Well, I did get a little swatching done this weekend.  Sometimes just playing around with things helps get the juices flowing :)

In my mind I call this Staggered Seed though I’m sure it has another name.  All it is, is a row of seed stitch alternating with a purled row.  Over an uneven number of stitches:

Row 1: K1, *P1, K1; repeat from * to end.
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: P1, *K1, P1; repeat from * to end
Row 4: Purl

Repeat these four rows for pattern.

As this yarn is a bit heathery, it doesn’t show the pattern as well as could be but I think it’s fairly visible.  I like it quite a bit and it would be a great texture stitch, worked in a solid color.

Same swatch - back side.  I was surprised that the reverse side of the swatch was pretty interesting too - a really nubbly look like pebbles or small paving stones.  I don’t generally like that back sides of knitted fabrics and have always figured they’re the back side for a reason - as in they don’t look so hot!  But this one - I’d consider using this :) I also want to try the above stitch pattern knitting rows 2 and 4 rather than purling.





This is a mini-vine lace and I really like the look.  However, this swatch (all the swatches, as a matter of fact) was done with DK weight yarn on size 6 US (4mm) needles and I believe the pattern would have benefited from the use of larger pins - size 8 US (5mm), perhaps.

This pattern is very simple (multiple of 10 + 1):

Row 1: (wrong side) Purl.
Row 2: K2, *yo, K1, SSK, K2tog, K1, yo, k1; rep from *, end K1.
Row 3: Purl
Row 4: K1, * yo, K1, SSK, K2tog, K1, yo, k1; rep from *, end K2.

My only real problem with it is that I seem to be incapable of remembering which row I did last.  Because rows 2 and 4 are identical, except for the shift over of one stitch, I can’t remember which one I’m on or which one comes next!  You’d think this wouldn’t be a tough thing, wouldn’t you?  You’re forgetting that this is the girl who can’t count her toes and come up with the same answer twice :)

Then there are the increase swatches…

These were both done the same way:

Cast on 5 stitches.

Row 1: K1, inc, K1, inc, K1, inc, K1, inc, K1
Row 2: Purl

...and continued by increasing 4 stitches on every right side row:  one after the first stitch, one on either side of the center stitch, and one immediately preceding the last stitch.  On the bottom swatch (the smaller one) I used a YO (yarn over) for the increase.  You can’t make it out because the top has curled over, but this creates a row of eyelets along the top of the triangle which I find I don’t really like much.  I also don’t like the look of the eyelets on either side of the center stitch - they remind me too much of runs in stockings :( Maybe using 3 or 4 or 5 stitches (or maybe a small cable?) in the center rather than just one stitch would help alleviate that?

For the larger swatch, I used a backwards loop for the increase and am much happier with the look.  I also threw in a ridge of garter stitch just for fun, once in the middle of things and once just before I bound off which I think makes a very spiffy looking edge!  I’ll have to remember that :)

I have to say, while this exercise didn’t entirely clear up the creative log-jam in my brain, it did help and I will probably continue this for another day or so and see what happens.

Oh, and I finished the mitts - even added a contrast, crocheted trim just for giggles.  While I like the way it looks, I would probably just do the cast on and cast off rows in the contrast color the next time the notion strikes me :)

And that was my weekend :) How was yours?

I’ve been in the mood for shawl making forever but nothing has especially piqued my interest.  Lace knitting is, for the time being, shelved so the shawl would have to be of a heavier weight yarn.  Actually, that isn’t a problem as I have a couple of bags of sport/DK/light worsted that could be pressed into service. I also have a bag of sock/fingering weight yarn - but those colors are pretty uncoordinated and random so I don’t think I could use them together.

Anyway, I have the yarn - now all I need is a pattern that floats my boat or, failing that, an idea or two.  I’ve been all over the net looking at patterns and while some are fabulously lovely, nothing jumps up and down and yells Make Me Now!!.  So I’ve been looking through stitch patterns and trying to cudgel my brain into action :)

Even as I do this, I know that it never works.  I can’t beat myself into knitting anything.  Whatever I might wind up making will come of its own accord, unbidden - not because I attempted to force it out as though I were suffering from mental constipation.  But it’s hard to stop, you know?  You keep thinking that if maybe you just looked at the Knitting Stitch per Day calendar, or the New Knitting Stitch Library one more time, something (or a few assorted somethings) would fall into place and presto - there would be your next project!

Of course it’s not that simple - there’s still the math to do and the swatching.  You still have to decide how you’re going to work - top down triangle?  Center out square?  Rectangle?  And, at least in my case, you have to have at least one good attack of the panics over whether you’ve got enough yarn and whether the colors you’re about to wed really play as nicely together as you want them to.  Is the pale shade a little too pale - will it get washed out by the bright and the dark and just look bland?  Is the dark shade maybe not quite the match you’d hoped for?  Will it enhance the whole or just lay there, glowering sullenly at the rest of the work?

And of course I can spend days dithering about needle size :) For the yarn I’m looking at, a size 6 US (4 mm) would make a lovely fabric - but an 8 (5mm) or a 9 (5.5 mm) would make a much lacier item.  The yarn would go farther too so that would help to allay some of the nervousness about running out of yarn.  But if you make it lacy, especially at this gauge, it will definitely be about the look and not about the warmth.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that - but is that what you’re going for?

And while all this is going on, some other part of my brain is yelling, Ya wimp!  Sit down, shut up and get to work!

Please tell me I’m not the only one?

Thanks to all those who stopped by Chatters last night - what a nice time we had :)

Have a great weekend all; try not to let your potential knitting drive you crazy! 

I suppose I could show you all the things I’ve started and frogged in the last few days.  But it would be a picture of a pile of yarn - most of which you’ve seen before.  Trust me, you don’t want to see what they were before I frogged them - some things are just too horrifying!

I’ve had serious trouble getting motivated this week and have done very little actual knitting.  Lots of thinking - not much doing :)

For example, having found that my chunky wool chapeaux are sometimes a little too warm for indoors, I thought maybe a cotton hat would be just the ticket.  I have a hank of Cascade Sierra that would fit that bill nicely - even if it is white :) And just because it’s been fermenting in the stash for a very long time, I thought adding a little pastel eyelash (Muppet pelt anyone?) to the fold up would be fun.  So I cast on and started my ribbing only to discover, about three rounds in, that this would not only be big enough to go around my head, but my shoulders as well!

Sigh...frog…

And then there was what was going to be the great intarsia hat experiment!  A ball of purple, a ball of teal and a ball of fuchsia yarn, light worsted weight.  The band would be one color and the hat would alternate the other two colors.  You don’t even want to know what that looked like.  Eyelets are lovely when you plan them, but accidental holes never look like anything but...well...holes.

Froggety, frog, frog…

I still have to finish the sleeve on my sweater but somehow that seems terribly unappealing right now.  I want something new!  Fun!  Colorful!  Interesting!

I have startitis but nowhere to go with it… Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…

Welcome to Slump City - population - me!

Oh, it’ll get better; I know that :) I’ve been here before - we all have :)

It’s Lent (on the Christian calendar), and that means that these are available again - at least in New England.

These are Hot Cross Buns - can you get them in your part of the country/world?  They are little, sweet, spiced yeast and egg breads with raisins and candied fruit and an icing cross on the top.  I have loved these since I was a child.  They are traditional around here, but only available from Ash Wednesday until Easter.  Yummy :) Definitely not on my diet, but since I can only have them once a year, I am going to have them that once :)

We went and did a little shopping last night (hence the Hot Cross Buns) and I felt a bit more motivated when we got home, so there was this…

I’m using The Jade Sea for this and I suppose what got me started is the fact that I left my usual mitts in the car :) This is the same pattern as the Valentine Mitts except that cable crossings are staggered.  I needed another pair of mitts anyway :)

Valentine Mitts

My finished mitts are about 10” from top to bottom and should comfortably fit a hand with anywhere from a 6 to a 9.5” circumference (measurement taken around the palm, above the thumb).

Materials

150 grams of worsted/aran weight yarn in red (or whatever color your valentine cherishes)
Size 6 US (4 mm) double pointed needles (or two circulars or one long circular, depending on your preference for working in the round).
Cable needle
Tapestry needle for weaving in ends.

Gauge

About 5 sts/inch over stockinette

Terms

K - Knit
P - Purl
C4F - Place next two stitches on cable needle and hold to the back of the work.  Knit next two stitches from working needle; knit stitches from cable needle.
C4B - Place next two stitches on cable needle and hold to the front of the work.  Knit next two stitches from working needle; knit stitches from cable needle.
M1L - Make one left - With left needle tip, lift the running yarn between the needles from front to back.  Knit this stitch through the back.
M1R - Make one right - With left needle tip, lift the running yarn between the needles from back to front.  Knit this stitch through the front.

First Glove

Cast on 48 stitches.

Rounds 1-3:  *K4, P2; repeat from * around
Round 4:  *C4F, P2; repeat from * around
Rounds 5-9: Repeat Round 1.

Repeat Rounds 4 - 9 five more times so that you have a total of 6 whole cable units (not counting the half-unit at the bottom)

Work Round 4 one more time.

Gusset rounds

Round 1:  (K4, P2) 7 times, K1, M1R, K2, M1L, K1, P2.
Round 2:  (K4, P2) 7 times, K6, P2.

We’re commandeering one of the cables here to create the gusset for the mitt :) Continue working this way, increasing 2 stitches every other round for the gusset and maintaining the cable pattern over the rest of the mitt until you do a [(K4, P2) 7 times, K20, P2] round.

Next round:  Work your pattern round up to the gusset stitches, K2.  Bind off 16 stitches. K1, P2.

Join your work on the following round.

At this point you have a couple of options.  You can continue the cable pattern as established or you can switch over to K4, P2 ribbing.  Whichever you decide, work for another 1 1/2 inches (approximately) and then bind off in pattern.

Second Glove

Work exactly the same as the first except instead of working a C4F, work a C4B for all the cable crossings.  This is entirely optional, of course, but it suits my desire and love of mirror symmetry - so that’s the way I made these.

Wear in warmth and love :)

There’s snow on the ground and a chill in the air.
I tell you, my friends, it’s darned chilly out there!

But it’s warm here in Chatters - come join if you might.
With yarn in our hands we can chatter all night :)

First - apologies to those of you who may have had problems posting comments yesterday.  That situation has been remedied (that is, the symptoms have been treated!) and we’re working on a permanent cure :) One further addition to yesterday’s note:  Comments will now be turned off after a week.  I had been leaving them open for a month but the comment spam was making me nuts.

Second - cats are crazy - you ever notice that?  Goldie likes to lick things.  God knows what he’s looking for but he lick the handles of the TV cabinet, the cotton thermal blanket on the bed, the edges of the shelves in the bathroom.  His especial favorite is the kitchen table and chairs but I always stop him when I catch him at it because I worry that this isn’t good for him.

He followed me out to the kitchen last night and promptly started licking the table leg.
“Stop that!”, I said, nudging him away gently with my foot.
He jumped into Myria’s chair and began licking the back of it.  I nudged him off the chair and he went around to the other side of the table - where I couldn’t reach him easily - and started licking that leg :) He may be eccentric but he’s not stupid.

After faking him out with a treat, I hauled him into my lap for a small, utterly ineffective lecture.
“Look - you can’t keep doing this.  We’re going to wind up with bald furniture and you’re going to have a bad case of varnish-tummy!”
His response?
Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

We finally have some snow - and I mean more than a dusting!

For days now, I’ve been getting emergency notifications about the status of this storm, the likelihood of it hitting hard in this area and predictions of snowfall ranging from 8 to 24 inches.  Right now it’s not doing much of anything out there but we’re supposedly under a blizzard warning (I’m waiting for “the storm of the century") and we might get as much as 2” of snow per hour later this morning.

Really?  Tell it to Buffalo....

I have worked more on the sweater sleeve, but set it temporarily (very temporarily) aside to work on these:

Nothing terribly fancy, I guess, but cheerful and fun.  I do wish I had some idea of what this yarn was (no labels) because it’s very nice to knit with and even though it has many, many plies that are only loosely twisted, isn’t inclined to be splitty.  I grant you, the cables aren’t as sharp as they could be with a nice, crisp wool, but a soft cable for Valentine’s Day seems like exactly the way to go and I think they look nice in any case.  These will be for Myria.  I know she’s “seen” me working on them the last couple of evenings - but I don’t know if she’s noticed exactly what I’m doing - Heheh.... 

I hope you’re all having a pleasant and romantic Valentine’s day.  It’s only mid-February, so it’s not like snow is untimely and I have no idea why it seems funny to me for it to be snowing today.  But what the heck - the white sets off all those red hearts very nicely indeed :)