Tubular cast-on: very stretchy, makes a nice "hem" at the start of your piece. Looks great with ribbing. Doesn't look as weird as some other cast-ons if you're using oversized needles.
Garter stitch tab cast on: invisible if you're going to be working in garter stitch. You get to knit from three directions on the tab, so it's great for starting a shawl in the middle.
The bind-offs were:
Tubular bind-off. Matches the tubular cast-on, has pretty much the same properties.
Elastic bind-off. As it says in the title, elastic. Duh. As stretchy as the sewn bind-off but doesn't use as much yarn. Good for lace or the top of socks.
Stay tuned for the May edition: Increasing and Decreasing!
Want to be a Mistress of Knitting? Go to http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/lsg-mistress-of-knitting/
Level 1 - Learn any 2 new cast ons and 2 new cast offs
Level 2 - Learn 2 new cast ons and 2 new cast offs, including binding off in pattern if you don’t already know it. Learn them well enough to do without referencing books/intarwebs/knitting peeps
Level 3 - Learn 2 new cast ons and cast offs and write up a short description of the uses of each
Level 4 - Create a small chart of at least 4 methods of casting on and 4 methods of casting off indicating when to use each one
I think I'm going to go for Level 3. As it so happens, I'm starting a lacy stole that needs a loose, elastic cast-on. After doing some research I decided I want to try the Italian Tubular Cast-on, following this tutorial.
After about 45 tries, I think I've got it. It looked crazy and janky before I pulled out the tail, but I think that after a few rows it'll look better. Pulling the tail is kind of like magic!
One tip for those following along at home: it's best to practice with a frog-friendly yarn for your first few goes. Silk Garden is NOT a frog-friendly yarn.
For those of you who don't know, there's a program out there called Master Knitting. It's supposed to teach you many different techniques, and your work is evaluated by a committee to see if you "pass" each level.
I like the idea of the program, but have a few issues with it.
One, it's expensive. There's a program fee ($285 for all three levels, and you must be a member of TKGA, which costs $29/year), you have to pay to mail in your sample swatches and homework notebook, and there are yarn requirements for the swatches, so you may not be able to use leftover yarn you have on hand.
Two, the requirements are rigid. I know how to do stockinette stitch/ribbing/etc and don't really want to waste my time and money proving it. I also don't have much of a desire to design and make an Aran or Fair Isle sweater... it's HOT where I live and neither would be worn much.
I put it out of my mind for a long time and decided I'd just play on my own.
A lovely bitch by the name of Nellum came up with the idea for a "Mistress of Knitting" group. It's free to join (though you do have to buy your own yarn... not that any of you probably need an excuse to do that). You're allowed to demonstrate a technique in a project you're working on instead of making zillions of individual swatches. And since the challenges are more vague ("Knit a felted project" rather than "knit argyle socks"), you get more creative liberty to make things that you'll actually use.
Here's the list of challenges. There's a suggested timetable of one challenge per month, but the deadlines aren't absolute, it's OK to finish late. If you do 10 out of the 12 challenges, you'll get a certificate at the end.
This is all the yarn I've recently acquired from swaps, RAKs, and buying things.
It includes LOTS of things I've never tried before. Tons of indie-dyed things (omg I are indie yarn virgin, and I think I just became an indie yarn nympho), and my first ever Tencel and silk yarns! Yes, before now I've only used wool and acrylic. Also two Noro sock yarns (Kureyon and Silk Garden).
In the top left you can sort of see the natural yarns I skeined up and am going to dye as soon as I track down a local store that sells acid dyes. Two laceweights and two worsted, all 100% wool. One of the worsteds is a gift for my sister's birthday.
And yep, I did roll in it!
Inventory:
Noro silk Garden
Noro Kureyon
Yarn Pirate Merino/Tencel
Yarn Pirate Merino Superwash
Lovesticks Superwash Falkland Sport
Knitpicks BARE merino lace
Lotus Yarns Buddha
Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool
Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool
Unknown brand wool roving (maybe superwash? will have to test)
As nutty as I am for color, sometimes there is just something awesome about undyed wool. Sheep come in tons of different colors (sometimes even multiple colors on the same sheep!). You could knit without touching a drop of dye and still have enough different shades to make a complex Fair Isle sweater.
I participate in a "Random Acts of Kindness" group on Ravelry. People post wishlists, and if you have something on their list, you can send them a gift. I love sending out surprises, and it makes opening the mailbox a lot like Christmas morning: I either get an itchy "novelty" sweater from Aunt Sara (bills and junk mail) or Lego and comic books (Yarn! Or postcards! Or candy!).
Today I got a fabulous package from one of the ladies in the group, and it included this natural yarn from Gaspereau Valley Fibers. I opened the website and paraded around the house telling everyone "THIS yarn came from THOSE sheep!" Okay, probably not those exact sheep in the photograph, but at least some of their relatives and friends.
The yarn itself is lovely. It's a nice, soft creamy color. Feels nice and wooly (little bit of lanolin, but not much). It doesn't smell of sheep like wool does sometimes, even when wet.
I'm planning on splashing some dye on it, but leaving parts natural to let the wonderful sheepy color show through. Color scheme to be decided when I plan on what to make with it! Laceweight doesn't come my way so often, so it's a special treat when it does.
Yarn Stats:
2 ply wool
25 micron count (Being a geek, I love that they include this on the label! I've never seen that done before!)
100 grams per skein
800yds/100g
3200 yards per pound
I measured it myself with my handy WPI calculator, and it looks like it's about 18.
Thanks again, Karen. Definitely a gift to be treasured.
Last week I was spending some time in Atlanta and decided to get together with some of my Ravelry friends for knitting night. We went to Knitch in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood for their Friday night get-together. The shop does free knitting nights at 6:30PM every Thursday and Friday.
Parking was a bit of an issue. There's a small lot behind the shop, but it and the nearby on-street parking were totally full. My ride ended up dropping me off and leaving, as he didn't really want to hang out in a yarn shop anyway. Quick note: Don't park across St. Charles (in front of the bar) if you plan on staying later than 8PM: you will get towed, as we found out.
The shop is HUGE. The downstairs area has yarn everywhere, plus some seating. Up a spiral staircase is more yarn, spinning supplies, a big table, and couches. Most people at knit night were hanging out upstairs. There were a lot of us, and I was made to feel more than welcome.
The yarn selection is awesome. They had everything you would expect to find (Noro, Cascade, Rowan), plus some more exotic stuff (Artyarns, Habu), and even a few locally-made yarns and original patterns. I didn't buy anything (right now, money is short and yarn is long), but was sorely tempted to skip going back to college and buy the place out.
Here's the video of me knitting socks, as promised on the last entry. The pattern is actually a "lozenge pattern", not "wowwenge pattern". I can't seem to speak coherently on camera... :)
Sorry for the extreme delay between entries. I've been having technical difficulties, including a bricked laptop (now replaced), a missing camera battery (not yet replaced), and a broken camera phone (in the process of being replaced).
The boyfriend is in China (Shanghai) for the summer, and I'm going to try to finish his next pair of socks before he gets back. I bought needles and a book last night, and cast on with the SWTC Tofutsies he picked out (in TOEquoise). The pattern is Gentlemen's Sock in Lozenge Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks.
I took a short video of myself knitting on the first sock last night to post in this thread on Ravelry (note: link only works if you have a Rav account. If not, sign up, it's free and fun!). Annoyingly, I can't get it to upload on Youtube. I'm trying again with Google Video, but my problems are probably because the video file is massive, and I don't have any editing software that will cut it down. If I figure it out, video will be posted here.
For now, here's a picture of me holding the top of the cuff:
I decided things should be better-looking around here (Not that I don't like brown, brown is nice, but this is more knittery!), so I changed my page layout, colors, and ad style.
You'll also notice my new WIP progress bars! Aren't they great? They're powered by Ravelry, so any time I update things over there (i.e. every 5 minutes) they'll automatically change here. If you're a Ravelry member, you can click on the links to navigate to their respective project page over there.
I'm still making minor tweaks (especially to the progress bars!), so things will change a bit more, but overall I'm happy with my level of prettyness.
Oh, and aren't you just drooling over the yarn in the title banner? It's Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace, in Indian Summer (my photo).
See that? It's a broken DPN, and the reason I haven't made any progress on my basketweave socks in weeks. I thought I'd have to buy a new set of needles, but someone on the Ravelry forums told me Brittany will generally replace broken needles for free! I sent an email a couple of days ago. I haven't gotten a response yet, but hopefully I will soon so I can get on with the knitting!
In the meantime, I've been working on a new pair of socks. It's a total re-write of Grumperina's Jaywalker pattern, applying a similar stitch pattern to a different sock. I'm calling them Skywalkers. There's a lot more info about them on their Ravelry project page (Socks for Great Justice), but I'm holding off on posting the actual pattern until I have both finished.
Here's a technical preview: They're big! They should fit a men's size 10-12, or a women's 12-14. They're toe-up! It's easy to make sure if you have enough yarn left over for the second sock. They're more zig-zaggy! I modified the stitch pattern so the zigzags are more pronounced. They have shaping! Ribbing on the instep keeps them fitting well, especially if you have a high arch. They're crew-height! Great for people who don't wear dress socks. They have short-row toes and heels! Nice-looking, sturdy, and easy to do.
Two weeks ago, I went to the Orlando Needlework Convention at the Orange County Convention Center. It was held along with a scrapbooking show and a beading show, three in one. All of them were pretty impressive, though I was a little disappointed that there were so few vendors selling yarn.
I did pick up some spinning goodies from one of the quilting booths (Boutique 4 Quilters Inc)...
Top to bottom: 30 silk cocoons (0.5 oz), 1 oz Colonial Top roving in Koala, 1 oz Colonial Top roving in Slate I spun up a little of the Koala, it's so soft, pretty, and easy to work with. Nice long staple length too, without being too long. It's only one spindle-full so far, about 23 yards. Mostly DK to worsted-weight, with a few thinner spots. I'm thinking of plying it together with the Slate.
Silk-processing has been an adventure so far. I managed to degum the cocoons with some help from Worm Spit, and ended up with this fine mess of a thing:
I don't have any carders yet, but I did pick it apart a bit to untangle the fibers and see what the fiber comes out like. Nice! I think I'll like spinning this, once I get it out of "poofy tangled cloud" stage. Of course, all of this spinning has a purpose! It's going into a portfolio project I'm working on. More on that to come later, or get a sneak preview photo in Ravelry.
I normally don't post twice in one day, but I thought this was deserving of its own entry.
Purseho on Ravelry knitted an awesome rendition of my Elephant Tea Cozy. You can see the project page here, or go to her flickr page to see pictures if you don't have Ravelry yet (which, by the way, you should go put your name on the list for- it's worth the wait!).
Hers is knit in pink and white Wool-Ease, has crocheted eyes instead of buttons, and an adorable little pom-pom on top.
I would normally post pictures, but don't want to steal them without Purseho's permission, so you'll have to go to her flickr to see them.
Most of the patterns link back here for the actual instructions, but it's nice to have one portfolio page instead of the patterns all scattered through random blog posts. It's sort of like having a Table of Contents!
Secondly, I've decided to license my original designs thorough Creative Commons, under the Attribution license. That means you're free to use them for whatever you like-- modify them, sell the items you make, print them out and give them to all your friends/knitting circle/art class/fourth-cousins-twice-removed.
Under one simple condition: you have to give me credit. Here's an easy guide to giving credit:
If you print the pattern out, please include my name and my URL on the paper.
If you post an item you made using my patterns on another website/forum/Ravelry, provide a link (Ravelry will do this for you if you type in "Saltwater Purls" and the name of the pattern when you post!).
If you sell items you've made using my patterns on Etsy or another website, say the item was "designed by" me and link!
Creative Commons isn't a free pass to do whatever you want- it's definitely not as restrictive as copyrighting, but you do have to follow the credit rules. If I find out that you abuse the privileges of free patterns and try to pass my work off as your own, I can send you a cease and desist letter, and if you do not remove the offending items I can pursue legal action.
I believe these terms are very generous and fair, and hope more knitwear designers will start using Creative Commons instead of copyrighting their work. Did you know that if you purchase a copyrighted pattern, you're only allowed to make one copy to write notes on, and when you finish knitting you legally have to throw it away? Some designers even demand that you not make a copy at all, you must write on the original and buy a new one if you want to knit it a second time. How crazy is that?
Saltwater Purls... bringing you sane knitting since 1894 (OK, not really).
Pattern for these socks will be available as soon as I finish one! They're going to be knee-high with ribbing at the top. Stockinette on the soles and basketweave on the top of the foot and the leg.
They are my first project post on Ravelry, which I was just invited to today. It is so cool so far!
My username is Jillie, please add me as your friend. I will start posting projects on there soon!
