Davis Street Shawl from CloseKnit -Day 3

Poetic and fuzzy...

Some projects don’t give up their progress easily.  You have to dig deep for the benchmarks that are going to make you feel like you’re getting somewhere.  

I just passed the hand off from ball of yarn #1 to ball of yarn #2--the quintessential “halfway home.”  Of course, it’s not really a visual half-way.  It will take much more yarn to accomplish these longer rows, so I won’t get a shawl that’s twice as long as the one I have now.  

The “fuzzy math” is that I’m probably two thirds through the length even if I’m one half through the yarn.  Truth be told, my last row on this shawl will be my longest.  It’s rather poetic when you think about it.

Remind me of the poetry when I’m slogging through endless inches of garter in about half a ball...

Davis Street Shawl from CloseKnit -Day 2

What's the point?

I’m not a big fan of edge-up shawls.  The work goes more slowly with each row, and it’s always tough to gauge when to stop.  I always end up measuring back from the yarn end to make sure I’ve got enough for the bind off row, and I never get it right.  Being as tall as I am, I need all the length I can squeeze out of a ball of yarn, so I try never to stop until I absolutely have to. Which gets me into trouble.

Still, that’s not what unnerves me about this shawl.  It’s those picots, those little bumps waiting for me at the end of every row.  They look so cute in the photos--all sweet and scallop-y.  Subtler than pom-poms but with more style than a selvedge edge.  I want them to work, want them to look like clever trimming instead of ugly growths bulging off the end of each row.  

Some rows I look at the funny bump and think it just looks like my shawl has warts. Other rows I hold it up and think, “eh, not so bad.”  The fuzz and the color work against me here...they make it hard to judge.

I know there are at least three that I totally botched, but I’m hoping they won’t show.  I’m choosing to soldier on, trusting that there will be strength in numbers.  You know what they say, “never judge September apples in June.”  I’m trying not to judge a triangle by only it’s point.

And maybe that’s the point (pun intended).  Sometimes we only see the beauty of our experience in hindsight.

Davis Street Shawl from CloseKnit -Day 1

Mostly I think of shawls as decorative, but this project looked so practical and cozy I opted for a bit of an experiment: function. 

The pattern itself lends a bit of decoration with the picot trim (with which I confess I've not had much past success), so I chose the Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Brushed Alpaca in a very basic neutral color. Will the oatmeal shade--called "gray heather"--prove versatile or boring? It's too soon to tell, but I do find myself wishing I had more neutral knit pieces from time to time. My attraction to vibrant colors isn't always the smartest choice, but when faced with a shelf full of gorgeous hues at the yarn store, it's hard to think practically. 

The fuzzy lofty nature of this yarn certainly feels like warmth is in store. There's a bit of scratchiness on the needles, but it may be the kind that disappears at the blocking stage. Most of my worries center around the picot edge--I don't have a good track record with this stitch at all. This shawl will either mark my victory over the picot--or it's victory over me. 


Care to make a prediction?

The First-Ever Edition of Authors Who Knit: Tracy Barrett

I've long wanted to introduce you to some of the fabulous knitting authors I meet in my travels.  As a new feature for 2012, you'll meet one knitting author each month. Let's get started!

DestiKNITers, allow me to introduce you to Tracy Barrett.

What’s on your needles right now?

I'm working on a cardigan called "Eala Bhan" from the updated edition of Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. I had to pause to make Christmas and Hanukkah presents but I'm back to it now. It's very complicated but so well designed that it's fun, and the yarn is a dream to work with.

What feels like your favorite/greatest knitting accomplishment?

I made a jacket for my slender six-foot tall daughter (in other words, not a standard size), and she had very precise requirements for fit. It involved math skills I hadn't used since high school (which is a lo-o-o-ong time ago now!) to make it all come out right, and it fits her like a glove!

What feels like the worst knitting mistake/foible/wrong choice you’ve ever made?

Using cheap yarn is always a mistake. I have a sweater that looks great right after it's been re-blocked and de-pilled, but in a short time it stretches out and pills again.

Straight or circular needles?

Anything but double-points. I'll keep knitting on a circular long after the work has gotten too tight on them just so I can avoid the DP's as long as possible.

Metal or wood needles?

Whatev.

White chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate?

Usually dark, but if I'm eating it for emotional reasons (which is the main reason to eat chocolate, right?) I'll go for the comfort-food aspect of milk chocolate.

Coffee or tea?

There are authors who drink tea???

Have you written a knitting character? 

Not yet, but a lot of my heroines are accomplished at other needle arts. I mostly write historical fiction, and women (and some men) have always made crucial contributions in those areas to human survival and to the economy of their families, so I make sure that my heroines like and are skilled at spinning, weaving, sewing, and embroidery.

What’s the last thing anyone would suspect about your latest book, Dark of the Moon?

The huge amount of research I had to do! It's a retelling of the myth of the half-man, half-bull monster known as the Minotaur, but I set it in the real, not mythical, world (and my Minotaur isn't a monster), and I had to learn a lot about Bronze-Age Crete. I love research, though, so it wasn't painful.

Give a shout out to your favorite local yarn store:

Haus of Yarn

265 White Bridge Pike

Nashville, TN 37209

hausofyarn.com

Dark of the Moon is described as the tale of the half-man, half-bull Minotaur, as told in alternating points of view by his sister, Ariadne, and his killer, Theseus.  School Library Journal called it "deft, dark, and enthralling." Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy!

Visit Tracy's website at www.tracybarrett.com or her blog at goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com

Happy 3rd Birthday Greatest Hits Click-Thru Tour!

As I've done every anniversary since DestiKNITions launched, here's a sample of my favorite posts from the past year:

Knitting and Doctor Who

We can’t always get what we want

Highland Park, Illinois 

Ever been hit with a virus?

Startitis and finishitis...

Downtown New York City

Knit or pay dearly

Jeffersonville, Indiana

Head and hands...

Galena, Illinois

How to have a lovely drive

The needles don't pin me down, they hold me up

Knit the Big Apple

Just deal with it...

Diagonal Rib Infinity Scarf from Stitch(es) - DONE!

You know that shopping experience where you see a dress on the hanger and think, “Wow!  That’s a stunner!”  Then, when you get it on in the dressing room, it’s all wrong?  That flowing top is just boxy and makes you look fat, or the waist is so unflattering you feel like a bowling ball wrapped in a curtain, or any number of unexpected flaws?

Or, it’s the opposite.  You grab a plain looking frock just because the color intrigues you, only to discover that it fits with elegant style and gorgeous drape. If find this most often to be true of dresses and bathing suits, but I bet all of you have stories of a similar kind.  Things aren't always what they seem.

It’s true of this scarf...only I can’t decide if it’s good or bad.  It’s just totally different than what I’d imagined.  In the pattern’s defense, I had no finished photo, so my brain concocted an image as construction went along.  Still, I find the yarn behaves completely differently off the needles.  What I thought was going to be a fluffy swath of ribbing--something for warmth, is in reality a sleek accessory.  Off the circular needles, the thing stretched out to a long thin near-tube within seconds.  The curl at each side of the scarf is gone, hidden by the piece’s tendency to curve in on itself.

Now that I think it over, how else would a diagonal ribbed scarf behave?  It makes sense.  And it’s not at all unattractive.  It’s just so different.  You can’t see many of the things I liked about it, but other things have emerged that are just as intriguing.  I don’t not like it, I’m just stunned by the off-needle transformation.  And I don't know where to file the surprise.  Good?  Bad? Just surprising?

After a few wears in its current state, I’m going to wash and block it to see if it changes again.  That’s the marvelous mystery of knitting...you never know what you’re going to get!  

Even when you think you’ve already gotten it!

Before we travel on to our final North Shore project, we get to fun detours next week:

1) The annual Click Thru Happy Birthday Tour of best posts from 2011, and

2) our first-ever Knitting Authors Profile, where you'll meet a published author who's also a knitter and hear about how she balances her keyboards and needles

Diagonal Rib Infinity Scarf from Stitch(es) - Day 5

Before we begin, let's take a moment to recognize this is my 250th post.  Wow.  Who'd have thunk it??? I hope you've enjoyed the journey as much as I have!  We now return to the subject at hand:


Heading for the final curl...

I’m finally at the end of that l-o-n-g expanse of knit-5-purl-3.  The diagonal ribbing truly ads something special to the piece.  I can’t say until I’ve put it on, but I believe it will factor in how the scarf will drape around my neck.  I certainly know will feel soft and warm.  It’s been an eerily warm winter so far in Chicago...and I can’t help thinking payback is on the way.

Given my druthers, I’d suppose I’d opt to make it a bit wider.  I only received one skein of the Shibui Baby Alpaca, but it doesn’t seem to be enough to make it the full 7+ inches called for in the pattern.  I had to measure out the far end of the yarn.  I felt I needed to mark a “stopping point” to make sure I'd reserved enough yardage to do the five rows of stockinette.  I want that clever roll I need to match the beginning edge.  

It’s fine the way it is, but some part of me would prefer another three inches or so of width.  It feels like 10 inches to play with would be optimal.  It’s just a hunch--I haven’t gotten it around my neck yet.  And, let’s not forget that a wider scarf would mean three more inches of endless knit-5-purl-3 and I’m really done with that.

My original charm with this project still holds:  it’s a cute basic taken up a notch with some thoughtful pattern design.  Well worth a try--especially if the Chicago winter’s about to have its way.

Diagonal Rib Infinity Scarf from Stitch(es) - Day 4

Um...yeah...about that...

So, here’s the thing about writing a knitting blog.  It’s loads of fun, and you get access to the most delicioius cupcakes on the planet not to mention meeting great yarn folks from all over.

Then those great yarn folks give you stunning patterns.  Which you knit.  In front of lots of people--well, digitally in front of ‘cuz you’re not in my living room or anything (and aren’t you glad??).

And then there’s the bit where you mess up.  Which, in blogosphere terms, means you mess up in front of everyone.  Then you’re forced to fess up about your mess up. [cue violins]

Which explains today’s post.

You know all those pattern instructions for circular needles that say “make positively absolutely triple-dog-certain that you don’t twist the stitches when you join them together”?  Twisting the first row is like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters: the world just might fall apart if you allow it to happen.

Um...yeah...about that “no twist” imperative:  I sort of botched it.  Worse, I was three inches into the knitting before I caught on.  Halfway done--that’s downright embarrassing. So much for the myth of the observant nature of writers.  My infinity scarf is twisted.  Rats. [cue ominous music]

I spent a half-hour kicking various living room objects, cursing my inattention and the fact that I absolutely couldn’t manage ripping it out and redoing it in time to stage a cover-up.  

Then it dawned on me: Infinity scarf + twisted loop = mobius strip = mobius scarf! [cue trumpet fanfare]

I have always wondered how these mobius things worked (although now having accomplished it and read the Wikipedia entry twice, I’m still not sure I know).  The pattern has a clear front and back, so it’s not an ideal set-up, but I’m going to make the most of it. [cue earnest music]

You never know...it just might work...it may even turn out awesome! [cue 1950's announcer crooning..."until next time..."]