Handpainting Yarn

I tend to prefer space dyeing to handpainting yarn because of the ease of the technique. But nothing can replace the precision you can acheive when you handpaint a skein of yarn.

What you can't dye with food coloring

If I got a dime for each time someone asked me about dyeing acrylic or cotton with food coloring/Kool Aid I would be a rich woman. I decided to answer these questions once and for all by creating a video showing people what you cannot dye with food coloring.

Surprisingly, the 100% organic (unbleached) cotton that I used in this tutorial did pick up some color. I am not sure how colorfast it is, but there are certainly more efficient ways to dye cotton vibrant colors. (Compare the cotton color to the 100% wool!)

Dyeing Yarn with Tea

You can dye yarn with so many different kitchen products. The following tutorial will take you through dyeing 100% wool yarn with three different types of tea.

Drafting Mawata

To this novice spinner, spinning silk hankies are one of the easiest fibers I've ever worked with. Because the staple length of silk is so long you can actually knit directly with the unspun fibers!

Making of the Natural Gas Commercial

If you thought the natural gas commercial where heat spread over the house as knit wool, you will love to learn about how they made this video! I cannot imagine knitting all of that just to unravel it, but it makes a super cool effect when played in reverse.

Natural Gas Commercial

The idea of the film is simple. How to visualize the warmth of natural gas? By the use of the stop motion technic, we see how warmth spreads through the house as knitted wool. This is one of the coolest uses of knitting in a film I have ever seen.

Surprisingly Stretchy Bindoff

There is nothing worse than making toe up socks and then being unable to fit them on your foot because the bind off was too tight. The following video shows a wonderful method to make a "surprisingly" stretchy bind off that incorporates a YO before the K or P stitch.

Dyeing Wool/Acrylic Blends

I started dyeing yarn because I had a ton of 20% wool/80% acrylic remaining from my sampler afghan. In response to many questions I received about dyeing acrylic on YouTube, I decided to create the following video:

P.S. You cannot dye 100% acrylic using these method!

What do you do with old Tshirts?

What do you do with old Tshirts that are too ratty (and too loved) to be donated to Good Will? Why not turn them into yarn and find a new use for them? This video will show you how to get a continuous piece of yarn out of a Tshirt.

What would I make out of Tshirt yarn? Well a bathmat, bowl, a toy, something that doesn't require a lot of drape and where structure is a blessing.

Yarn is Art

A few months ago, I received a press release as part of the Lion Brand Yarn mailing list. I have always loved van Gogh's sunflowers, and now you can see them recreated out of yarn!

"Lion Brand Yarn Studio Unveils "Yarn is Art" Window Display in NYCYouTube Video Showcases Creative Talents of Local Artist Who Created the Art Pieces All with Yarn. "

How do you wear those handmade scarves and shawls?

This video isn't knitting related, but it is SUPER useful for some fun ways to wear scarves and shawls. I found it useful enough that I felt it deserved a place on KPOTD. How do you wear those handmade scarves and shawls? I find myself wrapping them around my neck to display the lace, but there are some good ideas for in this video!

Knitting Ramen Noodles with chopsticks

I think that this video speaks for itself!

Crochet Disguises

Fooling facial recognition surveillance cameras with cunning and crocheting is a hilarious crochet project. I think the video is really well done, you definitely won't regret watching!

Inspiration behind design

I love finding out what goes in behind the scenes on a knitting design. KnitPicks offers videos for most of their kits. I appreciate the 3D view of many of the garments, but also learning a bit about how the project came to be.

Finshing Fair Isle

I hate weaving in loose ends. It is the worst part of any colorwork project (and I love colorwork projects!) I found an amazing post on the KnitPicks blog that has completely changed my perspective.

Instead of weaving in millions of loose ends, keep the ends long enough and braid them together at the end of the project!

Twisted Loop Cast On

A few weeks ago I told you that I use the long tail cast on method the most because it was the first I learned. A big downside to this cast on is that you need to estimate how much yarn it will take, and you frequently end up wasting a lot of yarn in the tail. Enter the twisted loop (backwards loop) cast on. This method is great when you need to add stitches onto the end of a row, but it is also a great way to start your knitting project.

Long Tail Cast On

The cast-on method I use the most frequently is the long tail cast on. I suppose everyone's favorite cast on depends on the one that they learned first, and I learned this one when I was 10 years old. This video may come in handy if you are trying to teach someone how to knit, or start knitting yourself.

Blocking Knit Lace

I have something to admit to you KPOTD readers... I often don't block my knitting projects. The last sweater I made for myself didn't get blocked (although it fits great!) I have come to see what a difference blocking makes, especially when it comes to lace projects. The following tutorial will show you how to block knit lace strips from lace garters.

Tubular Cast on Using Judy's Magic Cast on

I like this tutorial because the instructor has written down the instructions on a sheet of paper that she refers to as she goes through how to do the stitches. I now use this cast on method as a provincial cast on alternative (with an extra needle if necessary.)

My only complaint is that the needles are pretty far from the camera, but this is really a minor complaint since I learned the technique.

Mobile Loop Cannon Yarn Bomb

So when I read the title of this video, the knitter in me misread "mobile loop" as "magic loop" and I was confused. Why would you use a magic loop to yarn bomb a cannon? You must have a REALLY long cable to those round needles.

Check out the following yarn bomb!