Find Your Style, and Knit It Too

Sharon Turner

Description

This fun, funky guide helps you find your style and create great hand-knit clothes and accessories that express it.

Easy-to-follow instructions with colorful illustrations get you going even if you've never picked up knitting needles before. Cosmo-style quizzes make it fun to explore both your knitting style and your fashion profile. There are projects for you whether your style is:

• Tomboy
• Dancer
• Punk
• Preppy
• Girly-girl
• Arty and funky
• Hippie
• Fashionista

Put your new skills in action by choosing from more than twenty-five hip patterns, including a mellow newsboy cap, a delicate ballet skirt, a casual kerchief, a preppy sleeveless hoodie, and even some in-your-face skull wristbands. Mix and match styles and add details to express your mood and individualize your look! Lots of the projects are so simple you can knit an extraordinary one-of-a-kind item faster than you can drive to the mall and pick up a one-style-fits-all piece.
Introduction.

Part 1: Knitting know-how.

Quiz: What kind of knitter are you?.

1: Get set!.

2: Now you’re ready to knit.

3: Oops! spotting and fixing mistakes.

4: Knitting beyond the rectangle: increasing and decreasing.

5: Stuff you should know now that you can knit.

6: Getting fancy with your knitting.

7: Knitting in circles.

8: Finishing touches.

9: Fun stuff to decorate your knitting.

Part 2: Your style, your projects.

Quiz: What’s your style?

10: Arty and funky.

11: Tomboy

12: Dancer.

13: Girly-girl.

14: Fashionista.

15: Funk.

16: Preppy.

17: Hippie.

Contributing Designers.

Index.

Sujets

• Loisirs
• Loisirs créatifs et artistiques
• Couture et Tricot
• Sharon Turner
• Crafts
• Hobbies
• Knitting Needleworf

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 16 janvier 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780470192511
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

find your style

and knit it too
by Sharon Turner

Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Find Your Style and Knit It Too
Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. All rights reserved.
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750–8400, fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com . Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572–3447, fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions .
Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, and related trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising here from. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Turner, Sharon, 1962–
Find your style and knit it too / by Sharon Turner. p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-470-13987-5
ISBN-10: 0-470-13987-0
1.  Knitting. I. Title.
TT820.T876 2007
746.43′2—dc22
2007028419
Printed in the United States of America
10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1
Book production by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Composition Services
Credits

Acquisitions Editor
Roxane Cerda
Project Editor
Kitty Wilson Jarrett
Technical Editor
Alexandra Virgiel
Editorial Manager
Christina Stambaugh
Publisher
Cindy Kitchel

Vice President and Executive Publisher
Kathy Nebenhaus
Interior Design
Erin Zeltner
Kathie Richard
Cover Design
Cynthia Frenette
Photography
Jodi Bratch
Graphics Specialists
Joni Burns
Laura Campbell
For my daughters, Isabel, Matilda, and Phoebe, who have such great style

About the Author
Sharon Turner designs knitwear and publishes a line of knitting patterns called Monkeysuits. She is the author of Monkeysuits: Sweaters and More to Knit for Kids, Teach Yourself Visually Knitting, Teach Yourself Visually Knitting Design , and Knitting Visual Quick Tips . She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and three daughters.
Acknowledgments
This fun project has been a collaborative endeavor from the get-go. Roxane Cerda at Wiley and my wonderful agent, Marilyn Allen, helped brainstorm the first idea for this book into what it is now. Thanks again to Roxane Cerda and Cindy Kitchel for taking on the project and for being so much fun to work with. Grateful acknowledgment also goes out to photographer Jodi Bratch and the bright and beautiful models—Brianna, Chandler, McKenzie, Katie, Laura, Hannah, Emily, Laryn, Mary, and Taylor (and their families) for doing such a super job showing off the knits; to Chris Stambaugh and the design team at Wiley for pulling it all together and for the fun book design, inside and out; and to Alexandra Virgiel for her eagle-eyed technical expertise.
Joining forces with contributing designers Kitty Jarrett, Alison Stewart-Guinee, Jill Draper, Heather Brack, Claudine Monique, and Shannon Okey has been invigorating and inspiring. Thank you all for jumping in with such enthusiasm—and with such amazing projects. Hugs to editor Kitty Jarrett, who has become my e-mail friend, and whose way with words and knitting know-how are invaluable. (Let’s do another one!)
My husband, Mark, and my daughters Isabel and Matilda contributed by always patiently answering my annoying questions regarding style and color. My youngest daughter, Phoebe, keeps us all laughing—let’s just hope that continues through her teen years.
Grateful acknowledgment goes to the following yarn suppliers for their generosity in providing yarn for this book’s projects:
Cascade Yarns (supplier of Cascade and Di.Ve’ yarns), www.cascadeyarns.com
elann.com (Internet retail supplier of elann.com Peruvian Collection and much more), www.elann.com
Lion Brand Yarns , www.lionbrand.com
Louet North America , www.louet.com
Muench Yarns (supplier of Muench and GGH yarns), www.muenchyarns.com
South West Trading Company , www.soysilk.com
The publisher would also like to thank Todd Robinson and LUNA music for graciously hosting a photo shoot. LUNA music can be found at www.lunamusic.net .
Table of Contents
Introduction
part 1: knitting know-how
quiz: what kind of knitter are you?
1 get set!
Yarn, needle, and accessory basics to get you ready to knit.
it’s all about yarn
natural fibers ∗ unnatural fibers ∗ fiber blends ∗ yarn textures and colors ∗ balls, skeins, and hanks ∗ yarn weights ∗ yarn substitutions ∗ reading a yarn label
the skinny on knitting needles
needle materials ∗ needle shapes ∗ needle sizes
accessorize
essential accessories ∗ useful accessories
2 now you’re ready to knit
Learn how to cast on, hold your needles and yarn, knit, purl, join a new ball of yarn, bind off, finish your work, and learn a few basic stitch patterns.
cast on!
the slipknot ∗ backward-loop cast-on ∗ long-tail cast-on
get comfy holding needles and yarn
english style ∗ continental style
knit stitches two ways
knit: english style ∗ knit: continental style
purl stitches two ways
purl: english style ∗ purl: continental style
join new yarn
joining new yarn at the beginning of a row ∗ joining new yarn in the middle of a row
bind off stitches
weave in loose ends
knit with a double strand of yarn
show off with knit and purl
garter stitch ∗ stockinette stitch ∗ reverse stockinette stitch ∗ single rib ∗ double rib ∗ seed stitch ∗ garter rib
3 oops! spotting and fixing mistakes
Spot and fix common faux pas.
too many stitches
twisted stitches
incomplete stitches
dropped stitches
picking up a dropped stitch in the row below ∗ picking up a dropped stitch several rows below
how to unravel stitches
unraveling stitch by stitch ∗ unraveling row by row
4 knitting beyond the rectangle: increasing and decreasing
Shape your knitting with increasing and decreasing methods.
increasing
bar increase ∗ make one ∗ yarn over
decreasing
knit 2 together ∗ purl 2 together ∗ slip, slip, knit ∗ slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over
shaping with short-rowing
short-rowing on the knit side ∗ short-rowing on the purl side ∗ hiding the short-row wraps on the knit side ∗ hiding the short-row wraps on the purl side
5 stuff you should know now that you can knit
Put your new skills to the test by tackling your first pattern.
all about gauge
getting gauge
make and measure a gauge swatch
how to make a gauge swatch ∗ how to measure a gauge swatch
how to read knitting patterns
skill level ∗ size/measurements ∗ materials ∗ gauge ∗ stitch patterns and special instructions
abbreviations and terms
6 getting fancy with your knitting
Step up to more involved techniques, including lace, color, and cables.
lacy stuff
easy lace ∗ drop stitch pattern
color knitting
knitting horizontal stripes ∗ fair isle knitting ∗ intarsia knitting
cable knitting
basic six-stitch cable ∗ medallion cable ∗ horn cable ∗ bobble cable
7 knitting in circles
Tackle knitting in the round on both circular and double-pointed needles.
knit in the round on circular needles
casting on with circular needles ∗ knitting with circular needles
knit in the round on double-pointed needles
casting on with double-pointed needles ∗ knitting with double-pointed needles
make a knitted cord
8 finishing touches
Learn to sew your garment together, make buttonholes and pockets, and block your finished piece.
block your socks off
steam blocking ∗ easy wet blocking
it’s sew easy: join knit pieces
invisible horizontal weaving ∗ mattress stitch for stockinette stitch ∗ mattress stitch for garter stitch and reverse stockinette stitch ∗ invisible vertical-to-horizontal weaving ∗ backstitch ∗ grafting
pick up stitches every which way
picking up stitches along a horizontal edge ∗ picking up stitches along a vertical edge ∗ picking up stitches along a curved edge
buttonholes
eyelet buttonhole ∗ one-row horizontal buttonhole
9 fun stuff to decorate your knitting
Gussy up your kni