Monday, November 2, 2009

Knit Along: Shawl Collar Vest from Lamb Shoppe - Day 1

Ambiknixterous...


Like most alpaca, this Misti Alpaca chunky yarn is fabulously soft and dreamy to knit. My blood pressure goes down just touching the stuff. And the frothy pink I chose for my color (uncharacteristic, but then again it was breast cancer awareness month when I visited so maybe I had pink on the brain) only adds to the bliss. Plus, ballet-pink is one of those colors that goes well with grey, black, and brown, which is a huge percentage of my wardrobe.


Color and texture are great elements, but the real star of this story is technique. DestiKNITions fans will know I recently added Continental-style (the style where you hold the working yarn in your left hand, as opposed to American where you hold the yarn in your right) to my skill tool box. The larger needle size has made this project an ideal opportunity to perfect that skill. Most importantly, knitting ribbing is exponentially faster using Continental style.


Ribbing is, well tedious. Two purls, two knits, two purls, the non-stop swapping of sides of the yarn from front to back...yawn. Still, I understand its uses. Socks and mittens are pretty much lost without it. But long stretches of ribbing go s-l-o-w-l-y.


...until now.


Now, I zip through this stuff. It goes so much faster in Continental style. It’s actually fun, not tedious at all. I can’t do it competently on small needles yet, but on these Denise needles with their nice sharp points, I’m a Continental Contessa.


Find someone to show you, or do like I did and take a class. It totally pays to be ambiknixterous--my newly minted term for being able to knit with both styles.


Hey, I’m a published author. I have a license to make up words.

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