Category: Blitherings

Lost at Sea

Every now and then, something just grabs you.  Two things did today.

Thanks to the info from Terry at http://www.sknitter.com – her link is on the right – I saw the newest Knitty edition.  And on the cover is a gorgeous shawl, Shipwrecked.

The above click came just shortly after reading about a project that has been going on in England since 2007 – the digitizing of over 20,000 (you got it, 20,000!) photographs of expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica from the 1840s to the 1920s.  Not long ago I read the book, Endurance, which is about Shackelton’s wreck in the ice of Antarctica and how everyone returned alive after being stranded over a year.  The current Time website has pictures of this project, as well a link to http://www.freezeframe.ac.uk/home/home, where pictures are posted.

There is something incredible about well-done black and white photos which has it all over most color photos.  There is a sense of drama, as well as an ability to focus on the subject in the picture.  No colors to distract, and so the eye finds shape, light, dark.

Such beauty!

Arf!

Ohhhhh!  I cannot believe it, but I have actually done some Continental knitting!  I decided to make a hat to practice knitting and Norwegian purling.  If you look at the picture,  you will see a ridge at the bottom – I had to cast on, and then knit the first round in my usual way.  I just could not get the tension.  And then, off to work using that fabulous Norwegian Purl.

The nice tidy middle section I did yesterday.  This morning, relaxed, drinking coffee, waking up, you can see the stuff on the top is a lot more messy.  I’ll get it!

Gotta run – guests coming soooooon for brunch!

Old Vines Scarf

Last week I completed a scarf I had been knitting for awhile, using up some of the stash I “discovered” (read “rediscovered”!) out in the garage:  3 balls of a handpainted Paton’s yarn I bought some time ago.

Once finished, I did something I have never done in my life – I blocked a knitted item!  To do this, yet another item was excavated – the cutting board from my sewing days.  T-pins were boughten from the nearby JoAnn’s.  Then, into the washing machine on the washable woolens cycle, soaked and rinsed, spun out, and given a final soak in hair rinse before the final spin-out.  Then, out to the patio, to the picnic table, and the process began.  The old cutting board was spread out, the scarf was flattened and blocked out.  It sat there from about 8 a.m. to the end of the day.

The scarf wanted to curl up on itself, so the first step was to move along its very long length (just over 6 feet), and begin patting it flat.

Next decision on how wide it was going to be.  I decided on 8 inches wide, and pinned it out so that the curves created by the pattern were enhanced.  I pinned each crest on the edge out to 3 inches apart.  Making the scarf 8 inches wide opened up the eyelets – on the needles, the scarf was about 6 inches.

The scarf was too long for the cutting board, so I folded it over on itself.  Dried, there was a bit of a crease, but easily enough steamed out.

On the backside of the scarf, you can see the pattern of the eyelets.  These next pictures give a better idea about the color of the yarn, as well as the overall pattern.

The picture below is a pretty good approximation of the real color of the yarn – soft and misty.

Normally, I don’t really like variegated yarns with lace or textural patterns.  Everything gets lost in the color, so why waste the energy on a fancy design as well?  This, though, worked out.  The colors are soft and subtle, and make me thing of vineyards in the fall and the fog rolls in.  Soft colors, subtle shadings.

Next on the agenda:  write up the pattern, take “professional” pictures (ha!) with my husband modeling, and create the pdf file.  This, and my Clouds beret are nearly ready for publication and offering on Ravelry!  Tomorrow, my in-laws are coming for brunch, and my MIL, Judy, will be bringing her Clouds for show and tell.

And in the meantime – ARF!  I’m actually knitting Continental, using what I learned from Heather’s Norwegian Purl video.  Sweet!  The only thing I do differently is how I knit – I knit through the front of the stitch, but do that oh-so-easy Norwegian Purl.  (What a pearl of a video!)  Pictures at a later date!

Old Dog

I am a hopelessly English-style knitter.  I’ve been doing it forever.  I keep my hands very close to the needles when I knit, moving my hands forward along the needles and use motion to wrap the yarn around the needle before popping the new stitch off.  Unlike many English-style knitters, I don’t “throw” my yarn by making a big, sweeping circle around the needle.  My purling is not so graceful.

I’ve tried learning Continental, but have never found a method I liked.  So many people have their index finger sticking straight out, like a flag pole.  It looks tiring.  Trying it, I got exhausted and frustrated.  The same with flipping the yarn to the front of the needle.

And then, in the middle of the night, looking at YouTube, I came across a really cool video called “Norwegian Purling” – and a light bulb went off!  Heather (hsailormoon on YouTube and Ravelry) has produced a very clear clip.  She knits very nicely!  Her scarf in the demo has very even tension (the link to the scarf is here: http://www.cometosilver.com/patterns/palindrome.htm).

Watch Heather knit!

This was pretty informative and impressive – and even better, easy.

Cat Bordhi also has a type of purl she does for tightening up purl stitches when knitting Continental, and like Heather, she keeps the working yarn for the purl on the back side of the needle.  Here is her video:

If you look closely, you will see (and hear) Heather wraps her yarn differently than Cat.  Heather wraps her needle over the top of the working yarn, and Cat goes from underneath.

These next two videos are very short, but once you understand how the Norwegian purl works, you can observe what is being done by elsteffo.

Knitting:

Purling:

As I said above, knitting Continental with the left index finger sticking out is uncomfortable and tiring for me.  Here is a video which shows the hands close to the needles, knitting and purling with the yarn on the back of the needles:

Ribbing:

Efficient, easy movements!

Now, something else to learn:  watch the Knit Witch:

Arf!

And Sarah:

Arf!  Arf!!  Arf!!!

Lines

There is something so inherently interesting about lines. Outlines. Lines of color. Lines leading into the distance. Lines of a car. Lines of a leaf. Ink lines. Paint lines. The swoop of telephone lines alongside the road.

A brush can express a line, which in turn, expresses something else. A line can be straight. A line can curve. A line can undulate. A line can be created without a change of pressure on the brush, or changing the angle of the brush. Or, it can be created with movement and pressure.

Lines can be used to enhance the sense of something, such as the veins in a leaf. Or give a subtle – and not so subtle – sense of a shape, by outlining it.

Coloring books have lines, too, and good kids stay inside the lines, and are tidy.

Lines can say many things. Yet, a part of me rebels against lines. “The shortest distance between two points is a line.” Is it?

Lines can contain. Lines delineate. Lines define.

Lines express. Lines move beyond the seen, on into infinity, leading the imagination to the unknown, leaving the mind to fill in what is expressed – the experience becomes unique to the person, the imagined is more real than that which is seen.

Lines can be broken. Lines can be solid. Lines can be heavy or light or medium in density, or gradated by the addition of color or more ink.

Any brush stroke, long or short, is a line. What is on that brush becomes an experience on paper, the process of loading ink or paint, choosing the angle of the brush, the tip, the pressure. Paper determines if the paint or ink runs and bleeds, or sits on the surface to be slowly absorbed by the fibers. Is the paper sized? Unsized? Has it been moistened or not?

A line.  Not so simple.

Bamboo 1b