Wrap1K or (How to Prevent Holes in Your Knitting When Turning Mid-Row)

This is a method that I use in a lot of my patterns. (Looking through I really do use it a lot. You can find it in Spiral Shell, Conker, Cricket, Henrietta 2CV, Lizard, Minnow, Sand Dollar, Stanley Spider, and Vintage Tractor.) I guess I like this method! So I thought that a photo tutorial might be helpful for those who haven't come across it before. 

Looking on YouTube I see there are other ways of turning mid-row. To me they seem more complicated, so this is the way I recommend if you are knitting any of my patterns. It is fairly straightforward, and once you have done a few turns you should not need the tutorial any more.

Knitting just part way across a row, and then turning back, is one way to add shaping to a knit. If you looks at my Spiral Shell you will see what a good method this can be, as all the shaping here is done by this method. 

If you use this wrap method when turning to knit back you will not get any holes in your work.  I have used this method in my new pattern Tundra Baby Shoes, and although I explain it in the notes, I thought some photos might make it clearer. In this pattern I am knitting (garter stitch), but this method works when you are doing stocking stitch as well.

The bright wool and needles seemed the best way for the photos to be fairly clear.

Here I am having knit part way across a row.

I bring the wool to the front of the knitting.

I slip a stitch from the left to right needle as if purling.

Then I move the wool to the back of the work.

The same stitch is slipped back to the left needle.

Hard to photograph, but here the work has been turned over so I am about to knit back the way I have just come. You can see that the wool has gone half way round the stitch.

I move the wool to the back to the knitting, ready to knit back the way I have come. Now the wool has wrapped the whole way around the wrap stitch. I knit back to the edge.

You can see hear that I have knitted just part way across the row and back.

How to Sew a Small Drawstring Bag

A lot of the things I make for my Etsy Shop come in a drawstring bag: my baby shoes, my fairies and mermaids, my butterfly sets and shell sets. The bags are often not particularly fancy, but I think of them as part of the packaging. And if you have bought something special it is really nice to have a little bag to keep it in.

I have tried quite a few ways to sew a drawstring bag, and am going to show you what I think is the easiest method. If you are making a larger drawstring bag which you are going to use a lot I think it is better to have two strings that you pull at each side, and perhaps to sew french seams, but this is my tried and tested method for a small, simple bag.

First cut out your material. I am not going to give exact measurements for this, as it depends how big you want your bag to be. An easy way to calculate what you need is work out twice the width you want your bag, and add 2 x 0.5cm for side seams. For the length just work out how tall the bag will be, and add 2cm for the top cord channel and 0.5cm for the bottom seam allowance.

In my photographs I am using dupion silk, and have used iron-on facing which I find makes it easier to work with. For a small bag I recommend you use a fine material like cotton or silk.

Pin your material at both sides at the top of your bag as in the photo below. Sew this small tapered seam as close to the edge as you can with a short stitch.

Next fold the material at the top of your bag to make a channel for the drawstring. Sew this with a longer stitch, as this stitching will show as topstitching on the outside of your bag.
 

Then fold your bag in half with the right side on the inside, and with a shorter stitch sew across the bottom and up the side, stopping just before you reach your drawstring channel. Allow 0.5 cm for the seam, but keep in a straight line as you stitch up the side of the bag so you stop sewing exactly at the edge of your material and just below your cord channel. Trim the corners at the bottom diagonally, which will give a neater look when you turn your bag right side out.

Turn your bag right side out. Use a pin to turn the corners out neatly. Then cut a length of cord or ribbon for the drawstring. Make your drawstring at least four times the width of your bag. There is nothing worse than a too short drawstring. Attach a safety pin to one end, and thread this through the string channel.

Tie the ends of your ribbon together, and there you have it a simple drawstring bag to put something special in.

And if you want something a bit fancier you could experiment with your fabric choice, decorate your bag with a little embroidery, or even fasten a bead on the end of the drawstring. Now you just have to decide on something cute to put in your bag.
 

Grafting

I always found even found the word grafting a bit scary. Something that very experienced sock-knitters knew how to do, but I did not. 

But I recently learned how to graft, and now I just love it. So although I realise that for many this post is really teaching your grandma to suck eggs, if nothing else this is a reminder for me about this technique. The result of grafting is so neat, and once you have done it once or twice you will soon remember the stitching pattern.

Grafting is sometimes called Kitchener's stitch, and is a way of joining two end rows of stitches so you have an invisible seam. Named after Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, British military hero of Boer War and WW I. His design to make socks with more comfortable toes for the troops, today has been generally adopted.

To graft the bottom of my iphone cosy, divide the stitches between two needles, and arrange so your needles are together in your left hand, with the points at the same end, and the wrong side of the cosy is on the inside.

Thread a large needle with a length of your wool. You can use the wool from your last row of knitting.

1. Pass the wool knitwise through the first stitch on the front needle and pulling the wool through, slip the stitch off the needle. 

2. Pass the wool needle purlwise through the second stitch on the front needle, and pull through, leaving this stitch on the needle. 

3. Pass purlwise through the first stitch on the back knitting needle and slip the stitch off the needle.

4. Then pass the wool knitwise through the second stitch on the same needle, leaving this stitch on the needle. 

Repeat these four stages until you reach your last two stitches, where you will just do stage 1 and 3.

And there you have it. A beautifully smooth grafted bottom to your work. 

This tutorial will stay permanently in the knitting tips area in my right sidebar.

How to Knit a Cable Cast On

I'm adding this tutorial as this is a good cast on method. It makes a strong, but stretchy edge, and having cast on you are all set to start on a knit row. But the main reason is I found it useful when knitting the petals in my Daisy pattern. I experimented with other cast on techniques, but the petals always look nicest with this one.

Make your first stitch.

Place your needle behind both threads to make your next stitch.

This is the main difference between this cast on and my normal way, where you put the needle into your stitch as if you were doing a knit stitch.

Pull the loop around and put it on your needle.

Continue in this way, remembering to put your needle behind both threads, and not into the stitch.

I do hope this is visible from my pictures, taken by hubby leaning over my shoulder.

Ready to make the fourth stitch.

How to Knit an icord

Icords are so very useful. In my little knits I cannot remember how often I say "knit an icord", so I thought I would put a little tutorial in my sidebar to show how simple it is.

First you need two double-pointed needles. (I quite often use double-pointeds anyway for my little knits. They are lovely and short, which I find really handy, and I still don't feel completely comfortable with the magic loop technique.)

I've cast on three stitches here

You can knit an icord with anywhere between 2 and 6 and stitches. Anything more than that gets a bit tricky.

Knit these 3 stitches

At this stage don't turn your work as you would normally.

Then slide your stitches to the other end of your needle.

Pull the wool across behind fairly tightly, and then knit these stitches again.

This now has two rows.

Just repeat these steps, and you will have an icord

How to Sew a Pencil Roll

Pencil rolls are so handy. Just chuck the roll in a bag, and you instantly have something to amuse your kids on a day out. Children also really love arranging the pencils or crayons in a rainbow order, so it can mean your colouring pencils last longer. (When I was young we always called them crayons. When I say this at school the children are always perplexed, and colouring pencils seems to be the term now used.)

I have not really posted a sewing tutorial before, but I had a go at making some pencil rolls for my craft table, and although there are few tutorials out there, couldn't find one I completely liked. I wanted my rolls to have a good finish, top-stitching etc., but also wanted to simplify the construction as much as possible. To do this I decided to use a layer of fleece, with means you get a lovely padded roll, but without the need for a padded interlining.

Pencils come in different lengths and numbers, so there is a little bit of calculating, but I have tried to keep this as simple as possible.

1. Measure the length of your colouring pencils. 

Cut two main pieces of fabric, one from cotton and one from fleece or felt. To calculate the length of material, take the pencil length and add 5cm. To work out the width multiply the number of pencils you are going to have in your roll x 2 and add 3 cm. 

My teddy fabric has some handy lines, which were almost 2cm apart. Lucky eh! You might want to consider this when picking a fabric.

  
2. Cut out the pencil flap piece from the cotton material. To calculate the length of the pencil flap take two thirds of the length of the above main piece x 2 and + 2 cm.

3. Iron interfacing onto the reverse of your main cotton piece. The interfacing may seem a bit fussy, but it really helps your fabric keep its shape, and results in a much better pencil roll.

Then fold your pencil flap piece in half, and press. Then open out and interface half of this piece. 

Fold this piece in half again and top-stitch along the fold 0.5 cm from edge. Top stitching should be a long stitch, and if you think you can be very neat you can experiment with contrasting thread colours.

4. Pin the pencil flap on top the main fleece piece, so you are looking at the right side of each fabric. Sew lines to divide each pencil pocket. The sewing lines should be 2cm apart, and you can use your long top-stitch and coloured thread. Mark the position of the lines with pins. It is best to sew your central line first, working your way out. Do not sew the outer most lines on either side. So on my roll which is going to have 10 pockets I have sewn 9 lines.

5. With right sides together pin your main cotton piece to this pocket piece.  If your fabric has nap, like my teddybear fabric, make sure you have your pieces are the same way up. Sew around the roll 0.5 cm from the edge, remembering to shorten your stitch for this sewing. At the sides your stitching will be 2.5 cm from the nearest pencil pocket line. This may look as if the side pockets are going to be too large, but this extra 0.5 cm is used in the topstitched seam, so the pockets will all be the same size. Leave a gap of 7cm mid-way up one side.

6. Trim close to your sewing line, except where your opening is. Clip the corners, and turn your pencil roll the right way out. Turn the corners out and press.

7. Make a loop for the fastener. You can use cord or ribbon. 

8. I am not a big tacker, but tack this loop in place in the opening, and try to get it exactly half way up this side as this will look much neater. Also tack the opening closed. Then top-stitch around the edge of your roll 0.5 cm in from edge, remembering to use your long stitch again.

8. Have fun arranging your coloured pencils.

9. Finally roll up to work out the position to sew your button or toggle fastener.

I am going to put this tutorial in a new sewing section in my side bar. I would love to know if you found it useful, or if you think there can be any improvements.