The knitting news

[kniteracy]

I'm writing a long entry about knitting and spirituality (yes, really), but it's taking awhile, so I figured I'd offer up this banal update on WIPs (works in progress) and stash acquisition instead of actual content.


Projects and pictures

Yesterday, I received a package from hobbitblue that contained, among other things, three 25 gram skeins of Heirloom Knitting's Merino Lace, about 375 meters per 25 gram skein. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this, but it sure is pretty. Anybody got any ideas?



I did finish the first of the rainbow socks yesterday and I started the second one this morning.



And I've added the second colour to the Jazz Socks, so you can see the red and blue. My son G is eyeing these. I think he actually wants them. :)




I'm slightly concerned about this post I made to the brit_knits community. I suppose it's my own fault for not doing the research before I made the order, but I hope my experience is better than some of the other folks on the community have had. They had the sizes and lengths of addi turbo needles I wanted in stock (or they seemed to), and they also had Opal silk blend sock yarn. So I have my fingers crossed that the order will arrive sometime this week. I mean, it doesn't have to arrive this week; I'd just really like to swatch that silk/wool blend. :-)

Comments

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

Gweeeeeennnnn, that knitting thing is still bothering me. When I do that casting on thing, the little stitches end up looking like they're backwards, like if I turn the thing over, it looks like the pictures. Is there a front and a back? How am I managing to do it backwards? Should I attempt to scan it in so you can see what I'm talking about? Is there madness in troubleshooting knitting from the other side of the world? Throw me some granola, baybee.

[callibr8]

The merino lace looks perfect for some of those lace shawl patterns that abound in books (I've seen a few on the 'Net, too).

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Hm, OK. I've tried the cast-on you're using to see if I can figure out what it is you might be doing.

When I do knitted cast-on in the way that feels right to me, I end up with a "bead" that looks similar to a purl stitch, which is the opposite of a knit stitch. It looks like the example on the left of the photograph below.



However, when I manipulate the yarn, taking care to make sure there are no twists in it at all, it comes out looking more like a knit stitch, like the example on the right.

Now, I've done knitted cast-on for years, and I always do it so that it looks like it does on the left. It doesn't make any difference at all in the yumminess of the finished product, so don't worry about making it look perfect if the way that makes it look perfect doesn't feel good to you when you're doing it.

There definitely is a right side and a wrong side to this cast-on. If you're wrapping the yarn clockwise around the needle, you'll end up with examples like the one above. If you were to wrap it counterclockwise, you'd end up with a reverse picture; the example on the right would be on the left.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

One of my dirty knitting secrets is that I have never gotten the hang of lace. I tried a simple lace pattern for a shop sample last year and it nearly drove me out of my mind.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's just me, but when I read the other comments, all the words are
lined
up
against
the
left
side
like
this. Weird.


Mind if I start calling you Madame LaFarge? ;->

[callibr8]

Fascinating... you can do complex cables such as on your Aran and on Kitanzi's jumper, but not lace? Bogggggle....

Well, one option might be that if the yarn is truly lace weight, knit it up on size 5-6 (3.75 - 4mm) needles - whatever gives you a somewhat but not ridiculously "airy" look - into a shrug, and add some patterning interest with cabling or other textured stitch patterns, which you're obviously well capable of doing.

That is, of course, if it's just completely unsuitable for making socks or jumpers. :)

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Hm-- they don't show up that way to me. It could be that I've changed my journal styles recently. Do other entries show up this way to you?

And I don't wanna be Madame LaFarge! ;-)

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Yes, honestly. I have never gotten the hang of lace. I think this just proves that my spiritual ancestors were not from the Shetlands. ;-)

I'm going to swatch it on 2mm (US0) needles for a pair of lacy socks and see if I can become more conversant with the lace genre that way.