Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Well that didn't work out so well!

The 'that' in question is the ear flap boarders on the Ccatta hat, I will explain more and then I will go and knit some more ear flap boarders that do work. Also today - the learning sock is finished, and I've made the (dangerous?) move to spinning luxury fiber. Lastly - some interesting variations on purling which popped up on u-tube.

So my Ccatta hat has two ear flaps, and was about the get the ear flap boarders added. I knitted one last night, casting on 22 tiny puntas. I do love the way the pattern refers to making tiny puntas even though I have found no reference to medium, large, giant or other sized puntas anywhere. So - 22 Punta were casted on, then more purl colour work, worked flat this time, which was another learning curve.
I decided the ear flap boarder should match the hat boarder so 'interpreted' the instructions in a way that would. That meant changing from 2 rows of reverse stocking stitch colour work, to a set up knit row followed by 2 rows of reverse stocking stitch colour work. Little tweaks that made sense to me.
ta - da . . . . . opps! Bother, the ear flap boarder is short by about 3 cm, or just over an inch. I could stretch and block it to fit, but .... that would give curved or cupped ear flaps. The few photos I have seen have flat ear flaps, so tonight I will knit another longer boarder, more Puntas?. Practice makes perfect perhaps?


Learning sock, this is learning sock number 1 from Cat B's new sock architecture book. It went ok, quite straightforward if I might say so. The shaping is in an odd order for people who are used to knitting traditional toe up and top down socks, but is all conventional sock building techniques. That is it uses, paired increases, short rows with wraps and turns, and paired decreases (k2tog and ssk). I will work learning sock two soon - then a sock for me! I love the one with slip stitched patterning in striped yarn, it really breaks up the stripes in a beautiful way.


Spinning - this is so my current favorite thing, although I find that when I spin my shoulders creep up and up and then I notice and have to remind myself to relax and drop them down. This is a little lump of green and chocolate merino from Ashfords they gave me free on my last visit. Its probably only 150g, I bought 2 books (Margaret Stove, spinning and lace knitting) and picked up a tensioned lazy kate which the courier had failed to deliver some weeks earlier. I was going to buy the merino but they said it was free to make up for the troubles. Enough rambling, the spinning, oh Wow. This fiber seems to like being spun fine, I am adding the same amount of twist as I did for the Corridale and yet it is still silky. I do have to pull the odd little felted bit out, but it is so silky to work with. Did I mention it was silky? I think I am in love, but I still have to ply it and set the twist. It is very early in the relationship. I admit to a brief indulge in googling etsy merino roving, before giving myself a good talking to about Christmas spending and using existing stash first. For now I am thinking a little narrow feather and fan scarf, maybe, should I buy a little more from Ashfords just in case? but then I have other things to finish and even more in the queue.

This is a new (to me) method of purling from Cat Bordhi. It seems like a Norwegian variation of combined purling - very cute. I lot like the way I work, but the yarn stays in the back.

and this, called eastern continental, which appears extensively the same. The sad thing about this video is it has been watched 1400 times and only one comment (me). If you like it or find it useful - do let the maker know please?

2 comments:

Knitting Linguist said...

Aargh! Sorry about the ear flap kerfuffle. The tiny puntas are absolutely darling, though, and you are being so patient with the process! I'm watching your spinning exploits with bated breath, but of course, they're just making it harder for me to hold out on the adoption of the new craft :) That green color is lovely -- what will you make with it?

Oma said...

I love watching your videos! I've been learning new things on the UTube site and it led me to your blog, which has been most helpful.
I'm so glad you took the time to show your methods.