Meg Swansen: Answering your questions... December 2003 Monthly Meeting: Meg Swansen joined us with a very rare reading from one of her mother's (E. Zimmermann) journals. The crowd was quiet, attentive and grateful for the opportunity to hear Meg's reading. After the reading, Meg took our questions and discussed her knitting techniques from 'purl when you can' to what to do with the sweater that doesn't fit right when completed to "cats should be listed in the material requirements of patterns". A few tips shared.... When purling when you can... This technique is used when you want to start a sweater, but don't want to do all that ribbing at the waist band. Somewhere around 5 rows of purling when you can is all you need. Remember when inserting a purl stitch to insert a like colored purl stitch above a like colored knit stitch. Using this technique sporatically throughout the first 5 rows will help to keep your stockinette stiches from curling. Your wool sweater hangs down in front and up in back.... In the blocking process tug (and tug hard) until the back measures about 1 inch longer than the front. After the sweater is dry, it will hang even. (That's, of course, if you haven't put in short rows or if you have and you still need some more fabric.) This tugging action, Meg hopes, does not affect the integrity of the fabric/yarn as she has been doing this for years and not noticing any effects. I had to laugh to myself at this one...knowing I just used this technique when finishing my second sweater a couple weeks ago. You've finished knitting the sleeves (or waist band) on your sweater and they're a little to long... Decrease stitches very rapidly and/or change needle sizes (smaller) and knit a tight wrist/waist band. The sweater will blouse and look nice instead of large and sloppy. Yep, did that and called them "design features" and not mistakes... There were a few other tips and techniques (and stories) shared, but hey! Why weren't you there???