Morning Knitting and Evening Knitting August 19, 2008

What’s the difference in MORNING knitting and EVENING knitting? In a word, TENSION. I received a new KIT from MOREHOUSE FARM yesterday; the “Verona” lace shawl, which is knit with their MERINO lace. I eagerly cast on at about 8:30pm. I rapidly moved from my Lantern Moon  rosewood size 8 needles to the size 9 and at the point where the stitches still felt a little tight, wondered if I should give the size 10 needles a try. Figuring it wouldn’t hurt to re-look at the situation in the light of day, I left my knitting for the night. This morning, having taken my project out to the patio to try to sneak in a few ROWS over that first cup of coffee, it HIT me. There really is a DIFFERENCE in morning knitting and evening knitting. What last night felt like TIGHT little stitches that had me pondering a[nother] needle change, this morning felt loose and fluid. My hunch is all the stress of the day accumulates to make my evening knitting an entirely different (I would venture to say, more uptight, no pun intended) experience. Not exactly an EPIPHANY, but knowing this small fact will definitely help me decide which project to pick up when… HAVE A GREAT DAY!

 

Verona Shawl and Coffee

P.S. If you’re a knitter, have ever dreamed of ditching it all for a [productive] farm in the countryside or if you just love sheep, definitely give Morehouse Farm Merino Knits, More than 40 Farm-Fresh Designs, a read. Great story, great pictures, great patterns!

The Moonlight Mile that’s turned into 20 June 20, 2008

When i’m not weaving, I’m knitting, or trying to knit as the case may be. Back in May, I posted about starting the Moonlight Mile scarf featured in Interweave Press’ scarfSTYLE. In a testament to sheer dogged perserverence, I’ve finally gotten far enough along that I can provide a progress report that’s not laughable. I probably ripped 20 times before [somewhat] mastering this “easy” lace, which is — I believe — based on a pattern called “twisted block.” The good news is …I LOVE THIS PATTERN. And, I LOVE THIS YARN! And, I LOVE THESE NEEDLES, which are by Signature Needle Arts. And no, they are not the needles I started with. I rapidly realized I needed the stiletto points Signature is so known for to conquer the yarnovers. EXPENSIVE needles, but SMART move. Now, only 21 more repeats of this 16 row lace motif to go… perhaps I’ll have it done by the time we leave for our Edwards Fine Art & Sculpture Festival/Downtown Aspen Fine Arts Festival tour in a couple of weeks???

 

Just About a Moonlight Mile June 1, 2008

Today, I’m taking a small BREAK from weaving chain to …KNIT. I’ve decided to TACKLE a scarf called “Midwest Moonlight”, which is one of the projects in the AWESOME book Scarf Style (yet another fabulous publication by Interweave Press.) The yarn called for is Cotton Comfort, from Green Mountain Spinnery. It’s a wool/organic cotton BLEND. So far (I’m about 5 rows in), I really like working with it; I’m using 4mm bamboo needles and the knitting is FAST (not counting the 3 times I ripped out ENTIRELY before I got the HANG of the pattern). BTW, the color I’m using is BLUET.