I Know, I Know

I swore I'd post often, and well...such is life. I can happily report that I have completed quite a few projects since last posting. I'll take a few photos and get them up. My knitting has improved, though still slow. I am currently working on quite a few child-sized afghans, trying to plow through my stash of cheap acrylic and move it on out. I've also started a wedding afghan for my sister (made with Encore wool/acrylic, which is, so far, an excellent yarn to work with--which is good, since this has been dubbed The Afghan from Hell).

Rippling Along

Crossposted to the NEIS Ripple-Along .

This morning I tried to take a picture of the progress I've made on my ripple. Unfortunately, my two "helpers" wanted in on the action. My 4yo is my Official Random Yarn Picker. He is extremely adamant when he chooses, and he's made a fuss a few times when he thought that I wasn't going to use the "right" yarn next ("Mom, WHERE is the magenta?!?! Why isn't it here?!?!")

The other "helper" is my cat, who eats yarn for dinner. She is very intriqued by the huge pile here that I am needing for this project, and by the sorting and digging that has gone on in my stash as I gather what I need.

As for the ripple itself, I had slowed down partly due to the above-mentioned 4yo's birthday, and partly because I was very dismayed by the section with the dk blue, lt blue, and peach. It was looking very lively up until then, but my "Flower Power" ripple wilted on me. The bright green and magenta have revived it, though, and I've decided that, despite the demands of my Official Random Yarn Picker, I need to ensure that there are no more than two pale colors in any 5-segment section (in between the recurring 2 rows of "Flower Power" variagated), and that each section includes mostly brights and darks, like the first one.

Yummy

I'm working on three acrylic afghans right now--one for a friend's baby (born a year ago--yes, I am bad bad bad); one large granny for my bedroom (started 10 years ago--yes, I am bad bad bad); and a Flower Power ripple for the No-End-In-Sight Ripple-Along. So, when my almost-4 yr old declared that he wanted me to make him an afghan, what did I say? You guessed it. I am sunk into another one.

So, off to the yarn store I went. I decided that, since it was a smallish afghan (only 3 ft x 3 ft), I'd indulge myself, er, my child, in yummy yarn. Lamb's Pride Worsted was the winner. This stuff is almost edible, it's so much fun to work with. And, the colors, while bright, are a totally different, more muted and textured, hue from the Red Heart that I usually use to make projects like this. In celebration of my delicious yarn, I also splurged on a wooden crochet hook (Laurel Hill, Forest Palmwood, size H).

By the way--NEVER, EVER mistakenly leave your pattern at the yarn store. It means you have to go back the next day to fetch it. Uh oh. I'll show you what I bought on clearance another day, when I figure out what to do with it.

Going Continental

When I originally taught myself to knit several eons ago, I learned right-handed. It seemed comfortable enough, and I was able to use the same yarn carry that I use when I crochet (left-handed). So, last winter when I decided to relearn how to knit, I tried various yarn-carries in Sally Melville's book "The Knit Stitch." Amazingly, the left-handed carry (AKA Continental knitting) is what is suggested for lefties, and I COULDN'T DO IT. So, I kept on keeping on with my crochet carry, and was happy.

Here is how I knit:

And here is how I crochet:

Then I tried knitting with two colors. Oops. The ability to use a left-handed carry suddenly increased in usefullness. Still, I couldn't do it. It just felt awkward. Every book I read says that this is the way lefties should learn. Apparently, they were written by righties because this lefty just doesn't get it.

Then I found this:

YouTube: Continental Knitting Demo

If you've ever tried to figure out Continental knitting, this is the most amazing video. I sat here at my computer one day, yarn in hand, and the lightbulb turned on. It still feels awkward but, then, so did knitting, period, a year ago.

Transporting is Cool

An administrative note:

I decided to transfer the entries on my little-used LiveJournal blog over here. So, this marks the first "real" entry in this new--hopefully oft-used--blog. So, Beam Me Up, Scotty--I'm here now!

I've been busy this winter improving my knitting skills and using up a voluminous, yet el cheapo, stash, mostly on my children (like the crocheted stuffed animal backpacks that their "pets" needed in order to go to school). I just requested to join the NEIS Ripple-Along, so, hopefully, that will take care of the rest of my boxes. Then I can start guiltlessly indulging in the products featured by my local non-big-box yarn shop. Goodbye Red Heart! I loved you!

(B)logging In

Call me lazy. I've been doing nothing in the needlework department. OK, well, not lazy, so much as outsidewardly-oriented. I've planted a perennial bed of lilac and ornamental grasses; I've walked; and I've started to exercise (a bit). I'm a Renaissance Girl, what can I say?

A friend did tell me about double-sided crochet hooks, and I am hoping to get out and buy them in the near future. I am always game for a new form of torture...er, yarn-based fun. So, I'll post an update when that experiment comes to fruition.

Catching Up and Dishing It Out

So much for keeping a journal! Due to a month of kiddie birthdays, I hadn't done much of any stitchery, so nothing to muse about.

We went to PA for a long weekend a few weeks ago. When we were there at Christmas, my mother-in-law had a knitted dishrag that had been given to her, and she seemed to like it (its reappearance on the counter immediately after we'd decontaminated it in the washing machine confirmed this). So, I had decided to make her another and had bought the yarn and a book. Didn't like the book once I got it home (all of the nice-looking ones were knitted, rather than crocheted), so I turned to other projects. Fast forward, and, while packing for the trip, I found a booklet on dishrags in a pile of crochet books in my closet. I'd had it all along. So, into my "in the car" bag went Leisure Arts #2666 "Lots More Wash & Wipes."

I made pattern #12 in the leaflet for my MIL--quick and easy, and it, unfortunately, didn't even manage to kill half of the drive, despite the distractions from the back seat (the kids were strangely interested in the dishrag, and insisted on inspecting the finished product).

I decided that another one might be the ticket for the drive home, so I headed to Michaels and bought another ball of cotton yarn. While there, I considered buying the materials to make a summer poncho. However, I was saved from myself by the fact that I couldn't find both a pattern that I liked AND the yarn to make it. :::whew:::

Anyway, to get to the point of all of this (didn't you realize there would be one?), I made pattern #7 for myself on the way home. It includes a stitch called Cross Stitch, as follows:


"To work Cross St, skip next dc, dc in next dc, working
around dc just made, dc in skipped dc."


There are two figures drawn to show the stitch being done by a right-handed crocheter. Oooooo. Journal fodder! Frankly, I'm glad that I had to figure this one out on my own because I cannot see how the stitch could be accomplished per the drawings--it shows the second stitch being done around the first dc on the crocheter's side of the piece. Frankly, this would require the stitcher to basically stand on her head to accomplish. My wrist certainly doesn't turn upside down. I tried to do it right-handed, as shown in the drawing, simply out of curiosity to see if I was missing the big flick somewhere. Nope. So, I did it behind the post of the first dc. Smugly, I was pleased that my "backwards" left-handed stitches looked just like the drawing, since I'd totally reversed not only the direction of work, but the direction in which the stitch was crossed.

So, what's my point? Even right-handed stitchers get obstacles thrown in their paths sometimes, courtesy of less-than-clear directions, bad drawings, and awkward "made up" stitches. The most important aspect of completing a project is to keep your eye on the big picture--what the finished product is supposed to look like--and then figure out how to reach that "look," using the instructions and photos given, with a healthy dose of your mind's eye thrown in for good measure.