Ho hum

Hi guys-

No real post today as I'm working on listing a few new items for sale before the holidays. Be sure to  head over to my Etsy site and check them out! And check in on Wednesday though for my Top 5 Odd Geek Knitting Patterns.

And if you're not already, be sure to follow me on either Twitter (@ScarfAceKnits) or Facebook - or both - to receive an extra special coupon good for this last week before Christmas.

Casting Off,

Megan

The (un)Importance of Blocking

 *pokes head out cautiosly*

Hi all!

Did you miss me? Sorry for the break, but between the holidays and a nasty cold that left me unwilling to do anything but sleep for about 16 hours a day, blogging was sadly low on my list of priorities. Yet never fear, I have kicked this cold to the curb and am back into the general swing of things - including knitting and blogging.

Today I'm going to wax somewhat poetically (ok - probably not that poetically) about something that I meant to post a few weeks ago - the importance of blocking, or unimportance as the case may be.

For those unfamiliar with the process, blocking involves taking your finished knitting project, wetting and stretching it. This can help to set stitches, bring out lace patterns or stretch a project to the correct dimensions. There are a number of different ways to do this, usually depending on what you're knitting, what kind of yarn was used and the general preference of the knitter. And sometimes it's just not needed at all.

Last point first - when to and when not to block. While this should generally be left up to the discretion of the knitter, there are a few common guidelines that you can go by. First, fitted garments, such as sweaters, should almost always be blocked. Blocking will stretch the sweater (or whatever) to the correct size and will help to even out the stitches to a uniformity. Second - Lace. Always, always, always block your lace. This will stretch the pattern and make your lace 100 times more appealing - and easier to see. This rule can some times also apply to cables - especially if the piece is small.  Beyond these two points, it's pretty much up to the knitter and the project.

Take scarves, my specialty, for example. I only block about half of my scarves, based upon if the pattern will show better if stretched. To better illustrate this point, here are a few before and after pics I took on my last Blocking day.

Lace Neckwarmer before blocking

And After

 

Men's Scarf Before

And After

Lace before

Lace before - but stretched out with fingers

Lace After

And more after

 See the difference? But like I said, it all depends on the scarf and the pattern.

Now, how to go about blocking is another issue. When I block I try to kill two birds with one stone. I handwash my scarves with a mild detergent (like Wool-Lite) before I lay them out and then pin them to where I want. You can also pin your item and then use a steam iron (but check and make sure your yarn can take the heat) or you can pin and then spritz it with a squirt bottle of water. Though I find this last technique doesn't get me the desired amount of stretch I want.

Pin them on what? you might ask. Well, Knit Picks sells a pack of Blocking Mats for 19.99, but I've found that a set of garage floor mats from Home Depot will do the job just a well for half the price.

Do you block your knitting projects? How?

Casting off,

Megan

After the Knitting is Done

Hello All!

Sorry for the lack of an update on Friday, but with the holidays coming up and trying to finish a handful of scarves, I've been running around like a chicken with their head cut off.

Anywho - instead of talking about what I'm currently working on, today I'm going to discuss what  happens after I finish knitting a scarf. That is the modeling, photo-taking and Photoshopping aspect of selling scarves (or anything really) online.

As I said last week when I talked about the conundrum of guy's scarves, I have two very good friends - E and her sister A - who graciously allow me to stand them out in the cold, modeling my scarves for pictures, all for the outrageous price of a dim sum dinner and a few movies (and maybe a bottle of sake…). This time around E's husband J also allowed me to take pictures of him wearing my new line of scarves for men - manly scarves! And while we poked quite a bit of fun at J's first time modeling - he took it all in stride and did a fantastic job.

After the photo-shoot - where I take about 12-15 pictures of each scarf, in various poses and  multiples to make sure I get at least one with open eyes and in focus - I spend a few hours Photoshopping. This is mostly to get the pics to the right size for Etsy and make sure the hue and color balance look alright.

That done, I work on pricing my items and writing descriptions - which is much more difficult than it sounds. How do you convince someone to buy something they can't first see or touch? Mostly I try to describe why and how my scarves would be something they want to buy - why it would make their life better. Sounds corny, but its true - you really have to convince people they need what you're selling. Furthermore, you have to accurately describe how the color of the scarf and how it feels - which is also more difficult than it sounds, as everyone sees color differently and experiences textures in distinct ways.

After I finish all this - they go live on Etsy. Be sure to look for my new items this week! And use the coupon code BLKFRI15 to get 15% off all items in my shop now through next Monday!

Casting off,

Megan

The Conundrum of Guy's Scarves

Recently I was talking to one of my best friends E and her sister A, the wonderful and gorgeous women who model my scarves, and discussing when we would get together again to do another photo shoot. At this point, E's husband J piped up, and asked why he couldn't be a part of this fun. I should note that in return for modeling my scarves, I pay E and A handsomely with dinner and a movie, and that J was really complaining more about not getting any free food than he was about not being allowed to model (I think). I told him the reason he didn't get to model was that I didn't have any scarves for guys. He accepted this, but made an off-hand comment that if I did sell guy's scarves, he would gladly model them for me (and eat any free food I wanted to give him).

I mostly ignored this comment, not thinking he was very serious, but the idea continued to circle around in my mind. Why didn't I make guy's scarves? I think for the most part, that while I was aware there were guys out there who did wear scarves, none of the men in my family ever wore them, nor did any of my guys friends - I just never really considered the possibility before. So, after checking with E and J to make sure he was serious about modeling any men's scarf I made I set about the task of knitting a few.

And quickly found out why I never bothered to beforehand. In the first place, guy's scarves are incredibly boring. All dull neutral tones without much pattern or creativity involved. However, this isn't to say that some brave souls out there haven't tried to make guy's scarves more interesting - but the efforts usually end up looking like women knitting making something they think the men in their lives would like, and not something a guy would actually pick for himself.

Don't believe me? Head over to Ravelry and do a search for men's scarves. Now, while there are many fine scarves out there that would be great for guys, there are several out there that make me pause - especially those knit in particularly bright colors or in lace patterns. To say nothing of the shawls for men.  And don't even get me started on scarves that proclaim themselves to be "manly" - didn't Shakespeare have a line about protesting too much? Now, I'm not saying these items aren't beautifully designed or incredibly well knit, just that I'm not sure that they belong wrapped around a guy's neck.

Therefore, I think I'll stick to simple patterns and boring colors Like this one:

Please note that all the patterns I've linked above are the property of their owners, and you should be nice and follow their rules for reproducing their stuff.

Have you ever knit anything for a guy? What challenges did you face (if any)? Did he pick out the pattern/color, or did you?

Casting off,

Megan

Evolution of a Neckwarmer

At some point in the last year, my grandmother found herself in a yarn store. As she is a frequent crocheter, this was not an entirely unusual circumstance. While at this store, she found a wonderful (and simple) pattern for a knitted vest. With nary a second thought, she bought the pattern and the required yarn - some very nice Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande. The problem with this, however, was that my grandmother can't knit. Which is where I come in.

Despite the fact that I was in Grad school at the time and barely had time to go grocery shopping, she asked me if I would knit it for her. I told her I would, but it might be several months before I had the time to get to it. This was fine with her, and several months and one very long road trip later, I handed over the finished project. Now, while the project called for five skeins of yarn, it really only needed 4 and about 2 yards. Thus, I decided to take this left over yarn and see if I had enough to make a quick neckwarmer. I had no idea if I had enough yardage but I made the choice to press onward.

I picked a fairly simple cable and rib pattern and started my knitting (not-really) adventure. As you can see here, with a bad picture in bad lighting, I had a pretty small amount of yarn to work with. I was almost certain I would have to start over with smaller needles or a skinnier pattern.

About halfway through I was still fairly skeptical that I would have enough yarn to finish my original design. At this point, the piece was measuring about 9 inches and I generally try to make my neckwarmers about 18-20 inches long. I was pretty sure I was going to make it to about 16 inches - which really is too short - and find I was going to have to start the whole thing over.

 

However, as I got closer and closer to the end, I realized I just may be able to pull this off! When I finally hit 17 inches and still had a few good yards of yarn left, I may or may not have preformed a small celebratory dance on the couch. Sadly, there are no pictures to document this point of the project.

 

And then the finish! Measuring in at 19 inches with about half and inch of yarn left over, I had a successfully completed neckwarmer on my hands. (And the crowds go wild!) not bad for about two hours of work. All that was left to do was block it to bring out the pattern and add a button - but that will have to wait for another post.

Have you ever had a close call in your knitting and thought you might not have enough yarn? Were you successful - or resourceful?

Casting off,

Megan

Hello All!

I'm a little new at this whole blogging thing so you're going to have to bear with me. I wanted to create this blog as a way to both chronicle my knitting adventures - including opening an Etsy shop - and to share with you all the many wonders and oddities of the knitting world.

To this end I've set up a schedule of my blog posts. Mondays will be all about what I'm currently working on  - and how many times its caused me to pull out my hair. Wednesdays will focus on a top five list related to knitting - favorite knitting magazines, favorite and least favorite yarn to work with, weirdest patterns, etc. And Fridays will feature something me writing/ranting about something neat/interesting/odd/disturbing I've found out in the knit-verse.

So hopefully you all are still with me and will check in again with me on Wednesday!

Casting off--

Megan