Tag Archives: Knitting

Boggled by Toggles

Posted on October 8, 2009 by twostrands

Have any of you seen the ready-to-wear version of the Dale of Norway Vancouver sweater? You can see a great photo of it here. Now compare that one to the handknit version shown in DofN’s Vancouver 2010 Book 213 here. … Continue reading →

Posted in Knitting, New From Dale of Norway, Uncategorized | Tagged Dale of Norway, design, Knitting, norwegian, olympic sweater, toggle, Vancouver | 2 Comments

Birds of All Feathers – a stranded and felted knitting design

Posted on September 29, 2009 by twostrands

The “Birds of All Feathers Bag” pattern is for sale as a downloadable, personal-use PDF through Ravelry. The first time I was out in the world on my own, I encountered one particular problem: Apparently, I was too friendly. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Uncategorized | Tagged binghamton, charity knitting, fair isle, felted bag, Knitting, stranded knitting | 3 Comments

Decisions, decisions…Fun with choosing yarn colors

Posted on August 5, 2009 by twostrands

I really want to make the new Vancouver v-neck, but I’m not the copying type. As much as I like the light blue model… I feel the need for a different colorway. So… I’ve been playing around with some possibilities. … Continue reading →

Posted in Knitting, New From Dale of Norway, Technique, Uncategorized | Tagged colorways, designing with color, fair isle, Knitting, norwegian, stranded | 21 Comments

Vancouver 2010 is in!

Posted on August 5, 2009 by twostrands

Just a quick post to let you know it’s here; I’ll post links as soon as Phil gets a chance to add it to the site. (BTW, it’s $13.95 + s/h) Update: here’s the link to the Vancouver book on … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dale of Norway, Knitting, Olympics, Vancouver | Leave a comment

Two Strands Headband, a free knitting pattern

Posted on July 13, 2009 by twostrands

Some folks in my Two Strands Ravelry group recently asked me to recommend a great project for a first try at stranded knitting. I could point out a few fine places to start but, to tell you the truth, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogroll, Free Knitting Patterns, Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Uncategorized | Tagged beginner knitting, beginner pattern, circular knitting, color, colorways, colorwork, Dale of Norway, Dalegarn, fair isle, falk, floats, free, free chart, free knitting pattern, free pattern, headband, Knitting, Mary Ann Stephens, nordic knitting, Norwegian knitting, star, star chart, stranded, stranded knitting, two strands, two strands headband, yarn | 22 Comments

First Glimpse

Posted on June 25, 2009 by twostrands

Although the US pattern booklet for Dale of Norway’s new Olympic design won’t be released until mid to late August (whaaaaa!), they’ve sent out a peek at some of their new designs for Vancouver: Of course, there will be the … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogroll, Knitting, New From Dale of Norway | Tagged Dale of Norway, Knitting, Norwegian knitting, Olympics, skiing, sweater, Vancouver | Leave a comment

Like the blog? Join the group!

Posted on June 6, 2009 by twostrands

I’ve just started my own Ravelry group, “Two Strands”. I’m hoping it will grow into a fun place to discuss stranded knitting in general and my work in particular. You’re all welcome to join in the fun, talk about whatever … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogroll, Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, New From Dale of Norway, Technique | Tagged fair isle, fair isle knitting, Knitting, Norwegian knitting, ravelry, ravelry group, stranded knitting, two strands | 2 Comments

Vancouver 2010 in Fall 2009!

Posted on April 3, 2009 by twostrands

I’ve just hung up from a conversation with folks at Dale of Norway US and, boy, do I ever have good news for knitters! There will be a Vancouver 2010 Dale of Norway sweater for the Olympics. It’s scheduled to … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogroll, Knitting, New From Dale of Norway | Tagged Dale of Norway, Knitting, knitting design, Norwegian knitting, Olympics, Vancouver 2010 | 3 Comments

Sleepy Monkey Blanket, a reversible stranded baby blanket knitting design

Posted on March 1, 2009 by twostrands

Monkster has something he’d like to show you: That’s my Sleepy Monkey Blanket which I designed for the Spring 2009 edition of Twist Collective. No, that’s not a second blanket – it’s reversible! Nifty, huh? My 3 boys aren’t babies … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogroll, Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Norwegian Knitting, On Twist Collective | Tagged baby, baby blanket, baby knitting, Dale of Norway Freestyle yarn, fair isle, knit, Knitting, knitting pattern, lovey, mary ann, Mary Ann Stephens, merino, monkey, monkey blanket, nordic, norwegian, play mat, reversible blanket, sleepy monkey, steek, steeked, steeks, stephens, stranded knitting, stroller blanket, superwash, twist collective, valley yarn, washable merino, washable wool, wool, worsted weight yarn | 5 Comments

Postwar Mittens on Winter 2008 Twist Collective – a stranded knitting design

Posted on November 13, 2008 by twostrands

Woohoo! The Winter 2008 issue of Twist Collective is out and guess who got a chance to join in the fun: Click here to go straight to my mittens. (Thankfully, they’re infinitely better with the camera than I am. And … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogroll, Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Norwegian Knitting, On Twist Collective | Tagged Baby Ull yarn, circular knitting, Dale Baby Ull, Dale of Norway, Knitting, knitting design, ladies mittens, latvian mittens, mittens, stranded knitting, twist collective | 3 Comments

Steeks

Posted on September 11, 2008 by twostrands

A number of knitters have been looking around this blog, wondering where the heck I’ve hidden my steeks article. Actually, it’s on my Kidsknits store site, right where it’s always been. You can get to it through the menu bar … Continue reading →

Posted in Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Norwegian Knitting, Technique | Tagged cutting stitches, fair isle, fair isle knitting, Knitting, Norwegian knitting, steeks, stranded knitting | 1 Comment

Chrysanthemum Mittens – a free knitting pattern for ladies’ Norwegian mittens

Posted on September 11, 2008 by twostrands

UPDATE: This pattern has been moved to my new knitting website, MaryAnnStephens.com. Here’s a link directly to the free Chrysanthemum Mittens page.

Posted in Free Knitting Patterns, Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Norwegian Knitting | Tagged charity knitting, colorwork, Dale of Norway, fair isle, falk, free chart, free knitting pattern, free pattern, Heilo, Knitting, knitting pattern, mitten, mitten pattern, Norwegian knitting, stranded, stranded knitting, yarn | 18 Comments

Fair Isle Repeat Offenders – managing motif layouts in Fair Isle knitting

Posted on April 2, 2008 by twostrands

We all learned at a very young age that even numbers split nicely and odd numbers create those troublesome leftovers, remainders. For some, that thought alone is the only seed needed to sprout an appreciation for optimal knitting design layout. … Continue reading →

Posted in Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Technique | Tagged Dale of Norway, design, design layout, fair isle, fair isle knitting, Knitting, knitting design, motif layout, number of repeats, pattern, pattern repeats, repeats | 9 Comments

How to knit a hem

Posted on December 16, 2007 by twostrands

A few knitters have asked me lately how I finish a knitted hem. I just came across the above old photo and thought it might be useful in answering that question. This photo shows how I slipstitch the hem inside … Continue reading →

Posted in Knitting, Norwegian Knitting, Technique | Tagged circular knitting, hem, hemmed knitting, knit, Knitting, knitting design, nordic, nordic knitting, Norwegian knitting, stranded, stranded knitting, sweater, technique, yarn | 1 Comment

Grafting 911 – How to save your knitting with kitchener stitch

Posted on June 7, 2007 by twostrands

Knitting patterns start with the presumption that we will all follow every direction to a “T”. Experience teaches us that none of us is perfect, and, no matter the skill level, we will all eventually make some mistakes. Furthermore, it … Continue reading →