While I do know a thing or two about fitting sweaters to the body, I’m not exactly an expert on round yoke sweaters. And perhaps, if I’m being perfectly technical, you can’t call the yokes in my designs Come Together (Twist Collective, Fall ’08) and Vaganova (in this issue) proper round yokes at all. My new favorite yoke isn’t constructed like the traditional Icelandic sweaters. True, it follows the classic cone shape from underarm to neck, but. . . READ FULL ARTICLE

The Problem ladies help out three knitters in need:

Living the Dream - finding acceptance of the knitting lifestyle

How to Stretch a Skein of Yarn - Knitting through the recession

Philosophy of Stash - Kay and Ann weigh in on if stash weighs you down.

Watching clouds drift over the surface of a perfectly round pond, stumbling upon the quietly crumbling bricks of an old hut or chancing on a curiously fashioned iron railing are the sorts of scenic moments you commonly experience walking in the English countryside. If you knit outdoors, you may take up your knitting for a moment and complete a few rows while taking in the splendid sights. What you may not have noticed before, however, are the connections between the yarn in your fingers and the shape and feel of those surroundings. READ FULL ARTICLE

I’ve got farm yarns on the brain these days, having just written a new book, The Knitter’s Book of Wool (due in October), which may explain why Jennifer Appleby’s hat, M’Gonigle, called to me. With its simple ribbing, wandering cable motifs, and classic wooly look, it begs to be knit in an old-fashioned farm yarn. M’Gonigle presents an ideal opportunity to wander through a variety of sheep breeds and spinning techniques to illustrate how using fiber from different breeds can give you strikingly different results from a single pattern. READ FULL ARTICLE