If you want your newly-knitted hat to look its best, I really recommend taking the time to finish your hat by blocking it, especially if you’ve used lace stitches or colourwork. You’ll be able to tidy up uneven stitches (at least to a certain degree) and open up a lace or mosaic pattern.
Read MoreHow to work twisted decreases
The lace stitches used in my Beanstalk Hat and Ensata Hat are mostly familiar ones: yarn-overs, k2tog and ssk, and knitting through the back loop (k-tbl) for added texture. But when you get to the crown of the hat, twisted decreases are thrown into the mix. You’ll find the motions familiar when working the twisted versions of k2tog, ssk, and k3tog - the big difference is that the stitch which ends up on top needs to be re-oriented so that it will twist the same way as a k-tbl stitch.
Read MoreAfterthought lifelines, and trial & error in designing
My preferred method for ripping back several rows/rounds is to use an ‘afterthought lifeline’, inserting another circular needle through each stitch of the round you want to start again from. Taking the time to do this before ripping back reduces the chance of losing stitches and spending even more time and trouble retrieving them.
Read MoreHow to work mini-bobbles
When I came up with the idea for my Xerophyte Shawl (you can read about its inspiration here), I wanted to include bobbles at intervals in the stockinette fabric - but working hundreds of full-sized bobbles was more effort than I was honestly prepared to make. And so I was very happy to come across Sarah Wilson’s article for Interweave, 5 Ways to Work a Bobble, which includes a method for making mini-bobbles using a wrapped-stitch method sometimes known as the Estonian Button Stitch. This method has the advantage of producing a small, flattish bobble without needing to turn your work, and is much faster than any other bobble method I’ve tried.
Read MoreHow to work p2tog and ssp decreases
Most of my lace designs feature stitch patterns with ‘rest rows’, i.e. without increases or decreases on the wrong side (WS) rows (or similarly, every second round in a hat or cowl worked in the round). But two of my recent lace creations, the Beanstalk Shawl and Ensata Scarf, require working increases and decreases on every row. This is where the purled decreases p2tog and ssp come in, which are worked on the WS and look just like k2tog and ssk when viewed on the right side (RS) of the fabric. P2tog is the more straightforward of the two, while ssp involves a few steps.
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