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In knitting news, I've started the second side of my Hello Kitty illusion scarf. Here's the first negative-image Hello Kitty:
Also realized that the Happy Heart and Happy Star I came up with count as Original Designs (since I just made 'em up as I went), so I'll be posting those cuties so other folks can do them at some point. Really need to get my Rav designer name linked with my name so I can upload my photos...!
Since the giving up of buying all craft-related things for Lent, I've probably saved a LOT of money by (a) having to find things in my stash and (b) having an excuse to tell the little "ooooo, buy me that!" voice in my head to hush. I've gone into craft stores, mind you - both Michael's & A.C. Moore looking for things for my husband (not to buy for me; he actually needs stuff sometimes) and walked out without anything for anyone. (Miracles happen.) Anyway, saw a few things I might look into later:
18th Century Embroidery Techniques by Gail Marsh. (I love reading Regency romances, but I absolutely ADORE Georgian-era fashions.) There's also one for the 19th Century.
On the art side, I'm in love with all things Tiffany, especially the glass windows. I have patterns to make several windows and lamps, and a couple of cross-stitch kits (that FINALLY got re-released!!!). The idea of a coloring book/small pattern book just makes me happy!
What I read last week: Double Deceit, Emily Hendrickson, December 1990, (ISBN: 0451168534)
First off, let me just say that I love Regency romances. The entire point of Regency romance, as a genre, is The Good Guys Win, Love Conquers All, and there is ALWAYS a Happy Ending. Since they're all set within a thirty-year time frame, there's limited need for set-up: it's entering a familiar world, every time. The stories usually follow the (frequently rocky) road to love and romance of a heroine (or hero, once in a while) as she forges her way through the haute ton, at least one impulsive act leading to trouble, and at least one horrid misunderstanding that Threatens to Ruin All. In the purest form of the genre, the payoff at the end of the story is the couple's first kiss - or maybe the wedding. While Georgette Heyer is the acknowledged grande dame of the genre, and granted, Julia Quinn, Cathy Maxwell and Stephanie Laurens certainly sell a lot of books (by expanding the genre to include sex - and frequently lots of it), my favorite of them all is Emily Hendrickson. Double Deceit is one of the spicier of Ms. Hendrickson's offerings (There's a kiss! Well before the last chapter! There's flirting! With a Married Man!!!), but again, one of my favorites. (I should add at this point that I'm quite certain I own every Signet romance she published, and still keep an eye out at book sales "just in case" - although I know I have them all.
The Back of the Jacket: Miss Caroline Beauchamp had accepted a very tricky task. She had to seduce Lord Hugh Stanhope, the handsome husband of her dearest friend, Mary Stanhope, to break the hold that an infamous beauty had on the vulnerable Viscount. But she also faced an even greater challenge. She had to bedazzle the most renowned rake in the realm, Lord Giles Rutledge, to keep him from making Mary his latest conquest.
Caroline knew as she began her juggling act of deception that letting down her guard would mean disaster...and falling in love would be even worse...
Genre(s): Regency Romance (Yes, it is it's own genre. So there.)
Audience: Pretty much anyone. I, personally, think many of them would make delightful bedtime stories (although mum/dad should do a read-through first, just in case there are slightly spicy scenes. Rare, but they happen.)
Online Extras: Yay, she has a website!!! I didn't know that!
Reading Time: Usually half a day, if that. But delightfully spent.
Recommend: Absolutely, positively. I read a lot. Given how much I knit, I really shouldn't have time for eating - but I tend to eat at least two meals a day at work (by myself), and I don't want food on my knitting, so - I read. I'm not reading as much as I usually do, since the Monster Yarn Pattern Project thing is taking over chunks of my evenings (it's going to be a while before there's little enough yarn left for it to be a "portable project"), so I'll share what I've been reading. It's pretty eclectic, and I'm not a critic. Pretty much anything I pick up, I read; I don't tend to pick up things I don't think I'll finish. Don't expect anything in-depth, but you may find something you hadn't heard of that you might want to track down to read yourself.
Okay, so, progress is finally happening on the Masters stuff. (Good thing, since I'm going to be registering for the "On Your Way to the Masters" stuff at the convention!) Here are my final two swatches, #13 and #15 ("design your own").
Yes, that's The Hat in the background.
Since I'm not sure I'm sending that one in,
I've been using it to store my finished swatches.
This week's tasks:
- Write up pattern for swatch #15.
- Write report on blocking & care of knits.
I can do that, right?
So, as you may have noticed, I'm a knitting enabler. (And, okay, for cross-stitch, too... the term "pusher" may have been used in reference to me and Q-Snaps on occasion.) And I've finally embraced that.
My brother (not an actual blood relation, but it counts, trust me - and I'm only making this disclaimer so my cousin (an actual relation) doesn't freak out about Previously Unknown Relatives when she reads this) announced that he needed a hobby, preferably something that involved fun things like "manual dexterity" and "thinking" so it would be a break from his computer-laden world. Juggling was suggested (and promptly discarded)... and I immediately thought of knitting.
I could hear him rolling his eyes on the other end of the line. He did, however, after a few minutes, sigh heavily and say "Sure, if you want to get together a starter kit or something..." and another sigh. So, hitting the stash, I found some nice, normal sized knitting needles, yarn (in a manly black) to go with, some shiny acrylic needles just because, and some bigger yarn I had lying around. (Yeah, I have bulky weight orange yarn lying around. Anyone suprised? Really?) I knitted up a little swatch to show how things should go, and tagged it. I tried, unsuccessfully, to hunt down a copy of Michael Del Vecchio's "Knitting with Balls", which I SWEAR I've seen on a shelf recently, but after two craft stores, half a dozen bookstores and even calling my local yarn shops (I didn't quite dare just drop by, yarn would've happened), I don't have a copy. Instead, there are sticky notes and instructions for finding every local yarn store within twenty-five miles of his house (ONE IS ON HIS STREET!!!!), Ravelry, Knittinghelp.com, and Knitty.
Yeah, probably a bit overboard - but since it's all stuff I had on hand (mostly), and he didn't say "NO, NO, NO, NOT KNITTING! NOT THAT!!!!" I'll be popping it in the mail tomorrow. With a list of yarn stores in his area. And yarn groups.
(Cute single guys who knit stumbling with questions into knitting stores/groups? Yeah, eventually he'll figure out why I'm REALLY trying to get him started on this hobby. Hopefully, there are nice single girls looking for nice single guys at some of the groups/stores...!)
Oh, and just because, a photo of the entire Trainspotted Scarf.
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: Moss Stitch Border Diamonds (#28), Moss Stitch Parallelograms (#29), Parallelograms (#30) and Parallelograms II (#31)
First up, the Moss Stitch Border Diamonds. It's 23 stitches across, just like the last pattern from last week, so they "go" nicely together. (See, I told you I'd tell you why I didn't mind going all the way out to 23 stitches last week. I knew this was coming.)
Right Side
Wrong Side
Things I noticed about this pattern: Wow. That's a lot of stitches for a "pattern". I mean, seriously - this swatch is a dishcloth by itself. (Note to self: you now have a dishcloth pattern you like.) On the other hand, I can see doing a lovely blanket or large-man's sweater (as opposed to a large man's sweater) out of it. And is it just me, or is there just a hint of X-Men logo here? (It's probably just me.) I actually prefer the wrong side - with the big stockinette X - to the right side - with the big reverse-stockinette X.
Detail
Here's Moss Stitch Parallelograms. We're back to the easy math with this one; a ten stitch repeat means two repeats, with five seed stitch border stitches before and after. Since it's a six row pattern, I did four repeats, for a total of 24 rows, and then did Row 1 again, just to bring out the pattern. So, starting on the wrong side, there are five rows of seed stitch between this pattern and the next.
Things I noticed about this pattern: The parallelograms don't really show up well - blocking might help, but I'm not certain. It was very easy to get "lost" as to which side of the strip I was on, front or back - I was being bad, and not using my red and green here's-the-border stitch markers for some reason. I'm not sure if I'd use this one, since there are other moss stitch variations - and parallelogram variations - that I like better.
Speaking of, here is just plain Parallelograms, which is my favorite of the parallelogram options. Again, it's 2 repeats of a 10-stitch pattern, with five seed stitch border stitches before and after. Since it's a ten row pattern, I did two repeats, for twenty rows, then did Row 1 again to define the pattern. So, once again, only five rows of seed stitch are supposed to be between this and the next pattern, but I got a little confused and knit seven by accident. Hey, it happens, and it looks fine.
Things I noticed about this pattern: Once you've figured this one out, it goes quickly. The setup of the parallelograms allows the swatch to lie flat, so blocking wouldn't be necessary, and the parallelograms are well-defined. It resembles the Mock Cables from last week, but for some reason, I like it much, much better. (Possibly because it's not trying to pretend to be something it's not?) It was interesting to knit, but not so interesting I really had to pay attention to every stitch.
Finally, here is Parallelograms II. For the third time this week, it's 2 repeats of a 10-stitch pattern, with five seed stitch border stitches before and after. Since it's a 24 row pattern, I did one repeat, with Row 1 repeated after that to bring out the pattern, so there will be five rows of seed stitch AGAIN between this and the next pattern.
Things I noticed about this pattern: It pulls in a *lot* - sort of curly both ways, which means it has to be blocked. The "knit or purl on WS, whichever stitch is facing you" makes it easy, as long as you remember which side of the strip you're knitting. Looking at it makes me think of underarm gussets. I'm wondering if there's anything to that...
Anyway, next week will bring some excitement, since it's almost time to start putting the strips together. Actually having them attached to each other is the best way (for me) to make sure that they'll actually wind up the same length. For some reason, six foot strips of worsted-weight knitting aren't as cooperative as you might think!! 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!
