Double Knitting for Carrie

Merry Christmas! I am loving my double knitted headband SO much that I got to thinking about Carrie's request so I took a look at my favorite knitting site to see what it had to say. I am going to digress a bit - this is one of my favorites for a few reasons. It has videos for both Continental and English style knitting for just about everything and the glossary lists descriptions and videos for those one-off stitches that you don't usually use. So next time you get P2tog tbl you can go to this site and view a nice little video to see what it actually looks like.

Now back to the matter at hand. The reason I even mention this lovely website is that it has a section called Advanced Techniques that has videos on how to do a myriad of things such as how to turn a heel of a sock and (drum roll) double knitting! The section is towards the bottom. Carrie, enjoy! If you get the general idea on how to do double knitting the pattern is simple and I am happy to share. Just let me know.

http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/advanced-techniques

Hot Booties - Welcome Amanda Elizabeth Lewis!

I had to share these because the are so cute and little and so super easy to knit (seriously - about 2 hour max including stitching them up). It's baby Amanda's Birthday today. What a cutie!

To Do: Finish Outstanding Projects

Well I am happy to say that the Louis Harding sweater is done. I bought the beads today and sewed them on this evening. After Christy's inspiring post I have decided that I MUST finish my outstanding projects. So let's be honest this how how the conversation has gone: I will not start anything until everything has been completed (headband, finish the socks, domino knitting style wristlets). I will not start another sweater until everything is done (minus the second sock). I will not start another sweater until the headband is done - I mean I can't wait until I finish the socks because those are always on the needles and I am only feeling so so about the wristlets. You see how the logic goes...who am I kidding there is really no logic.

Speaking of the headband this is something fun I started that uses a double knitting technique. If you watch Knitty Gritty I think that at some point there was an episode on this but it basically is knitting 2 things at once but the pieces are seamed together so both sides are the right side. The two colors are also reversed so, for example, on one side the main color is the pink and the brown pops and on the other side the opposite. Another benefit is that it is twice as thick which, let's be honest, is probably more practical in Minnesota's 8 degree weather than my Louis Harding "sweater" :)

Ribbit it Real Good

"Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over." F Scott Fitzgerald

This quote perfectly fits the project I have been working on (it was also the quote on my stitch and bitch daily calendar). The project I am referring to is the Louisa Harding sweater that I started at the end of September. The sleeves have proved particularly challenging. The pattern is called twisted rib and it twisted my mind. I redid this sleeve at least 4 times. Luckily for me the second sleeve is going better! The offending sleeve is on the left. The better news is that I should be done in time to wear this for Christmas. All I have to do is finish the 2nd sleeve and then stitch the whole thing together.

Slacker Knitter Turns Fab Blog Poster

Check these out. Finally I get to posting the infamous alligator wrap... Here's how it happened.

Several weeks ago I re-read "Yarn Harlot" and much like the character telling the story, I realized I had projects started - literally coming out of my ears - and nothing to show for it. Nothing was getting finished. So I did a little knitting inventory and lined them all up. I determined to start at the beginning and I was very good for a few weeks, steadily making progress on an afghan I started over a year ago (maybe close to two years now). Enter Grandma (aka Tudy)... "Oh what a lovely scarf" (my original alligator wrap). She's flattering me. She knows I made it and "oh what a lovely yarn." Of course it is, it's Koigu. I think back and realize that I'd been trying to figure out what to do with the left-overs. Looks like Tudy is getting a scarf for Christmas. But how can I start something new when I made this commitment to finish all my other starts? Easy, I hadn't used up all of the yarn yet. It wasn't really starting something new, it's just finishing old yarn. Brilliant. Well, they're both done and here they are. Feel free to oooo and ahhh. I won't mind :)

More to come as the assembly line gets back in action!

Inaugural Post!

I am excited to be the third C joining this blog! I've been knitting for several years and my projects have been shrinking over the years as I've gone from knitting for myself and other adults to knitting for my daughter (1 yr old). Baby-sized projects are so much faster!

Current projects include the Clapotis (picture coming soon) and I'm in the process of picking out yarn for a Christmas stocking for my daughter from this book. I'm excited to try knitting with two colors (fair isle style) for the first time with this stocking.

My new favorite place to buy yarn online is www.yarn.com, the name of the company is Webs. Low prices and quick shipping!

C & C--thanks for the invitation to join you!

My New Project (once I finish the Cable Capelet)

So I finished the hourglass sweater. I love it. I would do it again but I would do a few things differently like make the waist smaller and the sleeves less bellish. I am working on a short term project called the cable capelet. Christy, this is the project I was looking for when you were in town. The pattern was from the store where I have my classes. It was all of 50 cents but it is still quality. It is done on super bulky and on size 19! It appears I am an intense knitter...the pattern only calls for 15s.

I have my next project on order since I assume the caplet will only take 1-2 weeks. Here is the picture and I am going to do it with the same yarn. I bought a couple of pattern books from Louisa Harding and I can already tell I am going to be obsessed.



Plans are also in the works for this baby. I think I need to quit my job and start knitting full time.

My Beard

So I have been a bit overboard on the amount of knitting I am doing. I can't even pretend that I am doing this all while commuting. Sure we have had some rainy weekends but even considering that I have made serious progress on my sweater. There are just so many things I want to knit and so little time!

Nothing to feel blue about here...

After finishing my Clapotis I am now ready to tackle a new project. I have decided to work on the Hourglass Sweater from a book written from a New York City yarn shop called Purl Soho called Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. This sweater represents a couple of firsts which is why I finally decided on it: first sleeves, first raglan style, first knit in the round.
I went back and forth on whether or not I was going to use the pattern yarn (Noro Cash Iroha), whether or not I would buy the decided upon yarn online or in a store, and what size I would make. In my Google search for the yarn I came across a knitalong blog for the sweater that was very informative. There were quite a few comments regarding the sweater being larger than they needed so I was torn as to whether I would knit the smallest or the second smallest. I decided ultimately on the second smallest but I think I am going to have to work with Nancy (knitting instructor) on altering the sweater so it fits perfectly. For example I know I am not going to knit as many rows prior to the decrease rows because I like my sweaters to fall above the hip bone and from what I can tell this one won't.

Off I go and I can wait. I decided on a beautiful light blue. As my winter is spent almost exclusively in black pants I thought this would be a nice combination.

Clapoits - Check

Whew. I powered through and I have finished! Christy was on the phone as I finished up and I think she felt my excitement.

On the left is the close up. If you look closely you will see that there are variations in the yarn which make it look like the color is slightly changing.

On the right is the full scarf. You can see that there is a stripe in the middle. So much for dye lots! Luckily it's a scarf not a sweater so I am not stressing out.

Gotta Power Through It

I am so excited to welcome our new C - Carrie - to the newly renamed C, C and & C's Purl and Knit. I am looking forward to reading and seeing your knitting!

Carrie - I don't know you yet but after reading Christy's and my posts you have probably guessed I love to knit. I find it relaxing and I can totally get into the zone. But at the beginning of almost every project I get frustrated - I have to start over at least once and I wonder why in the world I even picked up a pair of needles. I'll admit it - I will question the sanity and even the intelligence of the author of the pattern. Then the clouds clear, I mentally apologize to the creator and I continue on my merry way.

All of this brings me to the Clapotis. Totally prime example - I had to do the first couple of rounds multiple times (I will not admit the count) because I couldn't figure out how to back out kfb. I blamed the needles so I had to buy new ones. I wondered why dear Kate would make me do k tbl when the normal way has worked all along and why was she making me decrease to only increase in the next step. Then suddenly I was well on my way and thanks to the markers I could knit without really looking at the pattern which is great for commuting and watching tv.

Well, flash forward a month and I am so incredibly ready to be done with this project that I am now utilizing sports psychology. I just have to power through it and get it done. Funny how these are the exact works I tell myself when I am on 19 of 20 sit ups. If I dare pick up another project I know this chic (but repetitive) scarf will go to the land of unfinished projects. So I did what any hard core knitter would do. I rented some movies and am prepared to hunker down and get this done. Hell - I may even whip out Pride and Prejudice!

Just a quick post for the evening to update you on some projects...

The Clapotis is going well. I am through the first 2 rounds out of 12 on the straight section. I have to say that after dropping stitches by accident it is nice to do it on purpose! The yarn has been great to work with. Silky but not slippery and the color seems to be a slightly changing orange which should add texture without the extremity of variegated yarn.

I have completed my first sock. These are great fun and I would recommend that you try a pair as well. The only problem with socks is that you have to do the second one after the first. After the Clapotis I am going to do the second one.

Here is the sweater from Stitch and Bitch. If you ever decide to do it let me know and I will tell you what I did differently from the pattern.

How goes the counting?

Increasingly Lacey

Wow, I am counting and counting and counting again. It's the only way to preserve my sanity. Keep counting. First, it was 91. I was counting to 91 for about 12 rows. Then the lace pattern began to follow the "fancy rib" at the hem. I was counting to 91 over and over again. After the lace row and then after the purl row. Then came row 5 and I had to start counting to 93. Then it said to keep increasing one stitch at each end of every following 9th and 12th row. So now I'm counting to 95, then 97 and I'm almost to the 99 they say I need. Still counting and counting and counting. The interesting part of all of this is I am somehow supposed to stay in pattern (meaning half the lace pattern on each end) while I add these rows in. This is giving me another headache. So slowly I continue and slowly I count. Not staying in the pattern. I'm waiting until I get to 99.

Basically, I'm working on the back panel of that Rowan sweater (the Marianne in magazine No. 37) and it's making me count a lot. I realize this is a rather paranoid way to knit and not my first choice, but it is so pretty that I couldn't bear to mess it up - or worse - figure out how to rip it back if I do. Just keep counting. Make sure all of those stitches are where they are supposed to be. The lace is lovely and I'm at least enjoying the satisfaction of "hey, I made that." Well, if I don't give up because I go insane from counting. We'll just have to see.

The best part of this entire project is the Addis for Lace. I totally recommend these to anyone making lace or even just working with a delicate yarn. I'm working in kidsilk haze (which I think I have a slight obsession with). Beyond any doubt, these are the best needles I've found to work the stuff.

To balance out all of this counting, I can't work on the sweater all the time, so I finished a totally cute little dish clothe to try out a cable stitch which the other famous C assured me I could handle. And, I'm of course putting in a few rows at a time on the blanket. It may someday actually be finished. Miracle of miracles.

Going to get my digital camera software loaded up on my computer this week so I can share some pics of the work in progress (and maybe the cute dish clothe as well.

Ode to addi Turbo. How I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I was really going to grow as a knitter while making my Christy inspired Clapotis. I had bought the lovely burnt orange bamboo yarn (bamboo – check, color other than pink – check) and amazingly enough I already had a brand new pair of size 8 bamboo. Now I am pretty much a metal needle knitter through and through. I had branched out a bit while making the socks because the place I bought my needles only had wooden double pointed needles. I had gotten use to the toothpick feeling so I thought knitting bamboo WITH bamboo would be ultra chic and I too could look like I made it sitting in a café in Paris. By the time I had gotten through my third “test” run I knew it wasn’t going to work so I ran upstairs at the knitting shop and lovingly snatched the size US 8 24” addi to my bosom. I am well on my way having done the above in a couple of hours. I really do like the use of the stitch markers (these are one type that work well for this project) as you don't really have to count.

I am SUCH a "Yarn Harlot"

You can't possibly imagine my Friday. I was absolutely the worst. So much work and so little time created a tension headache by 10:00 am. Of course, it didn't help that I was clenching my teeth in an apparent self-defeating effort to increase that headache. To top things off, I really needed to leave the office early to avoid the traffic for the Mariner's game. Why did Ken Griffy Jr., need to reappear on the Seattle scene on a Friday. Why not spare us all the traffic insanity and show up on a Tuesday. He hasn't played for Seattle in years, so you'd think the euphoria he created when here would be somewhat reduced. This was obviously not the case.

So, with headache, paperwork and laptop in tow, I left the office early and made it home in under 30 minutes so that I could plug back in and keep working. That was clearly a mistake. I should have stayed in my barren cube and kept that guaranteed Internet access. Instead, I was forced to hunt for a wireless connection and failed miserably until Sunday afternoon. It's been a weekend of computer nightmares.

The silver lining in all this was in fact a lovely bluey-green, and it came in the form of a notice from the UPS man that a package from the lovely Needlework Unlimited in Minneapolis, MN had arrived and was waiting for me at the package pick-up center. Maybe the yarn I had ordered would make the headache go away? After all, it was the softest most lovely yarn ever and meant a new project and a lovely new sweater. This yarn meant not just a better Friday, it meant a better winter wrapped in lovely bluey-green alpaca silk aran - and in a very stylish wrap sweater. I was not thinking of the fact that I've never before made a sweater as I trotted back to my apartment, box in hand, in the late afternoon sunshine. I was not considering that maybe I should not attempt my first sweater with such expensive yarn. I was not even second guessing my color selection - as I usually do.

As I arrived at my apartment with no Internet access to be found, I was forced to simply sit back on the sofa and dig into my yarn. With no Internet service to be found, I had time, it seemed to admire it and pet it and to browse through the pattern and imagine the compliments and accolades I would receive upon completing such a lovely sweater in such an amazing yarn. I wasn't intimidated. I wasn't afraid, I wasn't even feeling my headache to badly at the point. I was just blissfully happy at the sight of all 16 balls of the best yarn on the planet. This yarn meant the next step in a knitting adventure that I would begin to take once I'd completed the first sweater on my list. So I also took the size 6 Addis for Lace out of the box and started to work the lace pattern on the little Rowan pattern shrug I was attempting.

My alpaca silk is tucked away with the rest of the yarn stack in lovely stackable bins in the closet, but I doubt it will remain there long before I have the urge to get it out and admire it again. What a wonderful cure for a headache. What a great Friday!

Hip to be square

So here is a picture of my first block of 4. I did block these already but obviously haven's stiched. Once I do that the lines will exactly match. Have you ever used the mattress stich? If you have any tips feel free to share.
Courtney

One down, millions to go

Here is the pink shawl. This was definitely a learning experience!



And here are the squares

So I see we haven't had a posting in a while. I thought I would fill you in on the status of my projects. Yes, that is right, plural. I have been working on the lace shawl, I started making mitered squares and I still have my sweater to finish. The mitered squares are so much fun. I have to admit that this really called into question my intelligence. I attaching a link to a picture of them: http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/clarksonpotter/masondixon/masondixon_book4.html
So the way that these work are you cast on 72 stitches and then every other row you do a SSK and K2tog so you get down to one stitch. The cool thing is that the stitches are the right way on each side! I am not doing these justice - but believe me very fun.

How are your projects going? Glad you did the 2YO?

Courtney

Pictures of Success . . . and the Road . . .

As promised, here are the photos of the completed Dragon Scales Scarf and I finally blocked and finished up that one I made with the hand-painted alpaca (the softest yarn ever!).

First, my blocking experience . . . because my mom is here, I made use of her crafting experience and she showed me yet another way to block things that I think works especially well for scarves, so give it a whirl. First, make sure you have the pins you'll need and a measuring tape, iron, and ironing board. Just start pinning away and use the measuring tape to ensure that the scarf or whatever you are blocking is the measurement you want. Take a damp cotton cloth (one of those sack-clothe dish towels works well) and place it over the scarf. Finally, with the iron on the correct setting to steam for your fabric (wool setting for wool yarn, etc) - press the iron to the damp cloth (you don't need to press down hard) and let the steam from the iron and damp towel do the work. Easy as pie and I think you may like this method for smaller pieces. Here's what we've got . . .

This is the Alpaca scarf finished. It's super warm, so if you ever decide to whip one of these out (it took about an hour to make), but don't make it too wide or you'll never wear it.







This is the Dragon Scales pattern scarf made from the terra yarn. It is also super soft and the blocking really helped flatten out the finall project and make the pattern more visible.







Here is a detail of the Dragon Scales pattern.









Finally, my progress on the Alligator Wrap. I'm moving very slow on this one and I have to say the the pattern is pretty boring. However, getting to the different points where you switch out the colors is keeping it moving. I love the way it looks and I think I'll really enjoy it once it's done. For now though, thank goodness there's four inches of snow on the road and not much else to do!

The Beginning and the Ends

I've cast off another project and begun the next...

Cast off . . .

Recently finished is a scarf made from a very cool yarn by Terra in Black Walnut (will post the photo once it's blocked). The yarn is intentionally irregular, but made from merino, baby alpaca and silk so it feels wonderful to work with. Typical of me, I had no project in mind when I bought it and then was limited to the size of work because I'd only bought three skeins. I ended up making a scarf in a pattern called Dragon Scales and it turned out lovely. The pattern doesn't show up as much because it's a darker yarn, but it's very subtle and the scarf just feels great. Another scarf for my growing collection.

Cast on . . .

I've started the Koigu Alligator Wrap with the colors to the right - starting with the dar greens. So far, the pattern is going well. Since I didn't want the 100 inch lenght to the wrap the pattern calls for, I shortened the number I cast on from the 400 to just 300 stiches on the size 3 US needles. That's still alot of stiches! I fiddled around with both a single yarn over (per your experience) and a double. For this one (and since I decided on a wrap instead of a scarf) I'm going with the double yarn over to achieve the width. I have to say I'm loving working with the Koigu.

New Projects - Isn't it fun when things get done

So I have been busy. Actually a few things finished around the same time. I felted the stacking boxes out of Mason-Dixon Knitting. I really like this book and if I really wanted to spend months - OK years - I would make the robe out of it. Unfortunately the boxes didn't come out as well as I wanted. I will have to continue to experiment with felting.


I finished my project from the weaving class I took. It started off as a table runner but when I took it off the loom I realized that it was actually a scarf. Ironically another woman in the class was planning on making a scarf and when she took it off the loom it was a table runner! My advice is if you ever do anything on a loom choose stiff fibers if you want a table runner or you will end up with a scarf.


A close up of the design.