Is having just a few minutes for a cup of tea and knitting before I head off to work. I finished the sleeves for Rogue yesterday and picked up the stitches around the neck for the hood, which is full of delicious cables.
Here’s another shot of the cables. It’s tough to get a decent photo this time of morning.
Several weeks ago I received a copy of the Vogue Knitting book from the publisher, with a request to review the new edition*.
I also have the original version of this, published in 1989. Honestly, I haven’t used it much, but it was nice to have for comparison.
Much of the content of the new edition is similar. Overall, the text is much easier to read. All text, including chapter headings, is on a white background, with a bigger and cleaner font. The old edition had “tip boxes” with dark colored headings, so it was hard to read the text. Here is one comparison. The first photo is the from the old edition.
A lot of the text is similar, though cleaned up, and key points in the text throughout are in bold so are easier to find. Similarly, many photos and illustrations are the same, but are larger, and a lot of the swatch photos are either redone or lightened so stitch patterns are easier to see.
There is expanded information on new fibers and tools. There are 11 new cast ons shown. The sections on increases and decreases uses terminology that is much clearer, and matches current pattern writing.
There are brand new sections devoted to cable knitting, lace knitting, advanced techniques (brioche, double knitting), directional knitting (entrelac, center-out knitting), and new sections on designing shawls, hats, and hand and foot coverings. The cable and lace sections alone are worth the price of the book. It includes instruction on knitting from charts, as well as shaping in lace patterns.
The section on understanding knitting directions is expanded. There is more on gauge, and detailed sizing charts that are new. This section has one of the simplest explanations of darning that I’ve ever seen.
The section on circular and double point knitting includes expanded information on newer techniques: magic loop, the jogless join, Moebius knitting, and knitting with two circulars.
In the chapter on designing, the goofy wooden body models are gone.
Instead you get this:
The accompanying text has numbered descriptions of each of those measurements.
Other new features that I found include a more extensive discussion of short row shaping, including double stitch German short rows (Melanie Berg uses this in many of her shawl patterns). There are also updated shoulder and sleeve construction options.
There are a couple things from the old book that were left out. The introductory chapter on the history of knitting is gone. I doubt that anyone will miss it. The stitch dictionary is gone, but much of that info is now in the appropriate chapters on cables and lace. And the handful of very dated sweater patterns at the end of the book are gone. I’m quite certain that I’ll never get the itch to knit an oversized bulky sweater with reindeer on the front.
I probably wouldn’t have had this on my radar screen to go out and buy. There is so much useful information on the internet that I don’t haul out my knitting books much. This book is a great addition to any knitting library, and I anticipate that it won’t spend nearly as much time on the bookshelf as the old edition. I would highly recommend this one.
*In full disclosure, I received the review copy for free, but I’m not getting any other compensation for this.
My Yarn Box Runneth Over
I either need to knit faster or buy another plastic container. And no, I’m not going to admit publicly just how many of those boxes I have. Let’s just say that I have it all recorded in a spreadsheet with photos, since if the house burned down, USAA would never believe I have that much invested without proof.
We’re having a friend over for Easter dinner tomorrow, so today is baking day. The main course is an herbed and roasted boneless leg of lamb, with a potato gratin and asparagus. This morning I made some bread to go with dinner. I’m making an orange chiffon cake next. Here’s the bread.
I’m pretty sure that won’t make it until tomorrow before it gets “tested”.
In other news, I bought a set of 3 resistance bands for strength training. They didn’t last a day before one went missing. Yesterday I wedged the other two under a set of dumbbells to secure them. This morning John found one of those two on the stairs, and the third seems to have permanently disappeared.
I’m pretty sure this is the culprit.
All I can say is that she better be showing some muscles.
I can’t tell you how many dozens of pairs of socks I’ve knit over the years. I still get gusset holes sometimes, which really annoys me. Here’s a closeup.
It’s always on that same side. It just pisses me off, even though I can fix it later with duplicate stitch.
But isn’t that some pretty sock yarn? I just keep knitting and knitting to get to the next color stripe.
And one last photo.
This is that lace shawl I showed in the last post, just stretched out a bit so you can see how pretty it will be.
Back to knitting!
It’s a good thing that my phone calendar has a reminder feature, or I’d have missed my own “blogiversary”. It’s actually tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure if I wait until then, I’ll forget to post something.
I’ve been a very neglectful blogger in the past year. I’m hoping to change that. I’ve got all sorts of new stuff going on in my life to talk about, so hopefully I can get back into the habit of writing here.
First up is my current projects.
That is Rogue. I have just a bit of one sleeve to finish, then the hood, which is full of pretty cables, so that should go quickly. I have a little fixing to do on the front right neck. When I pulled it out of the bag to take a photo, the stitch holder carrying the right front cabled stitches had come out, letting all of those stitches go. Fortunately Peace Fleece sticks together pretty well, and I have the other side to compare, so I should be able to get it together without too much of a mess.
This is Trillian, knit in Schaefer Anne. It’s a lot less garish and much more girly than that photo would lead you to believe. This is pretty simple “TV” knitting. You’d think that I would have it finished by now.
Next up is my Winter Solstice shawl. This is even less photogenic than a blob of lace usually is, I stopped right in the middle of the row to get a photo. I have about a billion rows left to knit.
Last but not least, my latest sock. I simply adore this yarn. It is from Trailing Clouds, the color is Mind the Gap, inspired by the 12 colors of the London Tube map. The shop has been sold out for awhile, but fortunately I have a couple other colors of this in the stash.
That’s it for today. Next time I have a knitting book review for you!
I actually have gotten some knitting done this past few weeks, though damned little. It’s been the usual holiday season chaos around here, with too much to get done and not enough time to just sit and knit.
I’m in that endless part of sleeve knitting, where it just keeps getting wider and wider, with ever longer rows. This Peace Fleece yarn is so lovely that I am enjoying it though. And that is a good thing, since I have enough Peace Fleece in different colors to make nine more sweaters. I keep looking at their colors that I don’t have (admittedly not very many!), but I really need to stick with the plan and not buy more until I use some of what I have.
On that note, it’s been nearly 3 months since my last yarn purchase. I’m going to try to get to a year again. We’ll see how that goes. When it comes to those pretty pretty colors, I don’t have a lot of will power!
I hope your holiday season is full of joy and peace!
I have been knitting socks almost since I learned to knit almost 20 years ago. Since then, I always have a sock in progress, as soon as I finish a pair, I cast on another one.
My finished sock stash is starting to show its age a bit. I still have a dozen plus good pairs, but some of those are getting a bit thin in places. My hand knit socks far outlast commercial socks, but they don’t last forever.
I’m hereby declaring 2018 to be the year of sock knitting. God knows I have sock yarn to spare. I have yarn in those boxes upstairs to knit well over 200 pairs of socks.
Here’s what I am working on now.*
I’m thinking I could finish those with a couple of good football games on deck.
What about you all? What are your knitting plans for 2018?
*Just because someone almost always asks, the small red spool is Wooly Nylon. I use it as reinforcing thread for heels and toes.
I woke up early yesterday feeling yucky. I hate calling in sick, so I sucked it up, got ready and went in. It should have been a sign that the cup of tea I made before I got in the shower almost made me gag. Anyway, I made it through the morning, canceled my afternoon and came home. I’m out again today, let’s just say that nobody in my office would want me there spreading this to everyone else. It just pisses me off that I get this stuff, since I’m sort of a pathological hand-washer, especially at work.
I haven’t been accomplishing much besides zoning out, but today I was able to pick up the knitting. I didn’t work on my Rogue sweater all summer because, well, heavy wool and summer heat. But now that it is cool outside I want it done done done so I can wear it this winter.
That’s where I am right now. I’ve finished the back, and the front up to the v-neck split. I few months away from this almost made me forget how much I love Peace Fleece, and how much I love this pattern.
This is the left front, I just finished separating the two sides.
And here is that gorgeous cable up the sides.
The pattern is Rogue, the yarn is Peace Fleece worsted weight in the color Amaranth. They have this back on their website for sale, and it is on sale, if you need some. The color is really much deeper than my photos show. Anytime I take a picture of this it either turns out pink or bright red. It’s more of a deep garnet red. Here is the photo from their website.
At least on my ipad, that is much more accurate.
I’m off to try more tea and toast. Sigh.
The Daily Bread:
1.5 cups white flour
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1.5 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon buttermilk powder
1 cup water
1 tablespoon molasses
1 egg
1 tablespoon yeast
More flour/water if needed for the dough
I am using a bread machine for this one. My hands have gotten old enough that I have trouble kneading dough by hand, plus it is just easier. I generally use the dough setting and bake the bread in the oven.
I use King Arthur flours, they are top quality and worth the slight extra cost. You can get buttermilk powder in the baking section of most supermarkets. The vital wheat gluten is from King Arthur as well. I use it with whole wheat flours (or rye) to help the dough rise. I use about a tablespoon of the gluten per cup of whole wheat.
The yeast that I use is Saf Red Instant yeast. It is foolproof, and you can just add it directly to your bread machine with everything else.
I did finish binding off the 22 Little Clouds shawl yesterday, with 17 grams of yarn left. I’ll get it washed and then show a photo of it, but it is perfect.
Now it’s time to resurrect an old project. This is Rogue, done in Peace Fleece. That color photo is pretty close to the real thing (Amaranth is the color name). I’ve been working on this for almost two years, so I think it’s time to get this one done. I have the back done, and am working on the front. Then the hood and sleeves, and it will be my go-to winter sweater.
Here’s a close up of the side cable. This photo shows it much pinker than it really is. The actual color is a deep garnet, with little flecks of blue and black. The lighter color bits seen in all of my knitting are usually Corgi fur, with an occasional silver strand from me.
I am nearing the end of this shawl. This is 22 Little Clouds, and I’m making it in that cashmere yarn hand spun in Afghanistan. Obviously I want to use every bit of this lovely stuff possible.
The shawl is an elongated triangle shape, with a ruffle border. The instructions say to save 25% of the yarn for the ruffle and bind off. The ruffle section starts by doubling the stitches on the needles, so I have about 600 stitches per row. I have two rows left, and then the bind off, which will eat yarn like crazy. My last row used about 6 grams, and I have 38 grams left.
So I’m trying to decide if I’ll have enough to do FOUR more rows before the bind off instead of two. That really would be playing yarn chicken, I think, and having to undo most of a 600 stitch bind off if I’m wrong would take more whisky than I probably have in the house.
Stay tuned.
Sunday afternoon on the lake, me, my knitting, and the cat. It doesn’t get much better than this.
I’m still working on the same projects, slowly but surely. The lovely stuff in the photo is the Afghanistan cashmere, I’m knitting 22 Little Clouds with it.
For those of you following my attempts at not buying yarn, I caved yesterday and made a purchase. I’ll post a photo when it gets here, but here is where I got it from. I’m sure you would have given in as well. I made it a few days past 8 months this time. Go sign up for her newsletter, and you’ll be tempted too.
After I finished the Ruffles shawl, I needed to cast on another semi-mindless project. I mentioned in my last post that I might do another Hitchhiker shawl, so I started rummaging around in my yarn stash for the perfect yarn.
I found this.
I bought this from Peace Fleece about a year ago, and it’s been sitting in a lonely yarn box ever since. The Peace Fleece owners contracted with a group of women from Afghanistan and bought some of their hand spun cashmere to sell. I snapped up two skeins of this lovely ivory yarn. It is 500 yards of about sport weight.
This stuff is just dreamy. It’s like knitting with clouds. I’ve never knitted with 100% cashmere before, this may be a dangerous discovery.
I didn’t think this would necessarily work for a Hitchhiker, so I pulled out another Martina Behm pattern, 22 Little Clouds.
As I’m sitting here knitting, thoughts of Maliknoz are on my mind. Her life is undoubtedly much different than mine, but I’d bet that she gets just a little bit of the same joy in spinning this beautiful fiber as I do in knitting with it.
Posted with Blogsy