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Knitting Friday

 

I've been knitting this (#1) on US 10 

#1 Top on KP Caspians

Knit Picks Caspian needles without a hitch. No unscrewing, no snagging, and very pointy tips. The only disappointment is that I thought the variegated green tips would be lighter. They sure looked lighter on the KP website. But looking again, I think they flooded the photo shoot with light; like a black cat in the cop's headlights.

 

The top is in 25% wool Plymouth Encore in a discontinued color. (Where do I pick up all this crazy yarn?) It's variegated in a wild way: a block of beige, a block of dark tweed, a block of light tweed. I've never seen such a blend but it feels very soft. The pattern is my typical generic top with these variations: With a G hook, I chained 80 and worked 80 extended single crochets across. I picked up 80 stitches from the chain with a US 8 circular, joined for round knitting, and then I knitted in the front and back of every stitch (I usually don't increase to 160 when I work a lace pattern but this baby is in stockinette and is going over my hips.) Switched to the Caspian US 10 and I worked 1 row of *YO, K2tog*. After that, it's going to be 9 rows of straight knit and 1 row of *knit in the back of the 2nd stitch on the LN, knit in the front of the 1st stitch on the LN* for a row of twisted stitches. I have enough yarn, I hope, for a sleeveless tunic top which will be long enough to wear with tights.

 

#2 Dona Ines variation

In keeping with my new mantra: you can't buy new, good lace wool without working on your old, good lace wool, I'm working on a Dona Ines neckwarmer (#2), but with mods:

 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/dona-ines-a-neckwarmer 

 

1. It's a scarf not a neck warmer (no joining.)

2. It only uses Row 3 of the pattern. (The original pattern has a row of single crochet and a row of half double crochet. I decided it was much easier just working the hdc row. As you can see, even with this one row and an H hook the scarf is pretty dense. It was even denser with both rows. Yes, I know blocking will open up lace, but I'm toying with no blocking. This variation is a great take-along project since it's always the same row.

And here's another pattern variation which is called Lovely Cowlette but the swatch in #3 is for a scarf.

#3 Lovely Cowlette variation

 The link to the original pattern is below but I'm going to work this up in good yarn before I discuss my mods. But, as with all my mods, it's dead easy.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lovely-cowlette 

 

And finally, here's a knitting website you may like:

 

http://www.twistcollective.com/collection/ 

It's an online knitting magazine which says of itself: We are an independent on-line magazine focusing on knitting and the sister arts. We are always looking for new ideas, and for the most part, we are letting strong submissions drive issue content. However, we will periodically send out a "mood board" or a thematic statement.

 

Take a look.

That's it for this week. I'm eyeing a rib stitch sleeveless, seamless vest pattern. I made one with an Elan pattern once (might be the same one) but it was in bulky (as this one is) and I looked like a fat polar bear. More next week if I have the time to modify the pattern for DK weight.

Happy knitting.