The interview aired on Wednesday evening on Phoenix 3TV News, on the 3 On Your Side segment. I’m at the beginning and end. You can watch it here:

I used to be a trail runner and a bit of a gym rat. For now I’ve ditched the discipline of running and  am discovering the joy of  just “playing” – it’s a whole new ballgame (ha, ha).  It’s a blast to grab the softballs and mitts, head for Feller Field, and simply play catch or hit a few balls. Steve is a very good teacher and patient coach. He also has good reflexes, which is a good thing because on those rare occasions when I actually hit the ball, it tends to rocket right at him. (I keep trying to reassure him this is not intentional.)

Naturally, I had to drag knitting into this activity. What better way to lug the balls and gloves than in a string bag?  Elisa’s Nest Tote is a pattern that fits the bill perfectly. Not only is it stretchy and fun to make, but the pattern is free too. I made it about 50% bigger than the pattern called for, in Knit Picks Comfy Fingering yarn. I used blue and red, as a nod toward our adopted home team , the Cleveland Indians.

Gallery (Click to Zoom)

Braided Cable Hat

In small, medium, and large sizes, this hat will be a favorite for everyone in your family. It’s quick to knit and the braided cable band keeps it interesting. The huge variety of colors available in worsted weight yarn makes this a good go-to pattern for gifts or to accessorize any outfit you might have in mind. Instructions are included for both the solid and two-toned versions.

The simple cable, small amount of provisional cast-on and special knit/purl grafting technique make it a good project for trying methods that may be new to the less-experienced knitter. Line-by-line instructions make the grafting a breeze.

Sizes: S (M, L)

Finished Measurements: 18 (20, 22)” circumference

Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Worsted (100% superwash merino wool, 110 yards/100 meters/50 grams)

Solid color: 170 (190, 220) yards/156 (174, 202) meters; 2 balls 23882-Copper
Two-tone colors: MC – 80 (90, 100) yards/74 (83, 92) meters; 1 (1, 1) ball 25138-Parrot; CC – 105 (120, 140) yards/97 (110, 128) meters; 1 (2, 2) balls 23884-Dublin

Needles:
1 pair US #7/4.5mm straight needles
16-inch US #7/4.5mm circular needles
1 set US #7/4.5mm double-pointed needles

The huge variety of colors available in worsted weight yarn makes this a good go-to pattern for gifts or to accessorize any outfit you might have in mind.

The simple cable, small amount of provisional cast-on and special knit/purl grafting technique make it a good project for trying methods that may be new to the less-experienced knitter. Line-by-line instructions make the grafting a breeze.

There are two easy ways to purchase this pattern for $1.99.

1. I’m grateful to Knit Picks for adding the Braided Cable Hat to their Independent Designer Program. There are lots of good things to say about ordering from Knit Picks. I used their terrific Swish Worsted Yarn for the pattern. It’s knits nicely, offers good stitch definition that makes the cabled braid stand out, is made of 100% superwash merino for easy care, and comes in dozens of tempting colors. The yarn is affordable, too!

 Knit Picks makes it so easy to make this hat – you have the option of buying a kit, which means that in one simple press of the button you can buy the pattern download plus the yarn colors shown in my photos. They also make it easy to buy your own colors, or even substitute one of their other worsted weight yarns. It’s all listed right there on the pattern page.  Or you can buy the pattern download alone. I love the flexibility Knit Picks offers. Brilliant!

2. If you’re logged into Ravelry, you can purchase the pattern from my AudKnits Store.

 I want to thank Susan Claudino, of Ravelry NoKnitSherlock fame, for knitting the hat samples for me. She went way above the call of duty, knitting her little fingers off in time for the photo shoot.

For those of you who have already gotten the pattern from Knotions, please note the corrected lines for the Back section of the pattern should read:

For those of you who have already started knitting,  before the armholes start you can just flip the work over so the WS and RS are reversed for the back and for the front. Your selvedge stitch will be a purl stitch, but everything else should work out all right.

I’m so sorry for the inconvenience.

The new pattern can be found on the Smock Top Sweater page.

Though the pattern calls for DK weight yarn, I wanted the nest to have a fairly solid structure to it. Also, I wanted the eggs to have a tight fabric to keep the fiberfill from showing. I chose worsted weight yarns, and knit them on the needle size from the pattern.

Both yarns are souveniers of the Great Portland Yarn Crawl a couple of weeks ago. Kilcarra of Donegal Aran Tweed came from Dublin Bay and lends a twiggy look to the nest. Some luscious Shi Bui Merino Alpaca from Knit Purl  has just the right blue shades for eggs. (Expect to see the Shi Bui again in some future design – I fell in love it!)

The nest is knitted in a delightful cable pattern. Once it was complete, I looked around for a way to block it so it would have a flat bottom when done. Voila! A juice glass was just the ticket to make it the right size around. I added a cereal bowl …

 And Ta-Da! The nest has a nice flat bottom (which I wish I could relate to) and sits flat, rather than rocking around.

I hope Adrienne likes her nest. She’s a fantastic seamstress, so it should be useful as a pincushion as she sews. If not,  she can always decorate a tree with it!

  If you want to check out Hannah’s book “Closely Knit”, you can find it here.

I met up with my friend Alana, who you probably know as Nevernotknitting. We did a major Yarn Crawl, spanning a 24-hour period of fiber bliss. Happily, yarn stores in Portland stay open late. So on Thursday night we hit Dublin Bay, which was a beautiful store featuring lots of my favorite Rowan yarns.  Sadly, I didn’t get a photo inside the store. A blogger without a camera is, well, a space cadet I guess.

Next came one of my all-time favorite places on the planet – Knit Purl.

We stayed until closing at 9pm, hoping they’d just lock us in and let us browse and knit until they re-opened the next morning.

We saw so much yarn on Friday that I swear by the end of the day if someone had waved free cashmere in front of me, I would have missed it.

Here we are at the first stop, Twisted. Alana’s natural sense of style has her perfectly color coordinated with the sign.

The next store deserves a posting of its own, which I promise to get to another time. Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks is incredible – a large store with a deli in it (yarn AND food? oh my!), and its own line of hand dyed yarns. This “Socks Without Borders” afghan will be auctioned off at the Sock Summit to benefit Doctors Without Borders.

My trip home was… eventful. I adore taking Amtrak’s Coast Starlight from Portland to my home in California. I get a sleeping compartment and for 24 hours I have my own little world of knitting, gorgeous scenery, and no distractions. This time, however, there was a freight train derailment ahead of us. Apparently when cars fall off the tracks, it puts a kink in the rails. They must have worked like mad to pick up the freight cars and put in new rails. I would loved to have watched that whole operation! Still, we were 11 hours late getting home.

And then when I did get home I found this guy who had decided to claim our terrace as his new residence. He ran away from home and walked a long way to find to find the area’s biggest pushovers.

I have to go buy alfalfa now…

I made the trip in order to take two workshops from Jared Flood, who many of you know as brooklyntweed. I’ll tell you all about the workshops in a later post. But first I just have to sing the praises of the fantastic shop that put these workshops on.

Knit Purl is wonderful knit shop in downtown Portland. The staff is knowledgeable, kind and helpful. As you approach the shop’s door, the pretty colors invite you in…

Once inside, you’re surrounded by alluring displays of yarn. The selection is incredible, and I found several yarns I previously didn’t know I couldn’t live without. My newest Favorite Yarn Ever is Kauni. I fell in love with the suble shading from one color to the next. You’ll be seeing a LOT of Kauni in my future projects!

The shop is an inviting place to sit, knit and drink tea. You’re surrounded not only by gorgous yarns, but also by terrific sample pieces on display.

If you’re in the Portland area, I hope you’ll visit Knit Purl. If you want to see the yarn offerings in their online store, you can go to the Knit Purl website. Also, you might want to check out the wonderful newsletter put together by the talented Sara. The newsletter mentions some workshops that I’m sorely tempted to head back to Portland to take. How about learning sock techniques from Lucy Neatby? Sounds like a lot of fun! I definately need to clone myself so one of me can be here enjoying the deer and other wildlife and another of me can be in Portland taking all these great workshops.

• Using Charts
• How to Knit a Cable (Video)
• Finding Tips Online
• Casting On – The Purl Long Tail Method
• Weaving In Ends
• Checking for Pattern Corrections

USING CHARTS:

My favorite tool for working with charts is Post-It Notes. You can get them in various widths, depending on the width of the chart.  Stick the Post-It just above the chart line that you’re currently working on. This keeps track of what row or round you’re on, hides the rows you don’t yet need, and also allows you to see the rows below it that you’ve already worked. That way, if a purl stitch is supposed to be worked directly above a knit stitch, for instance, you’ll be able to see right away if you’re off track.

I don’t know of anyone who knits lace without making mistakes along the way. You can either find the mistake after several rows, and have to rip back, or you can count stitches as you go. I like to count as I go, even if it seems tedious. For me, ripping back lace and having to figure out which row I’m on is worse than counting all the stitches in every row. This is where stitch markers come in handy. Using charts, it’s easy to figure out how many stitches should be between the markers. Counting the stitches between the markers, as opposed to across a whole row, goes relatively quickly. (When the beginning of the round shifts, you may have to move the markers as well.)

Thanks to my teacher Brenda, I always use a lifeline. This is where you take some smooth waste yarn (in a lighter weight than the yarn you’re using) or dental floss and thread it through the stitches on your needle. Choosing a row/round without increases, decreases or yarnovers is best. Be sure to go around the outside of the stitch markers, not through them, or you won’t be able to move them up to the next row! Mark on your chart which row you put the lifeline so you can easily go back to it if needed. When you work the row after the lifeline, just be careful not to knit the lifeline into the stitch. Once you’ve given your work a close look and made sure everything looks just like the picture in the pattern, move the lifeline up. Even counting, I’ve made mistakes or dropped stitches and had to rip back to the lifeline, which made it well worth the effort of putting it in.

If you are as bad as I am at multi-tasking, you may want to save your lace knitting for quiet times without distraction. I’ve learned through experience that I simply cannot knit lace while knitting with my friends. I always keep a simpler project on hand for social knitting.

HOW TO KNIT A CABLE (VIDEO):

This video on the AudKnits YouTube channel uses the Braided Cable Hat pattern to demonstrate how to knit a cable using a cable needle.

FINDING TIPS ONLINE:

There are amazing resources online for learning all kinds techniques. One of the most comprehensive, with over 150 tutorials, is Knit Picks Tutorials. For covering the basics new knitters turn to Lion Brand’s Learn to Knit  library, KnittingHelp and About.com’s Learn to Knit section. Typing “how to knit” into the search box for YouTube yeilds videos on lots of different techniques.

CASTING ON – THE PURL LONG TAIL METHOD:

The Purl Long Tail Cast On is a great way to cast on for a pattern that uses both knits and purls. Use the standard long tail method to match the pattern’s knit stitches, and the purl method to match the purl stitches. You’ll need to think through the first row of the pattern, realizing that your cast on may be  pattern’s wrong side. If that’s the case, you just cast on just as you would for any wrong side row, where you purl the wrong side stitches that read as knit on the right side, and knit the wrong side stitches that need to appear as purls on the right side. This is my favorite way to cast on ribbing for socks and sweaters. Thanks to Jennifer and her pieKnits blog!

WEAVING IN ENDS:

Do you get tired of weaving in a lot of ends? I love to knit in ends as I go, especially when doing fair isle patterns. Here’s a very nice YouTube video that demonstrates “Knitting in ends“.

CHECKING FOR PATTERN CORRECTIONS:

Don’t you just hate it when something has gone awry as you’re knitting a pattern and you can’t figure out what you’ve done wrong, and then you finally figure out the pattern has a mistake in it? Here are two suggestions that have worked well for me:

1. Before starting a pattern, do a search by pattern name, or go to the publisher’s web site, and check for corrections or errata.
2. When I get a book, or give one as a gift, I always look for corrections. I print the page of corrections and clip them to the inside of the book. For books I’m keeping, I mark up the patterns that have corrections. That way I know about the corrections as soon as I turn to the page.

My local yarn shop provides a place for knitters to gather. The store’s owner is gregarious and welcoming – every day friends come in to knit together. The shop’s teachers have given me the confidence to try new skills over the years. The combination of fun, friendship and learning has fueled in me a zeal for all things knit.

My first pattern emerged from the shop’s collective mania for sock knitting. The soft, beautiful Tonalita yarn was a favorite among our group. Generic patterns didn’t seem quite right for the yarn, so I wrote an easy pattern that showed off the yarn’s beautiful colors while also giving the knitter three sizes to choose from. I found that there is a lot more to designing than I would have imagined!

My artistic friend Mary, with her amazing eye for color, inspired me to create Mary’s Garden Sock. I did not care for fair isle knitting, but all off a sudden it “clicked” in my brain and now I love it. I guess the lesson for me was never to give up on any particular skill. Someday I might enjoy it after all!

Along the way I’ve come across little tips that have made big differences in how much I love to knit. You’ll find them here on my site as I add them over time. I hope you’ll find them useful too!

I hope you enjoy AudKnits!