Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Tutorial: Beaded Butterfly Stitch


Hi, guys! This week I wanted to give you a quick photo tutorial for the main stitch used in my new Soirée Slouch hat pattern. This is a cute little trick that gives projects a little bit of sparkle and a lot of color customizing options. Don't be afraid to experiment with different shapes and colors of beads when you are using this technique, either. The pink center bead on this example piece is actually square in shape and it brings an interesting texture to the completed stitch. I'd love to see the variations that you come up with so be sure to use #YumiYarns on any social media posts.


BBS (Beaded Butterfly Stitch):
1.) Insert the left needle downward between the yarn floats and the knitted fabric. 



2.) Take the next st to be worked off the left needle and loop an 8” piece of dental floss through it. 



3.) Thread 3 beads (1 of each color) onto the dental floss and slide them down onto the st. 



4.) Remove the dental floss and place the st onto the right needle. 



5.) Drop the floats off the left needle. 



6.) Slip the beaded st back to the left needle.



7.) K the beaded stitch normally so that the floats are trapped behind the st.



That's it! You've created an adorable little blinged-out butterfly on your knitted fabric. 



Have fun with this technique and get creative!
If you need extra help, you can always e-mail me or send me a message on Ravelry.

Happy knitting!

Shaina  ^_^

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Fresh New Pattern: Soiree Slouch

This weekend I'm super excited to be going to Yarnover in Minneapolis, MN again! Last year I wasn't able to take any classes, but this year I'm signed-up for Customizing Sweater Patterns with Patty Lyons in the morning and Slick Set-in Sleeves with JC Briar in the afternoon on Saturday. In addition to that, Katie and I are going to the Meet the Teachers Dinner Friday night where Meg Swanson is the keynote speaker!! I can't even tell you guys how much I'm looking forward to this fiber weekend.

Photo credit to StevenBe.com

When I realized that this year marks the 30th anniversary of Yarnover I decided that we needed to have party hats. And since we are knitters, they had to be hand-knit party hats with some bling! To decide on the base yarn for this design, I partnered with StevenBe, the yarn shop where there is always a fiber party going on. In honor of the event, they had a special "Pearl" colorway dyed-up by Baah! Yarns on the beautiful La Jolla base. This is the perfect backdrop colorway to show off bright pops of beaded color and it looks lovely knit up on it's own should you choose to knit a no-bling version.

Soiree Slouch
This hat pattern was designed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Minnesota Knitting Guild’s annual Yarnover event. It’s a wonderful day of classes and fiber that brings some of the nation’s best teachers and vendors together. If you’ve never attended, add it to your list for next year, it’s a blast!

This addictive hat pattern is modern knitter’s take on the traditional conical party hat. It begins with a simple garter-stitch brim and progresses through the crown in an easy-to-bead version of the Butterfly Stitch (no pre-stringing!). What looks like purl rounds are actually rounds knit from the inside out so once you complete the brim you don’t need to purl for the rest of the pattern. This creates a super comfortable, highly textured fabric that looks far more complicated than it actually is.

Needles & Notions:
  • US Size 3 (3.25 mm) 16” Circulars
  • US Size 3 (3.25 mm) DPNs
  • 6/0 Seed Beads (3 colors)
  • Stitch Markers
  • Dental Floss
  • Tapestry Needle
Yarn used in Sample:
1 Skein of La Jolla by Baah! in the exclusive StevenBe colorway “Pearl”
100% Merino Wool 400 yds / 115 g