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Knitting Friday

Samurai Knitter and Ravelry had discussions of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) this week. It was Samurai Knitter who mentioned that if SOPA is passed in the US, a violation of copyright by a member on Ravelry could shut down that entire site. Jon Stewart explained (and it shows what shit we're in when a satirical comedian becomes the explainer) that SOPA doesn't remove the "offending" site; it just prevents anyone from accessing it. What was even more disturbing (and once again from Jon Stewart), I saw clips of the SOPA US House hearings and watched the pathetic understanding of the Internet displayed by both Democrats and Republicans. In 2011, with the ubiquitousnessof the Internet, I shudder to think that this country (and we know it is the greatest country ever!) should be run by such clowns. I try to put in only calming posts on Friday, but SOPA is really too onerous to ignore.

On to knitting. Finally, a picture of the Advent Scarf. This is not a great picture but it's 100" long so you miss a lot. Having said that, I am soooo happy with the results. It 's 16" x 100" so I can fold it in half to make a loop and once the loop is around my neck, the ends are long enough to see the beauty of the design. As I've mentioned before, I reduced the stitches for each pattern from the 90+ range to the 50+ range. That lesson alone made this project so worth it.

Here are some notes on the scarf which I sent to interested friends and I'll probably post with the picture on Ravelry:

What the pattern calls for:
1. Lace weight Yarn
2. First stitch of every row is Slip 1 as purl. Last stitch of every row is knit.
3. Every row begins: Sl1P, K3 and ends K4.
4. The scarf starts with a spacer section which 8 K rows.
5. Row 5 of the spacer section is a beaded row.
6. If you don't want to use beads you can just K the stitches which are labeled "P" for "put a bead with the stitch" in the spacer sections.
7. After the first spacer section , you work Day 1 of the pattern, then another spacer section, than Day 2, etc.
8. The 1st row of the spacer section may tell you to increase or decrease a few stitches since the spacer section should always be 91 stitches.
9. Usually, the 8th row of the spacer section will tell you to increase or decrease a few stitches across. That's because patterns differ in number of stitches they need to work.
10. You begin and end the scarf with a spacer section.

What I did differently:
1. I worked in fingering, not lace yarn. Since this would make a shawl width as written I decreased my stitches from the 90s to the 50s for each pattern.
2, In order to keep all the patterns around 54 to 57 stitches, I used the Twisted Stitch (K in back loop of 2nd stitch on LN, then K 1st stitch in front loop - uses 2 sts) and/or the R stitch (K stitch in back loop - uses 1 stitch.) Example: Say the pattern and extra stitches add up to 49 stitches. After the edge stitches, I would work 1 TS and 1 R stitch and do the same (1 R stitch then 1 TS) at the end of the row to give me 49 sts + 6 sts = 55.
2. I used a US 6 needle.
3. I only worked 4 K rows for the spacer section (not 8.)
4. I didn't use beads so Row 5 was just K and I didn't have to increase or decrease stitches on Row 1 of the spacer section. (I did have to on Row 8 sometimes for the next pattern.)
5. I didn't follow the order of the days and I didn't use all the days.
6. I changed Row 5 in the last spacer section, the pattern row, to the pattern row in the Feather and Fan stitch (just google for it.) The first spacer section has a Row 5 pattern row to give in a scallop but I found that last spacer section pattern row just gave me a straight edge. I'm sure, with research, I could have found a better solution but F & F gave me enough of a scallop that blocking made even better.
7. My scarf is 100" x 16".

And finally, if you are just a beginning knitter you may want to check out this pattern on Ravelry. It's also an Advent Scarf but so much simpler with the most difficult stitch being a double decrease:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lace-holly

There are six short patterns to work and a cute gimmick of rolling a die every day to see which pattern to make that day.

Happy Knitting.

Next week: This winter, I'm making hats....... and spirals. Get the pattern here.