Sandra's Designing Blog

This is an exclusive area of my web site where you can find out more about my knitted designs, what inspires me, how I work and what I like (and don't like) to design. 
 
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Category: Knitting Tips

  1. My latest adventure in scrap yarn designing

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    I’ve been continuing my journey with leftover yarn – something close to many knitters’ hearts. If you saw my recent newsletter, you’ll know I shared my free Striata Cowl pattern (you can still find it here), designed to use up those odd little scraps we all keep tucked away. Leftover yarn projects aren’t just practical – they’re creative, sustainable, and often spark ideas we’d never have thought of with full skeins.
    FREE PATTERN - Striata Cowl
    A few days ago, I took this idea further by attending a designer workshop run by the talented Lisa Richardson, who happens to live in my village (and formerly worked with Rowan). The workshop theme? Designing a garment entirely from stash yarn.
    We were asked to bring two things:

    • A garment we already loved and wore often.

    • Some yarn from our stash to play with.
    I chose a favourite red A-line top as my starting point, and brought yarn in shades of blue, taupe, cream, and pink.

    The day began with swatching – not just for tension (I measured half a tension square 5cm x 5cm and then doubled) but also to explore whether we liked the fabric our oddments produced. Lisa encouraged us to try different techniques such as stripes, Fair Isle, intarsia, and slip stitch. My first experiment was striped slip stitch knitting, which I turned vertically to imagine slimming stripes on my A-line top. Clever in theory, but when I tried to add shaping with German short rows, the abrupt stops in the striping didn’t sit right with me. Time to rethink!

    Luckily, Lisa had brought along some sample garments, and I fell in love with one: a very simple design , The Fowberry, with no complicated shaping (just at the shoulders), no extra bottom or front bands, and the option to add sleeves later if I wished. It was a revelation – something achievable without too much maths (a relief in a busy workshop environment!).
    As an added bonus, I picked up plenty of insights listening to Lisa guide other designers – and was reassured that the way I calculate my own designs is indeed on the right track.
     

    Behind the scenes: my schematic + sums

    Here’s a little glimpse of the sort of rough notes I made during the day. It doesn’t look fancy – just sketches with measurements, and stitch counts. But this is the backbone of turning an idea into something wearable.

    • Garment shape: straight body with slight shoulder shaping.

    • Gauge from swatch: [24 sts x 32 rows = 10 cm].

    • Back length: [38cm] ÷ gauge = number of stitches to cast on.

    • Body width: [59cm] ÷ row gauge = rows needed across the back

    • Shoulder shaping - calculation concludes need to increase every 3 or 4 rows to middle then decrease down in the same way.

    It’s all very rough at this stage, but enough to get the knitting underway!

     

    I’m now nearly halfway across the back piece, and have already encountered a small issue that I’ll need to solve once I reach the end. I’ll share more about that (and whether I succeed!) in my next newsletter, so you can follow along with the whole process.

  2. You don't know what you don't know until you know it

    Posted on

    I got to the finishing stages of the Art Nouveau sweater  just a few days ago and I came across something in the pattern so simply, yet so affective which I had never seen before. 

    The sweater was worked top down and I had completed the bottom rib which was a Ktbl, P1 rib, ie I was working twisted knit stitches which I was very fine with and actually love as a rib. I always cast off rib in pattern and just assumed I would do the same but no!. The pattern said, Knit 1 row and then cast off in knit. 

    Before I cast off though, I did a little research to see if this was correct, it seemed too simple. And whilst I found plenty of stretchy cast off's that could cope with a normal k1,p1 rib or k2, p2 rib there was nothing for a k1tbl p1 rib. So I thought, Ok, lets' give this is a go. 
    What an easy change and what a lovely result.  As the twisted knit stitches actually stretches the rib out so it lays flat and doesn't contract like standard rib does, therefore you don't need any complicated stretchy cast off, just a nice neat one.

    So remember things are not nearly as difficult as you might first think. Approach a new technique, pattern, yarn or whatever with the confidence of a toddler in their favorite super hero shirt.

    Some of the results of my research............ (click on the buttons below)
    Normal Cast off for K1, P1 rib
    How to knit Twisted Rib
    Different Stretchy cast off's for rib
    Strawberry Hill was featured in The Knitter magazine last year and is now available to purchase via my web site.,
    Want to learn lace knitting. I have a little info on this page. 
    Whilst you are here, reading and browsing, please don't forget to check out my Crafty kits, beautiful gifts for friends and family this Christmas.

    Free UK shipping for orders over £35!
    Knitted Christmas Decoration Kits
    Knitted Scarf / Cowl Kits
    I'm currently working on another commission for The Knitter, (a swatch preview below). Whilst I can't tell you anything about the design I can tell you that the latest row I worked has over 600 Brioche stitches and took
     
    2 HOURS ! 
    No wonder my hands ache
    A flowery Brioche border
    Knitted Shawl Kits
    Knitted Hat Kits