Interweave Knits Summer 2015

I was in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, for a weekend knitting retreat my mom and her best friend host every spring. I always attend—to enjoy the camaraderie of knitters and to help my mom with administrative tasks. But I don’t take classes during the day. I go to the mountains on this April weekend to hike. Western North Carolina is a hiker’s dream, with the ancient, soft green peaks of the Appalachians, myriad waterfalls, and lots of great trails. This past year, I planned to do the trail that leads up the back side of Grandfather Mountain, one of the state’s beloved landmarks. I planned the hike for Sunday and gave myself Saturday to wander around the little mountain town and relax. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and I walked…

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Preservation & Progress with The Harris family built many of the original buildings and houses for themselves and their mill workers. In the mid-1800s, the Colony family bought out the Harris holdings and created Cheshire Mills. The last woolen mill in Harrisville closed in 1970, when the fashion world turned, temporarily, to synthetic double-knit fabrics. When the Cheshire Mills business closed its doors, John J. Colony III and others formed a nonprofit organization called Historic Harrisville, Inc., which immediately purchased several of the core buildings to restore and lease out to businesses. As the mill buildings were being cleared out and machinery was being destroyed or sold for scrap metal, he quickly realized that the rich textile history would be completely erased from the village. With this in mind, he started…

The difference between woolen-spun and worstedspun yarns lies in how the fiber is handled before the actual spinning. The fibers of a worsted-spun yarn are first straightened and then oriented in the same direction, making the yarn smooth and shiny, which gives your knitted fabric lots of stitch definition. Woolen-spun fibers, on the other hand, are not straightened; the individual fibers lie in all directions, creating a yarn with lots of air pockets. This approach makes for a lofty, lightweight yarn that traps warmth. Woolenspun yarns have a matte finish with a soft halo and lend themselves well to extrawarm projects that won’t weigh you down—perfect for camping trips! Here, we take a closer look at some of the industry’s top woolen-spun yarns. Visit shop.knittingdaily.com for a woolen-spun yarn tasting! 1 BLACKER YARNS CLASSIC…

“Hold your hair back on the trail, the beach, or at summer music festivals” Video + Patterns In 5Knitted Headbands: Learn Eyelets, I-Cord, and Ruffles with designer and instructor Allyson Dykhuizen, learn how to make a whole set of stylish spring and summer accessories. These small, low-commitment projects are perfect for learning useful techniques such as simple eyelet lace, I-cord, and creating a bow from a flat piece of fabric. Headbands are great for using up stash yarn, and they are great for instant gratification when you need a break from that sweater or afghan. Available at shop.knittingdaily.com Finished Size 9½ ″ deep and 15″ wide, excluding ties. Yarn Tahki Yarns Cotton Classic Lite (100% mercerized cotton; 146 yd [135 m]/1¾ oz [50 g]): #4778 teal, 1 skein. Yarn distributed by Tahki-Stacy Charles Inc. Needles Body—Size 4…