Tips and musings on knit-one-one's first class: Refined Garment Finishing with Julie Weisenberger

Knit-one-one had its first class yesterday and a good time was had by, all not to mention that Julie shared a gazillion tips on how to finish garments--specifically sweaters. One of the students, my swimming friend Shelley, almost filled a whole notebook about finishing armholes, neckholes and goodness knows what else. She has finished knitting a vest for her boss (lucky guy) and it looks very dapper indeed---a lovely dark blue-- which Shelley thinks is boring. The whole class disagreed with her. However, I do know what she means in that Shelly usually knits using many variegated colorful yarns, so I can imagine that this monochromatic color was a bit of a trial for her.

In case you don't know (I didn't until I took Julie's class), finishing a garment begins with the knitting even as early in the process as the casting on. Julie prefers the long tail method for sweaters which I had never used before. The long tail casting on method leaves a much neater end to your garment according to Julie. She showed us samples and I have to say I agree with her. The question of the moment was "But Julie, how do I know how long to leave my yarn?" Now, I should interject here that I have never been in the presence of Julie when she didn't have some very practical, wonderful answer to the many knitting questions she is barraged with daily. The answer to the above question:

The tail should be 4 times the length of the piece you are knitting. So for example, if you are knitting a sweater front, measure the front of one of your sweaters and the tail should be 4 times that length.

Another tip: When you are casting on a lot of stitches, put a stitch marker every 20 stitches. What a life saver this tip is. No more counting, recounting , and counting again to see how many stitches you have cast on.


Everybody in the class said that I should be saying more about the food that I serve at the classes. So here I will give the menu for the "hearty snacks" served at yesterday's class. I made an egg salad with fresh organic eggs which I get weekly from Eatwell Farm. I put the salad on little slices of Acme Bakery's sweet rustic baguette. Also on the menu was some coleslaw---again made with organic ingredients from Eatwell Farm. These were both accompanied with fresh apple slices from the Temescal Farmers' Market. The sweet ending was my shortbread which is an adaptation of a family recipe given to me by my Scottish sister-in-law, Hazel. Hmm... I am getting hungry just writing about this food. Because I am an intuitive type of a cook and generally cook with what is in season (luckily chocolate is always in season!), the menu of what I serve at the classes will vary. My thinking on the whole knitting classes plus food thing is is that people learn best when they are having a good time and when they feel comfortable. Since the classes often straddle traditional meal times, I thought it made sense to include hearty snacks with the classes so that people wouldn't be in class accompanied by the sound of stomach rumblings!