My 500th post!
I thought that this might be a good time to organize the tutorials and knitting tips I've published in the nearly 7 years I've been blogging. (WHAT? Seven years??? Yes, just about: my first entry was on January 5th, 2005.) Reading back through the years was fascinating, and I was really surprised at all the technical information I've thrown in here willy-nilly (and I probably missed a few).
I've always seen this blog as a casual place for me to share my love of knitting, spinning, dyeing, and designing along with my thoughts on creativity, my pictures from vacations, and just about anything else on my mind. I began blogging a few months after my first move to Berkeley from Seattle. My life was very tense at that time and I missed my old friends. It seemed like this would be a good way to keep in touch with them while making contact with people in the Bay Area.
What happened surprised me! I've met so many people through this online home, local folks and those from around the world! (including a cousin in Sweden!) I was asked to teach, more and more often: I've had a chance to share my belief in the value—and joy—of making your knitting your own with so many people in person.
You've consoled me through some losses and your words really helped. You stuck with me through several moves, countless drives up and down the Pacific Coast, a broken ankle, failed experiments (cf: avocado dyeing), a teenage daughter. You've witnessed several successful projects and more than a few unsuccessful ones.
You encouraged me to start my business last year: Feral Knitter, a place to buy all 210 shades of Jamieson Spindrift Shetland yarn, specialized books and patterns for Fair Isle knitting, traditional to modern. What a growing experience that has been, and so far a viable business.
Knowing that you are there, whether you comment or not, makes me happy. Thank you! And here is my gift to you:
Tutorials Extracted from Years of Words
January 2005 Feral Design in Three parts: One, Two, and Three
February 2005 Swatch Rules in Two Parts: One and Two
March 2005 Anti-swatching
April 2005 Sweater Bands
June 2005 Setting up Steeks
(but I notice that I never did get back to talking about how to stabilize steeks!)
June 2005 Spit Splice for changing colors (and several further notes in later entries)
June 2005 Placing Markers for Shaping points so I don't need a pattern
June 2005 Shaped Shoulders in the Round
June 2005 Getting your Floats Right and other stitch distortion problems
November 2005 Getting Started in Fair Isle: First Projects (read the comments, too)
December 2005 Purl When You Can (Meg Swansen's technique)
February 2006 If you began knitting your first row with the tail of the long-tail cast on
March 2007 Corrugated Rib at the neck without fancy calculations
October 2007 Radical surgery to fix the yoke of a yoke sweater
January 2009 Signing Sweaters in two parts: One and Two
March 2009 Inspiration Journals
April 2009 Best Way to Increase a LOT in a row
May 2009 My Provisional Cast On work-around
September 2009 Spinning for long graduations of color (Rose Leaf Shawl)
April 2010 Hand Dominance in Stranded Knitting
June 2010 Joining Shoulders (a cautionary tale)
July 2010 Yarn Playpen
September 2010 Adding length to a stranded sweater (including grafting in two colors) One and Two
October 2010 Mini-Journals
February 2011 Blocking Tams
April 2011 Join Being Careful Not to Twist (see comments for advice
May 2011 Corrugated Rib
May 2011 Duplicate Stitch on the Fly
October 2011 Decorative "Seams" in Stranded Knitting
Shaped shoulders in the round was the one that inspired me! I have a really nice sweater I made that way, the only thing wrong with it being I didn't measure my own shoulder width really well and so there's a bit too much there there... This is a great list.
Posted by: Caroline | November 16, 2011 at 05:15 AM
Thanks, Janine! Many of these predate my acquaintance with you, so I'll enjoy browsing the back catalog, so to speak.
Posted by: Gretchen | November 16, 2011 at 09:11 AM
Fantastic! I'm so happy to have met you online... and in person!! Thank you!
Posted by: Vicki | November 17, 2011 at 11:02 AM
This is so awesome! I've always enjoyed your blog for inspiration, technique and the sense of community but geez, I've been really wonked with my own stuff if I'd completely missed or forgotten you're selling Jamiesons. Good to know!
Posted by: Carrie K | November 19, 2011 at 01:19 PM
Congrats on 500 posts! And thank you for this compilation. So much great information here.
Thanks, Janine! (from mostly a lurker, though I did meet you briefly at Madrona in 2010)
Posted by: SarahT | November 24, 2011 at 10:37 PM
No offense, but if there's a facebook like button, it'll be much easier for me to share.
Posted by: Elliptical reviews | November 29, 2011 at 09:12 PM