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Knitting Friday
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| #1 in the frog pond |
Between the time I took the pictures for today's blog and now, this beginning shawl pattern (#1) is no more. The pattern is found on Ravelry at:
It's a crocheted feather and fan shawl and I thought it would work well for summer wear. It's charted and while crochet charts are not my favorite, this one was a breeze to read. However, it uses triple crochets and, I'm working with crochet thread which has no spring and a G hook. Everything looked a little droopy. The pattern is great, though I think you should mark the top of the end turning chains. (Using that cotton yarn, I placed strands of yarn to mark every ch2-space also but I think that's "overkill" unless you are working with cotton thread.)
I have no picture of what #1 is now morphing into because I knitted that up in the middle of last night. It's the same pattern as I posted last week; another Ravelry pattern which you can see in picture #2:
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| #2 3-Triangles Shawl |
Originally, I did not want to use this Three Triangle pattern with cotton thread because I felt it wouldn't produce a lacy shawl. (In DK weight, it looks like picture #2.) I was wrong. While, it is producing a denser lace, it still has the look of lace and, with edging, I think it's going to be a winner.
Back to Pic #2 for a second. I have two big balls of yellow yarn and I'm destashing by making this shawl (which I will use.) I plan to make a ruffled edging so that will use up a chunk of yarn. A tip I just learned on crocheted ruffled edgings: Not a tremendous amount of yarn left for it: *Ch 8, sc in edge stitch, ch 8, sc in next edge stitch* around or: A mother lode of yarn left: *1DC, Ch1* 5xs in every edge stitch; more at the corners, if desired.
Some final pictures now to show a long term project I'm starting. Once and a while, I like to make legacy projects. I don't think I invented that term but to me it means projects I make that will stay in the family - to the kids, grand-kids, great grand-kids (you get the picture.) Like the Mario blanket I made for the boy and the swan shawl the girl saw and put in her claim for.
I have been eying the monthly squares Marin Melchoir creates for Woolen Collectibles like this one from Ravelry:
It seems they are available free for the current year, which is very generous. However, when I started to arrange the months and take a close look at the charts, I had a huge user error melt down. My stitch count was way off, and, though I knew the fault was with me, I could not figure out my mistake.
And then, AranPaint came to my rescue:
This is a site which sells knitting software but also, most generously, provides you with sampler patterns, charted and written, with a fantastic symbol key. It was the combination of these three items: word, chart and key which caused my "Euraka" moment and I can now read the monthly Aran squares with ease. (It was a really stupid user error.)
Picture #3 is a prototype of a cabled scarf using acrylic yarn and various patterns from AranPaint. I stopped at about cowl size and it fits nicely under a coat and is warm. I cast on 40 stitches and worked a K5 edge on each side (too much, I'll go down to a K3 edge.) This gave me 30 stitches for the different patterns and knitted up all the AranPaint patterns up to their 28-stitch pattern one. Since I had more stitches than I needed with all the patterns, I fudged it. Like with the 28 stitch pattern. There I had one extra stitch on each side so I worked that by knitting and purling in its back loop. For the 8 stitch patterns, I worked three repeats of the pattern (24 stitches) and then used the 6 extra stitches this way: On the right side: Edge stitches, K1 back loop (bl), K2tog, YO --work pattern ---- YO, SSK, K1 bl, edge stitches. On the wrong side: I purled those 6 stitches normally except for the K1 bl, that I purled in the back loop.
It was a fun project and not boring. I only worked the patterns as written. If they only gave you 8 rows, I didn't add more. I just wanted a sampling for the patterns; not a masterpiece. Once I work my final scarf, I'll decide on about 20+ rows for each pattern.
Also, I created only a one garter ridge between each pattern since I wanted the patterns to flow together. Starting on the right side, you must knit two rows to get one garter ridge of the right side. A garter ridge looks like a bumpy purl row. Your first row of K produces these bumps (purls) on the WS. It's when you turn and K on the WS that you get your first row of garter ridge (purl bumps) on the right side. However, I got creative with making this ridge and I'll explain, with pictures, how I did it next week. After all, I wasn't trying to get a Master Knitter certificate; just trying get one garter ridge between each pattern.
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| #4 More complicated cable |
On the right is a more complicated cable I tried (I don't think this one came from AranPaint) and you can see the small 8-row pattern just above it. It looks like that small pattern has three separate sections.
Well, that's it for today. The other night, I was knitting in bed in the wee hours and I couldn't see the stitches! What? I need glasses? Then I got to my computer desk later in the morning and knitted perfectly. Which is why I'm shopping for a better bed lamp today. My desk has your typical office light with the swing arm. Now, I want a bed lamp like that. Wish me luck.
See you next Friday. Happy knitting.
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