Monday, October 5, 2009

A knitting post without pictures

I've not made a lot of progress on my mom's shawl. Holy schnikes, people. You really have to like the knit stitch in order to tackle this shawl. As a new-just-this-summer knitter, I'm still painfully slow - even with a shawl that is all knit stitch. Also? It doesn't help that I'm working with the tiniest needles ever. I want to make myself one of these shawls but, damn it, I'm going to at least triple the needle size when I do.

In order to break up the monotony of the shawl, I knit myself a scarf. Again, all in knit stitch. But! This one was knit in a 5-row sequence: knit rows 1-3; row 4, k2, wrap yard 3 times around right needle*, repeat to end of row; row 5, knit all, dropping the wrapped yarn. This is the pattern I used as a guideline. I CO 26 stitches, though, and used size 7 needles. Took one skein of this yarn an acrylic/wool blend which is perfect for autumn - even though the acrylic content is high.

Can I just go off on a tangent here about yarn? And how I think I'm turning into a yarn snob? I refuse to buy 100% acrylic yarns. I think *most* of them feel horrible. I'm always surprised when I pick up a skein of soft, fluffy yarn, only to read that it is 100% acrylic. I'm amazed at how nice it feels. But I always put it back. WHY? What is my aversion to acrylic yarn? It's usually cheaper than natural fibers, for sure. It may have something to do with all those acrylic sweaters I had when I was a school girl that would pill up like crazy. Also, they didn't breathe at all. Nor did they wick moisture. Get over-heated once and you'd be walking around damp all day. It was just gross.

Last evening, I cast on 100% wool to make a felted bowl. I'm learning how to knit in the round on four double-point needles.

So. That's it. My knitting post without pictures.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm sure all this would make perfect sense to my Mom (Who we all call Grannie), because she knits like crazy. We even bought her a knitting machine - which she refuses to use.

ree said...

Lou - knitting machines to a knitter? So cheating. ;-)

Tuli - I love the scarf pattern. And I'm a yarn snob, too - and I can't even knit. ;-)

Badger said...

I nearly always use acrylic for crochet, but I find it unpleasant for knitting. Not sure why -- it just feels weird on the needles.

And hey, go you with all the knitting! I am kind of addicted to the double-point needles now that I've figured them out. I still haven't finished the girl child's socks, though -- I keep getting distracted with other stuff!

Anonymous said...

I love the color "Spice House"! But the 5-row sequence: knit rows 1-3; row 4, k2, wrap yard 3 times around right needle*, repeat to end of row; row 5, knit all, dropping the wrapped yarn is why I don't knit. I've tried knitting, and I mostly drop the yarn off the needles.

I figure for the price of the aggravation to me - it's cheaper to go to the store and buy a scarf. But I'm sure you get much more satisfaction out of creating your own scarf. Good for you.