nyc in a day

Knitting in Times Square

This past weekend L. and I took a quick trip to NYC to visit my brother, M., who was visiting from Colorado. Usually when we go to NY we drive (L.'s from Westchester), but my sister suggested we take Megabus. It was so nice having someone else drive us to the city. I had hoped to knit the whole way there and back, but our bus left at 12am on Saturday and returned 9pm on the same day, so instead I slept.


I really enjoy spending time with my brother. With M. on the opposite coast we usually only see each other once or twice a year. We couldn't have asked for a better day. The weather was gorgeous for November- not too cold and sunny. We spent most of our day walking around, people watching, and eating. One of my favorite things about NYC is the variety of ethnic foods from which to choose. We had a delicious meal at Tara Thai (not the chain) in the Village and our waiter, Charlie, was great.


A trip to NYC could not be complete without looking at yarn. I made sure to stop at Purl in Soho. I love the aesthetics of their shop, but the shop itself is super tiny and I felt like I kept bumping into people. Purl has a beautiful selection of colors- when you enter the shop it looks like you are stepping into a watercolor box. The staff was very friendly and helpful. Unfortunately I didn't come home with anything (if you saw my stash you would understand why).

Purl in Soho

I wish that I had been able to go to more yarn shops, but this was a family visit not a yarn visit. Perhaps I can convince some of my knit night friends to spend a day, maybe in February/March, on a yarn crawl.

a chill in the air

This past week we got an early taste of winter weather. The temperatures dropped into the 30s and 40s and it rained and rained and rained. Stuck in the house I was left to knit (how wonderful).  I curled up with an afghan and spent my weekend on the sofa.

With winter around the corner I thought that it was probably a good idea to plan my marathon holiday knitting. I went through my stash, assigned projects to the yarn, photographed the yarn with the pattern, bagged it, and added the whole mess to Ravelry. I am so excited, lots of new projects to start. Here some of the photos:

Solomons Socks

my own design

Fingerless Gloves

knitpicks

Cabled Gloves

michele rose orne

Sculptured Lace Scarf

Kenny Chua

Herringbone Scarf

my own design

Retro Rib Socks

evelyn a. clark

Felted Slippers

drops

Embossed Leaves 

mona schmidt

Fountain Lace Short-Sleeve Sweater

madeline weston

I was really excited to get a jump on the Fountain Lace Short-Sleeve Sweater. The yarn that I am using is a little bit thicker than what the pattern calls for. In order to adjust my gauge I had to do the rib on size 0 needles. Using size 0 needles with inflexible cotton is not very fun. After breaking a set I loosened my tension a bit. The rib was successfully completed however the number of increases called for in the setup row was incorrect. So after ripping that row I decided to use my new Adobe Illustrator skills to create a chart. It worked like a charm. In 4 short inches I will be able to start the armholes for the back. There is one thing I will change the next time I knit this. It will be knit in one piece in the round. The purling is going way slower than the knitting.  

fiber in the fall

October in Virginia is one of the prettiest times of year. The leaves start to turn golden yellows, pumpkin oranges, and deep crimsons while the air becomes crisp and cool. You couldn't ask for a better backdrop for the Fall Fiber Festival held at Montpelier plantation, the former home of James Madison and the Duponts.  This beautiful plantation in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains is also where my husband L. and I were married.


While fiber festivals are fun for knitters, they are especially enjoyed by spinners. The multitude of fiber breeds and colors makes me feel like a kid in a candy store and the fact that I can actually touch before I buy doesn't hurt either. 

My favorite fiber

This year L. and I met up with some friends from knit night. We started the morning with a delicious breakfast at Eileen's Bakery in Fredericksburg before the hour of car knitting it took to get to Montpelier. My friend R., a new spinner (who just purchased a beautiful wheel), could not wait to get her hands on some new fodder for her Rose.

The Montpelier fiber festival is tamer than Maryland Sheep and Wool. There are fewer vendors and no country fair style animal judging. The relaxed atmosphere of  the festival made for a nice morning of perusing stalls and fondling fiber. After a small snack of kettle corn and sparkling lemonade L. and I checked out the dogs. I really enjoyed the shepherding dog trials (something that I did not see at MD S&W). It's amazing how the dogs have the sheep on lockdown. 


I left the fair with two new fiber editions to my growing collection- cloud-like bunny angora and a super soft combed merino top dyed in reds and purples. I've never spun with angora, but I'm looking forward to the experience. I think I will use the merino to spin up lace weight for a shawl.

a weekend with Cookie A.

Two weekends ago I was lucky enough to attend the Weekend with Cookie A. knitting retreat in Solomons, MD. I arrived early Saturday morning and parked along the bay. Getting out of the car I was struck by the island’s beauty-- the sun glistened on the water as seagulls perched on a nearby pier. The location for a peaceful weekend of knitting couldn’t have been better.

The view from our "classroom"

Intuitive Chart Reading

The retreat started with a class on intuitive chart reading. Cookie loves charts, and after her explanation of how easy they are to read, I do too! When I knit Jared Flood’s Green Autumn Mittens I remember how long it took having to go back and forth between the chart and the key. I wish I knew then what I know now- with a basic understanding of how and why charts are written I can save time because I no longer have to flip back to the key. Check it out:

Basic Chart Symbols

These are the symbols you will most often see on charts.

Flat vs. All-Purpose Charts
Avoid flat knitting charts; all-purpose charts are the way to go (see the gansey examples below). All purpose charts will give you directions for both the RS and the WS, but will always show you what the RS should look like. Remember when you are reading all-purpose charts for flat knitting you start from the right and move to the left. Row two starts on the left and moves to the right. If you are knitting in the round you always start on the right hand side.

Flat Knitting Chart

All Purpose Knitting Chart

Understanding Cable Symbols

A cable symbol can be broken down into two parts- the stitches that are put on the cable needle (left side of the symbol) and those that are knit first (right side of the symbol). The other thing to look for is the direction of the cable- left or right. Cookie taught us a saying to help you remember- “I LEFT you out FRONT, but I will be RIGHT BACK.” If the cable symbol leans to the left then you put the cable needle to the front. If the cable symbol leans to the right then you put the cable needle to the back. You can also combine symbols within a cable so that you can purl or knit through the back loop.

Traveling Stitches

The second class I took was Traveling Stitches. This class taught you how to take a vertical pattern and make it lean at an angle using cabling or paired increases and decreases. This class was pretty tough. If you are interested in how this works I’d suggest purchasing Cookie’s book, Sock Innovation. A good understanding of intuitive chart reading will be a huge help in learning this skill.

Resizing Stitch Patterns and Creating the Perfect Rib

The third class I took was about resizing stitch patterns and creating the perfect rib.  You can resize any stitch pattern, but be sure to keep these points in mind.

1.     If you add stitches to make a pattern wider it won’t flow the way it did before  (your diagonal lines will be off). If you widen something that has diagonal elements you also have to make it taller relative to the pattern repeats (increase both sts and rows).

2.     If you add rows to in make the pattern longer it won’t flow correctly (the diagonal pattern will look like it is sitting inside the diagonal pattern below it). If you lengthen something that has diagonal elements you also have to make it wider relative to the pattern repeats (increase both sts and rows).

3.     The easiest way to see what you are working with is to use colored pencils to color in the various sts on the chart. Once you outline the different stitch areas you can replace the sts with anything.

Notice how the rib flows into the sock pattern

When creating a rib for a knit garment it will look a thousand times better if you make sure that your rib pattern flows into the garment. To do this, work backwards from the garment pattern into the rib. You may need to increase or decrease stitches from your ribbing to your garment. To do this, the last row of ribbing (the row that flows into your garment) should be the set up row. Determine the best place to increase or decrease a stitch (usually directly next to a cable or in the background of a design).

Top Down Sock Design

My final class of the weekend was Top Down Sock Design. I myself prefer toe up socks, not because of the kitchener stitch, but because I find that when using two circulars on top down socks my stitch joins aren’t tight enough. I think if I was still using dpns to make socks top down wouldn’t be such a big deal. Maybe I should start on the dpns and then move to circulars. Regardless, Cookie prefers top down because of the design benefits (fold the sock at different places to figure out where you want your heel and top of foot) and because you can make sure the sock isn’t too tight to fit over your heel.

Things to keep in mind when sock designing:

1.     If you want row repeats to match up when using multiple stitch patterns in a sock, choose patterns whose rows have the least common multiple (the smallest number- not zero- that is a multiple of both numbers). For example, if one pattern is a 12-row repeat and another pattern is a 10-row repeat they won’t line up again until row 60.

2.     For colorwork, chevron, and bias-stitch socks always add more stitches because the sock will have less elasticity.

3.     Be sure to factor your “suckage” for cables (usually a 50% stitch loss, so a 4-st cable has the same width as 2 sts). You can always stagger your cables to correct the suckage.

4.     Check the sizing of your sock after one full repeat. If it is too big pinch to see how many stitches you need to eliminate.

5.     If your heel flap is narrower than 50% of the total sts then you need to make the flap longer and vice versa.

During this class we got a chance to design a pair of socks. I’m excited about my honey-combed socks with a bobbled cable running straight up the back of the leg. The pattern is finished and the knitting has begun! I will post them when I have them knit up.

Me and Cookie A.

somethings just weren't meant to be

I’m currently in a bad relationship with a purple v-neck sweater. My once amorous feelings towards this merino knit have now turned to frustration and sometimes despair. I may have to cut my losses and end it before I never want to see this item of clothing again.

My relationship began back in August on my way to the TKGA conference in Buffalo. I just received a package of KnitPicks merino style in a vibrant shade of purple and was itching to start a project. Enter fall 2006’s Vogue Knitting pattern, the Embellished V-Neck. I had been eyeing this sweater for a while and felt that this was the perfect opportunity to start. I quickly finished the back, as it was knit mostly in stockinette, with garter stitch shaping around the waist. In my haste to start the front, I didn’t read the directions thoroughly enough and missed the part about “shape as for back.” When I was nearly finished I looked at my work and thought, “Wow, the front sides look kind of thin. Ut-oh.” That’s when the ripping began.

Ripping for me isn’t devastating. Because knitting is meditative, it’s almost like creating a mandala. You work and work on this beautiful piece of art and then blow it away, or in this case rip it out and start over.

I re-knit the front and then began on the sleeves. I knit the sleeves two at a time, so that when I finished them I’d be able to piece the sweater together. When the sleeves came off my needles I looked at them and thought, “Those look pretty big.” When I got out my measuring tape (like I should have at the beginning) I realized that my gauge was off. Time to rip the whole thing out-sleeves, front, back-and start again, this time doing a gauge swatch.

I finished re-knitting everything and then did something that I never do and may never again, except for lace- I blocked it, or I should more accurately say, over-blocked it. The top of the sweater was super long, which would have put the shaping around the largest part of my body, thus accentuating my hips instead of my waist. Frustration and cursing ensued, but then I thought “What would Tim Gunn say in this situation- make it work.”

I decided to steak the top of the sweater at the shoulder seams, cut it and then sew it together. This actually worked, although I wouldn’t recommend it if you can help it. I set in the sleeves, and picked up and knit the v-neck garter rows. After trying on the sweater last night, my feelings of frustration turned more to despair after seeing where the sleeves sat (I’m happy with the body of the sweater except for the excess fabric around the arms). I really don’t want to re-do it. So what I’ve decided is to walk away until I’ve gotten over the ill-feelings and when I pick it back up I think that I will either re-sew the sleeves or make it into a v-neck vest. Maybe in this relationship “make it work” wasn’t the best advice.

You always learn lessons from bad relationships, and in this case it was a lesson about myself. I learned that I’m an impulsive knitter. I don’t check gauge and I jump into projects without completely reading the directions. The funny thing is I do these things because I think that it will save me time, but it does it really when I have to knit the sweater twice?!

feeding my addiction

This past Saturday the Knitter's Cottage in Fredericksburg had its summer sale. I met up with D. and we scoured the store. I came home with these...

Rowan Tapestry

color: Rustic (174)

$6.00/skein

Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca Lace

color: black (500)

$6.00/skein

I bought the rowan with a cowl in mind, but haven't found the perfect lacy pattern yet. The plymouth baby alpaca will be turned into two projects from Knitted Lace of Estonia. Alpaca has to be my absolute favorite fiber. You get the softness of cashmere, with a whole lot of warmth (I run cold).

Lily of the Valley Scarf

By Nancy Bush

The Trinu Scarf

by Nancy Bush

On a side note, I just downloaded the Weeds, Season 4 soundtrack and I'm loving it.

summer review

I can’t believe that my summer is coming to an end. Next week I return to my day job as a library media specialist to over 800 middle school students. Returning to school is always bittersweet. I LOVE summer- it’s a time for travel and relaxation, gardening, and of course knitting!

This summer we spent some time up in WNY at L.’s parents house. I used the time as a knitting retreat and designed a hat and two pairs of socks. I also started the Jarred Jacket from Rowan Vintage Knits, one of my new favorite books. The bad news, on the way home we had to switch cars and my beautiful knit socks, waiting to be bound off, along with two pairs of harmony circulars found a new home on the side of I-70 in a torrential rain storm (didn’t realize it until I got home).

The Briar Creek Hat (pattern available soon on www.worldknits.com)

The Charleston Socks (pattern available soon on www.worldknits.com)

The summer culminated with my trip to Buffalo to go to the TKGA Knit & Crochet Show. I had the best time at the CGOA Professional Development Day. The morning started with a panel discussion with various professionals- Brett Bara, magazine editor, Drew Emborsky, author/pattern writer, Edie Eckman, yarn shop owner, and Cari Clement, design director of Caron Yarn. It was incredibly informative. They answered questions about various aspects of the crochet business, and while I have yet to learn to crochet, the info was equally applicable to knitting. The afternoon was divided into break out sessions of which you could choose Contract Crocheting, Schematics, Designing for Publication, Using the Internet to Grow Your Business, Owning a Yarn Shop, Self-publishing, Design Inspiration, and Teaching. Lionbrand provided gift bags that included two skeins of jiffy, one circular needle, a ruler, and a pattern book. Next year I plan on attending the entire week of the conference and taking some technique classes. I scored some gorgeous yarn on the trade show floor, as well as a gorgeous new notions bag (photos to come).

While in Buffalo, L. and I went to Niagara falls, the Disney World of National Parks. So, while it was totally built up, I had a ton of fun going on the Maid of the Mist boat ride, as well as doing the Cave of the Winds tour. When I was standing in the water under the falls I didn't have a care in the world. We did try to go for a hike, but the trail system out there isn't very well marked and most of the harder routes were closed. Who knew the Canadian border was less than 9 hours from Virginia?!