Welcome to I’ll Knit (& Spin!) If I want To! I asked y’all to send in some of your questions (from everything from fiber arts, to designing and on!) so I could put together a little video for y’all every Friday doing my best to answer your questions!
1. The stripes sweater!! I’ve split for sleeves and am a few inches down in the body of my sweater and when I tried it on to check for fit, I noticed that my upper chest/bust area has a bump with the extra fabric. I’m a 32.5” bust, which landed me between sizes 2 & 3 for the 6” of positive ease. To try and land in the middle, I added two increases to the first increase round, and then have done all other increases the same. Is this the reason why it’s so bulky? Is it possible this will reduce once I add the sleeves? Or maybe a better question is, what’s the best way to pick a size for a top-down raglan sweater as smaller-chested person :) (and do I need to go back and start over?). Thank you so much!! I love your patterns and your YouTube videos!!
2. I’ve recently started knitting again and am experiencing neck pain. How do you manage all the knitting work you do and avoid this problem?!! Thanks so much :) xx
3. Do you have a reliable method for selecting colours when holding a fluffy yarn with a not fluffy yarn? I have plans to knit a cardigan which calls for the yarns to be held together. I have a colour in mind, but can't find a fluffy yarn in quite the right colour. I found some that are close, but aren't exact matches to my non-fluffy yarn. I've not been able to find a dyer who offers both types in the colour I want. I've found a few which are slightly darker or a touch lighter. Is there a method I could use while doing my shopping? Should I have my fuzzy yarn be darker? Lighter? Should I just keep looking until I find a match? My yarn budget is rather small compared to what it looks like other knitters have, so saving up has taken quite some time; I'd hate to spend the money only to swatch and not like the result. This is definitely going to be the most expensive knit I've done, so I'd love any advice you have.
4. Hi Andrea, this may sound like gushing but it needs to be said...I really love your smart way of writing designs that teach new skills even with the more straightforward patterns. And your weekly show, it's always a treat! Your eye, your enthusiasm, it's so inspiring and infectious! Also, I love being able to "travel" with you in your adventures and hear about what's going on out there in the world of knitting/spinning/sewing etc. I've done a fair amount of research and business planning, and as someone who is now seriously considering opening up a local yarn+notions shop in my neighborhood (which would be a MAJOR career shift), I wonder: Do you have suggestions on what it takes to be successful in the LYS space? In your professional opinion are there commonalities among all or most of the "best" shops? Any things that you see folks doing that are mostly misses/things to avoid? Anyway, thank you for putting yourself out into the world as you do so that we can enjoy making along with you! I hope to be out there one day getting giddy about yarn like it's my job too, teehee! Stay tuned.
5 . HELP, I'm heartbroken! I just discovered some moth holes in my knits and it's been taking all of my energy not to cry. Do you have any tips for darning holes in color work? I see there are a lot of resources for garter repairs, but I'm at a loss for color work. Any moth tips would be greatly appreciated too... I mistakenly thought I was immune living in a recently built apartment building. Thank you so much in advance, you're such a gift to the knitting world!
