Stories in the Making

This month we had a skill-sharing session at Yarn Club and added a few new tricks to our knitting bags. Here I've rounded up the best tutorials I could find for the cast-ons and bind-offs we discussed, and links to the books I referenced.  In the fullness of time, I will add my own video clips demonstrating the techniques that were more difficult to find online. First off, there are two really fantastic books that cover this topic: Cast On Bind, Bind Off: 54 Step-by-Step Methods by Leslie Ann Bestor Leslie Ann Bestor's book arranges things by function - i.e....

Over a year ago, I wrote this in the notebook I used the first time I launched Phibersmith Designs as a business in Vancouver in 2009.  The book hadn’t seen much action since our first son was born in 2011.  And now he's 4 and a half... 2015 seemed like it would be a good year to start ramping things up again.   Our sons were three and one, out of the true baby phase and both into solid sleep cycles (the key to any home-based business where children are involved).  My husband’s father had gone through cancer treatment in...

The Seashell Cowl is now available on Ravelry Back in May, at a meeting of the Guelph Guild of Handweavers and Spinners, a woman named Wendy Cross came and sat next to me during the break, and boy am I ever glad she did. I happened to be working on the sample for the Lavender Scarf at that meeting, and Wendy asked me what I was making, and if I had designed it myself. When I answered yes, she brought out a bag of yarn to show me with the air of a proud mama. This yarn, she told me,...

My Lavender Scarf pattern is now available. The comfort and elegance of lavender is rendered here in a fascinating knitted stitch. It is simple to do, yet produces an intricate effect (and at the heart of it, isn’t that why we all love to knit?). The scarf progresses in a soothing repeat that is easy to follow or customize, and never gets boring. This pattern is made for hand-dyed variegated yarn. The colours won’t get lost in the stitch pattern, and conversely, the stitch pattern is showcased by the changing shades. Made in luxurious fingering weight superwash merino, this is...

Updated Feb 19, 2021: 12 - 24 month size - There are a couple of omissions in the written instructions for rows 84 & 89 (the charted instructions are correct): 84 should read: K7, [P1, K1] twice, *[P1, K1] twice, K9, [P1, K1]twice, rep from * to last 6 sts, P1, K1, P1, K3. 89 should read: K3, K2tog, YO, [K1, P1] 3 times, *[K1, P1] twice, K1, YO, SKP, K2, K2tog, YO, [K1, P1] 3 times, rep from * to last 6 sts, [K1, P1] twice, K1, YO, SKP (with first stitch of next round, moving marker over 1 st to the left)....