Round and round,

The next few days will be about knitting around and around and around in single rib, whist I decide if there will be button holes or sewn on giant snaps, and what cast off I will use. I'm not even sure I know what buttons i will use, but I have a few options, vintage black Victorian glass, dark shell shirt buttons or something entirely new .... For now I am just knitting ribbing around and around on four long circulars like a weird variation on knitting on bendy dpns.

Knitting on four circulars

The second sleeve has been knit up to the point where the ribbing starts, and set aside. I have threaded a life line through the live stitches. I wanted to finish neck and front bands before finishing the sleeve, as I know that the neck band will 'lift' the shoulder, pull the neck in and so mean I will need a longer sleeve. When I worked the ribbing at the hem I set up two full rounds of tubular rib, ready for a cast off. Between then and now I decided I wanted to knit the front, neck and hem edges all in one piece, so I frogged the tubular set up back to single rib, and picked up the live stitches. I then picked up stitches on a slightly smaller needle right around the edge, the two front edges, and the neck. As well as using a smaller needle I picked up one in four stitches, my standard pick up ratio for stocking stitch.

Extension of hem ribbing,

I'm using not quite a smaller sized needle at the hem, a 2.5mm, as I really don't want this cardigan to be tight at the lower edge. The cardigan is knit on 2.75mm, which gives a nice firm gauge in sock yarn, I like my knits on the firm side, well cardigans and sweaters, shawls and scarves I like softer and loftier. I took extra care to make sure I picked up stitches along the same line on both left and right front ... The more i knit, the more i finish, the more I'm learning which bits to take care with and which bits don't need so much care. Picking up is One of the area that shows up as messy if I rush.

Pick up around neck edge

Around the neck and the front edges I used a 2mm needle, because I want those edges firmer and more stable. Using two different sizes of needle means that i will have to make sure i knit from ends of the needle the stitches i am working on. I picked up three in four stitches from the purl bumps of the long tail cast on and it looks like when I knit the neck rib the effect will be fairly seamless, almost like a provisional cast on. I plan to increase at each corner, two stitches, every second round. As for button holes .... I'm still thinking about those. I found an option in the big book of knitting and knitting school that looks promising but i'm not sure it works on a ribbing band as they show it worked on stocking stitch. Who knits stocking stitch bands?

Na Stella

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Not really knitting - but fun

I am easily distracted, I know this. Sometimes I fight against the distractions and other times there seems little point. Whatever it is that has caught my interest will just snag and catch again and again until I either find a new distraction or give in.

I really tried to avoid this, honest ...

Here is the latest distraction, nail stamping ... and of course the fatal hit was discovering that knitting was involved. Please excuse the tired mannicure, it's been a week and at least several sink loads of hand washing dishes for we do dishes the old fashioned way with water, soap, and a coth here at casa Knitknitfrog. The matchy-matchy grey knitting and grey nail art was completely accidental, but I can see that if I allowed it, this level of coordination could easily get out of control and have me knitting with projects that looked good with my nails.

And yes, I noticed the missing stitches, with no accompanying yarn overs, dropped or laddered stitches, or decreases ... I am aware that the nail stamp is not a true representation of a knitted fabric ... but it's fun.

Details, the polish is a soft almost metallic grey by OPI called I Vant to Be Alone (caps and spelling as on the bottle). The knitting is applied using a clever variation on etching, Polish is applied to an etched metal plate, in this case Konad M69, the excess scraped away and the image transferred to then nail using a wee sticky pad. I used a cheap black polish from the 'import' store, cost me $4.50. Video tutorial below (not mine, but nice and quick) if you are as easily distracted as I am and want to know more.

Plates care made by several brands, I have only tried Konad, and come In a variety of designs, usually with six or more patterns on each. So far I have argyle, paisley, knitting, plaid, dots, stripes, cute cartoon animals (for small cub)' and even tiger stripes ( or zebra if done I black and white).

Knitting related post this weekend, I promise, and that is the second sleeve, well on the way to the elbow.



Na Stella

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Look lace!

I've been crocheting lace, and I love it. I'm not really one to crochet much, I can, but there are other fibre crafts I prefer. Prefer for their look, their end result and maybe even the process - but I have been working some crochet lace and I like it. Imagine how much I will like it when it is blocked and sitting open and even more lace like?

First up is the sleeve, now it isn't finished, merely parked. I worked until I was mid way down my forearm and decided to park the live stitches until I worked out how long the ribbing was to be. I like the idea of a generous ribbing - but I don't want to run out of yarn.

Then I thought, if I am wanting to avoid running out of yarn I should work all the little unknown bits like the crochet lace around the neck. The original pattern was worked in pieces, and seamed, then the crochet stitched to the neck edge. My modification involves knitting the cardigan as a top down raglan, starting with a band of eyelets. I decided to pick up and crochet along the purl bumps under the eyelets, as I thought the crochet lace was a good match for the look of the eyelets. That was the plan, it was largely untested. Oh I had swatched the crochet on two different hook sizes, and picked up along the crochet edge and knit a band, and I had swatched the eyelet band ... but I had not combined them all in the same swatch. The plan worked out well, very well.

So well that the lace finished symmetrically at the centre front neck edges! I was impressed, even though it was more blind luck than planning, but impressed enough all the same. There are ends to weave in, and still a neck band to pick up and knit, at the same time as the band for the front edges. At this point I am thinking little grey or black buttons, on a band, but I am not sure. I want horizontal button holes but that means knitting a vertical band and I'd rather knit the band horizontally as one with the neck and hem edges ...... decisions, decisions. Suggestions, suggestions ?

For now I am back to the other sleeve, I have picked up and will be working away tonight decreasing away the small underarm gusset, another modification. Then it is down the sleeve, decreasing every 6th round until it is the same length and hopefully the same stitch count as the other sleeve. I have the 'right' stitch count now, and in theory after the same number of decreases I should have the same number of stitches .. but in practice there is always between one and three stitches over or missing. One of those universal truths of knitting - theory and practice are not the same thing.

take care
more soon - maybe even a sleeve. 

Here, again

Just before this past weekend, Bear asked me when I was home, I said Sunday. Then he asked when was I away again. The answer is late August, and it wasn't always this way. Not so long ago Bear was the one who tripped around the world and I was the one who stayed home. This past weekend was a quick trip up to Nelson, some nine plus hours drive, two days of the NZ Costume and Textiles Association Symposium, and then nine hours drive home. Luckily - the wonderful C from work did the driving so I could knit.

Before we went I did the usual knitters thing, where I dug out all my current projects and rejected all of them as not quite right for knitting whilst away. I cast on two new projects, after much time deliberating and selecting of patterns and yarn ... and then tossed them both aside and took the plain grey cardigan with me. I suspect that the process of selecting, planning, rejecting and then retreating to something known is one I share with many others. Todays post is late, and replaces the wednesday and Saturday posts that did not happen, one because I was searching for something to knit, and the other because I was away ... and have not yet mastered mixing blogger with an iPad.

 First up the finished hat, with tassels. Smallest cub requested pom-poms, but I felt like making tassels so convinced her to at least see what I had in mind. She can still have pom-poms if she likes, but she has to make them. The hat fits well, and the tassels are fun, the decreases worked out just fine.

 Each tassel was 20 wraps of yarn around a wee piece of card, with a twisted rope of yarn threaded through and then bound tightly. The twisted yarn rope was threaded to the inside of the hat and tied neatly.

 This was the project I thought I would knit on the way, Green socks, the pattern Pirate Danger by Jeannie Cartmel. Most of the projects on Ravelry that use this pattern are knit from a varigated yarn, but I succumbed when I saw Jeanniefanihi's version (here if you are a Rav user) with a plain yarn, the travelling stitches hint at a scull and crossbones, which appeals to the not-sugar-sweet side of my project nature.  The yarn is Vintage Purls sock, a colour way from the 2009 sock yarn club, Daphne for the sock of the same name, a very good sock pattern, and one I plan to knit soon .... but maybe in some thing darker.

 Whist the instep and leg are all in reverse stocking stitch, the sole is in stocking stitch. Quite a neat touch ... I can't wait for the gusset and heel to grow out of this. I happily worked the toe, and then started the pattern before deciding that a twisted traveling stitch pattern that was heavily charted might not be the best project for a road trip and conference ... where the lights were dimmed. So I promptly started a new Ravelry queue search and a stash dive before starting Icelandic Poppy shawl in a fingering Merino, Possum, silk blend on a cone. Fortunately I came to my senses rather quickly, around 6 rows in, realizing that fine yarn, pointy needles and charts were the reason I abandoned the Pirate Danger sock and were the same drawcards for Icelandic Poppy.

 The Thursday rive up was fine, long but fine, nine plus hours, and we arrived Friday to this welcome and a full day of talks and chats about all things costume and textile.

 On the drive up I finished the 1x1 rib on the plain grey cardigan, and even worked two complete rows of k1s1 to set up for a tubular hem bind off. I have the stitches threaded on self yarn so I can work this at my leisure. I decided the lace around the collar will be the feature and the 1x1 ribbing was a perfect extension of the plain stocking stitch fabric. I also decided that twisted rib was to much to attempt flat in a car at speed.

  Early on day one of the conference I set aside the hem and picked up for the sleeve. I had stitches on a holder and some cast on at the underarm to pick up. I had worked a wee gusset decreasing away the extra underarm stitches, as a form of dart or shaping, and did the same on the sleeve. Seemed appropriate to construct a vintage pattern-making feature, the underarm gusset at a symposium filled with people who not only know what such things are but are interested enough to write papers on them.

On the way back there were three of us, so I sat in the back - all the better to knit and knit. By home time I had this much sleeve done ....

This was the view much of the way, spectacular green, gold, and yellow tree  lined farmland and rolling hills, with a slight cloud cover. The speedo is in km ... and 93 is under the speed limit, just in cast you were wondering.

My backset companion was this lovely fragrant bunch of teeny mini daffodils and sweetly scented blossom in bud, heavenly. We were all surprised so see and smell these in what is only a few weeks past the shorted day, but this winter has been mild. The flowers were not mine, but I enjoyed them for nine and a bit hours.

And now I am back, all enthused for the next symposium and with ideas already of what I could present. I've already written a contact - please may we letter.
Aso enthused by the progress on the grey cardigan ... imagine that!

take care
na Stella