K3tog: ILx Knitting 3

I put the scarf aside for a month or two and have managed to make a jumper in that time, and the scarf has still got at least 50% more to go (maybe more like 60%) - horror :(

What even scarf is this, that eats time with such fierceness?

This one:
http://www.cosmicpluto.com/blog/ashworth-scarf/

2.75mm needles, Wollmeise laceweight, over a MILE of yarn...

And I don't even know if I really love how it's knitting up as much as I thought I would (basically I didn't think the yarn was as variegated as it is). And perhaps I should have got a fuzzier laceweight... BUT THERE WASN'T ANY, oh dear... must not start to cry...

unsolicited advices post:

look up portuguese knitting, if you haven't tried it. it's wonderful and fantastic.

and if hand pain ever seems to get a touch worse, consider switching to continental, or english, whichever. from time to time. yes, the learning curve sucks. learning portuguese takes about 20 min, in contrast. bit varying up yr knitting styles is much easier on yr hands/arms.

just don't ignore an achy wrist. i can tell you a cautionary tale about that, but i will refrain. just, it sucks. lots.

hand stretching/rotating/etc? also, good to do from time to time when knitting for very long. take care of those hands so you can knit as addictively as you want!

xp(oy gevalt laceweight! that's quite a project!)

I'm not picking up the knitting today just in case, and might look up some hand exercises too.

Never heard of portuguese knitting! I'll give it a go and then go to the posh knitting group and show off my magical methods at the knitting sn0bs :) (Who incidentally told me off for switching English/continental and made horrified faces at "oh, your tension will be all OVER the place!", oh for goodness sake, for 3 rows each? Ch).

And the laceweight is actually twice the weight of the FIRST yarn I ordered, which I thought was laceweight, but is actually gossamer and sooo soooo thin. It is delightful but I am terrified of ever using it. Most people make actual heirloom stuff... and I like crocheting pokémon... so... yikes! Might try and resell it to a better home, but not quite sure how to find the market!

The ISO/destash group on ravelry is good for selling yarn if you don't mind shipping it off in the mail.

Well I've put it as 'will trade or sell' now... I still would love to do something with it though, but goodness only knows what. A skein is 735m, and I have two, so holding them doubled could get me a super nice shawl - like maybe a Haruni done in stocking stitch apart from the border or something.

Although I can barely even contemplate the thought of another laceweight thing right now.

So I went to the knitting shop, and met a chihuahua puppy, and then accidentally bought knitting books (I wasn't allowed to buy yarn, but somehow... spent money anyway...). One of them was Nancy Marchant's brioche stitch book ("brioche stitch" makes me too hungry, apparently the Dutch is PATENTSTEEK, which I like much more, as a/ I am an intellectual property wrangler and b/ PATENTSTEEK). So here is some patentsteek knitting, in yucky variegated and headache pink. I think it's the most awesome thing ever.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robot_starry/5557839869/

Made by my friend, not me! I haven't managed to get round to it yet as all my knitting energies must go to scarf.

I have seen that book in the library and I thought it was truly crazy and also inspiring! One of those things I put on the back burner as there's not a lot of call for the insulation of patentsteek(!) in the Sonoran Desert.

I timed myself knitting the other day, and horrifically, it took 75 minutes to knit 15 rows of the never ending scarf.

THree hours for 5 rows of Ene's Shawl. That is nothing like the Mountain Ash one: one evening was two rows. Four hours maybe? Yes. Lol.

I blocked and fucked up my Fair Isle hat:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5294/5560145349_8f4e5dac9f.jpg

My friend noticed my floats were crap. So she told me. I know :-( I have to learn a lot. :-(((((

BTW Nancy Marchant is SUCH a cool lady! You really have to take her class. She's ACE.
Patentsteek is rather bulky so avoid sweaters in that stitch. :-)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5063/5552060801_bb27b2acc0.jpg

Did this in less than a week. I realize my stranded work is rather mediocre. :-(((( I mean, in that pic it isn't noticeable but going from one round to the next was not so great. :-( I more or less repaired it.

new Knitty, dudes!
I think the rivercat socks are badass.

I like those rivercats! Might try them toe-up, that is my only sock-knitting way now. I've about finished with the mock cable socks. I got so excited when I finished the double-knit scarf I was making for a friend that I packed is it up and gave it to him w/o taking a picture. Is it rude to ask him to take one now? Also, I knit his initials into it ESESESES in two lines front and back. Except the reverses look like 23232323.

A coworker was talking about knitting a throw out of extra-super-bulky yarn on giant needles, which got me looking at yarn online and led to buying 10 skeins of super-bulky suri dream from knitpicks. plus a bunch of sock yarn to make the free shipping limit. Thinking about a top-down cardigan maybe.

I fucking hate mohair.

omg yall:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljgt9mwiZ21qgg9flo1_500.jpg

Sorry but that's fugly.

My friend made this AWESOME scarf on the machine for me

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5064/5612908039_cb5da8c7e3.jpg

One person's awesome is clearly another's fugly.

that scarf is incredible, nath!

xpost Yeah, I know. Sorry if I offended anyone. I just don't like that type of 80s op art thing. :-((

BTW Signature needles are fucking AWESOME

i have finally figured out continental knitting! but not purling. i can't get how they are the same motion because to me knitting and purling are feeling very different. i did a half round of this big cowl and twisted all the purls.

I have a case of the blahs about the new knitty. Rivercat socks are cool, but no great urge to make them myself. The cardigans are a bit boring for me, I don't really like the shawls so much (even if I wore them! which I don't! omlet is not helping itself with that name AND spelling it "wrong", har har). I know spring/summer is a difficult theme for KNITTERS I suppose. I didn't like the last knitty much either, so I hope I like summer more. Perhaps I'm just being a big old sourpuss about it!

However, the floppy flounder is ace! I'll be making several of those.

Harbl: I have been knitting a cardie (the Feb Lady one that everyone has knitted) in continental style - it's gone fine, but suddenly I am massively over stitch count and a stitch dropped *somewhere* in fuzzy yarn, so I'm going to have to rip it back - so annoying!

Continental stitch good though - I would have a go at a long session of 1x1 rib to get the hang of it, cz yr fingers and yarn fall in the 'right place' for alternating sts. (Or they do for me!)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5190/5632525226_7524040152.jpg

My elephants. For a baby blanket. I am massively annoyed my stranded knitting isn't really good. :-(

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2560/5696621748_70c6fb112d.jpg

Baby surprise jacket for a coworker's new little one. Such a great pattern, fast and an amazing piece of design. <3 <3 <3 Elizabeth Zimmermann

i am over halfway done with the second sleeve of starfish cardigan. maybe it'll be done in a couple days. i just have to wash/block it and sew the pieces together. i hope it fits! the only problem is i did it in malabrigo rios and didn't alternate skeins and the colors are way different between skeins so it looks kinda weird. it's ok it's only the second sweater i've almost finished

btw, harbl I totally agree with you about continental purling. I am probably holding the yarn wrong, but purl is very different from knit for me.

ah zimmermann is the BEST

I just bought Meg Swansen's Knitting book. And the Haapsalu book. That and two skeins of Twini was 130 euros. ARGH!!! I took an Estonian Lace class. It was absolutely ace.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2158/5700320428_d57b870eb1_m.jpg

I was hellaproud that the course was for ADVANCED knitters. YEEHAAA! I am advanced! hahah

Ooh I'm going to Estonia in June, maybe I will get some of that 'estonian lace'! Not that I'm brave/mad enough for Estonian lace knitting, at least not yet. I've found out about Kieran Foley's knit/lab. Have you seen his patterns? There are some amazingly great and unique seascape patterns that make a shawl something cool rather than, well, a big old lacy faff for the sake of it :) I've tried to love lace, honest! But it's only now that you can see so much more in it.

I heart:
http://www.kieranfoley.com/knit_lab_three_lace_scarves.html <-- minimal lace, absolutely somehow!
http://www.kieranfoley.com/knit_lab_high_seas.html <-- high seas, oh the drama!
http://www.kieranfoley.com/knit_lab_europa.html <-- wiggly bit! NUPPS. (Ooh I see this is estonian lace. Looks ridiculously difficult though).

I am making this one:
http://www.kieranfoley.com/knit_lab_easy_seas.html

Because it looks possible that it could actually be knit by a human...

Modern Estonian lace knitting isn't that hard! Traditional? Meh, I am not advanced enough for that. I mean, ffs why sew on a border if you can do it knitwise? lol.

I AM SUPER JEALOUS OF YOU GOING TO ESTONIA!!!!!!

Check out the Dutch Knitters: they have been and will go a second time this year. They visited a lot of the knitters!

Damn, JEALOUS.

I am doing the Miralda. Gotta say, nupps are fun!

ah zimmermann is the BEST

:-( Am I the only one who doesn't think so?

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5263/5749840373_55aaf01707_z.jpg

lol my stranded knitting is going so well.

there's nothing wrong with wearin a glove that says "Anus" - let's people know you have one and your proud.

Thanks for your support!

actually "Anos" sounds like a Harry Potter spell that would make an Anus appear on something. Harry should try taht on Voldemort next time.

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/9576/129151.jpg

I wonder what God's stash is like.

I have been to Estonia. I bought a lot of its yarn. I did not buy all of it, but it would have been quite easy to do so!

I have: 3x gradient laceweight yarns in green, blue and red, one undyed (for a gift), one dk-aran gradient skein in dark red, and one ball of mohair fuzz. Most of it (apart from the mohair) is 'straight off the sheep'. Ace!

Let me recommend: PRONSKI LONGAPOOD, in the basement of the shopping centre on Viru. It is a delight and a joy.

Trying to pack it all later was a bit more difficult. Turns out, yarn doesn't squish down as much as you think...

Token project update: Easy Seas is now going well (and quickly) after two false starts where I was reading the chart completely wrong. I also want to cast on for a stripy shawl using the Debbie Bliss pure silk that I picked up in a sale last year and haven't known what to do with.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6012/5914477431_b48b044675.jpg

Not yet blocked.

Envious of your Estonian trip!

Looks deformed, I assure you, it isn't. :-)

so... knitting! i want to learn.

I cant wear sweaters

It is a particularly nice fall/winter activity. I recommend a basic scarf to start (by the end of the scarf, you'll be comfortable with the process, will have learned to fix some kinds of screw-ups, and will have evened out your stitching tension) and then moving on to a hat knitted in the round--so fun and quick and good to give as gifts!

quincie OTM - I'd only add, make sure you start with yarn you like the feel of, something springy and mostly wool or acrylic if you are allergic to wool (easier to work with than cotton, linen, bamboo, rayon) in a worsted weight. I found it easier to see the stitches with a medium toned heathered yarn (vs. a solid dark or solid light color). Scarves are great, because your gauge just doesn't matter so much.

There are so many instructional videos you can find on-line, and Ravelry.com is a great resource.

My newest favorite trick: using needle-felting for joins! I've generally done Russian joins, but always ended up with ends poking out still. Also I was recently working with a yarn that just couldn't felt (microspun acrylic). You can still set things up like a Russian join (cut back 1/2 the strands on each end for about 2", hook the ends around each other like interlocking Js) but instead of spit and friction felting, you lay the yarn on a piece of foam and poke the daylights out of it with a barbed needle. Forces the fibers to interlock securely and keeps the yarn size the same plus no ends whatsoever to deal with for finishing.

Elmo, buy the Debbie Stoller book. Quite funny and instructive. And DEFINITELY check out youtube!

I've been making a shitload of hats. For charity (in Japan). Almost all of'em stranded hats cause that's how I like to roll (or rather knit). lolol

I have also been buying tons of cheap (sheep?) patterns/books on ebay. And now I am trying my luck at buying good yarn at cheap prices.

The more I knit, the less I feel a good knitter. I definitely want to do lots of sweaters. Feel one isn't a proper knitter unless you've done a dozen sweatahs. :-)

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6006/6006685134_c28614db44_m.jpg

I am also trying to pick out colours for stranded hats. Not easy.

I'm sure someone said 'nupps'. I'm thinking of starting a shawl with nupps and just found a way of doing them which looks so much easier than p7tog:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSIzYLbasHY

putting link here so I can remember it. Seriously, come back delicious, I am no good at having a cloud based bunch of networks anymore. What do you lot use?

(Thinking of doing Annis - looks a bit more interesting to knit than Citron, although that is wuvvly too).

Nupps are actually quite easy but ONLY if you do them SUPER SUPER SUPER SUUUUPER loose. Before I didn't get it, but then I did a one day course and have come to realize there's noy much to it.

First attempts at intarsia and duplicate stitch, turned out okay:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6069/6117850197_294cce45b0.jpg