September 29, 2005
A Ruana, Shawl, and Sweater
Stacy was working on a fabulous ruana with Moonlight Mohair and Suede:
Click here for a close-up. It is gorgeous!
Allison was working on a prayer shawl using two colors of Homespun:
What a sweet thing to do for a friend!
Laurie just began a top-down raglan sweater, using Wool-ease Chunky:
It's similar to these sweaters, but it's knit from the top down, meaning her cast on stitches are at the neck. After an inch or so of ribbing, she started increasing every other row at the same places where this pattern would have decreases (at the beginning and end of the front, sleeves, and back). It will look wonderful on her as the color matches her eyes beautifully. Last year she knit this sweater for her husband for Christmas. I was impressed with her ability to keep it a secret the whole time she was knitting it, and the time between when she finished it and when he opened the present!
Posted by lauren at 10:01 PM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2005
another wednesday
Last night, Jen came with her finished knit mittens that match her crocheted scarf
Now she just needs to make a hat, which she's working on now.
Claire finished her Wool-ease shrug, but she forgot to bring it to show us. She did bring a new shrug she's starting in black Wool-ease for a teenage relative. It will have a black Fun Fur trim, which she started last night.
We talked about a variety of topics including the weather. It's late September and I'm still wearing shorts and t-shirts! When do we get to start wearing the sweaters we've knit all year?
Posted by lauren at 04:38 PM | Comments (3)
September 16, 2005
Finishing
I'd much rather be knitting than sewing. But for many projects, the seaming and finishing touches make or break the sweater. I knit for three or four years before finally teaching myself how to seam properly. Here's a good tutorial on side and shoulder seams. To me, it is definitely worth the effort to seam carefully (even if it means you spend nearly as long seaming as you did knitting!).
Bryna had just finished knitting a garter stitch baby pullover with a little placket on the neck (the pattern can be found in the book Weekend Knitting). She was sewing a striped ribbon to the placket:
Then she was going to sew buttons onto the ribbon.
It is such a cute sweater and though her knitting is great, the finishing touches really make the sweater.
We talked about all sorts of things last night including different types of yoga and sushi, the education system, and quilting.
Posted by lauren at 03:09 PM | Comments (0)
September 09, 2005
Ripple scarf
This week, Jen, who was working on the Wool-ease Tiles throw a few weeks ago, surprised us by bring knit mittens to work on and a crocheted scarf she had completed. The scarf was her first crochet project ever and it looks fabulous.
It is similar to this scarf.
They are both crocheted length-wise, meaning you are crocheting across a LOT of stitches each row. But it doesn't take many rows before you have a fantastic scarf. The nice thing about striped scarfs worked this way is that at the end of each row, you can simply cut the yarn and attach new yarn and voila, you have fringe!
Jen's scarf has a little twist to the plain striped scarf. It is done in a rippled, or chevron, pattern like these scarves.
The mittens Jen's working on are knit in the round, using double-pointed needles, so there is no seam. Jen just taught herself how to do this from googling for instructions. I find double-pointed needles a little awkward to use so I usually knit things in the round with one very long needle using the "magic loop" method. To each her own! Hopefully she'll bring them back when they're finished and I can take a picture of the whole set.
Posted by lauren at 12:19 PM | Comments (1)
September 01, 2005
Knit On
Last night we talked a lot about the devastation along the Gulf Coast. Although we live in CT, many of us are transplants from the South (TX, LA, FL, GA) and all of our hearts go out to those affected by the hurricane.
Elizabeth Zimmerman has said, "Knit on, through all crises." And knit on we did.
In the foreground, you can see Nancy's wild scarf. This is a cute use for leftover scraps of yarn you may have from other projects. She's holding 3 strands of different yarns together, and mixing the yarns up throughout the scarf. At the moment, she's using 2 strands of Wool-ease and 1 of Magic Stripes. I can't wait to see it finished.
In the background is the beginning of a baby hat knit by expecting mom Stephanie, using Jiffy. She's knitting a large rectangle and then it will be folded in half, seamed across the top, and sewn down the side, much like this hat knit with BIG.
Posted by lauren at 12:59 PM | Comments (1)
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 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 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 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)