I first did these little felted people and animals about 20 years ago and for some reason, have never shared them here on the blog. I thought they might make fun, last minute holiday gifts and ornaments. I have been a beader longer than I have been a machine knitter so it was only natural…

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When I wrote More Hand-Manipulated Stitches for Machine Knitters, Colleen Smitherman allowed me to include her clever, clever method of making a “Make-Do Garter Bar” (MDGB). When I started knitting the sweater in the photo above I further adapted one of my MDGBs for a Make-Do Needle Pusher. If you have a copy of More-Hand…

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I don’t think there is anything as frustrating as finishing a cable-loaded sweater only to find a mis-crossing right in the front. Or anywhere, for that matter. I can tell you that it happened to me on more than one occasion and, rather than ripping it all out and starting again, this is the method…

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I did a couple of posts on drop stitch and enlarging stitches back in June of 2017, but I wanted to share this method with you as well because I think is is, simply put, a better approach that requires less fussing with the actual stitches. You can never have too many options to choose…

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I’ve had a long “love affair” with popcorns because, for me, that is where the whole concept of bridging began. Once I learned how to make a popcorn with a separate strand of yarn, I was on a quest to eliminate all the ends and strings across the back of the fabric. For the first installment…

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Open Spaces: Exploring Eyelets, Ladders and Slits is done and out for proofing and my SK860 was as dirty as a machine could possibly be. I decided to give it a good cleaning this week – and to take pictures so I could share the info with you. If you click on each picture they…

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I almost titled this blog “LK150 Bind Off” because that is the machine I usually work it on. A few blogs back I showed you a latch tool B/O around the sinker posts (gate pegs), but hobby machines like the LK150 and the European machines (Passap and Superba) do not have sinker posts. They have…

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I almost titled this blog “LK150 Bind Off” because that is the machine I usually work it on. A few blogs back I showed you a latch tool B/O around the sinker posts (gate pegs), but hobby machines like the LK150 and the European machines (Passap and Superba) do not have sinker posts. They have…

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I really love finishing and handwork, but I don’t like what I call “stupid finishing” where I could have saved myself the work right from the start. So, whenever I can, I weave in my yarn ends as I go. Because I use mostly hand knitting yarns that do not come on big cones, I…

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Some of the claw weights in my stash date back decades and I have straightened teeth until I felt an Orthodontist! Recently I decided to “remodel” some of the really mangled claws into something useful. As most of you know, I do a lot of hand-manipulated stitches and right now I am nearing the end…

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