Knitting

I went to blog yesterday, and thought something along the lines of "Holy sheep, I have nothing knitty to show you" and then realized that this is life, and no - I'm not making enormous progress on the fibre front,...

If you knit a lot of large projects – or projects involving more than one skein of yarn, you have encountered the step of switching from one skein of yarn to another mid-project. This is called a ‘join’ or a ‘tie-on’ in knitting lingo, and there are a lot of different ways to do it. You might know twelve different ways. It’s also entirely possible that you’ve been sort of Macguyver-ing this step and are convinced there is a better way to do it than your way. If you’re happy with the results you’ve been getting, by all means keep doing it. Truthfully, you’ve got many fun options available to you, including simply dropping the old yarn and picking up the new one and returning later on to weave in the ends. There’s also the tried-and-true method of overlapping the incoming and exiting yarns with each other (holding them both yarns together and knitting a few stitches with both), or the approach of tying a square knot between the exiting and incoming tails of yarn, proceeding by knitting with the new yarn. I’ve used both of these options before, and they work just fine. The main downside with both of these options is that they  involve coming back later to deal with the ends. If you’re working with 100% wool, more methods are available to you – in particular, the spit splice. Strands of wool (and it must be 100% regular wool, not superwash wool or wool blended with other things) have the ability to get fuzzy and friendly with other strands of wool. The same qualities, incidentally, that allow wool to felt – the planned and purposeful version of shrinking a piece of knitting – allow you to execute a spit splice.  Just as any kind of wool felting involves three steps: moisture, heat, and friction, a spit splice also needs all of these things! If you’re not familiar with this join, here’s how it goes: (I grabbed this yarn from my leftovers bin, but in case you’ve fallen in love with it, it’s Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, in ‘amethyst.’) 1. First, separate the plies of your wool yarn at the ends (as pictured above). The yarn pictured is 4-ply which means I could actually go in and tease out all 4 individual plies on each of the two ends, but as you’ll see, separating the plies into 2 sections each does just fine. And, if you had a 2-ply yarn, you’d only be able to separate it out into 2 individual plies anyway. 2. Next, arrange these unwoven plies so that they are overlapping and getting friendly with each other. Again, you can be as meticulous or non-meticulous as you want. Mostly you just want the plies from one end to intermingle with the plies from the other end. 3. Apply the moisture required for the felting step – yes, this is the step where you actually spit on the yarn! If you’d prefer not to get quite that personal with your wool, you can apply water or run it under the tap, but I have no shame in admitting my splices are happily infused with my own spit. (I really put as much of myself into my knitting work as I can.) You can also just lick the whole thing in your mouth if you want – it doesn’t take long and is quite effective, although you do of course risk getting a fuzzy tongue. (God I can’t wait to see the search strings that result from this post. I’m so sorry, blog.) 4. Finally, you’re going to apply the friction and heat at the same time, by rubbing the splice vigorously between your hands. This is going to take vigorous motion (i.e. more briskly than rolling a rolling pin), but will not take you very long. I bet this must look really fun to kids. Heck, grown-ups have fun with this part. Possibly after the first go you might have a few bunched-up portions, so go back a second or third time to rub those smoothly if you like. Ta-da! A  successful join. The nice thing about this is that you have no ends to weave in afterwards. Once t

I had every intention of starting that wacky sock pattern last weekend. But then I had a spot of car trouble. (In a 27 year-old car with 203,000 miles on the clock? I’m as shocked as you are.) By the time I finally made it home, I was too rattled to learn how to work intarsia in the round. Guess what I started instead! This is a skein of that hand-dyed yarn that I overdyed a while back. It’s now various shades of brown. (I forget what colors it was to start with.) It’s a very light fingering weight, so rather than leverage the entire next month knitting this cowl, I’m using two strands held together. I’m not entirely enamored of the result. But it’s getting this yarn out of my stash, it’s going quickly at this gauge, and it’s a machine-washable cowl which is always nice. (Incidentally, I won’t say “the car was fine,” because that’s not quite true. The AC pump, which had been defunct for at least a decade, finally seized up and spewed fluid all over the engine bay and the belt that powers it started screeching like mad, while acrid smoke poured out of the engine bay. It was very dramatic. Luckily the fix turned out to be as easy as it was free: the mechanic used a knife to cut off the belt to the seized AC pump and sent me on my way. )

Dear everybody, We have been thinking about how best to celebrate the life and world of Kathreen Ricketson. Kathreen's online world, Whip Up, was a place that so many of us loved to visit. We have an idea. Of...

Luke: All right, I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try. So goes my new lace sock. Do or do not, there is no try. So I'm doing. And I'm loving. Casbah will be socks. Outnumbered but not out voted, because I am the boss of the knitting. (and I get to vote early and often) (What Do you today?)

awww, the fringe tree is in bloom; isn’t it sweet? and it’s nice and breezy this week so the fringes shiver and shake all day, sending the scent straight onto the office windows, mmm. this isn’t the best photo of my asparagus, but we’ve been picking some every day and eating it every few days when we have collected a big enough bunch to make something. like this pasta with sautéed mushrooms, grilled asparagus, and black olives—my favorite. there’s no recipe; just sauté all that stuff with garlic and oil and put it on cooked pasta. it takes about thirty minutes, tops, perfect for hot weather meals. it’s been a super-busy week around here since my last post—LOTS of knitting and another chapter of BNK done and dusted. we shipped a very interesting yarn this month which was really inspiring to design with (more about the yarn near the end of this post!). so much so that in addition to (spoiler alert!) the originally planned design, i snuck in a last-minute extra option, which i then had to knit with just a week to go before publication. so that’s why i was absent most of last week. in fact, when i finally came up for air i found all manner of goodies waiting for me—more asparagus, which i cut yesterday and grilled for dinner last night with salmon. also, tender little swiss chard that sprang up all over the garden beds, which i picked this morning while it was still cool. we’ll sauté that with a few more stalks of asparagus and a handful of mushrooms to fill some omelets for dinner. mm-mmm. the best part is, we didn’t have to do a thing to get that stuff; it all came back from last year, haha. oh, and another thing that happened last weekend was that anne marie visited and the spinners came over for a party. we ordered in a full array of indian dishes we opened wine and proceeded to carry on and make a LOT of noise for a few hours, haha. mister knitspot even joined us to eat, brave soul. linda and beckie came, too; it was a lot of fun. barb brought her bloch ness test knit, which she made up in our breakfast blend DK (which we are working on restocking). it only has one button now, but the rest are on the way—she got them custom made from buttonalia on etsy. there are some really cute choices there for useg with natural yarn colors. naturally susan had to try it on as well and it does look great on her. especially from the back, i think. anne marie is knitting a sample for us in our new romney/merino blend and once she’s done, we’ll release the pattern. we just got word yesterday that our full order of romney/merino DK is ready to ship, which got me ALL excited. i am counting the days til it gets here, but with a holiday weekend looming, i’m not optimistic that we’ll see it before next tuesday. but you ever know . . . anyway, it was really fun to have everyone together again; one thing i love about us is that we make sure to meet up a couple of times a year. one of these days we’re going to have to go to anne marie’s—maybe for maryland S&W next may . . . like i said, once my secret knitting for the month was off the needles, i was itchy to get my hands on something completely different and get to work on some smaller projects i can knit in public; i’m going to be traveling a lot in june and i was completely out of public knitting to take along. i’ve been thinking that it’s time to get a lightweight lace scarf going; something to add to my little nothings collection in a stitch pattern i can memorize easily, to drag around in my purse for impromtu knitting opportunities. and i wanted something with some color . . . this exquisite lace silk/merino blend from indigo moon is just the ticket; a smooth, lustrous multi-ply lace weight in the most heavenly blue—the color of a late evening sky. i heart it. it’s been in my stash for a couple of years, waiting for the right project. i just want to knit with this color,

Jennette Cross is the author of today's post, as well as the designer of Fine Kettle, the squishy, swishy, slip-stitchy shawl from our latest issue. Read about her quest to become a Twist designer, her fear of fish (a fear I share!), and the clever tricks you'll learn knitting your own version of her gorgeous creation. You can also find this post on her blog, here.       Fall of 2008. I had been working at Lakeside Fibers for a year and a half. “Hey,” said my bosslady, “have you seen this new online magazine, Twist Collective?” Ten minutes later appearing in Twist Collective one day became one of my life goals.     This is Fine Kettle, my pattern from Spring/Summer 2013. I had been submitting to Twist for a little over a year before this one was accepted. I have never ever felt bad when they turned me down; the patterns they put out are always so amazing there just wasn’t any point to feeling bad. And if I’m honest, I’m delighted they rejected the first two things I submitted because they were WAY above my skill level at the time. Now before I submit anything for publication I make sure that I have thought through every step and every eventuality. By the time I write a submission, I am sure that I can do it.   When the call for this issue went out there were photos of fish on the mood boards. I love fish even though I’m afraid of them (aquariums are a wonderful combination of beauty, fascination, and horror) so I decided I was going to do some kind of Fish shawl. Of course, any shawl I design is going to be a Combination Shawl, because I am obsessed. I messed around with my stitch dictionaries for a while, and then I started thinking about scales . . . scales that got larger and larger as the shawl progressed! Why, I could HIDE the Combination increases INSIDE the scales! It would be the cleverest thing I ever did. Lots of swatching later I was very happy with my increase-hiding scales, but unsure about how to finish the edge. I needed something to help counteract the stockinette stitch curl that was inevitably going to happen at the hem, and for this pattern it seemed like the solution was garter stitch. I didn’t want to just slap some garter stitch on the edge though – it needed to flow somehow. The fish needed some tails.       The swatch and drawing above are what I ended up with. Then I took a step back and realized that I had just designed a gigantic slipped stitch shawl that looked like a fish. “Oh well,” I said to myself. “It’s not like they’re going to get another submission for a gigantic slipped stitch shawl that looks like a fish.” Besides, it was too late. I was already in love with it. But they accepted it, and got me beautiful yarn, we put together a beautiful pattern, and they had Jane Heller do some stunning photography.     The shawl begins with one long starter tab (I love a good starter tab) and then goes immediately into the fish scale pattern. The scales are all slipped stitches; you only use one strand of yarn at a time, and the wrong side rows are all “slip the slipped stitches and purl the purl stitches” so they’re about as easy as they can be. The garter stitch edges are worked entirely in the main color, which means that technically the shawl has a bit of intarsia. Trust me though – it’s about the easiest intarsia ever. And it’s worth it to create those lovely unbroken main color edges.     The shawl finishes with garter stitch fishtails, inset into the last section of scales. The garter fishtails increase according to Pi Logic, so they have lots of extra drape. Of course, from the photos you can automatically tell that one of the best parts is the yarn. Sunshine Yarns Merino Silk Fine was the perfect yarn for this project – soft, beautifully drapey, silky, and shiny. I’ve had some questions through Ravelry about the actual yardage used; my notes indicate that I used about 730 yards of the Main Color and 630 yards of the Contrast. If you are getting a different gauge

I just checked my Ravelry Projects page. This is only the third Honey Cowl I have made so far this year. That doesn’t sound too bad. I thought I had made more. (Of course, I’m working on a fourth, but still.) Honey Cowl, how do I love thee? Let me itemize the ways in an unordered list: It does great things to yarn that is subtly variegated, like this one. The pattern breaks up all the different tones in amazing ways. You could make it in a solid yarn (but it would look a little boring) or a yarn with more different colors (but it might be a little too wacky). The smaller size is a great way to use a single skein of yarn. (Don’t know about you, but I have plenty of those.) The fabric is dense and smooshy and stands up just enough to keep you warm, but not so much that it’s annoying. After you have worked it for a while, your fingers will learn how to make the pattern all on their own. After that point, the only thing you have to do is glance down periodically to make sure you’re on track. This makes it excellent TV knitting. It’s a free pattern! I don’t mind paying for a pattern, but you gotta love free.

The Casbah is calling my name. So here's my dilemma. Should I knit a pair of amazing socks with the Casbah or should I knit a pair of long fingerless gloves with it? Please chime in. Beatles loves to be in the yard now that the warm weather is here. My pretend dog....... Discovered these goldfish treats at the store the other day......the best part is you get 52 pieces for 4.5 grams fat. It is a mix of graham, chocolate and tiny white marshmallow fishies. They are just okay....I'm crazy for marshmallows lately.....My pretend dessert.....

Gameplay was getting a little bit boring. Ophelia’s wish is to reach level 10 of the Social Networking skill (done) and to have a Five-Star blog. Getting a Five-Star blog means constantly blogging on your smartphone until you get the “Blogged Out” negative moodlet, waiting for it to clear, and then blogging some more. In the bathroom at the library… In the bathroom at home while Raheem tries to take a dump… After working out at the gym… In the snow… And at home while Raheem tries to watch television. That last picture points out two things that bug me about the Blogging activity. You can only do it on your smartphone (not on the computer in the background), and you can’t do it while sitting down (only while standing). Let’s all be grateful that’s not the case in real life. I got so bored waiting for her to level up her blog that I went ahead and had her Try For Baby with Raheem. My thinking was that while she was blogging, Raheem and I could at least be doing stuff with the baby. On the day when she first turned pregnant, the Fall Festival arrived. I sent them down to the festival separately. Here’s what they did when they spotted each other. These two are so in love, it’s a little bit revolting. I had Ophelia tell him about the pregnancy right there in front of the haunted house. First he looked SUPER THRILLED. Then he gave her the “thumbs up.” I love it when they do that. (Sorry for the poor lighting. It was the middle of the afternoon, but as you can see, it was a very cloudy, overcast day.) Q: What time is it when the frost is on the pumpkin? A: Time to defrost your pumpkins. (That joke killed ‘em in the fourth grade. I think I learned it from a Garfield comic.) Both Ophelia and Raheem had a wish to challenge the other to a pie-eating contest, so I obliged. The pie-eating contests are disgustingly hilarious. With the retching and the gobbling noises. Raheem won the contest. After the contest was over, but before he washed the pie off his face, I had them step into the photo tent to get a souvenir photo. Raheem found a kitty wandering the festival and played with it for a few hours. Raheem has the Animal Lover trait. He keeps wanting to adopt various animals. There’s no room for pets in the Seinfeld apartment. I think I will have to move them out to a big suburban home soon, to make room for the kids and pets and all that stuff. It would also be nice to have more room for parties. Ophelia wanted to throw a Feast Party, and things got pretty cramped. Although everyone seemed to agree that Jerry’s place is decorated nicely. Raheem kept ignoring the party to dote on his massively pregnant wife. This guy seems a bit put out by that. Long after the party had ended and everyone had left, this guy stuck around and kept eating food off the counter. What a George! The next day, their baby girl Peggy was born. She is looking a lot more human than the rest of the hybrids. See how she actually has eye whites? They’re not just solid black? It’s a good sign. I’m looking forward to a Sim that has HAIR.