Blitherings – Page 219 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Laziness

I like the way cables look, I just hate knitting them. I have also hated twisted stitches for much the same reason. Just about every book tells you to use a cable needle. Yeah, sure, it’s oodles of fun to slip one stitch and hold in back, purl one stitch, then knit the one on the cable needle. And do this fifty times each round. No, thank you! All this interrupts the rhythm of knitting and makes me crazy and impatient. As far as I am concerned, no project is worth this. A cabled hat is about as far as I will go – never, ever a cabled sweater.

I’ve known for some time that the twisted stitches of my childhood do not require a cable needle for every other stitch. You can knit or purl into the second stitch, then knit or purl into the first stitch, and then remove them together. That is so easy. No cable needles! Shifting stitches back and forth is not a big deal either – it is that pesky cable needle.

I’ve developed my own ways to do cables without a needle, but none have been especially satisfactory. So, in a fit of pique, I decided to check out YouTube yet again! And here are a few videos on cabling without needles.

This first one is filmed in windy North Dakota, so the sound is not the best, but her technique is very good, and the video is very clear. Notice that Adorabubbleknits knits a few of her stitches before dropping them off and picking them up.

Here you will see Wendy (of Wendy Knits) does all the transferring before knitting her stitches.

Either way, that damned cable needle has been eliminated. I just may try a complicated cable pattern (a very small one) project this way.

Let Me Sing the New Year Blues

The new year is always a turning point of some kind for me. Usually I greet it with excitement and enthusiasm, but for this year that seems to have waned. I’m not quite sure why. I’ve had the usual stressors that everyone has had in this economy – worries about my job, about money, about a lot of things. The thing is, these are now part of the daily furniture of life, and after awhile, quite tedious. So are the usual new year resolutions.

In other words, I’ve become quite bored with myself and my life. I have been focusing on that and feeling sorry for myself, and totally self-absorbed with it all. Quite the pity party!

Yesterday Josh and I took a brief walk through an oak woodland nearby. I love oak trees. When I was a kid in Illinois, we had a wood lot filled with them and other trees – maple, willow, walnut, crab apple, choke cherry. The oaks, though, were my favorites. Here in California, they are too. They are grand, magnificent, twisty, turny, gnarly, rough, strange, mysterious.

Being outdoors gets me out of myself. The world is renewed, and so am I.

I think that will be my focus of this next year – to enjoy the world beyond the borders of my norm.

Thockies, ii

Having another week off before returning to school is soooooo nice! I’ve been able to sort out yarn, focus on designing a few things, and soon enough, get some sumi-e done as well.

I was pretty sure I would make socks out of the Riihivilla yarn – and decided that is exactly what I would do. My final choice of contrasting yarn was a warm, naturally creamy white. The warmth of this white is far nicer with the colors than the stark, wintery white I first considered, and does a lot to bring out the warm reds of the cochineal and purple of the variegated yarn.

You can see from the pictures that the color differences, while subtle, are readily apparent. The hand of the wool is very pleasant and has a nice bounce to it. I’m looking forward to wearing these socks!

When you dye with natural dyes, it is very easy to make a yarn become harsh and unpleasant, partly from the handling of the wool – such as extreme temperatures – or the chemicals involved. These yarns are mordanted with alum, and obviously handled properly. Having dyed with plants myself, I know only how easy it is to mess up and ruin an otherwise nice yarn. Leena Riihelä, the owner of Riihivilla in Finland, has done a great job!

Been Busy!

Saturday afternoon it was time to get to cleaning up after all the preparations for the Christmas holiday. There were stacks of yarn all over the place, falling off shelves, jumping out of strange corners.

In a true moment of disgust, I pulled in some plastic storage boxes, rummaged through forgotten stash, and threw out some yarn I couldn’t stand, and sorted out some to give to my mother-in-law. Finally, I divided out heavier weight yarns, lighter weight yarns, and UFOs into three containers.

Mission accomplished, I found knitting accessories, needles, and all sorts of things. Organized for a little while! (Some is already escaping . . .)

And, needing some mindless knitting, I pulled out the last of the Lamb’s Pride, and voila, a beret! This will be sent along to Judy (MIL) with some sock yarn I don’t like, but she does. And for the viewing public, I present you with the

Eyelet Rib Beret

This is a very simple eyelet rib pattern, with a total of 7 stitches and 4 rows. The ribbed quality of the beret makes the hat keep its shape, despite the high number of stitches. This hat will stretch out, so if your hair is a mess and you are just knotting it up to hide it, this beret should be able to handle it.

You can find it on the Patterns page or directly here.

Three Felted Hats, Family, and the Tulip Tree at Dawn

Christmas was wonderful this year, and it was such a pleasure to see everyone together. I’m always grateful for the family I have, their warmth and love. That is the best present of all.

The Original Felt Hat

Am wore the original white felted hat to dinner. I got a photograph or two of it, and looked at its construction.

The original hat for Am is somewhere between the blue Top Down! and the teal Heads Up! It was knit of heavy white yarn, which I believe was also Lamb’s Pride. The decreases on brim and crown were staggered so that the line of decreases was not evidenced as lines, which you can see both of the Heads Up! Top Down! hats. Also, the decreases were quite abrupt – like every row, with the decreases not done on top of each other. I counted about 50 rounds of knitting altogether. The body of the hat was longer than on the blue hat, with a brim somewhere between the blue and teal hat.

The blue and teal hats were well received, and look quite nice on Am. She liked both colors, which certainly was good to hear!

I plan to re-create the white hat – personally, I like its shape better – but that may be a bit off into the future. I think that if I do Top Down! I will knit it up as follows, using another skein of Lamb’s Pride (not in blue or teal!):

Cast on 4 stitches; kfb all stitches, 8 stitches total, transfer to 3 needles, join.

Kfb each stitch; 16 stitches total.

Knit one round.

Kfb each stitch, 32 stitches total.

Knit one round.

Kfb each stitch, 64 stitches total.

*Kfb, k3* to end – 90 stitches total.

At this point, I would assess diameter of brim. Could be that 90 stitches will do fine for hat. Maybe increase about 10 more stitches. Then knit straight for about 8 inches.

Begin brim by increase of about 25% of total stitches on needles; knit straight about 1.5-2 inches. Decrease about 10% of stitches. Knit even 1-2 inches. Decrease another 10% to curl brim over and knit about 1 inch in length.

This Morning

Up at six this morning, and through the shutters saw a rosy color in the sky. Grabbed the camera and took these before they disappeared.

On to the New Year!