It's been a kind of harrowing evening. My daughter was on a flight to London to meet her Dad at the same time that the explosive cars were found in that city. Then I got home from Last Saturday Knitting (which was lovely) and heard about the car in Glasgow and the high security alert throughout the United Kingdom. They are both fine, of course, so far. And it can't be any more, or nearly as, harrowing for me as for all the people who are living with the threat up close every day. But it feels up close, because the two people who are the heart of my heart are there.

Missing My Guy

I'm naturally a quiet person. I like quiet in the house, lots of quiet, more quiet than I usually get. But after three weeks, I've had enough quiet at home. Oh, I can make it for another week OK, but I'll be mighty glad to see Mr S when he gets back.

*********************

I finished the Cotton Ease pullover and my final evaluation on the yarn is that I would use it again.

It's 50/50 cotton/acrylic, which makes it much lighter than 100% cotton in the same gauge (worsted/aran). This is a big plus to me. It was reasonably soft to work with (not cashmere soft, not merino soft, but reasonable for what it is), having a bit more give than straight cotton. I split the yarn on a couple of stitches (yes, I fixed them), but I would not call it a particularly "splitty" yarn. It has very nice stitch definition, and I would be interested to see how it looks cabled. The finished product took a trip through the washer (cold water) and dryer (low heat) and came out fine. Softened up a bit more in the process. I like the hand of the fabric. It feels as if it would be comfortable for me to wear.

I don't yet know whether it will sag or "grow" in wearing; and I don't know to what extent, if any, it will pill after repeated washings. If anyone else can speak to these (or any other) characteristics of this yarn, I'd love to hear from you.

Some Things That Grow in My Yard

Yarrow



Larkspur and Flanders Poppies



Hollyhocks



Wall climbing Pumpkin Vine

A Loopy Knit Bind Off

Kmkat's and Leslie's comments on the crochet bind off got me to thinking that sturcturally the crochet bind off is a lot like an expanded version of a picot bind off. So I got to messing around, and this is what I came up with.

I started off by knitting two together. One stitch is now on the right hand needle.

Then I put the point of my left needle into that stitch on the right, wrapped the yarn and

pulled the loop through (still one st on right needle)

I repeated those second and third steps (insert left needle, wrap yarn & pull through) several more times to build up a little chain.

Then I knit together the next two stitches on the left needle.

Which resulted in two sts on the right hand needle. I put the left needle into the stitch at the end of the chain, lifted this over the stitch just formed by the k2tog and dropped it off the needle.

Resulting in 1 st on the right needle. Build up another chain on this stitch, k2tog, pass the chain end st over the k2tog st and repeat across.

Finished product. The chains could be shorter or longer (all but the first and last here are 9 sts). Also, I exerimented a little more on the left side by binding off one stitch in normal fashion between loops - seems to give a slightly smoother undulation. Lots of potential variations to play around with here....

*****************

And oh boy do I want a camera that will focus at close range.

What widely varying weather we've been having this month. A couple nights ago we had the best kind of thunderstorm (nice and rumbley but no crashes too close), and the last days have been cool, gray and damp. I actually slept under two blankets last night, which was lovely. By Monday it's supposed to be sweltering again. Mr S's pumpkin vines have leaves about 16" across.

Penny's family is home, and they had a swell time at Disneyworld. Mr S. has finished his stay in the Cotswolds and is now in Scotland. I've been spending much time at work at the Library while Gretchen recuperates. So far, no crisis situations....

Not a bit of knitting content today, but I am working on pictures of a different sort of loopy bind off, and they should be up in a day or two.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Baxter's dreams of glory (click to embiggen)

How to work a crochet chain bind off

Someone asked about the crochet chain bind off I used at the top edge of the Fichu pattern. As it turns out, it only took a simple written response before the light bulb clicked on for her, but I went looking for an online explanation with pictures, and wasn't able to come up with one. So I thought I'd do it myself. This is an edge finish that is often used on doily patterns, and can be useful at the edge of square or circular shawls worked from the center out, or triangle shawls worked from the top down. In Traditional Lace Shawls Martha Waterman calls it a "crocheted-off edge".

At the beginning of the row, put a crochet hook through the first two (or more) sts from right to left.

Wrap the working yarn around the crochet hook.

Pull the yarn through the stitches on the needle, forming one stitch on the crochet hook

Slide the two stitches off of the knitting needle

*Wrap the working yarn around the crochet hook. Pull it through the one stitch already on the hook. Repeat from * forming a crochet chain.

When the chain is as long as you like (or as long as the directions state)

Insert the crochet hook into the next group of stitches on the knitting needle (In this case I've done three.)

Wrap the yarn around the hook and pull it through the stitches on the needle and slide them off.

There are now two stitches on the hook (the last stitch of the chain and the loop just pulled through the sts from the knitting needle.)

Wrap the yarn around the needle and pull it through the two stitches on the hook.

At this point there will be one stitch on the crochet hook. Work another chain on this stitch When it is long enough, insert the hook into the next group of stitches on the knitting needle and repeat the process.

Finished Product. This isn't as elegant a shawl finish as a knit on edging but it has it's uses. It's flexible and the chain loops can be blocked out to points. A second or third tier of chain loops can be built one the first. Actually, I've seen German doilies where the effect is elegant....