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Archive for June, 2012

Blocking Techniques

Posted in Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on June 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

One of the techniques I use to shape my pillow tops is to block them on the needles.   I use the cords of two 47 inch circle needles.  Needle A, goes across the top and down the left side.  Needle B holds the stitches across the bottom and up the right side.  This allows me to use the cords as blocking rods.  Below is a picture of my latest Needlepoint Knitting pillow top.  This one is for my grandson, who is a mighty hunter. 🙂

The stitches have been picked up on the edges and are set up to knit the tubing for my corded edge.  This process is completed before I wash the top.   Notice the cord loops in the corners;  needle A, in the upper left corner, and needle B in the lower right corner.  These loops free the cord, allowing me to pull the edges straight.   To secure the pillow top in place,  I use T pins.  It works great.

When dry,  I will be knitting the tubing using the same method used for working with 2 circle needles in the round.  You can find this method by typing in “socks on two circles,” or “knitting with two circle needles,” in you search engine.   There are some good videos on YouTube.

Thought you might like to see this-thought it might be helpful.

Happy knitting- KT

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Blending Colors of Yarn, Plus

Posted in Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 13, 2012| 2 Comments »

Unable to purchase all the necessary shades I needed to knit up the Wood Duck pillow for my grandson, I decided to make up my own by blending two single strands of colors together.   In the illustration below, the areas where I have used the blended yarns are marked with circles of various colors.

The red circle indicates the Steel grey/ Iris heather mix.

 

The next combination  in the green circle, is a teal/dark green mix.

 

The blue circle marks the side of the body.  In this section I chose to blend the Suede color with gold.  This combination allowed me to transition to the single gold color without a definite line.

All this is to say that you don’t have to settle for the color combinations that are out there.  You can blend your own.

HOW ?

1.  Select you colors.  Peel off the amount you normally use in your colorwork ( I use about an arm’s length).

2  Separate the plies.

3.  Tie one end of the two strands together.

4.  Lay the joined end of the two strands in the palm of your left hand.

5.  Lick or moisten the palm of your right hand and rub the two strands together vigorously for about 30 seconds-

inotherwords, “spit splice” the strands together.

6. Wet your right palm again, now push down on the combined strand and roll it away from you about 5-6 time.  This sets the twist.

7.  Move the blended strand to the left, so you can work the same process in the next section of yarn to your right.  Be sure to repeat the same number of rolls when setting the twist.  Continue this process to the end of the strand.

Your finished strand should look something like this-

The above strand is a combination of “Pumice Heather ” and “Iris Heather.”

*  If you find an area that didn’t get twisted enough, just wet you palm and work a few more rolls at that point.

Next time you can’t find the color you need, you might try this out.  It’s fun to see what color combos you can come up with.  When I need larger amounts, I use a drop spindle to re-spin the two strands together.

Have fun- KT

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