A Sheep In Wools' Clothing

Shetland Knitting Belt

Michele at Fiberphilia has fairly recently begun having yarn tastings on the last Thursday of the month.  I happened in on the day that in addition to the yarn tasting, she had Joyce Lovely demonstrate how to use a Shetland knitting belt.  Joyce lived in the Shetland Isles in the early 1960s when she was a newlywed bride of the local minister assigned there.  One of the ladies of her husband's  church taught her how to use a knitting belt.  Forty years later, Joyce returned, and was able to meet the same woman who'd taught her to use the knitting belt.  As you can see in this photo, her hands were flying so quickly that they and her knitting pins were a blur to the camera!  The belt is mostly covered by her right arm, but you can see the belt portion of it at her waist.  The pins are 16" double point needles.  Both of these tools are available through Meg Swansen at Schoolhouse Press .

Joyce shared her "pattern book" with us as well.  She said commercial pattern such as we have today were not available, so the women got a graph copy book.  Inside the front cover of Joyce's pattern book was her handwritten pattern, and on the pages within, were color patterns she'd kept in the book.  Inside the back cover, she had another pattern she'd written there.

I feel very fortunate to live where I do, and have wonderful shop owners around such as Amy of Spunky Eclectic  and Michele of Fiberphilia around to stimulate my fiber mind and creative drive, and stimulate the gray matter which drives the fingers and hands.... my humble thanks, ladies, and to the many others out there in our non-Muggle world!

Cat Bordhi Boggles the Mind - Again

Cat Bordhi is right up there along with EZ in her understanding of geometry and 3D architecture!  Her new book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters is an amazing bend of the mind in sock knitting!  She has stuff for toe up knitters, cuff down knitters, two on two knitters, Magic Loop or double points.  Customizing is there, too.

I decided to do her learning socks as baby socks for a set of twins coming to a couple with whom I work.... here is the first pair, depicting the center top of the foot increases instead of a traditional gusset.  Next up, the spiral increase version. 

Techniques Extravaganza Starting

I have been an uber bad blogger this year, and the first month is gone already!  Oh well.

I've been muddling around with little, quick gratification projects, and yearning for some good technique knitting - Fair Isle, Guernseys, Arans - Shetland wool - you know, the good stuff of old fashioned technical knitting.  So, I got some Shetland stimulation today at Fiberphilia and invested in some Shetland books.

That was while I was trying to get organized and put together the references and sources for all the techniques I hope to be teaching in a single sample sized sweater for a new class I am developing.  Back in the early to mid 90's, I attended Stitches West.  In one of my classes, I struck up a conversation with a woman who taught intermediate knitting using a 3 arm holed mini sweater as the class sample.  She was kind enough to share the outline of that course with me, and I have carried it from Montana to Utah, to Maryland and now Maine without ever teaching from that material.  It has been hibernating in the recesses of my mind, and since I started teaching knitting classes last year, this one has been taking form  (very slowly) in my mind.

I'll be covering (all in one sample garment) :  Provisional, I-cord and cabled cast ons, Entrelac with knitting back backwards, Fair Isle, lace, cables, knitting from charts, circular knitting adaptations, Bohus, buttonholes, after-thought pocket, Guernsey underarm gussets, shoulder straps, steeks, Intarsia, hemmed edges, applied I-cord edges, placket front neckline, Kitchener stitch, picking up from an invisible cast on, duplicate stitch, etc etc etc.  Michele, the owner of Fiberphilia, and I made up class kits of Shetland, Claudia handpaint (for the Entrelac section) and Peace Fleece sport weight.  The combinations are striking!

No photos tonight, but I will have some by next week when I start giving the class for the employees of Fiberphilia as my test students.....

New Knitting Class To Teach

No knitting going on here.  Don't know really why - just not focused right now.  I have new toys I should show you - like a 2 yard skein winder with a yardage counter I got from Amy and tempting lovely spinning fibers from her as well.  I should be casting on the shop sample for a sampler technique sweater for a class I am going to teach eventually.... but I haven't started it.  I do have the yarn, though - wonderful stuff from Fiberphilia like Shetland, Claudia handpaint and Peace Fleece that will go into the sampler.  I really do need to cast on!  The shop employees are going to be my test class, then I will teach it for the public.

Kille's Brother Alpha's Entrelac Stocking Finished!

DS$#1 (of 3) realized about eleven years ago that he was the only child in the family without a knit Christmas stocking from me.  His was crewel, as I originally was going to do each stocking in a different sort of needlework.  And so, he requested a knit stocking.

I started by teaching myself how to knit entrelac, but did not go so far as to research the proper ratio of straight knitting or rib to entrelac portion.  So, after my ribbed cuff on the stocking, the entrelac nicely bloomed out horizontally and looked totally bizarre. 

The start of the stocking got packed away as the family moved for me to do my second residency, and was out of view for some years as I did the residency and studied for my written and oral boards.  It came back to my attention and design intents after I moved to Maine.  This spring, I signed DD (#1 of 1) up for an entrelac class.  As my usual when I sign her up to learn something new, I signed up with her to challenge her to do it.  In the process, I learned something  - the ratio of straight knitting to entrelac, which was the missing piece for my DS #1's stocking.

At Fiber Frolic, I discovered Amy King of Spunky Eclectic and a wonderful colorway of hers, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.  I had her custom dye some in bulky, and the eleven year stocking is at last, as of tonight, complete!

Specifics:
Pattern:  my own, using entrelac, afterthought heel and applied I-cord
Yarn:  "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" and "Soylent Green" by Amy King of Spunky Eclectic
Needles:  Size 9 Knit Picks
Knitting time:  lost track, but done all this month

Ghost of Christmas Past, Cont'd

Progress continues on Kille's Brother Alpha's entrelac Christmas stocking.  It has been an interesting journey - first I taught myself how to do entrelac about 11 years ago to do this stocking.  This spring, I took an entrelac class with DD I thought to teach her how to do something new.  As things turn out, I think there was a deeper reason - I needed to know more about it to finish my Entrelac stocking design successfully.

I had one of those "the light turned on" moments Tuesday night while knitting on this stocking.  It finally hit me how one inserts a heel in an entrelac stocking.  I simply made end triangles, followed by the waste yarn where I intend to insert the heel, followed by beginning triangles to finish the rectangle that would normally have gone in that spot.  Then I continued circular entrelac.

Next up, toe decreases, after thought heel and applied I-cord edging and hanging loop.  I am working in green in those areas....
Yarn:  Spunky Eclectic "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" in bulky wool/alpaca
Pattern:  my own

Entrelac Everywhere Photos

As promised, here is a photo of three entrelac items in my recent entrelac tangent.  From the left,  an entrelac rectangle, from a thick and thin handspun, handdyed yarn in reds, purples, and oranges (RMD Designs bulky single, "Abiquiu Sunset").  I purchased it to fill out the spectrum from the piece in the middle.  That yarn I got as a Katrina fund raiser last fall on eBay.  I used it for an entrelac class I took to get my daughter exposed to entrelac.  I like the yarn so well I wanted to make it into a scarf.  I could not obtain any more of the yarn, so I searched the Internet for more thick and thin, deciding a different contrasting colorway would be a better selection than trying to match one.  My plan is to join the two in seaman's scarf fashion, with  black ribbing for the neck portion.  The third specimen is a Garterlac Washcloth from a freebie pattern on the Internet.  I used a variegated Sugar and Cream yarn.  While I can purl back backwards in regular entrelac, I gave up on knitting back backwards.

On the agenda for tonight is sewing and cutting (gasp) the steeks in the dog sweater - IF I can get my nerve up.  It's been over ten years since I've cut open a steek....

Entrelac Everywhere

I got the thick and thin yarn to make the other half of the entrelac seaman's scarf.  The first half colorway was green/blue/turquoise.  This second half is red/magenta/purple/orange.  I cast the second half on this morning while waiting for DD.  I am almost done with it.

Somewhere along the line in the past week, I stumbled on to the Garterlac Washcloth.  A cotton dishcloth or washcloth done in garter stitch entrelac.  I couldn't resist that one, as long as I am on an entrelac theme.  That is in variegated Sugar 'N Cream.  Warshrags are highly addicting, and the Internet is full of freebie patterns out there for adding interest and technique.  There is even a Yahoo group for a monthly dishcloth (actually two - one for solid yarns at the beginning of each month, and one for variegated yarns mid-month).  Damn those Mason-Dixon knitters for finding something else to get us addicted to!  LOL

And simmering in the recesses of my mind, there is an entrelac Christmas stocking budding.  As soon as I finish these quick diversions of entrelac, I will swatch that one to see what weight of yarn I want to use - fingering, worsted or bulky.  I have all three weights in the same colorway, but with hand dyeing differences, I prefer the color ratios in the fingering/sock weight the best.  We'll see.

Photos to follow soon.

Yes, ANOTHER FO!!! (sort of)

Yep.  The finishing binge continues.  I started an entrelac scarf this spring during a class.  It was one of the classes that I signed up for because I wanted DD (16 years old) to learn how to do entrelac.  So, I sign her up for the classes, and sign myself up to go with her so she'll do it.  I figure I have two more years before she leaves home to teach her all the essential techniques and make her unafraid to take on something new...

I chose to do the entrelac with a hand spun yarn I bought on eBay as a Katrina fundraiser.  My photography simply does not do this yarn justice - it is beautiful with greens, blues and turquoise.  The bursts of color are well suited for entrelac. 

As I worked on this this evening, I am going to be short by at least 50% of a good length scarf.  I considered frogging and making it narrower to get some extra length but then I had another idea to get around the problem.   So, I finished what I could, yarn permitting.  I am thinking that I'd like to find a similar thick/thin yarn in a different colorway - like maybe reds/purples/pinks/blues for the other half, and connect the two colorways with a section of ribbing, creating a unique fisherman type scarf.  I've sent an E-mail to the creator of this yarn to see if there is a possibility of getting some in a different colorway....

I have another idea in mind using the entrelac technique.  Spunky Eclectic is custom dyeing some bulky and some worsted weight yarns for the project.  Since it would be a surprise for one of my children, I shall not reveal anything more about it yet....

And so now, I will return to work on Cat's Cradle - the scarf I am knitting in Schaefer's Anne laceweight.  It is roughly 50% complete, and actually moves along nicely if I can sit down and concentrate on it.  Like most lace, it is not mindless knitting.

Entrelac

Years ago - it seems like another lifetime ago - I started to make an entrelac Christmas stocking for my eldest son.  I started out making Christmas stockings for my family, each with a different needle art.  The first was needlepoint.  The second was done in crewel.  By the time the second child was born, I was knitting.  So, naturally, his was knit.  The third child was to get a quilted stocking, centered around her namesakes' sewing basket lining which was red, green and white plaid silk.  Alas, I never found the namesake's scrap of sewing basket lining, so I make a Fair Isle stocking for her.  When No. 4 came along, I designed and knit his in a Nordic style.  By this time, No. 1 was feeling jealous that he didn't have a knit stocking.  Thus was born the concept of an entrelac stocking for him.

So, about  eleven or so years ago, I began to design an entrelac stocking.  And I learned the hard way about the biasing of the entrelac region vs. the ribbing I had used for the top of the leg.  I had no idea the proper ratio there, and so was displeased with the ballooning in the entrelac area compared to the ribbing.  About that time, came an era in my life where knitting got set aside, and my fledgling designing was put away.

So, when the opportunity to take an entrelac class at the LYS came along recently, I signed DD up for it, and took it with her. My class piece is the one above.  DD took off with it after a couple of frustrating moments.  I don't know that she loves the technique, but she certainly now knows how to do it, and can go to town with entrelac instructions.  It is my goal by the time she leaves home in a couple of years, that she will have at least a bit of experience in all the major techniques in knitting - color work, entrelac, lace, socks, cables/traveling stitches, etc.  I mostly taught myself, using Knitter's magazine's early issues and books, since I didn't have any knitting mentors around to assist my learning process.  At least DD has grown up with Knitting in the home, and is taking advantage of that!

My sample is knit on Size 8 needles, using some yarn I won on an eBay auction benefiting Katrina victims last fall.  It is handspun, handdyed Corriedale from Aspen Moon Fiber Arts (I think).  It has a lovely hand, and much more variation in color than I have been able to capture by camera.  Having fun - maybe DS will get his stocking finally.  After all, he is only 25 this fall!