Knitting--where has the time gone
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Knitting

How can 3 weeks go so fast?  I have had plenty of fiber things going on.  All I have time to tell you about today is my latest scarf pattern called Faux-hard Two-fer scarves.  I'm teaching a class tomorrow at Wild Purls in Billings and then heading off to my Prairie Handspinners meeting.  I need to check how many students in my class and then load up two drum carders.  Our guild dyed a bunch of fleece at our last meeting in the MAWS 2010 conference colors Under the Rims Rust and Under the Rims Teal. Tomorrow we are carding and creating blends.  Then each of us will spin up some yarn and use it for projects in our guild booth we plan for the conference.

My newest pattern includes two easy to knit patterns with options for different size yarns. Reversibility! Scarf  looks almost the same on both sides although each row is different.  I hand-dyed this DK weight wool yarn. 

Seed Stripes combines seed and stockinette stitch in a very easy pattern.  Both sides of Seed Stripe are attractive, but not the same. This yarn is a DK weight alpaca and feels so good.  It matches a hat, I haven't gotten around to photo yet which is another story and another design process to blog about.  I knit this is June, but no time to finalize the pattern yet.

The pattern includes some ideas about striping patterns in scarves to use with either scarf.  I have just a few rows left (and lots of ends to work end) version of Reversibility which uses Pagewood sock bites.  All for now.  I have to take some mohair out the dyepot and put it out to dry in time for the guild blending session.  Linda

Classes from Beth Brown Reinsel
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Knitting
I have so much to tell everyone I learned about knitting, the knitting tradition, history of knitting, etc. from my trip that I don't know where to start.  I took two 6 hour classes from Beth Brown Reinsel.  http://www.knittingtraditions.com/  Beth's first book, Knitting Ganseys is a step by step guide to learning the traditional techniques of creating ganseys, the British fishermen's working garment.  By knitting a small scale sweater which features these many techniques, the reader can acquire the  necessary skills in a short time. Beth's second book, Knitting Scandinavian Sweaters, is being published by Nomad Press. 

In my two classes Beth taught us a mini red and black Swedish pullover called the North Haaland Men's sweater. The next class was a classic Norwegian Mitten.  Beth is steeped in the tradition of this knitting and the classic designs.  Her hand outs were great and she spent a lot of time explaining yarn dominance in stranded knitting.  By keeping your hands consistent in the way you use your main color and other color you avoid those distinctive change in look half way through a garment.  She also explained that in North Haaland they didn't use steeks much because they were always thinking about the next use of the yarn.  I learned to effectively purl in stranded knitting without going crazy (a first for me).

 She also taught a style of continental purling that keeps the yarn at the back all the time which is ideal for seed and ribbing. She calls this Norwegian purling.  This is the style she was taught as a youngster.   I had several projects half done to knit on the trip, so I couldn't change to this version of purling in these projects because of change of guage.  I did use it in both of Beth's classes and I really liked it.  Can't wait to cast on something new to really get this technique in my head.

Neither my mini-sweater or my mitten are done yet, but I will post them when I have made more progress.  When I  signed up for these classes months ago, I wasn't sure how interested I was but knew I'd learn a lot from Beth.  In the meantime, I've started working on designing Fair Isle patterns and this two color knitting primer couldn't have been better timing. 

Beth also taught a class on twined knitting which I couldn't take because I was in a Nancy Bush class (poor me).  I did hear from others and confirmed with Beth that yarn for twined knitting often should be spun s and plyed z.  Normally yarn is spun z  and plyed s.  Twined knitting adds more and more ply twist and gets the yarn quite tight.  Beth says she uses regular yarn as well.  I'm not very knowledgable about twined knitting, but if you are interested keep that in mind.

Beth and Sally Melville are teaching on a cruise that goes to Scotland, Ireland next year.  I almost signed up while on the boat to get their discounts.  But reality set in.  I'd definitely go cruising again and I'd definitely take more classes from Beth but might have to wait awhile for all that.

Linda

 Linda

Back from Knitting Cruise and name dropping--Linda
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Knitting

Hi all--I'm back from the knitting cruise dh and I took to Norway, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Russia, Finland, Sweden. Now if that isn't enough name dropping--guess who were the teachers and leaders--Nancy Bush, Beth Brown Reisel, and Lily Chin.  Myrna Stahlman, author of one of my favorite lace knitting books, was also on board as a participant although she will teach on a cruise to Iceland and the Faroe Islands next year. 

Nancy and Beth taught classes and Lily who teaches on other Craft Cruises was a leader too.  I'll have lots of details about the classes I took and all the fantastic knitting I saw and purchased along the way.  I would have blogged from the ship but I was way too cheap and way too jealous of my moments in the Baltic Sea area.  I did keep a journal and will include the highlights of the trip.

 We're pretty tired out as it took about 24 hours to get back from when we left the ship until we flew into Billings.  I could have stayed on board the ship for a few more days, but also glad to see my home in Montana.  We missed 2 extra hot weeks here and had 2 extra warm weather in the normally rainy Baltic Sea area.  How good is that.   Linda

Vintage Baby Knits Book Review by Linda
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Knitting

What do young mothers want for their babies? I feel state of the art on this topic with 3 daughters with 6 grandchildren under age 4 that see regularly. All you other grandmas out there eat your heart out. Plus I listened to a couple of knitting podcasts by young knitters about what their babies really use. Certainly that qualifies me as an expert. Right?

 

A new book  Vintage Baby Knits by Kristen Rengren seems to be the answer. This book includes almost everything my daughters discuss and enough cute items to thrill any baby knitter’s heart. Kristen has taken old patterns from books and magazines and reworked them in contemporary yarns with schematics and sometimes charts. Patterns include a shrug, cardigan, hoodies, cape, kimono, socks, bonnet, christening gown, nursing shawl, a baby blanket, 2 soakers, several sacques, several toys, hats and more.

 

The patterns are very doable (no Cookie A’s here) and are shown in smooth, washable yarns from cotton, superwash wool, and others that you can see a baby really wearing. They also address most of the practical considerations of the podcasts moms. For instance the podcast moms say cardigans or sacques (not pullovers) and bonnet style hats. The podcast mothers and my daughters too can actually get on a baby and keep them on them.

 

Did you know that parents don’t use snow suits or coats any more? No, the current safety standards for car seats don’t want that much bunchy fabric between the baby and the safety restraints. Rule breaker that I like to think I am, when it comes to children’s car safety I follow the latest recommendations. So how do these parent’s keep the poor little kids warm on the way to the car and in the car. Handknit superwash wool blankets, bonnets, leg warmers, socks etc. Knitters to the rescue!

 

When you look at old knitting magazines carefully you see wonderful innovative designs and they aren’t all Elizabeth Zimmerman’s. I even found one from the 40’s a few weeks ago that showed you how to create self-striping patterns with a variegated yarn. I love old knitting patterns to look at, but I don’t love trying to figure out the schematics of a design and reading those tiny directions and trying to find a picture of the item that is big enough for me to see what is going on. Vintage Baby Knits solves this.

 

My oldest daughter has the most opinions about the “appropriate things” for babies to wear and eat because she belongs to LaLeche League and to many mothering groups on-line. She and my second daughter cloth diaper. Vintage Baby Knits addresses most of the issues of the very particular group including lanolizing the wool soakers for water resistance. As a former sheep breeder and long-time spinner, I wonder if this common requirement of the wool soaker advocates is accurate.  But if this is what the mother wants, give it to her. Feels good anyway. The soakers in Kristen’s book are cute and have show row shaping so they would actually fit a baby.  I tried to knit a wool soaker for my daughter in worsted weight yarn. I checked out many of the half-baked patterns on the internet and know they wouldn’t fit right. I did design my own soaker and got it ¾ done before I lost interest. My siblings raise their eyebrows when I complain about my daughter’s absolutes when it comes to child rearing. They insist that this sounds just like young mother Linda so I should not be complaining. I know they are right, but…

 

On top of lots of cool patterns Vintage Baby Knits, includes lots of history both of pattern making and knitting from the early 20^th century. All in all I think this book is one of the coolest baby knitting books to come out in many years. Of course I’d change a few things, but not that many. 

 

Now what size should you knit. I personally like to knit 18 or 24 months and the podcast mothers agree. Anything smaller than that although cute as can be, has a 50-50 chance of being in season when the baby should wear it. Fortunately babies stick around 18-24 month sizes for a while and with the flexibility of knitting these sizes will actually get worn. The podcast mothers agree. The only exception I’d make to that would be bonnets for winter babies who definitely need them and perhaps leg warmers or socks. So get out your washable yarn and knit a baby a pattern from Vintage Baby Knits published in 2009 by Stewart, Tabori, & Chang.  Knit on Linda

New Version of new patterns Two-fer scarves and Steup up Stripes--Linda
Mood:  happy
Topic: Knitting

As I have finalized patterns to send off to pattern testers, I have had a set of issues with this one Seed Stripes.  The pattern is dead simple and I have used it before in my circular sampler bag.  What caused me the problems was which yarn. Last year I had bought some Baby Twist, a sport weight alpaca from WP at a sale.  I didn't have enough of any one color to make a scarf.  I decide to make a color block pattern with purple, several greens, and a goldy yellow.  I had the scarf half knit and I just didn't like it.  At WP a young girl suggested that she liked the green parts.  I always knit my patterns twice in 2 different weights of yarn.  I came home and cast on some fingering weight yarn semi-solid yarn  I dyed in a green blue.  This yarn was varied enough that it didn't show the seed stitch stripes.  So it turned into a swatch.  I finally decided to start over again in the Baby Twist, this time only using green.  It worked.  Most of the scarf will be one green, but I have 2 other greens at each end also.  Yeah I'm happy.

Seed Stripes and Reversibility! will be one pattern I call Two-fer scarves.  Both patterns are quite easy. I had shown you my first Reversibility! in a handdyed dk weight yarn.  Can I resist little bits of color--no.  Pagewood has a very pretty handdyed Yukon sock yarn that is partially bamboo which gives it a sheen. They market leftovers as Sock Bites and I just couldn't resist a package.  I started a multicolor version in the sock bites which after fussing with picking out the colors I like.  It will lay flat after I wash the finished scarf.  The scarf is about half done.  I will have it on display after Labor Day at Wild Purls.

I also started a handdyed fingering version of Stepup Stripes, a lace pattern, I had previously knitted in a handdyed variegated pink.  I had also started a different version of this scarf in a Canadian yarn that is an unusual blend of alpaca, cotton, and silk in a natural beige color.  The yarn is pretty but kind of blah for me.  I also worried that it would also block as well as I liked.  I am happy with this version.  Because I like this color and this yarn, I perceive that the pattern is much nicer than I thought when I used yarns before that didn't please me as much.  It is a cool pattern and it is an easy lace and reversible. 

So what did I learn in my patterns recently.  Just don't settle for any old yarn.  Make a good sized try at your design before you give up.  But if it is not working and you give yourself a week or two to determine this, bite the bullet and start again.  Don't forget blocking properties when knitting lace.  And yes it is a good idea to swatch (just like it is a good idea to exercise and floss your teeth) and I should do more of it.  At least scarves are so narrow that what starts out as a scarf can soon turn into a swatch.  

I'm still looking for pattern testers for these three scarves.  I like to have at least 3 people knit each one.  Let me know if you are interested at lindas5252@yahoo.com

New Patterns for Scarves
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Knitting

I have 3 new patterns ready for pattern testers to do their magic.  The first is called Step Up Stripes because it is a bit harder than my normal faux-hard pattern.  I knit this version last winter and have a second one in hibernation in a much plainer yarn that I think shows the pattern better. 

Step Up Stripes

 

I dyed this dk weight wool yarn as a class demonstration of using a non-favorite color pink and making it attractive.

 

This reversible 7 row pattern scarf also has an option for picot cast on and cast off which I have on the beige alpaca/cotton blend I'm knitting.

 

 

 

 

 

Another scarf that I completed in April or May is called Reversibility! scarf.  I'm still not quite sure why this scarf is reversible.  It is a 2 row pattern and each pattern row is different.  I have another version half done in Pagewood sock bites.  This is quite an easy pattern--no harder than seed stitch.  In the proper yarn this pattern would look masculine. 

 

I don't have a picture of the third pattern yet, which is probably the easiest of all called Seed Stripes.

If you'd like to be a pattern tester, please email me at lindas5252@yahoo.com  If not I'll have it in print after Labor Day.

 

Back to the dyepot--I've got some cool things going on

Linda 

Book Review Knitting over the Edge by Nicky Epstein
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Knitting

The last 10 days have been crazy busy with dyeing and other things.  But I wanted to get this review done and out.  I have had lots of dyeing ideas, tips etc. to talk about but don't have the energy tonight.  So book review it is.

Nicky Epstein's  Knitting over the Edge is the second book in a 3 part series published by Sixth & Spring Books in 2005. I picked this second book in the series because I thought I already owned the first book, Knitting on the Edge. But no, I own a much earlier book published by Interweave Knits called Knitted Embellishments. 

The publishers describe this book as 350 decorative borders, but there is much more than border stitches. Every pattern has a symbol telling you whether the pattern is knit from the top, bottom, or the side.

 

Each section has a very attractive garment incorporating the techniques in the section and the patterns for these 5 garments are included at the end of the book. The first section is devoted to unique ribs including a few pages on various fringe endings. Many of the rib patterns look great for sock tops as well as sweaters. Since everything is knit flat without charts, it would take conversion to knit them in the round. This is my only nit pick about this book, I wish they had included some charts. I love books with both charts and directions. I usually knit from directions (not charts), but charts make it easier to see the complexity of the knitting and convert to circular.

 

Fortunately the book has wonderful pictures, attractive colors, and attractive yarns that make me want to use these patterns. For this I almost forgive them for no charts. The section on cords include some very usable corded edges including new ones to me such as running a thin decorative ribbon through the cord. I can so see this on a baby garment or the front trim on a sweater or vest. Some of the hanging down I cord cords used seem less usable to me. I do love the circles and would love to incorporate them into something more contemporary looking.

 

Next comes a small section on appliqués. The shawl on front shows a great use of appliqués and opened my eyes to appliqué border possibilities. My favorite section is called “colors” and is 50+ color patterns in slip stitch, fair isle (which do have charts), and other cool techniques. These patterns are not for borders. Most of them would be great in any part of a knitted project. Some of the stitch patterns I have seen before, but Nicky’s colors and use make them come alive. The Fair Isle patterns mostly say children’s knitting to me which is helpful to me with 8 grandkids.

 The last chapter is Nouveau. I expected these designs to be too out there for me. Not so they are just new ideas that Nicky shares and many are quite immediately useful. I enjoyed this book very much and if you want to spice up your knitting a bit, make sure to check it out. This book has intrigued me enough I have to go check the other 2 books in the series.  All for a tired Linda tonight.

Family week and shawl and scarves
Mood:  lucky
Topic: Knitting

Whew what a busy week.  On Monday we took care of 6 month twin grandbabies.  That night my other daughter brought her 4 kids over for a 3 day stay when their little brother was born.  This brings me to 8 grandchildren--6 of them four and under.  The kids went home on Thursday and I turned to fiber as a sanity keeper.  After sitting in my chair and sorting through magazines for a while and writing a knitting book review, I headed to my local yarn store to figure out if they had the right buttons for a neck warmer I hope to get done in time for a Spinoff contest.  I also wanted just a few more Pagewood sock bites (little bits of yarn) to add to a scarf I'm designing.  No luck on the sock bites, but Wild Purls did have some cool buttons.  I bought 3 flower shaped antler buttons that I think will look nice with my handspun merino/camel blend.  I also had some much needed down time knitting at the store and vegging out.  Then I headed home because more company was expected that evening including my 14 month old grandson from Belgrade.  Throughout this weekend I kept the cooking simple and knit and designed out on my front porch or back deck and had a very nice 4th of July holiday with lots of family. 

Today my daughter agreed to model a shawl I had completed this spring.  It is in a perfectly lovely alpaca, angora, and cormo blend yarn that I dyed in a wave effect.  It is kind of hard to get the subtle colors on camera.  I wore this shawl a lot this April in Canada when it was cool.  It feels very snuggly and comfortable.  The more I wear it, the more the the angora blooms.  The pattern is a longer version of the Almost Lace Shawl or Shawlette.  I love this pattern because it is pretty much mindless.  To get it this big, I had over 500 stitches at the end which was a little slow.  But on a cold day when I need comfort this shawl will do it.

Knitting magazines--inspiration
Mood:  sad
Topic: Knitting

This week I have had lots of fiber in my life.  It served to provide solace about the loss of my old dog--JJ.  Sorting, cleaning my studio and various stash places have provided a lot of inspiration.  As part of my upcoming sale, I decided to have the great knitting (and some other fiber art magazines) give away.  I have a big selection of magazines I have subscribed to, purchased at stores and bought at garage sales etc. I'm looking through those and putting them in the "give away" bin along with my gardening magazines.  I still plan to keep my very favorites such as Knitters Magazine, Interweave Knits, Spinoff, Handwoven, Shuttle Spindle and Dyepot and most Vogue Knitting and Creative Knittingand other selected magazines.  At the same time lots of Easy Knitting, Cast On, Quilting magazines, crochet magazines, Threads, and many many others.  I don't know how many 100's of magazines this will add up to, but I did take 170 audio books to the library this week to give away.  This gives you an idea of my hoarding instincts.  Let me know if you need more magazines at your house--the price is right.  Linda

Book Review--Knit one below
Mood:  rushed
Topic: Knitting

I LOVE fiber books.  For years I bought many of the knitting magazines and books on the market as well as spinning and weaving.  Those were the days when only a few knitting books were published each year and we couldn't wait for the books and magazines to come out as they were are only source of technique heavy information.  Things have changed and even I found a limit to how many knitting books I could buy.  But one I bought this year and can't wait to delve into thoroughly is knit one below by Elise Duvekot published in 2008 by XRX books.  I have had it for a couple of months falling in love with as soon as I saw it at my local yarn store Wild Purls and walking out with it immediately. 

Elise Duvekot explored k1b (knit one below) for 10 years for this book.  She divides her time between Canada and The Netherlands.  This knitting method is ideal for space dyed and self-striping yarn--two of my favorite dyeing techniques.  When you knit this stitch in a single yarn , it breaks up pooling and produces a subdued fabric.  When used with two colors, you can create column.  The feel of the knitting has a distinct hand-not tight or stiff.  It is also doesn't curl much. 

Like slip stitch, this pattern changes the ratio of the stitches to rows.  Elise says that depending upon the yarn the ratio is often close to 1 stitch per 3 rows which is quite different from to 2 to 3 or 5 to 7 ratio of stockinette stitch.  Because the stitch creates a wider stitch gauge than stockinette, you need a very loose cast on and has a special method for this.  For example instead of a 60 stitch sock, you would have a 40 stitch sock.  If all goes well, I'll cast on the hat this evening.  If not I'll take the directions along on my trip to ANWG.  Linda