Entrelac Tutorial!

Sorry this is so late and I haven't updated in Forever! I haven't had much internet access lately!

Entrelac Tutorial:
This tutorial was written for an Entrelac class I did last week. To get the best effect I suggest using a varigated yarn with long color changes so that each row (or each block) is a different color. Yarns like Noro, Karaoke, and Teseo work well for this.

Entrelac uses a technique called short rows to work small pieces of a row at a time, creating a woven-looking fabric. It is comprised of 3 basic parts: base triangles, corner triangles (right and left), and rectangles (right and left-leaning).



Abbreviations used:
CO: cast on
RS: right side
WS: wrong side
K: knit,
P: purl,
S1: slip one stitch from the left needle to the right needle as if to purl, with yarn in back (RS); or as if to purl through the back loop, with yarn in front (WS)
P2tog: purl two stitches together as one (decrease)
K2tog: knit two stitches together as one (decrease)
SSK: slip two stitches as if to knit, re-insert the left needle through the front of the stitches, and knit them together (left leaning decrease)
PU: pick up stitches
M1: make one stitch by picking up and knitting through the back loop of the stitch from the row below

This tutorial will make a swatch with blocks that are 5 stitches across. Once you get the hang of it you can make your blocks are large or as small as you like.

Cast On 20 stitches. Your swatch will be 4 blocks wide, 5 stitches each.
Turn your work at the end of every row unless otherwise noted.

Base triangles: (only one set of base triangles are needed )
K2
S1, p1
S1, k2
S1, p2
S1, k3
S1, p3
Sl, k4
S, p4
Sl, k4, place marker, DO NOT TURN;
First base triangle finished. Repeat, beginning with the next two stitches. 4 triangles total.


Left corner:
Beginning with WS facing.
P1, m1 (lift stitch from row below and purl through the back), p2tog, turn
S1, k2
S1, m1, p1, p2tog
S1 k3
S1, m1, p2, p2tog
DO NOT TURN


Right-leaning rectangles:
PU and purl 5 stitches along the downhill slope of the base triangle.
[image of how to pick up and purl]

*S1, k4
S1, p3, p2tog with next live stitch from the next triangle, to join them.
Repeat from * until all the live stitches from the next base triangle are used.
[image of p2tog with next live stitch]


Repeat for the rest of the base triangles. You have now reached the end of the row.


Right Corner:
Beginning with RS facing
K1, m1, ssk, turn
Sl1, p2
Sl1, m1, k1, ssk
Sl1, p3
Sl1, m1, k2, ssk
DO NOT TURN


Left-leaning rectangles:
PU and knit 5 stitches along the downhill slope of the rectangle below.
*Sl1, p4
Sl1, k3, ssk with next live stitch
Repeat from *.
[image of how to pick up and knit]

Go back to Left Corner.
Continue with the corners and the rectangles until the desired length is reached, ending with right-leaning rectangles.

Bind off:
Do right corner as usual until 4 stitches are on the left needle. Then Sl1, m1, and bind off one, and continue binding off across the row until the last stitch of the triangle.
PU 5 stitches along the downhill edge as usual, you now have 6 stitches on the right needle.
S1, p4, turn. Slip 1, bind off
K3, ssk
S1, p3, turn. S1, bind off
k2, ssk
S1, p2, turn. S1, bind off
k1, ssk
S1, p1, turn, s1 bind off
ssk, bind off,
repeat until the last stitch of the last rectangle. Knit the last stitch and bind off.

Double Knitting

I Taught a class in Double Knitting on Tuesday and figured since I made up the whole tutorial I may as well share it!

This technique creates a thick, double-sided fabric with two “Right” sides. It is usually used to do double-sided stockinette, especially in contrasting colors. Applications include reversible scarves and blankets, hats, and lined mittens or socks. In the picture, the back side looks just like the front except the backgroud is red and the heart is gray.


Double Knitting was used to create the Checkerboard Rhino Scarf as well.


For this class you will need two balls of worsted weight yarn in contrasting colors (Main Color (MC) and Contrasting Color (CC)) and size 7 or 8 straight needles.

Basic Double-knitting technique, using this heart chart. To read the chart, read from the bottom right to left on odd rows, and left to right on even rows:


Cast on 9 stitches using the long-tail method, holding both strands together as one.

Set-up row: On the next row use the right needle separate the MC loop, and knit it with the MC working yarn. Move both strands between the needles and purl the CC loop with the CC working yarn. Repeat for each stitch, separating the two colors for the rest of the row. You should now have twice as many stitches, and they should alternate MC, CC.



At the beginning of each row, twist the MC yarn behind the CC yarn for the first stitch. This ensures that your two layers are joined at the sides:
(the Red is the MC in the photo)


Each square of the chart represents TWO stitches, one on the front and one on the back. The color shown is the color you knit when you are on the RIGHT SIDE. MC is the background color, the first stitch of the row, and CC is the motif color. When you change colors, you must keep the stitch-pairs together, for example, row 2 (on the WRONG SIDE) goes (pmc, kcc), (pmc, kcc), (pmc, kcc), (pmc, kcc), (KMC, PCC), (pmc, kcc), (pmc, kcc), (pmc, kcc), (pmc, kcc).
Continue this way, following the chart.


Double-knitting Bind off: Slip the right needle through both loops of the first stitch, the MC and the CC and k2tog. Knit the next stitch the same way, then bind off. Continue the k2tog bind-off across the row.


Double-knitting benefits from a good blocking after you're finished.

The "Suits-Anyone Fits-Everyone" Hat Pattern

Now in .pdf! I'm doing a beginner hat class next month and re-wrote my basic hat pattern. Now you can easily save it to your computer to use later!
I developed this pattern so I could make fast, easy, hats for everyone in the family I was living with in Japan. The brim is very stretchy, and you can adjust the fit by increasing or decreasing the length of the hat body.
The "Suits-Anyone Fits-Everyone" Hat:



Also known as "The Monk Hat"




Suits-Anyone Fits-Everyone Hat Pattern

Holiday Knitting

I did not commit to knitting so many things this year, and really only made two hats and a scarf. I made one of my Monk Hats (with the same yarn even) for my Dad, who hates xmas, but loved the hat, and I made a really pretty tam out of Filatura di Crosa Muschio that I got on super sale in Japan, with the same brands Dali on the brim. Unfortunately though, I wore it to work on a cold day, and when I warmed up and put it away in my bag it must have fallen out along my walk! I was heartbroken :( I was late for work because I walked halfway home looking for it, then my boss who was out doing errands drove up and down the road looking for it, and I even went back with Joe in the car to look for it, but it was nowhere to be found. I think (hope) that someone who needed it picked it up, and that it went to a good home. That left me minus-one present for my mother though, and I didn't feel like scarmbling to make her something else, so I bought a little snowwoman ornament and left it at that.
The one big thing I made for xmas was the rhino scarf I put in my last post. That thing took soo loong. I love double knitting as a technique, but it takes forever! The recipient loved it though, so it was well worth it :)

I'm declaring January to be Selfish Knitting Month! I am not going to knit anything for anyone else in January, and have already knit myself a hat/handwarmer set with yarn I got from the boy for xmas :) Can you believe I've made close to 20 hats and didn't have a single one for myself? I have an abnormally small head, and so buying hats is always hit or miss with me, so it's nice to have one that I love that fits! And I loved the yarn, I used DiVe "teseo" held with a strand of Plymouth "baby alpaca brush"and it was just lovely!

With the yarn left from the hat I was able to make a pair of fingerless handwarmers I can use as knitting or typing gloves. I went home to NY for xmas and it was FREEZING so I didn't take them off the whole time :P

I also bought myself some GORGEOUS sock yarn from Fleece Artist. I've been eyeing their yarn since I started doing socks, but it's soo expensive that I haven't been able to get any till now. Also, I've decided that I don't really like knitting socks, but a pair for myself I think I could handle, and this yarn was too beautiful to put down.


I went to Virginia for new years and got a fair bit of work done on my Rogue sweater in the car and while sitting around with Joe's friend's family. It's been neglected since I cast-on and finished the hem! I've had to teach myself how to cable without a needle, since the first time I brought it out to knit I didnt have one with me, then I accidentally left my favorite one at our friend's house :( I've had so many other things to do. I plan to finish that this month, and do my socks, and start on one of my polar sweaters!

Checkered-flag Rhino Scarf!

A good friend of mine who does snowboard racing wanted a red and black checkered flag scarf, so I figured the best way to do that would be to use double knitting so it would be pretty and patterned on both sides. Unfortunately it took forever though! It's a little shorter than I would have liked but i didnt have extra time or yarn. I added the little reversible rhino at the bottom because Ryan's nickname is "Ryan-oserous".

it was done with just one skein of each color of cascade 220 on size US9 needles. It blocked out to a little over 5 ft long I think.




rhino back

Trigger Finger Mitten Pattern!

By Popular Demand!



If you have any questions feel free to email or comment to me.


Materials: One skein Lambs Pride Bulky, 2 balls (about 60grams total) of Belangor pure Angora (any weight angora would work for this. You can probably get away with 50grams, but it would be pushing it).
Set of 5 Size 10 dpns

Using wool CO 24 stitches, work 1in 1x1 ribbing. Join Angora and kf&b of each stitch EXCEPT KNIT FRONT OF EVERY ST WITH WOOL, AND BACK OF EVERY ST WITH ANGORA. Your stitches should now go wool, angora, wool, angora etc. W=wool, A=angora
For the rest of the mitten I hold the wool english and the angora continental.
Work another inch of ribbing. For doubleknit ribbing kW, move W in front, kA, purl W, kA, move yarn in back, kW. remember to keep the angora loose so it follows the gauge of the wool. If desired, knit a longer cuff. I like shorter-cuffed mittens



Switch to Stockinette. (doubleknit stockinette=kw, move yarn in front, kA, move yarn in back,*)
Increase one stitch at the end of each needle. For the rest of the pattern One stitch=one wool AND one angora. So to increase one stitch you need to make one of each. (28 stitches)
Every other row I slipped the angora instead of knitting it to make it go further.
Knit 2 inches, increase again (32 stitches) For smaller hands ignore this increase.
knit 1 inch. Total inch of mitten=5inches

Left thumb gusset:
On needle 2 knit 2 stitches, then knit the next 5 or 6 stitches with waste yarn (knit the wool and angora together). Slip waste yarn stitches back onto left needle and knit them again with the working yarns, holding them together as one yarn(only for these 5 stitches). On the next round separate yarns in those stitches again.

Knit 10 more rounds.
If dividing for trigger finger on the left hand, slip the last 5 stitches of needle 2, and the first 5 stitches of needle 3 onto waste yarn. Continue knitting remaining finger section until piece reaches the top of your pinky. For rounded mitten top, k2tog the first 2 stitches of needle 1, and ssk the last 2 stitches of needle 4 EVERY 3RD ROUND three times (3 decrease rows total). Use a 3-needle bind off to close the mitten.
If Left mitten is intact (no separate finger) work decreases on both sides of mitten: end of needle 1 k2tog end of needle 2 ssk. Beg of needle 3 k2tog, end of needle 4 ssk. Repeat every 3rd row 3 times as above.

Thumb: remove waste yarn and pick up 10-12 live stitches around the hole. knit to 1/4 inch below the top of the thumb, k2tog every st, then run working yarn through all remaining stitches and cinch tight.
Finger: Follow directions as for thumb.

Right Mitten:
Follow as for left except:
Thumb Gusset: on needle 3 knit 1 st, then knit the next 5 or 6 with waste yarn, slip back onto needle, knit again with working yarns.

Subi Kitty!

WE GOT A KITTEN!!!!!! eeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

A friend of mine needed to find a home for her and we fell in love with her! We named her Subi (sue-bee) :) She's 13 weeks old, very affectionate and sweet, and she doesn't make me sneeze!
Also, she uses the litterbox fine and doesn't claw stuff.



phew! it'snice to have a day off! It's been a while, over a week.. the next 3 weeks are going to suck soo much. I'm working 9 or 10 hour shifts at UPS, plus my regular hours at the yarn shop. Oh well, I need the cash.

Polar!

My two impulse-bought-bags of Rowan Polar came in today, and far from being humbled by it, now I want every color they make :P I got them here at this evil evil store who's selling it at half retail with FREE SHIPPING!!! I got a bag in Lettuce and a Bag in Dark Truffle.. ok ok, i'll borrow other people's pictures to show you:
Lettuce, yeah it's fuzzy, i didn't take the picture. It's also greener and prettier than that...

Lettuce will be the lace leaf pullover, and the Truffle will be a raglan turtleneck of my own design.

here's the truffle, which is really more of a warm dark chocolate, plus the other two colors I really want now: Jaffa (which is a bit more orange in person) and smirk, which is a bit more pink. I think they took these pictures on a cloudy day, but hey, they're from England, I hear real sun is a rare commodity :P




haven't gotten to swatch them yet, and I may try to avoid that as my Rogue is still in it's baby-phase and I want to work more on that. The best idea I think is to find it a good hiding place

Trigger Finger Mittens!

My boyfriend goes deer hunting every year in Wisconsin, and he asked me to make him some mittens. Not just any mittens, Custom WISCONSIN-WINTER-TRIGGER-FINGER-MITTENS!
It gets pretty damn cold in Wisconsin in November, so I made them out of tightly-knit Lambs Pride Bulky, and lined them with Angora, which is supposedly 8 times warmer than wool, and super soft too :)
Because mittens are warmer than gloves, he insisted that only the mitten on his left hand (he's left-handed) have the index finger free (so he can shoot stuff).
I told him not to get any deer blood on them.

by the way, No, that is not his deer-shooting-rifle.. it's just his new toy he's very proud of.




inside the mittens. I double-knit them


Also, I'm a little out of the loop. I JUST learned that Rowan Polar was discontinued, and that was my first venture into the wonderfull world of natural fibers and I love the stuff, and my LYS (where I work) doesn't carry Rowan... So I bought 2 whole bags of it in Lettuce green and dark truffle on ebay for less than half the retail price! Green will be the Lace Leaf Pullover, and brown will be the most luscious turtleneck ever. I'm so weak.. and poor..

Spinning!

(Because I need another hobby :P )
At the Knit Out last month I learned how to spin with a drop spindle, and came home and ordered a whole kit from This Seller's ebay store. For some reason paypal diverted my order from my normal mailing address to my old address (my moms house), but since i'm having my mail forwrded from there back here it eventually found me after all YAY :D So I got my big bag of wool and two drop spindles yesterday!


And here's my firt real attempt at spinning! haha it's all super-chunky.. I haven't quite got the hang of keeping it even yet. I wish I could brush it all out again and start over, but I think I'd need carders for that.


and here's a closer look at some of the lovely stuff I hope to be able to do justice someday!

Adding more life-stuff to the knitblog

I have another journal, on Livejournal, it's linked over there *points to sidebar* but I figure that I like reading knitblogs with a little more life in them, so I'm going to start adding more to mine, even if sometimes I might x-post from LJ.

The weather has been gorgeous here! Sunny, warm with a breeze, and all the leaves are turning now. What a nice fall! I was worried the leaves would just turn brown and fall off like they had been doing, but I guess fall just takes a little longer here.

Saturday Joe and I slept in and lounged around most of the day. I finished the 6th Harry Potter book (I think so far the 3rd and 4th are my favorites) and mostly-finished the first of Joe's hunting mittens for deer season in Wisconsin. They're black Lamb's Pride Bulky with pure angora double-knitted as a built in liner. He decided he wanted mittens out of that after we learned that Angora is 8 time warmer than wool! He doesn't like how fluffy it is, but since it's on the inside it's ok. I'm thinking of douplicate-stitching skull and crossbones on the backs hen they're done. If I have time maybe. I have two weeks to finish the second one, but since they're double-knit it's like knitting two mittens at once. takes longer.

We went and saw the movie "Jarhead" last night, with Jake Gyllenhal (sp) in it. It's by the director of American Beauty, based on the book by a marine who served in "Desert Storm". It was really good, the filming and direction was great, and so was Jake (little Donnie Darko's all grown up :P ). It's not a war action movie, especially since they didn't really get to fight, but more a drama about being there. I enjoyed it.

I work at the yarn shop today, working 6 days a week , but i don't mind being there. Tuesdays are going to be especially long: 4 hours at UPS followed by 4 at the yarn shop. I guess most people work 8 hour (at least) days, but it's different when you have to be in more than one place, and I'm not used to it anymore.

Chinese Luck Dragon Scarf

So remember I mentioned that I won that scarf contest, but didn't know if I could post the picture because it's going to be in the December Interweave Knits? Well, they're not publishing the pattern (it's just a picture with a blurb, which is cool too) so I'm free to do with it as I please :) At the yarn shop I work at in Ellicott City Maryland, and we'll be selling the pattern when I write it up sometime this month, and I will also be selling the pattern from my site, but I'm still working on that so I'll post a link when it's up.
The scarf was inspired by my time last year in Japan, where I learned a lot more about different eastern dragons, and by the charity causes being sponsored by the contest: All the scarves entered were donated to orphans or people suffering from the AIDS virus, and I figured that anyone in that position could use a little extra luck, hence THE LUCK DRAGON:


This was knit in two flat pieces with different stitch patterns for his scaly back and his belly, then crocheted together. I added features with i-cord, bobbles, and a ruffled mane. I used Lamb's Pride worsted (but I will use cascade 220 in the future) and Squiggle by Crystal Palace yarns

When worn, you pull his tail through his mouth to secure it:


Me with Nicky Epstein *squee!* and Binnie Fry


Me accepting First Prize :)

knitting geeks

hehe so while on the girlfromauntie site looking up rogue stuff, I found this, and it cracked me up :)
"This also might explain the plot, so to speak, in the hood of Rogue. See the part of the hood where the cables stop interweaving as a mesh, and pairs of cables twist for a single repeat before they rejoin as a mesh again? I made a deliberate decision to add that. For some reason, while knitting the prototype, I fixed on the notion that if the hood border continued as an uninterrupted woven mesh, I wouldn’t be able to hear things properly while wearing the hood.

No, I’m not delusional, and I don’t think the sweater is soundproof, or even that the additional density of fabric induced by a high frequency of cable twists would muffle noise. I was just captured by some fanciful idea that things that were trapped in nets might be able to escape between bars, so I needed to provide some bars just in case. I think those cable pairs occur at a point above the ears, but the fact that they were included somewhere in the border was enough to address this concern.

Some people think traditional fishermen’s sweaters were designed to allow families to identify drowned bodies, and link traditional cable designs to values like wealth and love. Maybe I think that cables increase your armour class but adversely affect your ability to cast arcane spells.

That makes sense–if arcane spellcasting is affected by cables, but divine spells aren’t. Druids cast divine spells. Ancient Celts had a Druid class. Celtic descendants introduced cables into their knitting repertoire (although that was long, long after the Druids). I like to design cables derived from Celtic art. See? It all fits, and clearly I should shut off this stream of consciousness now before it’s too late."

Starting Rogue

I finally found the perfect yarn for my Rogue Cardigan! Yay! It's exactly the color I wanted, and the texture and price was perfect too :) It's Galway Highland Heather in a lovely Rust color :) I was thinking of doing it in a donegal tweed, but after I got to feel a sweater knitted in that, I changed my mind. That stuff is soo..umm..rugged? The galway is a nice basic plied wool, and I knit up a nice big swatch and blocked it, and it's only a teeny teeny tiny bit off gauge, and I was going to make the larger size than I needed anyway, so it should be just right.
Here's my swatch!



I remember a time when I actually had some readers.... :(

catching up

ok, i haven't been very good with this whole knitblog thing lately...
but I do have some news!

On Sunday October 23rd I went to the Wash D.C. Knit Out, on the mall, and had a great time :) I learned how to spin, got a bunch of free patterns, met lots of cool knitters includig Nicky Epstein, AND I entered the Scarf Style Scarf Contest and I WON! Grand Prize was a bond Knitting Machine, and a feature in the December Issue of Interweave Knits Magazine! yay! I made a Chinese Dragon scarf, but I can't show a picture yet since it will be inthe magazine. I will also be writing a pattern for it that I will be selling here, and in the yarn shop I work in, The Celtic Knot, in Ellicott City MD.
here's me learning to spin with a drop spindle!
I enjoyed this so much that I bought two spindles and some roving off ebay when I got home :) they're not here yet though!


Some more pics from the Knit Out:
My boss and coworker tagging entries for the contest,

Me and Holly knitting, waiting for the judging,

The Washington Monument, as we were leaving