I've finished the baby surprise jacket (BSJ) originally patterned by Elizabeth Zimmerman. Just needs buttons. I did the version with a collar: I picked the stitches from the inside the first time so when I'd finished the seam showed. I pulled it all out and added the collar again so the seam is on the outside. Looks better this way.
I also finished a pair of cotton socks that I was trying. These took less than a week. So easy. I selected Antje Gillingham's chunky, cozy cotton socks from Knitting Circles Around Socks.
Wanted to try working with some specialty "yarn." I bought a pom-pom, an eyelash and Patons Bohemian, which looks like velour or something. We watched the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday so I had lots of time to fiddle with these. I didn't actually do anything with the Bohemian. So far I'm just admiring it.
Pom-Pom: Cast-on using e-style. I tried regular and it was a little lumpy.
Pom-Pom: Cast-on using e-style. I tried regular and it was a little lumpy.
Eyelash is really easy to use. No Problem.
I also bought a book this past winter (I love books and have bought far too many of them) called Mastering Color Knitting by Melissa Leapman. I have been trying a few samples. So far its been hit and miss. I actually only bought this to learn stranding, intarsia and double knitting. The stranding did seem to get better with a bit of practice. The first checker board was too tight and bunched up a bit. The second is flat and smooth but the stitches look uneven with tighter and looser chains. I actually bought this book so that eventually I could do some work in another book that assumes you already know of this colorwork. Since I didn't, I thought I'd better learn.
I haven't tried the intarsia yet but I did buy some yarn to give it go with from my local Wooly Ewe store.
I did try the double knitting. This was a challenge. I knit with my working yarn in my left hand. This is called Continental style. I kept getting the yarn twisted. Since double knitting requires two working yarns, I thought well maybe I should hold one working yarn in my right hand and one in my left. I had to then practice knitting with the working yarn in my right hand, English style. You can see from the sample that I twisted the knitting a few times because I was concentrating on the yarn instead of what I was doing. The double knitted piece, small as it is took me for-bleepin-ever to do. Of course, I shouldn't have used a yarn that is so difficult to work with, lol. Oh, wonderful, the picture is so bad you can't tell how I goofed it up!!!
The best way to learn anything new, I've discovered is to just cast-on and try it out. I have a whole basket of failures from the past year. Some of these will, no doubt end up there.
No comments:
Post a Comment