Knitting and spinning. The fun never stops.

(Wasn’t that the name of a segment on Late Night With David Letterman?)

Charts? I got ‘em! I’m still basking in the glow of my recent trade with Caroline in which I received Alice Starmore’s Charts for Colour Knitting. I still can’t believe my good fortune.

For those who wish to know, it was published in 1992 by Windfall Press, ISBN 1874167001.

I already had a book of charts for knitting. A Shetland Pattern Book, authored by Mary Smith and Maggie Twatt (unfortunate name, eh?), printed and published by The Shetland Times, ISBN 0900662522. First published in 1979. Don’t ask me where I bought it, I’ve not a clue.

This little book is chock full of traditional shetland charts, organized by the number of rows in a pattern repeat. Very handy! I used it when designing my Fearless Fair Isle. Most of the charts in this book are bands of repeating motifs. There are a few pages of all-over charts and some Norwegian-inspired charts.

So imagine my delight when I discovered that the Starmore book has virtually no overlap with A Shetland Pattern Book. It has a nice section in the fron on the design process with schematics and percentages for a couple of basic sweater shapes. Then the charts. They’re divided into different ethnicities — Norwegian, Finnish, Greek, etc., and then sections devoted to birds, shoreline, landscape, etc.

Great stuff!

Oregon . . .

Continues. You didn’t get an update photo yesterday, so here’s one today.

Izzy looks a little jealous of Oregon in this photo, doesn’t she?

I’ve still got a ways to go before I finish the body, but hopefully by Monday. I’ll do the front bands next, before the sleeves. When knitting a cardigan, I always like to do the bands before the sleeves, especially when you pick up stitches and knit the sleeve down from the armhole. It’s a lot easier to manage if you do the bands before the sleeves, otherwise you’ve got a lot of sweater hanging off your needles!

Over the weekend I got email from a knitter who is also a knitting teacher, Sarah Peasley.

Sarah mentioned that different designers have you do different things with the weaving in of the ends of wool. She reminded me of the following:

In Ann Feitelson’s book The Art of Fair Isle Knitting, she suggests, when changing colors, break off the old color and knot the new color to the old with a square knot, leaving an end 1/4 inch to one inch long. She goes on to say that the strength of the square knot combined with the slight felting that occurs when the garment is washed makes this work and stand the test of time.

Whoa.

I remember hearing about this technique but had forgotten it again. I’ve never tried it because, like so many knitters, the idea of tying a knot in my knitting seems like heresy! But I also don’t like weaving in ends because of the slight added thickness it creates. And time I spend weaving is time that I’m not knitting!

Hmmmmmm . . .

In Oregon the colors change at least every second row, so I’m thinking the sleeves of this sweater will be a very good place to try out knotting instead of weaving! Aren’t you all excited?

Good Knitting Karma!

That’s what I must have, because look what I got in the mail:

What a nice surprise! This was sent to me by my blogbuddy Joe, of Simply Knit. This is the new Simply Knit Jamieson book that Joe has talked about in his blog. It’s a beautiful book, beautifully photographed, with beautiful designs. Did I use the word beautiful too many times there? My favorite design in it is “Stuffed Olive” and not just because I like martinis. By the way, I got a Patternworks catalog in the mail yesterday too, and this book and kits from this book were available there.

Thank you Joe!

And if that weren’t enough:

Ohmigod! Ohmigod! Ohmigod! I’m hyperventilating here. I got this in a trade with the lovely and generous Caroline. Thank you Caroline! I spent a fair amount of time drooling over this gem last night.

Yesterday on the train I was working on my sock. I looked down, and noticed how great it looked, lying against the scarf Emma made for me:

Don’t they look purty together?

All right, my pets. I didn’t make it clear enough. The names can be coincidentally the same as place names in the U.S. — but if it’s something not very obvious, tell me where the place is. I’ve gotten some good entries so far!

The Feburary Contest!

In honor of Valentine’s Day, coming up this Friday, I am offering the following prize for the February contest:

This is 18 skeins of Gjestal Vestlandsgarn Norwegian wool (same stuff I knitted the virgin sweater from) in varying shades of pink and lavender. It’s 100% wool, sportweight. To do with what you wish!

What do you have to do to win this? Here’s the contest question:

How many Alice/Jade Starmore designs can you list that have a United States place name in the name of the design?

Here’s a big hint: I’m working on one of them right now!

The person who emails me (see email link in the sidebar) the longest list of correct answers by 4:00pm EST on Friday, February 14, will win the yarn. In the event of a tie, my lovely assistant will draw a name.

Snow Day Friday

Izzy and I had a lazy day.

Hey Kate — do you recognize those fuzzy feet?

And those of you who don’t believe that Izzy helps me on the computer, here we are, checking email.

Oregon Progress

I did make progress on Oregon . . . see?

I started shaping the v-neck and started the armhole steeks. Steek close-up, for your viewing pleasure!

Happy Monday all, and don’t forget to enter the contest!

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m knitting a fair isle cardi. The Oregon Cardigan, to be exact. There’s good bits and bad bits.

The good bits.

It’s knitted in the round, therefore you do a steek for the front opening. This design has a v-neck, so you do your v-neck shaping on each side of the front steek. When the body is done, you’ve got this bizarre looking misshapen tube. But you know what happens when you cut it open? Presto-chango, the v-neck falls into place. Call me sheltered, but I get a kick outta that.

The other cool thing about a fair isle cardi in the round is that you start and end colors in the middle of the front steek. No, I repeat no, weaving in of ends. Do you have any idea how much I like this concept? Wanna see what the inside of the front steek looks like right now? Sure you do.

And here’s the front steek from the outside.

Now for the bad news.

After you cut open the front steek and witness the Miracle of the V-Neck, reality sets in. You now have to pick up about 17 ba-zillion stitches to knit the front bands and neck. But wait, there’s more. You then have to knit (insert ominous music here) corrugated ribbing.

Ga-a-ack!

Anyhow, here’s a photo of my progress thus far:

Snow Day

It’s snowing like crazy and I didn’t sleep well, so it’s back to bed I go. Nighty-night, I’ll talk to you later.

Have a good weekend!