It's true - I really do learn something new every day!!
As some of you might remember (since some of you were there), we recently hosted an event spotlighting famous pattern designer Ann Norling. Part of the event included a show and tell ceremony, but I didn't have anything recently knitted to show and tell... I had to knit something! After a few minutes of running around the store, we (I can never make these decisions on my own) decided to knit the famous Ann Norling Kids Fruit Cap using an Angora yarn in pink and green (I used Tahki Jolie). Simple, right? Well, once I started to read the pattern & decided to sprinkle the pink part of the hat with green, I realized that I was going to have to knit 1 green stitch every 8 stitches. Eight stitches seemed like a long way to carry the green along - wouldn't those strands just break eventually? Or get too tight?
It's times like this that make me thankful for having my knitting guru Allison's phone number on speed dial. One quick phone call and I had the answers to my questions!
Here's what Allison told me: "Since you're only knitting with the green every 8 stitches, you need to also weave it in every 3-4 stitches. You can do this by putting your needle through the stitch, wrapping the green, wrapping the pink, and then unwrapping the green. Then just knit with the pink..."
So I tried it - and it worked! See the pictures below... (just note that i couldn't stop knitting the pink section long enough to take photos - i was just itching to be done... so the pictures are actually of me weaving in the pink at the top of the hat).
 | As usual, insert your needle into the next stitch to be knit. Note that i hold the working yarn in my left hand (many of you hold it in your right hand). |
 | Now wrap the contrasting (pink) yarn around your needle, as if to knit with it. |
 | Wrap your working (green) yarn around the needle. |
 | Simply pull the contrasting (pink) yarn over the working yarn and off of the needle. |
 | Finish knitting as usual with the working yarn - the pink is now locked behind the green - out of sight! |
 | Here's a view of the inside - notice that the green is woven into the hat every few stitches? (it's more difficult to see the woven-in pink at the top of the hat.) |
Posted by Jimmy (Laura) of Jimmy Beans Wool
