Shedir, She Is Done

Shedir, finished object
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Yay, no more twisting of stitches! I had hoped to finish this in October, but time has a way of not cooperating! It was fun watching the pattern on the top of the hat appear--Flickr has photos of that, which you will see if you click on the photo link by the hat.

I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped to while teaching knitting, because the one student I thought I had turned into 5--but the pay for that will make up for taking two hours off work yesterday--hooray. And it is always fun to have a nice, friendly class of new knitters!

I brought in a lot of my new yarn purchases for show and tell (and the engagement ring) so I had a lot of fun doing that. And because I did that, Katie relinquished from hostage some lovely yarn from the Knitting Nest, the newest yarn store in town, which is in the color's of Lee's alma mater, St. Edward's University (here in Austin). He liked that I got that for him. I would love to visit that shop, but it is way south, so who knows when that will happen.


Everyone loved that Perchance to Knit yarn that is rainbow overdyed in black. You know a yarn is spectacular when the LYS owner is in awe of it!

I had fun helping people pick out yarn, too. I think if I worked at an LYS that would be my favorite part of the job.

Back to my Saturday football watching, and to wrap Shedir up with lots of love to send to its recipient!

PS: After mentioning the IK preview, I got home to find the magazine in my mailbox. Still not sure why the holiday issue never came, but the Winter one sure showed up promptly!

Physiological Fact, Jack

I am trying to finish the Shedir hat for the woman I know who has started chemo this week. I worked on it a lot last night--and discovered that one row is VERY easy for me to get "off" on--had to rip back a whole row in which only one stitch in 9 is NOT twisted. Doing that row twice caused my right wrist to begin to twinge and give that carpel tunnel-y feeling. Uh-oh. Good thing I now only have to do that particular row one more time.

As you can see from the photo, this is a very twist-intensive pattern. And it is very pretty! But I believe I have re-discovered a physiological and psychological fact about me: I don't like twisted or single traveling stitches in large doses. My hand gets all tingly, like when I crochet too fast for too long, and my mind gets tired of remembering which stitch to put the needle in first to successfully make the twist go the right way. I'd hoped this would be less of an issue when I totally stopped using cable needles, but it's still an issue. Plus, on that complicated row I keep forgetting to look down and see when I hit the edge of the motif.

"Gosh, Suna, they invented the stitch marker to help with that"
"But putting stitch markers between repeats makes me feel like a Baby Knitter."
"Oh, so you think you are too good for stitch markers?"
Gulp. Oops.
"Well, I am almost done with the main part of the hat now, so the point is moot."

I should have learned this when I tried the Circle of Friends Socks and gave up halfway down the first leg. It's not that I can't do it; I just don't enjoy it much. I like yarning over, knitting two together and slip-slip-knitting, like in lace. That doesn't hurt any part of me.

I admit it. I also don't like doing intarsia. I didn't like seed stitch until I started knitting the Continental Way.

What techniques or patterns do YOU like and dislike?

Off and Running

Wide Bordered Scarf Start
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I have to say that I love starting new projects, so I am glad to be off and running on two right now. Touching new yarns, figuring out new diagrams...oooh what fun. Sigh, still gotta finish that sock, though. I can't ignore it. All I did on it yesterday was erase two rows.

The Former Tangled Mess (hey, I think that will be the scarf's new name, since it has such a dud name in the book) now looks like the photo you see. Nice picture taken on top the clean white laundry basket! It doesn't look too bad, even before blocking!

I spent a bit of time pondering whether to make it with three border repeats (two are depicted here) or four. The Victorian Lace Today book's photo is of the scarf with three border repeats, while the instructions make a scarf with four. I was worried that I would not have enough of the yarn if I did four, but when I looked up how much yarn is in the skein, I knew I'd be OK--pattern calls for 400-something yards and I have 560. I should have enough left over for wrist warmers for ME or something. Jody volunteered to bring a scale to the LYS tomorrow and weigh the yarn to find out, too.

Though every pattern I have looked at in the VLT book has some "issue," I can't complain about the charts. They sure are easy to use (once properly interpreted) and keep me from losing my place! I haven't knitted a wrong row yet!

I also worked a bit on the Shedir hat last night and it is coming along nicely. Nice that I am not using a cable needle as instructed by the author, because one-stitch cables done that way are a pain. I think I can go back and knit that sock pattern with all the traveling twisted stitches (Circle of Friends--I totally gave up on that one due to tedious twisting) now that I can do the no-needle traveling stitches so much better. See, always learning! The Calmer yarn really is calm. It is a treat to knit with, because it is so soft, and even though it's one of those many-stranded cottons, it has enough twist in it that I am not splitting the yarn at all, even with all those twisted stitches. I should have a photo at some point this weekend--I'd have it done in a flash if i weren't also working on the scarf and socks.

I look forward to part 2 of my sweater class (though I finished the sweater) tomorrow and to getting some good knitting done. It is still pretty cold, so I doubt there will be much Homecoming Game knitting tonight.

Yarn Happy

[I mention so many yarns in this post that I am bolding them all.]

Maizy
Originally uploaded by sunasak

To show how happy I am, here's some happy yarn, Maizy in a deep rose colorway. I also got it in a multicolored version called "menswear" in the Woodland Woolworks catalogue (they name all the colors, even ALL 200+ of the Jamieson jumper weight Shetland yarn). None of my usual sources had this yarn, so I am glad my favorite backup source had it!

Ooh, it is very soft and it has that "dry" feel that Panda Cotton has. It feels much nicer than the A-Maize-ing yarn we had at the LYS. I look forward to making something lacy with this pink stuff.

Yesterday, as a reward for my yarn winding patience, I also got myself a skein of Claudia Handpaints silk laceweight yarn. The LYS got a whole bunch of Claudia sock yarn in (which I already have plenty of) and a bit of this silk stuff. It's over 1,000 yards and very thin and shiny. What a nice stole or shawl that will make. Only two colorways came in, one blues and one rainbow. You can guess which one I got! All I can say is it had better wind nicely into a ball!

Success!

All the ladies at Chicks with Sticks who had read about my Schaeffer Anne issue were very sympathetic, and I appreciated it a lot! I was also happy to read the blog comment that said it wasn't just me--others have had issues with that yarn. I am HAPPY to report that all the yarn got wound up last night after I got home from choir practice, and I didn't have to break it or anything.

At lunch break I tried to start the Victorian Lace Today scarf with good ole Anne. It looked too loose on size 4 needles so I went down to size 3. Then I learned a new skill, the crochet cast-on (not the provisional one, but rather the one that looks like a bound-off edge. The pattern uses that so it will look the same on both sides and the slipped edges of the main scarf will also match it. Very slick. And a fun cast-on, once I found my hidden crochet hook. Too bad I mis-read the chart and was making it stockinette stitch when it is really mostly a garter-stitch border. Oh well, good practice and all that--I only did a couple of rows. I will re-start tonight.

It's my month for humbling knitting experiences, I think. I cast on with Rowan Calmer in a coral color for the Shedir cap I am making for a friend undergoing chemo. It felt great, but, sigh, my new KnitPicks Harmony size 3.25mm were sorta squirrely at first so I didn't notice until row 4 that I had mobiused it. Oops. Well, it can happen to anyone, I guess! I worked on it at choir (a lot of bass practice and little alto practice), so I got well into it the second time around. Lots of little traveling stitches in that one, which are good practice for my new cabling with no needles skills.

Look at me, all these years of knitting and still there is so much new to learn! And THAT, reader friends, is why I still knit: there's always something new to try.

I Had Blog Ennui

I haven't written anything in a couple of days, because nothing knitting-wise has really gotten me all excited. And I recently read about this very useful concept of blogging without obligation. The fellow who thought it up has a great point--it's a good idea to leave my blog right NOW and click that link. His main point is that you should blog because you have something to say, not just to make sure you get hits, inspire new subscribers or whatnot. I agree with that, so even though my hits have taken a tumble, I didn't write for a couple of days when I didn't get much knitting done and what I did was on the same old projects.


My projects are just fine, thank you. None of them are moving along very briskly, due to that pesky old "real life" getting in the way, but Mr. Greenjeans is over halfway through the cable section, and Pagoda Lace Sock #1 has at least grown a bit. The Knitivity sock yarn is coming out very soft--feels great--but it's a bit "splitty" and that makes it hard to re-do when I make a mistake in the lace. I ordered some ShibuiKnits semi-solid yarn from the good ole Loopy Ewe that I may try this pattern on again.


Speaking of yarn, I will have to photograph my two newest preciouses. One's a skein of 700 yards of fingering weight yarn from Knitivity in a collection of denim shades. I was going to make my stepmom her holiday gift from it, but then I saw this Schaeffer Anne in shades of turquoise that will look better in the pattern I chose (one of the rectangular shawls in Victorian Lace Today). I am going to make that really simple triangle shawl from VLT out of the denim for my own use.


I also got my first knittable sample from Color My Yarn Crazy, my friend Jody's soon-to-launch yarn biz (no, there's nothing much about it on the blog). It is an almost-indescribable color in sock yarn of my favorite highly twisted type. Both Lee and Beccano declared the color looks like a chocolate cherry cake, so I hope that helps. It is really a very dark mottled orange. My friend Saranda labeled it Rust. Someone nameless called it "poop brown" but if that is the case, it is VERY pretty poop! I will use it to make the frogged Diamond Waffle pattern. It will look good in this semi-solid.




At the LYS yesterday I purchased some Calmer in a coral color to make the Shedir (warning, PDF link) hat (photo is from a nice site with lots of chemo caps on it) for an acquaintance with breast cancer. I'll make that on the bus for the endlessly long band trip this weekend (where I have some crazed idea that I will finish ALL my WIPs). When I got the Calmer yarn and said I was making a cabled hat, Jody said, "Oh, you're making Shedir." My-o-my that woman has an encyclopedic memory for knitting pattern names! I was sure glad she made it to the shop, because talking to her and a couple other nice and friendly knitters really made a crummy day better.

I guess I have written enough that I don't have to go on and on about the weird patterns in the Holiday Vogue Knitting. At least there were 2-3 a person could wear in public without being laughed at or looking like a sausage. I must be too, too, old.