Bit of a Backlog

I’ve been slightly productive, knitting-wise, lately. I finished the lap afghan I’ve been working on (and off) for months. The pattern is Tweed Baby Blanket, by Jared Flood (Brooklyn Tweed). The central garter stitch square is completely mindless and perfect for those times when I wanted no-thought knitting. The Old Shale border is almost as mindless, and is one of my favorite Shetland lace patterns. Together, they make a very attractive blanket, and I love the I-cord bind-off.

I don’t know how many pairs of Knucks I’ve made, but I finally made a pair for me. I like how you get all the fiddly finger bits done at the beginning, when you’re all enthusiastic about the new project. Since it's summer, the air conditioning at work is on high, and my hands are colder now than in winter. The yarn is a bit thicker than I normally use for fingerless gloves (Plymouth Kudo), but it’s softening up nicely as I wear them.

I’ve been hunting through the bin of lost projects for the next thing to finish, and found another pair of wristwarmers, in an autumn hued yarn. It’s a good thing they’ve been sitting a while, since I noticed the end is curling back on the finished one. I think I’ll try a few rounds of garter stitch at the end of the second mitt. It won’t look as elegant, but it shouldn’t curl. The pattern is Fetching, and I’m knitting it in a rayon yarn, which is why it’s not behaving like the wool used in the original. Ah well, such are the joys of yarn substitution.

Two long-running projects down, and one more rescued from the Bin of Lost Projects. And in the span of a week. Must be a record for me.

Pasta Machine Cookies

Yesterday I dug out the electric pasta machine to make some fresh egg noodles. I had forgotten how quickly it churned them out. Much faster than the hand crank model I’ve used the last couple of times I wanted fresh pasta.

Then I got to looking through the recipe book. Hmmm, sugar cookies. Hmmm.

If the pasta had been so simple and delicious, how would these turn out?

Well, it turns out it’s fairly simple, and delicious, but not the best way to make sugar cookies. Looking back, a machine that has a design feature of warming up the extrusion disk is not a good choice for a dough that should remain cool. And it’s not a simple matter to take out the dough and chill it for a bit.

Very soft, squishy formed cookies. They didn’t hold their shape well in the oven, but they browned up nicely and taste good. They did crisp up, but that didn’t last. Choosing to make crisp cookies on a warm rainy day was not my best idea.

Still, I now have a batch of sugar cookies, and the pasta maker still has a place in my kitchen.

Vine Lace Swatches

Most of my current projects are stuck at an other-than-knitting point. Mittens that have to be ripped back since the thumbs are fitting like gloves, not mittens. A one-by-one ribbed scarf that I’m trying to bind off. Four bind-offs later, it’s still rippled at that end. Next up – the invisible ribbed bind-off. And a cowl that has to be put on waste yarn and tried on. I’ve already ripped it out once since I didn’t like the fit. Hopefully I got it right this time.

None of this is knitting. At least, not the no-thinking, just carry on sort of knitting that I’ve been wanting to do.

So I dug out the pattern and yarn for a shawl that I’ve been wanting to make for, oh, years. Of course, the yarn I have (Misti Alpaca Lace) is not the one called for in the pattern. It’s a bit finer. But, oh, so nice. So time to swatch. I started a few tiny ones on 0s, 1s, 2s, and 3s. I couldn’t really make anything out on the swatch on the 0s, so I set that aside and worked up some good size swatches of the rest.

They’re interesting. I wondered why the decreases were put on the same side as the way they lean, but now I see that it opens the pattern up. Cool. I like how the slight twist of one of the decreases (SKP) ends up looking like slightly raised buds. I’ll spend some time dithering over the swatches. Do I want an open fabric, or a tighter one? I put it on the counter and I’ll keep looking at it.

The pattern is an old Shetland Lace one. Very simple to follow, and restful to knit. I really like it. I’m looking forward to making this shawl.

Simple Gloves

These started out as idea for fingerless gloves for a friend that she could just toss in the washing machine. I had oodles of sock yarn stashed away and started on in on these. Learning from my problems with other wristwarmers and fingerless gloves, this time I got a tracing of her hand so I could make sure it fit. Somehow they morphed into full gloves.

They start out with a simple k2, p2 rib, then add a basic gusset for the thumb and plain fingers. I wound off bits of yarn so the fingers would match.

I had never made gloves with full fingers before, and I can tell you, it would be easier to weave in the ends at the base of the fingers before you finish the fingers and close off the tube. It’d probably be easier to sew up the gaps between the fingers then too. Oh well.

It took a bit of knitting, matching them up against the tracing, knitting, matching them up against the tracing, and so on, but all in all, it was relatively straightforward. And best of all, they fit.

Clarsach Intro

The harp guild is just around the corner, and I've been neglecting my small wire harp. So I planned to spend this week tuning it. Yes, a week. It can get temperamental about holding tune if the weather has been changeable and I haven't been tuning it for a while. Like, months. I've been in the mood to play nylon, so, well...

It has been holding tune without a problem. I tuned it at the beginning of the week and have only had to make minor adjustments as a few spots of snow have blown through. It is so resonant that it is easy to tune; when you get close to pitch, the other strings start to ring in sympathy. Of course, I have to damp all of the strings before I go on to the next one, but that is a minor matter.

I've used a picture with my cat, Bella, in it to give a sense of scale. She's a small cat. And she finds the harp to be quite interesting. Strings, you know.

The harp is an historical replica of medieval Scots/Irish wire harps (clarsach/clairseach) made by Lynne Lewandowski from cherry wood with brass strings. The soundholes on the front have been carved to resemble cherry blossoms.

Most of my arranging for it has been to find tunes that set the harp singing and to get out of the way. I'll add a sparse bass arrangement, but that's all.

Looking forward to sharing tunes and the potluck tomorrow.

Reviewing the Tape

Or, a time to look back on the Knitting Olympics and see what I've gained from it.

Quite a lot.

I've learned how to make balanced increases for the thumb gusset; that p1, k1tbl ribbing is easier than I thought and quite nice; and worked out both the thumb gusset and the reverse of the pattern so that the gloves are mirrored. (I knit the pattern from left to right, in the same row order, and replaced the k2tog tbl with plain k2tog, and when it came time to move stitches between pattern repeats, I moved one stitch clockwise.)

I've also learned that I don't knit well under stress and forget basics to boot.

So now I have worked out the patterns for both gloves, figured out how to work the thumb gusset and divide the stitches for the fingers. All that is left is to rip out the left glove and reknit it. Later. Probably in a month or so.

I'm still in the middle of a pair of gloves for a friend of mine (and they match), a pair of mittens for myself, and a scarf as well. I'd like to get the gloves and mittens finished while it's still cold enough to wear them.

But the mermaid gloves are now in the realm of possibility. Before, I definitely wanted the finished gloves, but figured I'd be knitting them on the far side of never.

I figure I'll be finishing them in April. Sweet.

And here, for anyone who wants to try them, is the thumb gusset I worked out. It creates a column of plain k1tbl stitches on either side of the gusset. All increases are then made just inside these stitches. I started it on row 1 of the pattern repeat.

Mermaid Gloves Thumb Gusset:

For information on how to make the following increases, see: http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/increases

m1L: make 1 left
m1R: make 1 right

Note: please do not put the gusset after the last repeat on needle 3. I did. And when it came time to move the stitches after row 22, I ended up breaking the yarn and weaving the new end back over the old stitches so there wouldn't be a funny zigzag over the gusset.

1: m1L
2: k1tbl
3: m1R, k1tbl, m1L
4: k1tbl 3x
5: k1tbl, m1R, k1tbl, m1L, k1tbl
6: (k1tbl, p1) 2x, k1tbl
7: k1tbl, m1R, p1, k1tbl, p1, m1L, k1tbl
8: k1tbl 2x, p1, k1tbl, p1, k1tbl 2x
9: k1tbl, m1R, (k1tbl, p1) 2x, k1tbl, m1L, k1tbl
10: (k1tbl, p1), 4x, k1tbl
11: k1tbl, m1R, (p1, k1tbl) 3x, p1, m1L, k1tbl
12: k1tbl 2x, (p1, k1tbl) 4x, k1tbl
13: k1tbl, m1R, (k1tbl, p1) 4x, k1tbl, m1L, k1tbl
14: (k1tbl, p1) 6x, k1tbl
15: k1tbl, m1R, (p1, k1tbl) 5x, p1, m1L, k1tbl
16: k1tbl 2x, (p1, k1tbl) 6x, k1tbl
17: k1tbl, m1R, (k1tbl, p1) 6x, k1tbl, m1L, k1tbl
18: (k1tbl, p1) 8x, k1tbl
19: k1tbl, m1R, (p1, k1tbl) 7x, p1, m1L, k1tbl
20: k1tbl 2x, (p1, k1tbl) 8x, k1tbl
21: k1tbl, m1R, (k1tbl, p1) 8x, k1tbl, m1L, k1tbl
22: (k1tbl, p1) 10x, k1tbl

Wipe Out

Or as they put it on the leader boards, DNF. A full cartwheeling off the the course and thumping against the barriers while the skis continue down the mountain by themselves.

The first third went well (the right glove), as I slowly gained confidence in the pattern and the yarn, and then, disaster waiting in the second glove. Managed to work out the tricky bit of reversing the pattern, and completely forgot the basics. As in "Does the second glove match the first?"

No.

Did I ask this question at any point in the past few days?

No.

Try on both gloves at the same time?

No.

Not until today, after I spent an industrious afternoon with my sister, both of us knitting away. The second glove has only seven rows left to be at the same point in the pattern as the right one. It is so far off that my ten year old nephew (who has little interest in knitting) could spot it.

And I know better, I really do. These are far from my first gloves, wristwarmers, mittens, you name it. And for all the others, I have taken my time and tried on, and measured and made sure that the stitch and row gauges were the same.

Ah well, they will get finished, just not tonight.

So I raise my glass of wine, and my bowl of buttery popcorn and wish all of you still in the Knitting Olympics the best of luck. Cheers!