Hi Spud & Chloë Friends,

I am making progress on the hood. Today I filmed a quick video showing how I am joining the top seam of the hood. I decided on a three-needle bind off. It is a simple and slick technique that is worth learning. You can use it in many different situations.

Next up I will be picking up the edging for the hood. TC also wants ties with pom-poms and either a kangaroo pocket or two separate pockets. The pocket style is yet to be determined…

I’m so close to being done I can taste it!

Hi Spud & Chloë Friends,

Today I have a video tutorial for you on how to pick up stitches on the neckline of a sweater. I am picking up for a hood but for a simple neckline edging without a hood you use the same technique only you would continue picking up stitches all the way around and then join to work in the round. For a neckline edging you would want to use a 16 inch circular needle.

For the hood you pick up the stitches and then work back and forth to the desired length. Then you need to join the top seam of the hood together by either binding off and stitching together with a yarn needle, using a three-needle bind off or using the kitchener stitch.

Here is what I am doing for the hood on TC’s Raglan:

Pick up stitches using US size 7 twenty-four inch circular needles as follows:

Starting on the right front about 1 1/2 inches down from the raglan line pick up 5 stitches.

Pick up 8 stitches across the right sleeve.

Pick up 25 stitches across the back.

Pick up 8 stitches across the left sleeve.

Pick up 5 stitches down the left front.

51 stitches total are now on the needle.

Begin working back and forth.

Purl 1 row.

Next row: k1, (kfb, k4) repeat ( ) to the end (61 stitches)

Purl 1 row.

Next row: k1, (kfb, k5) repeat ( ) to the end (71 stitches)

Purl 1 row.

Next row: k1, kfb, knit to the end. (72 stitches)

Work even until the hood measures 12 inches from the pick up row. Place 36 stitches on a spare needle to prepare for the kitchener stitch. Join the stitches together at the top of the hood using the kitchener stitch.

I’ll be back as soon as I finish the hood to show how to put on the hood and remaining neckline edging.

I hope this helps!

Hi Spud & Chloë Friends,

My son helped set up a video shoot of me stitching the Dream Catcher blanket together at my kitchen table. It is shot over several days but is put in fast motion to only last a few short minutes. The video is pretty funny to watch and my only wish is that my hands could actually move that fast. That would be the best thing ever. Enjoy!

I’ll be back in a couple of days with the complete free pattern for the Dream Catcher Baby Blanket. I’m waiting for the sun to appear around my neck of the woods so I can get some sunny photos of the completed project. It has been one rainy weekend.

I’ll also be back this week with some Spud & Chloë color news for our yarn line. You are going to love the new colors coming out in June! I can’t wait to get my hands on the new colorways. The new color names are just as good as the current names if that’s even possible.

I also spotted Spud & Chloë Outer in the new issue of Knitscene Easy, a special edition for 2010 from Interweave Press. The project is by Tanis Gray and is called, Seed Stitch Wristers. Click here for a photo of the Outer Wristers. You will love this project. This is a great issue of Knitscene geared toward quick and simple projects. We all need those now and again.

Have a great start to your week everyone! Until we meet again…

Hi Spud & Chloë Friends,

I have 3 video tutorials to help you with the seaming of your blanket squares. I share a few tips along the way and here are some of them written out:

1. For this blanket place all of the squares in the same direction, with the cast on edge at the bottom and bind off edge at the top.

2. Use the ends from the cast on and bind off edges placed on a yarn needle to stitch up the squares whenever possible. If there isn’t an end available where you need it for a certain seam use a cut length of the desired color to stitch the seam.

3. Weave in the ends as you go along. Don’t leave all of the ends until the end. You can easily weave the ends in to the seams on the back of the blanket. It is such a treat to have a clean patchwork blanket when you are done with that last seam.

I usually start of the bottom of the blanket and work my way up to the top of the blanket but you can work any direction you’d like.

I work in little time spurts. I will do several seams and then I get up and do something else and then I come back and complete several more. Eventually you end up with a beautiful patchwork blanket. It feels like magic. It is also very motivating when you see several rows stitched together and you realize how gorgeous the blanket is going to be in the end.

Above you can see how I arranged my squares.

Have fun! After I am finished with the seaming I will be back to put a border on the edges that will give the blanket a clean and finished look.

Hi Spud & Chloë Friends,

Today I am demonstrating how I do the purl stitch. I hope these basic instructional videos are helpful if you are learning to knit, teaching someone else how to knit or maybe it’s just fun to see how someone else works a stitch. Regardless, I hope you enjoy this quick video.

Hi Spud & Chloë Friends,

In my quest to get as many people knitting as I possibly can and to get more kids knitting, I have shot a few basic knitting video tutorials that I want to start sharing with you. I have been asked a bunch of times to share how I cast on and how I knit and how I purl. I taught myself to knit as a teenager so sometimes I do things a little unconventionally but it all works the same in the end.

I have to admit that in reality I cast on in a kind of funky way but for the video I showed a more traditional method. Maybe later I’ll show how I actually cast on. You may get a kick out of that. I still need to shoot a binding off video, too. Even if you already know how to do all of these initial knitting steps sometimes it is fun to see how someone else does a certain skill. I always learn new things when I watch someone else do just about anything.

Anyway, here is a short video of the long tail cast on and I also share a couple of funny tricks that I use along the way.

Enjoy!