Monday, February 11, 2013

Long time no blog

IMG_0805I have been knitting. I am just in one of those periods where there’s not that much to show for it.

  • The black fishbone gansey socks are still growing. I’m on the home stretch, actually – past the gusset decreases on the foot of the second sock. I hope to finish those this week!
  • Boy 1’s Chip Off the Old Block cardigan. You may recall I was done with the knitting and only had to put in a zipper. I bought a zipper at Jo-Ann and started researching how to put it in. After chatting with the Knit Ladies, I decided my zipper was wrong. I ordered a custom zipper. It came. I still need to tackle the installation.
  • Boy 2’s crazy inside out hat. Oh, I haven’t told you about this! I am so close to done, yet so far away. Lemme ‘splain…

Boy 2 adores Felici yarn. Whenever there is a ball about, he fondles it. But Boy 2 has not been wearing handknit socks lately, so I’m not knitting him any more socks. Instead, I decided to make a double thickness hat using two colorways. I was inspired by this hat but I wanted to improve it. I decided that ribbing around the brim was a must, and I also wanted a nice purl turning round. So I provisionally cast on and then knit a hat:IMG_0803Then I did the same thing again, using another colorway: IMG_0804The idea was to put these together and do a 3-needle bindoff to attach them in the middle: IMG_0806Then you can turn it one way if you’re feeling blue, and turn it inside out if you’re feeling green. Reversible stripey fun.

I even tested whether the 3-needle BO was doable in purl on some little scraps. I think it is.

But I’m having a terrible time picking up my CO. I used the crochet chain CO. I seem only to be able to grab one loop for every two stitches of the 1x1 rib (so I should have a knit and a purl loop but I only have one loop). I got frustrated and put it down. Anyone have any insight for me?

In other news, Pam visited this weekend. You remember Pam, winner of the handknit socks? She might have confessed that one of her coworkers is a knitter and that she might have admired a scarf she made recently, and that Pam just may have happened to check out the pattern book from the library (never mind that Pam can’t knit), and that the scarf was made from really bulky yarn…. WELL. Suffice it to say, it was a very simple matter for me to whip up this scarf in a couple of days and I was very happy to do so for a friend who loved the pattern and picked the yarn herself.IMG_0808The pattern is called “Into the open” and it’s not in Ravelry – shock! It’s from the book Scarves.  This one weighs 256 grams and I used about a ball and a half of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in color Cranberry.IMG_0811 I guess yarn this plump keeps you warm even if the pattern is full of holes! This is a very unusual pattern – it reminds me of sheaves of wheat.IMG_0810 Now, I’d better get back to those fishbone gansey socks.

2 comments:

  1. That scarf is so interesting. If it had chunky wooden beads in it, I'd swear it was macrame. Quite cool looking. And I feel you on the crochet cast-on. I've just realized that the one on my shawl is WAY tighter than the gauge I've been knitting. I'm worried that the seam where I join the two sections is going to be too tight.

    One thing I'm considering is joining some yarn (it's alpaca) to the start of the yarn, and somehow loosening it all up -- basically, backing up from the bottom one row and re-knitting the cast on in the same gauge. It's not going to be easy, but I hate to re-do all that work.

    In hindsight, I should have used a chunkier yarn and a much larger hook for the crochet cast on.

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  2. I didn't think about it before, but the vibe on this scarf is TOTALLY macrame!

    I used a larger hook and crocheted more loosely for hat #2 - it was so much easier. Lesson learned.

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