Knitter School: Diagonal Moss Stripe and... TIPS FOR NEWBS!

Forgive the terrible photography on this one - I think it's a combination of pinning the swatch out too tightly and the glare from my desklamp, and it turned out rather crappily, not showing off the stitch pattern to the best advantage.

It seems like January, in the Vogue Knitting calendar at least, is the month of diagonals (though in the February patterns there's a rather nice Parquet pattern that also relies heavily on diagonal shapes). I have charted this one, and will have the chart up soon.

I was thinking about what, other than photographs of swatches and slightly dodgy knitting charts, I could offer the knit-o-sphere. I check in with quite a few blogs (the list is to your right) and am always struck with the marvelous quality - and sheer quantity - of WIPs and FOs cranked out by some of the internet's most talented knitters, some of whom are also published authors (the Yarn Harlot has six books, two of which are on my knitting shelf - and Cosmic Pluto has a great book on sock knitting, to name two examples). I read these blogs and I feel, still, like a brand-new knitter (even though I know that I've amassed skills and knowledge that would have struck fear into the heart of actual brand-new knitter-me, back in the day). So, not only to reflect on what I do know, but to share with newbie knitters throughout the internet, I present...

I am not, nor am I sure I will ever be, a Master Knitter. I haven't joined a guild and have yet to attend the local Stitch N' Bitch group due to work hours and social shyness. I still tear my hair out from time to time over concepts and skill-sets that I feel I should know by now. But, with a growing library of knitting books and the internet at my disposal, I have learned a few things. Some were through trial and error; some were through constant repetition. Some things, you do a couple of times and suddenly it makes sense and everything is just gravy. (Other things you can try time and time again and feel like you might end up in a padded cell because it's just not going right, ever.) Some of the tips I'll impart might sound incredibly obvious, but maybe others could be the lightbulb moment you're looking for. It's not going to be in any particular order of importance; I haven't really thought out a game plan for these posts beyond scribbling a couple of ideas in my work book. So, without further ado, Tips for Newbs #1:

Take a step back from the Fun-Fur.

Novelty yarns are seductive. They have amazing texture, a visually dynamic appearance, and seem deceptively easy to use - it's just a little eyelash fringe... what's the harm, right?

The harm is, when you're a newbie - like brand-new, a just-born knitter - sometimes you can't tell knit from purl yet. Believe me when I tell you that although cute, fluffy yarns will hide a multitude of stitch definition sins, it will make it hard to see where you've gone astray... and don't even think of picking up a dropped stitch, friend - it's not gonna happen! Going wrong when you're a brand-new knitter can be discouraging at the best of times - when it's combined with a yarn that feels like a shag carpet or a thousand lashes of glitter in it, the discouraging feelings could urge you to quit. And you don't want to quit knitting! It's awesome!

I won't tell you not to buy a novelty yarn, ever (some ribbon yarns are quite interesting and don't bring on knitterly heartbreak), or to wait until you've knit a thousand swatches in some kind of matronly, sensible yarn - I just want you to benefit from the wasted hours and regretful tears of my dalliance with fun fur when I was just a wee novice. I still have a couple balls of that bastardly eyelash crap somewhere in my stash.

I will note that, when held double with a smooth yarn, eyelash/fun fur can make an interesting trim on a hat or some other accent piece (and it will be much, much easier to see where you've gone wrong), but by and large, it's just asking for trouble (and if you're thinking of making a cardigan out of it, just go and give yourself a time-out right now... I'll be waiting for you to get back). If you've ever tried to de-tangle a ball of wool and found yourself thrashing around, wailing about the injustice of knots (ahem), it's only about a thousand times worse to try and figure out how to un-knot eyelash yarn.

Join me next time for an important lesson about long-tail cast-on!

Knitter School: Diagonal Eyelet Inserts & More

I seem to be falling behind on my projected ability to catch up on my stitch-patterns-o'-the-day... but I am going to try. Oh lord, am I ever going to try. I've never attempted a project of this magnitude - and at the start, I didn't really see the magnitude. Until I realised it was a whole swatch of a new pattern every day, and I had half a month to catch up on. Make that 2/3 of a month now, plus February! I've already started on the February swatches... might be a while before I can post any, ha.

Anyway, this one is "Diagonal Eyelet Inserts"... it's not very difficult, and produces a nice effect. It makes me think of peas in a pod (especially in this colour). It might make a nice panel for the front of a cardigan, or, spaced more closely together, a nice stitch for a scarf. I didn't chart this one, but I did for the next one, "Diagonal Eyelet Mosaic", which is considerably more complicated:

It's not really that hard, but it takes some concentration. I knew that, for me, following the written instructions was going to be fruitless, so I went ahead and did a chart before I even began. I've included it at the end. There is a knit stitch on each side, with the repeats in between.

In other news, I finally registered a domain, sleepknitting.com. It redirects here and makes for a much neater URL presentation on my brand-new business cards! They have been ordered, and should be delivered in the next three weeks. I can't wait! I've been writing the address for my Etsy store on slips of paper when people ask about it (I did make a flyer to put up on the pinboard at my 'day job'), but a business card is much zazzier and convenient. I'm quite excited :)

Also, I've stocked up on more Kool-Aid - and I found lemon-lime! - so expect more nerdy dyeing posts in the future!

(Click to enlarge chart, enjoy!)

Knitter School: Chevron Panels & Beyond!

I'm not quite caught up on the month's VK stitch-patterns-of-the-day, but I endeavour! I've decided to start knitting the day's pattern and then work on the back catalogue when I've got time. Here's a few of the ones I've done lately, plus a bonus chart.

First, for the 4th, "Chevron Panels". It was a little tricky at first, but by the seventh repeat I was actually able to knit the pattern without looking at the instructions (once I could tell where to knit the knits and purl the purls on the WS, it was a lot easier). I tried this one in some Nature Spun wool (colour: bamboo).

For the 5th, the pattern was "Chevron Rib" (lots of chevrons going on). This one is nice because it's effectively reversible - it's nigh impossible to tell which is the right or wrong side if you're not in the know!

And the 6th was a diagonal basketweave, which I really liked. I found the written instructions hard to follow, so after a while I did a chart for it, and it was much easier - visually - to make sense of how the pattern works. I've included another lo-fi chart (on paper, photographed instead of scanned)... chart begins on the RS with row one. Dots are purls on the RS, knits on the WS, and, as I like to do, the rest of the stitches were coloured in magenta to make for easier reading. Enjoy!

Knitter School: "Anemone"

The pattern for the 2nd & 3rd of January is "Anemone". While my swatch doesn't quite show off the scalloped, tentacle-y quality embodied on the calendar page, it was kind of exciting tackling something that at first seemed kind of intimidating. It requires a multiple of four stitches plus two, and it's basically four rows of garter then two rows that make up the "anemone" - k1, *k1 wrapping yarn around needle twice*, rep. to last st, k1. On the next row, you slip four stitches to the right needle, slipping off the extra wrap (it doesn't drop through the knitting, rather it makes the stitch much bigger), slip those stitches back to the left hand needle, then k4tog, and without slipping the stitches off the needle, p1, k1, p1 into those four stitches again. When all is said and done the stitch count should remain the same, but you end up with a quasi-eyelet and the wrapping effect. It's quite neat. I can't think of any practical application for it personally, but it's always nice to jump a hurdle: the fear of faffing up your knitting when you try something new, only to realise that it did, after all, work the way it was supposed to!

In other news, I've been working on another Laila scarf for the store (this one in a stony charcoal grey) and finished a version of "Miss Urchin" in cotton. Am I the only one that seems to generate mounds of fuzzies when working with cotton? It was pilling so much that I was afraid by the time I was finished there'd be no hat, only a pile of cotton fuzz. Fortunately, the hat made it through the knitting process and is ready for shipment/pick up by its new owner :)

I'm also learning some very exciting things about cables. Stay tuned for nerdy excitement!

Knitter School: Vogue Stitchionary Calendar

When the calenders went on 50%-off clearance at work, I got about three for the walls but passed over the page-a-day desk sort: I never use them as they are intended, which is to actually strip off the day past and throw it out as the week progresses. I've had the Knitting-Pattern-A-Day Calendar in the past, and while I love the idea and have made use of some patterns, this was during the dark ages when my desk was upstairs and rarely used. I'd go upstairs in October and realise my calender was still in February! So I didn't get that one this year. However, as the calendars thinned out on the shelves, I found one I hadn't noticed before: The VogueKnitting Stitch-a-Day calendar.

I don't own any Vogue Stitionaries (yet!), but - despite a lack of charting in their books - have always admired the clear layout, photos, and variety of stitch patterns they offer. I also like that they offer a Stitch of the Day on their website (link goes to their complete online stitchionary). So, with the discounted price, I bought the calendar. As I was going about my business this morning, putting the calendar up and looking through the stitches I've missed for the first 22 days of the year, I decided on a small challenge for myself. To broaden my horizons, I'm going to try knitting each day's sample pattern - to learn a new stitch, a new technique, and get out of the rut of relying on a few standard stitch patterns that are easy to memorise.

Today's stitch pattern is "Alternating Diagonals":

Since my go-to practice yarn is an acrylic (it's nice acrylic - very soft, very vibrant, but nonetheless, not wool), I had to pin it out to show the shape, but there it is. I also charted it for my own amusement (I am wont to do these things) and, lo though I tried to manipulate an image-makin' software to do my bidding, I ultimately failed... so I bring to you a digital photo of my hand-written chart. It reads right to left, and I left out the WS rows as you simply knit the knits and purl the purls. Dots on the right-side row indicate purls; I coloured in the knits with a magenta pencil to make visualisation easier for me. Enjoy the crappiness!