Wendy Knits

My New Knitter

By Wendy on February 11, 2004

My new knitter is ordering yarn for her first “real” project — Plymouth Encore, to knit a baby blanket for a pregnant friend.

I found a pattern online for a basketweave baby blanket. It has a knitted-on lace edging that I think is a bit advanced for her, so I’m rewriting the pattern with a garter stitch border.

We’re very excited!

Steeks Again!

Suzanne asked:

You said you didn’t trim your steeks or stitch them down, so why don’t I see any yarn ends? I’m having trouble understanding how it looks so nice and neat without weaving in ends or stitching them down as someone mentioned. I really and truly don’t see a single yarn end in the photo above. Maybe I am misundertanding what you mean by “trim the steeks” since I have never knitted a fair isle. I really want to some day soon, though.

A fair question.

Yesterday’s photo showed the inside of the front bands flanked by my untrimmed steeks. The yarn ends were in the center of the front steek. When I cut the steek down the middle, I cut off all the ends. No weaving in, no tying off, just trim them off.

But the steeks themselves are not trimmed. Most steeks are 8-10 stitches wide. You cut down the center and that’s 4-5 stitches per side. Then most directions tell you to trim the steeks to a two-stitch width after you have picked up your stitches and completed your knitting. That’s what I didn’t do — trim them to a two-stitch width. I never do.

Frida

Here she is:

So far, way fun to knit!

Though Lucy apparently has other things on her mind.

Posted in Wendy Knits

No Name?

By Wendy on February 10, 2004

That’s Dale 10903 to which I refer. The nameless wonder

It’s funny, too, because a couple of the designs in the same book have names. Frogner. Fana. And another one I can’t recall just now.

Perhaps I should give her an “F” name? Okay!

I did a search of Norse names and have settled on Frida, which I’m told means “beautiful”. So from now on, she shall be known as Frida.

I’ve just barely started Frida, as you can see from the photo.

I have the facing done and have just barely started in on the pattern. The facing curls horribly, so I’ll be steam pressing it before much longer, just to keep it from curling up and annoying me while I knit the body.

By the way, the pattern is written for pullover and cardi versions in both adult and child sizes. No adjustment necessary.

The colors I’m using for Frida are those in the light colorway photo I posted last week. A couple of the colors don’t seem to be available any longer, so I substituted similar shades. We’ll see how it looks as I knit along.

Q&A

Renata asked:

Would you consider posting a photo of the inside of the sweater, near the front or neck bands. I am doing the bands on Firebirds and am wondering how much to trim the steek and whether to cross-stitch it down as the instructions suggest. Do you ever bother to cross-stitch, and if so do you just catch the strands on the inside? I am guessing that you don’t go all the way through the fabric ‘cos that would show.

Here you go! This is the inside of the front bands and steeks. As you can see, I don’t bother to trim my steeks, nor do I tack them down. I’m a bad girl.

If I were to tack them down, I would do so in a cross-stitch fashion, just catching the steeks to the wrong side of the body of the sweater.

Abalone Photo Shoot

Thank you for all your kind comments about how good I looked in the Abalone photo shoot. Ha! You are just lucky you didn’t get a close-up of my face, and that the wind was blowing so it fluffed up my hair to make my bedhead look not particularly horrendous. It was a lucky fluke.

My hair is actually looking quite hideous right now. It’s been three months since my last haircut (I sound like I’m at confession). Three months ago I got the Evil Haircut from Hell that made my head look lopsided. So I’ve been gun-shy. But I have an appointment to have my haircut tomorrow, this time at a GOOD salon, downtown. Of course it’ll cost twice as much, but you get what you pay for.

Will I post a photo post-haircut? We’ll see.

Lucy can’t wait.

Thanks for all the pet photos I’ve received so far. What a way to brighten the start of the week!

Posted in Wendy Knits

February Contest

By Wendy on February 9, 2004

It’s Valentine’s week, kids, so it’s all about love, and mush, and sentimental slop. I give you:

The Excessive Cat Sentimentality Contest

Email me a photo (or a link to a photo online) that shows excessive cat sentimentality and I will enter you in the drawing for one of these fabulous prizes:

First prize: 10 skeins Alpaca Country Fina — 20% alpaca, 80% wool yarn in a pretty pink. This is sportweight and has 150 meters per 50 gram skein.

Second prize: Dale book 109. I understand this is now out-of-print and getting harder to find. Lots of great patterns in this one! This copy was kindly donated by L-B!

Third prize: An 8×10 glossy of Lucy, suitable for framing.

Please note that photos depicting excessive pet sentimentality of any kind will be considered. Get your entries to me by 5:00pm, EST Friday February 13 to be considered for a prize!

Speaking of Dale Book 109 . . .

My new project is Dale 10903. Yes, Lotus won the popular vote by an overwhelming majority. But I wanna knit the runner-up. Partly because I don’t want to knit two cardis in a row — I find button bands to be a pain. So sue me. I’m knitting the pullover version of 10903 in the light colorway.

Hmmmm . . . we gotta come up with a better name for it than 10903.

Steeky Question

Mary asked:

Having never ’steeked’ myself, I may be asking a dumb question. But isn’t a steek just for cutting open your sweater? If so, then why would it matter if you make a mistake in the pattern of your steek; or, why would it be necessary to have a pattern at all ???

Well, no, you don’t need a pattern. It doesn’t matter if you make a mistake.
But when you are knitting with two colors in one row, you’ll want to alternate those colors in the steek stitches. Alternating the colors stitch by stitch makes a firm fabric that adds to the strength of the steek after you cut it.

Oh, by the way . . .

I finished the multidirectional diagonal scarf.

Oh, by the way . . .

I finished Abalone.

No one can accuse me of vanity after seeing this photo. Not only is my hair unwashed, I didn’t even brush it for this photo. Rolled outta bed, finished the last three rounds on the last cuff of Abalone, and popped it on for a quick photo shoot before brushing my hair or even washing my face. Forget about make-up.

And Abalone hasn’t even been steam pressed in that photo.

Oh, just to show you I haven’t lost my sense of style, I want you to see that Abalone coordinates nicely with my bruised knee, courtesy of a fall on the ice last Wednesday.

Lucy is appalled.

Oh, there are more photos on the Official Abalone Page.

Posted in Wendy Knits

Friday!

By Wendy on February 6, 2004

She says with relief. Tough week.

Roi asked another good question:

Looking at Abalone this a.m. and seeing how you used a perfectly contrasting color thread to sew the buttons on reminded me of Meg’s article, “Fussy Knitting” in the last VKI. Would you describe yourself as a fussy knitter?

First of all, I sewed the buttons on Abalone using the dark green wool that is part of Abalone, so doing so doesn’t count as being fussy. If I had indeed found the perfect color of knitting thread . . . now that would be fussy.

Am I a fussy knitter? I don’t think so. I very very rarely rip out and do something over because it doesn’t meet my standards the first time. I think this is due to laziness and impatience. I have both of those traits in abundance.

Is being fussy an inherited trait? I wonder. It’s interesting to contemplate, because I think my mother and her mother were complete opposites of each other on the fussiness scale.

My grandmother was a wild woman. She acted on impluse, threw things together any old way. And she was a heckuva lot of fun to be around when I was a kid. Of course, one had to put up with the occasional sandwich made from Cheetos and pickle relish on white bread, because if she didn’t have the proper ingredients to make something, she’d substitute with whatever she happened to have. Sometimes this worked. Sometimes it didn’t (see reference to Cheeto-pickle relish sandwich, above).

My mother, on the other hand, does everything by the book. Always follows instructions and everything always turns out perfect.

I think I fall somewhere in-between the two of them.

Abalone Sleeve Progress!

Hopefully early next week I’ll have an FO photo for ya.

Lucy Calendar

I’ve had several questions over the past few weeks about the Lucy Calendar for 2005. All of which I’ve ignored.

So I think it’s about time to talk about it.

The other day, Mouse asked this question in my comments:

Lucy calendar question: would you prefer a portrait, or a, hm, rubenesque type painting? or both?

You see, when we first started talking about this, Mouse very kindly offered to do a portrait of Lucy for the calendar. So . . . what do you all think? what sort of picture of Lucy would you like to see? Leave a comment.

As for how the photos are coming . . .

I take at least 5 or 6 photos of Lucy every day. Some days many more. Many of them are calendar worthy, I think.

The plan I have brewing in my fevered little brain is to at some point late summer/early autumn narrow down the photos to a few dozen. Post small versions of them online, and let you all vote on which ones you want to see in the calendar. Sound good?

As for creating the calendar itself, I’m thinking Cafepress. It’ll make the calendar more expensive because they take quite a big chunk off the top, but I can’t see any other way of doing this project that wouldn’t involve a large outlay of cash by me up-front, and having to manage the mailing myself.

And we can figure out how much you think the mark-up from the Cafepress price should be to be reasonable, and still make some money for the rescue organization.

Sound good? If anyone has any other brilliant ideas, we at WendyKnits! are open to suggestions!

February Contest

The February contest will be announced on Monday. Happy weekend, all!

Posted in Wendy Knits

Benefits of Blogging

By Wendy on February 5, 2004

An interesting question in yesterday’s comments, from Roi:

I wondered if and how you’ve benefited from reading other knitting blogs? I know you use patterns designed by other bloggers, but do you also pick up knitting techniques from other bloggers? Have you ever changed something about the way you knit due to something you’ve read?

Yes, I do knit patterns from other bloggers, most notably the wonderful Julie’s Booga Bag, and the equally wonderful Bonne Marie’s Bucket o’ Chic.

Knitting techniques? Hmmmmmm . . . I’ve given that some thought. I can’t think of any right off the top of my head. I’m a pretty opinionated knitter who has been knitting for a long time. I do things a certain way and I like it that way. (wasn’t there on old man character on SNL a few years back who used to say that? “And we liked it that way!” Gawd, I’m getting old.)

Yeah, you can keep your magic loop, you can keep your knitting on two circs.

But one thing I have gained is an appreciation for yarns I would never have bought B.B. (before blogging). Thanks to Julie’s Booga Bag, I fondled Noro Kureyon for the first time. That’s a yarn I never would have considered buying, because it does not coincide with the types of things I like to knit.

I’ve also been influenced by knit-alongs. I never would have knitted Smooch without Alison’s knit-along.

But the most important benefit of blogging is friendship. Sorry to sound sappy here, but it’s true. I’ve got a huge number of friends I never would have known without the knitblog community.

Abalone

I took some time out from sleeve knitting to put the buttons on and finish off the bands.