Salto take 2

Not much knitting going on around her, Poppy, smallest bear turns 6 on Saturday, well Friday but the party is Saturday. So there is a giant monkey to paint for the 'feed the monkey a banana' variation on pin the tail on the Donkey game, Bananas to buy, cakes to make, loot bags to fill - all while fending of an exited nearly 6 year old who almost can't wait. We have the number of days remaining counted out loudly several times over breakfast alone. Amongst all this frenzy I have looked in my WIP basket, to find, one mitten, two nearly done socks and a part cardigan. For now I'm being strict with myself, I need to finish one of these before I start something new, and Salto socks it is. Last - while responding to a comment left on one of my U-tube videos I found three new to me purl variations - Thumb purling, so I'll share those at the end.

Remember that I had to frog salto sock one to score enough yarn for sock two, well things got a little more complicated. To make sure the two socks end up exactly the same I have frogged probably past where I needed to and am now knitting both socks at once on two circs from a center pull ball. Don't ask, please do not ask, for it may all come out in the wash, or it may all be revealed latter, or my true hope - that in the grand scheme of knit socks, it is not important why this pair of Salto need be knit this way this time. For the past few days the magic sort of went, as I frogged, de-kinked the yarn, wound the surplus onto a ball, sorted the socks onto 2 circs, and got the yarn ends and frogged rows to be the same places on both socks. Now I'm knitting the cables again the process is much more enjoyable, fun even, I'm smiling not frowning while working these.

And my background knitting is still the alpaca plain knit flat stocking stitch torso that will one day be my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I'm now at nearly 22 cm, of I think - 40 cm to the under arm point. At this rate, I'll have Tangled Alpaca for Spring in New Zealand, or maybe next winter?

And Purling by thumb, an accidental find on U-tube, that I thought I would share. The first Purl by thumb is pretty cool - but I'm not about to start including my thumb in the purl mix yet (gotta add that yet). Fellow knit nighter, P at Take Back the Knit purls with her thumb, which is why these caught my interest. Now if I tried, I think I would be all thumbs, at least at the beginning - pun intended :-).

and the second is named the Quick method. I do apologise a little for all this gratuitous linking to u-tube, but this thumb purling is pretty cool ....who knew there were so many variations? The video shows both knit and purl, so keep watching for the purling thumb.

and a third which also uses the thumb, again keep watching past the demo of knitting to see the thumb purl, and I don't even want to think about the faint commentary in the background, cow what?

take care, - if you are passing by Saturday and want to join in the banana monkey themed party, we will be in the house with yellow balloons on the gate. Balloons tied to the gate, the international symbol for Party inside.
Stella

Public holiday so new knitterly things ... a purl video

In new zealand the 25th of April is Anzac day, the day we as a country hold memorial services to remember those who served in wars. For a small country far from the rest of the world, and who has never been invaded we sure lost a lot of servicemen and women (In this post I'm ignoring the European 'invitation turned invasion' of the Maori lands that lead to land wars as there is way to much current and historical politics to go there in a single knitting post). ANZAC, I think, stands for Australian and New Zealanc Armed Corps, I could be wrong on the C bit.

It is also my dads birthday, who has the dubious honor of never having worked on his birthday in his entire life. Even when in Europe and the UK he tells us he told his bosses "I've never worked on my birthday and I'm not about to start now". Cheeky Kiwi. Happyy birthday Dad, he is circa 1933.

So a national public holiday, and what does an obsessed knitter do on such days, when it is drizzly and kind of cold and pretty much an at home day?
They do things knitterly.

Following a comment from DogMotive in the Netherlands on my youtube video showing my quick and easy way to rib, I have posted a second video of just purling. I just love the internet makes the whole world smaller. Please be very forgiving about the occassional short lapses in focus. I have an oldish digital camera, that does great knitting close ups or macro, and while it does make movies this seems as good as it gets. Again many thanks to Bear, who is very very very patient when I suggest 'just one more take'.

Video - I'm rib-K2P1'ing

So this is just a trial, as I've probably got the settings all wrong (leave a comment and let me know please), but here is me ribbing. Many many thanks to Bear, my resident photo buddy who adapted his skills to shoot his first video. Opps seems the video is missing - but I'll work on that and sort it, in the mean while try this link
Before I adopted the finish purl I found ribbing a right pain in the ****, but now it just flows see ...


enjoy, I did slow down my progress a little for clarity, usually I would rib a little faster. this is not the norwegian purl (scroll down), in that the yarn stays on the far side of the needles and the needle twists right back over - I have tried that, but ... felt it pulled my stitches wide open and deformed them. Not saying it did, just I didn't like what I thought it did to my purl rows.

In the next post I'll explain what this swatch is going to be, and show off my Toby's new mittens, I made up the pattern and lined them in fine Mohair. He is 7 - so how long with they last? His Kangaroo jersey is MIA and has been for over a month, he wore it for nearly a month but how can I not knit for him - they all get one pair socks, one sweater and one pair mittens a year - how long they last is up to them.
Of course it is no where as good as this little number

knitting and purling - my style left hand carry

Well a new year, a new project or 3, a project completed, and a new technqiue to share. But first the latest item off the knitting pins, a kangaroo pocket jersey for my 7.5 year old son. In teal blue, on 3.24mm's. I made this one up, mostly in advance- but resolve a few details as i worked, like the stripe pattern, and the neck finish to match the ribbing at the hem and on the pockets. Hem is 4 rows garter, 10-12 rows of 2x2 rib, and another 4 rows garter, all on knitting pins one size smaller. I short rowed the back neck, starting when the raglan decreases has achieved 80% of K, and turned 5 stitches short eachtime until only the back stitches remained. Then I knit two rounds to resolve all the short row wraps.



Ages ago i was learnng how to knit with a left hand carry, and to knit with two colours in my left hand and searched the web for help. There are so many good help sites out there but it wasn't until i found a with a video not in english, it was noted as being Finish, (will post link when i find it again) that i found a purl that really made continental work for me. I has been a right hand carry knitter, and before that a pick up the yarn and wind it round the needle, drop it and move the needle knitter, and after that a combined knitter, but I was wanting to do Bohus which required colour work with purl stitches at the same time as carrying multiple yarns in the left hand.

I aplogise for any delay in the images loading, there are 17 that show me ribbing in knit and purl using a left hand. The images were made by my very own non-knitting but very helpful Christopher - and I think he did a wonderful job. At the time I was knitting a shrug for my daughter in sock yarn, in the round on 2.25mm needles. Please ignore the additional needles, focus only on the ones in use. I won't provide much commentary, as the images do show quite clearly the movements in my knitting, I find that i can rib easily and fast using this method. I tension my yarn by winding it around my index finger, which allows me greater control when I carry more than one yarn (each is wound around a different finger), but tensioning around the pinking also works. For me i know i need to carry the yarn towards the tip of my finger and close to the needle tip.



















To 'flick' from knit to purl i lift the yarn into place over the left needle tip, and then sweep the tip of my right needle inbehind it when i start the purl stitch. I do find my hands and wrists do much of the work as the needles twist from horizontal to vertical when knitting this way.

purl with colours/colors & yarn in left hand

This post was suposed to be a celebration of finishing Blue Shimmer (which I have done) and details of how I blocked and stitched but .... today on Knitters Review Forum I noticed a request for details or info on how people purl with two colors. Much earlier in my blog I provided details and images of how I knit with two colors in the left hand. This is a companian piece to that. I don't know if there would be any value in visiting that post as well. Blue shimmer details - update and the next project very soon - we have fast broadband now and it is sooooo much easier.

These are images I took ages ago when I was working on the colour yoke of Blue Shimmer. It is way overdue and time to dig out the images and write the how-to details. I have also got images of using the finish or norwegien purl in a rib - which i find easier so that comming soon to a blog near you. In the process I think I have also got smarter about uploading and preparing images. These images were saved for web as .gif and the size reduced to 300 across, with an upload time of 11 seconds each on dial up - so I hope they load quickly.

Before I start I do need to point out that to get even colour work (I live in NZ which uses the English spelling so for me colour has a u! - I can spell - sort of) I make sure the stitches are spread out flat not scrunched up on the right needle as I knit. That way the floats are made long enough and my finished work is very flat and dosn't pucker - a trick I learned reading Wendy's blog. That woman is amazing, she seemed to knit Bohus Blue shimmer in less than a month - it took me 9 months.

I used to knit a more 'conventional' purl but since finding the finish purl have used only this way for colour work. I find it almost impossible to knit a more 'conventional' contintal where the right forfinger sweeps the yarn into place when I have two colours in the left hand - some people probably can, but I have not mastered that yet. Notice the yet, I have realised that in time nearly all things are possible. I think I do ok for some-one who is self taught from books and the internet.

Step one, Purling with two colors carried in the left hand,I arrange the yarns so both are over my first finger. I find the yarn wound around that finger has the 'evenest' tension, the one wound around the next finger also comes over that finger but gets slightly looser after 10 or 20 cm's of knitting, so I use that for the yarn which has the longest floats. I could wind it around my pinky and have tried but ... that seems to snag and upset the fore-finger wound yarn so i leave it as is.

I lift the yarn you are wanting to make the purl stitch in so it sits over the left hand needle, to do that i scoop the left hand needle tip under it.

Slide the right needle into the next stitch on the left needle purlwise, then I twist the right needle up and over then down under the purl yarn to pick it up. I bring the needle tip down and scoop or hook the yarn thru the stitch on the left needle.

This takes me to a point where I have nearly completed the stitch, I used to have problems keeping my purls stitches as firm as my knits but realise i need to make sure the needle is pushed all the way thru for both the knit and purls. I did have a bad habit of knitting on the tips of the needles so the knit stitches were smaller, and purling on the fullest part of the needle. Now I have worked that out it is much easier to notice when I am making that error and correct myself.
I push the right needle against the left needle and keeping the two in contact swing it around to the back of the work. I make sure the needle is right thru the stitch, that is not just the needle tip, but the widest part of the needle and then I slip the new stitch off and drop the old stitch.

make sure you tug your finger away slighlty to seat the purl stitch in place and remove any slack in the yarns before the next stitch.

To work with the other colour is very simillar, just pick up the yarn colour that i required and lift it over the needle to start.