Monica Knits

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.

The knitted hand towel was embellished with horizontal braids to frame large, lace-like loops. The photo at left shows a knitted braid at the top and a crocheted braid at the bottom. This article describes how to create the crocheted braid, which was created after the bottom trim was grafted to the towel.   Read more ....

Red Wing BlackbirdThe red-wing blackbird made me think of the many budding artists and designers I have met at the College for Creative Studies (CCS) over the years. Often the automotive design instructors and students wore black, yes and the ubiquitous turtle neck, but they carried themselves with style and cuts that framed their faces and their personalities. There may have been an accent pin or scarf as well. As a result, you remember the face, the smile, the person, with the clothes serving as a backdrop. This set me to thinking of the needlework designers that have influenced my work either directly or indirectly.

Round and round, or not?
Top-down or bottom-up?
To swatch or not to swatch.
Visual cable design short-cuts.
Making-up.
Using a spread-sheet to create charts for stitch patterns.
Designing for warmth.