Knitting: January 2012 Archives

A good cardi is always a pleasure to knit but I hated the buttonholes. "Too much math" I would to mumble when seriously considering another cardigan with delicate buttons. I hated knitting the button band because inevitability I would get the buttonholes wrong. By the time you figure out that your placement or buttonhole size is wrong you have worked two whole rows of knitting. However with this great tutorial, from Knitting Daily, for a one row button hole my knitting world became bright and sunny again. Once I had this handy technique under my belt I was planning cardigans left and right. I knew that I would only have work one buttonhole to determine if my sizing was correct and I would only need to work one row to see if my placement was right. It was amazing and very encouraging.

While the technical drawings included with the tutorial are nice, they don't follow all the steps and sometimes just seeing it worked in actual yarn as you go can really help master a new method.

I recommend practicing this method in your favorite yarn to learn and then adding it onto your swatches when you work it up before your project. This will help you plan sizing before you have 100 sts to work and will also help you visualize your buttons with your stitch pattern. Trying your buttonholes in your swatch can also help you work out how to incorporate your stitch pattern into your one row buttonhole row. You can practice how the bind off and cast on stitches in the buttonhole will affect your stitch pattern and how to work around it for the best finish. 

Our last Ask the Expert I didn't have time to answer a question on wooden needles and I promised to touch on it next time. Well, I decided to dedicate a whole posting to wooden needles since the types of wooden needles are vast and varying. I recommend wooden needles for every level of knitting. If you are a beginner or just getting started wooden needles are a smart "first needle" purchase because they will last your whole knitting career. Wooden needles are great for beginners because they are forgiving. They are smooth but slick like metal needles. This means they will slighty grip the yarn which will be helpful for a beginner. Most beginning kits provide metal needles which is like teaching someone to drive in a Porsche; metal is just too slick for a beginner. Wooden needles have benefits for intermediate and advanced knitters as well. Since intermediate knitters are looking to branch out and try new technique the soft and smooth characteristics will help prevent fatigue and will keep your yarn where you need it, when you need it. Advance users will appreciate that there are no allergies associated with wood. Wooden needles also vary in strength, durability and flexibility which makes it easy for an advanced knitter to find just the right wood for their preference. Below is a list of common wood types for knitting needles and their attributes. Some knitters might even prefer one wood to another based on the aesthetics of the grain alone.

Rosewood- Strong and sturdy better for small gauges, beautiful grain

Birch- tight grain and flexible

Ebony- Hard and durable

Blonde- Strong and warm

Coconut- Very strong (great for those who knit tight)

Surina- Very hard but very light

You could also include bamboo needles in this article because the attributes of bamboo in a knitting needle is so similar to wood: it is light and strong but the most flexible of "wooden" needles. Bamboo is also less expensive than wood so it makes the best beginner needle. Bamboo is a great choice for an eco-conscience person because bamboo is a grass, it grows back very quickly and the environmental impact of its harvest is minimal.