HRYC
Sacred Stocking Stitch
There is something about stocking stitch.
Complain as we may when I project has what feels to be miles and miles of the stuff, it is oddly soothly and reassuring.
Row after row of knit or purl (or in the round, just knit), it's the perfect stitch for tv watching, or talking with friends, or daydreaming. mostly because it's pretty hard to mess up.
While knitting away at the sunshine yellow cardigan I got to thinking how easy it is to get obsessive over a project that is mostly stocking stitch. 'One more row' easily turns into ten, and there's something soothingly rhythmic about the whole thing. A long row of knit, a long row of purl, turn, repeat, over and over.
The Sunshine Celestite Cardigan in progress
I know there's a bit of history behind stocking stitch (the English is Stockinette, but stocking is so much simpler to say), so I decided to hunt out some tidbits of info.
Each column of stitches on the right side of the fabric is a 'wale' - which I love. Except I keep thinking of actual whales. Also, the bumps on corduroy fabric are also called 'wales' (hooray for old fabric store know how!).
Knit and Purl stitches are asymmetrical (I didn't know that!) which is why stocking stitch fabric curls at the sides and ends.
The path that your yarn takes is called a 'course' and each loop is called a 'bight'
Knitted garments can stretch as much as 500%! Holy moly!
When we knit by hand we are 'warp knitting' as we are creating wales that run perpendicular to the course of the yarn (hooray for putting terminology together!)
Feel smarter about your knitting? I do. Feel smug because I should have known all this stuff already and you totally do? Yeah, that's cool.
Happy knitting!
JustJussi - with us on 1 December!
We've long been been fans of Justine of JustJussi. She creates sweet as anything baby patterns that are super knittable and extremely giftable.
It is with much excitement that we discovered JustJussi patterns were becoming available in hard copy, so we leapt at the chance to get Justine in store for one special afternoon to catapult the patterns onto our shop shelves for real. You'll be able to meet the lady herself, have a squish and cuddle and inspect knitted samples and of course buy patterns and yarn.
Would you like to join us? Yes?
JustJussi Pattern Trunk Show
1pm - 3pm
Saturday 1 December
Come along to the shop for some sweet treats, a peek at Justine's knitted samples and a chance to nab hard copy printed patterns!
Multiple times a week we refer customers to Justine's patterns, and exclaim over what a great pattern the ever popular Aviatrix hat is.
With all this excitement we may as well have a wee Aviatrix-themed giveaway, no? How about the chance to win a $30 Holland Road Yarn Co voucher (redeemable online or in store) and 5 chances to win a JustJussi pattern? Sound good? Hooray!
How do you win?
All you need to do is comment on this post. We'll like you even more if you post a link to an Aviatrix hat that you've knit, and we might just pinch your photo to share on our Facebook page (we'll check with you first!).
Leave your comment by 5pm Thursday 29 November and we'll draw the winners at random shortly after. Hooray!