Monica Knits

The first thing that struck me about this magazine was the 1 cent stamp and the 15 cent price. A year of my husband's great aunt Bess' subscription to this magazine was bundled together and sitting on the cookbook shelf at my in-law's home. Each monthly cover has a photograph of a crochet or knitted project, whose instructions are contained in the magazine, along with more projects within the magazine, including sewing and tatting projects. There were some interesting parallels with more recent women's magazines. Read more...

This is the fifth in a series of articles on inserting beads and sequins in knitting. In this case, the beads are sewn onto a worsted weight stocking stitch ground using a fingering weight yarn. The yarn is anchored to the reverse side by weaving it in and the yarn weight is matched to the bead size. One advantage of attaching beads with sewing is that beaded embellishment can added to a handknitted garment after it is completed or can be used to personalize a purchased garment. Read more ...

This is the fourth in a series of articles on inserting beads and sequins in knitting. This one demonstrates a variation of the carrier yarn method in which a coordinating, fingering weight carrier is stranded and/or woven behind the work. In my opinion, the appearance is better than the slip stitch method and can be better than the knitted carrier yarn method (if bulk is an issue, or a coordinating yarn is difficult to find). This approach enables the use of beads otherwise too small to thread onto worsted or heavier weight fashion yarn. Read more... for stepwise illustrated instructions and further discussion.

This is the third in a series of articles on inserting beads and sequins in knitting. This one illustrates the use of a carrier yarn knitted along with the worsted weight yarn to insert small diameter beads on a worsted weight stocking stitch ground. The approach enables the use of beads otherwise too small to thread onto worsted or heavier weight fashion yarn. Read more.. for stepwise illustrated instructions and further discussion.

This is the second in a series of articles on inserting beads and sequins in knitting. The first article, Bead Insertion in Knitting, described stringing beads on yarn and purling beads into a 2 x 2 rib stitch ground. This article describes a slip stitch method of inserting beads into a stocking stitch ground. Read more...

Nowadays many manufacturers sell clothes shavers. These are a necessary evil for knitters and knitwear lovers. They do a great job of refreshing your knitwear, particularly elbows, cuffs, collars and other high wear, high friction areas. My two favorite sweaters both need an occasional shave to rejuvenate them: one an acrylic shawl collar jacket in an unusual green blend, and the other a long cashmere/angora turtleneck sweater. I've also had a couple of pairs of socks that benefitted from a shave now and then.

If you knit a lot or enjoy knitwear, then a clothes shaver is a must have tool. Although mine has performed well for a number of years, there are some design shortcomings. Read more ... to find out what features I like and which ones fall short.

Construction techniques that have been used in the projects featured are summarized in this article, along with links to full details and examples using these techniques. This living document is updated as techniques are illustrated. Basic stitches are found in the Stitch Patterns article.

1. CAST ON
2. BIND OFF
3. BLOCKING
4. NOTIONS (elastic)
5. GRAFTING (weaving, joining)
6. BUTTONS
7. SHORT ROWS
8. WASTE YARN PROVISIONAL STITCHES

This handy, accordion motion tool makes fast work of calculating a pleasing button spacing, without having to crunch numbers. In just a few seconds I marked the button centerlines and began attaching the buttons for the lacy leg warmers. It works as advertised and stores very compactly.

This is one of those must-have products that prevents eyestrain and makes it easier to work fine details with dark colors of yarn or floss. Most often I use the magnifier when cross stitching on black Aida cloth or dark fabric, where it can be difficult to see the needle holes even with a light background behind the work. However this week, it became indispensible when I was grafting an ultramarine blue glove in a fingering weight mohair yarn. In these short, dark, winter solstice days, there is not much light in the evening and I found that my usual task light was insufficient for the task--the magnifier made all the difference.    Read more...

There was so much interest in the repair of the snagged Koigu neck cozy that I thought I'ld offer an article that provided techniques for more challenging repairs. I had knitted a pair of basic gloves--the first glove was a standard width, but I have narrow hands and long fingers, so I knitted the second glove narrower, from the wrist to the thumb. I liked the fit so much better that I decided to make the first glove narrower as well. Rather than unwind the glove to the fingers and reknit the wrist and hand, I decided this would be a good example to illustrate how to alter the width or length of a glove in the middle by cutting the glove and grafting it back together. These same principles can be used for other garments and repairs. Read more ... for stepwise illustrations.