Читать книгу Party Knits - Melody Griffiths - Страница 7

Equipment

All you need to create beautiful hand knits is some yarn, knitting needles, simple sewing equipment, and patience!

YARNS

The designs in this book feature classic and fashion yarns. Enjoy the feel of luxury mixes such as cashmere, alpaca, and silk; choose shimmering metallic, smooth cotton, or man-made fibers with fabulous furry textures. Each design has been created with the particular qualities of the chosen yarn in mind. Ideally, you should always use the yarn specified, although the choice of color is up to you. Fashion yarns and colors change with the seasons, so if you do need to find a substitute yarn, check that the fiber content, yarn type, texture, and number of meters in a ball match the original as closely as possible.

These are the yarns used in this book (Note: Some brands may be difficult to locate in stores or online. You may either substitute it with a different brand similar in fiber content, or do an online search; Ebay is an excellent source for such instances.):

• Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK: 80% baby alpaca, 20% silk. 115 yds. (105 m) per 1¾ oz. (50 g) ball.

• Debbie Bliss Cathay: 50% cotton, 35% microfiber, 15% silk. 110 yds. (100 m) per 1¾ oz. (50 g) ball.

• Debbie Bliss Pure Silk: 100% silk. 137 yds. (125 m) per 1¾ oz. (50 g) hank.

• Elle True Blue DK: 100% cotton. 118 yds. (108 m) per 1¾ oz. (50 g) ball.

• Jaeger Fur: 47% wool, 47% kid mohair, 6% polyamide. 22 yds. (20 m) per 1¾ oz. (50 g) ball.

• Rowan Lurex Shimmer: 80% viscose, 20% polyester. 104 yds. (95 m) per 1 oz. (25 g) ball.

• Rowan Kid Silk Haze: 70% super kid mohair, 30% silk. 229 yds. (210 m) per 1 oz. (25 g) ball.

• Rowan RYC Cashsoft DK: 57% extra fine merino, 33% microfiber, 10% cashmere. 142 yds. (130 m) per 1¾ oz. (50 g) ball.

• Rowan RYC Soft Lux: 64% extra fine merino wool, 10% angora, 24% nylon, 2% metallic fiber. 137 yds. (125 m) per 1¾ oz. (50 g) ball.

• Sirdar Boa: 100% polyester. 102 yds. (93 m) per 1¾ oz. (50 g) ball.

• Sirdar Foxy: 100% polyester. 44 yds. (40 m) per 1¾ oz. (50 g) ball.

• Sirdar Pure Cotton 4ply: 100% cotton. 370 yds. (338 m) per 3½ oz. (100 g) ball.

• Sirdar Town and Country 4ply: 75% wool, 25% nylon. 224 yds. (205 m) per 1¾ oz. (50 g) ball.

• Sirdar Wash ’n’ Wear 4ply: 55% acrylic, 45% nylon. 510 yds. (466 m) per 3½ oz. (100 g) ball.

• Sirdar Zanzibar: 86% nylon, 14% polyester. 137 yds. (125 m) per 1¾ oz. (50 g) ball.

NEEDLES

Pairs of straight needles are the type most often used but for some of the projects you will also need a circular needle, a set of double pointed needles, or a cable needle.

Experiment with different lengths of straight needles and try out needles made from bamboo, plastic, or wood as well as classic aluminum to find the type of needles that are most comfortable for you. Remember that circular needles can be used for flat knitting as well as working in the round.

The needle size given in the instructions is the size that the knitter used to get the tension given when the sample garment was made. This needle size should be treated only as a guide; the size you need to use is the size that gives you the correct tension. If you’re going out to buy needles, it makes sense to get one or two sizes above and below the recommended size, this way you’ll soon build up a collection.

ACCESSORIES

You’ll need a tape measure to check your tension and garment measurements and scissors to cut the yarn. A stitch holder can be useful, but you can always improvise with a circular needle or a length of yarn. Markers help keep track of the rows when shaping, or the stitches when working pattern repeats. Use the plastic hook-on type, safety pins, or loops of smooth contrast yarn. A blunt-pointed wool needle is essential for sewing up, a sharp pointed needle will split the stitches. Largeheaded pins set at right angles to the seam keep the pieces in place when sewing up, especially when fitting a sleeve head into the armhole, and a slim tapestry needle will slip through the holes more easily when sewing on buttons.

KNITTING NEEDLE CONVERSION CHART
Metric	American	British
2.00 mm	00	14
2.25 mm	1	13
2.75 mm	2	12
3.00 mm	2/3	11
3.25 mm	3	10
3.75 mm	5	9
4.00 mm	6	8
4.50 mm	7	7
5.00 mm	8	6
5.50 mm	8	5
6.00 mm	9	4
6.50 mm	10	3
7.00 mm	10½	2
7.50 mm	11	1
8.00 mm	12	0
9.00 mm	13	00
10.00 mm	15	000

BEADS AND SEQUINS

From scattered decoration to all-over coverage, even the simplest knits get the glamour treatment with added beads and sequins. Some of these designs have beads or sequins knitted in, others have the decoration sewn on after the knitting is finished. You can choose from lots of different types—glass, metallic, or plastic—and shapes of beads. Most of the round beads used in this book are rocaille or embroidery beads, often described as size 5 or 5/0, these can be sewn on or knitted in. Where you need a larger quantity of beads for knitting in, you’ll find that buying beads in packs of 10½ oz. (300 g) or 17½ oz. (500 g) works out cheaper than buying lots of small tubes, even if some beads are left over. Finer seed beads and bugle beads are only suitable for sewing on. Buying small packs makes sense as this will give you more choice. You could also recycle broken necklaces or use antique beads to give a vintage effect.

When buying beads or sequins, take a ball of the yarn along with you to be sure that they match or contrast with the color of the yarn and that, if necessary, the hole in the beads is big enough to thread them onto the yarn. Sequins are made in many different shapes and sizes, round flat, round cupped, square, or oval. Any type of sequin can be sewn on and it can often be effective to use several related shades in a design. The round, flat sequins for knitting in are usually sold in strands of 1,000. Check when you buy that they are on a thread not loose in a pack as this will make it a lot easier to thread them onto the yarn. If you are matching sequins and yarn, always choose a yarn color that is darker than the sequins; a lighter shade will dominate the sequin color.