Archive for October, 2007
October 28th, 2007
I never think to take photos of my WIPs outside, because I don’t often pay attention to the outdoors of where I live. My camera isn’t the greatest, and to maximize the detail I get in the photos I need a lot of light. I generally get some good natural light in the one window, and my stand lamp. However, I can only get that light early in the morning which limits the time I can take pictures. It turns out to be real fortunate that I decided to do laundry today (aside from the clean clothes) because I noticed what an amazingly beautiful fall day it is. Bright sun, beautiful leaves everywhere, warmth with that touch of cold and a nice breeze. I couldn’t *resist* taking some progress pictures outside today.
This project has been complete for a while, but I just never got the opportunity to get a really nice completed photo with it. I don’t take photos of myself wearing the things I knit very often because it’s just not convenient. I have to make sure I look alright, and my husband has to take the photo to avoid that myspace-i’m-too-cool photo.
This photo really shows off the colors in this yarn at its best. I’m just impressed at the blending done by whoever did this fiber. There is blue, yellow, and orange among that silvery grey. Click on the photo to get a better look. Trust me, it’s worth it. This is a *wonderful* scarf to wear as it’s beautiful, soft, and warm too.
Another beautiful soft and warm scarf (in a slightly different way) has been slowly inching along. I took a break due to a particular sweater distraction, which I will discuss some problems with later, but picked it up again in the last few days. I’ve even continued to finish the yarn by plying the third skein so I can start the fourth and last. I was agonizing about what to do with those ends, because I’ve been unable to weave them in really neatly so far. A friend had a great idea to do a crochet edging to hide the unevenness, and I think that’s what I will do.
I’m telling you, this is so soft and squishy. It looks like plain garter stitch, but get this around your neck and it’ll be sure to keep that cold away. I hope my mom likes it!
Comments Off | Categories: Knitting, Spinning |
October 22nd, 2007
I had a very nice afternoon starting my sweater, as my yarn came in today! I did all the prep work, swatching, measuring, washing the swatch, measuring (it was mostly dry), re-reading the pattern, re-sizing myself, then I FINALLY cast-on.
Yes, it’s on straights. The pattern calls for circulars, and I even started with a set of circulars. I know it says to use circulars for ease of knitting, comfort, and they’re just plain better. However, tonight I learned something about myself and my knitting. I can’t really do circulars.
I realize now that the only times I’ve ever had severe soreness when knitting was when I did the ribbed neckwarmer on a short set of circulars, my first shawl on circulars, and the “Vintage Beaded Gloves” with the ribbing that gave me hell. Ribbing, and circulars hurt my hands a lot. I decided that I can’t knit this sweater on circulars if it means I can only knit a few rows at a time. It would kill me to pace myself like that! I think my main problem is with the really slippery circular needles, and the drop off from the needle thickness to the cable. The stitches tend to want to slip onto the cable, and I unconsciously tense my fingers to hold those stitches for dear life.
When I realized this an hour after I’d decided I had to take a break from knitting for the night (after only 7 agonizing rows), I tried to transfer it to straights and that felt so much better. My hands and wrists still felt sore, but they didn’t feel like they were getting worse. No more addi turbos (I love them so!). It’s sticking to straights, DPNs, and wooden circulars of size 5 or less. I could continue this project on circulars if I got some wooden needles in the right size, but we’ll see. Perhaps I’ll do it before I get to the yoke, because I have a feeling it will make all of those cables muuch easier.
Comments Off | Categories: Knitting |
October 21st, 2007
I am getting so many packages lately, and yet I still haven’t exceeded my monthly spending money. I think I had much more than I thought I did, and I really should enjoy it while I can since we want to start having children in a couple years. Excuse for a stash? Hm…
Anyways, yesterday I received some needles from KnitPicks that I’ve been anxiously waiting for. Just like everyone else I’ve been eyeing their Harmony needles because I read the little blurb about them in their catalog. Also, I recently saw a set someone was knitting with, and they were just as pointy as claimed and quite pretty. I’m amazed at how relatively inexpensive they are. I got the size 0-3 set for sock knitting, as I’ve been needing more sock needles.
You’ll notice three of them missing. I was walking to work when I saw the package, and had to replace my current sock needles with these to try them out in the extra time before work. They’re quite awesome, and you can see them in action here.
Almost done with the “grammy cables” socks. I’ve decided to fix the first sock because it’s too long. I’m going to unravel the toe and shorten it. This second sock I started toe-up but with a provisional cast-on skipping the toe. Later I’ll go in and knit down the toe to the proper length so it doesn’t end up too long again. That’s one problem I don’t like with toe-up socks, that you have to make an educated guess as to when to start the heel (and gusset if there is one). With top down, the only thing you really have to guess at is how long your heel flap should comfortably be.
OK, so I did say “PackageS” and I meant it. I also ordered some stuff from WEBs (I gotta stop that, stuff is backordered so damn often). I got some amazing wetspun linen stuff on a tube, and I’ve been itching to design some sort of shawl or stole for it. Can you believe that when I pulled out the yarn I had this insatiable desire to swatch it? I normally hate swatching because I don’t want to use up precious little knitting yarn, and usually want to get straight to the project. I’m fascinated by the way this linen knits up. It holds the stitches open without any blocking or prompting. I’m going to have to find just the right needle size to get drape, or just add a bunch of beads for weight. I’m excited by the design possibilities with this.
Even more exciting is that my backordered yarn for that order has been shipped, and will hopefully arrive this week. I am so ecstatic for this yarn to come in, and I will be starting a new project right away despite the insane number of works in progress I have. When I finally received my fall issue of Interweave Knits, I instantly had to knit the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. That is going to be my first sweater project; I’m so excited just thinking about it. If you haven’t yet seen it, head on over to the [Tangled Yoke Knitalong](http://tangledyoke.blogspot.com/) and just look at some of the pictures. Look at those cables, don’t they just make you bounce up and down? Well, they do to me but I’m a bit of a celtophile and love celtic-inspired cables. Just out of curiosity I looked at the designer while examining the pattern, and who do you think it was? Eunny Jang of course, who designed the [Bayerische Socks](http://www.eunnyjang.com/knit/2006/09/bayerische_sock_part_ii.html). Now those are my kind of cables.
OK, calm down I’m getting sidetracked here! My yarn has been shipped, and I will be knitting it for the [NaKniSweMo](http://www.ravelry.com/groups/nakniswemo-kal “Ravelry link”) (National Knit a Sweater Month) in the spirit of NaNoWriMo in November. I suppose it’s a good thing I won’t be getting my yarn until the end of the month, because I’d have a hell of a time trying to keep myself from doing anything but swatch for this sweater.
I am going to be a knitting fiend in November, trying to finish this sweater and my Christmas knitting.
1 Comment | Categories: Knitting |
October 13th, 2007
In one of the Ravelry groups I’m in (Spindlers) we’ve started a monthly challenge with this month as the first. The theme for this month is “Halloween” of course, and basically we need to just find a way to incorporate that somehow into the theme. Some have mentioned spinning glow in the dark stuff with their fiber, others are doing halloween colors. I decided I was going to do some barber-pole plying as I call it. You know those 2 ply yarns with 2 bright contrasting colors plied together? They remind me so much of candy, so that’s what I’m going to do.
I take this merino/hemp blend and fill up the spindle with it two times, and dye each skein a different bright color. Once they’re plied together hopefully they look suitably enough like candy. Talk about challenge. First I’ll need to dye to my expectations rather than just winging it like I’ve done so far, and I’m spinning a fiber I’m not used to yet. I did find this [great article on Knitty](http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/KSspr07GS.html) with some information on spinning hemp. One of the suggestions is to “wet spin” it, which is to dampen your drafting fingers before spinning. This has helped a ton. I think it’s coming out alright, and this will force me to ply in a way I thought I couldn’t before. When I see those barber-pole striped yarns I always wonder…yeah but how good does it look knitted up. I suppose we’ll see won’t we 
1 Comment | Categories: Spinning |
October 12th, 2007
Remember this?
OK, so there isn’t much there and it’s mostly a picture of the spindle. However, there is a start of yarn there which is currently becoming this…
My first *real* handspun lace! After winding it onto the skein winder I decided to measure the length around, count the number of wraps, and figure out the yardage from that. I worked it out to roughly 196 yards, and for some bizarre reason had it in my head that was close to the yardage of Elsbeth Lavold’s Silky Wool yarn used in my [Branching Out](http://www.knitty.com/issuespring05/PATTbranchingout.html) scarf. What a great idea for the name of a scarf made out of my first handspun *lace*!
If you look at a larger version of the photo on
(http://flickr.com) you’ll notice that the yarn isn’t very soft and has very strong stitch definition. Definitely good twist for sock yarn, but I tend to spin tightly like that anyways. This is one of the reasons I need to ply my yarns (as was done here) but I also just like the look of my handspun all plied up. I’m hoping it will soften with washing, because it will be a-ma-zing. Either way I’m happy with it, and I still love this pattern.
I’ve actually been waiting for several days (almost a week now) to post this, but we’ve had rainy gloomy days since the middle of this week. I don’t like to take my photos unless there’s sun outside my window, as it produces *much* nicer photos. I think I did OK with this one though.
2 Comments | Categories: Knitting, Spinning |
October 11th, 2007
I am totally a bibliophile and have to convince myself to not get a book sometimes, because it’s something I know I’ll never read. The older the book, the harder it is to resist. Published before the 1940s, and you have piqued my interest. Add an old cloth hard, or even *leather* bound book about something in which I’m interested, and I’ll snatch it up. Knowing this, you won’t be surprised that two of my favorite times of the year are the Keene Public Library book sales in fall and spring. Guess where I went today?
I resisted the Saturday sale of a paper grocery bag of books for 5$. Corey and me have done that several times before, and boy can you get a lot of books in one of those bags. However, we have way too many books as it is, and the next time we move we’re gonna have to purge some of them. I decided to go before Saturday for this book sale, and see what I could find for knitting and craft books.
The book I’m most excited about is the *The Complete Encyclopedia of Needlework* by “Th. de Dillmont” . It is a paperback book printed in the early 70s with almost 800 pages of *stuff*, claiming to have “Nearly every conceivable practice with a needle” in the foreward. Just looking at the table of contents I’d have a hard time disbelieving it. Sewing/embroidery, machine embroidering, mending (including woven fabrics!), embroidery on white, on linen, on silk and velvet, with gold, appliqué work, tapestry, knitting (of course!), crochet, tatting, macramé (forget the 70s style macramé you’re used to, think Victorian), filet lace, openwork, embroidered lace, sewn lace, pillow lace, *deep breath*, and needlework trimmings! Some of this stuff I didn’t even know existed! Have you ever even heard of pillow lace? Even the “Miscellaneous” section at the end has tons of information about caring for and prep work for needlework.
As I’m flipping through and reading passages from this book I feel this incredible connection to history. So many different needle crafts that have nearly been forgotten since the popularization of machine made textiles. Lace is much faster and easier when you can do it by machine, yet somehow I feel a twinge of sadness for what we may lose if these crafts are not kept alive. A piece of our history for one! Hand crafted textiles have been a part of all of our ancesters lives; it’s connected to all of us, crafty or not. People invented ways to take spun thread and make cloth, and have been putting their creativity into decorating it ever since!
I look at all the needlecrafts that I’m unfamiliar with, and think to myself, “Ohh I’d love to try that, and that, and ohhh that…and that…” I spent a lot of time embroidering before I learned to knit, and I’m thinking I’ll pick the needle back up. I have a few unfinished projects, and plenty of inspiration for others…
Ahh but I won’t neglect the knitting, that’s a promise! I think knitting is my true craft, and don’t forsee that ever changing. I’ve got some ideas from looking at this book, and I’m sure will have many more once I’ve read the Knitting section. For one, there are several sock heels I’ve never seen before and would like to try (ever heard of a “stepped heel”?). There are also some very interesting lace pieces, and a few cast-ons I’d like to try. So much to read about and so little time!
**Edit** As it turns out (thanks [Betsie!](http://forget-me-nots-and-fireweed.blogspot.com/)) this book is from an originally PD version. You can check it out in all its awesome-stitcheryness at [Gutenberg](http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20776). The new 1970s version I have is written in different words to say exactly the same thing as the original. They paraphrased it! Why else would they do that but so they could copyright it!
2 Comments | Categories: Knitting |
October 6th, 2007
My first contribution to the LibriVox *Exercises in Knitting* project is done! I love it, and it’s tied around my head right now. The project I signed up for was just a stitch pattern, so I decided to knit it into one of my favorite knitted objects: a kerchief. I have like 5 or 6 of these things now, yeesh! Soon I will be writing up the pattern for the kerchief, and sharing on the [KnitWik](http://knitting-and.com/wiki/Main_Page). In the spirit of the project, my pattern will be released into the public domain.
You can find the instructions for this stitch pattern [on the KnitWiki here](http://knitting-and.com/wiki/Chair_Cover_11_-_Leaf_Pattern), which includes the original *Exercises in Knitting* text, and my rewrite.
Next, the baby bonnet…
*Edit: The pattern is complete and can be found [here](http://knitting-and.com/wiki/Leaf_Lace_Kerchief). I have not proofed this yet, so if anyone would like to either knit this or chart it out to make sure my instructions are correct, I would be very grateful! I’d be willing to send some stitch markers to the first person with photos of it knitted.*
3 Comments | Categories: Knitting |
October 4th, 2007
Today’s pictures are not my own, I admitt. However, they’re meant to illustrate some of the work going on over at [LibriVox](http://librivox.org) among the quite large number of knitters over there. Knitting and audiobooks just seem to go perfectly together.
I swear, I’ve been thinking and doing a lot of spinning this week. Somehow it just doesn’t work for me to post every day. I should have known it; I think deep down I kinda knew it. More on the spinning later though.
So, I was writing about LibriVox and knitting, and said they are a perfect pair. Right. A while ago I started a group on [Ravelry](http://ravelry.com) for LibriVoxers on the site, and had this thought that it would be great to do a project inspired by LibriVox. It would somehow use public domain resources/books, enrich the public domain, capture the sense of community and spirit of doing things at LibriVox, and be focused on knitting. It took me until the past week to think of the idea after browsing through the public domain text [Exercises in Knitting by Cornelia Mee](http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/21032). This text, unlike the vast majority of other knitting and craft related texts, had scans of the original photos and drawings in the books. Aha! We could [b]knit[/b] them and share our photos and notes!
So, here’s the project as it has developed from brainstorming with others (namely [Betsie](http://forget-me-nots-and-fireweed.blogspot.com/)). Each project or stitch pattern in the text is broken up into its own section similar to chapters in a book. Each volunteer chooses one or more sections to do the following…
1. Knit the piece following the instructions in the text. Some of the pieces are for chair covers, but are really just multiples of a stitch pattern that can be translated to many things.
2. Post photos of the item to share on the internet (giving them into the public domain) at the [KnitWiki](http://www.knitting-and.com/wiki/Main_Page).
3. Possibly re-write the pattern to make more sense to modern knitters (said instructions also put into the public domain) and posting up to the project’s KnitWiki page.
4. Record the text for the project instructions to complete an audiobook version of Exercises in Knitting. Some have asked others to read their section for them, which totally works!
I’m so excited about this project, and what we will accomplish as a community to enrich the resources around this old knitting book. Some of the stitch patterns we are familiar with, and it will be interesting to see the whole piece projects knit up (shawls, baby bonnets, etc). I’ll share with you some of the contributions we’ve had so far, as the knitting community at LibriVox have really jumped right in and started off quickly.
Gesine’s “Another Leaf Pattern”
Betsie’s “Sugar-Plum Stitch” front and back.
…plus more without pictures over at the KnitWiki [page](http://www.knitting-and.com/wiki/Exercises_in_Knitting).
It’s amazing what a community can get done together, rather than just one person doing everything themselves. That’s one of the awesome things about LibriVox! If you want to help out you can head over to the [LibriVox project thread](http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10579) and chime in. It’s a pretty welcoming community, so if you’re not sure just ask where to start!
2 Comments | Categories: Knitting |
October 1st, 2007
Last week I made the mistake of checking out [Golding Fiber Tools](http://www.goldingfibertools.com/), and holy crap-crap-crap! Their spindles are dangerous on the bank account, and don’t even *think* about the other stuff they make. I sort of…bought one of the spindles in a moment of weakness. It was a less expensive lace weight one, and I had enough spending money left, I swear! Ohh, I can’t wait until it comes in.
I’ve been writing a lot about spinning in the past week, and doing a lot of it too. It seems kind of fitting to be going through an upswing in my interest, because today starts the National Spinning and Weaving Week. I’ve decided I’m going to celebrate this week by (attempting) t0 post every day *something* about spinning. Since I’m not doing enough spinning to post about each new thing every day, I’m going to have to get creative. Time to look a little closer at this craft and my thoughts about it.
I’ve been doing a ton of reading at the Ravelry forums, especially in the spinning groups. There’s one thread where the poster asks the question, “Spindle or wheel?”. Most of the answers are for a wheel, some like their spindles but mostly use their wheel, and still fewer spindle spin only. I’ve never been able to answer this question, as I’ve never even touched a wheel let alone use one. I have aspirations to getting one some day, but I’m content with my spindles in the meantime. I wonder though, how I’ll feel once I try and get a new wheel. Will I turn away from the spindles and not look back? Will I spin more with the wheel? Will I hate the wheel, and prefer the more manual feel of a spindle? My only hope is that I still enjoy spindle spinning just as much, because I really love the connection to history that using such a simple tool gives me. Spinning wheels in various forms have been around for a long time, but spindles much much longer.
It’s funny how so much of my knitting and spinning brings it all back to history in a way. Thinking of the tools I use and how they little differ from what has been used. Learning about the textile histories of different regions. While thinking about this post, I intended it more to be my thoughts on spindles and wheels, but its drifting more towards spinning tools in general and their historical predecessors.
So, while I know when I’m using my Golding “RingSpindle” with its metal ring on the whorl, and when I some day get a spinning wheel with all its new design elements they are different from the tools originally used for spinning, the process is still exactly the same as what it originally was right from the very start. Stretch out the fiber, and add a bit of twist.
2 Comments | Categories: Spinning |
Entry: Quietly Knitting
Author: Hishandmaid
Time: February 27, 2010, 10:57 am
Comment: Very adorable!
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