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 [...]
Cohesive
So you know how sometimes I say something like 'this project has big stretches of reverse stockinette so you may want to consider a more subdued yarn than you might otherwise use'? Like with the top of the foot on Cataphyll or the background on Enchase or the heel and background on Greenhorn? Yeah well let's look at why. Take a look at this and notice the difference between the stockinette side (that's the bit that's all knits...the bottom in this picture) and the reverse stockinette side (that's the bit that's all purls...the top in this picture). Trace one of [...]
Swatches
Oh my goodness how have I not shown you guys this... So you know how I've been showing you all sorts of yarn for Curls 3? Yeah...well that doesn't just sit around being yarn, it gets turned into swatches. Lots and lots and lots of swatches! That's the Squish DK by Spun Right Round in Frost (and that's a super reversible stitch, which is always lovely for curls). And then how about a bit of Magnificent DK from Knit Circus in Brass and Steam (and yes, that is a circular needle...what is the world coming to!). And last but not [...]
Next
So I feel like I'm having a 'colors without colorwork' sort of phase. There's the green and gray wavy set I just finished, and the stripey pink and purple business I just put up for testing, and of course there's Pelagic. But I didn't feel quite done. So then there was this. Which turned into this. Which then turned into this. Yarn is Madeline Tosh, Merino DK in Flashdance (purple) and Vintage in Smokestack (gray), and I'm expecting great things! [pextestim pex_attr_set="looking-for-this-pattern" pex_attr_autoplay="false"][/pextestim]
Swatches
We're going to consider this a lesson on the virtues of swatching. I'm dying to do something with this yarn (from Spun Right Round, the color name is Bug Jar, because I know one of you is going to want it too). But speckled yarn seems to require a bit of extra care in pattern selection. It seems that things with a lot of stockinette show it off best. But as much as I like wearing things with great huge swaths of stockinette, I can't actually stand knitting it. So the most low key way I could think of to [...]
Smug, so very very smug
Public Service Announcement: Your swatch doesn't count if you don't block it. Remember the photo of the swatch I showed you last time? Take a look at it after a little soak! Totally different beast (with a whole stitch per inch difference in gauge). If I'd started the project without blocking the swatch, the finished project would have been way way way too big. I also feel like blocking the swatch helped me decide which color to go with (which was proving unreasonably challenging when I was just staring at the yarn). Tantrum it is. But don't feel bad if [...]
Bounce bounce bounce
I am generally rather orderly. Some might say alarmingly orderly. I'm a huge fan of breaking a large task into smaller ones, putting the pieces in the right order, allocating time for them, and moving through the list. I've written and published five books in the last few years. You sort of have to be orderly to pull that off. At least I do. But right now I'm feeling scattered. It's not the bad sort of scattered, it's the 'oh holy crap muffins I just had the best idea and now I am absolutely itching to implement it please can [...]
Nibble
I have a process. I have a very specific process. First I get yarn, then I swatch, then I write up a shockingly structured page of notes, then I type up the pattern. The swatch and the page of notes and the label are all stapled together (with my nifty staple-free stapler...no actual staples needed, it makes a hole to tie the swatch through, so clever it hurts). The result looks something like this. That is the process. There is no changing the process. There is no questioning the process. It works beautifully. I have everything I could need in [...]
Muted
I'm worried a few of you may be laboring under a terrible misconception. One or two of you may have gotten the sense that there's not been much knitting around here. After all, the last thing I showed you I knit was the Trey cuff back in early June (which was itself my attempt to remind myself that I do indeed like knitting). But just because I haven't been showing you much knitting doesn't mean I've not been stabbing yarn with needles on a regular basis. Quite the contrary. It's just that I've not been showing you what I'm knitting. [...]
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