Sandra's Designing Blog

You never know what you’ve been missing until you find it

Posted on 12:00pm Wednesday 9th Oct 2024

This phrase captures the idea that sometimes we only realise the value or usefulness of something once we experience it for ourselves. That's exactly how I'm feeling now. I sell 3 new knitting tools in my shop and until I started using them myself I did NOT realise how useful they could be. I'll explain more...........

I picked up this gorgeous yarn (silk and wool blend) at one of the Knitting & Crochet Guild yarn sales a few months ago. Before I could decide what to make with it I knew I had to determine what yarn weight it was, was it a fine DK, a fingering yarn (4 ply) or lace weight? The label didn't tell me and I didn't want to ball the skein up until I knew I was going to use it........ So I got out the handy WIP measure tool. It was obvious as soon as I put the yarn in the slots that it was 4 ply yarn. Didn't even need to do the wraps per inch test. [This is where you wrap the yarn round the tool and see how many wraps fit in the 1 inch gap].
So now I knew I could start my search for a 4 ply garment to make. Yes!

This is the design I decided to make with my purchase along with some plum mohair yarn I already had in my stash. This beautiful top ( and lots more) has been designed by Elenor Mortensen.

Art Nouveau Sweater

Yarn weight - Fingering / 4 ply (14 wpi) ?
Gauge - 26 stitches and 34 rows = 4 inches

So I purchased the pattern and started to knit the swatch. I had to make sure the sweater would actually fit me after all that knitting. The yarn label gave me no indication of guage and even though I was sure it was 4 ply, I still needed to be sure. I mean, I say this to all knitters so I really had to do the same myself.

To help me knit my swatch of the stranded knit pattern I decided to use the pattern tracker tool that I also sell. WoW ! This was a total game changer for me. I normally use post it notes on a print out of the pattern and inevitably they fall off when I'm putting the pattern away or just moving from one chair or my knee to somewhere else. With the pattern tracker this just doesn't happen. It stays on the row you want it to stay on. Magic!

And to measure the swatch I used the Swatch Ruler that I also sell

I didn't just use the pattern tracker for my swatch I'm using it for the whole sweater, so impressed. Only been knitting this for a few evenings so a long way to go yet!.

The New Knitting Tools

These unique knitting tools have been designed by Jen Hogg from Glasgow, Scotland. Jen competed in the TV series The Great British Sewing Bee back in 2019 reaching the semi final. So a keen sewer but also works her magic with knitting and silversmith.