Tag Archives: knitting

Knitting on DPNs

I have tried and tried and tried to knit in the round on double pointed needles. Finally, I got IT! Yay, yay, yay! Does anyone else have trouble with this seemingly simple and elementary knitting skill?

Every time I would try, I’d have needles going every which way; I couldn’t make out what was what, it was a mess, but no more! Look!

Just in case someone else is having similar difficulties this is what worked for me, or should I say my DPN story. Ha ha!

Yesterday morning I purchased a Craftsy class called, New Directions in Lace Hats, by Kate Gagnon Osborne and Courtney Kelley. Courtney was showing a lesson on how to start a hat from the top down which meant using double pointed needles. I was following along with her method and realized that I had never tried casting onto one needle and then moving the stitches to four. This was really easy to do and she shows us how. This eliminated the click clackety mess of needles while casting on, and spreading out my stitches onto four needles instead of three gave more space around and made it easier for me. (The fifth needle is for knitting the stitches on.) I did need to go to You Tube and watch Very Pink’s video on Getting Started with DPNs to go from here, but these two videos together made it all work for me. Thank you so, so much Courtney and Staci!!!

Here are a few more things about this Craftsy class, just in case you are interested. It comes with three lace hat patterns which are quite pretty. I am not a hat person, but my dolls are. There are also a few more things that I think I can learn from this class. I need to go back to study (and practice) Courtney’s invisible cast on for starting hats from the top down. It looks like a great technique. If you crochet, it’s like the adjustable ring or loop. She also goes into how to increase and decrease within a lace pattern. I’ve always wondered about how that works while keeping the pattern flowing. In my opinion, this class was well worth the $14.99 (on sale!) I paid for it.

Now, I want to get back to knitting and finish my hat! BTW, who knows what this will be?

Do you have a DPN story?

Bye for now and thanks for reading!

On Making Sweater Dresses

7 Replies

Oh, how I wish I were a faster knitter! My favorite things to make for dolls are sweater dresses and out of all of the pieces I knit, sew, and crochet they take the longest. So, so many stitches, and the finer the gauge the more stitches that are needed to complete the dress.

I could probably knit 3-4 sweaters in the time it takes to knit ONE dress, oh, but I LOVE them so. Who knows why! A beautiful doll in a hand knit and embroidered dress is the sweetest sight to me.

This bamboo dress I just made for the Little Darlings is knit on smaller needles than what I normally use for my bamboo sweaters. I thought it would need a tighter gauge to keep all of these stitches in shape. Anyway, it took “a while” to knit so I quickly counted up my stitches, 10,000+. That’s a lot of knitting!

Once I had (finally) finished knitting the sweater dress it wasn’t time to celebrate even though I felt that I should. I had a blank canvas staring at me. Unlike embroidering a sweater to coordinate with a dress I had nothing to go on, only my imagination and a lot of real estate. Where to put the embroidery? What colors to use? I was tempted to procrastinate as I wasn’t really sure where to start. But, no, nothing gets done then, except maybe a lot of snacking and who needs that?

Start with what you know has become my mantra whenever I feel like a little procrastination and snacking is in order. I knew I wanted pink roses centered on the front bodice so I embroidered those on first. After embroidering the pink roses under the neckline, the rest of the design and color palette came together quickly. 🙂 It’s funny how the hardest part is starting something where the end result is unknown.

For more information, on Gina’s “Springtime Roses” ensemble please visit my “Available for Sale” page on cindyricedesigns.com .

This Past Week

7 Replies

Here are a couple of shots from inside my studio this past week. My desk photo shows my two projects that I had going on towards the end of the week. Patience’s outfit is finished, but I am still knitting the dress for the Little Darlings; lots of stitches in this one. Amelia Thimble and Izzy have been hanging out with Bella (my Bo Bergemann Dream Doll). She is happy to have the little ones to keep her company.

This weather this past week in northern Illinois was quite perfect. Some days were a bit warmer than others, but all were sunny! Since yesterday felt like summer I had to get out for a nice long walk. I brought along my iPhone to capture spring’s progress out and about.

This weeping willow looked so pretty with its yellow green buds against the blue sky. I found clumps of squill growing along the side of the road; they’re so tiny and blue.

These are our daffodils in full bloom.

Our largest magnolia tree looks snowy when in bloom.

I love our pink magnolia tree, the blossom’s colors are gorgeous. Today I finished Patience’s outfit and thought the tree would be the perfect backdrop for a couple of photos.