There are aliens hiding in my gallery...

After listing the Finished Object Gallery in my right sidebar as "under construction" for several months, I have finally gotten around to posting it. Yay!

Yeah, OK, it's not done. But I've posted all of the sweaters, some bags, and some scarves -- including the oh so very cool Alien Illusion Scarf that I made for Nephew#3. Go check it out in my lovely new Finished Object Gallery. Leave me a comment there and let me know what you think.

I've gotten some work done on the Forbes Forest Scarf lately. It's going to be for Uncool Guy. He says he really likes how it's coming along (bobbles and all).

This scarf pattern requires lots of switching from knitting to purling and vice versa. When knitting English style (yarn held in right hand), a whole extra step is required to move the yarn around the needle to the back or the front to knit or to purl. However, when knitting Continental style (yarn in left hand) you can just shift your finger to the back or the front to switch between knitting and purling. [It's sooo much faster to do ribbing that way]. So, I decided to do some time trials to see how much faster it would be to knit this scarf Continental style than English style. It's a little hard to compare because the center and edge cables have different repeats so it takes a while to get back to the exact same type of row. Also, the bobble rows really slow you down.

The one thing I still can't do Continental style is the big 'popcorn' bobble on this pattern. It starts with having you knit into the front, back, front, back, front of the same stitch (to create 5 sts out of 1). I find that impossible to do while holding the yarn ONLY in my left hand; holding it in my right I have much more leverage. I guess each style has its pros and cons.

Anyhow, in my time trials, I was averaging around 6 min 50 sec English style and 6 min 20 sec Continental style for a set of 2 rows that didn't contain a bobble. I thought there would be an even bigger difference, but I'm guessing I will get even faster with the Continental style if I practice it more. I'm fairly comfortable holding the yarn in my left hand, but not nearly as much as I am holding it in my right. I'm going to try to do the rest of the scarf Continental. I'll let you know if I get faster.