Friday, September 08, 2006
Friday, September 01, 2006
Knitter's Hell
What's the worst thing that can happen to a knitter/spinner? A right-index-finger ligament injury, that's what! Ugly metal splint and only slight use of finger for several weeks.
Oh, well. Time to catch up on my reading, designing, and one-handed spinning!
Once healed, I promise to start blogging regularly. Promise. Really.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Spinning My Wheels (But not the kind you think...)
Knit*Six
Knitting? Spinning? Crocheting? Hah!
When I was on vacation (US Grand Prix in Indianapolis) I was a knitting fiend. I flew through most of a somewhat complicated sock (though I had to rip it out due to a post-vacation mistake) and finished two dishcloths, all in the course of five days. (That's a lot considering all the running around we were doing.)
Then I came home and took a hand spinning class at Springwater Fiber Workshop... Wonderful! I felt consumed by fiber.
But one week later, I am back in the midst of my regular routine, running around, trying to get "work" done, spinning my wheels. And, to make matters worse, this poor blog is almost as neglected as QuotableCat! No photos...No new posts.
Well, this will have to end. I hope that someone reads this now and then...whoever you are, you can hold me to this: I am going to get myself on a regular blogging schedule AND clear more time for knitting and spinning. That's the important stuff!
Friday, June 23, 2006
Jo Sharp "Eclectic"
Summer Knitting: Too HOT to Knit??? NEVER!!!
OK, so it's hot. Is that any reason not to knit??? Of course not! But I would say that--obsessive as I am.
Enrollment in classes at Stitch DC and at the Capital Hill Arts Workshop has been slow to nonexistent. For some reason, people don't want to think about knitting and wool in the summer.
What they don't realize, though, is that this is the perfect time to:
A) Start knitting that killer sweater you want to wear when the cool weather returns. If you don't start now, it won't be done until next spring!
B) Knit yourself a cool tank top, bikini, headband, or sarong. There are so many gorgeous and inspiring patterns out there for summer clothes. Look at Nora Gaughan's Octagonal Tank in Knitting Nature, for example. Pretty, fun, and looks great!
C) Work on small projects. Socks, mittens, wrist warmers, or even a lacy shawl would make a perfect summer project. And they're small enough to take on vacation with you. And speaking of vacation...
D) Start a project to take with you on the plane or in the car when you head out of town for vacation or business. Nothing makes a flight more enjoyable! Time seems to fly. And even I--who get carsick at the drop of a hat--find that I can knit in the car. Especially when I'm working on something I don't need to look at all the time.
So stop complaining about the weather being "too hot to knit." Use cotton or silk or linen or hemp or bamboo, for God's sake! Make 12" cotton squares and join them into a bath mat. Or design some cool pieces you can later join into an afghan.
You just might find that knitting summer-size projects is so fun you'll want to work on them all year 'round.
Happy knitting!
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Ribbed Tank -- My own design!
After all this time I finally succumbed to designing my own pattern... I was going to make SWTC's Bamboo Tank (it's a free-with-purchase pattern), but as I read through I found myself thinking:
"Why should I sew seams--this should be knit in the round!"
"Why does the designer want me to begin with a bulky hem? I don't need THAT around my hips!"
and
"Wow. That neckline, which looks so nice in the photo, is really just a straight bind off with no shaping at all. Hmmm..."
So little by little, after a few minutes of complaining about the pattern's silly instructions, I worked out my own version of a ribbed tank.
To start, I casted on XXX stitches (it's a secret, but more than 100) IN PATTERN, using the longtail cast on method (I taught myself the purl version...). My pattern is K3, P1, all the way around. After 4 inches of this I will switch to a smaller needle, instead of breaking up the ribbing with decreases for waist shaping. The neckline will be basically square, but with a very shallow V, which will give it a "sweetheart neckline" appearance (I hope!).
I am about 4 inches in, and I have to say it's not exciting knitting. But I'm using Rowan Calmer (in Khaki, a light, sagey green), so the nice feel of the yarn running through my fingers offsets the boring stretches of K3, P1 ribbing.
No photos right now, but I will post a picture soon. Wish me luck!
Friday, May 26, 2006
Exciting News: Teaching Classes at Stitch DC!
I'm so excited about teaching classes at Stitch DC! The Shapely Tank class will be especially fun--the only problem is that I need to finish mine ASAP!!! I've been dallying around knitting other projects so the front took me WAY longer than it should have.
Now I'm on a roll (and a mission), so the back will be done soon. I've also decided to do a three needle bind off on the shoulders so the seams are exposed. And I'll tone down the four-row garter stitch edges around the neck and armholes, too.
Check out the Stitch DC Web site for classes--they have some really fun ones coming up. And you can e-mail me if you want to know when I'm teaching.
Meanwhile, my mom is here from California, and my sister is coming from Seattle in a week. This will be the first time the three of us are together in one place in 15 years!!! I will take lots of pictures, and will post them here...
Well, must get back to the work that pays for my knitting. By the way, here's what I'm knitting:
1) Shapely Tank--this is an amazing pattern! I love it. And if you don't fiddle around with five projects at once, like I do, it's also a quick knit.
2) Kitty Kozy(a garter stitch square of Lion Brand Home Spun). I started making one for Hugs for Homeless Animals, but my cats took over. Since we have two cats, I'm making a second one. Then I can cast on for the little homeless Fur People.
3) Leigh Radford's Multi-Layered Tube Shawl from Alterknits--the one that, when you're done, you slide chiffon through so it hangs out the ends. This is a long term project, slow going, good for times when you need mindless knitting.
4) Leigh Radford's Two-Cable scarf from One Skein (nice, simple pattern that I'm going to adapt for a Christmas present for a family member to be named later)
Well, back to writing and, later, some time with my mom (I can't wait to take her to some yarn stores!) and my adorable husband. Here we are in Cape May, NJ:
And, hey, let's hear it: Yay for three-day weekends!
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival Report
Knit*Six
Yesterday Chris and I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival,
where I think I touched every skein of yarn and bundle of fiber in
every single display (it was held at a lovely country-ish fairgrounds).
I spent most of the day running around by myself, lusting over amazing
yarns, gadgets, and bags/piles of unspun fiber. Every hour or two we
met up for a break.
At the end of the day, after I gushed about everything, Chris said:
"Aren't you going to ask me how my day was?" So I did, and this is a
summary of what he told me: Chris spent the day eating every type of
lamb he could find (I don't know where he puts it.) He had a lamb
burger, lamb chili, lamb stew, and to top it off, a leg of lamb
sandwich. We also bought two large eclairs, which we had for "dinner"
with some coffee later that night, as we watched Poirot on DVD. There
was a lot of fairgrounds Food (I didn't get a corn dog...), and every
kind of cooked lamb you could imagine. Plus the ubiquitous fudge and
baked goods, which are seldom found in the city.
The temperature was about 80 degrees, the sky clear and blue, and the
people were great...it was so much fun! Many people, of course, were
wearing hand made creations. One woman had on a sweater of some kind
and the most amazing coat--long, knit with fine yarn in all kinds of
muted jewel shades, which was actually made up of what must have been
over a hundred 2-inch "mitered squares." (You'll have to google that
one if you don't know what it means...too hard to explain.) Another
woman, who I've met at a yarn store in Alexandria and who recently
published a knitting book called "Wendy Knits," was amidst a noisy
gang of young-ish knitting women on a hillside (obviously online and
in-person knitting groups meeting up for the afternoon). She was
wearing a lovely mauve knitted short sleeved top that--had I not known
who she was--would have made me wonder if she'd knit it or bought it.
So talented!
Of course, I came home with some great finds, including a drop spindle
that really WANTS to spin and spin. One of these days I'll find a used
spinning wheel and bring it home, but for now I'm content with
spinning "by hand." In fact, we saw the most outrageously gorgeous
throw made out of fine, lacy octagons--and the yarn had all been spun
by hand on a drop spindle. I love "antique" arts...it connects me to
my ancestors :-)
I also found amazing wool--enough for a sweater--for $8 a skein (475
yards)! To give you an idea of what a great buy that was, your typical
"yarn store" skeins are about 100 yards and cost about $11 to
start--going up well over $30 each. (There was plenty of the expensive
stuff around, too.) The best yarns (and prices) were obviously from
the small "spinneries" and sheep farms...it feels good to support
them, too. The big corporations don't really need much help.
Another of my finds were skeins of pure alpaca in a glossy chocolate
brown--each tagged with a photo of the alpaca the wool came from! They
have VERY cute faces...sweet and shy. And some silk/wool yarn in a
variegated rose/mauve/brown/plum colorway from a Texas farm (another
great buy). It's a "test product" (most of their other yarns are
merino wool and mohair blends), so the owner told me to e-mail him and
tell him if I like the yarn, what I like, and what I don't like. That
kind of attention to quality sets the small vendors apart, in my
opinion.
We spent the whole day out in the country with wool, dust, hay, and
who-knows-what blowing in our faces, and we each only had one
coughing-allergy attack. But when we got out of our car in the city we
were immediately assaulted by the DC pollen and were wheezing when we
reached our door. Hopefully city planners will soon learn how to plant
trees and shrubs in a more natural way, instead of choosing the male
plants only (which produce far more allergens). Out in the country
things are in balance...fewer people have allergies there. It's
interesting to see that played out in a physical way.
Well, that's the Sheep and Wool report...Great craic, as the Irish
say! (Look it up...)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
