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Colorful knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame from craft book author & designer Heidi Gustad.

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Knit Along Tips, Tricks & An Official Schedule

October 9, 2014 2 Comments

Knit Along Tips, Tricks & An Official Schedule at HandsOccupied.com

If you’re working on (or thinking about working on) the Remy Pullover for the fall knit along, the biggest chunk of knitting you’ll need to do is week 1, the body of the sweater. In case you’re just tuning in, you can check out the first week’s post and pattern and learn how to measure and calculate the perfect fit or your pullover. Today I want to share some tips and tricks for improving your knitting technique and, for knitters who might be scared of the cabling, how to knit cables!

If you’re already plugging along on your sweater body, I’ve got a full schedule for the knit along at the bottom of this post. And for you giveaway and Lion Brand Yarn lovers, you can get details on how to get in on the knit along prize pack giveaway, which will be full of Lion Brand Yarn and other goodies! Let’s get started. :)

Tips & Tricks to Help Take Your Knitting to the Next Level at HandsOccupied.com

Is casting on giving you some trouble?

Casting on. Lots of people master one cast on in their first few months of learning to knit and stick with it forever. For me personally, I used the long tail cast on (not the long tail tubular cast on) for years, but it would often make hats that were too tight, mittens that hardly pulled over my wrists, and socks that choked my ankles. One super simple way to combat that issue is to cast on with a needle a size (or if you’re a really tight caster on, maybe even two sizes) larger.

The swatches below feature the long tail tubular cast on, the cast on I recommend for the Remy Pullover in the knit along. If you look at the swatch on the left, you can see that the cast on results in a ribbed edge that’s less puckered than the one on the right, which was cast on with the same size 8 needle that the rest of the swatch was knit with. The swatch on the left was cast on with a size 9 needle, and the rest of it was knit with an 8. So easy, but totally effective!

Knitting tip: if your cast on is tight, cast on using a size larger needle! | handsoccupied.com

How to knit cables

If you’ve never knit cables before, you totally should try it. They’re not as hard as they look at all, and I’ve got a couple videos to help demonstrate how to knit 2 over 2 and 3 over 3 cables, and how to make them slant either right or left. The only special tool you need to cable is a cable needle. I really like the shepherd’s hook-shaped needle pictured below, but you can use everything from a spare stitch marker to a safety pin or paper clip to make knitted cables. Check out the videos for how to knit cables either right or left handed. I promise that if you’re new to basic cabling, it isn’t very hard!

How to knit cables at HandsOccupied.com

How to knit right handed cables

How to knit left handed cables

A bit of business

The schedule for the rest of the KAL

I hope today’s post is useful for you! Next week on Monday, I’ll share the pattern for the sleeves. I’m having so much fun hosting this knit along – I hope you’re having fun knitting along!

  • October 1 – casting on & the pattern for the body of the sweater
  • October 9 – tips & tricks for success (a.k.a. The sweater body involves the most work, ha! I want to give you time to keep up if you’d like and give others more opportunities to cast on with us.)
  • October 13 – How to knit the sleeves & the sleeve pattern will be revealed
  • October 20 – Finish knitting sleeve 1, start sleeve 2
  • October 27 – How to attach the sleeves to the sweater body
  • November 3 – How to do a raglan style reduction
  • November 10 – Details on finishing the sweater and casting off
  • November 17 – Yay, your sweaters are done! Let’s celebrate, share pictures of our sweaters and find out who won the Lion Brand giveaway!

The KAL giveaway

The giveaway of the Lion Brand prize pack will be available starting next Monday and will run through November 16 at 11:59 pm. You can enter the giveaway every knit along day starting next week. For every section of the pattern you finish, you can enter for an extra chance to win the prize pack. I’ll have more on how that all works next week!

The Remy Pullover knit along is brought to you by Lion Brand Yarns. Check out Lion Brand on social media: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Pinterest. If you’re still needing to buy your yarn, you can get 20% off Wool Ease yarn from Lion Brand with the coupon code handsoccupied14 at lionbrand.com! The code’s good through October 17. 

The Fall 2014 Knit Along: Knit the Remy Pullover at Hands Occupied

 

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Other posts in this series:

  1. Announcing the fall knit along! The Remy Pullover
  2. How to do a long tail tubular cast on (optional tutorial for the cast on I like for this pattern)
  3. Do the math, get the fit / Fall Knit Along Day 1
  4. Knit Along Tips, Tricks & An Official Schedule
  5. Knit Along Day 2: Sleeve time!
  6. Fall KAL Day 3: The Other Sleeve
  7. How to attach sleeves / KAL Day 4
  8. How to knit a raglan decrease / KAL Day 5
  9. How to knit the collar / KAL Day 6
  10. more coming soon!

Filed Under: Giveaways, Reviews & Sponsored, Knit Along, Knitting & Crochet Tagged With: cast on, fall2014kal, handsoccupiedkal, how to knit cables, improve your knitting, kal, knit along

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. She specializes in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macramé, and her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now!

Previous Post: « Brioche Knitting & A Brioche Cowl Pattern
Next Post: Picks of the Week & A Giveaway Winner! »

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Comments

  1. Sandy Campbell

    October 14, 2014 at 11:20 pm

    I am learning to knit past the simple stuff! Lol….I get so frustrated sometimes! Lol….but I keep plugging along in learning the stitches I don’t know just yet. I frog it all out, and start all over again….it took me a gazillion tries just to learn to purl, and now I just love it and can’t believe how simple it is! Lol! Trial and error…how I learn.

    Your site is lovely and thank you for sharing your tips! I shared them to my FB fan page http://www.facebook.com/Sanderellas A lot of us are learning, and I think you have some helpful information here!

    Sandy

    Reply
    • Heidi

      October 15, 2014 at 9:22 am

      Thanks so much for sharing on your page – I just liked you back & I’m glad you’re here! :) -Heidi

      Reply

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), a craft book author & pattern designer specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. Really anything with yarn! ❤️  My work combines vintage and modern design elements, featuring bold colors and graphic motifs.

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handsoccupied

Craft book author & pattern designer ❤️💛💙
knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé
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Please email for pattern support. 🧶

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
When you have four big skeins of pretty 2 ply yarn When you have four big skeins of pretty 2 ply yarn, you immediately think sweater, right? 
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My wardrobe could use another handmade sweater - I’m thinking something simple, seamed and with a decent amount of ease for potentially wearing tucked in with jeans or skirts. 🤔 
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Yarn: @universal_yarn Fibra Natura Cobblestone in Antarctica and Dragon’s Breath, wound in thick skeins of 100% superwash wool that’s a light DK weight.
How to to knit throwing (a.k.a. English) style . How to to knit throwing (a.k.a. English) style 
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In knitting, there are a few common knitting styles. Most often you’re going to encounter continental style and English (throwing) style on your knitting journey. I recently had an old video teaching continental style get a lot of views. Based on the comments, it was clear the people wanted to also see a throwing tutorial, so here you go! 🧶
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Please note that there is a LOT of variation in knitting styles, and one isn’t necessarily better than another. Most often, I’ve found it comes down to two things: how you were taught and whether or not you’re really into colorwork knitting (which can involve a mix of styles). 
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Longer-term knitters who’ve made it this far: do you prefer one over the other? And why? 
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#handsoccupied #englishknitting #learntoknit #knitting #howtoknit #knittersofinstagram #knitting_inspiration
How to do a one-step provisional knitting cast on How to do a one-step provisional knitting cast on / a.k.a. crochet provisional cast on, scrap yarn cast on
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I read recently that tiktok and Instagram are being used as search engines more and more. 🤔 I thought since I’m going to all the work of making tutorials on YouTube, I should experiment with making a quick version of them for other platforms. There are obvious teaching limitations to vertical video, short-form content like this, but I think I covered the gist of this cast on in a minute. The YouTube version also covers how to unzip this cast on because there was time for it 👍🏻 L1nk is in my profile. 
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I’m very much looking for feedback as I continue to make instructional knitting & craft videos. Sometimes good tutorials are hard to find, and (ideally polite) feedback helps me improve. 
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#handsoccupied #provisionalcaston #knitting #knititngtutorial #knittersofinstagram #crochethook #knittingtutorial
For the first time in a long time, there’s a new For the first time in a long time, there’s a new tutorial from Hands Occupied! 🎉 The video is live on YouTube & the blog. 
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The post covers what provisional cast ons are & how they differ, and the video covers how to work a one-step provisional cast on using scrap yarn and a crochet hook. (This is a great one to save for future reference.)
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I learned several names for this method while researching this video & post. Crochet provisional cast on, one-step cast on, scrap yarn cast on - if you know even more names for this technique, please share! 
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#handsoccupied #provisionalcaston #knitting #scrapyarn #crochethook
Working on a sample for some upcoming videos. It’s an overcast day with intermittent sunshine & I have a scruffy little sidecar. 🐶 Can’t complain! 
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What’s on your needles this week? 
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Yarn: @debbieblissknits Cashmerino Aran 
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#handsoccupied #knitting #knittinglife
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