TKGA Fall Show Set for Reno

Are you a member of The Knitting Guild Association? It’s the largest association of knitters in America, with more than 10,000 members. Membership provides you with a quarterly magazine full not only of patterns but lots of information on techniques that will help you become a better knitter no matter your skill level.

I joined a few years ago because I have this dream of becoming a Master Knitter (they offer a course of study and knitting samples that is judged by experts who declare you a Master) though I’ve been a little busy writing books and having a kid to do it!

The Guild also offers conferences throughout the country through the year, and the fall event is set for Sept. 14-16 in Reno, Nev., with extra educational opportunities starting on the 12th. The show includes classes, exhibits, fashion shows and other fun events for knitters and crocheters.

New this show is a special presentation of the Certified Instructor Program. Usually only available as a class at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, this class will actually be before the show, on Sept. 10-11. The class is being condensed into an intense 12-hour program instead of the usual 15. It will cost $150 for non-members and $125 for members. Preregistration and homework before the course is required. This is for advanced beginners and above who want to learn how to teach others how to knit. Sounds pretty cool.

Looking for Fall patterns to Knit? Check out these Fall knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

Next Pattern:

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!

Next Pattern:

Have you read?