I have been working on scarves lately. I guess what got me started was reading Willa's knitting journal entry about the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf, and then I saw her pictures. These scarves are really easy to make and they come out so beautifully. I'm really enjoying making the one I'm working on now. I didn't have any of the Noro Silk Garden that Willa used to make hers, but I did have some Alpaca yarn in my stash and decided to use that. It's a variegated yarn and it's looking really good, having subtle color changes, but because I'm such a color person, I'm not really happy with the way the color is turning out. I think this particular yarn just doesn't do the pattern justice, so I ordered some Noro Silk Garden from The Yarn Market. They said they ship out the next day, so hopefully by the time I finish this scarf, my new yarn will be here.
You can't really see the diagonal pattern in the picture below. I guess the yarn is too dark. If you double click on the picture you can see it a little better.
It's funny because my local yarn store said that they used to sell Noro yarn, but they were not happy with it because they said it had a bunch of junk in it and that it was scratchy and hard to work with. Since I have never worked with it I can't make a judgment on that, but the Noro Silk Garden seemed like it should be soft. The yarn store recommended a wool yarn by Diakeito that seemed kind of rough feeling to me, so I didn't buy it. I really wanted to use a variegated yarn with this pattern because I want to see the beautiful color changes as the pattern comes together.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Quilting
I had not realized that it had been so long since I had written in my knitting journal. I keep intending to take pictures of the projects that I'm working on and post them to my blog. I have no excuse now that we have finally cleaned the house and got all that sheetrock dust out of there. Everything was covered in layers of it. Everything feels so fresh and clean now. Before we cleaned, there was not a clean surface anywhere to lay anything to take a picture of, unless I put it on the floor.
I haven't really been doing anything related to knitting for the past two weeks. The college campus where I work always closes down every year for almost two weeks during the Christmas holidays. For about the first week I must have been so tired that I wasn't interested in doing anything except vegging out. I was almost in a zombie mode in the beginning. Finally, after about a week, I began to get rested and clear my head. For some reason I caught the quilting bug. I haven't gone so far as to quilt a bed size quilt or anything, but I was working on some small projects. I will take a picture tonight of a small top that I'm working on for a huge pillow. I'm about ready to put everything together and get it assembled. I decided that I would make it for our sunroom. I have found that more and more I really enjoy doing hand work rather than working on the sewing machine. There are some things that I sew on the machine, but I would rather hand sew, or hand quilt. That must be why I like knitting so much because I can do it in front of the TV and just relax. I don't particularly enjoy working at the sewing machine that much. I usually machine piece a quilt top and then hand quilt it. Some quilt patterns, like the Bow Tie, are better done by hand. I enjoy that too.
I did finish knitting one sock while I was off and started the other one. I have been using the Addi-Turbo size 2 12 inch circular needles to knit the socks. They are much easier than using 4 double pointed needles. At least for me, they are easier. I know everyone has their own way of knitting that is the easiest for them. I just know that, when knitting socks, the 12 inch circulars work the best for me. The socks practically knit themselves, and I don't have those "ladders" that occur with me between each needle when I use the double points. I have a pattern that was written for double pointed needles, but I have adapted it for the 12 inch circulars.
I have also started, and almost finished, a chemo hat that I knitted with DK yarn. I love to knit in the round. If it's a simple pattern I can just knit away and really relax. I will take pictures tonight and try to post them.
I haven't really been doing anything related to knitting for the past two weeks. The college campus where I work always closes down every year for almost two weeks during the Christmas holidays. For about the first week I must have been so tired that I wasn't interested in doing anything except vegging out. I was almost in a zombie mode in the beginning. Finally, after about a week, I began to get rested and clear my head. For some reason I caught the quilting bug. I haven't gone so far as to quilt a bed size quilt or anything, but I was working on some small projects. I will take a picture tonight of a small top that I'm working on for a huge pillow. I'm about ready to put everything together and get it assembled. I decided that I would make it for our sunroom. I have found that more and more I really enjoy doing hand work rather than working on the sewing machine. There are some things that I sew on the machine, but I would rather hand sew, or hand quilt. That must be why I like knitting so much because I can do it in front of the TV and just relax. I don't particularly enjoy working at the sewing machine that much. I usually machine piece a quilt top and then hand quilt it. Some quilt patterns, like the Bow Tie, are better done by hand. I enjoy that too.
I did finish knitting one sock while I was off and started the other one. I have been using the Addi-Turbo size 2 12 inch circular needles to knit the socks. They are much easier than using 4 double pointed needles. At least for me, they are easier. I know everyone has their own way of knitting that is the easiest for them. I just know that, when knitting socks, the 12 inch circulars work the best for me. The socks practically knit themselves, and I don't have those "ladders" that occur with me between each needle when I use the double points. I have a pattern that was written for double pointed needles, but I have adapted it for the 12 inch circulars.
I have also started, and almost finished, a chemo hat that I knitted with DK yarn. I love to knit in the round. If it's a simple pattern I can just knit away and really relax. I will take pictures tonight and try to post them.
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