The Palette for the Commission Piece

Here are the fabrics I have chosen to use for this new work. Not all pieces will be in there, I guarantee, but this is the neighborhood in which I will work.

These are the personality fabrics, which are textured, striped, blotchy, and watercolor-y. They will be the features.

Since I will be working with lots of earthy colors of the Southwest, I will need greens that don't compete, yet compliment.

Here are some of the warm clay, rock and riverbed colors, or they might be dusty atmospheric colors, since at this point 'quien sabe?'

And we can't leave out the reds, oranges and purples. Oooh yum.

Draft Dodger Pattern

Version two, simplified.

Version one.
Draft Dodger Pattern

This design uses Garter stitched mitered diamonds which have a double decrease worked on three center stitches. The cast on stitches are always an odd number and the first stitch is always slipped to facilitate picking up stitches for the next diamonds.
The neck triangles are also based on odd numbered stitches with a double decrease in the center stitches and decreases at the beginning and ending of right side rows. Shoulder triangles are picked up on the edge of front diamonds and attached later to the edge of the back diamonds. These are 90º triangles formed by decreases along one edge only. Shaping is reversed for either side.
Neckline options are either a Stockinette rolled split collar, Garter stitch collar or ribbing.

Yarn and needles: I used Araucania Nature Wool for version two and size 8 needles, (both dpns and circulars, but that's just me...) For version one I used a dk weight wool in two colors and the same needles. Both collars are blocked which greatly increased their finished size. Gauge? eh.

Front Side Diamonds

First Diamond: Cast on 25 stitches and knit, this is row 1. Wrong side
Row 2: Right side (Slip first stitch of every row, counting this as one stitch)
Knit 10, slip 1, knit 2 together, pass slipped stitch over, knit 11.
Row 3 and all odd numbered rows: knit across
Row 4: Slip 1 as usual, Knit 9, s1k2tog, psso, knit 10
Continue in this manner until 3 stitches remain. Slip 1, K2tog, psso, leaving one stitch remaining.

Second Diamond: With one stitch on needle, and right side facing, pick up 12 stitches along the left edge of First Diamond (13sts) and then loosely cast on 12 stitches. 25 stitches on needle. This is Row 1: K across.
Row 2: (Slip first stitch of every row, counting this as one stitch )Knit 10, slip 1, knit 2 together, pass slipped stitch over, knit 11.
Row 3 and all odd numbered rows: knit across
Row 4: Slip one as usual, Knit 9, s1k2tog, psso, knit 10
Continue in this manner until 3 stitches remain. K2tog, psso, leaving one stitch remaining.

Third Diamond: repeat second diamond. At the end break yarn and pull through last stitch.




Click to enlarge

Shoulder Triangle One: Pick up 13 sts along left edge of Third Diamond.
Row 1: and all odd numbered rows, Knit across
Row 2: (Slipping first stitch on every row) K until three sts remain, K2tog, K1
Repeat rows one and two until three sts remain, K2tog, psso, one stitch remains, pull yarn through and break yarn.

Fourth Diamond: Cast 13 stitches and pick up 12 sts along the right edge of Diamond One, 25 sts. Make Diamond as for first Diamond, until one stitch remains.

Fifth Diamond: With one stitch on needle and right side facing, pick up 12 stitches along left edge of Diamond Four and pick up 12 stitches along the right edge of Diamond Two. Make Diamond as for first Diamond, until one stitch remains.

Neck Triangle: With one stitch on needle pick up 12 stitches along left edge of Fifth Diamond and 12 stitches along right edge. 25 stitches on needle.
Row 1 and all odd numbered rows: Knit across.
Row 2: Slip 1, k2tog, K8, s1k2tog, psso, K8, K2tog, K1
Row 4: Slip 1, k2tog, K6, s1k2tog, psso, K6, K2tog, K1
Continue in this manner until only five stitches remain. Leave those five stitches on a safety pin, break yarn.

Sixth Diamond: Cast on 13 stitches and pick up 12 stitches along right edge of Fourth Diamond. Make Diamond as for first Diamond, until one stitch remains.

Make Second Neck Triangle same as the first.
Shoulder Triangle Two: Pick up 13 stitches along right edge of Sixth Diamond.
Row 1: and all odd numbered rows, Knit across
Row 2: Slip 1, k2tog, k across
Repeat rows one and two until three sts remain, K2tog, psso, one stitch remains, pull yarn through and break yarn.

Back Diamonds
First Diamond: All back diamonds begin with 29 stitches, making the back longer and wider than the front.
Row 1: Cast on 29 stitches and knit, this is row 1. Wrong side.
Row 2: Right side (Slip first stitch of every row, counting this as one stitch) Knit 12, slip 1, knit 2 together, pass slipped stitch over, knit 13.
Row 3 and all odd numbered rows: knit across
Row 4: Slip first stitch as usual, Knit 11, s1k2tog, psso, knit 12
Continue in this manner until 3 stitches remain. Slip one, K2tog, psso, leaving one stitch remaining.
Make Second through Sixth Diamonds as for front Diamonds.
Neck Triangles: With one stitch remaining on needle, pick up 14 stitches along each edge of Diamonds (29 sts). Slip first stitch, k2 tog, k10, s1k2tog psso, k10, k2tog, k1. Continue knitting until five sts remain, and place those sts on safety pin.

Sew front to back at shoulder triangles.

Collar: At one neck edge pick up stitches in slipped edge stitches, and from safety pins (knitting them onto needle) and k one row, joining stitches into circle.
Round 2 and 3: Knit
Round 4: Knit to center front Diamond, turn. (forming split collar)
Row 5: Continuing to slip first stitch on every row, K every row for Garter St Collar (not pictured) or purl odd numbered rows and knit even numbered rows for rolled Stockinette St collar(first version). For Mock Turtleneck collar, (second version) k every row for 1.5” and then begin ribbing: Row1, K1, P1, Row2, K, repeat these two rows once more and end with one row of K, then, bind off loosely.
If a ribbed neck is preferred make K1 P1 ribbing for desired length, bind off loosely.

Please feel free to share this pattern, and report any errors to me at fibermania at g mail dot com.

Moebius *My Way

Oohh, this was oodles of fun and so much less of a hassle to knit it flat and join it later.

I used a provisional crochet cast-on and some superwash merino, either dk or sock weight and size 10.5 needles. The yarn was almost slippery and I kept unknitting rows and reknitting them because I got lost in the pattern. But really, it is a super easy pattern. One row, repeat and repeat. It's the One Row Lace Scarf.

A scarf so nice, I made it twice. This one was much much easier, being a bit heavier yarn. 50% Kid mohair, 50% Merino Oak Grove Yarns in Vermont. Yummamente.

It's still lacy but will be a tad bit more draft resisting in this yarn. You may think...What is Melody doing with those colors? (no fuchsia, turquoise or orange?) I found this yarn and lots of other hand dyed colors at a quilt show back when I was teaching in PA several years ago. I bought one of each of all the colors and couldn't quite work this into anything I was currently making. But I LOVE this yarn. So finally I found this project to use it.

Here's how I made a moebius from a flat scarf. Using the provisonal cast on stitches and the live stitches I gave the scarf a twist and did a three needle bind off to join. Simple. And the 'seam' gets hidden in the folded end. Which also is a nice place to keep your car keys.

That's not too icky lookin' is it?

Episode Five: Dave Gets an Indoor Hobby

Isn't she lovely? And she sounds even better. But where to practice? At first he set up a 'studio' in the potting shed, but that was destined to be short lived, as there is no insulation or heat and several mousies who love to eat cables etc. So back into the house he came with all his equipment. Dave was trying to get all this stuff into his very tiny bedroom...

But now it is in the former tv room. This was also my former bedroom and my former studio. It's a very versatile room, no?

Taking the tv out meant putting it somewhere else...O! We just happened to have a space that is perfect. This space under the stairs has two outlets and plenty of room for all those speakers. Where did they all come from? There are two more behind the viewing chairs.

Popeye is ready for the show to start.

It must be autumn. Furniture rearranging time has arrived.

Fish Story

When we lived in Illinois we often visited Boerner Botanical Gardens in Hales Corners, Wisconsin. This is a beautiful place where I developed my love for hostas, mulching and gardening in general. In the Rose Garden they have reflecting pools and one of them was the home of a huge school of koi. We were able to hand feed them (Purina Koi Pellets) and it was so much fun that it engendered a desire in me to one day have such a pool of my own.

Our pond is now supports at least a dozen mature goldfish and twice as many unnamed native fish, and we have been trying to train them to come for dinner by repeatedly feeding them Cheerios at the same time every day, cocktail time. How convenient. We have our lawn chairs set up under the oaks on the one flat spot of the bank and I can make my way to the water's edge to get a good look at the feeding frenzy. Since the end of June the water has been so dark that I can't see any fish at all until I toss out the food. But with the recent rains, the water has started clearing up a bit and I can now see orange shadows under the surface.

The other day I walked along the bank and saw the fish swirling around in their dinner spot WAITING FOR ME.

Now I know it is not affection but food that brings them to the edge, but I don't mind. This is what I wanted to have happen. They are trained! Greedy little mouths gobbling up the Cheerios, letting me see all the different colors and sizes that they are. The older ones are practically RED and then we have the typical very orange and yellow-orange ones and the two or three tones with lots of black on their backs, tails or fins. Their other pond mates are silver and about the same size, and when they are close to a goldie, their bodies reflect the orange color and they flash, glissen and disappear.
At the end of last summer there were only three goldfish remaining from our original Wal-Mart 20 and I hoped that they would last the winter, which happily they did. Then in the late Spring I watched them perform some mating dances and waited to see what would come of that. Of course teeny baby fish are invisible, and I just had to be patient.

Then the water went dark. For. Months.

But this week we have the happy denoument and I am happy to report a big brood of entertaining, colorful, hungry, bug and Cheerios eating trained goldfish. Sigh.

On the knitting front...While visiting my sister and shopping at Hobby Lobby we spied some yarn called Melody.

O my.

Nothing is ever my exact name, and when it is, I gotta have it. Usually it is Melanie or Melissa on those trinket-y displays and I just have to realize that my name isn't all that popular, which I guess is alright. But the combination of yarn and my name pushed me over the edge from never buying anymore yarn to grabbing four skeins. They were on sale. (weak excuse).

I will be warm if it ever gets cold here.

Goes nicely with my pajamas, no?

A Bunch of Good Things

Closing the provisional cast on stitches worked like a dream. If I had cast the original stitches on the same size needle as my working needle, the graft would have looked much better. So this is only the study, and I will know now to make this change when I do this for real.

Not ready for prime time, but still I am delighted with the results. Knitting a tube or a long round something by knitting it flat and joining it is just another way to do things. When I was in Switzerland a few years ago now, I was chilly and my hostess gave me some wristlets like this and since they warmed up the pulse spot, I did lose my chill. Or I could save this for a beer cozy...

Yesterday I had a toe doctor's appointment, and having a medical man inspect and cut your toenails is quite an experience. That's all I have to say about that.

And then since I was so close I went to see my sister and do a little shopping.
At TJMAXX (wouldn't you know it) I found the answer to my long search for something to wear over my pjs or my neckedness here in the woods.

For the longest time I didn't know what exactly I was hoping to find, but this one has it all. A zipper closure, two pockets, a chill reducing collar and the right knee length. I will have to shorten the sleeves so I can wash the dishes and not get them wet, but this is it. Now that I see it in person, I can make more of them, in the colors I really want.

And last but not least, here is a caterpillar who knows how to dress. Lime green is the new black.

Provisional Cast-On

Aha! I have discovered a wonderful solution to lots of problems and an alternative to the moebius challenge. http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/cast-on is a great place to see how stuff is done, and I have used it before to learn new stuff.

What I am liking about this provisional cast-on is that the stitches are formed on another cable needle, so when I am finished with the knitting on the working needle I can join the stitches using the famed Kitchener stitch and have an invisible seam. Yipes! How great is that? This way I can avoid putting hundreds of stitches on the as yet unpurchased 60" long cable needle. I can make my moebius as a long strip, give it a twist and knit the stitches together at the end of my length.

Ahhhh.

Tenacity Triumphs

Moebius ring happens! I watched that video again, with a fresh eye, having spent all night knitting in my subconscious. I got the twist correct, but I still have half stockinette and half reverse stockinette. I am guessing this is a result of knitting every stitch, whether it was a knit or a purl stitch on the needle. Those of you who know what I did, I imagine you are dying to let me know the error of my ways and I beg you PLUUUUEEEEZE, email me and open my eyes.

What I have made here will work as a headband, as it can cover my ears, but I am not averse to frogging it and reusing the lovely Noro for future projects.

I am not all that confident that I can do this again, but of course I MUST TRY. Tomorrow the longer needles and a maybe a book of patterns...maybe.

UPDATE: I have found several alternate ways to achieve this moebius effect, some of which sound a heckuva lot easier than the one I have just learned.

Try this or this or this.

And this one which I really really like.

Moebius Mistakes

Besides color and texture, one of the things I love most about knitting is trying to learn new techniques. I came across this Cat Bordhi video demo of moebius knitting, something I always thought I should learn. I watched the video, yarn and needles at the ready, and about the sixth time I started to get it. Or so I thought.

I got the casting on part, and thought I had started knitting it with the appropriate twist, and it looked like I did, but somehow I didn't get the knitting part correct, and ripped it out. Then I tried it again. And again. The picture above shows that I have a section of purl and a section of stockinette, and I don't know how that happened, since I meant it to be all stockinette.

I am not giving up. Yet.

Then I found someone else instructions, in Spanish, and translated them with a click, but mostly I got the idea from her photos. But as you can see I have one too many twists in this moebius, making it almost impossible to wear. And my start and stop stitches are visible, which is not what you want in a moebius ring. Grrr.
I am not giving up.

This is what a moebius ring should look like. This is knit by Ms. Bordhi herself. I am thinking that this would make a great draft dodger for my chilly neck. And imagine all the yarn possibilities.

I think my problem is the length of the needles. 42" needles are recommended and mine are a mere 32". I have to go into town on Thursday, so I will be putting out the bucks for the longer needles.
There was a time when I couldn't get Kitchener stitch (grafting) either. I was suffering from jet lag in New Zealand and was awake at 3 am. Perfect time to persevere. In my lonely hotel bed it finally clicked and I leapt about in triumph.

I look forward to enjoying this feeling again soon.

And today Amazon sent me this temptation.

Ahhhhh, all those miters! And then the very next question...Where in the world would I wear this? That's what stops me. It's jeans and sweatshirts in these parts, by my own choosing. But I love the puzzle of this coat and the color possibilities. O my.

Television:

I caught the first episode of The Good Wife last night and already am hooked. Julianna Margolis and Chris Noth, and my fave actor from the long ago cancelled Sports Night, Josh Charles, I am hooked.

And tonight is Glee, which is so much fun. It's great to have good tv to watch again.

Draft Dodger

It has been raining nonstop for six days and I am pasted into my studio easy chair, unmoving, except to return to my bed later in the day. Reading mysteries and knitting and unknitting have filled my days, while the rain is filling up every dimple in the yard, inviting mosquitos to breed, keeping us indoors.

I am thinking about cooler weather and what to do about the draftiness I usually feel at the back of my neck. This collar might be the answer.

My previous solution were these shortie shawls, but the ties kept getting into the dishwater, and really aren't they a little too glamorous to wear daily?

This is the place I need to keep warm, and yet not too warm, hence the openess of the collar.

I scoured the pages of Ravelry thinking I wanted to make a cowl, which is so fashionable these days. But alas I do not have the luxury of a long swanlike neck, as doth this beauty display.

Nope. Cowls usually look like this on me...

So I wanted something a bit more shoulder-covering and not so much the spot were my neck might have been had I been born more fortunate.

So I designed this Draft Dodger and used Poems yarn because I had it leftover and knew I wasn't going to use it for anything else...not my fave colorway. But now that I have worked out the kinks, I think I will find something in my stash that will be more me and make a second one.

Beret pour vous?

The second beret of this design is finished and being blocked with a dinner plate inside.

This is the underside with the spiral decreases visible.

The miters and right triangles which make up the second round of squares, and the stitches on a circular needle which were picked up along those same squares.

Before blocking the small center ring of squares sit up like the top knot of a turban squash, but they relax and flatten out after the hat is blocked.

For those of you familiar with mitered squares, just looking at the pictures will be enough to figure out this hat. (More Mitered Square info can be found here) But if you want details here they are.

1. The smaller mitered squares are 13 sts to start and the larger are 25sts to start.

2. Make the first eight small squares.

These eight squares are joined with a three needle bind off and then stitches are picked up along the tops of each square.

3. The very top part (orange with knot) are stitches that were picked up from that ring, equally (16 each) onto three double pointed needles, 48 sts. Then decreased like the toe of a sock, k1, SSK*, K to last three sts, k2tog, k1 at end of each needle. When 3sts remain, make an I-cord and knot it.

SSK*=slip 1 knitwise, slip 1 knitwise, insert left needle into front of those 2 sts and K2tog

4. The ring of garter stitch is next, with 48 sts picked up from around the initial squares ring and increased equally until reaching 96 sts.

5. Begin second round of mitered squares: Cast on 13 stitches and continue the square with the first 12 stitches in the garter ring, making a 25st mitered square. Then pick up 13 stitches along the left edge of square and garter stitch the triangle (k2tog at the beginningof each right side row). Continue by picking up 13 sts along left side of triangle to start the next miter, with 12 sts from the sts on needle (ring sts)

Make eight sets of squares with triangles and join with a three needle bindoff.

6. Pick up 192 stitches along squares/triangles for the remainder of the beret, and divide evenly into eight sets of 24 sts, place marker at these points and k2tog after each marker every round, until 96 sts remain.

7. K1p1 for 1.5 inches, bind off loosely.

The yarn is Koigu and needles were 3.25mm dpns and circular. The ribbing was done with 2mm dpns.