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Getting Turned Inside Out… In More Ways Than One

Blog » Magic Loop » When Your Magic Loop Knitting Gets Turned Inside Out

Getting Turned Inside Out… In More Ways Than One

Liat Gat - Founder

December 3, 2010

When your Magic Loop knitting gets turned inside out, there's a very easy fix. In life, it's a bit harder.

Funny photo of a woman with an inside-out umbrella

When your Magic Loop knitting gets turned inside out

When you are new to knitting in the round, you can accidentally turn your work inside out – you’ll know this because you’ll start seeing the wrong side of your knitting come out the tops of the needles.

This can really confuse a lot of knitters! Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything wrong. Just watch the video to see if you’ve accidentally turned your knitting inside-out, and a REALLY easy fix for it if you have.

Turned Inside Out, Magic Loop
Turned Inside Out, Magic Loop

Getting turned inside out in life

…is sometimes a little harder to notice. But I wanted to share with you my personal experience of this recently, as it relates to KnitFreedom, this blog, and the changes that have been going on of late.

I know you all have noticed a drop-off in helpful knitting posts, and an increase in promotional posts, sales pages, and publicity notifications. That’s not what I want my blog to be, but I somehow got off track. I think the perfectionist in me is partly responsible.

Working hard!

I’ve been working so hard on KnitFreedom as a business – learning how to make this new website, trying to create new products, trying to answer everyone’s questions, that this kind of thing has consumed all my time!

But, since it’s not “videos, tips, and tricks for intermediate knitters,” I haven’t blogged about it.

Leaving a gaping void. I am committed to sticking to the scope of this blog, but I can’t leave who I am out of it!

The entire experience of creating this site, and trying to make it so I can support myself doing what I do best (teaching knitting), has an effect on my life, too. And I know you, my gentle readers, care about me, just like I care about you.

Happy sketch

So I have decided to open up a little more personally, if only so that it takes the pressure off and actually lets me blog.

I can’t leave the lessons of my life out of this endeavor – it’s too hard to separate them.

So I will be bringing you videos, and tips, and trick, and will work my hardest to make KnitFreedom.com the best online resource for knitters out there. And I will include my story along the way.

Which brings me to a big issue – this legwarmer kit/shopping cart/store. And getting a little inside out.

What happened was, I got scared. Christmas is coming, I wanted to have something for you all, but I didn’t listen to what you wanted – I listened to what my friends told me would be cool. “Knitting kits would be so cool!” they said. “It makes perfect sense!”

And so, for the last couple weeks, instead of blogging, instead of working on all the video courses you’ve been requesting from me (Double Knitting, Moebius Knitting, Custom-Fitted Sweaters, etc etc), I’ve been ordering yarn and building a shopping cart!

Shopping Online

Whoa! All of a sudden, I went from having an established, well-researched business plan, based on my strengths, my competition, and the opportunities I saw, to competing with hundreds of other yarns stores out there, having to buy minimum orders of supplies, and spending hundreds of dollars just to stock the supplies for this one product.

I strayed from my plan and my strengths.

Luckily, I had my eyes open. Instead of freaking out when no one ordered the kits, I calmly thought, “I need to do something different. I need to listen to my students – my customers.”

I’ve already set the wheels in motion to return the yarn, the needles, and the buttons, and as you may have noticed, the KnitFreedom store has disappeared from the menu.

It’s time for me to get back to creating videos for you. There are hundreds that I want to film! Thank you so much for sticking with me as I experimented with this – I value you, my readers and students more than anything. You are enabling me to do what I do best.

Right now, I’m concentrating on improving the site, so that everyone can find what they’re looking for. I’m also developing ways for people to take the video classes without having to download anything. I’ll be posting at least once a week again – and I’m so excited.
Bodhi knitting in the bath

A little note by my computer says, “Joy is the essence of success.”
So let’s get back to it!

Related Post: How Knitting Rescued Me, and a Knitted Christmas Ornament
Check out some of the improvements I was talking about: Knitting Videos page

If you liked this article on my personal journey, post in the comments.

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20 thoughts on “Getting Turned Inside Out… In More Ways Than One”

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  1. Liat, You didn’t stray that far from teaching because ultimately you were able to share an important lesson.
    Only this time you learned one too.

  2. Hey Liat,
    It was great to speak to you via Zoom the other day. Your blog is one that I read every time I see a new post up. I don’t read a lot of blogs out there on knitting or any other craft that someone is posting a video on or writing a how to do this or that type of posts. I get bored rather quickly when I try to read those types of blogs, but yours for some reason does not bore me to tears! That is a very good thing in my opinion.

    As for you sharing your personal journey I would welcome reading about that subject too. For ME, when a blogger writes only about their subject matter and doesn’t share things about themselves in an effort to stay on topic, they lose my interest quickly. For example, yes, I love great recipes, and yes, I may cook one or 2 of them if they sound really good. But, if the blogger only talks about food and the preparation of same, they seem robotic to me. They don’t seem human cause the reader won’t see the mistakes that they made on the way to making the food that they are writing about on their blog. Mistakes happen. Food burns.

    Knitters will inevitably drop 1 or 2 stitches occasionally, and for me that happens when I have a LOT of stitches on my needles, and I have to tink back to the dropped stitch to fix it, OR I don’t realize I dropped the stitch until I am 10 rows beyond it and I have to drop down and ladder my stitches back up to the top to fix it. I STILL don’t know how to fix a dropped or forgotten YO that should be there. I use lifelines a LOT in my knitting cause they have saved my butt several times since I started knitting in 2010. I see that you don’t use them that much if at all. What do you think about using lifelines like this?

    Anyway, don’t stop sharing who you are, Liat. That is what makes you human and what makes all of us relate to you so well. I personally want to see more pictures of Milo! Since he has probably grown by leaps and bounds being that he is now 2-1/2 years old. I definitely want to see more pictures!

    You know what would be a really cool video? Showing us how to unravel our work on a sock and how to run an afterthought lifeline when it is necessary to fix a problem with your socks. I have a pair of socks on my needles waiting for me to finish that afghan, and I wanted to make the heels and toes a different color that went with the sock yarn but that was a solid color. I did the toes just fine without any problems at all, but when I got to the heels (Fleegle), I cut the yarn for my main colorway leaving a tail to weave in later, and I joined the contrasting yarn to the socks. I merrily kept right on knitting both of them at the same time, and I knitted the heels but I also knitted the insteps (where my foot would normally bend upwards), with this solid color instead of only using that color on the bottom of the sock. Now, IMHO, it looks like crap! I either have to unravel to the place where I would start the heel over and somehow get the yarn back on the needles in the right configuration or I have to take all of it out and start over. I don’t relish doing either of these choices but I know I have to make the choice when I get back to them. I can pick up the stitches when I am using worsted, DK, or bulky yarn, but for some reason trying to put sock yarn back on my needles after unraveling it to the spot I needed to go to hasn’t worked for me in the past. I will miss stitches or the yarn doesn’t sit up so that I can put it back on the needles correctly. I swear, it is a disaster waiting to happen when I get back to these socks. It really might just be easier to take all of it out and start over just to fix the heel issues. I cannot leave the heels like they are. It isn’t a design choice like my other knitting friends tell me. It is a glaring mistake that I cannot live with regardless of whether they will be in my shoes and no one will notice anyway. I will know that they are messed up. Could you do a video for this type of issue? It is different when you are using sock yarn vs. other types of yarn. There has to be a way that I can fix this problem easier than I think. Please share your wisdom! Thank you!

    1. Hi Linda,

      It was so great talking to you as well!! I learned a lot from our conversation and I’m excited to solve the top-down-to-toe-up mystery for you.

      I really appreciate these additional comments. First, thank you for letting me know that you find my posts eminently readable. As a reader myself, I revise them over and over until they flow well and the eye/brain has no need to skip anything. Your comments encourage me to keep making sure they’re interesting and readable!

      Also, and perhaps most importantly, thank you for your reminder to share my personal life with my readers. I’ve certainly made lots and lots and lots of mistakes. Now I’m at the point where I can see where it would have been better to share instead of choosing to clam up and say nothing and then feeling guilty for not sharing.

      You may have opened Pandora’s box because I just got a new phone and have LOTS of pictures of Milo. I’ll be sure to include a few at the end of every post so you and the other readers can see how he’s growing.

      So, about those socks — you can’t do a contrasting-color heel with the Fleegle sock! I should probably make that more clear on the pattern. You didn’t do anything wrong – it’s the nature of the heel.

      To do a contrasting-color heel (and toe), you need to use our Faux-Heel-Flap Toe-Up Sock pattern. The good thing is that the toe is the same. The bad news is that you start the increases for the heel a little earlier, so you will need to unravel back to the start of the increases or a little further.

      Just to confirm: You’d like to see a video on how to put in a lifeline somewhere in your already-knitted work, then unravel back to that point and get the stitches back on, right? (Come to think of it, that would have helped on your blanket, too…) And you want to see it on sock yarn, right? That’s an important aspect for you?

      I’ll make you a video, I just want to know exactly what you want to see. :)

      Let me know,
      Liat

  3. Hi- I am just getting back into knitting and after finishing most of a sweater and ready to sew up the sides / sleeves I see that one of the sleeves in “inside out”! Is the only way to fix it to unravel the entire sleeve and reknit it? I’m hoping there is some way I can take the sleeve off and turn it without completely remitting it. Thank you!

    1. Hi Joanne,
      Great question! I’m so glad you found my post on getting your knitting turned “inside out.” I would definitely not unravel the whole sleeve. Can you unsew the sleeve from the shoulder? If so, just remove the sewing, turn the sleeve right-side out, and then sew it back on.
      If it’s not that kind of sweater, it may be a bit harder. And if it turns out to be impossible for whatever reason, you could always leave it inside out and make a fashion statement!
      But let me know if you have difficulty getting your sleeve right-side out. :)
      Liat

  4. LOL…so great Liat…..I did this way too many times while learning to knit socks. ..especially near the gussett area~yea, not sure how to explain that one…but then here goes everyone ***The Queen of Knitting E-Books*** saved the day…wait the years….with her amazing learn to knit socks e-book!! Thanks again, Liat!!

  5. I am also knew to your site and I find your comments refreshing and your tips very helpful. I have just finished my first top down magic loop sock, and the matching sock is ready for toe rounding. I want to share my thoughts on your business moves of December. You are doing exactly what you needed to and in business you must think about the next move and it seemed perfectly reasonable to go in the direction you were going. The ability to course correct and regroup is critical, and you have done that . I will be watching to see your next moves….thing forward “what do I want my knitting business to look like at the end of 2011 and what do we do well now? How can I build on that strength and reach my goals?”

    Thanks for sharing your energy – it is clear and contagious. build on that.

    Knit on…
    maria from Pacifica California

    1. Maria, thank you so much for your encouragement! I love your advice for envisioning the path for 2011 -“What do I want my knitting business to look like at the end of 2011?”

      I envision at least 7 more e-books for sale, as well as DVDs of each class, a complete”Home Knitting Course”e-book, and a book deal with a publisher. I also envision myself spending less time answering emails and more time making knitting videos! I’d like to have 100 new free videos up on KNITFreedom.com. I see KNITFreedom coming up on the first page of Google for”Magic Loop”and”Continental Knitting.”

      Thank you for helping me be specific and focus on that! I’ve never made my goals public like this before. I’m going to enjoy coming back here later in the year!

  6. Wow! You made a booboo and you’ve done what a lot of people couldn’t do if their lives depended on it — you admitted it! So proud of you for that!
    And, you’ve shown us that sometimes life needs tinking, not just knitting!
    You’re doing what you love, and it really comes across in your videos and writing!
    Keep up the wonderfully insightful work, and I plan on learning a lot from you

    Robyn & Zoo

    1. Aw, Robin, thank you so much for your support! I’m happy I got back on track so quickly. I like to think of my ill-advised foray into retail as a two-week seminar I signed up for that only cost a few hundred bucks and helped me focus on my goals like never before. :) It was just a little nontraditional.
      Thanks for commenting! Hugs to you.

  7. I just found you yesterday, and I love you already! What a great post! I love reading about you and I love reading about knitting. :)

    AND, this post had perfect timing. I just started my first sock two days ago (I’m using your pattern and your video but making one at a time this first time around–magic loop is fantastic), and I have noticed I’m inside out, but I’m still a little confused. Somehow, my toes are right side out, and the rest of the sock is inside out. If I flip it right side out, the main part of the sock (I’m on the gusset right now) will be right, but my working yarn will then be on the back needle instead of the front needle.

    Since I’m confused and I don’t want to stop knitting, I’ve decided to just keep going with it inside out. I’m not really worried if it looks weird this first time around–I just started learning how to knit this Halloween, so I have low expectations. :) I’m just wondering what I did so I can fix it next time around (or perhaps knit the toes inside out and the rest right side out for my matching sock!!).

    Thank you for your website. You’re terrific!!

    Mari

    1. Thank you so much, Mari! What a delightful comment!

      As far as your sock being inside-out… the yarn is SUPPOSED to be on the back needle. Always. I think what happened is that at some point in the sock, you didn’t come back to ready position before you started knitting. I have made a video on it and will post it up on the blog just for you! See today’s post.

  8. Hey, Liat!
    Thanks for sharing with us all your adventures as you figure out the path that your business will take. Its easy to see all the possibilities in something that you are so passionate about. While it might have been a great idea that really flew well, I like the fact that you are willing to reign yourself back in and focus on what the initial purpose of your blog is. Branching out into retail is very hard, and takes a big investment in time and money and marketing as you know! I’m glad you chose to focus back in, and proud of you for being willing, after ALL the hard work you did, to say, whoops! Thats not what I should be doing right now.
    I love what you do, and thanks for sharing it with us!

    1. Thank you so much, Kate! I’m so glad for your support. Your blog has been an inspiration to me for years and I’m lucky to have such a great example.

  9. Life, just like knitting, is a learning process with ups, downs and twists and turns. You’re on the right track, listening to your heart and doing what you love. Sharing who you are is as wonderful a gift as sharing your passion and knowledge of knitting. Your enthusiasm and passion shines through in your videos, posts and beautiful creations. Just follow your heart Liat – you are doing a fabulous job here <3

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