prodigal sock

If You Can Knit a Hat

2017-12-31T11:47:00.003-06:00

You can knit these

Concept:

I chapped my shins last week while waiting for the bus in subzero weather. I decided I needed legwarmers and googled around for a simple and free pattern. Let me just say this. There's altogether too much cabling and eyelets and other filigree lace patterns going on out there. I understand there are people who are willing to lose a leg for fashion, but that's not me.

That said, there are some really fine fair isle leg warmers out there that have the same advantage as Norwegian Knitting in that there are two strands of yarn at a time that trade places front and back to create a pattern. And yes, I have mittens knitted that way that prove it's excellent winter wear. But I'll be wearing these over leggings and I want them now.

Couldn't find a pattern I liked for free, so I just started knitting.

I rooted around in my stash and found a couple of skeins of Lion Brand Wool Yarn in the Brown Heather color. I had picked it up for a scarf, but once I got it home I realized it was much too rough for next to the skin. It's not too rough to put over leggings though.

Gauge:

I cast on about 30 stitches and knit stockinette, on size 8 needles for about 3-1/2 to 4 inches.

Gauge for me was 4 stitches per inch, 5 rows per inch. Now I did take gauge from a flat piece and I am knitting these in the round, so that's a no-no, but it works for me. I'm using a 40" skacel addi Turbo magic-loop needle so I could be knitting both legwarmers at once, but I decided one disaster at a time was a better idea.

Measure:

Decide how high up your leg you want the top of the legwarmer to sit and get circumference. I chose just above my knee, and since it's a chubby thigh, I got 17" so I added ease of 1/4 inch. I want the leggings to stay up, but not cut off the blood flow. That means positive ease.

Thigh above knee = 17.25" x 4 = 69

I'd already decided that I wanted to use a knit-on cast on and a rib pattern that would also be easy to decrease slowly. Knit 2, Perl 2 seemed like a good idea. It's a little more elastic than K1P1, and not as floppy as k3p3. So, the basic ribbing number is 4 stitches, k2p2. While 68 is divisible by 4, it makes the band tighter. So I changed it to 72 st or 18 groups of 4.

Widest part of calf = 15" x 4 = 60 stitches. That's good right there, but I'm also going to need to decrease a bit more from the thigh size to the calf size in order to make the legwarmer able to hold itself up with more than just the thigh ribbing. That means some negative ease. I hate perling so that's where the decrease is going to happen. And I'll decrease incrementally once the knee ribbing is done.

72*.75=54, 3X18=54 ... so we have a 6 stitch negative ease.

To decrease slowly, I decided to perl 2 together one time per round. That means, the first trough of P2 will be P2tog, and I will knit the rest of the row K2P2. Next row is K2P1, K2P2tog, K2P2 ... and so on.

I used two plastic safety pins to mark my place. The first was a general pin to mark the side I was decreasing on and the second to mark the latest P2tog. The decreases then spiraled down from the knee to the calf.

From then on it's K2P1 down to the ankle or at least a couple of inches below the boot top.

In knitspeak that would be..

Get gauge.
Measure thigh above knee cap.
Cast On (Thigh Circumference x Gauge) + enough stitches to be divisible by 4. K2P2 for 2.25" (or the space from your starting point to the top of your kneecap).
Begin decrease:

K2 P2tog, K2P2 around.
K2P1, K2P2tog, K2P2 around.
K2P1, K2P1, K2P2tog, K2P2 around

Continue row 3, perling 2 together, one at a time, until all but the last three K2P2 groups are worked.
Try it on.

If the legging is a bit loose continue the decrease rounds.
If the legging is already just fine, mark off the k2p2 group with stitch markers, and wait to work those decreases until after the curve of the calf.
If the legging is too tight, frog up another couple of rows and mark off the ribbing groups that you will hold at k2p2 until you've past the widest part of your calf.

Continue K2P1 until the legwarmer is the length you want. Bind off using E.Zimmerman's sewn bindoff to make that ribbing flexible.

I'm hoping to get both done before I have stand in the snow, shivering, waiting for that bus. Will post the picture of legwarmers in action when that happens.

Fleegle Heels

2017-12-29T07:06:00.002-06:00

A Better Sock Heel

It's not often that I find a new way to do an old thing that actually is as wonderful as it claims. The Fleegle Heel is one of those things.

http://fleeglesblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/leegles-toe-up-no-flap-no-hassle-sock.html

Some of the links are no longer active, BUT, you can easily google those techniques on YouTube. And frankly I am happy to finally run across this because I love house socks.

After learning how to knit continental style, I started having trouble with my left thumb when purling. I solved that problem by learning how to "knit backwards". It's amazing at how much this speeds up Fleegle. And here's a fun video on that from KNITFreedom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h72xZoGp6o

When you live where it snows and when you can't sleep when your feet are cold, these do the trick. They are also handy if you need something between you and the tiles first thing in the morning.

Next Hank Begun

2017-09-24T08:27:00.000-05:00

Much Thinner

The Montadale Wool in the "Girl Power" colorway is spinning up thinner than I expected. It's running between carpet sewing thread and size 8 crochet thread in size. That means that I should be able to chain ply it to preserve the color changes and still end up with a fingering or sport weight, felting resistant 3 ply yarn.

I'm a little disappointed with the hand. It's a bit harsh, but nothing a little hair conditioner won't fix. Unfortunately it also has second cuts.

Second cuts happen when the sheep is sheared. When the short fibers left by the first pass of the shearer's clippers are cut along with the next pass of full length wool, you get neps. Like the short hairs that fall down the collar of your shirt when the barber clips your hairline, neps can be annoying.

I don't mind the little grape-seed sized bumps in the yarn that 2nd cuts add. I won't be weaving with it, so the neps won't catch and fray in a heddle. They'll provide texture. I hope.

There is the possibility that this yarn would make a nice beret if it turns out to be too course for next to the skin. And if it's too course for a beret, well then there's a locker hooked pillbox hat I have in mind. We'll see.

Skeined & Ready

2017-09-23T19:50:00.000-05:00

One theory on decay

It's a funny thing about crafting. Often the raw fleece is absolutely beautiful. After it's washed and dyed and rinsed again it loses some of the sheen or the suppleness it had. Then, no matter how carefully I card and spin it, more of the beauty is somehow lost. The color changes I thought would be fabulous have turned tedious.

But sometimes it takes a turn during the plying stage, like this Purple Haze color way did.

Tomorrow I squoosh some water laced with eucalan wool wash through the yarn and hang it to dry to fluff it up and set the twist.

For now, I start carding the "Girl Power" colorway.

Update on the Spinning

2017-09-23T09:26:00.001-05:00

Plying the Purples

About 2-1/2 Babe Fiber Garden bobbins later and I'm plying the wool. This plying bobbin is not quite through the first filled-to-the-brim hand-spun bobbin. I still have a good bit left of the first alpaca ball. When I'm done plying, I'll skein the yarn and wash it. Once it's dry, I'll niddynoddy measure and report.

It's fingering/lace weight now, but it could move up to baby/sport once set.

2017-09-17T20:07:00.002-05:00

Spinning Last Weekend's Goodies...

I'm very happy with the Rambouillet combed top that I bought at the WS&WF at the Green Pastures booth. It's 4 oz. of wool in the colorway 'Purple Haze' (periwinkle & eggplant variegated).

It looks like I'll get two bobbins plus a bit, of lace weight singles from that hank. When I've finished the rest of the rolags, I'll be plying it with a commercial periwinkle lace weight from Alpaca Warehouse. I bought a several 50 gram skeins from AW during a sale but haven't been able to find a project for it until now. The yarn is a blend of wool, acrylic and alpaca in a periwinkle color that is so close to the lighter color of the roving it's spooky.

I carded the roving into rolags because, as often happens with acid dyes, the over-dyed eggplant color became a little spongy and uncooperative when it came to spinning. I wanted a woolen yarn and tried spinning form the fold, but it wasn't cooperating. Instead, I'm working long-draw on the lighter yarn and devolving to inch-worm when I get to spongy bits.

The finished yarn should make a nice scarf with big dramatic blocks of periwinkle separated by smaller marled yarn stripes of eggplant/periwinkle.

2017-07-11T10:22:00.000-05:00

Perless Scarf

I knit 'continental' style, which means that perling can be painful. Pain can teach you to hate things very quickly. Finding E. Zimmerman's patterns for sweaters and other items that are either worked in the round or don't require perling brought me back to knitting.

But there are times when knitting a scarf in garter stitch can get awfully boring. Even garter stitch can curl or stretch without a border of some sort, and the seed or moss stitch borders that I considered would still cause enough pain to force me to put the work down after a few rows, and forget to pick it up again.

This weekend I remembered the Idiot Washcloth. It's a simple pattern to teach children how to knit, increase, and decrease while also making a useful thing. It's called an Idiot Washcloth because it's extremely difficult to screw it up (though I always do, at least once). It's a yarn-over increase at the beginning of the row then knit to the end and turn. You continue that until the piece is as large as you want then you k2Tog, YO, K2Tog decrease at the beginning of the row and knit to the end until you're down to 4 stitches and can cast off.

This makes lovely squares to swab the dishes. Altering it to make a large rectangle (scarf shape) is just a matter of working an increase on one side and a decrease on the other until the scarf is the length you want and then decreasing both sides.

I've marked the decrease side with a plastic safety pink to make it even more foolproof. The yarn I'm using is the "Sea" colorway of Deborah Norville Collection Serenity Garden Yarn, a 2/fine yarn made of Dralon Microfiber, and not 'itchy' at all. So yes, it's a great way to make a scarf with variegated yarn that has a tendency to pool and splot when knit stockinette. I have 2-3/4 skeins of this colorway and think it may only need 2 skeins. I'm not doing a Dr. Who here... just watching it while I knit.

Pattern for the I-Scarf is:

1. Cast on 4 stitches
2. Slip one, Knit 3 and turn
3. Slip one, knit 1, yarn over, knit to end

Repeat Row 3, the increase row, until the scarf is as wide as you like (6" to 14" is good).

Place a marker on one side near the edge as shown above, to indicate a decrease stitch is needed.

4. Slip one, knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to end.

Repeat rows 3 and 4 until the scarf is as long as you wish. Remove marker and work row 4 until there are 4 stitches left. Cast off and weave in ends.

2017-07-04T08:39:00.000-05:00

Tatting Follow Up

Here's a closer view of the edge tatting. The double stitch is just a couple of half-hitches that are mirror image.

The picots are formed by leaving a length of thread between double stitches. Then when the chain is cinched up and knotted you have a frilly arch of thread.

And here's a fuzzy view of the bead tests I did, where the bead covers the bit of thread that would be the picot.

In addition to frilliness, picots create loops for attaching a second level of tatting to the piece.

A plain, bleached linen handkerchief with a few levels of black tatting was a required accessory at most Victorian funerals. To me a cloth hanky is a much nicer, and more comforting thing to slip into a mourning friend's hand than a box of paper tissues.

If you'd like to see some lovely, well crafted versions, Google will provide images -- mourning handkerchief .

A gentleman's handkerchief should have a plain black piece of cloth, a plain ribbon attached to the outside edge of a white piece of cloth, or a conservative crochet stitch, like crab stitch, worked on the outside edges.

2017-07-03T23:34:00.000-05:00

Tatted Hanky Edges

I bought a handful of chopsticks, wrapped in 'napkins' with little elastic napkin rings holding them together at a dollar store a year ago. They were cheap and I was in a hurry so I really didn't look at them I just grabbed and paid. Once I got them home, I was afraid to use them because the paint on them was chipping and I really didn't want any of it to drop into my food.

The cloth napkin the chopsticks were wrapped in on the other hand, had possibilities. Too thin and too small for a napkin, but just the right size and weight for hankies. They're turning out to be a great way to practice simple edgings.

I strung the 10/0 beads Sz. 20 tatting thread using a GUM Eez-Thru Floss Threader (dental floss), then moved the beads down to the 'ball' side. When I got to a place where I'd normally put a picot, I slid a bead up tight to the needle and made a Double Stitch to hold the bead in place.

Each of the little arches is made up of Double stitches (ds) and Picots (p).

Simple pattern:

3ds, P ds, P ds, P, 3ds. Tie a knot and using tatting needle, pierce the hem and tie another knot. Repeat.

I also used 10/0 seed beads in place of the full loop picots on some of the arches. The beads made a much neater and sparklier chain.

The 10/0s will be better on earrings and such. Well see how they stand up to a laundromat washing machine.

2017-05-23T07:10:00.000-05:00

Practice Makes Passable

I found the pattern for these little 3-D snowflakes on the Lace-lovin' Librarian's blog and have spent the last couple of tatting months spitting and cussing and throwing little knotted disappointments into the trash. I finally seem to have figured it out, though they aren't of the quality or craftsmanship of many tatters on the web.

I did learn something important though. Whenever I approach a pattern, even when a pattern is well written with instructive images, I need to make a demo piece with a large tatting needle (or a locker hook) and yarn. And I need to do that first. I wasted two months creating tiny delicate little knots from hell while trying to find the best way to approach the second layer of rings. Right now, I don't have the dexterity to make something on size 20 thread with a size 7 needle.

A size 5 needle? Well that's a snowflake of a different color.

2017-04-07T22:57:00.001-05:00

From the Seed

After watching a couple of YouTube videos I bought an ounce of Pima S7 cotton from Vreseis LTD in California. It arrived in the mail today. Decided to see if I could spin from the seed and yes I can. In the picture --

lower left: cotton fiber stretched lightly out, away from the seed.
upper left: more cotton w/bugs (it's organic cotton) waiting to be teased.
upper right: three cotton seeds on a piece of white paper.
center: a small Destiny turkish spindle made by Scott Snyder. The weights on the outside of the 4 arms make a very fast spin.

As soon as I finish what's left of a merino/silk mix on the Babe spinning wheel, I'll try spinning cotton from the seed there as well. The turkish spindle will be great for travel, but I think I'd rather try punis with it and spin from seed on the wheel.

2017-01-28T22:59:00.000-06:00

House Sock Pattern

This is a magic loop house sock/bed sock pattern. First a sketch with the idea of the general size of the sock and some important numbers.

In working my way to a quick sock that fits, I still cast on 8 stitches in classic Turkish Cast-On.

As I mentioned in previous blog posts, I misunderstood what the Turkish Cast-On should look like and so had to refresh myself from various tutorals online.

It's really basic. I just wrap the yarn around both needles as many times as I need stitches on one needle. I need 8 stitches on each needle and so wrap 8 times.

I then knit around once to secure the cast-on.

There are no increases on this first round. The diagonal stitches in the center are the original wraps. I keep the tail to show me, when the tail is to the left, that I am at the beginning of a round..

The next three rounds are increase rows.

I like to knit the first stitch, then knit in the front and back of the next stitch to increase one. I then knit to the next to the last stitch and increase there as well. Repeat on the backside.

Once I've finished the first 3 increase rounds, I work a plain knit round. Then I alternate increase rounds with plain knit rounds until I have a total of 20 stitches on each needle.

Time to turn on the TV and just start knitting. For the first few socks I would slip the sock on from time to time to check the length. I like to knit up to the pad of my heel. That is the point where my heel actually touches ground. At first I measured with a tape measure and decided 6-1/4 inches was good. And it was in theory, but in practice it was loose. Deciding to take advantage of the elastic quality of knitting I reduced that to 6". When I hit 6 inches, I decide which side of the sock will be the sole of the foot and ...

... thread in a lifeline. While I have used #10 crochet cotton as a lifeline, a thin fingering or sport weight yarn works better. This is where the thinner cord of the circular needle is handy. Slide the sport weight in along the cord through the sole stitches. Begin knitting again.

When I'm back to the sole stitches I stop and look around in my little balls of left-overs and find a color that will stand out as waste yarn. Waste is a bit that I use once and throw away. I'm using it to hold a place in my knitting while I finish the body of the sock. I pick up that waste yarn and knit across the sole.

Then instead of continuing around, I slip those waste stitches back onto my left knitting needle, pick up my main yarn and knit across again.

Finally, I run a second life-line through the new main color yarn row.

I knit in rounds for another 2 to 4 inches and add some ribbing then cast-off using a loose stitch. A straight needle at least 2 sizes larger than the one I'm working with is good for a cast-off then I weave in loose ends.

I use a smaller circular needle to pick up the lifeline stitches, but you could just as easily use a couple of size 1 or 2 straight knitting needles for this.

If you look at the lifelines closely, you'll see that the yarn goes over one leg of each stitch, and under the second. I slide my thinner needle along the same path the yarn takes, over one leg and under the next.

I learned the hard way to be particularly careful on the ends. Those last couple of stitches on both sides have a tendency to sink to the back. I use the tails of my life-lines to pull those stitches up.

I count to make sure I have 20 stitches on each of the needles before cutting and pulling out the lifeline yarn. The waste yarn goes now too.

I chose yellow for the heel, knitting the stitches off the needles and picking up two on each side to help avoid holes. I usually end up duplicate stitching in the ankle area to close those holes anyway, but I keep hoping one day I'll have seamless hole-less socks.

For the Heel Stitch I add a single stitch to both needles so that I have 21 and 21 stitches. If I'm not knitting a patterned heel that requires a specific number I leave it at 20 on each needle. After knitting up the first row and putting away the skinny needles I knit another couple of rounds.

Now for the heel:

Reduce row: K1, K2tog, K to last 3 st., SSK, K1. Repeat for back side.
Heal Stitch row: K1, S1 across, end K1. Repeat for back side.

I continue the two rows until I get down to about 9 stitches on both sides. I end on a reduce row and Kitchener stitch closed.

I'm on a binge, but if you like the simplicity of this pattern, repeat until you've finished a pair of socks or until there's no more room in the sock drawer.

2017-01-22T11:58:00.000-06:00

House Socks - Take Two

I spent about five hours last night trying variations on the Japanese Short-Row, No Wrap Short-Row, Wrapped Short-Row, and 'Heel Stitch' turned heel.

What I've discovered is this:

I don't like any of those heels.
Red Heart Super Saver Yarn is hard wearing, but it's also hard on my hands and not suitable for my socks.
No sock needs to be part of a pair, because it only takes one.
I know how to make a toe, so I can knit Elizabeth Zimmerman's after-thought heel using the fore-thought option.

Back in November, I bought a Caron Cake with the thought that I'd make some brightly colored scarves on the loom or a cardigan or some hats, but screw that.

I'm about to make a bunch of socks that do not perfectly match any of the others but ultimately match each other perfectly because they come from the same ball of yarn. They transcend matching.

Yes. Take that Sock Monster.

I probably need a nap, but I'm going to have more coffee.

And yes, I did avoid the Magic Loop Cast-On war between, Judy's Magic Cast-On, European Knit-On, and the Crochet-Base-I-Don't-Know-But-It-Must-Work-Provisional-Cast-On. I chose what I call the Herring Bone Cast-On.

I think HB Cast-On may have happened to me a few years ago when I misunderstood how Turkish Cast-On works. I kept using it because once you figure out how to tighten it up, it's a cinch.

If you know the real name of this type of cast-on, please let me know.

2017-01-21T09:21:00.000-06:00

House Socks - Take One

Knitting house and bed socks are a great post Holiday/TV activity. It's a quick way to use up all that loud yarn that didn't make it into gifts. This pair, for instance, worked up over three evenings ... and I wasn't actually knitting like a daemon.

After a few years of use and some dispirited and faulty darning, I have two pairs of wearable bed socks left . The major problem with those old socks was the short-row heel. They just don't stand up. snicker I don't have a well defined Achilles tendon so it could be that I have a type of heel that doesn't work well with delicate esthetically pleasing sole denouements.

I turned to Elizabeth Zimmerman's book, Knitting Without Tears, where two types of heel turns are described; the Conventional and the German Heel. Both are based on a percentage of stitches and either begin work at the dead center where the heel stitches hit the floor, or on the center third. When you're working on a 20 stitch heel, that means you end up with a lot of decrease bumps and holes smack dab on the bottom of the foot.

Not only does it let cold floor touch warm heel, it increases the probability that the heel will wear out very quickly.

What I do like about the Zimmerman socks is the idea of knitting Garter Stitch along the edges of the heel flap so that you can physically count the number of rows you've completed (two per ridge), without keeping a running count in your head while you work. I have other things, like lascivious fantasies, to think about while knitting. On the other hand, I don't like the four stitch width of that garter stitch on both sides of the Zimmerman heel, and I really prefer using Heel Stitch (knit 1, slip 1 across, purl back) for greater durability.

So I'm going to combine a 2 stitch garter stitch border on the edges of the heel flap with Terri Lee Royea's The Super Simple Knitwit Sock Pattern heel turn, in another pair of cuff-down left-over yarn bed socks.

If you have a favorite toe-up turned-heel sock pattern, please let me know.

2017-01-13T12:43:00.003-06:00

Socks!! Socks!! Socks!!

I just saw an ad for $35 fleece lined socks.

I'm at the beginning of a sock knitting binge and thinking about ways to do this. Here's my first thought though: Norwegian tvebandsstrikking using 100% wool, lol, as in real fleece. I've done mittens with this technique before, and while it's a little difficult to get the hang of, once you're in the groove it flies.

Theresa Vinson Stenersen at Knitty has a marvelous discussion of tvebandsstrikking ... just google the word to get there quickly or better yet tvåändsstickning.

I hold both yarns continental and pick the color I'm using with the knitting needle as I go. If I'm running one color for a larger space, I first pick the yarn up normally, and on the second stitch pick it up behind the unused color and continue, every other stitch picking under and then picking over.

I've also been known to hold one color on my Continental finger and one on my English, and just cross the yarns every 3, in order to anchor the carried yarn (and also perhaps to anger Zuul).

And OOOOOOOh. Just remembered I have some lovely, if fragile, alpaca/acrylic blend yarns in pistachio and purple.

And here are the promised pictures! On the left, both socks on an Addi Sock Rocket 2.25 (size 1) 40" circular needle. I like using the Magic Loop method of knitting socks -- though I did move to single point size 1 needles for the heels. On the right a finished sock.

At Long Last ... Dragon Fingerless Gloves

2016-12-24T12:09:00.000-06:00

***These dragon fingerless gloves are a combination of crochet and knit techniques. ***

If you don't crochet, I will be developing a different kind of finger-edge embellishment for the next pair of gloves. I would strongly urge you to either watch a YouTube how-to or to take a class in crochet at your Local Yarn Shop, Michaels or Joanne's if/when they offer them. Crochet gives the option of adding extra finishing techniques (like the scales) to knitted items.

If you don't knit, you can complete the gloves with single crochet, half-double, or double crochet or even a shell stitch... all up to you. Just remember to leave space for a thumb. Again, I would suggest either a class or YouTube.

I've also added links to YouTube videos that explain parts of the project that would be confusing if I tried to explain them without pictures. Be nice to the ladies who have spent their time explaining the ins and outs of the various techniques these gloves depend upon.

Materials:

Vanna's Glamour (or any Size 2 acrylic fingering/sport weight yarn with sparklies)

Cascade North Shore (or any size 2 acrylic fingering/sport weight yarn)

1 crochet hook size F

Straight knitting needles size 4 (I use the 10" as they're easier to handle.)

Note on the Yarn:

Two balls of fingering/light sport-weight yarn will make two pair of gloves. One color will supply the 1st and 3rd row of scales and the other the 2nd middle row of scales and the body of the glove. Vanna's Glamour is used to outline the scales and thumbhole to give them more structural and visual definition. You could get away with just using 1 ball of plain fingering and 1 of the Glamour, but note that glamour can be scratchy and doesn't full and can catch on softer yarns because of the sparklies.

If you'll be wearing these Dragon Gloves as UberMits over a pair of leather or one-season $2 Chinese gloves, then that scratchiness and lack of warmth in the Glamour is unimportant.

For the Dragon Scales:

You'll be crocheting it in the round, but it's very very very similar. I'll explain the small differences after you get the gist of it. Here's the URL to a quick YouTube on How to Crochet: Crocodile Stitch, by Tamara Kelly....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4in7seykYc

For the first row of Scales you will:

Chain 28 stitches.

Join the last chain to the first chain with a slip-stitch creating a circle.

Chain 3 for your first double-crochet-plus-chain.

Skip a chain stitch.

Double Crochet TWICE in the next chain stitch, chain 1.

***You're adding a chain stitch at the top of the work to make up for the chain being skipped on the bottom of the grid you're creating. **

Continue around the 28-chain circle, with 1 double-crochet+chain, skip chain, 2 double-crochet+chain, skip chain.

You should end with a 2 double-crochet+chain and an empty chain between it and the first double-crochet.

To finish, slip stitch in the top of the first double-crochet.

Chain 3 and begin the scale stitch described in the YouTube.

**When you finish the first row of scales you could stop there and jump to the knitting or body crochet part. Just leave yourself a nice tail of yarn for a safety line. If you want to continue and add more rows of scales do not turn your work. **

Second and Third row of Scales:

You want to stagger your scales, as they are staggered in nature. Since the scales are built on an 'armature’ of the 2 double crochet, your first stitch which will lie between two finished scales below should be that 2 double crochet set-up for a scale.

**You will build your armature using the same yarn as you used for the first row, throughout. In that way, it will be right there for your 3rd row. Your second color yarn will cover the double crochets on the second row when you create the 3D scales. The tips of the 3rd row of scales will cover any other sins. **

You will follow that by anchoring your 1 double-crochet in the hole in the center of the Scale below. Continue crocheting your armature grid and join as before and complete the scales as before.

Your 3rd row will be a breeze. Just remember 2 Double Crochets in the space between scales, 1 Double Crochet in the slot at the middle of the scale.

**When you finish the 3rd row cut yarn and leave a nice tail. This is a good opportunity to slip the scales over your hand and admire your work. It also gives you an idea of how long you'll want the body of the glove to be. I like mine to come well over the wrist and up into the sleeve of my coat. **

Embelishing the Scales

Using a contrasting color of the same weight of yarn, pull slip stitches up around the edge of each scale. I added an additional chain, unattached to the scale, at the tip. This little picot gives the scales a much more reptilian look.

Skip to the crochet body instructions or, cut yarn and pick up your knitting needles.

Knitted Glove

If you're going to sew the seam (which is an excellent way to deal with it) cast on 40 stitches for a long glove body.

If you want to do something more dramatic, pick up your crochet hook and some waste yarn and create a Provisional Cast-On of 40 stitches. The technique is shown marvelously by KnitFreedom.com....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-irRySJHCKE

Then, using your body yarn, knit a row.

Stick your free needle through a stitch at the bottom of your scales ...

... and then knit back.

Knit back towards the scales and at the last knit stitch, knit it together with the Crochet Stitch, joining them.

Pick up the next crochet stitch and knit back. Continue until you have your Garter Stitch body attached to all (or almost all) of the crochet stitches. And yes, this looks ugly because it's on size 8 needles and black acrylic joined to white craft cotton so that you can see the joins.

*** At the end, I like to pick up the first stitch attached to the first scale, and attach it again to the last row. That seals it up for me. ***

It you chose NOT to use a provisional cast on, cast off your live stitches and then leave a long enough tail to sew the cast-on and cast-off edges together. Be sure to leave room for the thumb. You might also want to do a single crochet or even a slip stitch with Glamour around the thumb-hole, in order to give it more definition. Weave in Ends. Make a second glove and you're done.

If, on the other hand, you'd like the "dragon skin" look of the body to appear seamless, I would suggest the Reverse Kitchener or Garter Stitch Kitchener stitch demonstrated at this link by KnittingHelp.com.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJIVuFDcyOk

Again, be sure to leave space for the thumb, and consider crocheting around the thumbhole with Glamour either as a single crochet or as a slip stitch embellishment, to give it more structure.

Crocheted Glove

Using your body color pull a loop up through one of the base stitches (I like picking up through both legs of the stitch to make it sturdier). Chain 2 and Half-Double crochet around. When you get to the first Half-Double stitch, chain 2 and turn and Half-Double back.

Keep crocheting back and forth until there is enough room for your thumb, and then begin crocheting in the round. You can join each row and chain two and start again so that each row is in line and tidy. Or you can just start crocheting in a spiral which is my preferred method and line up with the thumb space as a reference of where to stop. When the glove is long enough to suit you, single crochet around, or slip stitch around to finish. Weave in ends. On this one, I picked up stitches and knitted a quick ribbing, but there are crochet techniques that can mimic that look.

Start next glove.

***The completely knitted version will be in a future post, sometime after the Holidays.***

And look what I just found! How to Knit -- Crocodile Stitch by anniescraftvideos at ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ReaMhggp1w

And yes, it did occur to me this morning that I've seen several knitted lace edgings that could also do the trick and I googled and look what I found at Grandmother's Pattern Book ...

http://grandmotherspatternbook.com/?p=7965

Which do you think would make the best Dragon Scale Replacement?

2015-04-04T08:31:00.001-05:00

Someone Else Who Knows More than I do...

There is a Ravelry Group tournament of Geekiness, of which I was totally unaware. It makes sense of course. A good number of the people I know from Science Fiction Fandom also knit or sew or bead or at least don't let their hands wander off to Satan's Workshop without a good pattern.

Up until recently, when I felt like weaving something on the Rigid Heddle, I would just pull out some yarn and the heddles and figure out which fit what with the least amount of pilling/gaps. This was because most instructions I had discovered approached weaving by starting with the heddle and deciding which yarn to buy for it, and not starting from the yarn on hand and discovering which heddle would work well.

With this blog it's no longer a problem, and I'll be poking through the ravelry group a little later. For now, here's the URL to NERD WARS.

http://ravnerdwars.info/2013/01/weaving-calculations-plain-weave-rh/

Later.

2015-03-26T19:50:00.003-05:00

Long Time No See

It's hard to believe it's been over a year since my last post.

This won't be much of a post. I'm here to introduce you to someone else's tutorial on knitting Fair Isle patterns, in the round, without creating long floats.

I admit, I'm posting this now so that I can find it anytime I need to refresh my skills.

This is the YouTube tutorial, " Fair Isle Knitting - Carrying Floats - Two Hands"
by Lorraine L.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtDGR2NM9-Q

Have a good one! Promise it won't be so long before the next post. I bought toys. There were be pictures.

Penne Dreadful

2014-03-10T21:21:00.001-05:00

I know this is not the usual fare, and I will be getting back to fiber related posts soon. For the time being, though, here's a quick little recipe for your ... consideration. Be warned. It's a dark and dreadful meal that can be addictive.

Sear a poblano over gas flame until it confesses
and then trap it in the bag to sweat for its sins.

Hack about a handful of Kalamata olives, mercilessly.

Roughly chop 1/2 red onion.

De-seed and chop about 8 Kumatos. It ends up
being about 1-1/2 to 2 cups of gore.

It looks quite bloody when you're done chopping.
Hide the evidence.

Slough off the poblano skin, de-seed it and slice 1/2 of it
to bits. I leave the veins in place as winter poblanos are mild.
The second half, like the onion before it, goes into the
refrigerator oubliette.

This is a fast cook so I toss the basil into the bloody kumato ...

... and then toss the oregano in as well. The idea is
the herbs will have a head start rehydrating on the
tomato's life blood.

Since I'm also using onion, I want the garlic
to take a backseat.
Slice two cloves so that they look like little accusing eyes.

Here are the ingredients lined up.
L to R: Garlic, onion, kalamata, poblano, penne, kumato.
Sounds terrifyingly alien, doesn't it.

Start with a couple of swipes of olive oil and saute the onion.
Once they start sweating add the Garlic.
Add dribbles of olive oil as needed.

In 30 seconds to a minute the garlic will become fragrant.
Add the poblano. Keep stirring this as you go along to avoid burning.
Garlic is easily singed.

Add the olives quickly and combine.

Add the herbed kumato and stir the pot vigorously.

When the kumato begins weeping uncontrollably, lower heat and cover,
stirring every couple of minutes. As soon as the mixture is drowning,
remove the lid and, stirring often, raise heat with the intention of reducing the liquid
without scorching the sauce.

I've not given instructions on how to immerse the penne pasta in violently boiling water until it's overcome and limp. You'll find instructions for that little horror on the side of the pasta box.

Serve sauce over cooked penne with slivers of parmesan.
I use a carrot peeler to make the ribbons.
Eat with a silver fork emblazoned with a cross lest the Penne Dreadful turn on you.

Of course, this dish works well with a blood red wine. Bon Appetite.

Halloween is Actually Closer Than Xmas

2013-09-07T13:20:00.001-05:00

These Day of the Dead Earrings are a Lot Like Halloween ...

... not quite there yet, but getting closer.

Pattern

Aunt Lydia's #10 thread in Mexicana Variegated colorway
6/0 Czech beads
Skull bead
Handy Hands #5 needle.
Size 1.1 mm Crochet Hook
Stitch Safety Pin or Paper Clip

DS = Double Stitch
pb = Place Bead

Load 10 Czech beads on the ball thread and have the skull bead ready for the Long Picot when you get to it.

* To make the LONG PICOT that holds the skull, pull the ball thread up through the skull bead using a small crochet hook, then slip a pin or paperclip through the top of the LONG PICOT to hold the skull while you continue tatting.*

Needle Tatting Pattern for the ring around the skull is:

1DS, pb, 2DS, pb, 2DS, pb, 2DS, pb, 2DS, pb, *1DS Long Picot 1DS*, pb, 2DS, pb, 2DS, pb, 2DS, pb, 2DS, pb,1DS

Put needle through Long Picot end held open by pin or clip, and then through the End Loop and cinch to complete ring. Knot. Hide ends.
- - - - - - - -

I didn't add the R= 2DS,p,2DS that you see at the top of the picture to the pattern. I was thinking that I needed a tatted 'jump' ring to attach the ear wire. Now I'm leaning twoards running the earring through the join knots once the thread ends are hidden.

On another note, Aunt Lydia's Metallic size 10 doesn't work for me on the tatting needle; the metal ply catches and bunches. It might work in shuttle tatting and I know it works with crochet so nothing lost.

Finished Earring is Nickle Size

Baby Jane Alteration

2013-06-02T15:29:00.000-05:00

Second Attempt -- Pin-Curl Clips

Besides choosing smaller clips, I also chose to make a single crocheted leaf using Size 3 crochet thread on a D crochet hook. I added definition to the leaf by using the color turquoise for the center vein (beginning chain) and sage for the body.

Hook Size: The 0 size hook compressed the stitches too much making the difference between a double-crochet and a single-crochet invisible. The D crochet hook, while still small, creates looser stitches so that the leaf is fuller. Lesson: Do test leaves in several different size hooks.

Tails: Leave a long beginning tail which will sew the leaf to the clip, and an ending tail at least twice the length of the leaf. You might want to also add a bit of "stem" with a Chain 2, when you've finished the leaf.

You can make the center vein stand out by running the end tail back through those center stitches before hot gluing the leaf to the clip. Lesson: Sometimes it's actually worth it to weave in more than one tail.

It would also be possible to thread beads on that center vein enhancement as you go. Lesson: When using more than one color of thread, be careful how you weave in the ends. You can see a couple of sloppy mistakes in these pictures.

Clip Size: This smaller clip is much more attractive and I will wear it in public. If you do use the larger sectioning clip, I would suggest that you make several single leaves instead of the leaf chain. If I try it again I'll overlap them at a 30-35 degree angles during the gluing process. More of a laurel leaf crown sort of thing. Lesson: Yes, the gluing process is necessary, if only to hold that stupid leaf in one place while you're sewing it down.

And yes, it DID occur to me that these leaves would make a wonderful Casual Tiara. Perhaps in black?

Baby Janes

2013-05-27T13:24:00.000-05:00

Remember that 4-year period when it was impossible to find Maryjanes that didn't look like bowling shoes, basic ballet style flats were unavailable for under $200 and flip-flops only came in the platform variety?

This is what happens when all the Captains of Industry want to make a killing selling 'fashionable' shoes at a low price. All the factories in China start exporting hideous crap and only high-end shoemakers, here and in Europe, are left to supply the classic designs.

I think this may have happened to the Flamingo Clip. Someone discovered she couldn't become an overnight millionaire making them, so everyone stopped.

I had no idea of what those hair-clips were called before I couldn't find them. It took many googles to find that name while searching for hair-sectioning-clips-in-plastic. Flamingo clips look like the curved bill of a bird which explains the name. Flamingo is so much more '80s than hair-sectioning-clip, so "Miami Vice." And that's another clue to their demise right there.

Online I found some of the 4 inch model to hold an impromptu french roll and half-inch ones to adorn. But I couldn't find any of the 2-3 inch ones I use to pull the hair out of my face while I'm hunched over a project.

This got my "dammit I'll make my own" dander up.

You can still find silver colored sectioning clips at beauty-supply shops and truth be told you can find colored plastic sectioning clips there or online. The thing is you can't easily find the plastic ones in shops, and I hesitate to pay $4 shipping for $3 clips. On the other hand, wearing plain metal hair-sectioning clips out in public kind of screams "She's desperately poor." So, the metal ones must be enhanced and here's how I tried.

Polish dries quickly

What I used:

2 Sectioning Clips
Fingernail Polish - I chose green
Hot Glue Gun
Size 0 Crochet Hook (2.25 mm or B)
Size 3 Crochet Thread - I used Royale fashion crochet thread in Sage
A Crochet Motif Pattern - I chose a leaf pattern on Ravelry by Fable Handmade Goods, her "Leaves & Leaf Chain" pattern

Painted, crocheted and ready to glue

Green would be a good background color if you decided to crochet roses or pansies or any kind of flower. Frankly, there's no reason why you should only crochet enhancements. Left-over Halloween polish and some sequins could be enough to get that Disco Ball spinning.

A needle-tatted lace insert of outer beaded rings connected by arches or threads would work. Glue on doll eyes would work -- you would just need a much stronger glue than generic hot-gun. And why glue something to the clips other than glue? They do make All-Temp Colored Glue sticks. No reason you couldn't do free-form spaghetti monster squiggles. Or snakes. But I digress.

$-Store pins on top, working clothes-pin bottom.

I painted two clips with two coats of polish and crocheted four leaves with extra-long thread tails. The tails came in handy. Don't they always?

For my first attempt I put the glue on the clip and pressed the leaves on and then clamped with Dollar-Store Clothes Pins. There on the right you'll see that the Dollar-Store Pins are small and not up to the task of pinning clothes to any thing -- but they're just dandy as light-weight clamps.

I unplugged the glue gun and walked away to let things cool.

When I returned I discovered the glue wasn't holding at all. I lifted the leaves off and then peeled the glue off the clips and started over.

Picking up a couple of threads

3 pins seemed to be better

The second time I applied the hot glue to the leaves and THEN pressed the clips on the glue and clamped immediately.

A knot to hold it.

When it had cooled the attachment was stronger, but not strong enough to withstand more than one wear.

Using the long tail, I secured the leaves to the clip by picking up a stitch or two on the left side and then running the thread between the clip's mandibles and picking up a couple of stitches on the right side -- back and forth -- all on the underside of the leaves.

So, if you've ever wondered "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", the answer is she's alive and well and in my apartment and not allowed to go out with these things in her hair. You who are much younger may wear them in public, with my blessing. I will content myself with finding a tatting insert pattern that might work a little better. Perhaps some decent, mature, hair-combs is the answer.

Continous versus Weave-It

2013-01-20T18:42:00.001-06:00

I was lucky enough to run into Hazel Rose looms a few years ago when I belonged to a Tri-Loom Yahoo message board/email list. At the time, there was a lot of experimentation by small woodworker/fiber artist teams who met on that list. They discussed different ways of using the looms they made and different ways of making the looms.

The goal was to create a form of weaving which involved small to large frames studded with nails or hooks.

Small portable looms have been used for thousands and thousands of years.The types archaeologists tend to dig up, are usually of the tapestry or back strap or rug sort. These looms require some sort of stationary anchor or weights in order to maintain tension on the warp threads. While you could unhook from the tree or whatever, in order to move your weaving with the tent and the herd, once you sat down again to start weaving, the loom was stationary. You wouldn't pick it up and take it to the fire to work on while watching the pot boil, or pack it in a sack and carry it to town to work on while waiting in line.

Small modular looms that employ nails or hooks are much more portable, but are also not new. "Weave-It" and "Love-or-Money" looms were popular during the last depression when weaving patchwork quilt size squares were popular among housewives. They advertised themselves as perfect for creating an afghan or patching a pants knee. More than one person bought one of those looms believing they could actually weave an entire woolen suit and wear it in public and possibly sell clothes they had hand-made with it.

These looms followed the mindset that you would have a warp and a weft. One would warp the looms first and then, using a needle, weave back and forth to create a square of cloth.

When I first joined the Tri-Loom group they were concentrating on largish modular looms in the shape of a triangle that could be woven continuously. While there was some talk that weaving shawls on these looms and selling them at craft fairs could easily recoup the cost -- that idea didn't last long.

Weaving this way is no get-rich-quick thing. There's no market for handwork here in the US that could possibly recoup the cost of the yarn. There is so much cheap machine made crap flooding the market, you will not be selling stylish hand woven business suits using one of these small looms. You will, however, be making your own blankets, scarves and shawls and ruanna's and your own washcloths, dishcloths and towels that will last you a lifetime.

The continuous method is different in that, there was no warp and weft. The weaver doesn't warp the looms and then begin weaving. The weaver attaches the yarn to a nail and starts weaving.

The yarn is both warp AND weft. This type of weaving has the advantage that it was very homespun and novelty yarn friendly. For the most part with harness and rigid-heddle looms, warp thread has to be uniform and smooth. You can use whatever you like for the weft ... but the warp has to be something that can be stretched at high tension and stand up to the abrasion of heddles. While hand-spinners in earlier centuries produced yarn that could stand up to a loom, and while I have done so -- it's not fun. It's hard work and there's nothing artsy-fartsy about it.

Modular looms, on the other hand, minimized abrasion on the yarn. While weaving with some of the fuzzier mohair yarn is extremely difficult and time consuming -- other hand spun types like boucle and thick-N-thin bloom with this style of weaving.

Usually, if you're going to weave Weave-It style with mock warp and weft, you'll need to use a Weave-It loom. And you can find them for sale on eBay and elsewhere. Hazel's looms, on the other hand, offer the best of both styles. They can be used either as a continuous weave loom or as a Weave-It type. And interestingly enough, the every present X-mas variegated yarn behaves differently in each style of weaving. You can see from the ruler that I've estimated that the Xmas yarn changes color about every 14 inches.

On the left is the Weave-It (WI)style and on the right is the continuously (C) woven. Laying down a warp and then needle weaving a weft produces a plaid-ish square. Weaving continuously, on the other hand, produces a log-cabin-ish look. The differences don't stop there. The WI square is much more loosely woven and you can clearly see the difference between the blue and the white backgrounds through it. The background change isn't as noticeable on the C square, because it's woven on the bias, continuously and so contracts as soon as it's removed from the loom.

Back when I frequented the Tri-Loom group there was a woman who actually space dyed "sunset" yarn so that weaving continuously would produce a triangle with a yellow bottom point that faded up through oranges and reds to purples and deep, deep blue at the hypotenuse. Others were experimenting with math to place specific colors in specific places on the piece based on the size of the loom and the length of the color repeat.

If the squares above had been woven in 100% wool or Cotton, they could be fulled and both would be usable cloth. The WI would be a more stable square while the C square would be more stretchy, but both could be joined to similarly woven squares to make a larger piece of cloth..

So, if you've suddenly discovered that you're spinning too fast for your knitting needles this may be a way to test the weaving waters before you plunk down $200 to $2,000 for a traditional loom. If you want to learn more about these types of looms drop by Hazel Rose's website or Google "small looms."

Harlot Scarlet and Other Odd Things

2013-01-04T05:00:00.000-06:00

The scarf I'm working on has two rows. One is knit. The other is simple lace pattern of decreases, yarn-overs and knit stitches in-between. Both sides of the work look amazingly alike. This can be a problem if I can't remember where I left off when I set the work down the night before.

I'm sure that you can always tell where you are in the pattern when you pick up knitting you set aside. You're either looking at the purl side of the work or you're not. You're in the middle of the second repetition of a lace pattern, or you're not. I'm lucky if I remember what row I'm on while I'm on it. Yesterday, I got tired of dealing with a Miss Marple Mystery every single time I picked up my needles. So I did something about it.

I've never had a manicure I haven't been able to trash in less than an hour. I type for a living and I type for pleasure. I've worn the little letters off more than one keyboard. But every once in a while I NEED orange and chartreuse fingernails. This means that I have a wonderful collection of brightly colored enamel that will wear FOREVER on anything other than my nails.

Last night I decided that one of the needles would be the passive needle and that would be the one I use to knit the plain row. It would be the plain needle. The other needle would be the one I use to complete the pattern row. The the active needle got a good glop of scarlet nail enamel.

Now, even if I find myself in the middle of a heated discussion, or the middle of a volcanic explosion on Nova, or a stirring paragraph in the book I'm reading, I'll never lose my place in the knitting. All I have to do is look at the butt end of my needles.

I don't know that you'll find this little tip useful, but go ahead, paint your needles. You don't have to explain why to anyone on the bus. It can be our secret.

A New New Year's Resolution

2013-01-01T15:37:00.000-06:00

It didn't take long for me to break a pre-pre-New Year's Eve resolution that I would stop inflicting fiber experiments on my family when gifts are part of our celebrations. Sorry ladies and gentlemen. I'll do my best to keep the presents to things you might actually use or be able to regift.

At the same time I am partially confirming a real resolution to knit and crochet more and do less housework. While I was guilty of washing the kitchen floor this morning and am in the process of baking a couple of squashes, I will be working in fiber and blogging about it much more this year.

This is the beginning of a scarf using size 6 needles, and Vanna's Glamour in Diamond. The pattern is a simple one: Two rows, one patterned and the other plain knit. The result is a sparkling chevron pattern with eyelets. I've condensed the pattern row onto a post-it so it can be carried with me in my tiny turquoise project tote. The pattern can be found in Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders.

I'm thinking this collection of patterns is going to get a lot of use. I do enjoy spinning novelties and working with luxury fibers, but I usually run out of oomph after one or two 300 yard skeins. Because chevrons play well with variegated yarns, and judiciously placed eyelets play nice with fuzzy yarns, I can see that this little blingy scarf will be a staple.