Sunlight or Lack Thereof

Days get short this time of year here in the Pacific Northwest. When it is rainy like it has been for the past few days, one needs the lights on in the house well before 4:30 pm and the sun won't rise again until after 7:30 am. When I was working it didn't seem to matter that daylight was in such short supply, but now without a routine it seems more noticeable. Days will continue to grow shorter until December 21, so I need to adjust and what better to do than knit, so I have chosen knitting (I know, what a surprise) under a wonderful task light.

The Jeweled cowl is complete including the blocking. It did give me an opportunity to cast it off twice; my first attempt pulled the selvage edge in too tightly. So that edge was taken apart and a second one worked to my satisfaction.t

As a cowl, doubled.

As a scarf.

It turned out to be the perfect length. As you can see it can comfortably be doubled to make it a cowl; however, fully unfolded it can be used as a scarf making it versatile. And of course, the beads can be seen sparkling through on the full version. I like it a lot.

Having completed the cowl, I went back for a third Ashton shawl this time in charcoal. The yarn is Fantastic Knitting Zephyr lace weight made of 50% merino and 50% tussah silk. Its feel makes my hands happy as they work with it. It also holds a stitch well making errors easy to correct. Finally, this yarn is so light, 2 ounces or 57 grams yields 630 yards (576 meters), which will allow this charcoal Ashton to be the same size as the first one.

I am happy to be back into shawl knitting with this wonderful yarn and it is a colour light enough to be knit even with a lack of sunlight.

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. (BTW

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 out finished, and

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 how about the longest piece of finger knitting that measured 4,321.4 m

Flagel Knitting Files

Search This Blog