Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Welcome to I’ll Knit (& Spin!) If I want To! I asked y’all to send in some of your questions (from everything from fiber arts, to designing and on!) so I could put together a little video for y’all every Friday doing my best to answer your questions!
Sign up for my newsletter here: Sign up for the DRK Newsletter: eepurl.com/diPxsr
In this week’s episode we cover:
1. My question is about soaking time for blocking a newly finished object. I just finished Thru Lines for the March2May KAL and your instructions said to soak for 15 minutes. I believe in some previous podcasts that you mentioned you have your new FO’s soak in hot water until the water cools down - which would be much longer than 15 minutes. Are there advantages or disadvantages to soaking for longer than 15 minutes? Should certain types of yarn or FO’s be soaked longer? Thanks!
2. Hi Andrea, Love your podcast and designs! I just purchased yarn from North Bay Fiber for your Comebackigan Cardigan and I was wondering if you alternate the skeins due to it being hand dyed? Welcome back to Michigan!
3. You mentioned woolen spun yarn in Fridays podcast. Can you address the differences between woolen spun and worsted spun? How can you tell the difference when buying yarn? And which type of yarn works best for what kind of project? I have only knit the tessellated vest and weekender but a few of your shawls. Thank you very much.
4. Hi there! I was curious how you go about blocking cardigans/sweaters when they need pinned to measurements. Trying to fiddle the back and front/sleeves and shoulders to be evenly tensioned and non wonky row wise takes me FOREVER and usually ends with a cigarette, glass of wine, and a “I’m never doing this again” attitude. Is there a perfectionist way to do it (top down, bottom up, shoulders first, removable stitch markers, etc) that can help me not pull out the rest of my hair, or is it a “this is good enough” situation for everyone?
5. Hello Andrea,
first things first - I really enjoy watching your weekly episodes and love your knitting style. :-) I would love to knit your new Comebackigan and wonder if it would be possible to reverse engineer the pattern and knit it from the top down? Is there anything to be aware of? I‘m more confident knitting from the top, though I‘ve knitted some of your „bottom-up-sweaters“ as well. But I‘ve never done the sleeves first und attached them to the body before starting raglan decreases. So I‘m a tiiiiiny bit intimidated by that.
Today I am wearing Plumped Up Cowl:
Ravelry: ravelry.com/patterns/library/plumped-up-cowl
My Website: dreareneeknits.com/shop/plumped-up-cowl
Spinalong Challenge
Ravelry Forum: ravelry.com/discuss/dreareneeknits/4353630
Instagram Hashtags: #3ply2ways ; #drkspinchallenge
March 2 May KAL 2025
Shawl Forum: ravelry.com/discuss/dreareneeknits/4351754
Sweater Forum: ravelry.com/discuss/dreareneeknits/4351752
Instagram: #DRKmarch2maykal25 Ask a question for next week’s Q&A: https://forms.gle/pKM9gF9SixkdQwmS7
Ask a question for next week’s Q&A: https://forms.gle/pKM9gF9SixkdQwmS7
Welcome to I’ll Knit (& Spin!) If I want To! I asked y’all to send in some of your questions (from everything from fiber arts, to designing and on!) so I could put together a little video for y’all every Friday doing my best to answer your questions!
Sign up for my newsletter here: Sign up for the DRK Newsletter: eepurl.com/diPxsr
In this week’s episode we cover:
1. My question is about soaking time for blocking a newly finished object. I just finished Thru Lines for the March2May KAL and your instructions said to soak for 15 minutes. I believe in some previous podcasts that you mentioned you have your new FO’s soak in hot water until the water cools down - which would be much longer than 15 minutes. Are there advantages or disadvantages to soaking for longer than 15 minutes? Should certain types of yarn or FO’s be soaked longer? Thanks!
2. Hi Andrea, Love your podcast and designs! I just purchased yarn from North Bay Fiber for your Comebackigan Cardigan and I was wondering if you alternate the skeins due to it being hand dyed? Welcome back to Michigan!
3. You mentioned woolen spun yarn in Fridays podcast. Can you address the differences between woolen spun and worsted spun? How can you tell the difference when buying yarn? And which type of yarn works best for what kind of project? I have only knit the tessellated vest and weekender but a few of your shawls. Thank you very much.
4. Hi there! I was curious how you go about blocking cardigans/sweaters when they need pinned to measurements. Trying to fiddle the back and front/sleeves and shoulders to be evenly tensioned and non wonky row wise takes me FOREVER and usually ends with a cigarette, glass of wine, and a “I’m never doing this again” attitude. Is there a perfectionist way to do it (top down, bottom up, shoulders first, removable stitch markers, etc) that can help me not pull out the rest of my hair, or is it a “this is good enough” situation for everyone?
5. Hello Andrea,
first things first - I really enjoy watching your weekly episodes and love your knitting style. :-) I would love to knit your new Comebackigan and wonder if it would be possible to reverse engineer the pattern and knit it from the top down? Is there anything to be aware of? I‘m more confident knitting from the top, though I‘ve knitted some of your „bottom-up-sweaters“ as well. But I‘ve never done the sleeves first und attached them to the body before starting raglan decreases. So I‘m a tiiiiiny bit intimidated by that.
Today I am wearing Plumped Up Cowl:
Ravelry: ravelry.com/patterns/library/plumped-up-cowl
My Website: dreareneeknits.com/shop/plumped-up-cowl
Spinalong Challenge
Ravelry Forum: ravelry.com/discuss/dreareneeknits/4353630
Instagram Hashtags: #3ply2ways ; #drkspinchallenge
March 2 May KAL 2025
Shawl Forum: ravelry.com/discuss/dreareneeknits/4351754
Sweater Forum: ravelry.com/discuss/dreareneeknits/4351752
Instagram: #DRKmarch2maykal25 Ask a question for next week’s Q&A: https://forms.gle/pKM9gF9SixkdQwmS7
Ask a question for next week’s Q&A: https://forms.gle/pKM9gF9SixkdQwmS7
