Fibercrafting Resources

Free Patterns:

Medium sized carry Bag for your Denise kit, courtesy of Cat Bordhi:

Store your Denise Interchangeable Needle Kit in this felted bag (and knit it with the kit as well!). Your long cords and extra parts will fit inside the zippered pocket. Here’s the pattern. Enjoy! Thanks Cat! To order a skein of this gorgeous self-spiraling yarn by Fleece Artist, visit Color Song Yarn.

Small “bonne bouche” bag, courtesy of Barbara Kreuter:

This bonne bouche gives you a taste for the sophisticated fabric made with Tunisian crochet. Take a Denise Interchangeable Crochet Hook and only one skein of yarn, and in a few hours you will have a tasteful little bag to use for holding other small works in progress or as a small purse. The stitches you need are all demonstrated on videos listed here. A bonne bouche is a tasty morsel, often offered as an appetizer before the meal begins in earnest. Here’s the pattern. Enjoy!

Instructional Videos:

The unique Denise locking connection:

Denise needles lock securely together with a quarter turn. With a secure lock, parts stay together while knitting or crocheting. When you’re ready to disconnect, another quarter turn means you can change parts easily.

Knitting with one circular needle:

How to knit in the round using one circular needle.

Knitting with two circular needles:

A great way to knit in the round on a small scale which can be used anywhere double-pointed needles are called for.

Condo Knitting:

Create interesting texture in your knitting by using two vastly different needle sizes (#7 and #15, for example) on opposite ends of a circular needle. Or, if you knit tightly (or just want to speed up your knitting), knit with ease in the round by replacing the left hand needle head with one that’s a size or two smaller than the gauge needle. Your stitches will slide easily off the left hand needle and your gauge will be unaffected because it is entirely determined by the needle that you’re knitting on to. If you purl more loosely than you knit, also called rowing out, you can even your stockinette tension with a smaller needle head for purling.

Three different styles of crochet with one Denise crochet hook:

Many different styles of crocheting are possible with the Denise Crochet kit!

Tunisian Crochet foundation row:

Start with a crochet chain and learn to make the foundation row with a forward pass and reverse pass. Most Tunisian crochet starts with this technique.

Tunisian Crochet simple stitch:

The basic stitch for Tunisian crochet and the basis for many other stitches. You may see it abbreviated as TSS.

Tunisian Crochet twisted simple stitch:

A variation of Tunisian Simple Stitch that creates fabric with a right slanting effect.

Tunisian Crochet cross stitch:

A variation of Tunisian Simple Stitch that produces a richly textured surface.

Tunisian Crochet purl stitch:

Also called Tunisian Reverse Stitch, this produces a bump on the right side. It is combined with Tunisian Simple Stitch to great effect in Honeycomb Stitch.

Tunisian Crochet honeycomb stitch:

A combination of Tunisian Simple and Purl Stitches that creates stable, handsome fabric with less curl than many other Tunisian stitches cause.

Tunisian Crochet knit stitch:

A stitch with a surface that closely resembles knitted fabric.

Knitting tips and tricks unique to the Denise kit:

More Denise knitting tricks, again courtesy of Cat Bordhi:

  • Make a pair of matching circular needles out of just one kit! You can knit with two circular needles of the same size even it you just have one Denise kit. To make a pair of circular needles in the same size, just use the correct size tip on the end held by your right hand. Use a smaller size tip on the left side. This works because your gauge is determined entirely by the right hand tip, which receives the loop and whose circumference determines its size.
  • Tight knitters can knit more easily! If you are a tight knitter and have to work to get the stitches moving along your left needle, just replace it with a smaller size, going down as many as 3 or 4 sizes if you like. See above for an explanation of why this will not change your gauge; only make your knitting easier. Incidentally, this will work in circular knitting only. In rows, you would have to keep switching the tips, making certain you always had the larger tip in the right hand (which you could do).
  • If you’d just like to speed up your circular knitting, try putting a needle a few sizes smaller on the left side. The stitches will slide easily, giving your hands a break and your needles room to fly. Again, this won’t change your gauge, just help you knit faster!
  • Whoops! Got to start over — now it’s easier! Something went wrong, but you’ve only knit a few rounds or rows, and you’re glad you caught the mistake. Just remove the tip from one end of the cable and all your stitches will slide off so fast you won’t believe it. Unravel, and start fresh.
  • The cure for uneven stockinette! Many knitters purl more loosely than they knit. This results in uneven stockinette. But with Denise needles, all you have to do is use a smaller tip on the purl side of the circular needle. Do some experimenting, and find out if you need to go down 1, 2, or even 3 sizes. It will vary depending on the yarn and gauge.
  • Applied I-cord — a handy tool just the right size! I use a lot of applied I-cord and it is most easily done with a short straight needle. If you have a Denise kit, you have a nice assortment of very short straight needles, that is, all the tips. Just push a rubber needle tip protector on the bottom of the tip to give your very short needle a nice comfy base, and you’ll find it is a great tool for applied I-cord.
  • To try on a garment in process to be sure it’s working out as planned, just add a connector and an extra-long cable (30", 40" or 52") to your needle and spread out the stitches. You can step into your garment, check the fit, then remove the extra cord length and go back to knitting away!
  • Would you like to add shaping to a garment with intricate texture or color work, but not have to insert increases and decreases? It may be gradually shaped by changing tip sizes (which can be done in seconds). For instance, to knit a shaped sweater in the round from the bottom up, begin with a larger tip, shift to the next smaller size to begin shaping, to the next smaller size after another several inches, and so on, then reverse the shaping above the waistline. Sleeves may be shaped in the same way. Row/round count will change a little, but probably not enough to make a significant difference.
  • Picking up stitches is easiest with a smaller needle, so use a very small tip to first pick up all stitches, then change to the correct size to begin knitting. Or try the same thing with a Denise crochet hook. It makes neck holes and button bands super easy!
  • Change cable length without moving your knitting stitch by stitch. If after lots of increasing or decreasing, you need a longer or shorter cable to fit your stitches comfortably, just remove a tip, add a connector and the new cable, slide all stitches to the new cable, remove the connector and old cable, and add the tip to the new cable.

Click here for more great stuff from Cat’s website

Crocheting resources on the web:

Tunisian Crochet (a.k.a. Afghan stitch or Tricot Crochet)

Double-Ended Crochet (a.k.a. Cro-Knit, CroHook, Crochet on the Double, Cro Stick)

Knitting with Crochet Hooks (a.k.a. Portuguese Knitting)

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