The learning never stops. Isn't knitting wonderful that way? I am testknitting lace socks and found a lace pattern which does not work. Amazing and thought provoking. Why does this lace pattern expand at such a rate that the size of the leg is more than an inch wider once the lace pattern begins?

I discovered that the further away the decreases are from the increases the more the stitch gauge is distorted from good old stockinette stitch gauge. Easy lace has an increase (usually a YO) right next to a decrease. As lace gets more complex, the increases and decreases can be several stitches apart. In this case they are several rows apart. Every 6 stitch repeat of the pattern is increased on one row to 8 sts and then 2 rows later decreased back to the original number of stitches. The pattern is actually an 8 stitch repeat half of the time and seems to measure closer to an 8 stitch repeat. A sock which is based on a lace pattern like this may not come out the size you wanted. Interesting isn't it? Lesson learned. 

-Deb

It's been a busy week. We were down at the TNNA show (the national needlework assoc. show) where you cannot take pictures . . . but I took one of our own booth anyway.

And I scored a little wool too. Lorna's Laces in a DK weight, yummy.

And some Zealander wool with possum in it. It's so very soft.

And some Baby Twist Alpaca in a nice BIG skein of 250g. One whole shawl is sitting there just waiting to happen.

 And last but by no means least some more sock wool from Brown Sheep.

I thought these were manly colours but on reflection, maybe not the red/black but I love it. Hope your week was as fruitful.

-Deb

Hang on to that sock leaflet Elizabeth. Those old 'all gauge' leaflets are treasures.

Right now that is what we are trying to do too, writing up sock patterns so that they can be knit in any gauge. It's starting to get a little tougher now that I am onto the patterned socks. Brenda's sock patterns are terrific. My job is to work on any problems with the multi-gauging. Some designers can do all this in their heads but I find I can't really get my head around the various problems I might encounter until I have the knitting in my hands. So I am knitting up socks and trying to sort out all eventualities as far as the sock numbers go. It's fun.

This one is fairly simple to gauge up and down since it's a standard 2x2 rib.

Ya gotta love the old standards. I love these socks and they feel great on.
And then the fancy rib pattern worked out really well too. We're on a roll.

This one is a little trickier. Won't it look lovely worked down the top of the foot?

I'm working all of the lace socks in worsted or DK weight wool. It's really fast and they will be lovely and cushy to wear next winter. I know, I know, who can think of winter when we just got started on summer but we have to work now to get the socks done for our deadline in August. Knitting socks in July will be interesting, eh? Did I mention there is no air conditioning here, it's going to get sticky. And then some poor models are going to have to put their feet in them in August. Ha, ha. Might be a super quick photo shoot!

-Deb

Fran emailed about figuring out how to make a longer V-neck with short rows and this started some samples. I'd like to find some simple way to work it but nothing is quite working out as simply as I would like. This definitely is not the answer.

And these 3 aren't either but they give me information which is useful just because they didn't turn out as expected. The top right is the closest one where I worked the short rows with a decrease at the end and increased on the Fronts every 4th row. The answer is somewhere in that one.

And the socks keep getting knit. Just a simple ribbed sock but writing it for all gauges of yarn is a bit of a challenge. I am breaking the process of knitting the sock into very small steps to make sure every possiblility is covered. It's interesting work. And there will be many socks at the end, not a bad result.

-Deb

My husband and I had a lovely drive through Algonquin Park on Saturday on our way to Barry's Bay so that I could teach a Top Down class at the South of 60 Arts Centre. A terrific group of knitters came out. Within the group there were a couple knitters from 4 different knitting circles active in that area. I was totally impressed at the level of activity in the area, wonderful.

I've not been good at taking photos lately and when I'm teaching I totally forget about it so no pics of the students. We talked about top down knitting and some of the alterations that can be made to get a better fit.

I took along several of my latest experiments in that direction. In this top down I shaped the bust by decreasing at the sides very quickly and then worked increases at the sides at a slower rate to A-line the top. I think I could have worked the A-line increases much closer together to get a wider flare. Next time I'll be a little braver.

-Deb.

Saucy Girl

Just got back from the cabin, leaving Deb up there. Really, really, didn't want to leave as the weather was amazingly good for the May 24 weekend. Last year it poured!
Before Mom went off to the cottage (for the summer) she dropped by in her Cabin Fever T-shirt. Here's a snap of Mom in her saucy T:

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer weather!
- Lynda

Thought it was time I made a couple of sweaters for myself. So now I'm working on a T-shirt.

I'm not sure the new neckline is going to hold up. It's a little ruffly which was on purpose but it doesn't look 'on purpose' enough if you know what I mean. So it may get changed once I'm done. I'm at the great divide here and it seems to fit well. Nice fast easy knitting with a linen/cotton/acrylic blend on a larger than specified needle. It's a yarn we're trying out to see if we like it. The jury is still out on that.

And my summer sweater is done!

Well, except for sewing in the ends and sewing on the buttons. So, technically it's not really done, done but it's so very close. Don't you love the safety pins? Stunning I thought.

I'm very pleased with it but it's going to need some more work if I want to write it up. The lace pattern is a 10 stitch repeat which is really hard to accommodate for many sizes. So I'm going to need a smaller lace pattern, although I like the vertical look to this one.

Time to get out a stitch dictionary or five. Tough work but someone has to do it, Ha!

-Deb