Before and After in Action

The Before and After scarf was dry by this morning and ready to go. And because the colours were so appropriately picked for me I own plenty of options to wear with it.

This morning I selected my purple shirt and wrapped the scarf around my neck. Needing to take some quick photos before heading to work I compromised and took a photo of myself in the mirror, and as you can see the match was about perfect.

What you see if you look closely on the right side of the scarf is it having a very hard time staying straight. And this is only minutes since I took it off the yoga mat. Fighting the nature of the stockinette stitch is a tough thing to do. The stockinette stitch is made by knitting on the right side of the item and purling on the wrong side. The curl is natural because the knit stitch is slightly shorter and narrower than the purl stitch so when all the knit stitches line up on the right side and purl on the wrong, the knit side or right side tends to curl. Want to know more about all of this? Click here to get a thorough and full explanation why stockinette stitches curl and why other types of stitches don't.

As we all know fighting the natural order of things is a difficult thing to do; so I have decided to just let it curl as it feels and celebrate because it looks lovely just the way it is. Thanks Lee for providing the yarn and along with it the inspiration for this project. It was a wonderful and much appreciated gift. (And BTW several people at work commented how pretty this new scarf is. They did notice it.)

Comments

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time. One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock. So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep. Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot. And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms...

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing. I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away. Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close. Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening. As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend. Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration. I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned ou...

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting. It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008. (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.) See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles. And what about the yarn? It is truly ex-bulky. It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space. Or h...

Flagel Knitting Files

Search This Blog