Double knitting WIN!

Today, I learned double knitting - and actually got it correct this time! I took Melissa Leapman's class (the second class I've taken from her), "Two Color Double Knitting". First, we just did one color on side A, one color on side B, then switched:

Then, we had to try it with a pattern. With the magic of "here's how the color change goes" and "keep that color close/on top"... it WORKED! I continued my class swatch and tried to upside-down the chart from that to see if I could ... and it WORKED! I can do double knitting!

Of course, Melissa had some truly stunning things to show us. The first was the totally reversible baby blanket; then there were double-knit hats that were two completely different patterns on each side. SO COOL! (If the Double Sided Double Knit Hat class is offered next year, I'm taking it!)


There's out there, somewhere, an amazing guy named Alistair who does multi-color double knitting with completely different pictures on each side. I'm going to try to find some images of his stuff, if possible; it sounds BEYOND cool!!

O.W.L. Swatch - Evenstar Shawl

I finally did my OWL swatch for the Evenstar Shawl. The yarn is so soft and fluffy and mohair-y... yeah, I'd better not make any mistakes. It doesn't TINK well, to put it mildly. But, on size 3 needles, I was to get a 6" x 4" swatch and I pretty much nailed it. Once I got the hang of the kfb4-k2tog and kfb7-k3tog stitches, things went (a bit more) smoothly.




I added beads to the shawl, too. I wanted them to be *subtle* accents, and they're so subtle they don't show up well on camera. They twinkle ever so prettily in RL, though, so I'll be using them. Three thousand of them, evidently.


I can also use this swatch to turn in for my "S"-is-for Swatch tile in STUFF.


Which will leave me with the "F" for Fix, and the "T" for Tidy. Still have some work to do on both of those!!

STUFFF!!!

Yesterday, STUFFF was announced at Hogwarts! First, everyone who wanted to play got a lovely letter from the Games Committee:

Dear Student,

Congratulations!

We are delighted to inform you that you have been accepted into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Wizarding Games Committee Holiday Tournament!

In your application, you expressed interest in competing in the Wizard Scrabble Tournament. Therefore, we are pleased to assign this game to you.

As you are well aware, there is one main difference between Muggle Scrabble and Wizarding Scrabble. For the Wizarding game, you do not simple draw tiles out of a bag. Instead, you must first collect the letter tiles by completing various tasks before being able to play.

It is this aspect of the game you will be exploring!

This year we have been kindly sponsored by the proprietors of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, and as such are able to offer you some highly exclusive tiles to add to your gaming collection!

The Tournament will commence on August 1st and will involve many exciting activities for you to participate in.

We look forward to seeing you.

Sincerely,
Hogwarts Wizarding Games Committee.

Then, the Rules were explained, since not everyone has played Wizarding Scrabble before. There are six letters available to the players for this match: S, T, U, and three Fs. To get them, one must complete the task set forth for each letter:

S: Swatch: Swatch for your next term's OWLs, NEWTS, or other sort of project that's swatchable. Or why not try swatching for a technique new to you, by joining in with one of our swatch-along weeks!

T: Tidy: Organize your stash, project bin, books, needles, or otherwise tidy something physical that is crafting related!

U: Update: Update your Ravelry project, stash and queue pages!

F: Fix: These are your Reparos!

F: Finish: Bust those WIPS!

F: Frog: Just had enough? Frog it!

"For each task you complete, you will earn the corresponding letter (and you can earn them all more than once!) Try to collect them all!"
I made my own Ravatar for while I'm playing:


Now, let's see how many letters I can get!

Yay, it's not bronchitis!!!

This has not been a good week, health-wise, but I've been cleared to go outdoors starting tomorrow - in small doses. I expect to be back to work next week, which is sooner than I was worried I'd be allowed back. (Had one of my friends call today to make sure I wasn't dying. Seriously. But it's a warm fuzzy feeling to know I've been missed.)

Anyway, in between bouts of hacking up a lung/sleeping for fifteen hours straight, I had enough energy to lie in bed and knit, so I got a major part of my DADA OWL out of the way. Here's my turn-in post, otherwise known as "everything I've done this week, except for hacking up lungs and sleeping a heck of a lot".

Hello, Professor. This is CraftyGryphon, Fourth Year Slytherin, turning in what I hope will be enough for a 50% OWL for Defense Against the Dark Arts. I had originally stated that "I was going to call the first 50% twelve swatches (because then there is still the hat in the second half), at least 12 completed questions (because at least four questions require finished swatches)." Thanks (??) to a wretched cold that yielded a lot of time where moving my forearms to knit was the extent of my physical activity, I was able to knit all sixteen swatches...



... and start The Dreaded Hat.



I expect I will need to re-knit the hat at least once (in the case that it does not block to the measurements required), and I plan to re-knit Swatch #15, "choose your own cable" swatch to make certain I've written the pattern for it correctly. I expected to have 12 of the 18 questions finished. I have eight completely done, with footnotes, and another two with blanks for citations. Of the remaining eight questions, four are partially completed, and four I'm just staring at with dread (the gauge/swatch comparison questions.)

I have a rough draft of my blocking report; it needs citations, and needs the section written on "how I blocked my swatches" - which isn't written yet because as you can tell from the photo, the swatches are not yet blocked.

Since I finished more swatches (and hat!) than expected, I am hoping this is enough to count as 50% for the DADA OWL. (I figured I would turn in to check, so that if I needed to make changes, I'd still have a few weeks to do so.)

Thanks for reading, Professor, and I hope this is enough work to qualify.

That's it, I'm going back to sleep now. Hopefully, regular blogging - and health - will resume next week!!

Quidditch Sweater - Started (twice)!

There was a lot of drama in HPKCHC over the weekend (henceforth, "The Kerfuffle"); I'm still digesting it. I'm certainly staying in the Cup for the rest of the month, and probably the rest of the term (once I calm down a bit) - if only to make sure Slytherin gets the cup back. After that, I'm not sure; if, say, Durmstrang starts up, I'll probably enroll there. Right now, I'm just plain angry, and trying to keep my (potentially not-useful/harmful) comments out of there. One of the "healing activities" started up is to contribute to the Quidditch Essay (... don't ask), and this is what I came up with:

To me, being a Slytherin is being able to be myself, in all my crazy-ambitious it-is-TOO-possible-just-watch-me! glory.
It's having a House where people understand that the gift of ambition and drive to make things better in whatever framework one is dealt is exactly that: a gift that should be used and nurtured.
It's having encouragement to reach for the seemingly impossible, dream of a bright tomrrow, and work hard to bring it into reality.
It's knowing that brilliance, harnessed and directed, can make things better than we ever imagined.
My House is Slytherin, and together, we can change the world.

A big part of why I've enjoyed HPKCHC is because of the House of Slytherin, as it was before last Friday. Our (former) HoH and the Crazy As (who, along with the Deputy Headmistress, aren't in the Cup anymore) really encouraged everyone to do the best they could, and I've been able to pull off more spectacular and fun projects since last May than I could've dreeamed possible. As it turns out, this has actually been a really good thing for my mental health: I thrive on feelings of accomplishment, of "there, that's done," and creativity. The Cup has outlets for both - insane deadlines, and chances to make up designs (so far this term - Arithmancy, Flying), play with existing designs (DADA, History of Magic & Charms - and my OWL), or actually follow designs as written (I'll let you know if that happens). If you've seen my house, you know that it takes a good long time to get anything accomplished around it - it happens, it's just slow. Knitting/crocheting for the Cup is nigh-immediate, since at times, I can finish a class assignment in one day!

So, I'm staying in the Cup for now, since, and now it's about the POINTZ. (And I'm staying mostly in The Slytherin Dungeon, run by my ex-HoH, but will pop into the new Dungeon & the Cup from time to time). I want ALL THE POINTZ!!! I've already turned in (and gotten credit for) five of the six "points" class possible - and hopefully, there will be lots of bonus points. I'll be wearing my "Scarlett's Army" Quidditch Ravatar from here on in, so we'll see.

On the POINTZ front, I started my Quidditch sweater. I was a good little bunny, and even did a swatch!


The swatch, however, IS A LIAR. A big, fuzzy LIAR. I measured, and got 20st=4". Which, somehow in my brain, turned into "cast on 360 stitches". (Which, in the cold light of day after a few nights' good sleep, I realize should have been "cast on 260" - math after midnight should be banned.) But even with considerations of Math Failure, the sweater was 200 stitches too big, not 100. Even my poor math skills can't save this swatch from being branded the lying liar it is!!


So, Monday night, still shaking from The Kerfuffle, I ended up ripping out 7,200 stitches and casting on again, this time with 160 stitches. Just before work on Tuesday, I was almost back to where I'd been when I had to frog:


I've gotten quite a bit further along now - it's amazing what knitting 200 fewer stitches per row will do for my knitting speed.


Hopefully, this will be done this week - by the end of the weekend at least? - and I'll have POINTZ for Slytherin - and be able to start on the matching necktie, hat, gloves, socks and (hopefully) plaid skirt. Yes, POINTZ IS ALL!!!

Storage Unit Yarn will Save The Day

I have to say, doing HPKCHC is making me a much more prolific knitter, which requires I become a more efficient knitter as well. I'm not faster (noticeably?), but my Knitting Time is carefully budgeted. And usually related to "hey, what's the next deadline?"

Since my O.W.L. requires me to wear hot, sticky gloves (which I can only bear for about an hour or so at a time), that's my commuting/lunchtime project, which gives me a wee bit of time in the late evening to do something else, and next-up on the deadline list is my homework for the classes I'm taking at the TKGA convention the first week in July. I've got one class knitted (but not washed & blocked, which for this one, is required - it's Arenda Holladay's Gauge Class):


Once I've got my four classes done, the next thing up is to get a WORKABLE plush finch going for my dad. I'd like to give him a nestful, but the results thus far haven't been great - so I'm blaming the wool. Luckily, the top/front yarn bin in the storage unit yielded this:


... which will work great. Actual finches are kinda colored like this:


Photo by Sally Isacco, Chardon Ohio, April 21, 2009
And the chicks look like this:


Photo by Amazing Grace Photography, May 18, 2007
I'm going to try to hit something between the two, since the point of the little plush birds is to use Caron "Feathers" in the Purple Finch colorway:


No, I couldn't find a better pic on the 'net.
Plus, I think it's been discontinued.
I'm figuring two-stranding. Over purple worsted wool didn't work, so I'll be trying worsted white, and sport-weight blue, sparkly blue and purple to see what gives me the best result. Need to have these done before I get on the plane headed north. Should be interesting to see what I get; my dad's a birder, and I don't want to embarrass him (or myself) with something that doesn't look even remotely correct. (I at least need to get the eyes/beak/feet the correct colors, for example.)

In completely different news, this morning, as I was already running late to work, my last-ditch effort at getting caffeine was almost aborted. See that "Coke Zero" sticker here?


Yeah. That one. The one that's clearly pasted over my Cherry Coke button. The ONLY place downtown I could score Cherry Coke, which doesn't seem to cause me as many issues as Dr. Pepper... which is now my only option. Grrrrr. This combined with having to wait another 40min out in the heat (I don't DO heat) until my bus finally showed up to get me to work late (unsurprisingly), pretty much put a dimmer on my day. Things had better go swimmingly otherwise today, or There Will Be Cranky!!

Masters Monday: Week 48, and counting

At the end of February (Week 40), I made the following list, to keep myself on track.

"So, here's how the end of the Masters went. My idea was if I made the list as if I'd done everything, maybe it would get done. The stuff in italics is when it ACTUALLY happened - if it has yet!

1. Knit final two swatches. actually done Week 46 & 47 - they're done now
   See? Here's Swatch 2. Done, done, done.
   Best k1p1 rib EVER.
   And blocking facedown seems to work well...
2. Write pattern. actually done Week 40!!
3. Write report. Remember it's not "write a book", and keep it clear, simple, and BRIEF. STILL NOT DONE.
4. Clean and block all 16 swatches. actually done Week 43 - and 46 &47
5. Weave in ends of all swatches. actually done Week 46, except for Swatch 2, which is still drying.
6. Write tags for swatches, pin to swatches. Written, but swatches have threads, so tagging will be easy if I do it?
7. Clean and block hat. Turns out original hat is actually pretty good. Still needs to be blocked, woven in, and pompom attached.
8. Add pompom to hat.
9. Add tag to hat. Must remember to make tag for hat!
10. Answer all the questions, with at least two citations for each. Getting closer to this, actually. Possible finish today or tomorrow.
11. Assemble binder, using, as appropriate, top load or side load pages. actually done Week 46, for the most part. Just need to add Swatch 2, questions, hat, report...
12. Double check everything so there aren't any dumb mistakes.
13. Have third party double-check everything so there aren't any super-obvious dumb mistakes. (The third party is likely to be my husband, who doesn't knit, but at least he can read and count, so if I'm missing something major, he should spot that, right? Right?)
14. Pack as-lightweight-as-possible sturdy box, triple-checking address.
15. Check everything one more time. Double check again. Swear I've forgotten something, check again. Find no obvious errors. Make husband check everything again. Check one more time. Seal box. Open box, swearing I've forgotten something. Have husband drag me out of the house with re-sealed box, and drive me to the post office before I can go completely bonkers, since clearly, I've forgotten SOMETHING.
16. Watch husband mail box... (since he knows if he lets me anywhere near it, I'll open it again because, you know, I SWEAR I've forgotten something - are all my swatches in the right pocket? Are the tags in the correct corner? Are the tags on the correct swatches? Is my pompom actually secure on my hat? Did I remember to number the questions? Are my citations actually linked to the correct question answers? Did I remember to put page numbers on the report? Is the report too long? Oh no, what if the report is too SHORT? Did I remember to say not to iron bamboo yarn, it might burst into flame? Did I get the address correct? Did I get MY address correct?) ...with delivery confirmation.
17. Sit in car, stunned that it's out of my hands at last.

This makes me laugh a LOT, because I've also got even OLDER lists that had me mailing everything during Week 26. Here it is, Week 48 - one month until everythin MUST be turned in, or I have to start all over again.

Hopefully, I'll actually finish up this week?? I mean, it's possible, right?

Yarn on Thursday: Stitch Edition - Week Fourteen!

The project: Knitting all the stitches in KnittingOnTheNet.com's Stitch Directory.
The yarn: Anything you want. I'm using a Phentex "Monster Ball of Yarn" (32 oz. 100% acrylic), which won't block, but will give good stitch definition.
The needles: Again, whatever you want that goes with your yarn. I'm using my beloved Lantern Moon size 7s, because they're pretty.
Why this is happening: Because lots of people want to learn new stitches this year!

This week's stitches: #45 - Twin Rib, #46 - Two By Two Rib, #47 - Windmill and #48 - Woven Stitch.

First up, Twin Rib. It's a six stitch repeat, so I did six seed stitches, eighteen pattern stitches, then six more seed stitches per row. It's a two row pattern, so six vertical repeats was quite enough to let you see what's going on. There are six rows of seed stitch before the next swatch.




What I noticed about this pattern: It's a nice little rib variant, and is identical (from left to right) on both sides. Unlike a normal rib, though, it doesn't pull in on itself. I'd block it to line up the vertical columns of knit stitch (or purl stitch, depending on where you're looking at any given instant). The "obvious" curl in the photo isn't really there; I was just having a heck of a time getting a combination of "good light" and "flat surface", some of which depended on my sense of balance, late in the evening.

The Two by Two Rib is your classic bottom-of-a-sweater ribbing. It has a four stitch repeat (or "multiple of 4"+2). I opted for the plain four stitches, five times, for twenty pattern stitches flanked by five seed stitches per side. Again, it doesn't take long to get the idea behind this stitch, so I whipped up 20 rows pretty quickly. There are six rows of seed stitch before the next swatch.


What I noticed about this pattern: Tricks I learned from my TKGA classes: tug on the working yarn just a wee bit when switching from k to p and from p to k, and all the stitches line up and look lovely, without one column of stitches being obviously bigger/more spaced out than the ones next to it. But man, oh man - it pulls in, just like it's supposed to. (I even broke out the White Table background so you could see, clearly, just how much a k2p2 rib pulls in on itself!) Ribbing isn't usually blocked, but if you wanted the look without the pulling-in, you'd have to block pretty harshly!

Windmill is a wide one - twelve stitches, which means two repeats. So, I did three seed stitches, twenty-four pattern stitches, and three seed stitches per row. It's also a long one - fourteen rows per repeat, so I did two repeats over twenty-eight rows. There are six rows of seed stitch before the next swatch.


What I noticed about this pattern: It's triangles, with a twist! Boxed triangles, but rotated! I really like it. Failing to remember that there's two rows of p6/k6 between direction-switches lost me a row somewhere in the first repeat, but I compensated by finishing the swatch with only one row. So it's really over 26 rows, instead of 28, as it should be. (Give me enough Benadryl, and I'm unlikely to care if I've completely mucked up a pattern. Allergy season will end soon, right?

Finally, Woven Stitch is, I think, one of my newly-discovered favorites. It's a "(multiple of 4)+2" stitch, which means moving to four seed stitches before and after the pattern area. I did three vertical repeats of the pattern, since I liked it so much! There are six rows of seed stitch before the next swatch.


What I noticed about this pattern: Basketweave effect, without having to remember where the knit row goes. (You don't want to know how wonky I can make basketwork look if there's a really interesting bit on the telly.) It's easy to remember, and would make an interesting fill or all-over pattern. I may try to replace my first-ever actual basketweave sweater (long since donated in hopes someone it actually fits will find it) with a Woven Stitch sweater. It's easy. It lies flat. It's just wonderful!

This ends the first part of the master Stitch Pattern list. The next group of stitches will be *all* be reversible - there are 28 Reversible stitches on the list, but I've already covered all but seven of them! Of these seven, several are also on the Master List as "Unique" and others are "Lace". You'll see!

A note on the whole project: Since there are 139 stitch patterns (some are listed under multiple headings), plus 7 different edgings in KnittingOnTheNet.com's Stitch Directory, I'll be trying to do two to three stitches a week, minimum. This should get everyone a goodly number of new stitches by the end of the year, and hopefully get me a blanket. No worries if you "fall behind" or "start late" - this is for fun & education, there isn't *really* a time limit of any sort on it. If you're just discovering this project, this link will take you to the beginning, and this link will pull up all the related entries. Just knit on, and have fun!

Masters Monday...

Ye gods & leetle fishes - it's week 47. WEEK 47. There are only 52 weeks in a year - this is Not Good! Luckily, actual progress has been made. First, I re-knit swatches 1 & 2 so the ribbing would be long enough. I have to say, all the entrelac I've been doing has really helped neaten up the edges of my knitting!


Before


After
I decided to keep the "your choice of cable" swatch that I've done, since it looks Very Very Pretty, and I have the pattern written. If it isn't approved, I have a Celtic something in reserve. So, all my swatches are done. I unpinned them one at a time and wove in their ends, then put them in their binder sleeves (quickly, with temporary tags, so I wouldn't get them mixed up!). Can I just say there is a LOT of end-weaving over sixteen swatches - and lots and LOTS in the two-color swatch (ten, to be precise)?

After careful consideration, I decided the following:

1. I have to re-knit swatch #2 AGAIN. I know it doesn't have to be "perfect" - but I'd really like the SIMPLE STOCKINETTE swatch to look as flawless as possible. At least I know how many rows I need to knit for the 2.5" (18) k1p1, and how many for the 4" stockinette (32).
2. Once trimmed and fluffed, the hat pom pom looks very pretty:
3. Writing out lots of little green index cards takes forever, especially when concerned about "legibility" and "accuracy". Since I don't actually have most of my references tablulated yet, I'm just writing out the card framework.
   
   
4. Given how much of the middle room of my house, and how much of the weekend, I had set up for this project, it's amazing how little I actually got tone.

But it's progress, and I actually have Swatches In A Binder. Now, if I can just get everything ELSE in the binder, I'll be all set!!

Master's Monday - actual photographic progress!

Well, it's time to block the swatches (finally). I've been putting it off due to a combination of worrying that once blocked, I'll discover that they all suck, and I have no hope of ever passing Level 1 and... well, mostly just discovering that they suck. Which, of course, would mean that I can't *actually* knit, and I'm just managing to fool everyone into thinking I can. So, having "saved" some old exercise machine floor mats, I coated them in clean, white (waterproof... mostly) plastic.


Then, I sorted out the swatches. My other great fear is that somehow, I'd get them mixed up - turn in "lifted increases" as "K2tog/SSK" or something. (Hey, it could happen. It *has* happened to people. This whole thing can be nervewracking.) So, staying in their little baggies with their little lables, I placed them on the blocking boards. Believe it or not, that actually took some courage.


Once that was done, it was time to get blocking. Which actually took about an hour and a half and all the stainless-steel ball-head pins I could find. Most of swatches 13-16 are pinned with lace pins - which are tiny, and easy to mistake the pointy end for the allegedly unpointy end. (Don't worry, I didn't bleed on the swatches.) But I wanted the edges square, and the cables un-squooshed, and the lace holes really open. Everything needed to look pretty. Then it was a case of setting them up somewhere I could douse them thoroughly. Completely independently of anything having to do with knitting (really), my husband recently purchased a drying rack. Which, of course, was perfect...


... and then I hit these little swatches with my trusty spray bottle, and got 'em soaked. (I love my trusty spray bottle.)


I let them dry for most of the day in the shower, then, once they weren't actively dripping, moved them to the Offical Drying Site in front of the heater vent in the living room. It was looking like we wouldn't be needing heat at all... and then Friday, the temperature plummeted, so the heat was on.

Well, as long as I was soaking things, I decided to make a two-color floppy pom-pom for The Hat. I don't actually have a pom-pom maker, but was able to make one out of the insides of a CD game - Peggle, if you're curious. If you play free online, you get ten levels, which is plenty to get addicted. If you do the free download, you get more... but then the game will stop working when you hit a certain point. Since I'm totally addicted, I got so good at the ten free levels that there wasn't really a challenge - so I went ahead and got the CD for Peggle. I also got Peggle Nights. Peggle. It's addictive. You've been warned. Anyway, it made a lovely pom-pom maker:




And a nice, two-color pom pom. I ended up hanging it off the end of my swift, which lives in the corner by the heat vent... on top of large bins of yarn... in the living room. Hm. I need to do something about that one of these days, my yarn is taking over again.


Anyway, most of the swatches look absolutely fantastic... except for swatches 1 and 2. I very, very clearly did NOT do 2.5" of ribbing for either of them, which is a shame, since the garter or stockinette part is FANTASTIC. But only having to reknit 2 out of 16? And the other 16 are DONE? That's pretty darned fantastic! I have also made up a label form that I just need to fill out:

Swatch # 6 - Lifted Increase          Materials: References:      Cast on:      Stockinette:      Lifted increase (left-slanting):      Lifted increase (right-slanting):      Bind off:

So, this week, it's reknitting the two swatches, trimming and attaching the pom-pom, filling out and attaching the labes, and answering the measuring/gauge question. Then it's just finishing the writing. I can get this out the door by mid-April, right?

It's been almost a week since I started a new project, so...

Got some things finished. Got my best friend's long-overdue wedding sampler pillow door-hanger thing to her, and she loved it. (Yay!). Mailed the box of Yarn Goodies to my brother, which included this instructional swatch:


And, in a fit of yarny optimism which I'm blaming squarely on my favorite knitter-down-under, RandomKnits, I actually pulled out supplies (!) and did a proper schematic (!!) and swatched (!!!) for Girl From Auntie's Rogue Hooded Pullover (aka the Rogue Hoodie). I've had the pattern for years now, and kept *meaning* to start it, since I love it (and, let's face it, there was always the hope that I'd suddenly lose 50 pounds, which would mean it would be a much smaller, less-yarn-requiring, faster knit). Through the magic of Twitter, I learned that half a world away, someone was casting on... thus, I was compelled to follow suit. But, darnint, after the Argyle Hearts sizing disaster of Ravelympics 2010, I was going to do it RIGHT. I want to be able to wear this thing when I'm done with it!!

As there are limited options for patterns that will actually fit over my hips and understand that "big butt" doesn't mean "super-long arms", I'm getting pretty good at altering patterns to fit. So, first, I write out what the designer's sizing hints are in my "Naughty" notebook. (Hey, it was a dollar at Michael's before Christmas; I have a "Nice" one, too, but I didn't grab it when I needed something to scribble my Hello Kitty reverse pattern in. So, it's my knitting notebook now). Then, the joyous task of sizing myself, while wearing the clothes I'm going to wear under the hoodie, so the blasted thing will fit over them. This - not so fun.Then deciding which measurements can be kept honest (such as length of arms), and which should probably have more ease added. (Darn you, hips!)


Then, swatching. And measuring, and swatching again, and re-measuring, just to make sure. Looks like I get a gauge of 4.5 stitches per inch, and... and I hope I wrote down the row gauge somewhere. Anyway, once I know how many inches I'm gonna get, I can actually put the sweater on graph paper. This tells me that (a) I'm short waisted, (b) I'm going to be putting the kangaroo pocket a bit higher than "normal" for comfort and (c) six skeins of yarn should be Quite Enough. I'm doing it in a lovely chocolate brown color, rather than the green I'd originally intended, because the yarn called to me. (Yarn does that, you know.) Then there was casting on.

Sunday night, during the Oscars, I cast on and managed to knit 10 rows of twisted stockinette (not bad). Sadly, Monday, I discovered that I'd somehow managed to cast on an extra FORTY stitches. Frog, frog, frog went the pretty sweater beginning. (It'll at least be quicker to reknit those 10 rows with 400 less stitches, right?) Then there was the long-tail cast on, performed twice as a not-long-enough cast on, followed by a much-too-long-tail cast on, which I deemed was just fine by me.


Then there was the knitting eight rows, and discovering the danged thing was twisted - and I KNOW it wasn't at one point, so how the heck did this happen??


Eight rows it takes to notice the dang thing is twisted. Grrr.
So, it was all frogged AGAIN, and this time, screw it. I did a cable cast on (just not being up to Yet Another too not-enough or too-much long-tail cast on), and knitted the first row back across, so there's a DEFINITE direction the stitches should be if they're not twisted.


Then I carefully put the whole thing down on the counter, and got the stitches all going the way they should before starting the second row in the round:


No way will twisting happen AGAIN.
(And it didn't. You would've heard the screams.)
Let me add that two complete frogs and several partial frogs of this sweater has resulted in a pile of chocolate brown yarn that will be an absolute bear to untangle. (Note to self: Frogging after 10pm is like feeding Gremlins. You won't like what you find in the morning.) The upside of the frogging? I was actually able to "try on" my little knitted loop before frogging, and discovered I had VASTLY overestimated the ease needed for my hips, so the rows are now a good four inches shorter than they were originally. I don't need to be wearing a hooded cabled muu-muu. So, finally, by the end of lunch on Tuesday, I had a big loop of brown stitches. This bit of knitting has the following characteristics:

1. It's the right size. The schematic will be amended accordingly.
2. It's not twisted. This means I may actually be able to keep knitting right up to the armpits this time.
3. I now have so much invested in this hoodie that there's no way I'm not finishing it by the end of April (dammit).
4. I think it's secretly laughing at me.

Anyway, knitting recommenced during commutes and lunches throughout the week. As of this morning, here's where I am:


Look! You can see the pointy bits of the knotwork started!!
There's hope I'll finish someday. (And hopefully before the Celtic festival at the end of April!)

Yarn on Thursday: Stitch Edition! - Week One

The project: Knitting all the stitches in KnittingOnTheNet.com's Stitch Directory.
The yarn: Anything you want. I'm using a Phentex "Monster Ball of yarn" (32 oz. 100% acrylic), which won't block, but will give good stitch definition.



The needles: Again, whatever you want that goes with your yarn. I'm using my beloved Lantern Moon size 7s, because they're pretty.
Why this is happening: Because lots of people want to learn new stitches this year!

This week's stitches:
Seed Stitch (#37) (for the borders), Basketweave (#1) and Basketweave II (#2). (It's a two-day week!)

Now, since this is the beginning, I started out by casting on 30 stitches using a long-tailed cast on, because I can cast on snugly AND because by the time I've cast on, row one is finished! If you prefer a different cast on, that's OK, too. 30 cast-on stitches gives me 20 stitches of "pattern area" with five stitches on either side. Remember, the first row is finished as I cast on, so I'm actually just knitting five more rows in seed stitch (the "over an even number of stitches" version) - making sure to start that first actual row of seed stitch with a p1 - since it's the "wrong side" of my work. If you're doing a cast-on that starts you so your first row of knitting is on the right side, start with a k1. (Right side row: always starts with a k1, wrong side with a p1, that's one way to tell where you are if you get confused. Late at night, this can happen.) These six (total) rows will be roughly the same "width" as the five on-the-sides stitches of seed stitch. This will make a very nice, flat fabric for the borders on either side of the pattern area, since each knit stitch will be on top of a purl stitch in the next row. (Also, since the eventual blanket will be knit in strips, once the strips are attached to each other, there will be a lot of seed stitch between each horizontal pattern area.)

NOTE: This version of Basketweave is a stitch pattern that calls for "(multiple of 8) + 5". (2x8)+5=21, so I'm going to lose a stitch off one of the side borders! I elected to lose the stitch on the left side (of the "right side" of the strip - yeah, it gets confusing!), so I'm placing markers after the first five stitches (this will be seed stitch in the "over an odd number of stitches" version) for the right-side border , then doing 21 pattern stitches, then placing a second marker, then stitching the four border stitches (seed stitch in the "over an even number of stitches" - however, make sure to start that second border with a knit stitch, so the pattern continues up seamlessly from the bottom border!).

First row containing "pattern area":
   (right side) k1, p1, k1, p1, k1 (border); k across (pattern); k1, p1, k1, p1 (border)
Second row containing "pattern area":
   (wrong side) p1, k1, p1, k1 (border); k5, p3, k5, p3, k5 (pattern); k1, p1, k1, p1, k1 (border)
Third row containing "pattern area":
   (right side): k1, p1, k1, p1, k1 (border); p5, k3, p5, k3, p5 (pattern); k1, p1, k1, p1 (border)

So, here I am, about to start the first row containing a pattern area. The "right side" (pretty side/front side) of the strip should be facing me/you. Here I am at the end of the second row containing the pattern stitch:


Since I want this to look pretty, I need to pay attention to how many rows equals one full repeat of the pattern: in this case, eight rows. I'd like around 20 to 24 rows of pattern in each pattern area. That works out nicely, since 3x8=24. So, I'll knit a total of 25 rows (or three full repeats) of the pattern (and edge stitches!) plus an extra row of knit across, because this pattern depends on those knit-across rows to make the Basketweave "pop". Not all patterns will need this extra row, but I think this one benefits from it. Now, since there's an "extra" pattern row, my seed stitch starts on the wrong side again - so again, I'm only knitting another five rows of seed stitch for the top border of this area (which will also be the bottom border of the next area).

Here's what it looks like once the top seed stitch border is finished:




Close-up of knit row, so you can see how it helps make the top of the pattern pop.


The current wallpaper on my desktop computer.
Things I noticed about this pattern: It's flat, but still has a lot of dimension, which shouldn't be harmed if blocked, due to the illusion of woven strips. Having that extra final "knit across" row really makes a difference! My first sweater ever was knitted entirely in Basketweave (see below). I ended up giving it away, eventually!

On to Basketweave II! This pattern works over a multiple of 10 stitches, so the first pattern row is 5 stitches in seed stitch, place marker, 20 stitches in pattern, place marker, 5 stitches in seed stitch.


Since this stitch works over a multiple of 12 stitches, I've got a winner - since 12x2=24! But again, it really wants that extra knit-across row - so, 25 rows later, I knit another five rows of seed stitch, and this is what I've got.


Things I noticed about this pattern: It's reversible, it's quick, and it lies flat on its own. Also needs that extra final "knit-across" row to pop. I'm pretty familiar with a variation on it, as it turns out: I thought I was making it up when I knit up my Checkerboard Headscarf!

A note on the whole project: Since there are 139 stitch patterns (some are listed under multiple headings), plus 7 different edgings in KnittingOnTheNet.com's Stitch Directory, I'll be trying to do two to three stitches a week, minimum. This should get everyone a goodly number of new stitches by the end of the year, and hopefully get me a blanket. No worries if you "fall behind" or "start late" - this is for fun & education, there isn't *really* a time limit of any sort on it. Just knit on, and have fun!

From 2006:


This is the first sweater I ever finished. I had started one other when I was about twelve, but never finished it. Next time I do a first something, I'm not going to use something on the level of a BASKETWEAVE as my first-try pattern!! I took the picture because, as you can see, it doesn't fit really well. It's almost a kimono... so it's donated. Hopefully, someone will like it!