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Bond Buzz, Issue #39
September 20 , 2007
Free from Bond America
Welcome to another issue of Bond Buzz! |
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I can finally say it – fall’s nearly here! Sweater weather is really just here in the mornings and evenings, but I’ll take it over heat and humidity any day (sorry all of you from Florida, but there’s somewhere for everyone).
 But this past weekend was anything but fall-like in NYC where I went to visit Sweater Machine inventor (and my former business partner), Roger Curry, who, with his wife, Juliet, was in the city for a 10-day vacation. Roger is currently writing a book on the history of energy. Can’t stop a brilliant mind….. And then, of course, spent time with my daughter and granddaughter, who is now just walking – and keeping her mom running…
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| In the News |
I’m not sure how many of you listen to NPR, but last week there was an interview on Marketplace, where Kai Ryssdal interviewed author Mark Penn who had just written a book on Microtrends. Of course, one of them was knitting. Here’s what they had to say:
Penn: Part of what we try to teach people is how to see the counterintuitive of what everybody is talking about. It's counterintuitive that teenagers today are flocking to knitting. Everybody knows they're flocking to cell phones, but at the same time, I think there's a desire by people, "Hey, I want to make something." And so the entrepreneur who can fill that marketplace that's opened up by the dominant trend to technology, then looks for the countertrend, or the microtrend, to try to fill that in a way that's significant and meaningful.
Ryssdal: Are they really flocking to knitting?
Penn: Yeah. There's been a huge growth in knitting.
Ryssdal: See now, there you go. There's a microtrend that I never would have known about.
I say, Kai, where have you been???
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| Rwanda Knits Benefit Auction |
Did you ever wonder what happened to those amazing sweaters from Ultimate Knitting magazine? Well, the best of them will be auctioned at the Rwanda Knits Benefit Auction taking place from Oct 19-28. The spring auction was a test just to see how it went and it went so well, I just had to follow it up with more items for the fall. Just bookmark/add to your Favorites: www.rwandaknitsauction.org. When the auction starts, this link will go straight to the auction (it’s live now, but has info on the auction only).
So if you want to give yourself, your daughter, your mother or the man in your life something really special for the holiday and help the knitters in Rwanda too, get your bidding paddles ready for what promises to be the best auction ever! This may be the last auction (as with your help, the 1,500 knitters should very soon be self-sufficient) so don’t miss out! |
| Free Pattern . . . |
Varsity Letter Sweater
  You remember the super-graphic, super-cool varsity letter sweaters, don't you? Well, they are popular again thanks to the retro rage going on in fashion today. Our Varsity Letter Sweater is a new take on this old favorite, extending the length and stitching it up in the subtly flecked Simply Soft® Tweed, a great yarn for the Sweater Machine. The ever-talented Kathy Perry adds her own special flair to this pattern, complete with pockets and a stitched on letter to complete the look. Go team!
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| Tips & Techniques . . . |
Faux Cables
With the super-popular look for this season being cable, I’d like to show you a couple of options for making “faux cables.” The basics of this are covered in the Stitch Encyclopedia Volume 2 (which you can purchase online here), but I’d like to show you a couple of variations on that theme and how the technique can be incorporated into a super-easy purse project.
 This type of “stitch” really isn’t a stitch at all, but a wide vertical section of stockinette stitch, edged with one or two purl sts on both sides. The “cables” are made after the project has been knitted. This technique is especially appropriate for bulky yarns, such as Caron International's Simply Soft® Quick, where normally every other needle is used, making it challenging to create cables using the traditional transfer tools. I’ll show you two different cables, but there are many variations possible. The photos show the purse project but the technique can be applied to many other projects.
- Place safety pins or markers where you want to create the center cable.
- Place markers where you want the diagonal cables to be placed.
 DIAGONAL CABLE:
- Attach a long strand of the MY to the inside upper edge of the project just above where you will begin to create the diagonal “cable” (which, for the purse, are the two 6-stitch sections, one on each side of the center 8-stitch section).
- Start at the lower edge of the piece and bring the tapestry needle to the right side of the piece. Insert the needle from the LHS under the 6-st section, exiting on the RHS. This will automatically bring the yarn diagonally up from the spot where it was attached (or the previous cable).
- Draw the yarn as tight as is your preference and repeat Step 4.
- Repeat Steps 3-5 until this section has been “cabled.”
- Repeat the Diagonal Cable for the other 6-st section, but work the diagonal going in the opposite direction.
 HORIZONTAL CABLE:
- Using a tapestry needle, bring the yarn to the right side of st st section where you want to create the “cable.”
- “Wrap” the st st section and draw tight enough to pull in the sts slightly.
- Insert the needle from the front to the back of the work next to the cable section.
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 Weave the yarn diagonally through the reverse side of the cable section to where you want to create the next cable.- Repeat Steps 8-11 until the piece has been “cabled.”
- Secure at end of work.
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MOCK CABLE PURSE
DIMENSIONS
8” wide x 9” high
MATERIALS
2 skeins Caron International Simply Soft® Quick in color Bone; two 6” diameter purse handles, 1 wire coat hangar.
Also: tapestry needle; wire cutters, needle-nosed pliers.
GAUGE
Not important for this project
PURSE
- Bring forward 64 needles to HP and push back every other one: 32 ndls in HP.
- With #3.5 keyplate and MY, K 6 R (casing for purse handle).
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- Using 1 prong transfer tool, lift open sts from first row to corresponding ndls in HP. Note the picked-up st will be slightly to the left of the ndl in HP. The last “st” to be picked up from Row 1 will be the cast-on length of yarn.
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- NOTE: when knitting on every other needle with thicker yarns, you may want to “assist” the carriage to better catch the yarn by putting slight pressure on the “nose” of the carriage, lightly pressing down in the direction the carriage is going. This will also help when doing Fair Isle and some tuck sts.
- K 20 R. Convert sts as follows: skip first 4 sts, convert next st, skip 6 sts, convert next st, skip 8 sts, convert next st, skip rem 4 sts.
- Continue knitting and converting the sts until RC=76.
- Convert sts as above.
- K 6 R (casing).
- K 6 R WY & remove work from machine.
- Fold last 6 R in half and create casing.
- Steam purse before creating mock cable.
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FINISHING
- Place 5 markers along center 8 st sts of purse and 9 markers along each 6-st panel.
- Work mock cables per above instructions.
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Happy Knitting!
Cari Clement
Bond America
P.S. As a subscriber to Bond-Buzz, I'd like to invite you to subscribe to the FREE e-mail newsletter—Caron Connections from Caron® International. Just visit the Caron site (http://www.caron.com) and enter your email address. It's that easy. As a subscriber to Caron Connections, you'll receive monthly emails filled with the latest inside scoop on Caron's new fashion yarns and free patterns. |
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