Retreating is over

It's been a frantic couple of weeks. Two retreats back to back. Loads of fun with knitters.

The Yarn Over Sleep Over weekend was great. I taught a mosaic class, always interesting because the charts don't read like any other charts but always give a wonderful result.

I especially like it in fingering weight yarn, much more delicate looking.

Knitting a Lake Lauzon was full of triangles and rectangles and look at that finished scarf!

Looking forward to next year but now ... back to our regualarly scheduled program where I am doing my taxes. Argh.
-Deb

Triangles and Parallelograms

I lost about a day and a half trying to solve a problem. I’m making a “join as you go” scarf. I thought it would be easy in garter stitch since 4 stitches and 4 Ridges equal 1”. How hard could it be to form triangles and parallelograms? I’ve worked other designers' patterns in this way. Now to design my own.

It started out fine. I was trying to make a crescent scarf that is shaped like a staple. A short leg hanging down on either side with a long straight centre section. These are easy to wrap around your neck and you can tie the ends together which I sometimes like to do. 

Then it got a bit squiffy.

The waving is the product of putting right angled triangles, with equilateral triangles, with parallelograms. Whew. I spent the day catching up on the ratios of Pythagoras Theorem. Remember that from high school? Who knew I would need it in knitting. Interesting stuff. 

New scarf. I have it figured out.

We’re going to tackle this at the Knit At Lake Lauzon Retreat, April 23 & 24 in Algoma Mills (half way between Sudbury and Sault Saint Marie, ON). It will be easy. I promise. And of course you can always ignore all the mumbo-jumbo of math theory and just get on with the knitting.

If you live in Northern Ontario or can get there, please join us for 2 days of knitting. I know, an irresistible offer, knitting and Pythagoras Theorem! Ha, ha.

-Deb

Lace Chart Reading class

Do you use charts to work lace? I think they are far superior to written instructions. I'm running a Lace Chart Reading class on Saturday, April 9 at Eliza's Buttons and Yarns in Barrie, ON.

Charts give you a lot of information.

1.  They tell you exactly what to work across the row: knit, purl, yarn over, decrease.
2.  They also give you check points to watch for so you know you're on the right track. Check that those yarn overs line up with the ones two rows down. Yes, they do! Hooray.
3.  A repeating lace pattern with markers set up between the sets of repeats gives you a smaller portion of the lace to concentrate on, increasing your chances of success.
4.  The chart gives you a visual of the finished lace scarf which you will be able to see as you knit.

We're going to start the Crescent Scarf in DK weight yarn (Pattern included in class fee). We'll Cast On and begin the lace work right away. Each row is repeated many times across the row so you'll have the chart reading down in no time flat.

I love doing this class. I love to see knitters realize how easy it is to read charts. This opens up a whole new area of the knitting world where beautiful lace resides.

-Deb