Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings 

Tax the Rich 

Knitting Friday 

What a productive week! I completed and gifted two scarves and I taught myself two new knitting procedures. And I finally figured out that classic problem: If a train leaves NYC at 1 pm going 40 mph and a plane leaves LA at 2 pm going sixty mph........... No, that last line is a big lie.

Starting with the completed works first with a little background first: DH and I did go to AC Moore on Black Friday. It was a great shopping experience because everyone else in the US was out shopping electronics.You might remember that I went over for knitting notions and so DH could pick out the yarn he wanted for a holiday scarf (well, really a normal scarf but it would be his holiday gift.) He got his wool (Paton variegated Classic Wool) and I got a few notions and about 5 bags of their mill ends, one of those bags being the new ruffled yarn which is so hot as scarves today. (The devil just grabbed my arms and made me buy this stuff! You know how it is.)

#A long scarf

Here's the easy pattern I used for the variegated scarf: CO 30 stitches with US 9 needles for an 8" width and slipping the 1st stitch of every row as P, knit to 1/2 the length you want. He wanted a Dr. Who length so I worked 142 rows for 50". Once I got to to 50", I remembered a feature of a Gap wool scarf I had purchased for him a few years ago. (And that scarf was wool and cotton and $1! Talk about a bargain!) The Gap scarf was doubled knitted in stockinette stitch in olive and dark green. Except at the center of the scarf where there was a patch of yellow so that when you put the scarf around your neck there was no fiddling to get the length just right.

#2 Ribbed middle

I didn't want to change to stockinette for the middle demarcation because then I would have a right and wrong side there. So this is what I did: I worked 4 rows of *K2, P2* ribbing so it's the same on both sides and then I started the straight knitting again for another 142 rows. (I cast on and bound off normally, not too tight or loose.) It was very boring knitting but very fast and he's wearing it already and here, #3, he is modelling it for me: OK, he's very shy. But you can see how thick the scarf looks. Not one of those namby-pamby little ones.

#3 Did I marry Baghead?

My next project which I completed this week also (and don't believe the hype that the ruffled scarf only takes 30 minutes) is the newest, latest, bestest, I-Must-Have ruffled scarf. 

Now there is nothing magic or new about making ruffled scarves and I had eyed the bag of this yarn for a while at AC Moore (I think it is the same bag of yarn so you can see it was not a "hot item" as a mill end.) The only reason I picked it up this visit is: I had a coupon! That and the fact they were featuring this yarn at $3.99, down from $5.99, a skein with an example of the final scarf. Here's the original skein, #4: As you can see, the skein looks like macrame cording but it flattens out into lattice work on the top (where you will be knitting and the cording (green) on the bottom. Directions say that it's just like regular knitting and it is once you wrap your mind around the fact that you only put your right needle into the top lace loop. The rest of the yarn just sort of "tags along."

#4 Looks like cording

There are a lot of You Tube directions out there. I found this site very helpful.

http://www.swakknit.com/classroom/?p=20

She walks you through the procedure and don't be shy to stop the video to replay sections. This process takes time to get the rhythm right. A few tips from me:

1. Be sure you are seated on a comfy chair or couch when you start this. Perhaps even with a big pillow on your lap. Office chairs are fine for all types of knitting but you really don't want to lose a stitch. (I didn't lose a non-fixable stitch even without a lifetime, but I was lucky.

2. Use long cable circular needles because these stitches like to "roam.

3. Don't use interchangeable needles unless you are absolutely sure the join will stay tightened.

#5 The loop you use.

4. You can pick up a stitch if you see it as it drops. You may be unable to put it back on just right but in the final product you won't see little mistakes. (I dropped one stitch which I saw before it "fell" and went from 6 to 7 stitches so I just knitted 2 together.)

5. Be sure to use matching thread to tack the beginning end and the bound off end to the scarf. This bugger unravels at the blink of an eye.

6. In Pic #5, the hook shows where, on this wide strand of yarn, you would put your needle. You will only be knitting with that top strand which lies on the top of the hook

7. The knitting is nearly like regular knitting. The only big difference is that you must smooth out your "lace" as you go along and then skip some lattice loops (usually two or three) along the top before you find the thread you will be using. Tip: Be sure to put the right tip through the next stitch to be worked before you start smoothing out the yarn and looking for your next loop to use. It's so much easier when you find the correct loop to have the needles ready.

8. And finally, this yarn twists horribly. Someone on Knitlist suggested wrapping the yarn around an empty toilet paper holder which I did for my second scarf. It takes a long time just to wrap the damn thing untwisted around the t.p. holder, but I think it does make it easier.

#6 Yes, it was worth it.

Pic #6 shows what you produce. From that wacky looking ball of yarn to the right, you get this 54" fro-frou. Believe me, this knitting gets very addictive fast.

Finally, some blasts from past before my second learning experience of the week. Remember this shawl, #7, made from 1.2 ounces of fingering wool?

#7: 41" x 10" before blocking

# 8: 1/2 blocked shawl

It was real tiny (7 X 41) before I blocked it but it would have made a warm neck warmer.

#9 The other half

Then I blocked it and unless I dangled from the ceiling there was no way I would be able to take a full picture of the blocked shawl (not because the shawl was too big to photograph but because I'm a klutz with the camera.) So I'll give it to you in two pictures, #8 & #9. As you can see, I had to extend the blocking squares longer than the length of the table because the final measurements are 85" x 27". I know this is wool yarn because it spliced but it's so open I think I could wear this shawl in the summer without any problems.

Right now, I have one of my most crinkly yarns in the works as another shawl. Once again, it was a small orphan skein and I'm hoping that after a good hair conditioner soak it will spring back to its virginal state.

And really, really finally: I learned to knit in two directions this week. It's one of those skills you keep in your pocket til someone cries out in a crowded room: Can anyone knit in two directions? The fate of the world depends on it!

#11 The new direction

#10 The direction I knitted

In #10 and #11, you see the finished product. I originally knitted stockinette in the direction of the arrow in #10. All the while in did this, I was casting on stitches in the direction of picture #11. So that when I decided to start knitting in that direction (#11), I just bound off the stitches I was working on in #10 and started knitting at a 90 degree angle to them (#11). (I didn't make the seed stitches you see in #11 as I was knitting the stockinette. Once I bound off the stitches from the stockinette, #10, I was looking at loops on the needle to start working in any stitch I wanted. I chose seed.)

Confused? Here's a great site which will explain it all. 

http://www.leethal.net/zine/?p=1091

Scroll down for the pictures and the explanation. There's a lot of verbiage here so be sure to read it carefully. I got confused because on one RS row you increase as a K, front-back-front and in the next it's K, front-back. Careless reading always gets me into trouble.

OK, that's it for today. Right now, my toke-stitch top is almost done. As I've said, I love this stitch but I am so slow. I convinced DH to buy 6 skeins of the scarf yarn (originally, he wanted the Dr. Who width also) so I have 3+ skeins left. Am I going to return them? They were on sale! No, I'm going to cruise Ravelry for variegated yarn ideas.

And (fanfare, please), on Cyber Monday I bought the new Knit Picks Sunstruck interchangeable set (Yes, it was on sale.) and Ravelers were very helpful in giving me advice so I'm going to post a mini-review there and a more thorough one here.

See you then. Happy Knitting.