Knitting – Page 4 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

A Gansey for Autumn

The summer is winding down, and my last two days off work lie ahead. I have not done much painting as my interest in the visual arts is currently on photography. On the other hand, knitting, while not prolific, has been steady. I have been working on a gansey in Rowan’s Felted Tweed for the past several weeks.

The design is sort of original, and sort of not, as it is based on a gansey pattern design by Beth Brown-Reinsel‘s book Knitting Ganseys, specifically the child’s gansey “Snakes and Ladders,” which is pictured on the cover of her book. I’ve expanded the stitch count – I’m no toddler in size! – and have decided to make it more in the EZ style, with raglan sleeves, and possibly a placket opening in the front or a boat neck, just because in California a high-necked sweater would be too hot for me.

It’s been quite a while since I have made a sweater. Admittedly, Josh’s sweater fell to the wayside – it was too, too boring. I needed a brighter color, and texture. I purchased the Rowan yarn several years ago, but had no idea what I wanted to make out of it, so of course it sat around. The color is one of my favorites, a rust color or what some might call a spiced pumpkin color, as it is not a deep rust, but more the color of autumn leaves which have not completely faded.

Designing a sweater takes a bit of work! While the design itself was essentially there in Beth’s book, I needed to expand on it. In the end, rather than a 6-stitch snake cable, I upped it to an 8-stitch cable. The bar sections (7 rnds. of stockinette with one rnd. of purl) became 10 stitches. I thought I had it all set up, and then as I was knitting realized I had not taken into account the fact that centering of a pattern section was critical for success. Duh! Once that was solved, though, the body proceeded nicely.

I have finished the body to the point where I am ready to add sleeves. I am about 2/3 done with the first sleeve, which is knitting up amazingly fast, and I am enjoying the simplicity of the overall sweater pattern quite a bit. As with the body, the sleeve took a bit of thought, but is going along quite nicely now that I have completed the increases.

It always feels good to see progress on a project – especially after frogging a major sweater elsewhere!

Too Much!

Some people learn things as they go along, living life on a daily basis and incorporating the new stuff without the disruption of everything else. Not me. When I am curious about something, I jump headlong with both feet. This has its good points and bad points, the worst being it can become obsession – luckily, it never does. The thing is, I am a collector. I collect information. I collect things. And I don’t usually get rid of stuff, either in my mind (though I will as senility approaches), in my closet, under my bed, or in the garage. Granted, when I return to that interest, costs are very insignificant!

Lately, in case you have not noticed, I have been doing a lot of photography, to the point I decided to set up a blog separate from Ink, Yarn & Beer. Here, I really want to get back into more personal things, such as the painting and knitting design, as well as just discussions or whatever I fancy. At that other blog I can focus on photography and what I am doing there, create my little encyclopedia of links, blither on about what I am doing. I’ve gotten a few hits there, mostly spam, but that blog, like this one, is for my own pleasure. And to create balance.

My artistic side finds photography rather frustrating, but I am beginning to see how it is tweaking me at the same time. Thinking about how something is made – effects, colors, process – begin to move into other areas. Looking at the petals of a rose make me wonder how I can capture them with a brush using ink or watercolor. Looking at the light shadows in an image make me consider contrast and detail in a painting and why something in a painting works, or does not. Realism does not need to be done, but the impact created by color, shadow, tone, shape gives an illusion of reality or its impression.

The fact is, any form of art is limited only by the person doing it. This can because of a lack of tools or innovation, or because one is still in the process of becoming or doing. I am limited by my interests in a lot of things – painting, knitting, reading, writing, photography, gardening, hiking, traveling – and it keeps me from doing anything well. On Outlook I have different activities scheduled weekly – creative activities – and that doesn’t help either! Regardless, the plan is to try to do a bit more of all of it, and be focused on it when I can.

Trash

Last night’s photo class was rather fun. We were supposed to do a walk-stop-shoot expedition at a local park, but the ducks and geese and egrets were very distracting (as well as darned cute to watch). Some portraiture was thrown in.

What I found most interesting was just what a great composition a piece of trash can make.

Spring Break: Day 4

This is being written after the fact. The fact is I spent most of yesterday lounging around, and taking naps. Morning nap in the sun. Late morning nap in the sun. Afternoon nap on the couch. And to bed at 8 p.m. Anytime I have vacation, I usually do this sometime during the break, and yesterday was the day! I think it’s just something I need to do.

That said, I’ve reconsidered some of my list. In the knitting arena, I don’t feel especially like being challenged, so I pulled out a shawl in the Old Shale – a traditional Shetland lace pattern – I’ve been knitting off and on. The pattern is easy to remember, knits up comfortably, and can be done in front of the TV or outdoors while listening to an audiobook. I’m using 10 skeins of Noro in a worsted weight.

The pattern stitch is done in multiples of 18; the shawl has a 3-stitch garter edge either side, and is being knit lengthwise. So, if you want to do something like it, here it is in a nutshell:

cast on 78 stitches
Knit 3 ridges garter stitch to show on right side of work, ending ready to begin pattern.
Row 1: K3, place marker, knit until 3 stitches remain on right needle, place marker, K3
Row 2: K3, purl to marker, K3
Row 3: K3, *k2tog 3x, yo k1 6 x, k2tog 3x* – repeat pattern between * * to marker, K3
Row 4: Knit entire row

I’ve decided that I am not too crazy about clothing knit up in Noro stripes – especially sweaters unless they are knit totally in the round. The colors are beautiful, but the structure of a garment is lost. As a result, the garment must be structured to work with the yarn. This pattern actually is a good one for Noro because the broad stripes of color can be appreciated, and the ripple effect of the stitch pattern creates a colorful wave. I hope I can finish it before I go back to work – 6 skeins left!

Copycat

After seeing how nice Lori’s Saroyan scarf by Liz Abinante looked, I decided to go ahead and do one myself. Mine is in a wool-and-llama blend in a heathered orchid color. It’s coming along nicely, and soon I’ll be on the descent into the decreases. I’ll wash it, and block it, and mark it for me! With our cold spring here in California, it is perfect for a chilly morning or late night walk.

That said, it also is fun to use knitting to play with different elements of photography. And it is also a good way to brag: See? I’m actually making something!

Knitting Saroyan is very easy. It took a bit to get used to reading the chart as I generally knit in the round, but that along with the written directions make for an easy project. I like the fact that there are markers to separate the body from the garter stitch from the leaf pattern – my way to knit! I can easily complete the pattern part while watching TV. Once done, I’ll block it out and take a few more shots, especially of the leaves.

Altogether, this is a satisfying project to knit – and to photograph! (You can see more pictures of my Saroyan here.)