Mosaic collar or neckband?

I have been knitting, just not writing about it, for the last couple of weeks. Now I'm back and working out a Mosaic Top Down Vest workshop to present to my knitting guild in 2 weeks.

I started out being too ambitious as usual. I thought of working a Mosaic collar on a Top Down V-neck baby vest. It's all doable but not for the time allowed for the class. The Mosaic pattern is 18 rows deep and then there are rows to knit so the collar can flip over nicely. Way too much time would be spent on the collar and not enough time on the rest of the Top Down garment. I really like how it looks though. Might be worth writing up as a pattern?

Back to the drawing board. 

I've decided a Neckband for a V-neck vest would be much more practical for the Mosaic portion of the class. Only 10 rows are involved in this mosaic pattern. That's manageable. Everyone will still learn how to read a mosaic chart which does take some practice.

I'm calling this pattern "little boxes". One box is solid and the box beside it has a centre dot. At one point you have to slip 3 sts which is good training for mosaic knitting. It's all about the slips.

Now onto the V-neck portion of the garment.
-Deb

First Gauge-Free workshop

Even though it's looking like spring here, I did a workshop yesterday on mittens. But not just any mitten. We worked on mittens from a different perspective.

Have you inherited yarn? Did all of it have labels to tell you what it was and the suggested gauge? No? What do you make with mystery yarn?

You can make mittens without knowing the gauge at all. Not once during the knitting of these mittens does gauge come into play. This was my first run through of this idea and look at the lovely little sample mittens the knitters at the Beacock Library made.

They learned that you can make a mitten in any size with any yarn. Do they look happy with their mittens?

Had a whole lot of fun. Thanks knitters in London, ON.
-Deb

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

Knitting at the Brier

Just a short word. Knitting at the Brier (national men's curling championship) is not progressing as quickly as I had thought. Guess what, it's harder to watch 4 games on the ice in the arena, up close and personal, then it is to watch one game on TV. Who Knew?! This is only my second time at a big event. The first was the Scotties (national women's championship) when my daughter was playing so obviously then I was watching only one game at a time, very, very intently. Right now she's curling at an event in Korea. Curl and see the world!

This morning I'm taking time off to write to you but back on the bus to the arena very soon for the afternoon and evening games. The curling starts at 9:30am and goes to 10:30pm with a couple of hours between games. A very full day, Whew, I'm glad I'm not out there trying to curl.

When I came I had this much done on my Shawl Collar Cardigan.

Now I have progresse this far.

Not bad considering I'm spending most of my time saying "Wow, how did he make that shot!" I don't think this is going to improve my curling game but it sure is exciting to watch these teams battling it out.
-Deb

Knitting in the cold

Today I am in a flap. I'm going to be sitting in an arena watching curling for the next 10 days. Yes, this is a holiday! I've looked through my sock drawer and I have 9 pairs of wool socks, check. Turtlenecks, not 10 but good enough, check. Flannel lined jeans, check.

But what am I going to knit with fingerless mittles and my coat on? I have 2 sweaters to finish up. I was going to start something new but ... these 2 sweaters want to get done so that's my first priority.

This Shawl Collared Cardigan needs quite a bit of work.  It's pretty straight forward going now but with the panels of broken rib it does take some attention so I might end up working on the sleeves first. If I miss a round or two between decreases, well so be it.

Then I have the sleeves of the Lattice Pullover to work on. I'm wondering how I can knit sleeves with my coat on. Since I am short, the sleeves on my coat are longish so double pointed needles poke into my cuffs. I've tried it and it doesn't work for me. I'm not a huge fan of the magic loop method. My 40cm long circulars won't last long. So I'm thinking I'll work with 2 circular needles instead. None of my stitches will go astray that way when I have to stuff the whole sweater into my backpack along with a blanket (wait, the sweater will be a bit of a blanket, bonus!), my lunch, a book, a thermos of tea, geez is it all going to fit? Do I need a larger backpack? I just wish I was gone already!
-Deb