KarenJoSeattle

YO YO

Remember this? See the errant YO?

   

Well, yesterday I took it to circle and fixed it.

I didn't take during pictures. Really, I don't think you'd want to see what two columns of stitches laddered down that many rows in a sweater as far along as this one is look like while in progress.

After circle I hung out until time for the class on fixing mistakes in lace knitting. While I waited I started another one of my Pinnate Shoulder Shawls in Handmaiden Silken.

The information from the lace repair class will be very helpful. The handouts touch on more than we could cover in two hours. Much of the time Kit had us doing hands-on examples and practicing looking at our knitting to see where we were, where we were headed and what a mistake looked like.

Kit covered the main types of mistakes that you can fix on the next row or by laddering down and which ones require unknitting.

Besides the usual dropped stitches or slipped rather than worked stitches, a missed Yarn Over or a PSSO that didn't get passed over can be fixed without unknitting if caught in the next row or at most two rows so that no additional stitches are affected. A decrease that crosses the wrong direction (eg a K2tog instead of an SSK) also is fixable on the next row or by laddering stitches back.

Anything that results in an incorrect number of stitches, either too few or too many, at the end of a row requires unkitting to fix. So do missed K2tog or SSKs unless for some reason you just knit or purled the stitches so that they remain free to be combined. This last maneuver will need two columns of stitches laddered down to the error and some extra slackness spread over a few stitches.

She demonstrated laddering back an entire motif to reknit just that section. You need an additional needle, circular or DPN, so you don't distort other parts of the knitting. Reknit the loosened threads onto that needle following the chart and turning for each row. Then knit everything back onto the original needles on the next row. It sure looked simple and clear when she did it.

As with all mistakes in knitting, the sooner you fix it the easier and better the fix.

And I can say from recent experience that laddering down two columns at once for any distance leaves you sure you can never put things back together properly. Then you do.

Oh, and tonight the shawl looks like this.

The Knitting Rides the Ferry

Today the knitting and I took a ferry over to Seattle from our place on Bainbridge Island.

Quintessential Pacific Northwest photo we have here -- water, boat, greenery, wool, and coffee drink. Only the clear, cloudless sunshine is unusual.

We ran a couple of errands. Then we had a nice long appointment with Souzan, my aesthetician.

   

The sun had begun to sink toward the horizon as we left the city. After our ride back to the island, Spousal-Unit picked us up and took us to The Pub for dinner. Due to our intent to actually eat and the messy nature of the menu there, the knitting waited in the car. Also, they have strict age rules at the pub.

Actually, the knitting has gotten pretty big for its age. Hopefully tomorrow it will start to grow some grown-up sleeves.

Writing Assignment

The sweater looks about the same with a few inches more body since I last took photos. While we wait for things to get more interesting, here's an exercise I wrote for my writing group last week. I do have a few photos of recent yarn purchases to liven things up.

As the first light showed on the horizon I felt energized yet calm. For hours, with only short breaks, I'd sat in this chair and knit.

My emotions resembled those of a 'runner's high' produced by the release of endorphins after long exertion. This high, though, lacked the giddy skittishness of the exercise-induced state. Brought on by repetitive motions, the mood was more Zen than manic.

   

The next day my hands would feel stiff, a bit sore, but then they moved easily through  the stockinette repetition. The yarn fed smoothly over my fingers. No mistakes slowed my progress.

Tomorrow, also, I would walk onto the ferry and ride across the Sound to knitting circle at the island yarn store. There, after some manic knitting to reach the crucial point, I would separate the sleeves from the body and turn this formless lump of the beginning of a top-down sweater into something recognizably a garment.

Eventually I need to fix the one mistake I found in the marathon of stitches. I'll ladder two columns of stitches down a few inches, move an incorrectly placed yarn-over one column to the right, and chain the stitches back up to the working row.

These moves will require attention and calm. They will not leave me feeling Zen. Instead, I'll feel accomplishment after the challenge -- or not.

When I wear the completed sweater I can reply to questions that, yes, I did make it myself. The pattern, actually, is my own based on a template. Oh, yes, I do like to design my own work and have more ideas than time to knit them -- sketchbooks full of sweater drawings.

If the questioner knits, we may discuss the picot hems I chose and the use of yarn-overs to make a lacy pattern of increases along the raglan sleeve line. We could pass on tips or compare favorite techniques.

And I will remember the feeling of sitting in this chair where I now write, watching the sun rise as I knit, and knit, and knit.

    

No, I haven't fixed the misplaced yarn-over yet -- tomorrow.

Phooey!

The yarn dyeing workshop I'd signed up to take this weekend won't happen. Too few people enrolled and they canceled. Apparently everyone would rather go sailing, or hiking, or drive over to the coast on an August weekend than to spend 6 hours a day for two days bent over steamy fumes in a room above a yarn store. 

I, on the other hand, so looked forward to this. I love to play with color and color combinations. The idea of knitting with yarn in colors I created myself excited me. No, I'm actually not easily excited. Usually.

Can anyone recommend good books on hand-dyeing yarn? I need something to appease me until the self-striping sock yarn dyeing workshop I take in mid-September. That has enough registrants already.

I guess I now have a bunch of time to knit this weekend. Or to actually get organized for the wedding shower I give in two weeks.

It is a knitting-themed shower, so I can throw in a stop or two to look for mark-down chunky wool appropriate for hats for Afghan refugees in between buying balloons and paper plates. Oh, and I can look for dyeing books while I'm there.

We'll knit the hats at the party -- about an hour after we start drinking champagne. Should be fun. Do you think the one case of champagne I bought today will be enough for about 25 or 30 knitters?  We'll switch to tea after a couple of hours. That'll give everyone an hour or so to metabolize before they head home.

Oh, I also need to remember to write to the Nordic Knitting Conference and point out that I sent them an e-mail ten days ago explaining my October family event I'd put on my calendar for two weeks after their conference is actually the same weekend -- in another state. I found nothing on the web-site or registration materials telling me how to cancel.

The only response my e-mail got was a form basically letting me know I actually got into the Elsebeth Lavold class I'd been wait-listed for. Rats. I assume the timing was coincidental rather than actually a response. The form did also note I have to cancel by September first; a week from tomorrow.

I'd better write the letter first, then go do the yarn and book shopping shower-related errands.

I really hope no more of my knitting events get canceled this fall. Since I just have the sock yarn class and the wedding shower left, I think others would wish me better luck, too. Karen, no problems have cropped up that could result in my returning this case of champagne, have they?

Button, Button...

Today was about buttons.

I still see a dentist back in my old neighborhood -- about a half a mile from Tricoter. Because other errands took less time than expected, I had about 45 minutes of time to kill. As I drove past, I noticed an empty parking space right in front of the shop door.

One of the strong points of Tricoter is their selection of buttons. You need to check the price before you decide you just love a button there, but all of these ran $1 to $3 each.

Most of that discontinued Jaeger yarn I just stockpiled will become cardigans. It makes sense, then, to also begin a stockpile of buttons.

Of course, I also had to get a storage box for them.

Truckin'

A lot of knitting happened here in the last 24 hours -- not a lot of sleeping but a ton of knitting.

Yesterday morning this cardigan measured three and a half inches completed and was ready for the start of the front neck shaping.

Last night I I felt like knitting and had no one else here to take my attention from it, so I knit. The knitting felt good, I felt good, the evening flew by. Knit, knit, knit, knit.

I ran out of steam about 6 AM.

   

This afternoon I took myself and my top-down, Mountain Colors cardigan to knitting circle. With yet more furious knitting, I reached the point of separating the sleeves from the body . Suddenly, from an indistinguishable blob, I had something that looked like a garment. Ta-dah! I love that point in a top-down project.

Tomorrow my one mistake, a YO one stitch over from where it belongs, will get laddered down and chained back up correctly. Then I'll switch from body to sleeves. I can fiddle with the length if I need to but I want to ensure I have nice long picot hemmed sleeves and enough yarn for picot hemmed bottom and bands, too.

   

   

   

Actually, inadequate yarn seems unlikely at this point. I've used one and a half skeins and have five skeins plus two halves left; also two large, plunderable swatches. I may get a second sweater from this stash.

More often I buy too much yarn rather than too little -- a good thing as I often buy well ahead of when I knit it into something. This stash has a receipt dated three and a half years ago. That's relatively recent in stash age, but I haven't seen this color (Silverbow) around for a while.

Now I'm off to crash for, hopefully, way more than two hours of sleep tonight.

Stash Attack

My luck held today. Early this morning, while the rain drummed on the windows, my garden-help guy called and rescheduled for tomorrow when the prediction contains much less wet. Usually his schedule doesn't allow us last-minute reschedules.

First, I went back to bed and caught up on my sleep and on cat-snuggling.

Then I spent part of the day reorganizing a couple of cupboards in the room where I store my knitting tools, files, and yarn.

In the last week I received a couple of largish orders of now-discontinued Jaeger yarn. I needed cupboard space to store it. We still have some unused cupboards elsewhere in our place, even after a year in residence here, so I could shift a shelf full of stuff out of another cupboard in this room and commit all of this one to knitting.

Note a few empty and unfilled storage boxes in my after photos and space for another box. I have a bit more Jaeger yarn I want to order while I can still get it, so some of that will get filled in the near future.

Also note that I have a long window seat with a row of yarn-filled drawers in addition to what you see here.

Yet more yarn fills half a dozen deeper boxes in a space over the closet of a cathedral-ceilinged guest room in our Bainbridge Island place. I need to buy a slightly taller ladder to help manage that stash, but I organized it into labeled boxes just a couple years ago -- not that long in knitting stash history.

Not everything is done. The lower two file boxes contain piles of papers and stacks of folders waiting organization. My regular-life paperwork overflows a file drawer likewise awaiting sorting into folders. Another two or three or more hours of work remain.

I also did a bit of regular closet and shoe organization. I have a couple of other areas of collecting compulsion besides yarn.

Anyway, tonight I feel virtuous despite accomplishing no actual knitting today.

My Lucky Day

I had another nice day yesterday, but little knitting content of any kind happened. A non-knitting friend and I took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island and spent the day eating and shopping. We did go into Churchmouse, but I actually didn't buy anything.

I did finish the heel of the sock and a few rounds around the ankle. I think I'll knit a few more rounds before I start the pattern on the back of the leg. I want the thicker patterning to begin above the top edge of my shoes.

Today while I ran errands, I drove up to Third Place Books where Stephanie speaks on September 14th. According to their web-site, tickets for the signing line become available with book purchases starting tomorrow.

I need to be back on Bainbridge working in the garden (in the rain) all day tomorrow.

So I planned to ask them if I could buy the three copies of the book I needed today and somehow reserve the signing line tickets to pick up later, or have them mailed, or something -- pretty please.

Between the time I walked in the door and when I asked my questions at information, while I found some books on color work I hadn't seen before and the new James Tiptree, Jr. biography that Spousal-Unit wanted, they set up the display of Casts Off near the registers and stocked the signing line tickets behind the counter. An hour before the store closed on the day before they were due to become available, I walked out with three books and three Group A signing tickets; the first issued as far as I could tell. It seemed like this was pretty routine so I'll keep it in mind for any other big signings I want to attend there.

I also got more storage boxes for organizing yarn. Then I came home and knit on the Mountain Colors cardigan to the point of the front neck increases. Had another nice day. I don't think my luck will hold through tomorrow.

A Very Nice Week

I had a pretty nice week, knitting and knitting community wise.

I passed 100 posts and the four-month mark in my blogging.

I blocked one finished Pinnate Shawl and finished and blocked another.

I finally started my Mountain Colors cardigan.

I got a couple of boxes of yarn in the mail, mostly containing discounted (and discontinued)Jaeger Extra Fine Merino.

I had a post selected for Yarnival. Since january one hosted this month's edition, I've had two or three hundred people click on my post since Wednesday.

Wednesday evening I went to the Ice Cream Social at the Seattle Knitters Guild August meeting. I just joined the Guild and started going to meetings a few months ago. This one was all about socializing so I talked to several people I've kind of met at meetings or on the bus trip to the Lavender Festival last month. I also finally met Ryan of Mossy Cottage and got to visit with some of her recent projects in person.

I won the Weekly Link Contest at the Summer of Socks 2007 KAL with a link to hand and wrist stretches. More people stopped by the blog from that post. Thanks, Margene for being my source for the link in the first place.

Today Ryan, who's a sweetie herself, posted about Wednesday's Guild meeting and said some extremely nice things about me, as well as linking to my blog which brought yet more people over. One of those was Kim, from Knits with a Silent K, who apparently had made futile efforts (due to lack of information from Blogger) to find my blog after I commented on hers.

Then Jo Anne from Ottawa, apparently blogless but a repeat commenter on my blog, said in a reply to my thank-you e-mail that I'm on her daily blog list "right up there with the Harlot, Rabbich, and Franklin." Which both made me speechless and made a superlative end to a mighty fine week.

Sock Content

OK, so today I win the Weekly Link contest on Summer of Socks 2007 and there's no sock knitting to be seen on this blog.

Here's the current state of the Regia Silk sock -- pretty much where you last saw it. I think I'll start another pair in a larger gauge to keep some sock-work happening around here.

Do note that I've stopped mid-heel. This worries me not at all. One of the things I like about the heel I used, this one from Wendy Knits, is I can tell where I am from looking and don't need to count rows.

I do have a tie-in to my cardigan post, though.

Can you see the change in gauge over the heel flap from larger at the top of the photo to smaller nearer the needles. The flap requires purling back. As soon as I started purling my gauge increased. I swtitched to purling back on one size smaller - US000s. I have ridges where my purl rows and knit rows differ, but my gauge is much closer to the rest of the sock. Also closer to the tight heel stitches I want.

New and Newish Beginnings

I finally started my top-down cardigan in Mountain Colors 4/8's, color Silverbow.

I planned this sweater as my next big project to cast on since I picked my needles back up in March after a two-year break. In a rare for me fit of daring, I have not reswatched though I knit the current swatches over two years ago.

I think I'm adequately swatched. As I've said before, I'm a swatcher. I will check my gauge after a couple of inches.

   

   

I plan picot hemmed bands, cuffs, and bottom hem. To co-ordinate I've used YOs for the increases along the raglan shaping lines. Otherwise, it's pretty plain -- lots of simple knitting for blog reading, movie watching, etc.

For the (Un)pattern I follow for my top-downs, I knit a cardigan body flat while I do the sleeves in the round. This could make for a gauge issue for me. I purl notably looser than I knit so my gauges flat and in the round differ too much. To compensate I'm knitting back backwards rather than purling on the body of the sweater. I knit back backwards slightly more tightly than I knit, but my overall gauge comes out much closer to what I knit in the round. I'll post some pictures of this sometime in the next few days.

Today also marks a mini-anniversary of another beginning. Four months ago today I started this blog. One third of a year and 104 posts (counting this one) later I enjoy the almost-daily writing and the daily interactions even more than when I started.

Kureyon Pinnate Shoulder Shawl

I finished and blocked the cream and beige Kureyon shawl last night.

Have you gotten tired of seeing these yet?

   

   

I now have proof that Kureyon can be wet blocked despite the dry clean only instructions. It softened up quite a bit, but not to a point I'd call soft.

The gauge on size 8s in my loose style turned out well. Size 9s would definitely have given me too loose a structure. Right now I have both some drape and some substance.

Finished size with two skeins measures about 17" by 34".

Interweave Knits Fall '07

Opinions and comments on the new issue of Interweave Knits pop up regularly in the land of knitting blogs over the last few days. The issue marks the first one officially run by Eunny Jang, though changes began to show up a couple of issues ago with the behind the scenes transition to a new editor.

Tonight I sat down to compare the current issue with some older ones. I couldn't put my hands on my copy of the Summer issue, so I looked at Spring '07 and Winter '06.

Last Winter's issue had the look I was used to seeing in Interweave. Changes first showed up with the Spring issue.

The cover changes, though subtle, make an impact with a glance such as the magazine would get lined up among dozens of others on a newsstand. KNITS is now in larger type running across the width of the top edge. The cover printing references more articles in a bigger variety of print sizes.

   

Inside the magazine several big shifts happened between Winter and Spring. The patterns separated from the initial photographs in Spring. I like the photo-spread style with first presentations uninterrupted by pages of pattern text. It allows me to quickly get an idea of what's in the issue in a very enjoyable way. Plus, I really appreciate that Interweave corrected that major flaw I find so annoying in Vogue Knitting. Both the first photographs of the projects and the pattern pages indicate clearly the page on which you'll find the other part. No frustratedly flipping back and forth looking for the gauge of yarn used or the photo that showed the cuff detail. And the pattern section still has an interesting layout with a separation between patterns.

Still, I found myself confusing the editorial section of the Spring issue with the advertising. The photos and page layouts had a similar feel. Things just didn't pop when I looked at them.

Fall '07 definitely pops. The photos are brighter and crisper, starting on the cover. Plus, each project has more photos, both in the initial spread and later with the pattern. Most projects have four to six different pictures giving a very good idea of what the garment actually looks like. There is no sense that a less than successful neckline is camouflaged or wondering how the sweater would hang if the model actually stood up straight. And the layout of the photos and print is clean and interesting -- very distinct from the ads.

One more change that I like very much first showed up in the Spring issue. The Beyond the Basics feature moved to the front of the magazine. Instead of drawings it has photographs. And a relevant pattern follows the article. Since I rarely actually knit patterns from magazines or books as is and mostly use them to learn more about knitting and knitting techniques, this change makes me very happy.

Some things, like fewer small entries in the News & Views sections or Clara Parkes' piece on organic yarns actually titled Yarn Review, may indicate changes or merely the content available for this issue.

Overall, the changes made more impact with this issue. The photography and its layout really felt new and fresh and made you notice that things were different. The issue was visually stimulating and just plain fun to look at.

Blocked Manos

Apparently my forgetfulness now extends beyond the need to post to the blog as I progress from peri-senility to full senescence. I can report that after 20 hours of soaking, Manos del Uruguay yarn will leave some of the darker dyes in the water. Otherwise, it seems none the worse for its loooong soak.

I have two habits while blocking I can't account for.

   

First, I don't sew in my ends at the cast-on and bind-off before I block. This one I think comes from some belief that I can fix a problem that arises during blocking, such as a too tight bind-off, more easily if the ends still hang loose. This may be true but I've never tested the theory.

Secondly, I block in two stages. First I pull the edges out fairly securely, but without forcing anything. Then, after things are mostly dry, I pull all the edges out a bit further and spray the piece down until it's pretty damp.

   

My pieces always relax a bit when unpinned. This piece is about two inches narrower and an inch shorter.

I've never tested whether my two-phase blocking actually results in increased size. I really should, shouldn't I?

Post #100

As of this post I have 100 posts and 150 comments since I went live on April 16th. In those 17 weeks I averaged 5.9 posts per week. I'd set myself a goal of six per week, which I thought overly ambitious, so this pleases me -- pleases me a lot.

Those 150 comments please me even more. Thank you everyone so much for both showing up and responding to my writings, whether you comment regularly or only once. I really appreciate the effort and the interest it indicates.

Next week on August 16th I'll celebrate four months of blogdom. In so many ways I still feel like a newbie and in a few ways I've developed the habits of a regular blogger.

I now put my camera in my purse along side my cell phone almost every time I go out.  Most of the time I still forget to take pictures.

I spend half the day thinking about what I'll write in the blog. Then I totally forget I have the thing and go to bed or almost go to bed without an entry. I'd probably average closer to 6.5 posts per week if I didn't have so many days I just forget I need to post something. That doesn't count the days I remember when I'm already gathering up stuff to head to bed at my usually late time of 2 to 3 AM and am beyond being creative or witty or even very coherent.

I think of great topics and all sorts of things to say about them. When I sit down to write them up late at night I forget way too much of my plans and my mental sentences. I need to get back to jotting down notes like I did for, oh, about the first week. Oddly, I've jotted notes a lot in the past for various writing courses but can't seem to get into the habit now that I have something I write almost daily. I bought the nice notebook cover and notepads. Didn't work.

I post lots of pictures, mostly of on-topic stuff. I have fun composing my photos and like how they come out. The color on them usually varies notably from the object and I haven't taken the time to figure out how to get truer colors. I forget about those with slower connections.

My knitting and knitting community have really benefited. I have dozens of ideas for projects I want to do/design/knit. The days I don't knit have become rare. I finally got myself to a Guild meeting and I really like it -- so much so I volunteered to be a reporter for the newsletter. I made it to the Northend Knitters' KIP on Worldwide KIP Day even though it rained. I haven't gone to their pub knitting night yet though I said I would. I still have links to several local SnB-type groups, like the Purly Girls, I haven't gotten around to checking out.

I make a point of not just reading my growing roster of blogs regularly but commenting anytime I have something to say. I really enjoy 'visiting' with my new on-line community. I check out new blogs daily. But I haven't created my lists of blog links for my sidebar. I put off signing up on the Ravelry wait-list because it was more than I wanted to do at that moment so now a month after I did apply I still have 9474 people in front of me, down from 12,266.

Despite those deficiencies, even when I struggle to put together a post before I fall asleep sitting up or finish a project so I have something to post, this doesn't feel like a chore. It feels like doing something I want to do.

I really like it here.

Gauging

I spent the day today deciding the best gauge and needle size for my latests Pinnate shawl in Noro's Kureyon.

   

I'd swatched and started the shawl on US8s, but questioned whether I had a loose enough gauge for a lacy pattern.  Still, I didn't want to lose the integrity of the solid fabric sections between the YOs.

 

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So, I swatched on 9s. Not too bad.

   

 

   

       

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But when I knit a few rows on the 9s the larger gauge looked like it would lose its structure once I blocked it.

While researching blocking for the Manos last night (no, I haven't blocked that yet) I also looked up the Kureyon. As it is now, this yarn is pretty stiff and scratchy. I know -- not a good choice for banged-up hands, but I didn't have to wind it.

The references I found on the Internet say this yarn will soften dramatically with wet blocking. I know Kureyon felts and the label says to dry clean. I'm willing to soak and wring carefully for a blocking experiment. I'll take a chance of some felting against a chance to improve the current feel of this yarn.

Any opinions?

Playing Knitting Chicken

Tonight I cast off my current version on my shoulder shawl done in Manos. That made up the total of my knitting today.

I had this much yarn left. The idea of the pattern is to use one skein and use it all, but I actually kept an eye on the yarn tail as I cast off this one.

I bought two skeins of this, but it knit up long enough that another skein seemed like it would make funky proportions -- not quite wide enough for the length. I might get another skein and try a larger version. This knit up really quickly even during a time I didn't knit very much.

Instead of knitting, last night and today I've ordered discontinued and discounted Jaeger yarn. Mostly I'm getting Extra Fine Merino DK with enough yardage to do a cardigan in each color and leftovers for one or two colorwork versions. I also got the washable and less expensive Matchmaker merino in a couple of colors and a variegated soft pink/pastels in the Baby Merino for casual cardigans.

What I wear the most is a fairly plain cardigan in a not-too-heavy wool. I decided the time had come to start knitting what I wear. My EZ books, the Barbara Walker top-down book, and Knitting in the Old Way will finally get some good use as I come up with patterns to try all the techniques I want to use.

I have no issues with a pattern mostly of stockinette. Simple knitting makes for a nice evening watching a movie with the Spousal-Unit or reading blogs. I find it very relaxing.

Now I need to go research the best way to block Manos del Uruguay and get it pinned out.

It's Messing With My Knitting

My avocations have not played well together lately.

It's another gardening Monday and another set of uncomfortable finger injuries.

The cut on my left index finger no longer hurts, but I didn't have long to enjoy the improvement. I now have  the tip of a thorn in the crease of my first knuckle, a small but deep hole made in an effort to retrieve it, and lots of swelling. The cut on the right hand resembling a large paper cut came from a blade of ornamental grass. The thorn in the second finger of my right hand, though smaller than that on the left, feels sharper.

Luckily, my current project uses Manos del Uruguay and size 10 1/2 needles, manageable even without full function of the hands.

The socks still wait.

Knitting Tool Kit

I live in more than one place. Besides the usual bus trips, outings, and places where I may have to wait, my knitting projects routinely move from place to place with me.

Don't hate me, but I can't remember the last time I needed a small knitting tool and didn't have one at hand in my project bag.

I love tools but hate to stop what I'm doing to go find the one I need. A few years ago, soon after I picked up knitting again, I developed a traveling knitting tool kit that I keep with each active project.

I love my little kits. They feed my manias for tools, little containers, and organization in one compact solution to my laziness.

I include a variety of stitch markers in my kits; locking, split, and plain. More and more I just use the locking ones. Someday I'll probably weed out the others. I'm good at the initial set-up but not always on the up-keep.

I also have a tube holding a few T-pins (there should be more than this), two straight tapestry needles and one bent-tip, plus a needle threader.

And I have a small box of coiless pins in two sizes. I mostly use these to catch dropped stitches until I can get back to pick them up or mark where I found the error I'm tinking back to.

With the safety pins and tapestry needles I can also seam my projects without having to go get more tools. I haven't made anything with seams for a while, though, as all my recent sweaters I knit top-down.

The little containers come from the local Storables branch. I love stores like this and could spend way too much time and money on stuff to hold stuff. Luckily, I don't accumulate lots of stuff I don't use -- other than maybe stitch markers.

The kit of crochet hooks comes from Plymouth Yarns. These I use to pick up dropped stitches, unless I'm too lazy to get one out and just fiddle it with my knitting needle. The hooks work better for me, especially on a small gauge.

Actual crocheting of edgings and such happens with my nice wooden hooks stored in my needle file box.

Besides eight sizes on four two-ended hooks, the kit includes a medium and small darning needle. The small box fits nicely in the pouch and keeps the hooks untangled from everything else.

Gingher makes the compact clippers. They have very sharp blades and don't catch on the other tools or my fingers. One of the cats does have a thing for black plastic and needs to be watched around the clippers.

I also have a solar calculator, a needle-sizer/ruler/gauge check, a tape measure, one or two rarely used stitch holders, and a leather thimble for when my left middle finger complains about my style of continental knitting on small, sharp metal needles.

Most of the time the tape measure lives in the larger bag of an in-progress project along with a pencil, a photocopy of the pattern, and a few 5x8 cards for notes. For bigger projects I'll have a binder for pattern, swatches, and notes.

I made up three of these kits originally, then later added a fourth. At times I wish I had five or six. I usually have way too many projects going at once.

I use clear bags for my projects. When you have several projects started and in various stages of activity at one time, the clear bags save time and searching.

When I set up a new project or move an old UFO back into the WIP queue, I drop one of my tool kits in the bag with the yarn and needles. A project in a time out gets its tool kit taken away.

My organizing mania tends to be all or nothing but keeps me better sorted than the average knitter I know. I have no kids to wander off with my pins and tape measures, but they still evaporate and need to be replaced regularly. It's the nature of small, needed things, no matter how organized you are.

Silken Pinnate Shawl

       

This photo, though a bit dark, shows the colors the most accurately.

From a pre-blocking size of very roughly 10 or 11 by 36 or 37 inches and a during-blocking size of 14 1/2 x 44, the shoulder shawl in Handmaiden Silken relaxed to 13 x 43 off the pins.

      

   

   

I liked working with the yarn. The high twist results in lots of give, so it knit up easily in a loose gauge. I used US4s (3.5mm), which gave me five stitches per inch in stockinette. The label calls for six spi on 4s.

      

The fabric has a nice drape in my lace stitch at this gauge.

I had one issue with the yarn. The color on my skein didn't go all of the way through. Any splitting, catching, or untwisting of the yarn left bits of the white interior visible against the dark colors. According to others who've worked with this yarn, including Amy Singer of Knitty.com when she spoke here, this does not usually happen with Silken.

   

   

   

The size works very nicely, especially for a one skein pattern. I'm very happy with what I'm getting as I try this shawl in various yarns. I want to test several yarns in order to include a range of gauges in my final commercial version.

I started another in some variegated Manos, which goes quickly.

    

As the Heel Turns

The shawl is blocking.

I have straightened out that one corner since photographing.

My gauge loosened up a bit when I picked this back up after a couple days off. The colors pooled in that area. They started to go back to their previous distribution as I tightened back up.

   

    

      

The heel is turning.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the heel flap. One of the things I like about the heel method in Wendy's toe-up with gusset pattern is the ability to tell where you are and what you're doing. Plus, I have notes. So I can leave this until the morning without fear.

Almost There

I very nearly finished the latest Pinnate shoulder shawl in Silken. I only need to bind off and block but will leave both for tomorrow. It's late, I'm tired, and I'd bind off too tightly now. Too late to start blocking anyway.

The Silken really stretches plus I knit it a bit more loosely than the Lola. I estimate after blocking the shawl will measure around 15x43, based on current stretched size -- a very nice size.

I didn't knit on my Regia Silk socks today. My cut finger still opens up occasionally and I'd rather the cream color remain undyed. I need one more round of plain stitches on the gusset and then I start the heel flap, so I'll wait until I have a chunk of time tomorrow afternoon.

I'm Not Knitting

The knitting doesn't go well the last few days. Mainly because the knitting doesn't go at all.

I gave my injured finger last night off, too. The day was busy and I had plenty to keep me occupied, but it did make two consecutive days without knitting.

Today I walked on the ferry to go to a knitting circle at Churchmouse. I grabbed the big bag I'd made of things I could work on, but not the little bag of stuff I was currently doing. So I had nothing to knit on the ride over. I had to read my book instead.

At circle I ended up figuring out what yarns I had for my shawl pattern I'm developing and what kinds of yarn I should get to round out the sampling. The pattern will be written for a variety of gauges.

Then I swatched one yarn. Finally, yarn on needles. I started the swatch of another yarn on the boat ride back. My cut still wants to split open easily. Pooey.

While my knitting faired poorly, my knitting life felt pretty good today.

First there came circle. Even if I knitted little I spent a couple of hours with a bunch of knitters all working on projects.

Then I went to my first board meeting of the Seattle Knitters Guild. I recently volunteered for the newsletter reporter position and so now attend board meetings. This was my first and was kind of fun. Plus it was another hour spent with knitters discussing knitterly things. They said it was an easy meeting.

I really hope tomorrow included lots of photogenic knitting, for both our sakes.