August 25, 2005
Remember two weeks ago...
Remember two weeks ago when Claire was working on that Wool-ease shrug with the provisional cast-on?
She finished the first half of her shrug, unpicked the provisional cast on, and put the live stitches on a needle. Then she started knitting in the opposite direction. Above is a crochet hook in the spot where her cast on was. It's nearly impossible to spot the cast on!
The crochet hook was borrowed for illustrative purposes from Ellie, who was working on a hat out of Homespun. She started with a circle (at the top of the hat) and crocheted out towards the brim of the hat.
Jennifer, who has posted before about her status as a new mom, knit a baby hat with Landscapes, and she felt that it needed a pom-pom top. Here's her pom-pom template and yarn.
Isn't it adorable?!
Tonight we welcomed four new women (and one sweet 10-year-old!). A male friend of mine happened to stop by the bakery where we meet. He couldn't believe how many people I know knit or crochet. He said, "It's like a giant length of yarn connecting you to all of these people you might never have met." It sounds a little cheesy, but it's so true!
Posted by lauren at 12:26 AM | Comments (5)
August 18, 2005
Another Thursday in CT...
Finally, a cool night to be knitting! I forgot to take a picture but one of our regulars just finished half a shrug made from a woodsy variegated shade of Wool-Ease. I will have to snap one next time because the cabling was beautiful!
I think Wool-ease is great, especially for kids, because it is so easy to take care of. When all the blogging rage was making Harry Potter sweaters last year, one of our other regulars substituted using regular wool for Wool-Ease and got fabulous results, as you can see here:
It just so happens that the goldenrod shade (Gold 171) is the PERFECT Griffyndor gold. She used Denim 114 for the girl's sweater and Chestnut Heather 179 for the boy's (which makes a great Griffyndor burgundy, as you can see).
The pattern used is from Knit It!'s 2004 issue. She took the Animal Pullover pattern and just didn't do the charts, subbing a chart she made for the letters...and voila!
Posted by Adina at 11:19 PM | Comments (12)
August 17, 2005
Personalizing a pattern
Another Wednesday, another night of knitting in the Elm City.
Newcomer Jenn was working on The Tiles Throw in Continental Blue and Fisherman. The book in the picture is Debbie Macomber's The Shop on Blossom Street, a novel about a knitting group that Karen mentioned previously.
Go Jenn Go!
She learned to knit rather recently and is already tackling an afghan! To make the pattern as simple to follow as possible, she typed up the pattern in a way that suited her best.
As you can see from the pattern, some squares are made by using color "C" for 15 rows, "W" for 12, and "C" for 15. The pattern repeat is 8 rows.
Jenn wrote out the pattern for every row in each square: what color and what row of the Square Pattern was being used that row. This idea can be used in any pattern. Read through the pattern, then jot down some notes or re-type the whole pattern so that it makes sense to you.
Jenn mainly learned how to knit and purl and bind off, etc from various internet sources.
Besides welcoming Jenn (who was new to our knit nights and is new to the Elm City), we also talked about Robyn's 1-week-old puppies, running out of gas on the interstate, Indonesia, and the man staring at us through the window.
Posted by lauren at 10:20 PM | Comments (1)
August 16, 2005
The Shop on Blossom Street, a novel about knitting
It's been too hot to knit or crochet, so I've been doing a lot of reading this summer. (Come autumn, I hope to start listening to audiobooks while I knit.) This weekend, I read The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber.
(Note from Debbie Macomber's website: After The Shop on Blossom Street went to press, we discovered an error in the knitting pattern included in the book. The pattern reads, "Rep Rows 13-36 until piece measures approximately 42 inches and you have worked Row 16 or 32." It should say, "Rep Rows 13-36 until piece measures approximately 42 inches and you have worked Row 36.")
The Shop on Blossom Street is a "relationship novel" (to quote the publisher, Mira Books) about a 30-year-old virgin/two-time brain cancer survivor, Lydia, who opens a yarn shop on Blossom Street in Seattle, Washington, called A Good Yarn (also the name of the book's sequel). She teaches a beginners' baby blanket class to three women: Jacqueline, a haughty, celibate fiftysomething society matron; Carol, an infertile woman in her thirties; and Alix, a surly twentysomething drug offender with black & purple hair. Each chapter focuses on a different woman; Lydia's chapters are first-person & begin with a knitting-related epigraph:
The yarn forms the stitches, the knitting forges the friendships, the craft links the generations. (Karen Alfke, "Unpattern" designer)
If you can knit, purl, and follow instructions, you can make anything. (Linda Johnson, Linda's Knit 'n' Stitch, Silverdale Washington)
We are all knitted together. Knitting keeps me connected to all the women who have made my life so rich. (Ann Norling, designer)
Knitting -- my Amazing Grace. (Nancie M. Wiseman, editor, Cast On magazine)
With a little practice and patience, our hands learn to knit, then our minds are free to enjoy the process. (Bev Galeskas, Fiber Trends)
Handknitting is a soothing and comforting means of creative expression that can result in a warm, useful and lovingly knitted garment...what a bonus. (Meg Swanson, Schoolhouse Press)
In the hands of a knitter, yarn becomes the medium that binds the heart and soul. (Robin Villiers-Furze, The Needleworks Company of Port Orchard, Washington)
People who say they don't have enough patience to knit are precisely those who could most improve their lives by learning how! (Sally Melville, author)
If you can count the number of projects you have going, you need to begin another, so you have a varied range of complexity from the very simple 'mindless' ones to those that demand undivided attention. (Laura Early, knitter)
Knitting goes with us, it calms us. (Morgan Hicks, Sweaters by Design)
In knitting, as in everything else, you learn as much from your mistakes as you do from your successes. (Pam Allen, editor, Interweave Press)
Whether I am knitting for myself or someone else, my passion for knitting enables me to express my creativity and produces feeling of accomplishment. (Rita E. Greenfeder, editor, Knit 'n Style magazine)
Knitting is a haven, a safe place where one can touch history, dance with art, and create a peaceful life. (Nancy Bush, author of Knitting on the Road and Folk Socks)
To learn to knit, you need a beginner's hands and a beginner's mind. Knitting is a hobby. Breathe, relax, and have fun. (Donna Druchunas, SheepToShawl.com)
Here's my favorite passage from the book. Lydia is explaining to Brad, the hunky UPS guy, why her ideal day would include knitting:
"One of the things I love most about being a knitter is the community of other knitters. Any time I run into another person (usually a woman, but not always) who knits, it's like finding a long-lost friend. The two of us instantly connect. It doesn't matter that only seconds earlier we were strangers, because we immediately share a common bond. I've talked to other knitters in doctors' offices, in line at the grocery store -- anywhere at all. We've exchanged horror stories of misprinted patterns and uncompleted projects. And we all love to brag about fabulous yarn buys and, of course, discuss our current efforts.
I want to help people discover the same sense of satisfaction and pride that I feel when I finish a project for someone I love."
Posted by Karen at 12:49 PM | Comments (1)
August 15, 2005
Baby hats
I'm Jennifer and I'm just back to knitting outside of my house after the birth of my daughter this past May. I love knitting and try to find time every day to work on projects. Most of my design work is small items, like baby hats. Right now I am working on a pair of hats in Landscapes (Rose Garden) for the daughters of two friends. I used Landscapes (also in Rose Garden) with a Fun Fur trim in Champagne to make a toddler poncho for my niece. I didn't know the gender of my baby, so my little girl doesn't yet have anything in Landscapes, but she's next on the list. I'm thinking about making a cardigan with snap closures and Fun Fur trim. I want something that is easy to put on and take off when dressing her. Got to go, nap time could end any minute!
Posted by Jennifer at 12:53 PM | Comments (3)
August 12, 2005
KIP (knit in public)
I've only been knitting since December 2004, but I have learned so much from -- and been so inspired by -- the people in our knitting/crochet/craft group. (I've even learned how to crochet granny squares!) I was so scared when I first kipped at a New Haven coffeeshop (making a Homespun scarf in seed stitch on big needles), but everyone was so welcoming.
Here are some places to look for a group near you:
stitchnbitch.org
craftster.org
knittyboard.com
meetup.com
Posted by Karen at 06:09 PM | Comments (1)
August 11, 2005
knitting in the new Harry Potter
I'm Karen, and I'm the one who brought up the following passage from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at our meeting last night:
Dumbledore reentered the room [from the bathroom] and Slughorn jumped as through he had forgotten he was in the house.
"Oh, there you are, Albus," he said. "You've been a very long time. Upset stomach?"
"No, I was merely reading the Muggle magazines," said Dumbledore. "I do love knitting patterns."
Here are some links to Harry Potter-inspired patterns:
Knitting
Harry Potter bookscarf
Hogwarts scarves
Wool-Ease Wizard Scarf
Weasley Sweaters LJ community
HP Knitting LJ community
HP Knit Yahoo group
Crochet
Golden Snitch afghan square (popups)
Wool-Ease Wizard Scarf
Posted by Karen at 10:55 AM | Comments (6)
August 10, 2005
A Provisional Beginning
Hi, I'm Lauren and I'm fairly obsessed with knitting. I knit while reading, walking, watching tv shows and movies, riding in cars, flying on planes, and nearly any other place I can bring my needles.
Luckily there are a lot of other fairly obsessed knitters living around me.
Tonight, 11 of us met up at Au Bon Pain for a few hours of knitting, crocheting, and even a little embroidery:
In the foreground is Claire's Summer 2005 issue of Interweave Knits. She's knitting the Viennese Shrug using Wool-ease (in Woods Print).
The yellow line of yarn was used in her provisional cast on.
So that the shrug is symmetrical and the lace looks the same down each arm, it is started in the middle and then worked down one arm. When that arm is finished, Claire will remove the yellow yarn and put the live stitches on her needle and knit the other arm. Those two links have different instructions for casting on provisionally. Either will work, as will this method that doesn't involve a crochet hook. If she used a traditional cast on, instead of the provisional, Claire would then have to sew the two shrug sides together, creating a seam in the middle of the garment.
Besides talking about cast ons, we also talked about different ribbed edgings, new yarn stores, churning butter, Harry Potter, and puppies (knitter Robyn was tending to her dog who had 8 puppies today!).
Posted by lauren at 04:12 PM | Comments (15)