Knitting

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Nashua Handknits – New For Spring 2009

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nashuaThese and lots of other designs are brought to you for 2009 from Nashua Handknits.

cfs_250_productNew yarns too, including Creative Focus Silk in 15 colorways, and Daylily in 7 colorways.

Nashua’s fresh new designs have always been a favorite of mine, stop by and check them out!  http://www.nashuaknits.com/Home/tabid/154/Default.aspx

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Comments

  1. I am trying to get a download of a free pattern advertised in Interweave Knits from Spring 2008 on page 28, described a “Cardigan with sleeve and finishing options designed by Susan Mills.” Can you help me???

Have you read?

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!