How to Naturally Dye Easter Eggs
As hand-dyers who love playing with colour, it's only natural that we would love dyeing eggs as well as yarn. I've been exploring using natural dyes for Easter eggs for several years and after much trial and error, I've put together some instructions and tips for you.
How to make quick and easy fabric gift bags
Several years ago, I decided that it was time for me to stop using wrapping paper for my Christmas gifts. We usually celebrate as a family at my parents' place, and wrapping paper isn't recyclable in their municipality - in fact it's not recyclable in many places, and it's not a good idea to burn it in the wood stove either, due to its high ink content. We would often end up with several bags full of paper by the time we were done our unwrapping, and most of it would eventually wind up at the local dump.
Russian grafting photo tutorial
Russian grafting is a method of joining live knitting stitches and is used as an alternative to Kitchener stitch in our Argyle Christmas Stocking pattern. It is a good choice here because the stripes on the toe would not align exactly if you grafted using Kitchener stitch, so the decorative Russian grafting is used instead.
This particular method of Russian grafting uses a crochet hook to join the stitches. Use a crochet hook that is the same size or slightly smaller than your knitting needles. Russian grafting can also be used to join two separate pieces of knitting.
How to sew a zipper into handknits
I've recently designed two vest patterns that involve sewing a zipper into your hand-knit garment: Cabane à Sucre and Autumn Hike Hoodie. If you've never installed a zipper before, don't worry, this tutorial will walk you through each step of the process! It's not hard, but there are a few things you can do to make it easier and more professional looking.
How to make a multi-coloured pom pom
My latest knitting pattern is a warm winter hat in our incredibly soft Largo Organic bulky-weight merino yarn, and I wanted to top it off with a pom pom. I had the idea that I'd make the pom pom multi-coloured to look like fireworks against the dusky blue yarn, and called the hat Hanabi, which means fireworks in Japanese (and also happens to be the name of one of my favourite card games).
