It's A Wrap for the Wrap

Over the weekend I put the finishing touches on Gallatin. It isn't really a wrap, nor a scarf, but rather an accessory that can add a bit of warmth to the neck. What a fun and quick project to knit up; I didn't touch it for an entire day and still completed it in four days. (Contrary to what you might think, I do not knit all the time. There is cleaning, exercising, cooking and errand running to be done as well.) One thing I should mention is how much I miscalculated the amount of yarn needed using the lighter weight I selected, Laura Harding Willow Tweed yarn in the colour, Denim. Gallatin used 2.5 skeins or approximately 325 yards/298 meters, about 100 percect more than I thought at the outset. At completion there when 112 rows to get the proper depth and length for this accessory, and at row 112 there were 448 stitches. At that point a row was taking me 20+ minutes to knit across.

There was more fun blocking Gallatin. Although the designer says she steams hers, I wanted to do a full 20 minute soaking. This is to be a gift and I know yarn in my house can roll on the floor or brush up against the cat so a proper wash and soak is a must. The challenge once the wrap was completely wet was to not stretch the fabric too much in the blocking process. That could have dramatically increased the size so no wires were used as one might normally do at this point, instead it was carefully shaped in a semi-circle to dry. Even though it was rainy last night Gallatin was ready for a photo shoot this morning.

It was my plan to take the thing outside and string it either on some shrubs, a tree or the fence, but it is wet and rainy today. Instead I tried different approaches to see what worked the best, you can judge for yourself.

On the banister with one of Paul's t-shirts

On me in a mirror. (This time I remembered to hold the string on the camera.)

On Paul's t-shirt on the table.

My hope was to get some sort of life-like look at my finished project. Having a model or even a manikin would help, but I have neither so I use what I have in the house. To me the shot on the table is too flat (as one might expect). The shot looking in the mirror makes correcting the colour very difficult. My favorite is on the banister where the natural light is good and it captures the denim colour of the yarn so much better as well.

Gallatin is all wrapped up now ready to move on to its new home!

Here's my next project

Pom Pom Anklets by PurlBee

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