Tag: work in progress

  • Always Learning

    Always Learning

    I made an upsetting discovery this week, that I’ve been knitting (or, rather, purling) wrong for years. Every knit design is made from a foundation of just two stitches, knit and purl, and they are supposed to be basically mirror images of each other. Apparently, on my purl stitch, I’ve been wrapping the yarn the…

  • The Patterns I See

    The Patterns I See

    For years I had a deeply held perception of myself as “not creative.” I’ve always been a performer (actor, musician, etc) and I’ve created fiber arts since I was a teenager, but still I’ve always had trouble accepting the creativity in what I do. It’s only in my 30s that I’ve started to self-identify as…

  • Warping the Loom (part 2 of 2)

    There’s a saying in weaving that by the time you actually start weaving you’re half finished with the project. That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but honestly not by much. Threading the heddles and reed is especially time consuming, and each step of today’s tutorial took me a whole afternoon of work! And that’s it!…

  • Warping the Loom (part 1 of 2)

    Warping the Loom (part 1 of 2)

    Before I started weaving I really had no idea what goes into the process of using a loom. Wikipedia defines weaving as “a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth”. I understood the basic mechanics of the weaving process itself as taking that second distinct…

  • Let’s try a sweater

    Let’s try a sweater

    If you have a hand knit sweater in your closet, you should know that whomever made it must be pretty fond of you. Sweaters use a lot of yarn, take a lot of time, and are generally really tricky to get right. Giving one as a gift is kind of a big deal. I’ve never…

  • Blocking 101

    Blocking 101

    Other knitters often ask how I learned to knit. There’s a lot of answers to that question– my favorite being a story about whittled sticks for knitting needles and yarn from the craft lodge at summer camp when I was a camp counselor in college! But the more nuanced answer is that every time I…

  • Meet the LQW

    Meet the LQW

    Of all the mediums I’ve ever used weaving just might be my favorite, but it also has the most barriers to entry. It requires so many tools that are expensive, bulky, and complicated to use. I’ve joked with my wife that I’ll feel like we’ve “made it” in life when I can afford to own…