Have yarn will Travel - 3 tips for knitting on the go!

Over this holiday period, a lot of us will be travelling with our knitting and crochet projects. To help keep the stress to a minimum, here are three top tips to help you work on those projects during your travelling time AND while you are relaxing at your destination.

5 ways to keep your knitting COOL this summer!

Do you knit all year long?

Yep thought so…me too!!!

It is a truth universally acknowledged, for us seriously addicted knitters, that it is never too hot to knit.

So how can you indulge in your craft so that it doesn't leave you even more hot and sweaty in our Australian summer?

Here are 5 ways for keeping your knitting COOL this summer...

1. Choose small and /or lightweight projects
    Summer is a great time to knit socks or lace - no heavy projects to sit in your lap

2. Choose "summer" yarns
    Cotton and linen are great choices for summer knitting, both for projects you can wear (summer tops      for example) and are also cooler in your hands. And sand washes out of cotton so much easier than it does out of mohair!

3. Consider modular projects
    Such as blankets made of squares - so you can make a bunch of smaller parts during summer, and  then join them all up just in time to have a new blanket for autumn or winter.

4. Keep your hands cool 
     If you suffer from sweaty hands, wash your hands in cold water regularly. Another trick is to dust your hands with talcum powder.

5. If you haven't already, try crochet! 
    From someone who is "multi-stitchual", I find crochet lends itself to summer crafting moreso than knitting - it will open up your options for modular and small projects especially. There is nothing like crocheting a Christmas snowflake to make you think it is cooler, even if you aren't!

Why you NEED to be on Ravelry right now!

So I'm pretty much assuming that I'm going to be preaching to the converted here. That most of us that live and breathe yarn are already on the Ravelry train. So then, what's the purpose of this blog post?

Well, one of my customers very kindly asked me to do a 'why you need to be on Ravelry post' so she could forward it to her friends. So this is for her friends, and any of yours that need to be convinced that they need to be a part of the single most exciting thing that has happened to knitting & crochet in like FOREVER!

What is Ravelry?

Ravelry is a free social networking website for knitters & crochet folk. I often describe it as Facebook with a purpose. It has over 3 million members worldwide and has even scored its own wikipedia entry. Pretty impressive for a website that only started in 2007.

What can I do on Ravelry?

You can:

• search for patterns
• search for yarn
• match yarn up to patterns
• search for alternative yarn for patterns
• browse through other people's projects photos and notes
• upload your own projects to a page, including photographs
• upload & manage your own stash
• join groups with like minded knitters, such as those in the suzy hausfrau group
• participate in forums on all sorts of topics, knitting and otherwise
• find where to buy yarn 
• download patterns direct from designers (pdf format), including lots of FREE patterns!
• participate in 'show and tell' by having other people comment and 'like' your projects, and by you doing the same to theirs.
• and heaps more

Does it cost anything?

Not a penny

What do I do to join?

Head on over to the home page here, click on join now and follow the instructions. You will need to chose a username (commonly known as a Ravatar!) and a password...and chocks away you're off!

Ravelry 101 | 5-steps | how to add your stash to your profile

So you've just bought some yarn. You admire it for a couple of days, take it out from time to time and give it a good squeeze...don't tell me you don't know what I mean. Then you place it in the stash right?

If we're honest most of us are 'stashers', very few yarn tragics in my experience buy yarn, knit, buy yarn, knit, and so on, in that order. There is always some stashing going on.

So how on earth do you keep a catalogue of that stash? So that you don't pull out 6 skeins of MadTosh in 3 years time, and say 'oh I forgot I had that'. Again, don't tell me you don't know what I mean.

Did you know that Ravelry can help you with this catalogue? That you can add your stash right in the very spot where you search for patterns, from the very comfort of your computer screen! You can search within your stash by weight, fibre or date purchased. This will help you in the long run with your project planning, and maybe even your yarn budget!

The full instructions (including pictures) are below, click on the 'Read more' link.

ravelry 101 | 3 steps to choosing an alternative yarn

Do you suffer from yarn-lock? Like when you've found the most divine pattern, can't get it out of your head...but the choices of yarn are so overwhelming that your brain is in 24hour yarn-lock. Or maybe you just head for the recommended yarn on the pattern and that's that. I could say lucky you, you would certainly sleep better at night...but I hate to be the one to tell you this, you are seriously missing out, or dare I say it, in a yarn-rut!

Choice is everywhere and we are all suffering from information overload, and more than that, life is just too short not to try out as many exquisite yarns as you can. I'm not wanting to be presumptuous here, but most of you have heard of Ravelry right? Think Facebook with a purpose for knitters and crochet folk? Now, if you have, don't go laughing at me. Because every time I do a pop up shop or market it's obvious that there are still lots of people missing out on what is singularly THE BEST RESOURCE for yarn tragics! Full stop, exclamation mark, exclamation mark again.

So today is the first in a series I'm calling Ravelry 101. A how-to-guide, how to get the best out of THE BEST RESOURCE for yarn tragics...and today's topic is how to navigate through Ravelry to help you overcome yarn-lock or yarn-rut, and choose an alternative yarn for that project.

Let's begin...

1.  When you belong to Ravelry (btw it's free), you can begin to add potential projects to your queue. Here is my queue and today I want to find an alternative yarn for project #298. Spring cloud by Sachiko Uemera.

2.  When I click on that project it brings up the front page full of information about the pattern and details of the yarn suggested. But I don't (yet) have Louet Gems yarn in my store and well call me crazy but suzy likes to shop at suzy hausfrau. So I click on yarn ideas.

3.  Bringing up yarn ideas I strike gold. Two people have used Shibui Knits Staccato (a yarn that I stock).  I can then click on the 'used 2 times' link and check out their projects - pictures of the finished project, what rating they give that yarn, what needle size they use,  any relevant blog posts and so much more.

It's that easy. If this post has introduced you to Ravelry, don't be afraid, three million members can't be wrong! But be warned, it's addictive and hours will go by as you begin to unravel all the possibilities out there.

Have a great (long) weekend and a Happy Easter,
suzy xoxo

Another day, another lifeline

I finally worked up the courage to fix up THIS knitting disaster over the weekend. I couldn't bear to knit the whole garment with a smaller moss-stitch border, so I decided to insert another lifeline and reknit the moss-stitch border - upside down. Because what I wanted to fix was at the cast on edge, I went for broke and I can tell you that ripping and cutting into your project is not for the feint-hearted!

I'm delighted with the result, the project is back on track...and only you and I will be able to tell that the moss-stitch is upside down on the back. ;)

If you want a reminder on how I insert a lifeline, read THIS blog post.

Happy days,
suzy xoxo

Inserting a lifeline

After confessing to a wee-knitting problem here last week I decided that the only way was to insert a lifeline - and here is how I did it.

1. You need to firstly mark the row where you want to get back to, and then chose a row or two above that just in case your lifeline isn't quite right.

2. Pick up the stitches very carefully, it helps if the yarn like this one has very defined stitches. I picked up the stitches with the wrong end of the needle that I use to weave ends in. You can't use the pointed end as you will not be able to pick up the strand of yarn evenly. A bit obvious, but it is best to use a colour for your lifeline that is in a contrasting colour to your work.

3. Work your way carefully across the row. Taking care to pick up the correct stitch, ie. knit OR purl stitch in my case for stocking stitch...and making sure not to cross-over into the row above or below.

4. This is the scary part. Start ripping out your work above the lifeline and stop a row or two above. If you are confident your lifeline is OK rip away, but if not you can pick up your stitches with your needles at this point. I find it good to have a crochet hook handy here, just in case there are any stitches that pop of the needles, or you have missed with your lifeline.

I went for broke and ripped right away to the lifeline.

5. Insert your knitting needle back through, if you haven't decided to pick up stitches that is, and pull out the lifeline....and voila we are back on track.