Crazy for Ewe
Rowan Magazine 80 — Design That Doesn't Date
We tried on a Felted Tweed pullover at the Rowan booth in Cologne this spring, and it turned out to be more than ten years old. That's when I finally understood what makes Rowan different from every other yarn company on the floor.
Knitting has seasons too
I got home from a week away and didn't want to do anything except cook, read, and knit -- and for a few days, I wondered if something was wrong with me. It turns out even a yarn store owner needs an off-season sometimes. Here's what tomatoes, spinach, and Ecclesiastes taught me about it.
My Favorite Designer is Mark Down
My son asked me to knit him a sweater. I packed four skeins for vacation and came home with four inches of ribbing. Here's what that has to do with what's on sale at the shop this week.
You Don't Have to Finish That Knitting Project
A customer once came into my shop looking for yarn to finish a scarf she hated. What she actually needed wasn't more yarn.
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Why Some Yarns Bloom and Others Just Don't
My cousin Colleen's husband is a watercolor painter who told me something about wet paint that got me thinking about wet wool. Turns out water plays the same trick on both of us -- you can't know what you really have until it's done its work.
Why Your Sweater Doesn't Match Your Style -- and What to Do About It
A woman in my shop once told me she's never worn a single sweater she's knit. That stuck with me -- because there's a real difference between knitting to relax and knitting for the wardrobe you actually want.
How Much Ease Is Too Much? What Nobody Tells You About Fitting Your Tummy
Sizes solved one problem in knitting patterns and quietly created another -- nobody ever taught us how to choose one, or what to do once we had. Here's the real guidance, built around ease, tummy fit, and what construction style has to do with it.
What We Found at Retreat When We Stopped Trying to Teach
This past weekend, a room full of knitters gathered not to learn a technique, but to swatch for the sheer joy of discovering what a yarn wants to become. Here's what happens when you stop swatching for gauge and start swatching for wonder.
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What Linen Does to a Knitted Fabric — And Why It Surprises People
I've had my daughter's slightly sparkly linen top living rent-free in my head for
nearly a decade. Now I'm finally knitting it — and the yarn choices changed everything.
One small change at the armhole for a much better fit
Tanisha noticed it immediately — the fold above the bustline on a sleeveless dropped shoulder top. She was right. And the fix is simpler than you'd think.
The trick that solves the dropped shoulder problem
Ginni has been solving knitting problems structurally for longer than most people I know. The Liberty 250 Tee is what it looks like when a designer decides not to accept what the construction hands her.
You can have anything you want -- but not everything
A physicist friend of mine says you can have anything you want. But not everything. Turns out he was talking about dropped shoulder sweaters.