Tutorials & Reviews

Photo Tutorial: How to Back a Knitted Blanket

Recently, I was asked to help out with a project. This wonderful blanket (designed by Debbie Abrahams from her book, Blanket and Throws to Knit ) was knitted by Ann. I was asked to piece it together and back it. The finished blanket is being used to raise money for When you Wish Upon a Star. The yarn was donated by A Good Yarn and the fabric and cotton by L & C Fabrics . I thought I’d show you how I went about backing the blanket, I went about it as I would a quilt. Though, I decided tying would be the best way of layering it together, as traditional quilting would be difficult on a knitted fabric. 1. Block the blanket. I pinned it out and spritzed it. Normally, I would wet block, but I was concerned that the red may bleed and it would take some time to dry too. 2. My blanket was too large for a standard width so I pieced the backing. The backing should be a few inches larger than the knitted blanket. Place it right side down on the floor. I then tape it down o

Photo Tutorial: Twisted German / Old Norwegian Cast-On

Everyone has their go-to or workhorse cast-on. More often than not it can be a Knitted cast-on or a Long-Tailed cast-on; or perhaps the Cable cast-on. The one I tend to use is the Twisted German cast-on, also known as Old Norwegian cast-on. For speed I’m going to call it – TGCO. The reasons I prefer this one are – I find it to be the quickest one to do (look at the video at the bottom to see how fast) It has a good balance between being a stretchy cast-on, as well as, springing back into place. I find the knitted cast-ons tend to be too tight for most situations. It creates a strong stable stitch that is easy to knit into on that first row. Some cast-ons can be very tricky or time-consuming on that first row. It is also a fantastic cast-on for top down socks – as it is so stretchy. Last year, I made a cast-on flow chart for the blog, which can be useful in determining what type of cast on to use. I prefer to learn from a photo tutorial but for those of you who pre

African Flowers Bucket Bag

I love the African Flower motif and suddenly just had the desire to make a bag for my knitting. Took a bit of playing around to figure out how to make the shape I wanted. I wanted a bucket shaped bag. I ended up breaking the shapes down - I made a tube from the hexagons and then a circle for the base. I used half hexagons to give the tube a straight edge. I used Littleberry’s half hexagon pattern - though I restarted the yarn on the right hand side every round. I used the magic circle technique for the centres and crocheted over the ends of the yarn and connected the hexagons as I went. I managed to find some fabric in my stash that matched the colours of the cotton and used this for the lining. I made twisted cord from the cotton for the drawstring. There was a bit of yarn leftover so I made a little drawstring pouch for my stitch markers. Bag Construction Make a tube with the hexagons, eight across and 4 high. Make 8 half hexagons for the top and bottoms t

In the Making...

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