Christmas Knitting

I'm counting on the fact that the folks in my life who will receive knitted gifts are not generally readers of this blog.  Isn't that a life irony?

This year I'm working on "manageable" which means things that happen fairly quickly.  This means no complex shawls, no afghans, and no sweaters.  (Confession:  have started designing a vest for myself using some stash bulky -- size US 10 so that might happen too!)

A portfolio of sample projects --

Matching hat and toe-up socks.

The Hat is called Grammy's Knits from Tanis Fiber Arts blog.  The pattern includes mittens.  You must check her site!  She has some fabulous patterns.  The blog is well-written.  The pictures are wonderful.  The hat is a free pattern so it's in my Hats folder on Goodreader.

My first time with toe-up sox.  I have a copy of Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson.  She includes at least 6 different cast-on methods.  I decided on the "Easy" Toe -- if you have the book it's on page 18.  Worked out quite nicely.  I decided to do two at once and will make a red toe and heel, a black foot/instep and finish with ribbing in a stripe of all 3 colors.  

It's 'fussy' I'll admit.  Cast-on is with waste yarn, 1/2 of the
stitches you'll need at the toe.  

Two toes.  Pattern is Worsted Weight Sock from
Big Book of Socks by Kathleen Taylor.
Love, love, love this book -- great variety of
techniques, designs and yarn.

I'm also sorting this out --

Major heartache here.  It's a nice lace beret, from Webs, the Willow Beret.  Great yarn from Valley Yarns Merino, knit on US7 and 8.  

Big "however", however -- five lace repeats around the 120 stitches.  Somewhere in the middle of the second set of the 10 row repeats I stopped looking at the beginning of the round.  Managed to do only four repeats and didn't realize this till I was 4-5 rows into the mess.  

If you look closely above you'll see that I slipped the 'good' knitting onto a smaller circular, a US4.  Then I carefully frogged 5 rows in one section.  I was able to locate the last row of correct pattern knitting, but only after I knitted 2-3 rows and -- Yikes! -- it still wasn't right.  

Might have been less time-consuming to frog the entire hat down to that spot but I just could not bear to unknit stuff that was knit correctly.  Eventually the problem was corrected and I'm now half way thru the last repeat of the 10 row pattern.  And then there's the last 15 rows of decrease pattern to form the crown.

Hope to finish later so you'll see this one again.

Used alternate US 7 and US8 to recover the section I
frogged.

Back on track with US8

Highlighting my progress on Goodreader.
(Very hard to capture color on this yarn.)

Blue skies here, plus some sunshine.  Everything is sparkly.  Leaves are mostly on the ground and form piles and piles of yellow and brown ground cover.

I hear the East Coast is setting up for YAS (Yet Another Storm).  Yikes!  No knitting there.

I sure am grateful I can still knit.

Getting to the point . . .

Got there!  Finally finished the third repeat of the first pattern set on the white lace shawl.  Definitely a milepost.  Then the pattern said to switch to a needle size one larger than the one with which I began the shawl.  I started with ad US6 so at the eyelet row -- new pattern set -- I introduced the larger needle.  On the first right side row of the eyelet pattern I began with the new and larger needle.

The red pen is pointing to the last of the chevron points
from the first pattern lace chart.  The row of holes
just above the black needle cord is a row of eyelets.

After the chevrons, the next lace chart begins (and ends) with eyelets.  These are a series of right and wrong side rows that create hole in the fabric, on purpose.  An eyelet series is a good way to learn to add stitches (yarn over) and take away stitches (knit 2 together, K2tog).  The adding and subtracting happen one right after the other and repeat all across the row.

See the holes?  They are shown from top to bottom of the
picture near to the stripe on the angel's robe.  This section
of lace is just beginning.  It will have another pattern of
holes that make flowers with petals and then a
final row of eyelets.

The "change to the next size needle' is not unusual in shawls and other lace knitting.  Bigger needles make bigger stitches so naturally the shawl will grow in size.  This shawl pattern will up-size needles 2 more times.  The last lace chart will be knitted with lots of holes that will appear to be random.  You'll have to wait and see, as will I.

Here's a view of the US6 (now empty) and the US7 (with shawl stitches on the cord between the two tips) and a pencil to give you an idea of relative size.  The last needle I'll be using will be bigger than the pencil.

Size US6 is rosewood; tips and cord are from Knit Picks.
The green plastic tip is from a set from WEBS.
Both work wonderfully.
Under the rosewood tips is the dark pink cord that
joins one tip to the other.  You might want to knit around
and around with these needles or you can just treat each end
as a straight needle and knit back and forth in rows, which
is what I am doing with the shawl.

Circular needles are long cords connecting needle tips.  If the needles are interchangeable, then the tips can be removed and replace by a needle tip of another size, or joined with a longer or shorter cord.  A good set of interchangeable needles represents the very essence of flexibility.

The white shawl is coming along quite nicely.  I'm enjoying it and so far am quite pleased with the outcome.  There are lots of stitches at this point, at least 125 per section.  I'm making three sections so, do the math, that's 375 stitches (and counting) on the long cord between needle tips.

Lots of stitches mean lots of knitting.  One of life's important lessons, I think, is the idea of "less is more."  In lace knitting, especially with shawls that 'grow,' this lesson must be put aside.  And especially in this shawl, when even the number of needles that are used is a total of 4, rather than the usual, maybe, 2.

Less is more might work for shampoo dosage, or pairs of sox, or cars in the garage, or cats in the house.  But this time the rule doesn't apply and the shawl is lovelier and lovelier for having broken all the 'rules.'

Reality cannot be ignored

Sometime on Thursday I reckoned with reality -- a couple of the Christmas scarfs are not going to be finished for package-opening day.  With that nugget of news, I sat down to make some progress on the white lace shawl.  I wanted to get an idea of just how much knitting is ahead of me.  The best way to get a glimpse of that knitting future is to finish a total repeat of the pattern for a triangle shawl.

During this process the pattern is adding stitches so each row has just a few more stitches than the row below.  Since this shawl is three sections, making half of a hexagon, each right side row adds 6 stitches.  It's very 'comfortable' knitting -- the first pattern is easy to remember and, importantly, easy to correct on a subsequent row when I realize I've missed a yarn-over (add stitch) or knit 2 together (take-away) on a previous row.

Here's where I am now -- finished one repeat of the first pattern, with one more to go.

Santa is standing just to the left of the second point.  There
are 16 rows in the repeat -- 8 right side and 8 wrong side.
At the end of this section of knitting, I'm to the top of
a second point after the original diamond shape.

The knitting bowl is a wonderful companion.  I think wood items are soothing and calming.  They come from trees and I love trees -- trees are strong, sturdy, endure and survive despite storms (in most cases).  And they give us such beautiful and useful things, like houses, cedar trunks to store treasured sweaters, and knitting bowls to keep our unruly ball of yarn both tidy and available. 

This shawl pattern, from Jane Sowerby's Victorian Lace, has one extra instruction that puts it in a category all its own -- the shawl is knitted with three different size needles.  I don't mean that you start with a short needle and then need a longer one.  Though that's true (to hold all the stitches), this shawl begins with a US6 and then progresses thru a US7 and finally a US8.  Well, those are the needles that work with the yarn I'm using; may be different if you select a finer or bulkier yarn.  

Santa's red pencil is pointing to the
next section of the pattern, which I will
begin after I complete one more set of the
rows that make the point.

When it's time to begin the next set of pattern instructions, called a chart in this case because it's not in words but in a diagram, I will remove the US6 points on the long cord connecting them and replace with US7 points.

This is the wonderful thing about interchangeable needles.  Mine are from WEBS and Knit Picks.  No, can't mix between the sets.  Why two manufacturers?  Well, WEBS introduced their set with more tips at a very favorable price.  Knit Picks introduced theirs with three tips, one each in wood, aluminum, acrylic.  Gotta try it all to decide what works best . . . and what I can afford.  

Enuf about that.  

I'm thinking about all the knitters who just know they won't finish that last gift item.  One blog even had a draft note to include, something like "sorry I didn't finish, but I'll deliver the finished scarf/hat/mittens/whatever right after the New Year."  The idea is that you planned this for the person and picked out the yarn and pattern.  And when you worked on it you thought about them.  

So whether it's finished tomorrow or the next day, the gift will always carry all of the knitter's careful work and a piece of the knitter's heart.  Both show the recipient they are a treasured person.

Try to find a minute or two to knit during the next few busy days.  All knitters know that knitting is soothing to a frenzied spirit -- and I think we are meant to have a quiet spirit during this special time.

Merry Christmas

Matched Set

As it says in the pattern intro for these fingerless gloves, they will keep your hands warm while you are "typing or knitting."  These are Andean Silk from Knit Picks, alpaca, silk and merino.  This yarn is just splendiferous -- there's no other word for it.

Finished one.  This is a test -- now that the discovery is complete (new pattern, new stitch combo, etc.) will I be an adult knitter and cast on for the second one.  Will I knit to the completion of a second hand-warmer?

The thumb hole was simple.  Bind off 4 stitches and then
cast them on again in the next row around.
Challenge is to keep with the wavy pattern, an offset rib.
Background is the mohair scarf in Darliss' yarn, pattern
from Whit's Knits at Purl Bee.

Pattern from One Skein Wonders, by WEBS, in NH.  This is a another favorite site for me.  I like the extensive offerings of yarn from practically all makers and all weights and styles.  The sales are really good if you follow them on Facebook.  WEBS

Yes, the second hand warmer IS on the needles, along with a matching scarf.  Here's all three together with the elves (who, sadly, do not knit . . .)

Completed handwarmer at the top (with the nutcracker in
the thumb spot.)  On the gray needles a scarf.  Santa is
resting in the beginning of hand warmer 2.

Love this scarf pattern and have made it once before.  It works well on variegated or solids.  It looks good from either side and the selvedge (edge) stitches keep it flat so it doesn't curl up into a tube.  It's the Universal Scarf from Interweave.  Free pattern.

Use any needle size suggested by the weight of the yarn.
I'm using US10 (6mm) with a worsted weight that's
just a bit fluffy.

The magic of the pattern is that 18 stitches will get you a scarf that's wonderful.  I wanted something just a bit wider so added stitches in groups of 3 (the repeat part of the pattern.)

The collection will keep the recipient warm, even in a cold office while typing or phoning.  And texting will be easy since fingers are available.  The hand warmers work up very quickly since they are on a larger needle (US8/5mm) and the thumb hole is just a big buttonhole.  Bind off 4 stitches and on the next round put them back on.  Nothing elaborate; the wavy stitch pattern speaks volumes.

Details show the wave.  Clever stitch pattern:  P2, K4 for 4 rounds.
Then offset the same stitch repeat by shifting things just one stitch.
Works very nicely in the round.

In between wool knitting I returned to the pima cotton white shawl and added another repeat of the initial pattern over the shoulders.  It's even more satisfying than I remembered.  It's moving along nicely; another couple of pattern repeats and I can begin knitting from the second chart of delicate lace.

Celebrations!  I found my favorite little ruler.  Yes, it was stuck in a book as a place-holder.  I think it was in the Sowerby Victorian Lace.  See, there's a great reason to keep multiple projects on the needles:  when you return to one that's been idle for a bit, you discover you're close to a next fun pattern and you find an accessory that you suspected of having run off with the missing needles.  Some people's knitting stuff . . .