news & releases - Page 34 of 38

tutorial: knitting in the round – travelling loop method

In earlier posts I already told you about choosing circular needles that fit your style. “Regular” knitting in the round has also been discussed in this post. In this post, I want to talk about knitting in the round using the travelling loop method.

Why is this actually called travelling loop?

That is because with this method you use a circular knitting needle with a cable that is way too long for the project. During knitting, the excess length of the cable forming a loop will move along from the right-hand needle all the way around to the left-hand needle. The loop “travels” as it were!

Knitting with the travelling loop method works very well if two prerequisites are met:

Firstly, it is of importance that you use a circular needle with a cable too large for your project. If your project has a circumference of 50 cm / 20 inches, then circs with a length of 80 cm / 32 inches or longer would work fine with this method. For this same project circs with a length of 60 cm / 16 inches would not work, because the excess length of cable is too small to form the loop.

Secondly, make sure that the diameter of your project is not too small! Socks and sleeves will usually be too small to use this method because the length of the needle itself will be a problem. A knitted in the round cowl or (children) sweater will be fine though most of the time.

Knitting travelling loop step by step

In this example, I’m using 4 mm / 80 cm circular needles as well as a stitch marker to indicate the start and end of rounds.

1. Cast on the number of stitches as required for your project. In this example I have cast on stitches by knitting them on, you can, of course, use your preferred method or the one specified in your pattern.

2. Move the cast on stitches over your needle in such a way that the first CO stitch is on your left-hand needle. You can recognize this stitch by the loose tail. Make sure not to twist your work, if that is what is desired for your pattern.

3. When you are about to close the work in the round, this is how everything looks: The needle with the beginning of your CO (with the yarn tail) at the side of the left-hand needle, the thread leading to your ball of wool coming from the last CO stitch at the back. The right-hand needle has a long length of the unused cable. Now it is also time to place your “end of round” stitch marker on the right-hand needle.

4. Insert your right-hand needle into the first stitch on the left-hand needle and knit it. There will be tension on the yarn that connects the first and last stitch of the CO. Because of this, it can help to hold the cable close to the needle with your hand.

5. Once you have knitted part of the round, you will see the loop of excess cable travelling along.

6. At a certain point when knitting with a travelling loop, it will become possible to move all remaining stitches of the round up to the left-hand needle. Do this, to lessen the tension on the yarn that connects the first and last stitch of the CO.

7. At the end of the round, you will have a large piece of unused cable near the left-hand needle. Pull the circular needle through your work in such a way, that all stitches are ready to knit on the left-hand needle. The right-hand needle has the excess cable. Put the stitch marker over to the other needle and knit. You can tighten up the somewhat loose connection between the end and start of each round. To do so, pull the yarn tight with the second stitch of each new round. Don’t worry about the sloppy looking join, this will fix itself.

8. With each round making sure to pull the yarn tight with every second stitch of the round only. After knitting several rounds, it will look like this. As you can see everything has redistributed nicely and it does not look sloppy anymore!

Stay tuned for the next blog in the series of knitting in the round using circular needles!

tutorial: knitting in the round – travelling loop method Read More »

tutorial: knitting in the round with circular needles

Personally, I find knitting in the round with circular needles to be very relaxing. It goes round and round and round; very zen! This is what also made it so nice to work on my Zeeglas Cowl, pictured below. In this post I will tell and show you how knitting in the round works best, using circular needles (or circs for short).

How does knitting in the round using circs work?

Knitting in the round this way works best when using a needle with a cable length that matches the circumference of your project. It is better to use a needle that is a tad too short, than one too large. Knitting is easy to compress a bit, but stretching it out can get ugly. Also, this makes for a less than optimal knitting experience: it is hard to move along stitches that are stretched tight over your needle and cable.

For a cowl regular circular needles with a cable length of 60 cm (24 inches) is usually fine. For knitting socks this way there are even special tiny circs with extra short needles and a cable of a mere 10 cm (4 inches).

In this example, I will use a size 3 mm (US 2) circular needle with a cable length of 30 cm (12 inches). This specific needle has tips that are a tad shorter than regular circs. This needle by Addi is my favorite to knit baby hats from sock wool.

Knitting in the round with circular needles step by step

1. Cast on the number of stitches as required for your project plus 1. I will explain this extra stitch later on in this how-to. In this example I have cast on stitches by knitting them on. You can, of course, use your preferred method or the one specified in your pattern. In the picture below the strand of yarn at the bottom of the picture is where the CO was started. The strand at the top is the one that goes to the ball of yarn.

2. In patterns where the work has to be closed in the round, there often is a note to be careful not the twist the work. An exception to this is when you actually want a twist in the work. Take for example as with a Moebius type cowl. In the picture above in the spot indicated with the arrow, you can see there is a twist. I have to untwist it before proceeding!

3. Hold the needles in such a way that the last CO stitch is on your right-hand needle. You can recognize this stitch by the attached ball of yarn.

4. Slip this last CO stitch from your right-hand needle to the left-hand needle, then knit the first 2 stitches together. With this, you close the work in the round and at the same time, prevent a “gap” at the join. Also, the extra stitch cast on has been decreased away.

5. Place a stitch marker to indicate the start and end of the round and enjoy the knitting!

In another post on the topic of knitting in the round with circular needles, I also cover traveling loop. Posts on magic loop knitting and “two at a time” (“TAAT” for short) magic loop knitting will be done sometime in the future!

tutorial: knitting in the round with circular needles Read More »

choosing circular knitting needles

There are many types of projects where knitting in the round may be easier than knitting flat back and forth followed by sewing the pieces together. Think of socks, hats, sleeves of sweaters, round shawls etc. There are roughly two different ways to knit in the round: Double pointed needles (dpn’s) or circular needles (circs for short). Most people have a strict preference for one variant or the other.

My preference is for circulars; I once worked with dpn’s, but it felt like I was wrestling a hedgehog! For me using circs also saves the number of different knitting needles I need, because I use my circulars also to just knit back and forth.

Note that some knitting techniques are less suitable for knitting with circular needles. Think for example of those who are used to clamping the needle under the arm.

But how to go about choosing circular knitting needles?

In this post, I want to give you some background information about the different types of circulars. This because, as you can see in the picture above, there are really a lot of different types! Choosing circular knitting needles that are the right ones for you and your projects can, therefore, be a bit of a challenge. I will of course also talk about what to look for when you are going to try knitting with circular needles. Indeed, there is nothing as personal as a circular needle: If your knitting needle is not the right one for you, the experience can be less pleasant than knitting should be.

What to pay attention to

Material
Point
Connection to the cable
Material of the cable
Length of the cable

Below I will elaborate on each of these points as they are very much of importance when choosing circular knitting needles.

1. Material

Circular needles can be made from various materials. Commonly found are needles made from wood, bamboo, nickel plated, copper finish, plastic, and aluminum. Wood and bamboo have more drag when knitting than the other materials. Because of this, it is not my preference: For me personally, the smoother the better! The picture above shows two favorites from my personal collection: The silver with gold cable is a regular Addi circular needle, the copper-colored circular needle with the red cable is an Addi Lace needle. The latter has a special coating to make it a tad less smooth than regular Addi’s to make it easier to work with very thin yarn.

2. Point

In the picture above you can see the difference in points between the two types of circular needles very well. The lace needle is significantly sharper than the other. Which variant is preferred is again very personal and depends both on the type of project you want to knit, and your knitting style.

3. Connection to the cable

In the picture above you can see the difference between the connection of the more expensive Addi needles compared to the much cheaper Wibra circular needle: the connection on the Wibra needle is clearly less smooth. Moreover, I have no problem with Wibra needles: They are nice and pointy, have a good flexible cable and are excellent value for money.

However, depending on the type of project and your personal knitting style, the connection of the needle to the cable can be a problem. With very thin yarn, or if you knit very tight, the yarn can snag behind the edge, which can be very annoying when knitting.

4. Material of the cable

The various cables that you see in these photos are all made of different materials. As a result, there are also differences in how supple and flexible the cables are. This, in turn, has an effect on how easy and enjoyable different types of circular knitting can be done with them. I myself have not yet come across a cable too flexible for my tastes. More the opposite, with the cable being too stiff. This of course again depends on your own preferences.

Update December 13th, 2017: I have found circular needles with a (to my taste) too flexible cable, my 3.75 mm Kollage square needles. I like the needles themselves, but the cable is the limpest noodle I have ever encountered!

5. Length of the cable

Circular knitting needles come with different cable lengths: From very short 10 cm (4 inches) with extra short needles to knit socks, to cables with a length of 150 cm 60 inches) for very large projects. Most commonly, however, are cable lengths of 60, 80 and 100 cm (24, 32 and 40 inches). In my experience, the 80 cm (32 inches) length is sufficient for most needs.

When you have the need for multiple cable lengths, an interchangeable needle set with loose points and cables like the one below could be just the thing for you. I know this Addi Click set was for me the best investment in knitting tools in years!

In summary

If you have no experience with knitting in the round with circular needles and don’t know yet what you prefer: If possible, go and visit a friend who already has several and try them out before you invest yourself. Choosing circular knitting needles this way is a lot more budget friendly than buying them all!

choosing circular knitting needles Read More »

inspiration: workshop Stephen West

Once in a while I very much enjoy following a workshop. To learn new techniques or to find out how other people do certain things. Recently I followed the “Colorplay the Westknits way!” workshop with Stephen West at Ja, Wol in Rotterdam. This is by the way a really lovely yarn store with a great assortment of natural fibers, handmade or hand-dyed yarns and fair trade yarns. Absolutely worth a visit!

If you are familiar with Stephens work, you know that he is a true master in combining color and texture into eccentric but wearable pieces. Gorgeous examples include Exploration Station, Color Craving, Esjan and the Askews Me Sweater. During this 4 hours workshop he explained us his philosophy and guided us in experimentation involving lots of color, lots of texture and combining yarns.

Stephen remarked very accurately that everybody has his own color preferences, colors that are often reached for first when planning or starting a project. In the same vein there are also lots of colors, textures etc. we often don’t even consider using and walk past quickly: “Not my color”, “to busy” etcetera. It is his goal to no longer say “no”, but to become a “yes” knitter.
A too bright color? Use it as an accent. Too wild texture? Use it sparingly for that something extra in your project. Something not “your” color? Double it up with another yarn to give a whole new effect!

Various techniques like knitting an i-cord / slipped stitch edge (striped!) and short rows were also reviewed.

What I personally find so interesting, is that this working from color and material is so much different from how I usually work. I get the idea about a design, work it out on paper and then knit my sample from this pattern. Stephen Wests approach is start with a whole selection of varying yarns, a general idea for a shape and then he starts knitting. Only during the project he decides what the item wants to be.

Not only subject makes this workshop so interesting. Stephen west is a very charismatic person, easily engrossing his public with the stories of his knitting adventures. Add the pleasant surroundings of Ja, wol, the lovely tea and brownies the owner of the yarn shop Saskia served and you have a wonderful recipe for a well spend Sunday morning.

One thing is sure: I now have plenty inspiration for many new designs!

inspiration: workshop Stephen West Read More »

tutorial: preparing roving for extreme knitting

You have perhaps already read in this blog post, that extreme knitting really has my attention lately. In that blog post I have been shown you how I made extreme knitting needles from broom sticks. Today I am going to show you how I prepared wool roving to be able to knit with it.

At first I just started knitting with the roving as it came. However, soon it became clear that this particular piece of knitting was very thick and stiff. Perhaps suitable for a thick rug, but not for the scarf I envisioned. In other words: my new extreme broomstick needles were too small for this “yarn”!

I wasn’t planning on making even bigger knitting needles, so something had to be done with the wool itself to make it suitable for the needles I had available. Also, the thought came to me that untreated wool roving knit into a scarf, would probably shed like a Wookiee in Springtime. Not a good look when wearing dark colored clothes.

Below the steps to prepare my roving for extreme knitting:

1. Splitting the roving length-wise. This way I not only halved the thickness, but also doubled the total length available for my scarf!

2. The result: Two large balls of roving. Because the roving is now significantly thinner, it also falls apart more easily when handled. This combined with the shedding problem led me to the idea to full/felt the wool.

3. To make sure the wool wouldn’t felt together in one big lump, I draped it on a large sheet like this:

4. Then I rolled up the sheet, making sure that the roving did not touch itself anywhere. When rolled up like a big sausage I used some waste yarn to make sure it stayed that way. After this the whole package was put in the washing machine on a short 30 minute / 30 degrees Celsius program.

5. Here my roving yarn is out of the washing machine and hanging to dry. It’s nicely felted as you can see!

6. And there we have it: A large ball of felted roving, ready for some extreme knitting.

Go to this page to see what I made out of this extreme yarn!

tutorial: preparing roving for extreme knitting Read More »

tutorial: reverse single crochet (rsc)

Reverse single crochet - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

A knitting or crochet project isn’t really finished until all edges and borders are also finished. With knitted pieces, this plays an even more important role, as stockinette or stockinette-based fabric often curls. Applying a crocheted edge is a nice and easy solution to prevent this. In this post, I’m going to write about the “crab stitch” or “reverse single crochet”. This stitch is often abbreviated as “rsc”. The latter reveals a lot about how this stitch is worked: exactly the same way as a regular single crochet stitch, only in the reverse direction!

What I find really nice about the crab stitch, is that it has a very sleek unisex look. Because of this, it is very suitable for finishing of clothing items and accessories for men of all ages. Also, you can create very nice effects by stitching the crab stitch in a contrasting color. This is something I’ve done in the green and blue vest, which you can see a detail of in the picture above. In the step-by-step instructions, I will, however, be making the crab stitch edging in the same color as the main piece. Please note that American crochet terminology is used in this tutorial.

Crab stitch or reverse single crochet step by step:

1. Begin on the left side of the item, you will be working from the left to right.

2. Insert the hook in the base stitch where you want to start your edging.

3. Twist the point of your hook to the left, grab the yarn and pull through the stitch. This is the hardest part of the reverse single crochet stitch to get right. There are now two loops on your hook.

4. Yarn over and draw through the two loops on your hook.

5. This completes the first stitch. Repeat steps 1 to 4 as often as needed for your project.

The completed edging will look like this:

In the picture below, you see in the middle a version of my Kimono Wrap Revisited, which I finished with a reverse single crochet edging in a contrasting color.

kimono wrap revisited by La Visch Designs

Have fun embellishing your projects with this wonderful, versatile stitch!

tutorial: reverse single crochet (rsc) Read More »

tutorial: foundation double crochet (fdc)

In earlier tutorials, I have already shown you how to start your crochet without a starting chain, using either foundation single crochet (fsc) or foundation half double crochet (fhdc).

In this tutorial, the final part in the series: how to work a foundation double crochet or fdc. Please note that American crochet terminology is used in this tutorial. In a pattern, you may find the following instruction for fhdc:

Foundation double crochet: make a slip knot and place onto hook, ch 3, yo and insert hook into both lps of the third st from hook, yo and draw through st, ch 1, yo and draw through first 2 lps on hook, yo and draw through last 2 lps on hook, *yo, insert hook in ch part of previous st, yo and draw through st, ch 1, yo and draw through first 2 lps on hook, yo and draw through last 2 lps on hook; rep from *.

Working foundation double crochet (fdc) step by step

1. Make a slip knot and chain 3.

Working foundation double crochet (fdc) - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

2. Yarn over and insert the hook from right to left under the top strands of the third chain from the hook.

3. Yarn over and draw through the top strands as indicated above.

4. Chain one stitch, make sure to make this one not too tight, because here you create the “chain” part of your foundation row.

5. Yarn over and draw through the first two loops on your hook.

6. Yarn over and draw through the remaining two loops on your hook. This completes the first stitch in your foundation double crochet.

7. Insert the hook in the chain part of the previous stitch, as indicated by the arrow in the picture above. This can be a tad hard to make out. Yarn over and draw through both strands of the stitch.

8. Chain one stitch, again making sure not to make this one too tight.

9. Yarn over and draw through the first two loops on your hook.

10. Yarn over and draw through the remaining two loops on your hook.

Repeat steps 7-10 as often as needed! And this is what your foundation double crochet (fdc) should look like:

tutorial: foundation double crochet (fdc) Read More »

cirkels

The bold circle (“cirkel” in Dutch) featured in the border inspired the Cirkels shawl design. This wonderful eye catching lace reminds me of the bridges of Paris, crossing the Seine.

Knit Cirkels sideways from tip to tip. Increases/decreases are worked one stitch every other row, creating a shallow triangle. The lace border features triple yarn overs, giving it its distinct circles. Because the border is knit at the same time as the body of the shawl, the time needed for finishing is minimal.

Pay what you want: (minimum €6.50)

€

Difficulty level

This pattern features a stockinette body with a simultaneously knit garter stitch lace edging. Stitches used include knit, purl, k2tog, kfb, M1, yo, triple yo and a centered double decrease. This pattern is suitable for the intermediate knitter.

Size and finished measurements

Wingspan of 145 cm (57 inches) and a depth of 50 cm (20 inches), measured after blocking.

Pattern details

Written for a gauge of 18 sts / 20 rows = 10 cm (4 inches) over stockinette after blocking, gauge is however not critical in this design.
Pattern languages included: English and Dutch (Dit patroon omvat zowel een Nederlandse als een Engelse versie)
Digital PDF has 4 pages in the English version and pages for the Dutch version (A4 size)

Materials

420 m (460 yds) / 100 g Regia 4 fädig / 4 ply sock yarn [75% wool, 25% nylon; 210 m (230 yds) / 50 g skein]. Substitute any fingering weight yarn for a similar result.
A circular needle size 4 mm (US 6), 80 cm (32 inches) long.
Yarn needle
1 stitch marker

cirkels Read More »

tutorial: making extreme knitting needles

Knitting old fashioned and fussy? The people saying that probably haven’t heard of extreme knitting. There are many varieties of extreme knitting, to name a few examples:

Extremely small knitting or “micro knitting” as practiced by Althea Crome. She is also the artist responsible for the knitwear in the movie “Coraline”.
Knitting at extreme locations. Knitting under water as done by Nelleke and Rob Kool must be one of the more extreme examples of this type of extreme knitting!
Extremely large knitting, using (obviously) very big needles and yarn.

It is this last category of extreme knitting that has my attention. With much interest I have been reading about the Shetland lace garden fence, carpets from many strands of yarn knit simultaneously and fantastically fluffy blankets knit from wool roving.

I’m very interested in this type of extreme knitting. Knitting on such a scale must be very different from knitting on size 4 mm (US #6) size needles. The result itself is of course much bigger, although I can’t really get a feel on the impact of such large stitches when viewing this type of projects on the internet. I also expect that the act of knitting itself is much more labor intensive when compared to “regular” knitting.

The choice was easy to make: I was going extreme! Of course, very big knitting needles are needed for this. In this tutorial, I’m going to show you step by step how to make extreme knitting needles.

Making your own extreme knitting needles

Supplies needed

2 broomsticks with a tapered end (diameter approx. 28 mm / 1 inch)
medium grit sandpaper
fine grit sandpaper
sanding block

Instructions

Tear a strip from the medium grit sandpaper and fold it around the sanding block.
Sand the tapered ends of the broomsticks round and smooth.
Sand the entire broomstick, both tip, and shaft, with the fine grit sand to remove any splinters and make it smooth enough to be able to knit with it.

The result: two extremely large knitting needles!

In the next tutorial on this subject, we will be preparing the wool roving to be able to knit with it.

tutorial: making extreme knitting needles Read More »

from fleece to tweedy yarn

What I really love is to spin my own yarn and then design a pattern to use that yarn to its best advantage. Often I just use ready-dyed top or roving, for example from wonderful dyers like Dutch Wool Diva. Other times I start out with a raw fleece and clean and dye it myself, like I showed you in the dyeing wool tutorial. In this post, I want to show you the steps involved in making a tweedy yarn from the fiber I dyed before. The main characteristic of tweed yarn, consists of contrasting flecks of color on a solid or tonal background. In this particular yarn, I will be using sari silk threads as the contrasting component. I got mine from Bart & Francis.

Therefore, my starting materials consist of the following:

However, before the wool can be spun in threads, it has to be prepared. Because I wanted a somewhat “fluffy” yarn I carded the silk and wool together in fluffy batts, using my drum carder:

I alternated layers of wool and silk, starting and ending with wool. After this first pass, I removed the batt from the drum, tore it into strips and put it through the carder again to blend it better. The end result, three lovely fluffy purple batts, streaked with colorful silk:

Spinning

And then it was time to spin! I spun this yarn as a fat 2-ply on my vintage double drive spinning wheel. I didn’t mind some unevenness, because plying multiple singles together evens out a lot of irregularities. Besides, I really don’t mind a hand spun yarn being a tad rustic. Here’s a progress shot of spinning the singles:

And both bobbins full of singles, you can see the singles are somewhat thick-‘n-thin:

After plying both singles together, I had a wonderful aran weight 2 ply yarn, exactly as I envisioned it! I finished the yarn by giving it a wash to set the twist and snap the skein a bit to distribute the twist better. And there you have it: 189 m / 125 g of hand spun goodness, in this picture drying in the sun:

And of course the resulting and skeined up yarn! Truly from fleece to tweedy yarn, I used it in a cowl.

from fleece to tweedy yarn Read More »