Wow, it’s been busy around here. I thought I’d get a chance to put this up over the weekend, then Monday, and now it’s Wednesday afternoon already…
Well, after ripping and re-starting my sweater sleeves last week, I got a little side-tracked with these little mitts for CBtE:
I had to laugh, they took me about 6 hours to make, they’re nothing more than a ball of Noro Kureyon, with 33 stitches cast on and worked in K2P1 rib for 5 inches, add the thumb from fetching, and continue on in rib for 3 more inches, and this is what earns me the title of “Most awesome knitter” from my oldest? Heh. I wish everything was always that simple and met with such enthusiasm.
But after that brief and happy hiatus, I went back to my sweater. And with the debates in OH and TX, I got my sleeves finished:
I wish I could get a better picture of them; the color is off, but it’s the only way I could get the cabling to show up well. (Maybe olivia will drop by and give me some pointers on photography…)
And then, I just have to share this video of the Yarn Harlot knitting a sock. How does she do that so fast? I had just been reading her blog, wondering how she could knit a whole sock on a plane flight, and then I came across this…now I know.
Which brings me to my question for this week..do you knit English style, or continental style, or some mix of both?
I learned English when I was about six years old, and have tried to get the hang of continental as an adult, but I just can’t figure out how to purl that way and make it work. And that’s what’s needing me this week. 🙂
of your thoughts.*
And post pictures, please!
*Boran2 coined that phrase.
Very nice cabling, CG….looks like Celtic knots.
I knit English style unless I’m working fair isle, then I throw the main color English style & pick the contrasting color Continental style.
Here is grand-daughter’s finished sweater:
I’m trying to come up with a design in red & white for my grandson as those are the colors he’s requested.
I finished the marine blue heather sock a few minutes ago.
Here’s a little better shot of the lace and the heel shaping.
Now to start the 2nd sock! I still have a fair amount of the first 50 gram ball of yarn left, but I think I’ll go ahead and use the second ball so I don’t have a splice somewhere in the middle of the lace. These were worked in Knitpicks’ Palette fingering weight wool on size 2 double points after starting the toe with two circulars and the “magic cast-on”.
The sweater looks great! I love the light blue color.
I like the socks too, with that scalloped look to the pattern as it goes up the leg.
I’m actually going to teach my mom and her friend how to do the magic cast-on on 2 circulars later today. Which feels funny, since my mom is the on who taught me to knit.
I think I do fair isle the same way you do, with the combo pick and throw.
Meant to say earlier that I love the cabling on the sleeves.
A few weeks back, I taught a new technique to a good friend who is 30 years older than I am and has been knitting longer than I’ve been alive. Her motto is to try to learn something new every day, so I was honored to be able to show her the long-tail cast on for that day’s lesson.
I started the 2nd sock last night while watching the Pete Seeger bio on American Masters. I’m just past the toe shaping and ready to start the lace.
My knitting lesson for my mom and her friend went great (I always worry that I’m not very good at explaining things)! I had sent a link to the Cat Bordhi youtube for magic cast-on ahead of time so that it didn’t seem so weird when I explained it, and had printed out the Knitty instructions for it and a generic toe-up sock pattern.
Everyone has been raving about how good the Pete Seeger bio is. I’ll have to watch it.
Long-tail is the first and pretty much only cast-on I ever used. I’m going to do a provisional cast on (first time ever) for my sweater body so I can knit the hem up with the body as I go.
The first cast-on I learned was the “backward loop” which doesn’t make for a very nice edge. When I found the long-tail, I stuck with it until recently when I’ve been using provisional & crocheted cast-ons when they fit with what I was designing. When I first tried the “figure 8” cast on, I was using two double points and it didn’t work. Using one dp & the circular works quite well as do two circulars.
I love those sleeves. There’s an art nouveau quality to the design.
Thanks. The body has something similar going up the sides and around the neck to keep it interesting.
Hi all. I’m still plugging away at trying to learn to knit. I finished the Dobby Hat finally.
It’s a bit small and KamaKid wants it longer too. So, it’s back to the drawing board. But, I learned how to decrease and manipulate a very faulty pattern, so I feel pretty accomplished. Oh yeah, I also learned Mattress Stitch as the whole thing is done flat and seamed. While the seam wasn’t by any means perfect, it was cool to do it. Once again, the black color really made it very difficult.
Since I didn’t want to start the hat over right away, I thought I would try to make a pair of wrist warmers (which KamaKid calls arm socks). I couldn’t find an easy pattern, so i am winging it. All I plan on doing is making a rectangle with some minor decreases and then seaming it into a tube and leaving a hole for the thumb. I just started them, but have already made an error, so now I am tinking (my new favorite word) them until I get back to the error. I cast on 32 sts (I think) and will decrease to 26 or 24 so that they are snug. I needed them larger at the top because they need to extend up the arm to almost the elbow. They will be about 12″ and have the same striping as the hat.
CG, your “6-hour” wrist warmers are very cool, but geez…6 hours!?! I’ll be lucky if I can finish mine in 16 hours. :>)
BD: your sweater came out great. While I was all hot to do socks, now I am seriously considering some lace work.
I just joined a group on Ravelry for beginning lace knitters and may join the KAL for March. Most of the knitters are way more experienced than me, even if they are new to lace, but how hard can it be? :>)
A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me just what can be knit. She thought knitting was just hats, sweaters and scarves. Now that I am obsessed and spend many hours pouring over delectable patterns and yarns, I have to LOL. Just wait until she sees the fabulous lace shawl I’m going to make flawlessly!
I just got the wool for my “Scully” sweater. It requires a bit of intarsia, but I think it will be a pretty basic first sweater pattern and a good way to start learning that technique. So many things to knit, so little time.
Your hat is cute, even if it’s a bit small. Don’t you hate patterns that are poorly written and hard to understand?
Your plan for your arm warmers sounds good. Mine were a fun break after sock knitting and sleeve ripping, and I really attribute how quick they were to the thickness of the yarn.
I think the trickiest thing with lace is keeping track of the pattern and getting the yarn-overs right. Otherwise, it’s just more knitting and purling, right? I have this pattern on my wish list; I’d like to do it in a nice light green mildly variegated yarn, maybe with a little blue in it.
When you get to your scully sweater, there’s a good video on knittinghelp.com for doing intarsia without holes, btw. I used it when I did the sock monkey hat.
The pattern was baffling. But, after studying it and playing with it, I learned how the hat was constructed, which gave me enough confidence to manipulate it. Granted, it was a really simple pattern, but for a newbie like myself, it really upped my confidence level even to have the hat look like a hat. FWIW, it really stretches a lot, so the hat fits me. But, I have to agree with the kid that it really needs to be longer. I will simply have to space out the decreases more.
I bought the yarn and the KP Harmony circular needle set for the lace shawl last night. I’ll, of course, keep the group posted on my progress (or lack thereof).
Oooh, fun.
And I want a review of the Harmony needles. I LOVE my metal Options set.
I bought Harmony DP needles in sizes 1, 2, 3, 4 & 10½ (the 4’s & 10½ are longer than the smaller sizes), plus 16″ circulars in 10½ & 11. I love the DPs but the points on the circulars seem a little sharp, especially the 11s when I use my right forefinger to help push stitches off the left point. I didn’t buy the interchangeables because I have my 25 year old Boye Needlemaster with sizes 2 through 15 tips. The only problem I’ve run into with the Boye set is that they don’t go down to the 16″ I need to knit hats in the round and even the 20″ length is a struggle to work with as the tips are a bit too long.
I have the tiny DPNs (0s, 1s) and like them, but I went with the metal ones because I knew they’d be nice and slippery.
I don’t think the knitpicks interchangeables go down to 16″ either.
No, none of the interchangeables go down to the 16″ length. Over the past three years, I’ve bought quite a few individual 16″ needles because I knit so many hats for our charity knitting group and they’re easier to do in the round. Started one at 9 last night and finished it up a few minutes after midnight. Have another one on the needles. These will match up with scarves a woman in our group crocheted. My Boyes are nice and slippery, sometimes too slippery. The Harmony needles are a nice balance between those and the bamboo style. For working on lace on a circular, I like the vintage Susan Bate’s nylon needles that don’t have a join between the point & the cord. I find those sometimes at garage sales and grab them!
I love the Dobby hat! Still waiting for the grand-kids to get into Harry Potter so they’ll be interested in knits from the movies. I found links to a lot of patterns on one site, including the Dobby Hat.
I’m just getting into lace knitting. I’ve been making a Feather & Fan baby afghan for years, but it’s only one pattern row out of every four making it a good beginner’s pattern.
About two years ago, I decided to attempt the Adamas shawl from KnitPicks and, for the first time, ran into a lace chart instead of row by row instructions along with lace weight yarn and small needles. I was stymied and have only progressed this far.
I decided to try something a little easier and made the Wool Peddler shawl from Folk Shawls – worsted on larger needles and then the Highland Triangle from the same book.
These patterns were a combination of text instructions & charts, so I’m getting better at reading the charts.
That’s some lovely lace. I get distracted easily, so I am a bit concerned. I will just have to take it slow and mark each row. This is the pattern I am using. Thankfully, no charts. I have heard of some people taking the time to write out the charts. They do look intimidating.
That’s a pretty shawl. Good luck with it! I wrote out the chart for center section of the Highland Triangle because I was having problems with the chart, but the other two patterns went well working from a chart and I think I’m getting to the point where a chart makes more sense. Part of it could be having both the written directions and the chart so they can be compared when you’re first starting.
Very pretty.
I’m not a fan of charted directions either, by I’ve found that a magnetic chart holder like they use for cross stitch makes a world of difference in chart reading.
Hi, this is the poncho I made for Shirlstars.
I finished up a blanket I was working on earlier and now I am making some pillow covers as I want to do some thing easy for a change.
Good work everyone is doing, Kama, you are coming along great.
I love the colors!
My grand-daughter would love it. She’s at the age where purple & blue are her favorite colors. The last one I made her was pink and I’m now informed that pink is for babies. {g}
It will look dashing on Shirl!
I just got a chance to check out that video. Wow. I knit English style, but nowhere near that fast or that controlled! I do huge swinging motions and often have to balance my needles on my leg to keep them from falling out. I’ll have to work on that! :>)
She is scary fast…and I’ll never be that fast, but I’m okay with that. How could you ever afford enough yarn at that pace? 🙂
I could almost keep up with her – maybe two stitches to her three working across a 28 stitch dishcloth on 10½s while she cleared one of the double points with more stitches. Given the popularity of her books, I don’t think she has any problem affording yarn {g} But even at that knitting speed, I don’t how she has time to do all the knitting she does, write books, and care for a family, plus travel all over to give talks.