Crocheted Scarf & Japanese Knitting

The crocheted scarf is done. Here are the specs:

Pattern:

Garden Scarf by Michelle Ameron from The Happy Hooker.

Yarn:

Cascade 220 [100% wool],
colors: purple (7811), green (2445), mustard yellow (4010)

Hook:

H/8 (5.0mm)

Gauge:

I have no idea

Size:

I made 19 flowers, each about 3.5" in diameter. The pattern said to make 14 4.5" diam flowers, but mine were much smaller so I had to make more.

Comments:

This was my first crochet project (not counting the ugly dishcloth). I enjoyed making the flowers at first, but then I stopped looking at the directions as much and immediately got into trouble. Since there are two types of flowers that are made differently, I kept losing track of whether I was doing 2 dc or a dc, tr, dc in the petal area. I found that switching to assembly-line style and making all of one type of flower first and then all of the other type, helped it go quicker with less confusion. Then I did the joining parts at the end. And what a drag it was sewing in all those ends. But, I do think that weaving in ends is easier in crochet than knitting. At least you have a thicker fabric in which to hide to the yarn.

Oh, and I think there's an error in this pattern. I looked in the errata online and it wasn't there though. The written-out directions for the joining round of Flower C are missing two instances of (sc, hdc) that are shown in the chart for the flower. I went with the chart, because it was consistent with the rest of the flower.

This scarf has been adopted by Daughter#1, shown here grudgingly modeling it. She looks a little annoyed, huh? The lighting came out very odd here. I guess the sunlight was only hitting the top part of the wall and made it look like a different color. Weird.

Now, I know several of you have been patiently awaiting a report of my trip to WEBS. Sorry I have been so pokey about posting about it, I've just really been dragging lately. Anyway, your wait is over. Here are the details.

On Saturday, I attended a class called Japanese Knitting Techniques, which was taught by Maureen Mason-Jamieson. This was a great class in which I learned about the following:

• Japanese Short Rows
• Japanese Three-Needle Bind Off
• Picking up Stitches for a Cardigan Band (basically details on how to make this neater)
• Japanese Short Row Buttonholes
• Tubular Bind Off

Apparently, a lot of Japanese techniques are done to mimic the look of machine knitting, which is interesting considering that machine knitting was originally invented to replicate hand knitting. Of the techniques we covered, the first is definitely the most useful to me personally. The other topics are more for specialized situations. Over the coming days, I think I will post more information about some of these topics, as I ponder them more fully.

The first topic I will discuss will be the Japanese short rows. I have compared the method we learned with some of the 'Japanese' methods I have found online and in books, and it appears that what we learned was similar but slightly different from those methods. In order to understand the differences between these methods better, I have started diagramming them to show the path of the yarn in each case. I intend to diagram every method of making short rows that I can find. (Did I mention that I'm anal?) So far I have found:

• 2 variations of 'Japanese' short rows
• 2 variations of yarn-over short rows
• 2 variations of wrapped short rows
• and one other weird thing called Knit Encroachment

I have already diagrammed the Japanese methods and the wrapped methods. However, I still need to clean them up so I think I will post them tomorrow (hopefully). Then I will cover the yarn-over methods and the weird thing.

I liked the Japanese Knitting class so much I stayed overnight at my inlaws (who live nearby) and went to Maureen's class the next day called No More Ugly Sweaters. That was a good refresher on basic color theory, plus some interesting tips like using warm colors to draw the eye to areas you want (i.e., don't put a splash of yellow at your hips). I also learned that 'designers' cut out sections of Noro and put them where they want them. This makes me think about how I could be making Lady Eleanor better...but I'm trying not to go there because then I'll obsess about where to put every color and never finish the damn thing.

Oh, by the way, Daughter#1 has just posted some more entries to her blog, Snozberry Knits. Go check it out and give her some encouragement.

P.S. Don't you just love the way Robot Lady says 'crocheted'? Makes me laugh every time. If you don't know what I'm talking about click on the 'read this post to you' link at the top of a recent post (you'll only see this if you're reading the post on the blog, not via Bloglines).