knitorious

Halp! (Multiple choice)

You are *loosely* casting on 321 stitches for a bottom-up, crescent-shaped shawl; which cast-on method do you use?

a.  e-wrap

b.  Jeny's Stretchy Slipknot Cast-on

c.  Helene Rush's Stretchy Cast On

d.  Knitted Cast-On, demonstrated above by Nancy Bush

e.  Another method not listed above.

I must get knitting but have been paralyzed over this question! I've already knit the smaller version of this shawl (221 stitches) and unsuccessfully used a not-loose-enough long-tail cast on on a needle 3 sizes larger than the working needle.

Does anyone have some experience, wisdom, or tips to share?

 

Jogging

Ha! Not me. Nope. My yarn. Specifically, I had an email from someone who is knitting mittens with a braid and found my Latvian mittens...

...or what there is of them. Almost five years old, they are, and still in need of thumbs -- surprisingly, that is all!

The emailer was asking specifically about jogs -- a jog in the braid, a jog where the colors changed -- and mentioned that she had a hard time finding photos that were not showing a mitten at any angle other than from the flat -- back or palm.

When you're knitting in the round, you're going to have a jog. The jog becomes more apparent with anything that stripes -- color or pattern. There are many ways of minimizing the color/pattern jog by technique (type "jogless stripes" into Google) or by placement. For in-depth discussion of technique, I recommend:

• Jogless stripes -- a new way by TECHknitter
• Techniques by Theresa: Jogless Stripes by Theresa Vinson Stenersen at Knitty
• Circular Knitting: Jogless Stripes by Kathleen Cubley at Knitting Daily (with video!)

My method of handling the braid here seems to be simply to do my best. The area of the "join" is placed on the inside of the wrist, below the thumb, on each mitten -- a spot less visible in the wild than any other. It looks like I may have employed some method of jogless knitting in the border area above the braid, but the remainder of the mitten is knit with a few stitches of solid color at each side of the hand which serves as a border and makes it less apparent that the color and pattern don't exactly match up.

I never finished these mittens because they're too small for me. They're also slightly two different sizes, as I ever-so-slightly loosened my death grip on the needles as I progressed. They'd fit Katie perfectly, and I think I shall finish them for her. She wore my North Star Mittens for quite a few years, even internationally, before they went missing late last year. She didn't tell me for the longest time, hoping they'd turn up. I am saddened by their loss, of course, but also happy that she loved, wore, and appreciated them for so long. I hope they still are -- worn, at least -- by someone!

 

I can picot, too-torial

I don't usually get too technical around here.  I answer questions when asked, I even draw pictures and diagrams and used colored pens and try to help people out.  If I can't describe it or draw it, then I try to find a better source for whatever and tell you about it.  Well, hold onto your handknit hat because here we go with me trying something technical -- I even created a new category for "technique," though this may be the only post thus categorized in a while... or ever.  ; )

I can picot and you can, too!

To begin, of course, cast on and knit as directed.  In this case (and as I've done for all almost-9 socks I've knit), I cast on over two needles.  I distributed the stitches on the DPNs and knit 5 rows, did the YO row (the row that will make the pretty picot edge when folded over), then knit 5 more rows.  The directions started right off knitting in pattern from this point and sewing down the cast on edge after the toe was kitchenered.  I knew that a nice, finished picot edge would be motivation to knit the sock, and something to admire along the way!  I don't know about you, but I like to admire my knitting along the way.  Knowing that there was an edge to sew down after the toe was kitchenered?  Not something I'd really be looking forward to.

There were fairly large, visible loops on the cast-on edge due to the double needles.  I threaded a needle with a bit of contrasting yarn and ran it through the loops along the cast-on edge -- the number of loops should be the same as the number of total stitches.

Each loop was knit together with a stitch on the needle to neatly fold down the edge while knitting the next row, removing the contrasting yarn as each loop was knit.  The goal is to knit the stitch on the needle and the cast on loop from the same vertical row so there is no twist or bias to the finished edge.  This tedious business continues all the way around 'til every loop has been knit with its mate.

Voila!  A pretty picot edge that you can admire to your heart's content all the way to the toe!

I can picot, you can picot, let's all picot!!

Disclaimer.  If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know that I can blahblahblah with the best.  I've tried to keep it short and sweet here, but if there's something that needs clarification or I forgot something, please let me know and I'll try to fix it!  There may be a better way, there is likely a better tutorial; perhaps you'll find something useful here.

Thanks for the nudge to do this, V.; I doubt I'd have done it otherwise.  Sorry it took so long.  ; )

* * * * *

It's another weekend away... south to Madison this time.  I hope to be at the Dane County Farmers' Market, in the area of my sister and her wares (see sidebar at right), in the late morning.  On Sunday, we celebrate Mack's first birthday and the high school graduation of one of his big brothers!