One of the many, many things that I love about designing and knitting is that it is a bottomless pit of new skills and techniques to master. Every time I put yarn to needles I seem to learn something new. Sometimes just a little trick, sometimes a game-changing monumental discovery! This month was a very good fibre month for me. I found a Lucy Neatby video that finally shared the secrets of the provisional cast on. I was sure everyone knew but me and they weren't telling! I've finally learned to do a provisional cast on that doesn't take me hours of picking and snipping!! A provisional cast on leaves you with live stitches at the beginning of your work. So that you can set them free and graph them together with the end stitches. Or, if you don't want to sew a hem (I hate sewing), set them free and knit them together with the body of your work where you would have sewn the hem! The next mind blower this month was Lily Chin's "Join as you go knitting workshop." I bought it because..again..I hate sewing! It's not a technique that you could always use, but the possibilities are pretty exciting for me! I have also started learning Brioche! I bought Nancy Marchand's "Knitting Brioche, The Essential Stitch Guide" What fun! It's so easy too. For a simple Brioche stitch on an even number of stitches you just have to keep repeating one row.
After the set up row which is:
*yf,sl1 purlwise,yo, k1; repeat from *
Repeat row: *yf,sl1, yo, brk1 ; repeat from *
Continue to work this repeat row and you end up with a lovely, sturdy reversible fabric!
Abbreviations:
yf: Yarn Forward
sl1purlwise: Slip 1 stitch purlwise
yo: Yarn Over
brk1: Knit 1 stitch together with the yarn over from the previous row.
Knitting Essentials: provisional cast-on
