Cast On, Bind Off

I know there are books out there to catalog different CO & BO methods, but I wanted to put a link to an online "collector" of these methods.

https://sites.google.com/site/oftroysgoldenapples/

Knitterly Love

Loving this post about one knitter finding a single handknit sock at the OK airport. Assuming it was the first sock of a pair and that the original knitter would eventually realize it's missing, the finder turned it in, expressing of what great import it was.

The story has spread. Knitters are reaching out to contacts world-wide, even the Yarn Harlot herself has posted about it.

I'm enjoying following the thread. I've even re-tweeted the story that the Harlot wrote.

Video

Came across this really great video of the knit & purl stitch in the Eastern European style. Great video, gets to the point & doesn't fiddle.

Knit

Purl

& some decreases.

Kitchener Stitch for Eastern European Knit

Kitchener stitch is used to graft live stitches together. There are plenty of great tutorials, I, myself, used Silver's Sock Class for simply ages, but was never happy with the result I got. My stitches always looked twisted and wonky. When I finally realized that I was doing Eastern European style knitting, I realized why! Because of how I knit, my stitches sit differently on my needles than most poeple.

So, for a model, here is a hex, knit in the round. I've swapped out the tail for a pink tail to make what I'm doing more obvious.

I worked on twenty stitches. So the first step is to take it down from 3 needles to 2.

The general rule with Kitchener is Knit & remove, Purl the front needle; Purl & remove, Knit on the back needle (KP, PK).

Step A - First, though, run the needle, as if to purl, through the first stitch on the front needle. 

Leave this stitch on the needle.

 Step B - Then run the needle, as if to Knit, through the first stitch on the back loop. 

Leave this stitch on the needle.

Step 1. Here's the first stitch you'll remove. Run the needle, as if to knit, through the first stitch on the front needle. Then remove that stitch from the front needle.

Step 2 - Now run the needle, as if to purl through the second stitch (now the first stitch) on the front needle. 

Leave this stitch on the needle.

Step 3 - Run the needle, as if to purl, through the first stitch on the back needle. Then remove that stitch from the back needle.

Step 4 - Now run the needle, as if to knit, through the second stitch (now the first stitch) on the back needle. 

Leave this stitch on the needle. Return to step 1 & repeat until the last stitch on the back needle.

Et voila! You can see the new pink stitches grafting my hex shut. Once again, it's important to note that (hopefully) these instructions don't actually differ verbally from other blogs and posts descriptions of how to do the Kitchener stitch; what should be different is the pictures of the needle moving in & out of the stitches because of how my stitches sit on the needles while knitting.

Single Ply Yarn

I've never worked with a single ply yarn before, and this Madeline Tosh "Tosh Merino" is interesting.

It's so soft, and it feels good in my fingers. And the colors of the brown are beautiful, there's really a lot of pink, green, tan. But the single ply is so splity. And I worry about it, I've had to drop stitches and pick them back up because half the yarn is sticking out of the stitch.

baby yarn

I bought 4 hanks of Madeline Tosh "tosh merino" in Rosewood while pregnant with Bewitched. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it, though I had an inkling to make a Zoe Mellor Robin Hood jacket for the girl.

Since then, though, I've learned several things.
1. I live on the central coast of CA and it never gets that cold.
2. We don't routinely visit places that cold.
3. I need to work with more linen, cotton, and blend yarns.

So I've been re-thinking. She's still going to get a sweater, but it'll be a little looser, not so cabled, and she'll probably only wear it a handful of times. Still, the yarn is beautiful & will look good in the simpler, open cardigan from Petite Purls called the Good Tree.

I love a lot of the patterns from Petite Purls & this is the second I've knit, the first being Olive. My version turned out super cute even though I flubbed the neckline a bit.

Just not Working

Had to frog the fingering weight cardigan I had going on the size 6 needles. The sleeve cap was each 1.5" wider than it needed to be. I'll try it again, the numbers were sort of loosely based on the "On the Beach" cardigan with contiguous sleeves.

I like the concept, but in addition to making the shoulders less wide, I also need to increase only on right side rows. Also, I need to order a few more skeins. The 4 balls of Knitpicks Stroll in Agate Heather will be pretty tight for a cardigan to fit the full size me.