K3tog: ILx Knitting 3

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

I should maybe add - that's fingering weight yarn on 4s, will fit a newborn to maybe 3 month old. Totally tiny!

Ok! Knitting! I have figured out how to cast on, knit, and purl. Sort of. Still figuring out the tension issue. Started with some YouTube vids and had a bit of a tutorial today from my mom (hooray, Mom!).

Hooray Elmo! I think it's great fun, and you get useful stuff out of it.

Yay, elmo! YouTube can help a lot, and if one video doesn't explain a certain stitch or technique, there are plenty of other videos that might.

Jaq, that is too cute. I took an intarsia class with Lucy Neatby and bought her DVDs. I really should watch them some time.

Thanks t.r.! I could see it working much better if I weren't changing from garter stitch to stockinette between the white and blue. At first, I had the totally misguided idea I could change color for just a single stitch, like cross-stitch, and tried to do a mix of intarsia and stranded - which was crazy-making.

The next thing I want to try is some Extreme Double-Knitting. I've got the book pre-ordered after seeing some of the finished stuff in Interweave.

My friends at the yarn shop are really into the Extreme Double-Knitting guy so I am going to have to check it out sooner or later.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6154/6137149665_59c26cf15e.jpg

FINALLY finished my second blanket. NEVER again will I knit a stranded blanket. BORING. BUt I have to say I do like the end result. Still needs fabric backing.

I did my first colorwork type thing. Whattt? It's a Latvian braid, y'all.
I remember my knitting guru telling me about a person who did stranded colorwork by picking color A up and putting color B down...every time she changed colors. Didn't even try holding them in the same hand. (This crazoid was the LYS owner in Cruces actually.) I thought this was fucking crazy. But...that is what I did for this Latvian braid. I have become the thing that I judged.
It has made me stoked to do it the propah way, tho. Double-fisting the yarn, yes? Maybe...soon.

I might as well show it to you all, it is a hat by my #1 pattern design crush (crush on both him and his rad androgynous patterns) <3Stephen West<3

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/655/westward.jpg

I also tried crocheting the other day. Like five minutes of trying. It was like the time I tried to teach myself COntinental knitting...meaning it was brief & half-assed. Is crocheting an edging on a knitted thing significantly different than crocheting to make a crocheted item?

yes, imo, as long as it's a simple edge.

i was single crocheting edgings years before i could fathom how to crochet.

Just showing off my first continental colourwork project, finished this just over a week ago - totoro headband! The chart makes it a bit taller than my head, but I bet I can get away with it when the weather turns colder.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6162/6174948970_cf7b3cc401.jpg

This was surprisingly fun! Once I figured out how to weave the floats on each hand, there were no problems and it worked up really quickly. The yarn never tangled, and it was so... simple! No idea now how people could do colourwork with both yarns in the same hand (I tried a while back, and the balls tangled ridiculously). Now more confident about working a colourwork yoke in the Cityscape cardie (if I ever don't get distracted and start other projects that is).

And now I've started a shawl in some ridiculously beautiful yarn from Spitalfields city farm wool and sheep festival a few months ago.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6151/6184526412_eec4d149b6.jpg

If there's not enough yarn, I have a 'spring greens' colourway that I am thinking of substituting in for a section or two. I am adding in a few extra reps as I've gone down needle size substantially so this will prob be the case.

Sweet - I love the Totoro! Did you make the chart? I've been lots of double-knitting (just got the Extreme Double-knitting advance pdf so yay even more colors to sort out how to hold) using modified cross-stitch charts and making a few of my own.

I was haunted by the idea of alternating this bright pink/purple/blue/teal yarn with black and finally worked it up in a baby surprise jacket. Really pleased how it turned out: http://www.etsy.com/listing/83452968/optic-striped-black-berry-baby-surprise

Little blue penguins need sweaters knitted! http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2011/10/call_for_knitted_sweaters_for.html

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6179/6175986315_366103d265.jpg

I did a Totoro as well. Really fun. I hold both yarns in my one hand. The trick is to keep it consistent. I loooove doing stranded work. :-)

I want to chime in on the bsj. I wanted to scream I hated it her, way back when you were raving about Z. Then I knit a bsj. Then another. Now I'm going to do another one. lol.