03.31.09
Meanwhile, back at the knitting range. . .
Well, it’s that time again when I update what’s on or been on my needles. I finished off the donation yarn and have shipped those off. I’ve decided that I’m gonna give charity knitting a rest for now and make some stuff for my boys. I also want to work on using up some of my yarn stash and learn some new techniques while I’m at it. There have been some techniques that I’ve wanted to learn, but as of yet, have not gotten around to them. For instance, I still haven’t gotten around to learning entrelac or raglan sweaters top down. Nor have I gotten to other projects I’ve wanted to work on such as the Babette Blanket. BUT, I was able to learn a couple new techniques that I thought would be nice to pass on to any of you yarnies out there. The first technique is called Judy’s Magic Cast On. So far, this is the BEST cast on I’ve learned for toe-up socks. If you haven’t seen this cast on yet and would like to learn a good one, you MUST check this instructional YouTube video out. As soon as I learned how to do it, that’s the only cast on I’ve used for socks now, and I’ve already knit seven pairs using that technique.
The second technique that I learned recently is Priscilla Wild’s No Wrap technique for short row heels. Again, the technique is shown on a YouTube video which can be viewed here.
Brian put in a request recently and even drew out a little example on an index card of what he wanted me to knit for him. He wanted a hat with a little design around the brim of his hat. From his drawing I graphed out the pattern on graph paper.
The pattern came out covering 16 stitches for each repeat. I worked the hat from the top down starting by casting on 6 stitches using Judy’s Magic Cast On technique. BTW, I was only going to do one row of the design which I did in blue on the graph, but when Aaron saw the pattern, he said that it could be indefinitely repeated, so he colored in the red portion just for fun. Anyway, after casting on 6 stitches, I increased at every other row until I had 96 stitches at which point I stopped increasing and did about 4 rounds straight. After that, I started the pattern, which covered about 7 rows. After the pattern was complete, I continued with a 1×1 rib because Brian said that he wanted to be able to fold the brim up or roll it down to cover his ears in case it got cold. I used Paton’s Classic wool in black and brown on US 7 circular needles. Here is Brian’s hat finished with him modeling it for me.
He’s been wearing it almost every day since I made it a couple weeks ago, so that’s nice and encourages me to make him another one. I suppose next time I can try to put the design right on the edge of the brim, but then I don’t know if that will give him much room to roll it up and down, hmmm. But first, I wanted to try using variegated yarn to make a multi-directional baby blanket to see how it would come out. Here it is almost finished.
I decided to try a corded edging, which I think is aka crab stitch. It’s basically just reverse single crochets. Here’s the completed blanket with border.
Now that that’s completed, I’ve started working on another gansey for Andrew, this time. I actually want to try making another multi-directional baby blanket with varigated yarn, but in a bull’s eye pattern just to see the effect. But I figured I should make Andrew’s sweater first. Brian wants one as well, as does Aaron, so I’ve got some projects lined up for a while. Right now I’ve got Andrew’s sweater on the needles, but I’m on the mindless part right now, so can easily watch videos and read while I’m doing the round and round part, heheh. Will try to post the completed project when it’s done.
Marlakins
