hey everybody,
Isn’t it fun to knit and crochet this time of year, with cooler temperatures and autumn colors inspiring all sorts of new ideas? There’s a pleasant balance of new projects and works in progress on the menu right now for me, with a nice variety of colors and techniques to choose from each day.
a possible new design using random feather and fan
Did anyone else make a swatch from the previous newsletter (issue 13) to try out the random feather and fan technique? Here’s mine, made in Secretos from Laneras Yarns:
You may notice that in addition to doing the random feather and fan, I also used some short rows. I’m thinking about a new design that will use the random feather and fan, but I’m still deliberating about whether or not to incorporate short rows. It’s a great effect, but it does add an extra layer of complexity for both knitting and pattern writing. Still thinking.
These gorgeous cakes of Dyed In The Wool from Spincycle in Shades Of Earth and The Family Jewels are on deck for the new design. I’m interested in how the cool and warm colors will interact with each other.
a setback in the River Run
The colors and textures are really making me happy in this project…….except for one.
It’s part of a skein of Feza Alp Dazzle, made up of varying lengths of yarn in coordinating colors with lots of variety in texture tied together with knots. Generally, I’m enjoying this yarn, but the combination of bright and super shiny in this particular length of yarn turns out to be more than I want in this project. I’d worked 8 - 10 inches beyond this point when I decided it really needed to go.
My approach was to surgically remove it without ripping back. The first step was to carefully snip the offending yarn every few inches on the first and last rows of its wedge. Then I picked those cut strands out of the knitted fabric one stitch at a time and slipped the resulting live stitches on to a spare knitting needle. It’s a tedious process. If you ever have to do it, it helps to work at a table rather than in your lap.
Next, I took a new yarn and knitted a new wedge using the stitches on the leftmost needle in the photo above.
Finally, the newly knitted stitches needed to be grafted to the remaining live stitches with Kitchener stitch.
There, all done. I’m much, much happier with this replacement wedge.
While this surgery wasn’t particularly fun to do, it wasn’t as miserable as I’d expected. It didn’t even take that long, only about an hour and a half.
travel knitting
This was a great little travel project! Julia and I both started one for our trip to New Mexico, knowing that we’d want something easy and repetitive to knit on for travel time in the air and downtime at the retreat. It’s the Colorwash Scarf by Kristen Kapur, found in Modern Daily Knitting’s Field Guide No. 3. Once I got into the rhythm of the beginning and ending of the rows for shaping, the pattern was easy to work without looking at the instructions. After getting back home, this became my couch project to knit on for tv watching after dinner. It’s dangerously close to being finished.
swatches and experiments/something to try
Recently I’ve been tempted to try some art weaving, and I most likely will rent a loom and give it a go at some point. An idea occurred to me, though, that I could try immediately (no loom required) using Tunisian Simple Stitch. The swatch below uses 3 different yarns in one-row stripes, which should really be described as “one-pass” stripes. Each row in Tunisian crochet feels like two rows: a forward pass, worked right to left, and a return pass, worked left to right.
So, the first yarn is used for the forward pass, then the second yarn is used for the return pass, resulting in the complete first row.
The next forward pass uses the third yarn, and the following return pass is made with the first yarn, resulting in the second complete row.
Make the third row using yarn #2 for the forward pass and yarn #3 for the return pass.
And so on.
This striping technique is a great way to mix up different yarns. It’s really fun to see how the fabric changes when one yarn is switched out for another. The fabric won’t be mistaken for actual weaving, but it does have a “weaverly” quality to it, reminding me a little bit of the inspiring art woven pieces I’ve seen recently in New Mexico.
If you’re interested in trying out a weaverly little swatch like this using Tunisian Simple Stitch, watch this video from Toni Lipsey Yarn Crafts to learn the stitch. Ms. Lipsey is a great teacher. She uses just one yarn in the video, but you can use three yarns as described above to highlight the woven look of this stitch.
a few more things you might like
Broadway enthusiasts may enjoy reading Finale, a book featuring author D. T. Max’s personal conversations with Stephen Sondheim.
Blanket makers, this quick video on flat seaming looks like a nifty way to join motifs from Hannah Martin.
I'm loving the textures and colors from this photo lifted from Facebook:
That’s it for today, thanks for reading!
Lisa