Alpaca Direct Blog

The I-Cord Bind-Off adds a lovely finishing edge to your knitted projects, especially shawls! But what about projects done in the round like cowls and ponchos? In this week's Technique Tuesday, Kelley shared how to use the Kitchener Stitch to join both ends of the i-cord bind-off seamlessly! No one can tell where your i-cord bind-off starts and stops. 

It's a problem as old as knitting itself – curling and rolled edges on stockinette or lace!Kelley decided to experiment and see what finishing edges she could use to prevent the curling without altering the look of her knitting project. These tricks for preventing rolled edges in knits will work for almost any knit project!

Kelley is continuing to whip up hats for holiday gift giving! This week she shared the Sugarplum Hat by Knitterella, a colorwork hat that's great for using up odds and ends of worsted weight yarn. To finish off her hat, Kelley made her own pom pom with Knitter's Pride Pom Pom Makers and has some tips for using those! 

There's nothing worse than investing in a sweater quantity of yarn and countless hours of knitting only to end up with a sweater you don't like. What if we told you that the key to finding the right knit sweater pattern is already in your closet? With these tips, you'll learn how to knit a perfectly fitting sweater. 

The Rockford Hat is a syncopated rib hat that will fit almost everyone thanks to the ribbing. This free knitting pattern uses standard one skein of light worsted weight yarn, making it a great Christmas or holiday gift knit!

When casting-on socks from the cuff-down, it's important to have a stretchy cast-on so the socks fit over your calves. We're covering four ways to cast-on socks from the cuff-down, including a brand-new method – Kelley's Tubular Cast-On! 

Socks are a lot of fun to knit – but getting them started can be tricky. With these four toe-up sock cast-on methods, you're sure to find one that works best for you! In no time at all you'll be knitting up socks for the entire family. 

Knitting in the round is often the preferred method for making everything from hats to sweaters, but with smaller circumferences things can get tricky! Here are several methods for knitting a hat in the round such as using a 16" circular needle, Magic Loop, double pointed needles, FlexiFlips, and two circular needles.

This week Kelley's giving some finishing tips for the Baubles Shawl by Andrea Mowry, including how to use Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off in brioche! This lovely shawl uses techniques like lace, syncopated brioche, and bobbles.

Blocking a finished knit project is important to get even stitches. Knitting with acrylic yarn makes blocking hard, since it doesn't respond like wool. Here's how to steam block acrylic yarn without an expensive steamer.

Learn how to setup & knit the first two sections of the Baubles Shawl by Andrea Mowry. In this article and series of videos we cover how to knit syncopated brioche, knitting the brioche stitch flat, the "brkRsl" 2-stitch brioche decrease, and "brk4st" brioche 4-stitch increase.

The Nurmilintu Lace Shawl by Heidi Alander is the perfect one-skein project for beginner lace knitters. In this post, Kelley shares tips for knitting this free pattern and how to add some unique finishing touches.