Blocking Tip

Warning:  not every project is appropriate for this technique.  Think before you block.

That final shawl for 2015 donating was giving me blocking fits.  Actually the issue was drying - or rather not drying on the time schedule I needed.  Yes, the knitting should not have been put off until the last minutes.  Lesson learned.

The drying issue was of my own making.  I picked up the "fold in half" tip from my daughter and lined every thing up.  The top garter edge wanted to be put on a blocking wire for straightness.  The bottom edge - the one with the mitered garter triangles was playing nice and behaving properly.  One wire plus some patting and mushing (technical blocking term) and I turned my back on the thing planning on just an hour of drying time. 

Guess what happens when you put wet wool - even superwash wool - on a towel that wicks away some of the water and then holds it nice and cool and wet?  Wet towel under two layers of damp wool does not dry as fast as you expect. 

NOTE:  Watched wet wool never dries. 

Remember that part about the bottom edge playing nice?  Well, it finally hit my thinking brain cell that I could suspend the wire across the knobs of an upper cabinet and let both sides dry.

Lickety split air drying.  No wonder my mother hung all the laundry out on a clothes line to dry.

Everything old is new again.

Mixing It Up Again

Knit stitches and crochet stitches together in the same piece!  Yippie.  I love mixing up stitches and playing with gauge.

Especially when a contrasting color crocheted slip stitch seam is worked on the public side.  And maybe a little addition to the hem.

This seam work and asymmetrical hem belong to a simple pullover that will function as my weekend wear.

This is Malabrigo Rios.  The superwash wool will make for easy care.  Color scheme is black, coco and teal feather.  

Oh, happy day.

Determined to Finish

Months ago, whilst on summer vacation, these mitered triangles were worked.  The yarn does all the work of changing colors.  I love this style of yarn because it removed the need to weave in a gazillion ends.


Summer was six months ago and still the thing isn't finished.  But I am determined.  

It was a simple thing to pick up stitches across the wide part of the triangle strip.  With simple garter edges and basic yarn over increases on each side a shawl is growing.

If I stay focused, this will be done in 2015.  The fact that the colors are very summery (at least for my way of thinking) I probably will not wear it until next summer.  As in 2016.  Which makes me wonder why I spend time trying to finish it this year.

HMMM.

Bowl-ing With Yarn

This is my kind of bowling!  A yarn bowl.  There are some who might think that this is a pure luxury item.  After all, a plastic bag or an old sock or just the table top work fine.

And given the choice between more yarn or a hand made pottery bowl that just holds yarn one is tempted to purchase more yarn.

But I am here to tell you that putting a ball of yarn in such a beautiful addition to the room's decor elevates a simple project into a work of art!

This is my bowl and I use it often.  Typically my "fill in" project is centered within and rests on the coffee table ready for a few stitches at any time of the day or night.

Yarn bowling.  I knew this whole thing is really exercise in disguise.

No Knitting Today

Way before the alarm did the buzz buzz thing, my feet were on the floor.  Coffee was brewed and email quickly scanned.  The plan was to finish major work on a new pullover.  I was so ahead of my normal time schedule that I returned from my morning two mile walk before I usually even get started on a normal day.

And now there is no knitting for me.

Someone has other plans.