knit it, and each little color section is worked with its own ball of yarn, intarsia style. 

That’s a little fiddly for a washcloth, but the effect is cute, and it’s a simple way to learn the basics of intarsia knitting (as well as reading a chart) if you don’t already have those skills. 

One the knitting is done, you add the flowers with a bit of lazy daisy embroidery, which is really easy to do even if you’re not that into embroidery. You could also potentially add flowers in duplicate stitch if you’d rather. 

This may be the most work you’ve put into a dishcloth, but isn’t it adorable? It would be fun to use as a hand towel through the spring and summer, and if you already have some leftover green yarn from other projects it should be pretty easy to do. 

You could also take this same concept and make it different colors. All dark green stems with stars on top might be reminiscent of Christmas trees, or brown with daisy stitch on top in different colors could be trees in the fall. 

However you stitch it, this looks like a fun little project for knitters who are comfortable with intarsia and reading charts or who are ready to try those skills. 

You can grab the free pattern from Yarnspirations. 

[Photo: Yarnspirations]

Book Review – Dishcloths for Special Days [Knitting]

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