Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
How, I Made the Shawl, More of Less, Part II
"A" is obviously all stockinette, smooth, crisp transition. "B" is interesting. Worked only one row of dark blue, but because it came in a reverse stockinette section, the color peeks through in two rows at the top and bottom of the narrow ridge. "C" is a single garter ridge. Here I introduced the new color on a Right Side row and knit back in the same color. It would have looked quite different if I had started the new color on a Wrong Side row.
As you can see, there were times when I used a given color for only one row. There is a slight trick to this when knitting flat.
Here I've added in green and knit my row.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
How I Made the Shawl, More or Less, Part I
I threw in extra increases at the side edges every 4-6 rows, or whenever I remembered. I placed these about 5 stitches in from the edges and used M1 instead of a yarn over, so they would show as little as possible. I did not do extra increases on either side of the center stitch. Placing extra increases at the sides only had the (to me) advantage of increasing the width of the shawl a little more than the depth.
So I continued in this fashion until I was tired of it, but I did make sure that I went long enough that the top of the shawl would equal my "wingspan", that is the length from fingertip to fingertip when I hold my arms straight out to the sides.
Enough for one day. I'll post something about color changes and knitting on the edging later (maybe sooner-later, and maybe later-later, we'll see).
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Other Unfinished Business
Well, OK, I got tired of those ever increasing rows of either plain knit or plain purl. But it is big enough if not any too big. So I switched to knitting on a simple edging, much more interesting to work and it looks cute if I say so myself.
Here's a close up - though the real color is a very dark grey twist.
I haven't decided what to do about the top edge, but it needs something, because it is ugly. I carried the yarn(s) along between color changes, and didn't do a very neat job of it, either. I've never actually worked an applied I-Cord. Maybe that will be the first thing to try.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Numb and Number
Opal 6 ply yarn, 58 stitches, top down with a heel flap heel. Mostly stockinette, with a little cable down the back of the leg, just to keep things interesting.
Now I think I'll go take a nap.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Cajun Fun and Time in the Sun
Last night we went to hear Dennis Stroughmatt & Creole Stomp at the Monroe Art Center: bouncing around in your seat music, for sure, educational, too. They played a variety of Cajun and Creole music, including some from French speaking communities in southern Illinois (who knew?). Mostly they just rocked.
Today started out cool, but sunny and getting warmer, and I had some coupons burning a hole in my pocket so I headed out to The Salad Garden.
Here's the view from the parking lot
There's a pretty little pond in that grove of trees.
And here's the first view of the business end of things.
They give fair warning (you can click on the picture to make it big enough to read).
Some of the goodies are outside.
Some of them are inside.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Listening to the Yarn
I bought this from Sandy (of Sandy's Palette) at the Alpaca Festival in Madison a year ago. It's a wool/nylon sock weight and I love the colors.
The patterns are all variations of small cable moves (1 over 1 and 1 over 2). In either case, I slipped the stitch that would be travelling over the other(s) on the round or two prior to the cable round.
Why the slipping? Well I think it's interesting, just slightly different looking than a standard cable or twist. And it breaks up the color striping just a bit. And for me, anyway, it's a little easier to work when I'm going without a cable needle. When I drop a slipped stitch off to hang for the moment in mid air, it seems less prone to slither down into the row below than a regular stitch would be.
Why work without a cable needle? I hate picking the darn things up and then putting them down and then picking them up again all the time for small, closely spaced motifs like these.
I've about settled on which pattern combinations I want to use, and where I want to place them on the socks. But I'm not casting on yet. Right now I have a swatch. The minute I cast on for the real thing I'll officially have another UFO. I'll polish off the Cheerful Travellers before heading down that slippery slope.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
KIP pays off
As it turned out, there was no line. I breezed through the preliminaries and never accomplished more than about 10 stitches worth of actual Knitting in Public.
But, when I got to the area where the needles go in, the nurse asked me what I was working on, with that particular gleam in her eye that bespeaks a fellow knitter. So the whole time I was pumping away at the little rubber ball we were discussing different projects, and sharing notes on favorite yarn stores (I think I need to take a day trip to Galena), and she told me all about her friend's daughter's alpaca farm, and I convinced her that she really ought to try socks. All in all, I do believe it was the most fun I have ever had while bleeding.
The feverfew jumps around
I've always wondered whether the common name "feverfew" is just the result of a long ago mispronunciation of "febrifuge", which this plant is according to the herbals.
Fortunately, the apple tree is staying put.
And the lilac is only moving around enough to make the picture fuzzy.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
From unfinished to long finished
Monday, May 11, 2009
Got my knitting mojo back
Finished a pair of baby socks that had been all done except for one foot and toe. (why did they sit around so long?)
Saturday, May 09, 2009
One of the many nice things
After sitting up in Gayle's studio talking shop (knitting shop, that is) and drinking David's good wine, I toddled off to bed toting a whole stack of Japanese stitch dictionaries. And if there's anything I love for bedtime reading, right up there with Jane Austin, it's a good stitch dictionary. OK, call me a geek. I love looking at stitch patterns, analyzing how they work, thinking about how they might be used. And these books have some very cool stuff. The white book in particular had some lovely lace patterns.
Gayle's knitting library is, to put it mildly, extensive. From it all, these were among the "things I'd be least likely to run across on my own", and they are a treasure trove. I may just have to order one or two for myself. Everything is charted, and most of the symbols are familiar, plus the books have such clear illustrations of how to work the stitch associated with each symbol that I could figure out many of them even without knowing Japanese.
Gayle teaches classes on working with Japanese knitting patterns, (she'll be at Knitters Connection in Ohio in June, and also at Stitches Midwest this fall), and she sent me home with her very thorough class handouts that also explain a lot of the symbols.
I see some major swatching coming up.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
I'm Baa-ck!
Well, the trip was absolutely wonderful, in about a hundred different ways, The Sheep and Wool Festival was huge, and exciting and just fun. Gayle is a seasoned hand and got us there early on Saturday to get a good parking place - wise move because the cars kept arriving in a steady stream until past noon - even on a cool and drizzly day. We had time for a "tailgate" cup of coffee before the gates officially opened, headed in and grabbed a program book, picked up some sheep milk cheese to add to the lunch stash, then headed for an initial spin through some of the vendors. Overwhelming! I was too involved with gawking and fondling yarn and ooohing and ahhing to snap pictures. Trust me, it was amazing.
Met up with Sis and niece, who were taking a class in drop spindle spinning and made arrangements to meet up for lunch. On the way back from picking up the picnic supplies from the car, Gayle and I took a quick detour through the Ravelry meet up.
Whoo Hoo, brush with greatness. Casey really is a complete cutie. Well they all are.
After lunch, the barns. I think I have more sheep pictures than any others. This was the cutest face in the bunch
It's little brown muzzle made it look a bit like a koala. And the young girl prepping it for show was a sweetie, too.
The Jacobs just fascinate me. What evolutionary impetus ever led to those horns?
A Khatadin Hair Sheep. The overcoat just falls off - no shearing. From what I can tell, it's mostly a meat breed.
Merino on the hoof (at least, I'm pretty sure that's what this one is).
Then back to shopping. I didn't escape a little stash enhancement.
And my niece acquired her very own drop spindle. By three o'clock the crowds were really thick, and we were all pretty pooped, so we headed out tired but happy.
Gayle and her hubby and I went back again Sunday afternoon. It was pouring rain, but we slogged happily through it to catch the sheep dog trials, visit more vendors, say and"hi" to the sheep again. After closing out the festival at 5:00 we topped off the day with a visit to an incredibly good Belgian restaurant on our way back to their place.