The long and short of it

Hey Kate!

So I finished the Fetching.


I love them. It's such a great pattern.


I also finally got around to weaving in the ends and washing my enormous crocheted Kimono shawl.


The pattern is from the 2006 Crochet Pattern a day calendar and I've forgotten what it is really called. It came out much better than I thought it would and I really like it. But it is HUGE.

Emme loves it too, but she doesn't want to pose. She just wants to walk around wearing it like a princess.


I'm currently working on that cute Japanese bag, a Bramble stitch neckerchief and an Amanda Hat, but I have no pics yet.

That's all I got!

Later,

Robin

My new cable kneedle

Hey Kate!

I've been eyeing the Harmony Cable Kneedles for some time, but now I'm taking them off my pretend Wish List (since Knit Picks doesn't have a real one) because I found the perfect ones in my crafting tool kit: crochet hooks.

Ok, there are probably thousands of knitters who have already figured this out, but I'm always late to the party. The problem with an extra DPN is that it is very susceptible to Emme's patented Grab and Run technique, leaving my stitches without a kneedle to hold on to. It's also really easy to have stitches slide off of it. My crochet hook/cable kneedle, however, has that thumb area that can keep stitches inbetween it and the hook. The hook part stops (or at least slows down) the Grab and Run. And it is very handy to have it nearby for drop stitch retrieval.

So, yay this will save me money right? Except that most of my crochet hooks are ugly. Way ugly. And this is just another excuse to replace them all with pretty ones. Some day.

Oh yeah, and Fetching is coming along slowly as you can see.

Later!

Robin

A change in tension

Hey Kate!

The gauge for the lovely Dragon Scale Mitts requires a swatch in the pattern stitch, so I decided to just knit away with the size 3 circular kneedles and the Blue Sky Alpaca Sport and hope for the best. Well, the best didn't happen. I always used to knit too tight before, but after switching to Continental knitting and after reading EZ's advice about not knitting tightly, I'm now knitting looser than normal gauge.

So down to size 2 I go. The problem is that I don't have size 2 circular kneedles and my size 2 DPNs are just too slippery with which to knit that lovely Alpaca. So I'm just going to have to get me some Harmony fixed circular kneedles in size 2. I know, it's a hardship.

In the meantime, I am knitting a pair of Fetching in Patons SWS. I'm not liking this yarn for the mitts so much, but I really just want to finish it and it's not too bad. I think I'm just spoiled by the Alpaca.


I'm using size 4 Harmony Options -- size 6 and 5 both were turning out too big. This seems to be just right, though it could be a little tight.

I know, I could just switch back to throwing... but, well I can't. Now that I have the hang of German/Continental knitting, it's all I want to do. I'll only throw when I've got a bunch of purls in a row. It's just faster and more natural for me.

That's all I got for now.

Later!

Robin