The Sewing List

Brrrr… it’s chilly out there! You need a warm and cozy cowl to keep those icy winds at bay! Caitlin and Emily are back with a brand new knit-along sure to fit the bill. The Fair Enough Cowl is the perfect introduction to stranded colourwork knitting for those looking to challenge themselves, and a great casual knit for those who’ve been around the Fair Isle block a time or two. Short pattern repeats means this project will fly through your fingers and you’ll warm up in no time!

As stranded knitting is often thought of as a more advanced skill, we recommend that you already feel comfortable knitting in the round on circular needles before tackling this project. 

In addition to sharing our own personal knitting tips, tricks, and quirks, we’ll learn all about:

• How to choose colours for vibrant stranded knitting
• Considerations for choosing yarn materials
• Colour dominance in stranded knitting
• How to swatch for stranded knitting
• Adjusting the size of your cowl
• How to hold your yarn for stranded knitting
• How to read a chart
• Fixing a wrong-colour stitch in a row below
• The importance of wet blocking your stranded knitting!

You will need:

• Yarn:
• 100-110m of DK or Worsted weight yarn EACH in Main Colour (MC) and Background Colour (BC)
• Our sample was knit from Tosh DK in the colour ways Oscuro (MC) and Modern Fair Isle (BC) (1 skein each). Please note, Emily cast on 132 stitches for a larger cowl and still had plenty of yarn left over.
• Colour:
• We will talk about picking colours for stranded colourwork in the first session. In the meantime, if you’re feeling nervous about colour choice we recommend checking out this clever blog post from TinCanKnits (especially the part about value!)
• Needles:
• 4.5 mm (US 7) 24” (60cm) circular needle
• 5 mm (US 8) 24” (60cm) circular needle
• Notions:
• At least one stitch marker that will sit comfortably on your larger needle (optional: add extra markers in a different colour if you would like to use stitch markers to keep track of your pattern repeats)
• Darning needle
• A small crochet hook or handi tool to help fix wrong-colour stitches (optional)
• Pattern:
• A copy of the pattern, available for free through Ravelry (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fair-enough-cowl) 

When: 7:00 pm EST starting Tuesday, February 27th, 2024 (rescheduled from February 20th)
Where: YouTube
Price: FREE! 

It's here! The 3rd annual Fabrications Ottawa Holiday Gift Guide has arrived.

Grab a cup of your favourite seasonal beverage, and sit down to peruse the pages. Our gift guide is stuffed full of ideas for everyone on your list - including the crafter that has it all! 

Shop online from the comfort of home, or come on by the store for some help choosing the perfect gift!

View Our Holiday Gift Guide

This month we are sewing the Haralson Belt Bag by Noodlehead! Michelle has sewn quite a few of these and these videos will be super helpful if you need a little bit of guidance while you are making one for yourself. 

Come knit the Reunion Cardigan with us over on YouTube! Emily and Caitlin chat about picking yarn, choosing your fit, and sweater knitting basics. These were filmed live but please feel free to ask questions in the comments if you need any help! And we would LOVE to see your finished sweaters!