The benefits of making a mistake...

So you're not big on following patterns--always taking someone else's beautiful design, and then going off into the weeds with it.  You know how to read patterns, but CANNOT follow one to save your life. (Yes, this is me, speaking about myself in second person)  

Weed-going has both good and bad sides: 

Good: You learn lots of interesting stuff about what size yarn works with what side needles, how yarn drape can be affected by needle size, etc.

Bad:  You make a lot of bad choices and end up with some weird or ugly projects.  Some you frog.  Some you keep and call it a lesson learned.

 

Here's one of my mistakes, but a beautiful one that taught me a lot.  I'll be frogging this and calling it a lesson learned.  It's two colors of Schulana Capo Nord knit garter stitch at a 45 degree angle on size 10 needles.  (Essentially every second row you increase at the beginning & decrease at the end, and change yarn every second row). 

While it does make a thick, beautiful scarf, the size 10 is too small a needle for the 45 degree angled stitch.  So it starts to curve--see picture 3 above.  Last summer I knitted a 45 degree scarf in wool boucle variegated yarn on size 9 needles and it did well.  It was looser, so it did not curve as noticeably.  But it did curve.  The original pattern where I got the idea (and went off in the weeds) used lace weight yarn.  Hence the draping issue.

Alternately, if you wanted to knit a really funky collar:

• knit the first part of the collar
• then knit increase on the "top" side  for the back
• then knit exactly the opposite for the other side

Hmm...is there a call for a funky wool collar that's thick, soft & snuggly?  Maybe...

And...I've been up all night knitting (and watching the news from Japan & keeping an eye on a sick kitty) several nights this week...so I've been working on a rib stitch scarf in beautiful Jojoland Rhythm DK/Lt Worsted weight yarn (size 6 needles) in Camoflauge color RS72.  

I visited a yarn shop Heartland Fibers in nearby Winterset Iowa and found some marvelous DK weight yarn that I'm knitting up in a modified moss stitch.  I'll post pictures when I remember to bring them in.

Happy knitting & get some sleep!

Learning cables--they're not that hard

I've been hesitant to learn how to cable knit because I thought it would be hard...duh...it's easy.  The only thing is, you DO have to keep track of which row you're in.

When I found an easy cable knit hat in my "Knit  Pattern of the Day" calendar, I decided to try it.  Not bad at all.  Of course, since I'm easily distracted, it's not done yet, but the cable band was a breeze.

The project is done in fingering weight yarn, just some I grabbed out of the stash purchased at a garage sale.  Size 4 needles.  16 stitches per row, 8 repeating rows.  On the 4th row, you move 3 stitches to another needle (dpn or cable needle works best), hold those stitches in front, then knit 3 stitches, knit the 3 from the other needle and continue on with the pattern.    The other part of each row is the same (right side knit 3, purl 2 on either side of the cable, and just the opposite on the wrong side.)  Cast off, sew together and then pick up stitches for the remainder of the hat on circular needles.  That's where I am now.

Not perfect, of course, but not bad for a first attempt, and on those tiny size 4's in the middle of the night with cats helping.  Now, of course, delusions of grandeur, and I have another pattern I'm trying that is VERY complicated.  Why do I do this?