Cable Gram Blog from July 2020
What's your favorite cast on?
There are many conversations that can set your knitter group off on an hours long discussion. Straight or circular needles, the best heel for socks, picking or throwing, mohair, this list goes on. Yet, when I listen to knitters the conversation that always surprises me most is cast ons. Instead of arguing about the best, everyone leans in to learn and discuss the benefits of this cast on or that cast on, and someone inevitably states that they only use one cast on for all things. I must confess, dear knitters, that for the first 5 years of my knitting hobby that I definitely fell in that last category. I'd like to hear from all of you in the comments below. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite cast ons.
The long tail cast on
This is my go to for any project that doesn't require any special edge, or doesn't require an extensive stretchiness. I'm particular to this for baby sweaters, actually just most baby items, mittens, scarves, the 6ft tall cactus my sister asked me for... it's my standard cast on. Catherine Lowe once implored a class to work a WS of a pattern first if we used a long tail and it comes as no surprise that it does give it a nicer look.
The German twisted cast on
My second most used cast on has quite a bit more stretch in it. This cast on is great for socks and hats (I make A LOT of socks and hats). This cast on acts like a dance in my hand, reminiscent of a do-si-do in my imagination over and around and through the triangle.
Judy's magic cast on
Did someone say toe-up socks? This cast on is a terrific start to polished toe up socks with no seam. (Isn't it universally accepted that knitters dislike seaming?) Don't forget to work the second half of the stitches through the back loop.
Alternate cable cast on
Whenever I feel particularly finicky about how a finished object will look I lean towards this cast on. It’s just a variation on a cable cast on but leaves an edge on a ribbing where it appears the stitches just appear out of nowhere. For me, this can be of a cheat to actually doing a tubular cast on. Maybe not as polished as a tubular, but close enough that only an experienced knitter would notice.
Cable cast on
Most often I use this for casting on at the end of the row, hello dolman sleeves, or for button holes. It's sturdy and neat and can handle being the base for a whole sleeve.
What do you think? What's your favorite cast on methods, and who can teach me the Chinese waitress cast on, don't we all love learning new techniques?
You can find tutorials for these cast ons and more at Elemental Knitworks (site link used with permission)
"No Fair" 2020
We know for many Guild members the MN State Fair Creative Activities competitions are one of the high points of the year. They’re our chance to show off what we've been working on over the year, check out all the work by other amazing knitters, grumble about judging and displays, and hopefully take home a coveted rosette. With the 2020 Fair cancelled, the Guild has decided to fill that gap with the "No Fair" Competitions.
While we would love to have all the categories the Fair has each year, we know there is no good way for us to judge the workmanship of all your wonderful knitting virtually. So, we've decided to have a little fun with it and come up with our own categories, keeping it a little more tongue-in-cheek. We hope you have some fun with it too.
We will show off all entries and announce the winners at our virtual "No Fair" Awards Ceremony, also known as the September Guild meeting, Tuesday, September 15th from 7 to 9 PM. Winners will receive a custom MKG "No Fair" 2020 Rosette and a year's membership to the Guild.
Read all the rules and about the categories in the "No Fair" 2020 Premium Book.
July '20 Meeting Wrap-Up
I think we are slowly getting the hang of this virtual meeting thing. We had another great turnout this month of over eighty knitters from all over MN and the country.
We welcomed Kyle Kunnecke who gave such an inspiring talk about Making Good: Knitting for Charity. Kyle is such a warm and wonderful storytellers and I think we all walked away thinking about what we can do to make an impact with our knitting and our lives in general.
Kyle has a link to some charities he suggests on his Making Good page. That page includes links to the Monster Drop Project and Elephant Remember Joplin that were mentioned in his talk.
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Speaking of making good...the Guild's service projects for the year continue as well. Many have you have been knitting for our partners while we've been apart and we are now ready to accept those donations.
Drive-Through Donation Drop Off Event
Saturday, August 1st 9am- noon
Textile Center Parking Lot - behind the building
Pull into the lot and we will take the donation from your car.
Bring your knitted items for our charity partners (fingerless mitts, shawls, wraps, infant and children’s hats, baby blankets). All the details on this year's partners are here.
We will also be accepting yarn donations. Remember: only natural fibers or blends, in full skeins, with labels!
If you cannot make it to the Drop Off Event, you can mail your items to the Textile Center.
Send donations to:
Minnesota Knitters' Guild
c/o Textile Center
3000 University Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
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In other Guild new...
Our Board Member Ballot reached a quorum, passed, and is now closed. Congratulations and welcome to our new Board members, Kelsey (Secretary) and Melissa (Marketing). Find out more about our board on our leadership page.
Newsletter/email blast survey - We are working to make our monthly member email into a more interesting newsletter for all of you If you haven’t taken it already the survey, please do! We’d like to hear from as many of you as possible! If you have any interest in contributing content for the newsletter, blog, or any other Guild outlet, please reach out to Jess, Melissa, or any other Board Member
The 2020 Great Guild Getaway has been cancelled. We are working on dates for 2021.
With the State Fair being cancelled this year, we are working on the "No Fair" Competitions for those of you who still hope to win a blue ribbon in 2020. Stay tuned for details soon!
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Designer Spotlight
Our July designer is Denise Bayron.
Denise is not just a knitting designer, she also sews, crochets, and does macrame. After years of working in the fast fashion industry, she decided she wanted to live more sustainably while still embracing fashion. This led her to pattern making and a desire to create a wardrobe by hand. Her goal now is to help other home knitters and sewers to learn the skills to create their own handmade wardrobes. She hopes people will use her patterns as a starting point to make their own creations.
What we love about Denise's patterns. While the patterns are for basic pieces (a pullover, a hat, a cardigan, etc.) they are the kind of pieces you would wear over and over again and great choices for gift knits with their clean and modern design. They are the patterns you would knit more than once, because a different yarn would give them a whole new look. We also love the fact so many of her sweater patterns are size inclusive. You can find Denise on Instagram here and her patterns on Ravelry here.
We continue to accept suggestions for our featured designer of the month here. We're hoping to feature designers who are lesser known or up-and-coming stars in the knitting world!
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Here are a few photos from this month's member show & tell.
Anne (soxanne)
Pattern: Self-designed Mitered Square Blanket inspired Shelly Kang’s beautiful blankie
Yarn: Leftovers
Notes: Started in 2016! See more notes here.
Anna (aersknits)
Pattern: Acanthus Hat
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette
Notes: This is a tam style hat, and I prefer a closer fit. I decided to felt the hat in the washing machine, and I am very happy with how it turned out!
Bonnie (artistnumber91)
Pattern: Bavarian Twist Saddle-Sleeved Cardigan
Yarn: Cascade Pacific
Notes: So many notes! See them here.
Roxanne (rox)
Pattern: Indian Slip-On No. 13A
Yarn: Berocco Vintage
Rebecca (spockie)
Pattern: Red Bud Gloves
Yarn: Klinta Wool Nate Fingering & Kango Tekstiil Käsitöölõng
Notes: This is an excellent pattern. Every row of the charts is different and the design just flows beautifully from one chart to the next. There are separate charts for the right and left glove because the pattern is mirrored. These gloves do run small, so if you have medium or large hands, you would want to use larger yarn and or needles.
Textile Center Library Update II
We've just been informed by the Textile Center that you can now return your library books. You will need to make an appointment to drop off your return. Books should be placed in a paper bag. The books will stay in the bag for three days before being returned to the shelves. Contact Nancy, nmambi@textilecentermn.org to set up your return.
While the Textile Center is open to visit by appointment, the library is still closed for browsing. Guild members can still check out books and pick them up curbside. You can search the catalog and reserve books here.