Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Knitty’s First Fall Surprises are Out!

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eisen cardigan nell ziroliI love the days when Knitty releases new patterns. It feels like Christmas (or maybe this time of year, my birthday). Even if I don’t want to knit the patterns myself, it’s always fun to see what people are working on and what might be the next big thing in knitting.

The first fall surprise patterns came out today, and there are three of them: the Eisen cardigan, a perfect pick for fall with its deep twisted rib collar, bands and cuffs; the Bauble shawl, a pretty triangular shawl that has beads, eyelets and twisted stitches; and Vandalia, a classic pullover worked in an allover textured waffle stitch. As of this writing I had no problem checking out the patterns, but the first day often puts a strain on Knitty’s servers, so be patient if load times are slow.

If you’re ready to dive into fall knitting, these projects are a great way to start!

[Photo by Nell Ziroli via Knitty.com.]

Looking for knitting patterns for knitted Cardigans? Check out these Knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

Looking for pullover and sweater patterns? Check these books out.

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Make Your Knitting Machine Scarves Better

I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve shared any patterns for our circular knitting machine users. I know these devices aren’t for everyone but even though I much prefer knitting by hand, it is kind of fun to crank things out on these machines.

One of the most common early projects for a circular knitting machine is a scarf. Which makes sense, because it’s just one long tube and you can make it as long as you like.

One problem that comes from knitting scarves on the circular knitting machine, though, is that it can be hard to know how to finish the ends of the tube so that it looks like a finished scarf and not a tube of knitting.

If you’re not a knitter or crocheter, the most basic way to finish a circular knitting machine scarf is just by cinching up the ends and maybe adding a pompom to each end to cover up any hole that might still be visible at the end.

But if you have a little knitting or crochet skill or are willing to learn, there are a lot of different options for closing up the ends of a scarf. And this would also be true if you hand knit a tube scarf!

I recently wrote a post over at Our Daily Craft that includes five different ways to close up the ends of a tube scarf:

  • the simple cinching method mentioned above
  • sewing the stitches together
  • three needle bind off
  • grafting
  • crochet bind off

Grafting is my favorite because I feel like it gives the cleanest, closest to a seamless look. If you’re a knitter you may already know how to do it but even if you don’t it’s not that hard to learn.

Do you knit tube scarves by hand or machine? I’d love to know how you like to finish them!