Flagel Knitting Files

An appropriately interested pattern designer posted a question recently on a forum I regularly read about how knitters would like to knit projects.  Specifically she asked if one preferred to knit in the round using circular needles or flat knitting with straight single pointed needles (SPN).  She didn't follow up with what her reaction to the results, but I'd like to because I was a bit surprised. An overwhelming 55% of respondents said they would prefer to knit in the round, with 27% having a preference to flat and the remainder 18% with no preference.  This is really no surprise because most people I know would rather knit in the round rather than knitting flat because it avoids having to sew up seams.  Thus I want to devote the rest of this post about why so many knitters might prefer knitting in the round. To be clear knitting in the round does not necessarily always mean one uses circular needles.  The question was posed in such a way that some respondents focused the

There has been this list of different knitting stitches and items floating around for years.  I happen to find it recently on Yarndancer's blog .  One marks in bold those things already done, in italics those one hopes to do and leaves the rest alone.  Here is my list. Image from studioknitsf.com; it is made of women wearing their hats at the march in January 2017 Afghan American/English knitting Baby items Bobbles Buttonholes Cable stitch patterns Cardigan Charity knitting Combination knitting  Continental knitting Cuffs/fingerless mits/arm-warmers Darning Designing knitted garments Domino knitting Drop stitch patterns Dyeing spinning fiber Dyeing with plant colors Dying yarn Entrelac Fair Isle knitting Free-form knitting Fulling/felting Garter stitch Gloves Graffiti knitting Hair accessories Hats: Cuff-up Hats: Top-down Holiday related knitting Household items I-cord Intarsia Jewelry Kitchener stitch Knitted flowers Knitting a gift Knitting a pattern from an on-l

Susan (my Minneapolis knit buddy) and I will be heading out to Knitting Camp July 6-9.  This is a knitting instructional session run by Meg Swansen, Elizabeth Zimmermann, daughter.  Who is Elizabeth Zimmermann you ask?  Check out my post from July 2013 here .  Zimmermann started her camps in the 1970's where they were actually in tents in the woods, then moved them to Madison, Wisconsin at the University of Wisconsin and then to Marshfield, Wisconsin, a location just a short drive from Schoolhouse Press in Pittsville, Wisconsin. That red dot is Marshfield, right in the center of Wisconsin This is what Meg Swansen has to say about this year's Knitting Camp: Knitting Camp 2017 is our forty-fourth year of camp. From our early beginnings at the University of Wisconsin under Elizabeth Zimmermann’s guidance to present day, Knitting Camp has been a place for all knitters to learn new skills, show off their knitting prowess, meet new friends, and gather for a weekend to kni

Today will cover a few things that have been happening here in our home. Last week we had a house guest, Paul's brother, Mark.  A good time exploring the Lower Mainland was had by all, plus we ate out, drank at home and saw some of the wonderful natural sights.  Mark left on Sunday and on Monday afternoon this lovely box of roses showed up at our door.  As I write the air in the living room is filled with the smell of freshly cut long-stemmed roses.  Thank you, Mark. There were even drops of water that looked like dew on the petals!  Another thing that happened is my impatience in waiting to return to Minneapolis to add the closures to Waterfall .  As we knocked around downtown Vancouver last week I found my way to Dressew where I purchased another set of closures.  Here is a look at my Waterfall again with the closures attached.  This has a special someone in mind, but I will let it be a surprise. Now it is complete. Mara has become very attached to me again.  Sh

I am certainly in a shawl, wrap, scarf making mode lately.  There is something new to learn each time, even if it is patience and the need to slow down. Recently I found the Hickory Madelientosh superwash yarn used to start a men's pair of socks last summer.  It was written about here .  That single sock was almost complete when I gave up using size 2 US or 2.5 mm needles because they were too small. That partially completed sock hung around until about a week ago when I frogged it.  When I frog something too close to its creation there are emotional attachments, but when it is over a year the frogging takes place without emotions.  Here's a closeup of Hickory. Image from Jimmy Bean Wools In my current mode I looked for a shawl with something new to tackle.  Nupps, written about here , had not yet been knit successfully.   A little over two years ago I started Viaduct, a lovely triangle-shaped shawl using nupps, but shortly after the photos were taken I stopped.  T

Here is a draft post I intended to write about the second BonBons fingerless mitt. Remember last year about this time.   I wrote about a lovely  hand spun yarn from Roubaix Wool of Winterwind Farm in Battle Lake, Minnesota. The hank has 140 yards of CVM wool (California Variegated Mutant).  It contained a tangle of bright olive green, maroon, golden yellow and violet.  This yarn called to me to buy it and it had to be knit up as soon as I brought it home.  The pattern selected was BonBons by Susanna IC .  One mitt was knit within 24 hours of the yarn arriving home.  The faux cables are easy and the ribbing interesting enough to keep me well entertained.   A photo from last year With the first mitt completed I realized there would be a game of yarn chicken about to take place.  I had 140 yards and the pattern calls for 150 - 175 yards (137 - 160 m).  It could become a problem if the way I knit took up more than the 140 yards I had on hand.  The completed mitt was weighed, the

To be specific all the knitting required of the pattern, Waterfall, is complete.  The fringe still needs about 2/3 of its length to be knotted and the clasps reside in Minneapolis.  But hey all the knitting is done.  If you need more information about the designer, pattern or yarn, click here . I hadn't really figured out the fringe until it was time to create it.  There would have been enough yarn left to make the fringe, but when I studied the instructions all one does is drop stitches.  The yarn was already there, which also explains why the fringe looks anemic, there is only one thread per stitch. As hinted before I didn't use all the yarn.  Since the wrap is clinched around the shoulders with those clasps, it is important that it not be too long.  I stopped when it fit me. Here is Waterfall mostly complete as it hangs around the yard. Notice the red rhododendron.  They are gorgeous now.

My social media feeds brings in a lot of knitting information every day.  It can be Pinterest, Facebook, my email, YouTube, podcasts and more.  It is so much information I don't always have time to wade through it so I select the information most interesting to me and open up posts for the Blog.  My intention is to come back to it at some later date and review it.  The topic for today's discussion came in months ago with definitions and background information from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.  Check out their article regarding 10 knitting terms here . There are words as a knitter I use all the time, words like knit, purl, swatch, frog and more that make perfect sense because I understand the jargon of knitting.  But until this article came in I hadn't really paid attention to how old some of these words are or where they came from. Knit has been used in English since 1000 A.D. and came from the Old English word  cnyttan which meant to tie in a knot, then proceede