As promised, I’ve got quite a bit more to elaborate on this topic! Dye bleeding can be a problem with commercial or hand-dyed yarns, but don’t be afraid – it’s a dyer’s responsibility to absolutely minimize dye problems, and it’s easy to check for in your yarns. WHAT’S HAPPENING WHEN DYE BLEEDS? Well, it could be a number of things. Part of our process is rinsing off excess dye, but we’re only human, and sometimes some dye slips through. If your yarn is bleeding a little but not changing color, it’s just extra dye molecules washing off the surface. This is most common with highly saturated yarns, since a strand of yarn can only hold so much dye! In addition,...
For my entire knitting career, I’ve been pursuing the “perfect hat” – and while I have never recreated that one gift hat, I have found something else. Here, with full detail, is my personal perfect vanilla hat (that is, a basic, plain pattern), complete with all the little details that make it perfect for me. I use a combination of a specific cast-on, needle combination, and ratio of stitches between the ribbing and the hat to make an incredibly stretchy high-memory brim. On top of that (literally!) I follow a specific decrease rhythm for a well-shaped crown, and alter the needles and rhythm at the very end for a dense, fully closed top. I also include recommendations about places YOU can...
Regularly updated, this is the post where we answer some questions from our lovely knitworthy followers! If you have any burning questions we’ve missed, please do let us know: we can update this post and answer flash questions on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr! What do you do? Who does what work? Cozy Hearth Yarn Works is a partnership between two sisters, and we have been slowly re-negotiating the boundaries of our partnership over the time we’ve been working together. Em, the younger sister, is currently taking a hiatus from writing, but has written some beautiful posts for the blog in the past – Em also manages all of our bookkeeping and financials, and designs patterns and knits finished objects for customers. Em loves knitting cablework, and tends toward more...
Today’s question, How did you learn how to knit?, was addressed in an earlier post on the blog. However, I was telling more of an ‘origin story’ at that point: it’s not very helpful for anyone who wants to learn to knit themselves. I’m lucky enough that I live with someone who learned to knit before me! Having someone on hand to teach is extremely valuable in many ways – not only do you have a model there to watch you and help correct mistakes, but an in-person teacher can help you with techniques that you just don’t have the dexterity or eyes to figure out just yet. Em did casting on for me for my first few projects, troubleshot my weird errors...
