Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Stretch Your Skills Club: April & May Instructional Videos

Our Stretch Your Skills Yarn Club combines two months so that the cabled band you'll learn to make in the April shipment can be immediately followed up with the May shipment where you'll learn how to pick up stitches and make a hat attached to that fancy band.

(Sock Yarn Lovers Club and Luxury Yarn Lovers Club members -- here's where you'll find the E-Loop Cast On video!)

Below, you'll find instructional videos by Nell to help with the finer points of both shipments:
1) The E-Loop Cast On
2) Making Cables using CF3 and CB3
3) Joining the Knitted Cable Band Ends Together
4) Picking Stitches Up Along a Knitted Edge

The pattern calls for an e-loop cast on, the preferred cast on of the beloved knitting maven Elizabeth Zimmerman. It's a great technique for beginning knitters as well and it produces a thin, loose edge. Nell loves it too - her grandmother taught her when she was a little girl -- and will show you here how it's done!


The e-loop cast on


In this video, Nell interprets the instructions she wrote on how to make cables using a j-hook. You'll learn the meaning of CF3 (cable front three) and CB3 (cable back three) and you'll be turning out cables in no time.


Making Cables using CF3 and CB3


Here we'll look at joining the cast on edge of the cable band onto the needle edge (live stitches) of the knitted cable to close the band into a circle. Once this is done, you'll pick up the stitches on the knitted edge of the band to knit your hat.


Joining the Knitted Cable Band Ends Together


Next, see how to pick up stitches along a knitted edge for a smooth transition to the next section of your project -- in this case, the knitting of the hat.


Picking Stitches Up Along a Knitted Edge