Knitting

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More Knitting with Jane Austen

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jane austen knits fall 12The fall 2012 edition of Jane Austen Knits — a special publication of Interweave Knits — is now available on newsstands and for digital download.

This is the third volume of this fun series that allows knitters to step into the world of Jane Austen’s novels and knit something like things she or her characters might have knit, worn or used in their lives.

You can check out a preview of the patterns online; isn’t that lace shawl on the cover pretty? In all there are more than 30 patterns including jackets, shawls, bags, socks and more. From the little pictures online I’m loving the little girl projects and that vest-like top in the Manor section.

In addition to the patterns there are articles about the history and characters of Austen’s novels and a special feature on crochet in the Regency Era. Fun!

The issue retails for $14.99 either in print or as a digital download.

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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!