Sew E-Z Blocking Board

on March 31, 2007

There’s been some interest in my blocking board, and I don’t blame you. It’s great! It’s called a Sew E-Z Blocking Board (see it in my last post), and it’s served me well for years already. I have the larger size and love it. The only things I might complain about are that it’s not big enough to block really long things, like scarves and shawls (I do them on our bed), and the black felt fabric that covers the outside is a magnet for dog hair. It’s even heat proof, so you can steam or iron on it.

I bought mine on eBay, but that seller seems to be gone. Jo-Ann.com carries them, and they’re having a free shipping sale today, which is great, because these things weigh a TON. MARFSH7353 is the free shipping code for today.

And to prevent a sad, pictureless post, check out the awesome scones we had last weekend:

They were excellent- very light and delicious. I used this recipe, adding about 1/4 cup (packed) chopped scallions and forgetting to brush with milk.

Have a lovely Saturday!

6 Comments

Steeks, Yarn, and Cutting

on March 30, 2007

Firstly, thank you, everyone, for going to the trouble of measuring your wrists for my poll! I’m a little surprised by the results- 74% of us have wrist measurements within an inch of each other. Huh!

The poll is a great help in making the pattern, which will be ready in a couple of days. Just a little drying and math and some photos and it’s good to go. Before then, I thought I’d write a little about steeks and cutting and choosing yarn for a project like this. These pulse warmers are a GREAT first steeked project, but you want to get a few things right.

Yarn:

I used what’s known as a “sticky” yarn for this. Shetland yarns are perfect, as is the Lamullgarn I chose to use. Harrisville makes Shetland yarn, as does Jamiesons, and Jamieson and Smith. You can see the fuzzy hairs sticking out of the yarn in the photo above. You can also see how the yarn sticks to itself as soon as it touches. This is ideal. If you use yarn like this, you won’t need to reinforce the steek at all, just cut it and pick up stitches, which is what I did.

The steek stitches just curl under a bit and stay together very well, because that yarn is so sticky. If you like, whip stitch that little rolled edge to neaten it. You could also whip stitch a strip of ribbon over the cut edge. That would be lovely.

If you want to use yarn left over from another project (great idea, since these don’t take much at all) or use a smoother wool like Knit Picks Palette (great idea, because, hey, CHEAP!) you should probably reinforce the cut edge somehow.

I’ll let Eunny show you how:
Unreinforced Steek
Hand-Sewn Steek
Crocheted Steek

That Eunny. She does more knitting for a tutorial than I do for a whole project. :P

9 Comments

Measure For Me, Please?

on March 29, 2007

mushroom pulse warmers

I’m going to be offering the pulse warmer pattern in several sizes, but want to be sure I make them to fit a good range of wrists. Since my wrists are the size of a 4 year old’s, according to the standard sizing I’ve found, I worry my sense of scale is off kilter and I’ll end up leaving an important size off the pattern. Would you mind measuring some wrists and taking the poll below? I’m thinking women and children are going to be the only ones interested in wearing this particular pair of pulse warmers, so let’s stick to them for the poll. If your wrist is 3″ or 17″ or something, leave a comment, please!

[poll=2]

Thanks a million!

29 Comments