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Hands Occupied

Contemporary yarn crafts by Heidi Gustad. Knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame.

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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, an author, yarn craft designer and content creator specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. My work unapologetically features primary colors and vintage-meets-modern style. My first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is now available!

Professionally I’m most known for: advanced intarsia knitting design & modern latch hook design.

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Craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. / #latchhookbook out now!
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knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
Happy Wrestlemania weekend, folks!!! 🎊 It’s c Happy Wrestlemania weekend, folks!!! 🎊 It’s coincidentally International Punch Needle Rug Hooking Day today, so I’d be remiss not to share a first look at this project finished JUST in time to wear while I watch some rasslin’ on a pirate ship in a football stadium in Tampa! 💪🏻 I’m excited to watch tonight’s women’s matches the most. Eee!
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Pictured: A blond woman in a denim dress and glasses wearing a giant belt made with punch needle. The belt is made with wool in primary colors and was inspired by the WWE Universal Championship title belt. 
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This is just a preview - after jab 2.0 tomorrow (feeling grateful 🙏🏼), I’ll be editing together a vlog about the design process for this wooly waist cover. Sometimes it’s hard to know how to make some of your wilder craft ideas come to life. Stuff you’ll never find a pattern for, you know? I’ll finish editing that ASAP, but I might take a few days to edit if I feel like trash from 💉 and only want to watch wrestling and wrestling YouTube for a day or two. 😂
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#ipnrhd #punchneedle #wwe #wrestling #championshipbelt #wool #yarn #handmade #universalchampionship #universalchampion #rugmaking #wrestlingfan #wrestlemania37 #wrestlemania
A look at the halo on the back of my wrestling-ins A look at the halo on the back of my wrestling-inspired punch needle project! It’s interesting to see how fuzzy the handspun beige yarn is compared with the primary color sections of @knit_picks Wool of the Andes Bulky. ❤️💛💙🤎 
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Pictured: The back of an in-progress punch needle project. A wooden punch needle tool sits on the work.
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#punchneedle #woolrug #rugmaking  #kpambassadorsapr21 #sponsored #griefproject #handsoccupied #wrestlingfan #universalchampion #yarn #yarncraft #wool #needlepunch
Happy Easter / One week til Wrestlemania! Finishin Happy Easter / One week til Wrestlemania! Finishing up the punch needling part of this crazy @wwe inspired project by tonight. 💪🏻🧶 Anybody else have crafty plans for this fine spring day? 
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Pictured: A blond woman sits, smiling and holding an in-progress punch needle project inspired by the Universal Championship belt. Houseplants are in the background and there’s lots of sun. 
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#punchneedle #griefproject #handsoccupied #heidigustad #wrestlingcrafts #wwe #universalchampion #universalchampionship #wool #wooloftheandes #primarycolors #oxfordpunchneedle
I'm finally starting to get some of my energy back I'm finally starting to get some of my energy back from the past few weeks, and as I dip my toe back into production mode, the long-promised seamed sweater knitting YouTube series is at the top of my list. I've got FOUR versions of a simple sweater I've been playing with since last JULY to feature as a free pattern for folks who want to knit along during the series. Pictured is the first prototype for the series, knit in 2 colors of @knit_picks Mighty Stitch yarn. I imagine this soon-to-be short sleeved number will come in handy as an emergency Waldo costume or Christmas sweater. 🌲 
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I've got my own list of topics I think folks would like to see in a series like this: things like tips for construction, working with vintage patterns, how to seam as invisibly as possible, and more, but as always, I'd love to hear from you: What scares you about knitting seamed sweaters? What would be helpful to cover, especially since we'll be doing more long form video content. I get so much positive feedback on my series of 20 minute+ intarsia tutorials, so I'm using those as a starting point as I produce this series. Seamed sweaters using vintage or self-improvised patterns are one of my favorite things on the planet, so I'm eager to share some seamed sweater skills with y'all super sweet folks. 😉 
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Pictured: A red and white striped, short sleeved sweater knit in pieces that have yet to be seamed. They are laid out on a yellow and orange colorblock background and one sleeve is yet to be bound off. 
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#handsoccupied #seamedsweater #kpambassadorsmar21 #sponsored #knitpicks #waldo #waldosweater #wip #yarncraft #yarn #knitting #knittersofinstagram #heidigustad #vintageknitting #sweaterknitting
Work continues this evening on my absurd punch nee Work continues this evening on my absurd punch needle pro wrestling inspired championship belt project. I’ve finished most of the front pretty quickly thanks to the @knit_picks Wool of the Andes Bulky yarn I’m using. For now, I’ve got a couple more weeks until Wrestlemania, & I’m on track to finish this in time! 
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The biggest question I have is what to do with the “plates” - the open circles in the picture. Should I try to closely replicate the Universal Championship belt or go rogue and make it wool themed? Please advise in the comments. ☺️🧶🙏🏻🐑 
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Pictured: The front of an in-progress punch needle project. A wooden punch needle tool with navy yarn running through it rests on top of the work. 
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#kpambassadorsmar21 #sponsored #knitpicks #punchneedle #rugmaking #primarycolors #punchneedlerughooking #punchneedlelove #wool #wip #yarncraft #yarn #yarnaddict
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