Bundle Up!

Well Get-Along Gang, I don't know if you kids have pried yourselves away from your Twitter and your MTV and your 90210, but it is freezing outside, so knit club for this Wednesday is canceled due to act of God.

Second order of business, my helper monkeys have fixed the links. Never say Auntie Heather never did you anything.

Thirdly, as we all know we (and by we I mean the crocheters. Those girls is fierce!) have amassed what scientists refer to as a "crap-ton" of hats. We have yet to decide exactly how we're going to distribute the woollies, so we have a few options:
1. We can give them to A Better Way, the Muncie domestic violence shelter.
2. We can sell them and donate the money to a worthy cause
3. None of the above because somebody has a better idea but isn't sharing.

Finally, Katie will be sending out an e-mail with sale dates, etc. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a warm, cozy, event-free weekend.

And now, your moment of zen:

These Broken Links!

Folks, I am aware of the broken links in the T&T section. Please bear with me while I try and find new links or fix the ones I have or run away to a French villa buckle down and ask for help. Cheers!

Help and Harmony

Hey-ho everyone! There be changes in the water at this blog. First, if you'll glance ever-so-casually to the right, you'll notice a new panel for techniques that might throw you or tips on how to make your projects go better. For now, we have a knit and crochet glossary, but tell me what you want to see on the blog and I'll post it.

Secondly, as Katie e-mailed to us all (we love you Katie!!!!) we as a club have decided to help make hats, scarves, etc for people who are not as lucky as we. As a way of doing my part, I will print my extremely handy Universal Hat Pattern (patent pending) and pass it out on Wednesday. If I can find my Universal Mitten Pattern I'll print it too. I will also post my hat pattern here now for those of you who might be impatient or just want a copy on the blog for whatever personal reasons you might have.

Heather's Universal Hat:

You will need:
1 set of size nine (American) needles. Flat or circular, whatever floats your boat
Stitch marker (if circular)
Darning Needle
Measuring Tape

Step 1
Make a swatch. No griping! Just a tiny one.
Measure your stitches to the inch
Measure recipient's head

Now the dreaded math!!!!!!!!!
Let's say our recipient's head is 21 inches around. Let us also say you happen to get 7 stitches to the inch. Remember, this is all your gauge, so if you do not like the fabric you are getting, move up or down a needle. THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG GAUGE!

We do a wee little bit of arithmetic...21x7=147
Now, this is the only tricky part. We need to adjust the number just a little bit so that the total is divisible by ten. Since 147 is close to 150, we'll just call it 150.

This is the cool part! Cast on 150 stitches in any method you prefer. If knitting circularly, join in the round, being careful not to twist. Don't feel bad if you do, though. It's tricky and always takes me a couple of times to get it right. Place Marker. Knit until the life drains from you, or until you get about 5 to 6 inches, whichever comes first.

At the beginning of the next row (round) knit 9, then knit two together (k2tog). Repeat until you hit the end of your row (round). Knit the next row (round) straight. Repeat this pattern:
*K8, K2tog* rep
K 1 row(round)
*K7, k2tog* rep
k1 row (round)

Get it? Keep going til you have knit 1, k2tog. Now, take your darning needle. thread some yarn through the last few stitches (on my last hat it was only 13. Your mileage may very) and pull nice and tight. Weave in ends, sew up the seam if knitted flat, and viola! You may add a pom-pom if you want to. I would.

Thirdly, Harrison has one again found us a kick-ass, if not a wee bit more advanced, link. Let's give him a big hand.
http://techknitting.blogspot.com/2009/10/basic-short-rows-theory-and-method.html

PS. Short rows are not as scary as this uber-knitter makes it out to be. Trust me.

And finally, your moment of zen:

Getting Started

Okay, we've had a few meetings so I thought I'd post a few things to help us get through the bumps you may encounter.

First, crochet. http://www.youtube.com/user/tjw1963#play/playlists

Teresa's crochet page has a lot of good things, including left-handed crochet.  Good luck.

And now, knitting.

First we have the knit stitch, in continental because that is what Katie insists on teaching. 

And purl

And if you are lucky enough to get this far...casting off!

As a side note, if anybody knows a good knit/crochet glossary, send me the link so I can post in in the sidebar as a tool.

And now...your moment of zen.

Meeting times

Well everyone, we finally got our collective heads out of our collective rears and decided on some times to meet.

If you are interested in learning how to knit or crochet,we have a learning night on Mondays at 8 to whenever you feel like leaving.

If you just want the social fun-ness (and why wouldn't you, really?) the Knitting Club meets on Wednesdays at 7:15.

As always, we meet in the Atrium TV lounge. Bring your works in progress, patterns, and smiles! It's gonna be a fun ride.

Welcome Back!

Well everyone, it's a new year with a new blogger! Hi, I'm Heather and I'll be keeping everyone updated here on the BSU knit blog. We haven't decided on a meeting time yet, so if anyone interested would please email Katie to let her know what time would be convenient for you would be great!

Also e-mail me (hnbartram@bsu.edu) to let me hear some ideas for what you guys wanna learn and what kind of fun we're gonna do!

In the meantime, I thought everyone would enjoy this video. Look familiar???

Happy End of the Year!

Well, it's the end of the year and time for me to graduate! I want to thank everyone for helping to make this year a really great one. I am handing over webmaster privileges to my good friend Heather, who I'm sure will be posting some exciting and fun things in the coming year, so stay tuned and check back often! And thanks so much for taking over, Heather!

Have a great summer; make sure you all knit and crochet a lot!
Love,
Abby