So when I say I knit a lot of swatches
Yeah...so about that swatching thing...I really do mean it. And right now, I'm hard at work on Curls 3 swatches. That's one little doodle with one of the lovely Varigradients from Seven Sisters Arts. The yarn is perfect, the stitch is fun, but I'm not 100% sure I'm sold on the combination. So I try again...and this has lots of promise. And again, this is absolutely normal. It's totally not a sign that anything is wrong. It's just that swatching is sort of the knitter's equivalent of sketching...and you sometimes need to do more than one to find just the [...]
Keepsies (plus giveaway)
Every now and then you stumble across an opinionated skein of yarn...a skein of yarn that wants to be knit in stockinette and simply will not take no for an answer. I happened upon a skein like that, and Keepsies is the result! So I'm not going to lie. This is more or less just a tube of stockinette. Yes there's ribbing at the bottom to make it behave, but after that, you just settle in and knit every stitch until it's tall enough. No fancy business at all. But then? Then you come to the top. And that's where [...]
Oddly Satisfying
So it's done, and it would be a lie to say I enjoyed knitting it (though really...that's probably the case for about half the things I knit...I just get bored half way through no matter what), but I do like how it came out. And I know I will like having it. The trick is to have the thing and enjoy using it longer than you grumbled about making it! Now...I just have to come to grips with the fact that this took just under 1/3 of the yarn...meaning I could have two more if I got to feeling industrious.
Coming soon…
So you remember the marble hat? The one that's so cheerful it will pretty much slap you in the face? Well it will be out next week (I normally do pattern releases on Tuesdays, but next Tuesday is a holiday in the states, so I'm doing it Wednesday instead). Here's a little sneak peek. If you want a note when it's out, be sure you use the link at the bottom to get on the mailing list. I'll let you know when it's here (and send you a coupon too). You'll have to find your own marbles though! [pextestim [...]
Uncharacteristic
So something odd has happened. I assure you no one is as surprised as I. That's a garter stitch rectangle. Well no, that started life as a linen stitch rectangle, but knitting linen stitch with actual linen is a surefire way to go mad, so it made the transition to being a garter stitch rectangle instead. And that? That is what will become nearly a freaking foot of icord. Because for some unknowable reason I sort of decided to knit a facecloth. Well no, I know the reason...it's because linen facecloths are so scrubby and awesome that they're worth the [...]
They get to decide
When I was in college I took a history of religions class. On the very first day, the professor declared (repeatedly and emphatically) that we would absolutely positively not under any circumstances be offering our own opinions on whether one group or another were 'really' any particular religion. The official class position was "if they said they were, then as far as the class is concerned, they were. They get to decide." It seemed reasonable to me then. It has proven to be a pretty good way to handle a whole host of other identity issues in the intervening years. [...]
More Swatches
No really...swatches are all I'm knitting these days. I've probably explained this before, but for me a book usually goes 1) have an idea, 2) source yarn, 3) swatch and write patterns, 4) send yarn and patterns off to magical stunt knitters to turn into projects, 5) get the patterns into proper book format and have them edited, 6) get projects back and take photos, 7) more editing, 8) printing. Now there's more to it than that (I left out the traditional 'all my ideas are crap' crisis that invariably happens somewhere in the middle), and there's some overlap (for [...]
Cleave (plus giveaway)
There's something about taking a classic like a ribbed sock (comfy, easy, fits perfectly) and adding just a little bit of a something special that gets me every time. The special bit could be dropped stitches or lace or even a fancy cuff. Whatever you pick, it's always more fun than it has any right to be. For Cleave, I went with an absolutely delightful cable and a little bit of a twist for the heel. The construction on these is really fun. Instead of working flat over half the stitches to make a heel flap, then picking up stitches [...]
Suitably Matched
Way back when I was a brand new knitter (think 'had to look up how to purl because it seemed sort of tricky' level of new), I read a pattern that said something like 'cast on 24 stitches with appropriate yarn and suitably matched needles.' And somehow I got it into my head that 'suitably matched' meant 'needles that look pretty with your yarn.' I'll just let you imagine how well that worked out. It's a wonder I ever got the hang of this. But that incident has left me with a tendency to grin every time my needles happen [...]
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