Tutorial

For years I never used double pointed needles or DPNs as most knitters call them. I didn’t even know they existed. I can’t remember when I started using them or what I first knit with them but, once I did I used them as much as possible. The truth is I hate to sew seams. If I can knit something on circulars or DPNs I will do it every time. I love sweaters like a traditional ski sweater where the only sewing is a little bit under the arm. Admittedly DPNs have there problems. The first few rounds are awkward to knit and joining the first round can be tricky. And the worst is if you join the round incorrectly and it twists. If it twists you are screwed and will have to rip it out and start over. As far as I know there is no other fix for a twisted round.

Today I’ve set up short tutorial on how I join DPNs that help prevent twisting and makes joining less awkward. A lot of patterns tell you to cast on all the stitches and distribute them evenly across your 3 or 4 needles. Then somehow you’re supposed to take that crazy chaos and join them all without twisting. It took me awhile but I figured out a better way.

Here’s how I do it. Here is a link to a pdf if you want to print this tutorial.

 

And that’s it. Good luck and I hope you enjoy using DPNs as much as I do!

Tutorial

I needed to make some plarn the other day to make more Yoga Mat Straps and thought it would be awesome share how I make plarn. There are a few different methods but this one is my favourite way. It’s especially a good method for getting a somewhat consistent ‘weight’ of plarn. In this tutorial I’m using milk bags because they are stronger then a lot of other bags, but lighter bags are fine too.

One thing I forgot to mention in my steps was that I washed and dried the milk bags before starting. I don’t think you’d need to that with most bags, but the milk bags were smelly from milk leaks and whatever. So washing them seemed like a good idea.

I’ve also created a pdf here if you want to download these instructions.