Where to find the tutorials

At the top of the page there's a tab for "tutorials" - we've collected our Knit Picks knowledge base here for your use.

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Peggy Stuart on March 23, 2009 at 8:52pm: I haven't resorted to the tutorials much, but I think if Susan is having a problem with them, other people will, too. Maybe the tutorials should be "tested" on people who don't know how to do the procedure explained before they are posted. Often, I think, experienced knitters can "fill in" the absent info, and so would not notice if crucial information is missing or not clear. KP has a lot of knit-power at its disposal, both in new knitters and in people with a lot of experience. I wonder if there is a way to tap into that? --Peggy; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on March 24, 2009 at 4:56am: Peggy, thanks. Last month I went to my felting friends house to help her check instructions for making a wet felted pouch. She has been doing this for several years, and wanted to "test" it on some with no experience. Well, the "test" worked, because there were several small, but vital pieces of information she had omitted from the procedure and explanation (like defining stitch abbreviations in knitting). Her "final" instructions are great. Using an inexperienced test object (me) made her tutorial more useful. Susan; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on April 10, 2009 at 5:31pm: My question has to do with blocking. I have the lace blocking tutorial and have blocked sweaters, scarves, my Hemlock Ring Blanket, but I am now knitting the Textured Shawl Recipe found in Ravelry. I am using Comfy Bulky yarn, and it is really looking nice.

My question, when I get this baby finished... How do I block a cotton shawl? Do I use the same procedures I would use for wool or wool blended knit items? Or is it "self blocking" as I have read in other places.

Thanks for any help anyone can give.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alison on April 14, 2009 at 7:52am: You can block cotton any way you'd like - steam, wet, or spray blocking. Personally, I prefer to steam block cotton - I wet blocked a cotton sweater and it grew a lot and was harder to mold into the correct shape.

With items that need less shaping, like baby blankets and shawls, it's sometimes nice to just wash and dry the garment once and then gently lay it out flat. This will also make sure that your ends are woven in securely.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by vikeena on May 21, 2009 at 5:58pm: There seems to be a problem with a picture not opening in the Magic Loop tutorial. The other nice pictures are there, but there is only an icon "magic6jpeg" that won't open. Would you please fix it? The instructions are good, but I think something's missing. Thanks.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Customer Service on May 22, 2009 at 11:48am: It looks like everything is working with the magic loop tutorial. Would you click on the link and try again?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by vikeena on May 22, 2009 at 2:29pm: The photos that are visible for illustrating Magic Loop are:
1) Some cast on stitches on a purple cable loop;
2) Someone's left hand holding the same loop with the same stiches;
3) A right hand and a left hand holding the same loop with the stitches pushed a bit to the left;
4) A left hand grasping two nickle-plated needles with the cast on stitched divided and pushed on to the needles;
5) A left hand holding one needle, the purple cable with half of the cast on stitches, and one needle tip with the other half of the stitches, The right hand holds only the a bare needle.
6) Now we come to icon "magic6jpeg" that is the problem. If I right-click on my mouse and try to open this icon to see the picture that the icon represents, nothing happens. The picture associates with the icon will not open.
7) Aften the icon is a photo of a left hand grasping two needles, each with half of the cast on stitches, with the loops on top of the needles.
8) The final photo shows a left hand holding both needles (one needle is completely hidden by the needle in front of it. Two rows of stockinet have been knitted are on the front needle. The right hand is grasping both the tail of the cast on stitches, and yarn going to the ball end of the yarn.

Whew! I described all of that because I want you to know what I see. If you see a photo where I see that icon "magic6jpeg," then maybe we can do something to solve the problem. When I
right-click my mouse on "Properties" (when I'm on the icon), all of the information is referred to as "not available."

Otherwise, all of the pictures and text show up for all of the other examples of knitting in the round: knitting with one fixed circular, two circulars, and double points. The only one that does not work completely is the Magic Loop. Would you please check it again for me? Thanks!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Customer Service on May 22, 2009 at 5:04pm: I am going to report this issue to our IT department.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sassycro@hotmail.com on May 22, 2009 at 8:43pm: Wow, I was just about to post this same thing. I am actually trying to begin casting on the Tooth Fairy Pillow and using the Magic Loop method for the first time. When the pattern says to divide the stitches in half, does it mean divide the 18 cast on stitches into 9 and 9 (obvious, duh) or am I making this too difficult? When I divide those, I then have 9 stitches on one end of the circ (9 of the original 12 co) and 9 stitches on the other end (6 co from yarn ball #1, and 3 from the original 12 from yarn ball #2). How do I then cast on 6more stitches from ball #1?? This is where I'm stumped. I was hoping the tutorial would address this. I'm sure I'm just being dense - nearly midnite and I'm tired but still want to knit in my gloriously quiet household while everyone's asleep. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kate on May 26, 2009 at 3:59pm: Yes, in order to divide 18 stitch in half, you would have 9 stitches in front and 9 stitches in back.

The first group of 9 stitches would have 6 stitches from ball A and 3 stitches from ball B.
The second group of 9 stitches would all be from ball B.

Then you need to cast on 6 additional stitches from ball A with the backwards loop cast on method.

This gives you a total of 24 stitches.

Does that make sense?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sassycro@hotmail.com on May 27, 2009 at 10:51am: Yes it does, thank you Kate. I did manage to cast on last night and the tooth fairy pillow is coming along nicely! My problem was with the final 6 stitches, I was clueless as to how to cast those on. But I cast on and started over quite a few times until I finally got it right. It's a bit awkward and I'm not sure i'll be a Magic Loop convert, but it is nice to get it right and have a new technique under my belt. Thanks again for your help!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Customer Service on May 27, 2009 at 4:51pm: You might want to try a hat or a sleeve for your first magic loop project. A tooth is a little more difficult, especially since you have to wrangle with two separate balls when you are knitting the root of the tooth. If you try magic loop again with a less challenging project, you might like the technique more.; ▶ Reply to This