Friday, June 12, 2009
Making Yarn Butterflies
This little, innocuous-looking tool can make your life easier when knitting Portside.
To make it easier to work the main colour borders on either side of each back panel and both fronts, it is advisable to make yarn butterflies. These little beauties are much easier to manage than three balls of yarn that are just designed to become entangled as you work the border, the centre and then the opposite border.
Measure out a generous length of yarn in your chosen colour (about 4.5 m./5 yds.) and make several yarn butterflies for your project as follows:
1. Open up your index finger and middel finger of your left hand into a wide V.
2. Wrap the yarn around your middle finger and index finger, winding it in an 8-shape. Do this until almost used up. Make sure that the initial end is still visible.
3. Grasp the centre, where the yarn is crossed. Carefully remove the yarn from your fingers and wrap the remaining yarn around the middle of the "butterfly".
4. Loop the final end into one of the final wraps, forming a half-hitch knot to secure it.
5. Locate the initial end and pull gently. This is the end from which you will knit. With a gentle tug, you will be able to release more length as you need it.
Once you know how to make yarn butterflies, knitting intarsia will become your next step in developing your knitting vocabulary. You will then be able to juggle as many colours as you like within your knitting.
And nothing will be able to stop you.
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