Blog – Tagged "Lace" – Little NutMeg Productions

charts, How to, Lace, Tutorial - December 14, 2018

How to Read Knitting Charts

Let's Talk Charts! Charts are an excellent way to communicate patterns in knitting and help a designer distill pages of densely written text into one picture. With a few simple rules, charts are easy to understand, give visual clues as to what your finished piece will look like, and can be understood across language barriers. A chart for knitting is typically set into a grid pattern comprised of squares that are populated by symbols. Each of these symbols indicates what type of treatment to give each stitch. The chart is worked in horizontal lines with each line representing a...

Read more

Cables, Cables and Lace, Independent Designs, Lace - September 28, 2018

In search of epic texture: Grand Boulevard

Have you ever worked with a springy yarn? Not just a nice merino with a decent ply; I'm talking a tigger tail-trampoline bouncing-lamb on a pogo stick kind of yarn. The kind of yarn that creates texture as high and crisp as the Rocky Mountains and helps your cables be seen from space. No? I hadn't either, until I met Elemental Affects Cormo worsted, and let me tell you the love affair has only just begun. The combination of longer fibers and extra twisty spin makes for a stretchy bouncy yarn that just pops your cables right off the knitting. I...

How To: Place Beads in Your Knitting.

Placing beads in knitting can be done in two ways, one way is stringing the beads onto the yarn and then working them into the stitch. I'm not a huge fan of this method since I think it is hard on the yarn to pass thousands of beads down it's length while knitting. I also find that it slows down my knitting considerably, and inevitably I have to add more beads which means cutting the yarn and threading more on, no thanks! For the Samarran shawl I use the other method which is to place the bead onto a stitch using...

Gallant Cowl - A Linus Blanket but so much nicer!

"I know these days are Heaven sent" - the Steeldrivers Gratitude, I made the choice to live with this feeling for the year. I am so grateful for this life, my family, friends, my job, you, (yes you!) I appreciate everyone with an interest in my designs and who takes the time to read my musings on this blog. I know that things will not always go my way and that there has to be struggle for the good times to be oh so sweet. I've been to the dark places before and it can seem an endless stream of...

Read more

Cables, Cowl, Lace, New Pattern Release, Wrap - February 02, 2017

Maude Heath Set, Why I am Biased and Hitting a Harmonious Note.

I am always a huge fan of design that is created out of curiosity, of looking at materials, shapes, construction and letting them come together in a new way that may not have ever been investigated should those exact materials have not been combined. So much of designing for a magazine is looking at a mood board, a loose collection of ideas, and color, meant to inspire designs. This is a great way to get a wide range of designers into a similar track and totally makes sense for a publication that wants a theme. Designing for a yarn company...

Read more