Tag: video

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.

Casting On in Knitting: A Survey of Varieties

Personally, I never seem to be able to master the long-tail method of casting on – the one that is wrapped around the thumb and index finger in a Y-shape. I have my own method that I’ve done forever, yet never have seen duplicated on YouTube. I wrap the yarn on my left thumb, and knit a stitch with the needle in my right hand – this is my version of the long-tail.  And it is very nice and stretchy.  However, the cast-on by Alasdair Post-Quinn made the Y-shaped long-tail cast-on sensible because of the two different colors being used. I may actually be able to do it now!

Given this, I know that I have found a lot of videos on YouTube for casting on before knitting. Being somewhat encyclopedic in my approach to things, I decided that this post would be a collection of the different ones on YouTube I found to be especially useful.

Traditional Long Tail Cast-On

Long Tail Tubular Cast-On for 1×1 and 2×2 Ribbing by Ysolda Teague

Stretchy Knitted Cast-On Using a Crochet Hook from the Scarlet Zebra

Estonian Cast-On for Knitting Socks with Nancy Bush

Channel Island Cast-On by Oftroy

Double Knitting Cast-On with Alasdair Post-Quinn

German Twisted Cast-On with Lucy Neatby

And these are just a few!  In particular, I highly recommend that you connect with Oftroy on YouTube.  She has oodles of videos about cast-ons and different ways to do it – braided, multi-colored, whatever – and her videos are very watchable.  She blogs here.  Lucy Neatby’s YouTube channel has some unusual videos, such as on knitting based on Navajo plying (used in spinning), and a very tidy bobble.  She is not a prolific video-maker, but her stuff is very clear and solid.

What would we do without the internet and YouTube??? There is sooooooo much to learn and share!

The Four Gentlemen: 国画兰花 (Orchid)

According to the Google Chinese translator, 国画兰花 means “orchid painting.”  If I plug in the characters, sure enough, that is what I get!  There are a lot of really beautiful orchid paintings, both Japanese and Chinese, and some from other parts of the world.

The Four Gentlemen

In learning to paint in sumi, the student first becomes acquainted and accomplished in painting the orchid, bamboo, plum, and chrysanthemum. Practicing each, the student learns critical brush strokes, and while one may become adept at the strokes, mastery is where the artist steps in.

Painting the orchid allows the student the opportunity to practice long movements with the brush. This requires moving with the arm, rather than the wrist, which is very strange to us in the west. Those of us who learned to write script hour after hour in school learned to control our movements. Big, sweeping arm movements were not encouraged.

In addition to learning to control large movements, the student also works with varying shades of ink, from light to dark, to create a dynamic painting. The leaves require darker ink, and the flowers require lighter. In addition to lighter ink, the flowers require smaller, controlled movement. Finally, “dotting the heart” – the black ink at the center of each flower – requires the patience for the ink to dry. Applied too soon, the elegant shape becomes a blurry spot in what might otherwise be a perfect flower.

Besides being an elemental step to learning sumi, the orchid represents spring, as well as the virtues of noble behavior and modesty. In Japanese, the “Four Gentlemen” are called “shi-kunshi. Each plant has a corresponding season and virtue. In contemplating paintings of these subjects – the orchid, bamboo, plum, and chrysanthemum – one also steps into the symbolism of each.

Painting the Orchid

Of the “Four Gentlemen,” the orchid is the most easily learned. The long flowing leaves are delightful to paint. The flowers are as well – a great deal of satisfaction is found in mastering the curves of the strokes. Most difficult is “dotting the heart.”

That said, the mastery of the orchid, or any of the Gentlemen, is a lifetime experience. The expression and shape and composition of such simple subjects becomes increasingly more interesting, and more challenging.

The Video: Painting the Wild Orchid in Sumi-e

Here is a video showing some of my orchid paintings in color, as well as a demonstration in sumi. I have not annotated this video, but am leaving it for you to observe. Let me know what you think!

Painting the Loquat in Sumi-e

The loquat is an evergreen, and can be considered a large shrub or small tree, growing about 12-15 feet tall. The leaves are long and pointy, dark green and thick, with a serrated edges. The sweet-smelling flowers appear in the autumn or early winter, and the fruits are ripe in late winter or early spring. In California, fruits appear April to May. This plant originated in China, was thence exported to Japan over 1000 years ago, and came to the west coast in the 1800s. It is frequently grown for both fruit, and as an ornamental plant.

Loquat fruits, growing in clusters, are oval, rounded or pear-shaped, 2-3 inches long, and can be pale yellow in color to a gold tinged with red. Depending on the type of loquat, the fruit can be rather sour in taste, or very sweet. The seeds of the loquat are lovely, being large and of a shiny brown.

The contrast of the roundish fruit with the wide, pointy leaves makes for an interesting painting subject. Here is my video on painting this lovely plant.