Month: January 2006

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Seaweed scarf finished

Seaweed_scarf_done

Once in the grove of lace  knitting, the movements became very fluid and muscle memory started kicking in. I was really surprised that I was able to stick to this project and complete it in a few weeks.

By the way, this stitch pattern is really similar to one called Print O’ the Wave that appears in a book on Shetland lace knitting called Heirloom Knitting. Eunny also has a version of this lace pattern which is available via a free PDF download.

I’m glad that I followed through and ordered the kit from Virtual Yarns. The yarn was a joy to knit and the right weight for a cold weather garment.

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North European knit it is dense thing

While getting my daily dose of knitting gossip on the Knitter’s Review forum this week, I happened to click on a post about a new knit along called Crossed In Translation. Apparently, a group of knitters have decided to knit one of the patterns out of New Style of Heirloom Knitting and help each other work through the Japanese instructions. While I’m not planning on joining the knit along, this site did prompt me to look further at this book and eventually lead me to another one by the same author called, European knit it is dense thing (loosely translated via Google) .  The previews on this page made me zip straight down to Kinokuniya in hopes of finding a copy. Lucky me, they had one left.

This book is a real gem if you like traditional gloves , mittens, hats and scarves. Although I don’t read Japanese, I can tell from the pictures that it’s a book about the author’s (Toshiyuki Shimada) pilgrimage to Northern European countries. Beside photos of his trip it also includes 13 patterns inspired by what he found. Pictures of the projects are some of the most vivid knitting eye candy that I’ve ever come across in the knitting book world. The items pop out and say, "come on, you know you want to knit me".

If you don’t have physical access to a Japanese book store and would like to find a copy here’s a link to it on Amazon’s Japanese web site. While the site is mostly in Japanese it is possible to translate it using Google’s language tool. Even if you don’t want to purchase the book, translating Japanese web pages can result in hilarious reading.

While I’m on the subject of knitting books in Japanese, here’s another outstanding book called, Knitting Patterns Book 250. It’s full of several types of knitting stitches and stitch combinations with an emphasis on lace and cables. While I already have several pattern books this one is an excellent addition to the collection. The complicated combinations take lace knitting one step beyond other pattern books without much duplication.

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St. Distaff’s Day 2006

St_distaff

Over 150 people attended this year’s St. Distaff’s Day in Mountlake Terrace on January 7th. This annual NWRSA event is sponsored by the  2010 group.  It’s a full day of spinning, chatting with fellow spinners, eating holiday goodies and shopping the booths of local vendors. Towards the middle of the day many door and raffle prizes are handed out to lucky participants. It was so exciting to see so many wheels and spindles going at once.

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Managing a lace chart

The Seaweed Scarf is coming along much more quickly than anticipated now that I’ve found an efficient way to follow the chart. This small notebook that I created holds a page for every charted row. When I’m done with a row I flip to the Chart_notebook_closed next page which has the current row highlighted.

I chose to display all rows on each page so that I can easily “read” the previous row on the knitted piece. This is handy when figuring out if a mistake was made on a previous row. I also put a sticky note to mark the current page in case I get distracted.

To make the notebook, I transferred the chart into an Excel spreadsheet and printed a copy for each row. This chart shows 6 rows so I made 6 copies, each with one of the six rows highlighted. I then trimmed the pages to half the original size and cut a transparent report cover to the same size. The pages and cover were then bound using a plastic binding spine that I got in Japan.

I checked around at the various office stores here in the US and found a similar binding system called Proclick. These types of bindings are very useful. The spines allow easy editing of the pages and unlike a binder, the pages flip 360 degrees. This biggest downside is the cost of the machine that punches the holes. Staples has it listed for $63. The Japanese version was a bit cheaper.

Another recent addition to my knitting bag is this small accessories bag from Eagle Creek. The front is made of a strong clear pliable plastic. I can now see all the tools before opening the pouch and easily pick out the one I need. My mini kacha-kacha row counter is conveniently attached to the side hook.

I’d love to get my hands on some of this clear plastic material to make a small organizer for the tools. Each item would have it’s own pocket. After doing some Google searching I think this plastic is called UVX and is mainly used for the windows of high altitude tents. Unfortunately I haven’t found a source that sells it.