Monday, May 17, 2010

Navajo Knitting

This past Saturday I spent a good portion of my day teaching a French Press Felted Slipper class at a local yarn shop.  Although teaching is still pretty new to me, I'm starting to get the order of the class down.  When you start the slippers, you start with the bottoms.  Because of this, I kick the class off with Navajo Knitting.

I first learned about Navajo Knitting when a fellow Raveler posted about it on the 'Hints and Tips' thread of the French Press Knits group on Ravelry.  This is also the first I heard of Lucy Neatby (isn't she amazing?!).  Anyway, this kind-hearted and brilliant Raveler posted a link to Lucy Neatby's Navajo Knitting video that can be found on youtube.  When doing the class this past weekend, it hit me that I have never shared this video here with my readers.

Well, it's about time I do:


Navajo Knitting comes from Navajo Plying.  Why is it so useful for the slippers?  It turns one strand of yarn into three.   This way you do not have to separate your two skeins of yarn into three.  Even if you aren't planning on making the slippers anytime soon, watch the video.  Lucy does a great job and you'll be impressed with the new skill you'll learn!
Posted by French Press Knits at 8:30 AM
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23 comments:

  1. MaryseMay 17, 2010 at 8:45 AM

    I don't think anyone here must fear that one day we are going to run out of new knitting techniques ;-) Awesome!

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  2. LelahMay 17, 2010 at 8:58 AM

    Lucy Neatby is my hero - how clever!!!!!

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  3. Windsor GraceMay 17, 2010 at 10:46 AM

    That is sooo awesome! I can't wait to try it. Finally, I don't have to put down patterns because I don't want to split my yarn!

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  4. CutziMay 17, 2010 at 12:18 PM

    Amazing. Seriously. I see more slippers in my future. Separating the yarn was the one thing I didn't like about making them. This will also save me from having three little balls of bits when I finish.

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  5. JulieMay 17, 2010 at 12:35 PM

    wow, I've never seen that before, that's incredible!! I'm always so amazed by the knitting techniques that are out there that I haven't even tried yet....

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  6. AliceMay 17, 2010 at 1:20 PM

    This is wonderful, thanks for sharing this!

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  7. Helle K. Berry aka GracieBMay 17, 2010 at 2:08 PM

    life just got a little easier...and I also have some thin yarns from weaving that I can now use for knitting!

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  8. RoxanneMay 17, 2010 at 3:21 PM

    Oh now you tell us :P Just kidding, but seriously you should've seen the crap pile of yarn barf on my floor when I set out to knit these!

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  9. AnonymousMay 17, 2010 at 4:02 PM

    Thank you so much. This is going to make making you slippers so muck easier.

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  10. AnonymousMay 17, 2010 at 6:52 PM

    is it actually a navajo technique? or is it only a play on the plying nomenclature?

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  11. CaseyMay 18, 2010 at 12:03 AM

    BRILLIANT! Thanks for sharing...I can't wait to make another pair using this method!

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  12. knittinginatreeMay 18, 2010 at 12:11 AM

    Thank you for sharing this very useful tip. Now I have great plans for all of the crochet thread I never can bring myself to work with. I'm also curious if it is actually a Navajo technique. Do you know?

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  13. French Press KnitsMay 18, 2010 at 8:39 AM

    I don't think the knitting technique actually came from the Navajos- it sound like something Lucy Neatby sort of came up with. My guess is that the actual plying technique may be from the Navajos though.

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  14. UnknownMay 18, 2010 at 12:13 PM

    That is awesome thank you for sharing!

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  15. MelissaMay 18, 2010 at 2:16 PM

    Wow how cool! I am working on a pair of slippers for myself right now, and will try this method. My goodness people are clever! Thanks for sharing. Is there any other news for your blog that you could share maybe? How is your craft room coming along? ;) ;)

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  16. Ms. KimbaMay 19, 2010 at 11:16 PM

    After a few tries with my crazy internet, I'm hoping I can finally post here... I am hoping to re-try these this way instead of how I did before, with 3 different hanks of yarn haha

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  17. DeniseMay 20, 2010 at 1:04 PM

    i just learned of lucy neatby last night and subscribed to her youtube feed ... i caught the title of navajo knitting and was curious ... so fun to find it here, too

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  18. GinaMay 21, 2010 at 6:41 PM

    love this, very helpful! thanks!

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  19. nonapearlMay 27, 2010 at 12:02 PM

    Thank you so much for posting this!!! It's awesome! I can't wait to try it. :)

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  20. AnonymousJune 5, 2010 at 9:34 AM

    This is ingenious! I've already made two pairs of french press slippers and my mother has now requested a pair. Now I also get to try out a new technique. Thanks for posting.

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  21. Mama G @ bigcraftyblog.blogspot.comOctober 9, 2010 at 7:13 AM

    Hey thanks! I have a yarn I was about to donatebecause it was too small so now I can do this :)

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  23. AnonymousFebruary 9, 2011 at 9:40 AM

    i guess the blogs feed is broken

    ReplyDelete

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