I’m moving along on the Kimono Scarf, though not at lightning speed by any means :) I generally do a pattern repeat (24 rows) a day - sometimes two if I’m feeling exceptionally ambitious.

While I’m finding this an enjoyable knit for the most part, something puzzles me.  There is one point - Row 13 of the stitch pattern - where I always get fouled up.  I cannot figure this out.  The pattern isn’t difficult in any way and not even terribly complex.  It’s not as though it’s telling you to P3tog whilst standing on your head and spitting gold nickels.  All it wants me to do is:

YO, SSK, K5 (3, 1), K2tog, YO, K1 (3, 5)

Is that so hard?  It doesn’t look hard - but I have messed up somewhere on these three rows on almost every repeat.  Just call me consistent :)

On the other hand, I’m finding the color play between the yarn and the pattern to be very interesting indeed.  I’m not sure this would be acceptable in more sophisticated fashion, but the way the yarn pools and flashes is, to my eye, pretty cool :)

It’s about 28 inches long at this point and I’m not quite halfway through the yarn so I’m figuring a 65” blocked length will be about where I wind up.

And I started something new :)

This uses the Fishtail Lace pattern which yields a nice result for ridiculously little work :)

Cast on a multiple of 8 stitches +1.

Row 1:  K1, *YO, K2, sl1-K2tog-psso, K2, YO, K1; repeat from *.
Row 2:  (and all wrong-side rows) Purl.
Row 3:  K2, *YO, K1, sl1-K2tog-psso, K1, YO, K3; repeat from*, end K1.
Row 5:  K3, *YO, sl1-K2tog-psso, YO, K5; repeat from *, end K3.

As it happens, there are any number of lace stitch patterns based on a multiple of 8 stitches +1 so if I get the desire to change to something else as I go along, it won’t be a problem :) I’ve even had the thought that it might be fun to change colors when/if I change the stitch pattern.  It also occurred to me that it might be interesting to change the stitch pattern every time a new repeat is added.  So while the first iteration might be Fishtail lace, the second could incorporate Razor Shell or whatever else tickled your fancy and you would have rays of each running from top to side/bottom of the shawl.  It would be really interesting to work each of these rays in a different color but I’m not up to that kind of intarsia yet :)

I don’t think…

My only concern with this is the center increases (I keep thinking of them as spinal increases!).  I decided not to go with yarn-overs for the increases on this piece - at least so far.  The only real reason for this is because yarn-overs simply stick their tongues out at stitch markers and wander freely from one side of the marker to the other meaning that I never quite know where I am :) So I went with M1 (lifted bar) increases instead.  Since this shawl is started at the top and increased towards the bottom, there are four increase stitches on every right-side row: one on either edge and one on either side of the center stitch(es).

This is the center line.  There’s an M1 increase on either side of it and, as you can see, it’s a little tight.  I suspect this is not going to block out.  I suspect that even if it did block out, the stress on that single, central line of stitches would abbreviate the life of the garment.  I also suspect that it will pull along the center like a puckered seam. 

But I haven’t done this before and don’t really know yet :)

Chatters is on tomorrow at the regular time.  Drop in if you can!

Have a great weekend all :)

Picture heavy post!

Please be kind in your assessment of the pictures.  I was trying to take photographs of older magazine pages.  They should, at least, give you the general idea :)

Oh the stuff you run into when you least expect it!  First there’s this:

This was published in 1941 and could be yours for the grand sum of 10 cents :) All the patterns stipulate bone crochet hooks or needles in sizes that don’t seem to make sense but which I’m sure were perfectly clear to the crafter of the time.  Measurements are given for everything so it would only take a little experimenting to determine hook/needle size.  Figuring out what size the yarn is might be a different issue.  However, if I want to make a blanket, chances are very good that I’ll be using worsted weight yarn so I’d size my hook based on that.





The blanket on the left is called Symphony in Red and I like it just the way it is.  The one on the right is called Harlequin and, while I’m not big on triangular motifs, I could see them being useful once in a while.  Different colors though - way different!





These are a bit of a puzzle :) The one on the left, called Two Tone clearly has at least three colors - red, purple and yellow.  The one on the right, called Sea Shell is made with a round-the-corner shell stitch - an interesting technique with a pretty result.  The colors aren’t anything like sea colors.  Unless you’re talking lobster...cooked :)

The other item I ran across is this:

This magazine was published for fall/winter 1979.  A little more recent than the blanket pamphlet, but still a while ago.  This happened to be focusing on ethnic (mostly far eastern) styles and has a lot of ideas I’m looking forward to exploiting :)
For example…





...I wouldn’t really want this crocheted tabard, but the longevity symbol on the back is very interesting.  When I first looked at the pattern, I searched for the chart - and of course there wasn’t one :) Charts typically didn’t accompany patterns in the late 70s.  But that’s fine - the directions are all written out and I can create my own chart from them easily enough.





This jacket is a crocheted raglan worked from the top down.  It wouldn’t need any changes at all - even in color - except for some creative fiddling for modern sizes.  The pattern is written for small/medium and medium/large.  Unfortunately there are no measurements included.  Anyone remember what medium was considered to be in 1979?  Heheh… But the pattern is simple enough and the embroidered motif on the back (and fronts too, if desired) are gorgeous and relatively easy.





All that really needs to be changed here are the colors (in my opinion, of course).  The slit sides and the bell sleeves are perfectly consistent with current fashion.  This is knit in mohair on size 8 needles and again, some creative fooling around would be necessary to fit the garment properly.  While gauge is given here, the pattern is presented for sizes 10, 12 and 14.  Not only does that leave smaller and larger women out, I can guarantee you that those sizes, in 1979, bear little resemblance to those sizes today :) But the pattern is relatively simple and shouldn’t be too difficult to size up or down as needed.





Again, what snagged my eye was the Yin Yang symbol and that’s probably what I’ll take from this pattern.  It will have to be charted, but that’s fine.

And now I’m going to have a closer look-through on these two lucky finds :) There’s a piece about a salt sculpture and I want to see what that’s about!

I was trying to work the last six rows of the pattern for the lace scarf.  It should have been very easy because the three pattern rows are identical and the other three are plain purl-back rows. 

Somehow I lost a stitch.  The most common reason for me losing a stitch is that I forget a yarnover - not tragic and generally fixable without too much fuss.  This time it was different.  I must have knit those 6 rows a dozen times trying to locate and fix the problem and I was still winding up with 30 stitches instead of 31.  On one particularly frustrating iteration, I ended with 32 stitches!

Sometimes it’s a good thing when a person doesn’t have any hair to tear out :)

Finally I gave up trying to fix the problem, ripped until the count was right, and the picked it up from there.  That did the trick but by the time I had finally finished that pattern repeat, I’d about had it with the scarf for a while :) And yes, I know about life-lines but honestly, would you bother for a 41-stitch-wide lace scarf?

I’ll be picking up the scarf again today though.  The colors are shifting nicely and it’s really something to see as they drift gently from one side to the other.  I’m thinking about dyeing another hank of fingering weight in a similar fashion only using cool colors this time and seeing how that works out.  Tea (plain, old black tea) makes a nice brownish drabber for warm colors.  Now I have to find a nice greyish drabber for cool colors!

Seems like allergies have been especially annoying; Myria and I have both had a hard time with them this summer and the last couple of weeks have been really bad.  Itchy, red eyes, congestion and sneezing!  My god! - do you know what happens when you’re trying to get a cup of coffee from the kitchen to the living room and your hit with a sudden bout (and they’re all sudden!) of allergy sneezing?  Mocha colored wallpaper - that’s what happens.  And sometimes damp, angry cats :)

We were talking about Ravelry Saturday evening in Chatters.  I signed up kind of late and am still only 4358th in line.  Reviews have been sort of mixed and there have been reports of increased spam since joining the group.  I’m curious, of course, but I really don’t know what to make of it.  Ravelry, that is.  I do know what to make of increased spamage - I’m agin’ it :)

Bring your knitting!

I dyed a hank of the fingering weight yarn thinking I could use it as a really, really good test for whatever future shawl design decides to present itself.  Two things put paid to that idea.  First, the colors came out more intensely than I had thought they would; half the amount of dye would have been enough :) Second, I discovered that the yarn is rather rough feeling, coarser than I had imagined since I had thought it was the same basic fiber as the wool for the Entrelac shawl.

Oddly, I wanted to try lace with this.  The reason it’s odd is that it violates one of my personal basic rules: a busy yarn coupled with a busy pattern will cancel each other out and neither will show to advantage.  But, while I knew there would be no shawl in this yarn’s future, I couldn’t shake the idea of lace of some sort.

I had been studying A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swanson and Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle looking at stitch patterns and combinations of patterns.  My eye lingered over Oberle’s Kimono Shawl but it wasn’t until I read this post over at The Panopticon that I started thinking about it seriously.

This is, I suppose, more of a Kimono scarf as it incorporates all of the details of the original shawl, including the garter stitch border, just on a smaller scale.  I had liked the design of the lace pattern and decided to see what it would do with my variegated yarn and size 7 US (4.5 mm) needles :)

I am both surprised and pleased with what seems to be happening.  I assume it’s due mostly to the fact that the colors are long strips - not self-striping long (though I want to try that some time too!), but not little blips either.  What’s coming off the needles makes me think of brocade, tapestry and I do not find it confusing to the eye.

The process for the dyeing of the yarn can be found in the Bombay post over at The Dye Pot

I am planning to carry on with the scarf.  To tell you the truth, I can hardly put it down for wanting to see how the colors will arrange themselves next.  It’s like watching a baby grow up (baby human, baby cat...whatever you’ve got).  You know what the potential and the possibilities are - but until you get there, you won’t know what you’ve really got :)

And just for a little Friday, gratuitous cuteness, my littlest ones…

Chatters is on for tomorrow evening - the doors open at 8:00 PM.  Drop by and say hello.

Have a great weekend!

Last week I had one of those in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time experiences.  I was wandering around a thrift shop when I saw this peeping out of a basket on a table…

The color was spectacular but I couldn’t tell what the fiber was (well, actually, my fingers were giving me a clue) because the label was all Italian.  But as I stood there, looking at this yarn, I remembered something.  That word - seta - I’d run into that before!  Madil Kid Seta - 70% kid mohair and 30%...silk!

Silk?  Really?

There were six balls of this in the basket and I grabbed all of them.  And just because the universe was in a puckish frame of mind that day, I ran across another ball that someone had carted back to and abandoned in bric-a-brac :)

When I got it home, of course, the first thing I did was to go look up the Italian word for silk.  This translator confirmed my suspicions (and is a pretty good general translator, if you need one).  It was silk - about 80 meters/ball, sport/DK weight.  I followed this up with a burn test which seemed to point to the same conclusion - I had acquired 7 balls of silk for less than the price of lunch at McDonald’s.  Yee-Hah!

No plans for use yet - but it should make a stunning scarf :)

I’m pondering using this…

...for the new shawl - not that I have a real plan for that yet :) I’m a little hesitant because this is quite a bit darker than I had anticipated.  However, there’s nothing to lose by trying it out and seeing what happens :) At worst I’ll have to buy and dye more wool…

Wouldn’t that be a shame?  Heheh…

I’ve been obsessing again - nothing new there :)

Saturday evening at Chatters, there was some discussion about how lace really, really needs to be blocked in order for the pattern to show properly.  I am, at best, a haphazard blocker - partly due to space restrictions and so have been less than bowled over by some of the patterns I’ve been trying.  However, the conversation lingered in my pea-brain long enough for me to actually apply the information…

You seen this stitch pattern before; it’s one of my favorites and I used it in the Seaweed and Shells scarf and again in the Lace Blanket.  It’s called Staggered Fern.  Most of the instructions for this call for two purled stitches on either side of the main design.  I eliminated them in the making of this swatch in the interest of keeping the blocks a manageable size - but I don’t think it works.  The sides of the blocks wave slightly and the purled borders (when included) both frame the waves nicely and give a straighter edge to the side of the piece.  So this will get a rework…

As you can see, this is being blocked - though it was still damp this morning which is why it’s still nailed to the towel :) And they were right - all those good people who told me what a difference it would make.  When this came off the needles, it looked (in shape only!) like the cheeseburger wrapper one throws away at a fast food restaurant after having crumpled it up in one’s hot little fist.  But afterwards…

There’s been other lace play too, as I try to figure out where I’m going next.  Staggered Fern is an all-time favorite, but there are other patterns too, such as…

The question remains - what do I want to do with this?  Another triangular entrelac - with real lace this time?  A generously proportioned stole?  Something top down?

All the patterns and possibilities are jumping up and down in my head clamoring for attention and I’m only beginning to get them sorted out.  I know for sure that I’ll be using fingering weight yarn (nope - not brave enough for lace weight just yet) and size 6 US, 4.25 mm (the small swatches) or 7 US, 4.5 mm (the entrelac swatch) needles.  I don’t even have any idea about color(s) yet, though gentle golds keep floating through my mind and I keep thinking about the Citrine Curry that I dyed last year.  I love that yarn and while I’m a bit apprehensive about trying to re-create it, I think I can get into the ballpark :)

Goldie wants to know why breakfast ( it must be breakfast - it’s on the floor, right?) smells so funny…