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.