I’ll Knit If I Want To: Episode 23

hi there and welcome to all knit if i want to i'm andrea marie of drea renee knits and i am going to try to answer some of your questions today i am wearing the golden hour shawl and stay tuned to the end where i will show you how i wrap it around me how i wear it all right question number one do you have any tips for maintaining a consistent gauge throughout a project i have been noticing that my gauge tends to loosen as i get further along i think it's because the weight of the growing project is pulling on the stitches causing them to get bigger i've tried holding my project lower to my lap but that isn't the most comfortable knitting position for me so um i would have a couple questions here that i would be curious about such as how much of a difference engaged i mean obviously you're noticing it but how does it look after you've blocked the piece is it actually really impacting the finished garment um or does it kind of wiggle into where it needs to be um one thing that it makes me think of is a lot of us if you've ever heard that like swatches can lie a lot of times that can be um especially if we don't knit a very big swatch if we just have like a little bitty swatch because it takes us a little while to relax into our knitting and then our gauge a lot of times will naturally loosen up a little bit so i think if you're noticing this happening a lot i would definitely recommend knitting a larger swatch so you can get a truer gauge reading um and to stay consistent i would maybe be conscious of your surroundings while you're knitting to me it sounds like it it just kind of sounds like a classic um you've just relaxed a little you know i think sometimes when we start a new pattern we are really focused and kind of like holding it close to our face and working on it and then we kind of get into the flow of it maybe we get through the finicky beginning shaping and things like that and we do just relax and so you're just not manipulating your hands as tightly as you were before so i think one way you could try to stay a little more consistent is you could before you wash your swatch i would measure your gauge before and after because your gauge can change quite a bit with blocking that way if you know your unblocked gauge as well as you're knitting your actual project every once in a while i would just grab your ruler your tape measure and check your gauge and match it to your unwashed swatch reading um and then you just know okay oh i was trying to get loose i need to kind of tighten this up um to kind of keep yourself consistent that way if it's not a huge discrepancy it may work itself out with blocking and wearing i find that a lot of my knits kind of seem to wiggle into each other and settle um but yeah if it's something you're noticing i would definitely just check your gauge periodically as you're working um but also if it is always a loosening it may be that you need to go down a needle size and i certainly believe in adjusting our tools before our body a lot of times we knit how it feels good for our hands so by adjusting your tool instead going down a needle size to fix that gauge that might be the best option i find that when i'm trying to control the gauge by knitting tighter or looser that doesn't work out so well for me i end up getting an uneven tension so i'd rather change my tool next question number three how does one become a test knitter so for my testing calls i do host those in my ravelry group and i just once one of my patterns has been tech edited and is ready to um have some knitters get a first peek to preview them then i just post a testing call in my sorry i keep fiddling now with my little swatch um i post that in my ravelry group and put out a testing call and that's where i'll list what the call is what is required and a lot of times i'll also throw it up in my instagram stories um but yeah that's it and then you just throw your hat in the ring and um i keep it open until the sizes are filled one thing i would say is a determining factor for me is i do really appreciate if i go check out that person's previous projects that they have modeled pictures of their knits um so just photos of themselves wearing their sweater or whatever it may be because i think for me i love to be able to see that i love to see when people have knit my designs um you know do they like how it fits you can see that look in their face of like they feel awesome or whatever it may be and i think other knitters find that helpful too especially if they are going through projects trying to find somebody who has a similar body shape maybe wants to sub in a similar yarn it can just be such a great resource so that for me can kind of be one of those factors where if i have two people offering to test the same size that might be a deciding factor for me all right question number four how do you choose colors for projects to coordinate with your wardrobe i find that while i tend to choose my clothes in particular colors like for work for example when i'm choosing yarn for projects i kind of love all the colors and end up making shawls hats etc that don't really go with anything and then i'm not sure how to wear them i also tend to take so long with my larger projects shawls and sweaters that they exist in isolation in my head is it just a matter of being more closet-conscious when i choose my yarn or maybe i just need to learn how to dress myself better so i really loved this question because it reminds me of myself i a lot of times i think i've always tried to find like what are my colors what looks good on me but [Music] i just really like a lot of different colors um i wouldn't say i have you know i'm not a i'm gonna knit everything in gray or purple or you know i tend to like a little bit of everything i'm um and it makes me happy so i find that knitting with color fills me up with joy um and so i've totally been in that place of sometimes i finish a project and i'm like no what am i gonna wear this with but i might not be the best person to ask because i also do not match i don't like to match i feel uncomfortable if my clothes match really well um i just i kind of like to clash so i you could just kind of lean into that that would be my advice is i just like putting it all together if it makes me feel happy i'm gonna throw it on i will say that i definitely love using accessories to use some of my more kind of wild and fun colors that might not go that easily with like an outfit and then um i will maybe try with some of my sweaters and things like that to be like okay will this actually go with my wardrobe at least in my unmatchy way um but accessories are really fun because a lot of times you know depending on you're like i have a jean jacket or my i have a dark gray wool coat like you can put any color with gray or denim um so that's kind of how i think about accessories is they really are a chance to really play with color and have fun but um you know i also wear a lot of like black leggings and they tend to go with any of the random colors i decide to use so but yeah i can definitely see two for work if you want to make sure you can wear your stuff for work um you might have limitations there depending on your job but i very much am team knit with the color that brings you joy and i find that i find a way to wear it if i love the colors um and you know sometimes experiments don't always work out and then you probably have friends or family that would love to get one of your hand knits socks are also a great way to use up some kind of fun and colorful yarn um but there's loads of like wardrobe capsule things you could look up for sure if you actually really want to be conscious of i want to have like a very put together wardrobe then you might want to go that route i'm just not one of those people i like having kind of an eclectic wardrobe where i mix and match in a funky way and that just kind of suits my personality better and that is knitting really is where i seek color to experience that where i think a lot of the clothing i buy isn't as colorful as what i knit so i like interjecting my wardrobe with my colorful knitting if anybody else has tips please feel free to drop those below all right and the last question question five i have a question about kidneps how much do you knit for your kids i know you have a few sweaters i just bought sophie to pint-sized i hope your little one loves it my daughter i knit that for her i designed it when she was i think two she's seven and she will still put that on over a dress it's a crop top so cute um but do you do things like socks and mittens for them i'd love to do stuff like that for my kids but my concern is that it may be a lot of work when kids grow so fast what has been your philosophy so i will fully admit i'm not a great kid knitter i my daughter has a few sweaters my son i've knit him one out of my hand spun and he put it on once and he's kind of a yarn makes him itch kid so um he definitely has some hats so i knit hats are a big one i will do for my kids i feel like they're pretty quick and they'll wear them so that's really the determining factor for me is will they wear these um and i've kind of learned a little bit with my daughter she's older than my son so one thing i did learn very early on is with knit slippers or socks for kids they we have hardwood floors we don't have carpet and they will slide and so it's kind of dangerous so unless you want to like puffy paint the bottom or put like a little leather pad on maybe some hand-knit slippers i don't do a lot of hand-knit socks for them because they slip and slide on our floors i think as they get a little older i could definitely see doing that though especially we live in the north and it gets quite cold in our winters and i just think you can't beat wool socks so i might actually knit them some special wool socks for like when we play in the snow this winter and that's kind of when they would wear them my kids definitely love my daughter has i have the tinsel mitts which is my mint pattern that includes fingerless convertible and full mittens for the whole family and so i have my pair of convertibles and my daughter saw those just like i want those so i knit her those for her birthday and those she really loves they're but they're not waterproof so again we get snow here um so that'll kind of determine they're great as like mitten liners though like they're waterproof mittens to keep them warmer longer and plain out in the snow longer um so yeah my daughter will wear sweaters and i actually think sweaters wear on kids longer because at least with my kids you know again my daughter's been wearing that sulfated sweater for years because she's just kind of grown up and so it went from being like a longer sweater to just now it's like a cute little like over a dress sweater um with three quarter length sleeves so i think you can kind of stretch sweaters for a while with kids but i generally knit for myself that's who i'm usually knitting for um basically like once a year my husband gets a sweater and if my kids ask me for something i'll knit for them but i very much i'm like you have to wear it if i'm gonna knit it kind of a mama so if they if they wear it which my daughter's kind of better at wearing the knits that i am more prone to knit than more things um the good news is too when it comes to things like mittens they're really quick so depending on how old your kids are that is kind of the nice thing is you can whip out especially if you've been knitting a lot of adult things you can whip out some little kid things pretty fast which can be like a nice palette cleanser between projects all right i've got a little bonus question here um i see your sock forms boop on the wall behind you i'll be trying socks for the first time i wonder if a sack form is really necessary or i can get can i get by without it you can 100 can buy without it you do not need a sock form um the nice thing about a sock form is do you see like that beautiful shape that comes from the sock form it blocks them out beautifully um but you don't need that once i've blocked my socks pretty like for photo shoots and for just the first time even if they're not even if i'm not gonna take photos um from there on out i wear my those are the socks i wear are pretty much all hand-knit socks um so i wear them a lot and i'm not gonna fiddle around i only have one set of sock blockers so i just do a hot water bath with some wool wash until that water and soak my socks till they cool down and then i just gently squeeze out the water and i just hang them to dry in my laundry room so i don't think you need sock blockers they're just they're fun to have if if you end up getting some um they're a great gift because they're nice to have but you don't have to have them all right i think that is it for questions we have we're wrapping up the drk adorn yourself knit along i have seen so many amazing accessories um on instagram and in the ravelry forum so i'm so excited everyone who's joined you have knit such beautiful things so that wraps up in just a few days and what else oh we have the illuminate knit along screen right now that's the rhinebeck sweater there's links to that below so anything that i mentioned during these episodes about there being a link below you can just write below the video it says show description and you'll see where it says show more and you just tap that and it'll have all the questions i've answered um so it's a great way if you have a question that you're curious if i've answered it before or you want to see what questions i answered in previous episodes just go through and tap that and you can see the questions i've answered every episode um and then i'll i also always include the links to anything i chat about plus a link to my newsletter which is the place to get discounts on any new patterns i release which i have a new pattern releasing on tuesday so you'll definitely want to be signed up to the newsletter for that and you'll also find the link down below for the forum if you have a question that you really want me to attempt to answer all right i am now going to show you how i put on the golden hour shawl so i have to get back far enough where you can see me without hitting my head on this light so for a triangle shawl i mentioned last week that when it comes to shawls i like to wrap them so that my triangle peak is off center so with a classic triangle shaped shawl like the golden hour i will put that off to one side so i wrap one side around and then i just bring the other around so that it's off centered like that and with this shawl it does have a right and a wrong side because there's mosaic knitting in it so you can see my pretty little floats so i like to just kind of adjust it so that the right sides out and that's really it this is all i do right so pretty easy i'll show it a little closer right here um so again i just hold my wingspan in both hands and i put one around and then as i bring the other around that's how i can make sure that this is going off centered and that's just how i like to wear them and then sometimes i will wrap this around like this if i'm walking around and it's windy i actually like to kind of tuck this under a little and then it's not as prone to like fly back and off my shoulders because is there anything more annoying than when like a shawl flies off one side and starts falling off all right well thank you so much for joining me this week i've moved my camera so i started looking in weird areas so sorry about that i will get used to this new area by next week all right have a great weekend i hope you get to knit or sew or spin or get outside and have a lovely weekend i'll see you back here next week

Channel: Andrea Mowry

Views: 27,353

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Id: 8b6G8QplQx8

Length: 17min 40sec (1060 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 13 2021