Interweave Knits' WebWatch

Sharing the glory of Canadian yarn

I'm an American, or at least it says so on my passport. But I've lived in Canada since I was 7 years old and I love it here. This is a mighty fine country for many reasons, but the one I've got to share with you is this:

Canadians make good yarn.

So I share with you now my favorite Canadian yarns in no particular order.

- Fleece Artist: I have known about Fleece Artist yarns for a long while but only in the last week have I had the exquisite joy of knitting with them. They make beautiful hand-dyed delectables that feature all sorts of animal fibers. But they also make what could be the most beautiful hand-knitting silk yarn EVER. If you want to see why I'm drooling so loudly, take a peek at my Knitty editor's blog for my latest project. All their mohairs, cashmeres, merinos and blends are painfully beautiful. And if you spin, take a look at their hand-painted roving. Affordable? I think so. The 100% silk hand-dyed Charlotte's Web I'm knitting only cost me $60CDN in materials.

- Koigu: Speaking of painfully beautiful, for wool-allergic me, Koigu is exactly that. So gorgeous I couldn't resist trying to knit with it. Nobody gets how to put colors together like the Landra women and their staff. Koigu makes hand-painted merino yarn in a variety of thicknesses and textures that have many knitters checking in to rehab. I know many Koigu junkies and more join them daily. Their PPPM [Premium Painter's Palette Merino] is their most famous and best-loved yarn, but the new Kersti is also stunning. You should see what a simple crocheted granny square looks like in variegated Kersti. Yummy.

- Mission Falls: Mags Kandis, proprietress and designer behind the Mission Falls line, is a practical knitting genius. Her color sense is exceptional and she's done something that I'd always wanted to see: her two lines of yarn -- one wool, one cotton -- are interchangeable in patterns. The only difference are the colors. And you'll see that her patterns take full advantage of the huge range of colors in the 1824 line. What's "1824" stand for? The yarn's gauge. 18sts /24 rows per 4". Clever. The yarn is also really affordable, and very easy care. I machine wash and dry the things I've made in the cotton and get excellent results.

- Briggs and Little: As the internet buzz spread about Jenna Wilson's Rogue pattern, the buzz also spread about a very affordable -- and beautiful -- yarn to knit it in. Briggs and Little is Canada's oldest woollen mill [since 1857!], and they make a full range of wools in a variety of weights and a lot of really yum traditional colors. Knitty's technical editor grabbed some on sale last year and knit her Rogue for $24CDN. Unbelievable. She ordered directly from the company [which requires e-mailing, I believe, since they don't have a shopping cart setup] and was very pleased with the service.

- Custom Woolen Mills: A favorite of Knitty columnist Amy Swenson, these guys offer a riot of color [including a selection of real brights] in their range of insanely affordable yarns.

Enjoy!

Posted 6:56 AM PST

Learning is fun!
Especially when it involves yarn. Everything's better with yarn, you know.

So, a big juicy list of internet learning? My pleasure. Read on!

- Christina Creevy's Charlotte's Web helpful hints page.

[By the way...I've finished my Charlotte, thanks to this hint: place a marker between each pattern repeat. Yes, that's a lot of markers, but doing this made it possible for me to finally see the pattern and prevented me from getting lost. That hint is courtesy of another Charlotte sharer, Stephannie Roy, who not only knit a beautiful Charlotte, but she made another as a PONCHO. It's absolutely gorgeous, and I've been lucky enough to see it in person. You can see it and get her hints on the page I've linked to.]

- Animated knitting techniques
Animated GIFs of step-by-step illustrations. Could be helpful if you're stuck... it's kind of hypnotic, watching it over and over.

- Handy Hawaiian knitting techniques
Clearly photographed step-by-steps of some less common techniques like splicing yarn and making a bobble

- Dawn Brocco
The designer/publisher of the Heels and Toes Gazette shows you how to sew a steek by hand and helps with the long-tail cast on. Nice pictures!

- World Knit's How Tos
Lots of techniques, illustrated simply with descriptions. Quite a few sections still under construction.

- Cuddles/Vardhman Yarns
How can you not like a website named "Cuddles"? Lots of techniques with illustrations.

- Sweaterscapes
Very nice site with tons of info and photographs - some in B&W, which aren't as handy. Nifty section on converting a pullover to a cardigan. Includes a page of knitter's graph paper you can print on your own printer.

- How to read Japanese graphical knitting charts
Did you know Japanese knitting patterns use no text? The entire pattern is conveyed through charts. That means that, even if you don't read japanese, once you learn how to read their charts, you can knit their patterns! Really neat site.

- The dog ate my sweater!
This page will tell you how to weave the hole closed in stockinette stitch! As long as your sweater WAS stockinette stitch in the first place, you're saved.

- Knitting with two circulars
Who needs DPNs? [Well, I do, but you might not after reading this page.] Also see the author's variation of the magic loop technique(knitting small circumferences with a long circular needle)

- Stitch guide
Video (for some techniques) and illustrations for all of them. Very professional and helpful site!

- How to convert a knitting pattern to crochet and
vice versa

- Jamie's handy how-to page of links
Comprehensive and handy as heck. bookmark it.

- How to push a knitting needle through a bag of water.
So fun!

- Russian join
Knit without leaving knots! Great if you're knitting with wool...sadly of no use for us cotton folk.

- Converting sweater patterns to fit your swatch gauge

- Basic ribbed socks
Step by step, with pictures!

Posted 8:39 PM PST