V-neck Testknit

One advantage to not having internet service is that it concentrates my "on line" time into several hours of at-the-library time. I have to be more organized about what I need to do every day. No chance to "oh yes I should just check that right now".  I make a list of jobs and get to tick them off one by one. It makes me feel so productive. It's good to get out of the house and sit at the Quiet tables with, from the look of them, young students from the University. I'm sure I blend in, NOT. Lots of clicking (some of it's my needles), no talking. Ahhh, it is lovely.

Update on the testknitting for the 4-14 year old Pullover book: I'm knitting the beginning of all of them. I have no idea when I will get around to finishing them. I do have other people knitting them too. Lots of information is coming in every day to finalize all the details.

I'm knitting the V-neck. Making the V employs short rows. The same technique is used in the Baby V book (downloads available on Ravelry: Baby V & Patternfish.com: Baby V) and the Button Up Your Top Down books. Cast On lots of stitches for the neckband, including lots of Front sts. Then work short rows, back and forth, with a decrease at the end which attaches the Front to the neckband and decreases a stitch. It works. It's awesome.

Last night I worked my short rows back and forth. I just realized that it looks like the V is attached in the round but it's not. I'm half way down the front neckband with my short rows.

Today I'm ready to join in the round.

Joined Up.

 The V will be closed with a button. I put a dime where the button will be just to give you the idea.

Now back to regularly scheduled raglan increases and knit rounds to the bottom of the yoke. Already most of the way there.
-Deb

Shawl Collar

The Knitter's Fair was busy and since attendance has been down the last couple of years, I worked the Cabin Fever booth by myself. Busy or what! Unfortunately no time for taking photos since I hardly got a chance to walk around at all. These shows are fun to do and a lot more knitters have our books in their hands. Good all around.

It's been a weird couple of weeks. Our internet service is not working. Everything we try doesn't work for more than a few hours. One evening my husband was on his Ipad doing sudoku (which doesn't need the internet) during a thunder storm. Lightening struck, "we're connected!". It lasted only a couple of hours again.

I do have a phone where I can receive emails but I can't attach documents and several other things I take for granted. Now I am sitting in the library, lately my second home, writing this blog.

What am I knitting? Shawl collars. One of our designs for the 4-14 Pullover book is a V-neck. Now it has a shawl collar. First prototype:

We decided it would be fun to put a button at the collar crossing of the V. So I've reknit it, made a couple of adjustments. I'm several rounds away from the Great Divide for a 6 year old size.

All of this involves short rows of course.

But the easy kind, a short row wrap & turn where, because it's garter stitch, the wrapped stitch gets knit as a normal stitch. Yay, no working the wrap with the stitch. Easy peesy. Here's a before and after shot.

This is again, top down, starting with the collar. It's been fun to knit.
-Deb

It's 9am and I have sewn 3 buttons on my latest knit of the Last Minute Baby Vest in Cotton Tweed worsted,

and if you know my feelings about sewing on buttons you know this is last minute (ha, ha) and urgent. Yup. Tomorrow we leave to go to the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter's Fair in Kitchener, ON. It's shades of Christmas Eve around here, last minute sewing and knitting and wrapping up.

10:30am.  I sewed in the ends on a new pair of Ergonomic Mittens called Striped Mitten (I have to work on  garment naming, obviously) in Northern Lights chunky, soaked the mittens and set them out to dry (I don't think all my crossing of fingers is going to help my knitting dry in this humidity). All the time drinking very cold coffee since I forgot about it while sewing buttons on, a task that seems to take my undivided attention so there is no bloodshed.

11:30am Then I edited new patterns: 1920's Stripes (hat) which match the Striped Mittens. Phew, can't believe I have this much done already. Best to get everything done before the temperature soars. Load patterns up on Ravelry. Done. Check.

Afternoon: Now I'm trying to finish that last knitted garment. Doesn't this bring back December 24th and not in a particularly good way? One more Swirl Cowl in a new variegated Cottage Colours worsted wool. I really like watching the swirl cut across the colour but I'd enjoy it more if it went just a teensy weensy bit faster.

It might be a late night! If you're going to the K-W show come by and say Hi. We're having a SHOW SPECIAL. Come and check it out.

-Deb

Where to work the Next Sleeve Decrease

I have a pet peeve. I don’t like seeing knitters mark little ticks on their patterns to keep track of the rounds they have worked. If you can learn to read your knitting you can be tick-free (pun intended).

Right now I’m knitting a sleeve in the round from the should down to the wrist. My sleeve shaping instructions are as follows:

Knit 7 rounds.

Decrease Round 8: K1, SSK, knit to last 2 sts, K2tog.  (SSK: Slip as if to knit, slip next stitch as if to knit, insert Left needle into fronts of 2 slipped sts and knit them together)

Repeat last 8 rounds.

I'm decreasing every 8th round.

The decrease I keep track of is the SSK since it’s easier to see. When you complete Round 8, the decrease you just worked sits below the new stitch you just made as you knit 2 sts together which is sitting on the needle. The Round 8 stitch is on the needle and the decrease sits just below it. Maybe the photo works better for you.

I’m going to do the next set of decreases on the next Round 8. You can count the rounds I've knit. A knit stitch looks like a "V". I'm counting the column of stitches above the SSK.

 Round 8 + Rounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7. Now on the next round, Round 8, I'll do another set of decreases.

That's the explanation but it's not how I actually count the rounds. When I look at my knitting and this photo, I can see 8 knit rounds (column of "V's") above the obvious SSK. All I've done is renumber the rounds. The number of knitted rounds is the same as the photo above. In fact it's the same photo with the rounds counted differently.

When I can see and count 8 rounds above the obvious SSK (including the stitch on the needle), I work my Decrease Round on the next round.

I worked the Decrease Round. If I count the rounds I can see above the bottom SSK, there is a new SSK on the 8th round. It works.

If you need to decrease every Round 8. Knit around until you can SEE 8 rounds above the last SSK (including the round on the needle) then work your Decrease Round. If you need to decrease every 6th round, count 6 rounds above the last SSK and do the decrease round.

I'm almost sure you don't believe me but this totally works. The rounds are easy to see and count and I never, ever go wrong on my sleeve decreases using this method. OK, almost never, except during a really interesting movie. No ticks, no mistakes. Would I steer you wrong?

-Deb

P.S. I like the idea of a "collection" CathyK. Nice.
Robebe: Giving away yarn that someone else is going to work on and give to charity sounds like an excellent plan to me.

Yarn buying guilt

I will admit right now, I am not a shopper. I only enjoy shopping in a couple of stores: yarn stores and book stores. I can pass every other store on the block except the coffee shop. I like them too. Mostly because I can knit and read there while I drink coffee.

I’ve been working in a yarn shop for the past 2 weeks where I usually work only 1 or 2 days a week. Seeing customers come in day after day is enlightening and discouraging. The hesitation and guilt we (me included) attach to buying yarn which we quite often knit and give away, is incredible to see, time after time after time.

I understand not being able to afford some yarns. I get that. I can't afford everything in the store either. But when I walk into a yarn store I really try to have a good time. I am intending to buy something and want to enjoy the process of deciding which yarn and colour and what I'm going to make. Anticipation, excitement.  But quite often that is not what I hear in my head and now have heard several times every day as customers discuss their purchase, or not.

I go into a coffee shop because I like coffee and getting it in a café is a treat which I enjoy. But sometimes I end up saying “I’d really like a large latte with a vanilla flavour shot but I only need a coffee so I should get the regular cup of coffee, but boy I really would like the latte, it’s so yummy and now I can’t make up my mind, oh dear, look how good that latte she’s getting looks, the regular coffee doesn’t look nearly so appealing next to that and I do have coffee at home after all but sitting here for a little bit would be so lovely, the line to the cash is getting shorter and I’m starting to panic about making a decision so … I’ll just go home without anything.” What is that?!

Defence against yarn buying guilt:

1.  Start knitting something right away. Stand in the store and cast on, really, I bet they wouldn't mind. In fact if I'm behind the cash I would gladly do it for you.

2.  Go home and finish something, anything. It's OK to have 15 projects on your needle as long as something is getting done on a regular basis. Now cast on something new. Doesn't that feel good?

3.  Do a charity knit. Make a hat, mittens or doll for your local mitten tree at Christmas or your favourite organization which distributes knitting. Everyone benefits and someone is feeling the love. Your love of knitting and giving.

4.  Gift or swap old stash yarn. This could be fun. Have a little party, swap yarn and listen to someone else get excited about yarn that has been sitting at the back of your stash. You know you have some.

Do you have some more suggestions for alleviating this debilitating knitting problem?

Note to self: Buy the damn latte!

- Deb

Itchy fingers

What does someone who knits for a living do on holiday? I took the weekend off and had a lovely weekend with friends. Lots of activity, no knitting. Now I'm at my cabin on the lake. I've read one book and have started a second but I can feel the itch. It's in my head and interfering with my reading. Now it's in my fingers. I'm not going to last against it. Today I will probably start knitting. Do accountants feel this urge to punch a calculator?

It's not as if I didn't know this would happen. I brought 4 projects with me! I hoping your saying "only 4?"
Deb

Broken Sleep

Not opening my email first thing in the morning is working great. I have the 4-14 year old Pullover book written.

Well, so I thought until early this morning. 2am I woke up to this thought: The fronts have to have an even number of stitches so the underarm cast on has to be an even number too, instead of the odd numbers I had to get the sizing I wanted. Can I get the stitch numbers to come out to the same sizes? @&%$. Do I get up? Can I go back to sleep? I finished at 3:30am. All 6 patterns now have better stitch numbers. I'm a happy book writer. ZZZZZ

Now it's time to nail down some of the technical details.

I think this tuck stitch edge to the hood would be easier to work in the round. Is it necessary to keep one of the rolls open so that you can thread a string through?

I wouldn't. Would you?
-Deb