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!
In this week’s episode we cover:
1. Hi Andrea! I am knitting the Weekender Light with a locally sourced and hand dyed yarn. Its 2 ply and fingering weight and it has a mixture of pinks and yellows in the dye. I have noticed that the inside of the jumper (the knit side) seems to show the brightest colours, whereas the outside (purl side) looks more subdued in terms of colour. Now I am doing the sleeves, which have the knit stitches facing out, I am noticing that they don't quite match the body, colour-wise. Is this a thing?! Do the knit stitches somehow show more colour than the purl? I have loved knitting this pattern and will wear this jumper for sure, but if I make another, perhaps I should choose a more uniformly dyed yarn? Thanks so much for reading. I look forward to your videos every Friday. And huge thank you to Meaghan too who has helped me so kindly and patiently with my projects xx
2. Hey Andrea!! I love your podcast and have really enjoyed getting to know you better through it! I have a question about decreasing for sleeves. It's so confusing to me when the pattern says something like decrease every 5 rounds. Does that mean I'm decreasing on the 5th round and there are only 4 rounds between each decrease? Or am I knitting 5 rounds and then decreasing on the 6th round, therefore having 5 rounds between each decrease round? Thank you so much!!
3. Why do designers sometimes specify holding 2 yarns together (ex: DK + Lace = Aran) rather than the weight of yarn these two make when combined? Does holding 2 yarns make a difference in some way? Can I substitute the final weight (ex: Aran) and get the same effect? PS hello from East Lansing!
4. I finished knitting a bottom up sweater a few months ago. Sizing turned out well after blocking but I have worn it a few times before the heat in Arizona kicked in and it got too hot to wear. After warning it I realized I would like to have it longer in the body. It was knit bottom up, starting with a few rows of 2x2 rib into garter stitch. What would you suggest for fixing it. Thanks, for any help you can provide, love your videos, look forward to them every week.
5. Hi Andrea! I’m a lifelong crocheter and finally have gotten into knitting within the past year. Your channel is so chock full of wonderful fiber knowledge I have even recommended it to my hooking friends. ;-) I am working on a Weekender Light for your KAL and wondered if you can share why you do wraps and turns instead of German short rows. Is there any advantage to one or the other? I’m not at all opposed to learning how to W&T but already know and love GSRs; if I wanted to convert to GSRs, do you have any advice? Thanks so much for sharing all of your incredible knowledge!
For German Short Rows you would k10, and then turn at the point of the W&T, slip the stitch and tug the yarn over the needle. Then on Row 2, you need to work 1 less stitch than is stated, since you used the first stitch for your GSR - so P9, turn your work, slip the stitch and tug the yarn over.
If the pattern then has you work within those 2 turns (ie, knit to st before W&T) you would instead knit (or purl on WS rows) all the way to your double stitch created by the GSR, then turn slip stitch, pull the yarn over the needle, and continue on.
If the pattern has you work past your previous W&T each time (ie, knit to the previous wrapped stitch, resolve, K5, W&T…) You would instead knit (or purl on WS rows), to the double stitch, knit the double stitch (knitting the 2 strands together, as though it is a k2tog), k5, turn, slip stitch, pull yarn over the top of the needle…
