Project Details

Beatrice Wrap
Yarn:  Red Heart Stardust, superwash wool, nylon, and sparkle

Manufacturer:  Red Heart
Pattern:  Free from Red Heart
Bot the yarn online.  I will admit to price shopping.

Harry Potter Sox
Yarn:  Heritage Superwash, superwash wool and nylon

Manufacturer:  Cascade Yarns
Pattern:  from a library book, Charmed Knits for Harry Potter Fans
Needles:  size US1, dpn
Bot the yarn at Yellow House Yarns.

Bernat KAL Afghan

Yarn:  Waverly for Bernat

Manufacturer:  Bernat
Pattern:  Afghan Knit-along, 2012 Mystery Afghan
Needles:  US8 (5.00 mm)
Bot the yarn online from Bernat.  It was on sale with free shipping when they announced the afghan KAL.

Cream Comfy Shawl

Yarn: Paton's Shetland Chunky, 75% acrylic, 25% wool

Manufacturer: Paton's

Pattern: From The Prayer Shawl Companion by Bristow and Cole-Galo

Needles: US 13(9.0mm)

Don't remember where or when I bot the yarn, but patting myself on the back for using stash.

My Blue Sweater
Yarn:  100% washable wool
Manufacturer:  Cascade 220 washable wool and Cascade 220 Paints
Pattern:  New England Knits (it's on the cover, but I modified it)
Needles:  US8 (5.00 mm)
Bot the yarn:  Yorkshire Yarns in Lakewood, WA and Yellow House Yarns in Puyallup, WA

Prayer Shawl
Yarn:  Red Heart Eco-Ways
Manufacturer:  Red Heart Yarns
Pattern:  Joyce Fassbender's Deja Vu Scarf/shawl from Knitpicks
Needles:  US10 (6.00mm)

Strolling Mitts

Yarn: Cascade 200, 100% wool

Manufacturer: Cascade Yarns

Pattern: Strolling Mitts from Stitch Nation

Needles: US6 (4.00 mm)

Bot the yarn for the TKGA Level I Master Knitter submission package of swatches and a hat.

White Lace Shawl

Yarn: Comfy Fingering, 75% pima cotton, 25% acrylic

Manufacturer: Knit Picks

Pattern: Spider half hexagon from Victorian Lace, by Jane Sowerby

Needles: US 6, 7, 8, and 9

Bot the yarn: online from KP, which has great customer service.

Mosaic Cowl

Yarn: Mosaic, 100% Acrylic

Manufacturer: Bernat

Pattern: Mosaic Cowl -- Knit, free from Bernat

Needles: US9

Bot the yarn: don't remember. I liked the colors.

Rick Rack Scarf
Yarn:  100% wool
Manufacturer:  Rowan
Pattern:  Rick Rack Scarf from Purl Bee
Needles:  US10.5
Bot the yarn:   online, this scarf made from last skeins left over from a cable sweater.

Burgundy Lace Crochet

Yarn: 100% wool, lace weight

Manufacturer: Knit Picks

Pattern: Emerald Scarf by Tracy St. John, Interweave

Needle: a crochet hook, USB, a little tiny one

Bot the yarn: as part of a shawl kit and stole this color for a special friend.

Mohair Gossamer Lace Scarf

Yarn: 37% acrylic, 33% mohair, 30% wool

Manufacturer: Nashua Handknits, Gelologie, 142 yds, Italy

Pattern: Gossamer Lace Shell, One Skein Wonders, pg 55

Needles: 10 1/2 US, wooden, Clover probably.

Bot the yarn: part of a scarf-of-the-month club from Patternworks in NH.

Swatches and Hat for Master Knitter Level I

Yarn: 100% wool, Cascade 220

Manufacturer: Cascade Yarns

Patterns: all instructions from Level I, TKGA

Needles: swatches and hat use 7US, ribbing on hat uses 5US

Bot the yarn: Yellow House Yarns and Shibori Dragon, in Lakewood, WA.

Hat -- resubmit for Level I, TKGA
Yarn:  100% wool, worsted weight
Manufacturer:  Shetland  Wools
Pattern:  Hat, Level I, TKGA
Needles:  US5 and US7
Bot the yarn:  Yellow House Yarns, Puyallup.

Blue Lace Shawl

Yarn: 85% cotton / 15% silk (Lyndon Hill)

Manufacturer: Bristol Yarn Gallery, Plymouth Yarn Co, spun in Peru

Pattern: from Victorian Lace Today, Jane Sowerby

Final measurements: will update when I finally finish it!

Needles: Size 6 US

Where I got the yarn: Webs (www.yarn.com), a favorite site for yarn and patterns and other supplies.

Crochet Interlude

Yarn: Silky Alpaca Lace, 70% baby alpaca, 30% silk

Manufacturer: Classic Elite Yarns

Pattern: Shawl from LionBrand free patterns

Hook: size US G

Where I got the yarn: Special gift from Fiona Pearce

Special notes: Decided to take the advice of wonderful owner at Yellow House Yarns in Puyallup. We were being knitting snobs and making derogatory comments about crochet. She then commented positively about the work of a friend who took a very light weight, lacy yarn and a very large crochet hook, creating a final fabric that was soft with a nice drape.

There you have it.

Crochet Interlude #2

Yarn: 100% acrylic

Manufacturer: Bernat Super Value acrylic

Pattern: from one of Bernat's afghan books

Hook: size US I

I bot the yarn online at Yarn and Thread by Lisa, outside of Lincoln, NE.

Shawl in the Sun

Yarn: Cotton, Silk, Wool, Nylon

Manufacturer: Noro "the world of nature"

Pattern: Joyce Fassbender, Deja Vu Shawl from Knitpicks IDP

Needles: probably a 10 US, but I don't remember

I bot the yarn at Yorkshire Yarns in Lakewood, WA

Cross this one off the list -- the cowl

Finished the cowl (well, need to sew the seam, but . . .)

It's soft and I love the colors.  The ribbing pattern makes a cushy and pliant fabric, nothing tight and firm like ribbing at the bottom of a sweater.

Wound around a special piece of pottery we bot
at the Mud Brick Farm in New Zealand.

Yes, I would use the yarn again.  That's always a good test.  I noticed that Smiley's has it on sale, if you're interested.  The color in the cowl shown is also called Mosaic.  (But remember that Smiley's wants a $50 USD minimum purchase which can sometimes mean a big 'ouch' unless you can find friends to share the bargains.)

Back to the white shawl, which is really moving along.  I'm finishing both the shawl and the first Robicheaux story by James Lee Burke, by audio book.  The reader is remarkable.

A final pic showing the colors and the nice ribbing stitch.  This requires a K1B (knit 1 below) which means you put the right hand needle into the stitch below the one you think you should knit.  This is what makes the ribbing so pliant.  In some examples, the same result is created by using yarn-overs and then knitting them with the regular stitch on the way back.

. . . and it's washable.

Oh, that book arrived about the Brioche Stitch.  It's complete and thorough.  It covers the intro stitch for beginners and the complex ones to use after greater mastery has been achieved.  I'm studying.

Sunny here, blue skies, quite lovely.  I was able to take pictures outside so I'll put in just one of those.

Wind chime pottery by artist Mimi Wilce, KY

Turning the corner

The variegated cowl has turned the corner.  If you remember it began with a triangle, starting with only 3 stitches.  The pattern stitch is very similar to a Fisherman's Rib, but not quite.  Get the pattern at Bernat, knitted cowl, using Bernat Mosaic.

After the triangle reached a specified measurement along one side, the pattern changed so that one side continued to add stitches while at the other end of that row the pattern takes away a stitch.  In just a few rows  you can see that this is process has created a rectangle -- which means you've turned the corner and are now working the length of the cowl.

All the color waves show in this view, plus the emerging

rectangle.  I'm still knitting across the diagonal of the

rectangle, adding a stitch at the beginning of the row and taking

one away at the end of the row.

For recall, here is the triangle where the journey began --

Eventually, I'll have to join the second ball of Mosaic yarn, as one skein is not enough to complete the project.  At that point I'll probably have to unwind the new ball to reach the point where its color wave corresponds to the color wave at the ending of the first skein.  I guess you could ignore this step, but the result would be a clear demarkation between the two skeins of yarn and right in the middle of the cowl.  Not something I would choose to interrupt the stitches and design of the cowl.  But it's a choice.

The measurements of the cowl are a bit unusual, mostly because there's no obvious place to measure, given that you begin with a triangle and then work on the diagonal of a rectangle.  The 'long side' must be 28" before I reach the end of the rectangle and begin the process to take away stitches, reducing the fabric to another triangle.

The empty needle is lying along the 'long' side
of the knitting.  The needle measures about 14".  The
instructions call for this 'long' side to be 28" so I reckon I'm
just over half way there.

This one is fun to watch as the shape escapes from the needles.  It's a bit difficult to envision, like statues sculpted from blocks of stone.  Apparently, Michelangelo could 'see' his final product -- David or the Pieta -- 'living' in the block of marble before he began with his chisels. 

Would that we each had a better sense of how decisions and choices would turn out, that we might envision ourselves along a path of life and understand better the outcome?  On the other hand, that might be  both boring and predictable, removing all the excitement of life.

The unknown is a great place in which to have a journey.

This cowl takes you gently into the unknown -- it's not that scary, really.

Cowl -- maybe Brioche?

In the stash I found two skeins of Mosaic by Bernat.  Really nice color waves from light gray thru several shades of blue and teal and into brown and rust.  Calling my name, you know.  What's a knitter to do?

Also saw a post on Google+ from a knitter who woke up to the call of the brioche stitch.  What a gal!  She's clearly hooked on knitting, probably has yarn in her veins.  The mittens she showed were so grand that I went in search of brioche knitting for YAP (yet another project.)

After reading and research about brioche knitting I decided 'not now.'  I just couldn't sort it out.  I wanted something that was a quick study so I put the several books aside and opted for a more direct approach.

I picked up the Bernat Mosaic and went to their site for a free pattern.  It's a lovely cowl and -- wait for it -- the stitch pattern is a version of brioche knitting.  It's very close to something called Fisherman's Rib, stretchy, soft, pliable, and feels like a couple of layers though it's only one layer of knitted fabric.

You can see all the colors, though only the gray and blue
shades are knitted.  The brown and rust are hiding beneath
the Rudolf antlers and bells.

The ribbing stitch is basically 2 rows with 'just plain knit' for every other row.  On the 'active' row, the ribbing is formed by knitting into the stitch below the one on the needle.  Here you can see how this technique makes a relatively large stitch; the stitch that falls off when you knit below creates the sense of 'extra layer.'  It's quite wonderful.  Would make a grand scarf.

The silver needle has been slipped under the long stitch.
Using this is a guide you should be able to see
the column of 'long' stitches above and below.  Also,
a column to the left.

I went back to the research because now I'm really curious.  Decided to search for "brioche ribbing."  Bingo!  Got to a site by the Queen of the Brioche Stitch, Nancy Marchant.  And one of the versions of brioche is ribbing, but it's called Fisherman's Rib.  The cowl above is almost a Fisherman's Rib; close enuf that I can now take what I know and search some more.

You had to know this would happen:  I bot a book.  Yes.  I bot the seminal text, by Nancy Marchant.  Went right to AbeBooks and ordered it there.  This pattern stitch is so wonderful I can hardly wait to try some of the other variations.

Bernat pattern is at this link:  Mosaic Cowl (Knit).  And here's what it looks like after I downloaded it to iBooks on my iPad (where I keep oodles of knitting stuff, like patterns and websites, magazines, and notes to myself.)

Pattern is on one page with 2-bar indicator showing, which
means it's not the easiest of patterns but not too difficult
for a newcomer OR someone who wants to learn a
new stitch.  

The designer doesn't call this Fisherman's Rib, cuz it's not quite FR.  Instead it's a row of knit stitches followed by a row of P1, K1B (Knit one below).  The cowl begins with 2 stitches and soon I'll have the base triangle and will branch off into a rectangle.  You'll see.   At the end I'll sew the short sides together and make it into a donut/cowl.

I reckon this is what makes me a knitting geek.  I had great fun discovering the details behind what I was doing in this simple pattern.  And the journey of discovery brought me to an expert, Nancy Marchant, and to the joy of conquering a new-to-me stitch.  Geeky?

Now wait just a minute!  That journey of discovery isn't geeky at all, no not at all.  Discovery is available to all of us wherever life has planted us.  We don't have to love knitting; maybe we're crazy about restoring vintage cars, or remodeling our bathroom, or creating a rock garden or signature recipe.  And we search and research and with hard work (and some serendipity) we find others who can help and mentor us plus materials that we will use for the next car/recipe/garden/bathroom.

I think this isn't geeky.  I think it's what makes us curious humans and I'm really glad for all the curious humans who've preceded me.  I wouldn't be typing a blog on my Mac if not for the journey of discovery of one Mr. Steve Jobs.