All posts by Wind Cowles

Quick side project

knitting, ,

I have been knitting, I swear. In fact, a couple days ago two things happened: my friend Gina pointed out a pretty scarf pattern and I realized my daughter and I had forgotten her friend’s birthday. So, a quick trip to the yarn store and about 1000 Yarn Overs later:

This was an easy scarf as advertised, except I should have paid more attention to the comments about the pattern (“It only takes one skein, so you know it can’t go forever”). Over 1000 purl stitches in a row (literally, in a single row)… and the yarn, while beautiful, is fiddly to work with so I don’t think that I’ve improved my purl technique (the opposite, maybe!). I will say, the best thing about working with mohair (or mohair-like substances) is that it masks mistakes really well. Which is good, because as far as I can tell, it prompts more mistakes, too.

Still – love the pattern! I’ll definitely try it again…

Going round and round

knitting, ,

My local knitting shop finally opened. I dragged Redbeard along so we could go to lunch together afterwards, figuring it would be pretty quiet. Boy, was I wrong! Apparently there were lots of ladies who were itching to get their hands on more yarn. (Maybe some new year’s resolutions being started?)  Plus, the shop was stuffed (over stuffed!) with all kinds of knitting things. (Gotta take my mom the next time she comes to town!)

So, Redbeard and I tried very hard not to step on anyone’s toes (unsuccessfully, on my part, I’m afraid) and get some yarn for the market bag project. I wanted to do a leafy green with brown accent, but I couldn’t find a single type of yarn that had both a great green and a great brown. So, I went with the perfect green and a nice, rich yellow.

I really should be working on the things they pay me for, but I couldn’t resist getting a start on this whole knitting in the round thing. The squeamish may want to look away for the next picture, though I think it could be going *much* worse:

My practice tries with starting an 8 stitch knitting in the round (with another yarn) were unmitigated disasters, so I’m actually kind of happy with this. Plus, the worst of the messiness will get obscured with the felting (right… right?). I will try to sew the tail in tohelp make it more solid, too.

But, first, back to “real” work….

(Isn’t that green gorgeous? That will be the main body of the bag and handles. The yellow is the bottom and a small part of the handle.)

Running before I walk?

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So, I’ve decided to try to tackle this bag that I mention in my last post. One of the very first links on Google (for “knitting in the round”) turned up this video. This looks completely doable to me. I ran off to Michaels to get the right needles, but they don’t have the right yarn (even after I figured out what the heck “Aran weight” yarn meant). My local yarn shop (which I didn’t even know existed yesterday) is closed until Monday. Ugh! Must wait…

In the meantime, I finished my daughter’s blue scarf and then I started, and restarted (and restarted) a “sock” for my laptop. But, then my daughter showed me a knitting pattern for a scarf in a book she’s been really enjoying (The Magic Thief) – how could I resist switching to that? (Side question – just how many times CAN you unravel and knit with the same yarn?) Sure, I just finished a scarf for her… but her brother has a scarf AND a hat (and is now angling for mittens. Ugh – mittens?! I could probably manage some sort of bag-like device that fit over his hands and tied around his wrists with a draw string… maybe…)

After my daughter went to bed, I realized that I may have gotten over my head with the scarf, too. It turns out it has a “keyhole” at each end that requires having two balls of yarn going at the same time to work each side of the scarf around the keyhole. I got spooked by this and when the instructions offered a  non-keyhole alternative, I took it. I’m regretting that a little now, because upon second thought, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard. But, in the meanwhile, I’m discovering all kinds of cool things you can do with knitting and purling:

Unfortunately, I’m also learning that I really need to remember what stitch I’ve just, uh, stitched (stutch?) because the knobbly part at the bottom starts to look pretty weird if I get off by one K1-P1. Muttering out loud while I knit gets me some weird looks from Redbeard, so I’ve got to come up with some system. Maybe the way a hold the yarn out of each stitch? My purl stitch “technique” is still pretty “fluid”, though…

My hideously poor short term memory also means I also can’t keep track of how many rows I’ve done and so I’ve just been eye-balling the checked squares to make sure they’re square.  I guess I’d better figure out a trick for that, too. The problem is worse because I can’t tell how to count rows after I’ve done them!

Still – I really like how the scarf is going so far. I think I will try the “keyhole” thing at the end of the scarf.

Holy crap, it’s a hat!

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A couple years ago, my mom decided to move on to the next generation and teach my daughter to knit (since I was clearly a lost cause). Because we don’t live that close, she sent her a book to help her remember after we’d gone back home. I was looking at the book the other day and decided to both learn to purl and knit a hat. (Why not?)

So, I took the remainder of the red yarn from my son’s scarf and made him a hat!

Why did nobody tell me how magical this whole knitting thing is? (Oh, wait, she did…)

I only had instructions for an adult-size hat, so I had to improvise a bit on the number of stitches, but it fits!

This purling thing is not so bad, actually….

Totally sold on this knitting thing…

The tale of two scarves

knitting,

I’ve been working on two scarves. One is a secret, which is why I haven’t posted anything about it. Well, it was secret until my youngest child told Redbeard yesterday “You’ve got a grey scarf, Daddy! But, it’s a secret.” So, no pictures of it yet, but I will now acknowledge its existence.

Anyway, I made that scarf with a heavier (yes, grey) yarn and it was so easy. All my stitches were just right – it looks great, if I say so myself. I used size 10 needles, for what that’s worth.

So, my youngest wants a red scarf and so I’ve started knitting one for him. It’s worsted-weight, on the same needles. I’m not finished yet, but let’s just say that I’m banking on the undiscriminating tastes of 3-year-olds when it comes to fine fashion. (So far so good, he ran up a little while ago while I was knitting and rubbed his cheek against it, happily exclaimed that it was soft and ran on).

I’m not sure what’s going on with this scarf, but everything that can go wrong has. I pulled out a couple rows, but what I redid was worse. So, now I’m just plowing ahead. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

It’s not totally clear from the picture, but it’s like my stitches reversed themselves briefly. And then left a big hole. I’m trying to decide if I can claim it is a button hole…

It’s a square!

knitting

I think I figured out how to turn the corner to the next row:

And I know what I did – at the end of the row (at least my rows) there is always a big loop that can’t be tightened. Unless, you loop the yarn over the needle. I just assumed that anything that made that big loop go away was the right thing to do!

First attempt

knitting

After watching some really helpful videos at Knittinghelp, I decided to give a few rows a try.

But first, what style of stitch, English or Continental? Knitting help says to pick whichever, but clearly seems to be pulling for Continental. I also think that’s what my Mom tried to teach me. So, I go with that. I cast on, which is surprisingly easy (and eerily familiar), then knit back and forth a few times. Whee! It feels a little magical to take yarn and turn it into something. Filled with confidence, I watch the video for purling. I watch it again. Then I continue knitting.

Because I’m not counting stitches, it takes me awhile to notice it is getting harder and harder to squeeze my little project onto the needles. But, even when I do notice (why won’t this stitch go on the needle?), I’m not sure what’s going wrong. But, I flail with the needles in a way that seems to stem the tide of extra stitches. I learn to cast off and survey the damage:

Hmmm… I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to have fewer corners.

And whatever I am doing at the ends is not pretty.

I’m going to try again with a narrower “scarf” and count the stitches this time.

Learning to knit, 25 years later

Beer, knitting

When I was a kid, my mom tried valiantly to teach me how to knit. Repeatedly. Then, when I was a college student we tried again. First grandchild? Again. Second grandchild? Once more into the breach.

Still nothing.

But, this time is going to be different.*

My friend and I are going to learn together… So here is the chronicle of our attempts and trying this one more time.

Oh, and my husband Redbeard and I brew beer. We certainly find it entertaining (especially when drinking beer is also involved) and so thought, what are two good things that go good together? Knitting. And beer. So, here we go.

*No, really.