Where Have I Been?

So, inquiring readers want to know -- how have I been spending my leisure time lately since I clearly have not been blogging? Well, on a whim I signed up to be a volunteer proofreader at Project Gutenberg and the time just flew by. It's actually kind of addicting. That's the project where they are converting old books with expired copyrights into eBooks you can download. So you can read Shakespeare (or some obscure history books) online for free. Worthwhile use of my time? Hmmm.... Well, I think so. Information for the Masses, that's my motto.

I know you're all waiting for the pictures of my finished Lady E. Well, sorry. Still haven't blocked it. I know -- I'm a Slowski.

Instead I finished some Red Sox socks for Uncool Guy. These are the second pair of Red Sox themed socks I've made for him (you can see the first pair in my gallery). Those were on US 0's and took forever. These were on US 4's with worsted weight yarn and were quick, quick, quick. Here are the specs:

Pattern:

My own

Yarn:

Accessories Unlimited Yarn for Sox [80% wool, 20% nylon],
color: Red Mix (just slightly over 1 skein), and Ecru (about 1/4 of a skein?)

Needles:

US 4 circs

Gauge:

5.25 sts and 7.75 rows = 1"

Size:

Sized to fit a man's size 8.5 feet

Comments:

This yarn is a little rough, but I think it will soften up with washing. I bought this yarn a year or two ago because it was the only worsted weight yarn made specifically for socks that I had seen. It certainly makes thick socks (which I've made just in time for spring -- sigh).
I really like this heathery red color. It's much darker in person than it appears in the online picture at WEBS.

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I've also been playing around with crochet some more. I tried making one of the dishcloths at Crochet Pattern Central (thanks for the link, Auntie Amanda). I think it was this one. However, I kept coming out with the wrong nbr of stitches. I decided to take a step back and just try some of the stitch patterns out of the Happy Hooker book where they are described in detail for beginners. I made another dishcloth out of the V-stitch pattern using some more kitchen cotton (no picture). That came out well, so I decided to do another with a finer cotton as a facecloth. Here's a closeup:

V-Stitch Pattern in Crochet

This was made with Mandarin Petit cotton yarn using a F/5 (3.75mm) crochet hook. I really like this yarn for knitted facecloths, but it doesn't seem work as well for crochet. It splits like crazy with crochet (not with knitting) so I had to use a pattern in which you mostly crochet into a space (not a stitch).

I think I now prefer crocheted dishcloths to knitted ones; the crocheted texture provides better "scrubbing action". However, when it comes to facecloths, I prefer a softer knitted texture. Here are some of my favorites that I made using the same cotton yarn. And, because I'm a geek who loves to chart things, I have worked out charts for both of these stitch pattern and have shared them with you below. Enjoy.

Bee Stitch

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Double Brioche Stitch
(aka Double English Brioche or Three Dimensional Honeycomb)

Notes for Double Brioche Stitch:

Start with pattern with an EVEN nbr of stitches, plus 2 edge stitches. Each set of 2 sts (other than the edge sts) will be increased to 3 during the two setup rows.

This stitch pattern does not need to be done with edge stitches, but I think they make the pattern easier to knit, because you don't have to worry about yarn-overs at the beginning/end of a row. Also, I think the edges actually look better with the edge stitches.

When you go to bind off this stitch pattern, just knit together each yarnover with the next stitch (so you end up with as many stitches as you started with).

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).

New, Improved Persnicketiness -- Now With Crochet, Too

Crochet News

OK, here's what I'm sure you were all waiting for with bated breath -- my first crocheted item. It's a lovely dishcloth:

Ooooh, aaaah. Look at that nasty pastel-colored kitchen cotton. I don't know how that got in my stash. Not my colors at all. Well, it's used up now, and that's a good thing.

In typical "first finished item" form, this dishcloth is not without several mistakes. I somehow lost a stitch going from single crochet to double crochet, and then I lost another when switching back to single crochet at the end. Oh well, I tried it again and I think I've figured out my mistake. I'm slowly getting the hang of differentiating and counting the crochet stitches, which mostly just look like a bunch of knots to me.

Now that the obligatory ugly dishcloth has been completed, I can move on to bigger and better things. Like this:

It's the Garden Scarf by Michelle Ameron from The Happy Hooker. I'm using Cascade 220 from my stash. Not sure what I'm going to do with this, since I don't wear flowery things, but it looked like fun to make. I'm sure I'll find someone to dump it on.

I like making the flowers, but joining them with the inserting-the-hook-around-the-post thing is a little awkward for me. It took me many, many attempts to even figure out the directions. I think I get it now, although it's kind of lumpier than I would like.

Here's the photo in the book of the scarf. Mine's coming out much smaller, which is fine with me since these flowers are kind of giganto.

I think The Happy Hooker is a great book for learning crochet. Debbie Stoller describes several ways to do various things (hold your yarn, crochet into the chain, etc. - I'm not really up with the crochet lingo yet), all in a very conversational tone with her personal recommendations. I like it. The drawings could maybe be a touch better, but they get the idea across well enough. They are certainly better than the ones in some craptastic old Teach Yourself Crochet book I just found in my bookcase. The Happy Hooker has by far the better instructions -- they are much more complete.

Since I'm now a newbie crocheter, I've started listening to Crochet Cast. There are only 2 episodes so far, but I think it shows a lot of promise. I've also found some interesting crochet links, like Crochet Me, an online magazine which has some interesting patterns and tutorials.

Don't worry, I'm not going to get all crochet on your butt and turn this blog into the Persnickety Crocheter or anything like that. Just bear with my sudden infatuation, will you? You know it probably won't last long. ;)

Knitting News

I'm still working on the Lady E stole. Progress has been slowed (but not halted) by the sudden impulse to learn crochet. I got some great tips from Anne of Knitspot on how to overdye the lavender bits. I think I will finish the stole and live with it for a while before I decide whether to take that drastic step though.

Speaking of Anne, she has contributed an audio essay to The Mosh Knit podcast. It's in the latest episode (#4). Go check it out. Her essay is about the definitition of "subversive knitting" and what it means to her. I needed to listen a couple times to thoroughly absorb all of her points, but I think it's very thought-provoking. It's got me pondering about what subversive knitting really means to me -- hmmmm.

Well, I'm off to a Japanese Knitting Techniques class at WEBS tomorrow. Oops, I just realized I haven't yet done my homework for the class. Might have to do that during the two-hour drive to WEBS. Don't worry, I won't be the one driving ;)

Lose the Lavender

I'm about 6.5 balls into my Lady Eleanor stole and I figured it's about time for another progress shot. So here it is.

This thing seems to be taking forever -- I feel like I'm knitting a blanket, not a stole. I'm still enjoying making it; I'm just itching to finish.

I'm not so sure about the lavender-ish sections of this yarn though (Noro Silk Garden #217). I think they stand out a bit too much. In fact, now that I've said that, it's all I can see when I look at this picture.

If I ever use this colorway again I might snip out those sections of the yarn, because I love the rest of the colors here. I wish I could replace that lavender with a dark green. I'm still pleased with the color overall I guess, just less ecstatically so. Ah, but that feeling never does last long, does it?

In Other News

So, I've been reading for a while now how crochet is the new knitting. Not being a crocheter, I've been all like, "whatever." But today, ummmmmmmmm..., I think I got sucked in.

I was just browsing in my local bookstore, waiting for my daughters to get out of their art class and minding my own business, not anywhere NEAR the craft book section (oh, I had already been there of course), when all of a sudden I saw it. The new book by Debbie Stoller. [I'd mention the name, but I really don't want to think about the Google hits I would get.]

I only opened it out of idle curiosity. I have her Knitter's Handbook and it has some interesting things in it, so I thought I'd give this new book a quick look. I was just flipping through the pages, thinking to myself that I really should learn crochet some day, when I stumbled upon this:

Oh my god, these are the cutest bunny slippers ever! And if that isn't cute enough, here they are in pink.

Needless to say, I bought the book. I just couldn't resist. I am weak.

Daughter#1 now wants to learn to crochet too, so we will be learning together (which could be fun, ... or not, depending on the frustration level). I think we'll start with crocheted cotton dishcloths, because, you know, that old one could stand to be replaced.