So I purchased a Gocco screen printing set from Judy at Northwood Studios full of ideas of what to print, what I was going to make and how awesome it would be. And when I unpacked it, full of anticipation, I suddenly felt like I had nothing to print! So I gave it a few days’ thought, and then got to work.
I started with some blank 4×6 index cards (which I had been using for everything from grocery lists to inserts in other stationery to bug smashers) and my logo. I printed up a master with my logo at the top and my website at the bottom and when I woke up the next morning, I decided to burn the screen for the master… you know… just to try it out.
The next thing I knew, I had every flat surface of my living room covered in little white and black cards!
Still with running dry on inspiration, I got a birthday package from my Mom with threedesignbooks from my wish list. Suddenly I was overFLOWING with inspiration and had a million screens I wanted to make RIGHT.NOW. Thanks Mom! I am restraining myself while I wait for a shipment of cards and envelopes to come from Paper Source, and for some new colors of ink and more drying racks to come from Japan.
Every winter I long for the beginning of the hiking season. Something in me craves fresh air on my face and soft earth under my feet. When I was visiting with my sister L’s family over the weekend, we took a trip up into the mountains. All the spring growth has started and it made for some really lovely pictures. The whole flickr set is here.
I spent some time by the river/creek messing with ISO settings to get the “soft water” look. I think I got the hang of it. And it was a lot of fun to hang out with my nephews and nieces. I can’t wait for more opportunities to head to the mountains!
Remember how way back when I said that Cleite had been snatched up by a publication? That publication is the Twist Collective.
And now I can tell you a bit about it. This is a project I was really excited to get behind because it was created as a way for designers to share the traffic and exposure that you receive from a collective magazine (like people clicking through for another designer’s pattern, but browsing once they get there), but with a strong focus on being fair for designers.
The many benefits of online publication (unlimited images to show the details, easy distribution, no printing costs or limitations on size), plus professional photography and tech editing made me really excited about the future of online knitting publication. This debut issue (released in August), is packed full of AWESOME designs by fabulous designers!
When the mag is up you will be able to flip through spreads of images of the patterns on realistically sized people, and really get a feel for the patterns before you decide to buy. And each pattern will be sold separately so you don’t end up with more than you want. With a wide variety of styles and item types, there will be something for everyone. Whether you’re a dyed-in-the-wool sock knitter or a hardcore sweater person.
If you go to the Twist Collective Site, you’ll be treated to a new peek at the mag every day. Just roll over the countdown numbers and the center bubble will show you a different image for each day.
I’m very excited about it, and can’t wait to see what you all think.
Ruth has put out a call for some information regarding socks and the length of rows. I’m sure she’s got something intriguing about hand-dyed yarn and row length up her sleeve and in exchange for that info, she’ll add you to a drawing for some of her beautiful hand-dyed sock yarn.
If you’re already knitting a pair of socks, it would be super easy to send her the length of one foot or cuff round, length in one gusset round at the widest part, and the shoe size you’re knitting for. And free yarn is free yarn, right?
I’ve been working on Coraline (ravelry link), and spinning… but slowly as my hands and arms have been achey. I can’t go a day without knitting AT ALL, but I’ve definitely cut back. No marathon knitting sessions for me for a while.
And since my printer gave up the ghost last week, I’ve ordered another that should be delivered today and then I can get back to my backed up pattern orders and printing stuff to play with my new Print Gocco! 🙂
About a year ago, I finished some socks in trade for art from my friend Joseph Taylor. And for Eye Candy Friday today, I thought I’d share some more of his art.
This painting is still on the easel. Joey often will work on a painting for weeks and weeks, adding layer after layer of paint resulting in a piece that is both textural and deep. The piece I have is a rarity among his works in that it’s watercolor and comparatively flat.
I love this one! The daffodils are so cheery! Also, I almost forgot to mention, but Joey is a new knitter too. He finished a couple of scarves and now has started his first pair of socks and a pair of baby booties.
Have a great long Memorial Day weekend, all you American types, and for Canadians, have a good 2-4 Weekend My bad, I guess Victoria Day was last weekend!
This top-down shawl is worked in a simple leaf pattern that is both easy to memorize and easy to work, making the body of the shawl a joy to knit, while the border infuses the piece with a zest that makes this an accessory you’ll reach for again and again.
Worked in a heavy fingering weight yarn, it makes a fast and satisfying project, but could be worked in a finer gauge with more repeats to give a more delicate finished piece.
Yarn Requirements: 3 skeins of Reynold’s Whiskey (100% wool, 193 yds per skein). Sample was knit in color 086, Deep Rasberry. Suggested Needles: 4mm (US 6) 24” or 30” circular or size needed to obtain gauge. Gauge: 17 sts and 25 rows over 4” in leaf pattern after blocking Finished Size: 56” across the top and 28” from neck to point. Techniques Used: This pattern uses the following techniques:
knit, purl, k2tog, k2tog tbl, yo, placement and slipping of markers, centered double decrease (slip 2 tog knitwise, k1, p2sso), sl1 k2tog psso, sl, ssk, psso, wrap and turn short rows (with instructions included) and a provisional cast on.
ETA: By request, I’ve done a video tutorial on this topic. You can watch it below….
A knitted-on border is a great way to add an interesting edge to a shawl or wrap, or to add some decoration to the edge of a sweater or tank. I’ve used this technique many times, including the hem of the Demeter Camisole, in garter stitch as the edging for my second Pi Shawl, and most recently the border for the Foliage Shawl, which will be released tomorrow.
The most wonderful thing about a knitted-on border is that it gives you an edge that is not only decorative, but elastic enough to withstand severe blocking. Quite often, the stretch and openness of lace will be too much for a traditional bound off edge and an alternative must be found. There are many bind-offs specifically for lace, but none of them give quite the same decorative touch as a knitted-on border.
The basic premise behind a knitted-on border is that the border stitches are worked at a 90 degree angle to the body stitches. The border is joined to the body as you work border rows by a joining decrease. This joining decrease can be any kind of decrease, but I prefer a k2tog tbl because it gives a nice firm join without any sloppy open stitches.
So let’s start with the pictures, shall we?
Begin by casting on the number of stitches needed for the border. As you can see I have just attached the body yarn (mauve) to the border yarn (gray) by way of a simple overhand knot. I usually undo my knots later and weave in the ends. But if you were doing the border in the same yarn as the body, then you wouldn’t even need to attach anything, just continue with the same yarn. For ease of demonstration though, we will use 2 different colors of yarn. I used a cable cast on here because I like the nice firm edge.
Work in border pattern until you have one stitch left from the border and one stitch left from the body. Here you can clearly see them – one gray, one mauve. And work a joining decrease using one border and one body stitch. This joining decrease has 2 purposes. 1. It attaches the border-in-progress to the body, and 2. It anchors the body stitch so that it will not unravel. It’s like binding it off, but without involving any other body stitches.
After working a joining decrease, you will turn the piece and work the next border row. But in order to give a flat join and minimize bulk, I like to slip the first border stitch (which is incidentally, the stitch that you just created by working the joining decrease). The stitch to be slipped is the first border stitch closest to the body stitches.
If you continue in this fashion, joining every other border row to the body via a joining decrease, you will begin to see how the border is attached. It can be difficult to see this after only a few rows, but persevere! Here you can clearly see the right angle at which the border is knitted on to the body.
This is an alternate view of the same point, where you can see the way the body and the border stitches twist together to form the joining decrease.
Here you can see the back view of the same point. The knitted on border is clean and even on both right and wrong sides.
A knitted-on border can be worked with a variety of needle preferences. I like to use the same circular needle that is holding my live body stitches to work the border, and if I weren’t using a different color completely, I would place a stitch marker before the final border stitch next to the body so that I would slip the marker and then know to work the joining decrease.
Continue with the border rows until all of the body stitches are used up. I like to finish with a joining row. I work the final row, binding off as I go, until I have one body and one border stitch left, then work my joining decrease and bind off the final stitch. As you can see, the edge lies flat and even this way.
Here you can see how the finished border rows and body stitches meet. There is a tiny bit of mauve peeking out from the border rows where the joining decrease stitches intertwine.
In this close-up you can see how the body rows (mauve) are worked horizontally, and the border rows (gray) are worked vertically.
I hope you found this tutorial useful and clear. If you’ve got any questions, please leave them in the comments and I will answer them in the comments.
Come back tomorrow for the release of the Foliage Shawl pattern.
I know I’ve said it before, but I love my camera! This is my 50mm f/1.8 II EF lens. I <3 this lens! I especially love the way it makes stucco in the backgrounds look sort of watercolored and soft.
To add more to the series of spring blossom photos, here are some other entries. Plum and Crabapple.
Happy Friday! May you have a knitterly weekend. Mine will be filled with friends, yarn, and many activities.
Ekho is a very laid back and relaxed kitty. He follows me from room to room quite often and is generally underfoot in the mornings when you’re half awake and it’s MOST inconvenient for him to be where your feet are.
He tolerates me picking him up a lot and actually enjoys being held like a baby and getting his tummy stroked. He often purrs like a lawnmower without any provocation (I think he realizes that I think it’s cute and I’ll pet him if he does). And he has appropriated every toilet-sitting moment as time for you to pet him because, naturally, you’re not doing anything else. This rule applies to C and myself as well as to anyone we have over, so be forewarned.
I try to put a lot of stuff on top of him ala Stuff on my Cat, but usually he shakes it off before I can get a picture.
But this weekend I got him while he was all snuggled up against my leg and caught him unawares.
I finished spinning up my thrums (except for about 1.5 ounces that I am not sure I want to spin), and plied it (4 bobbins of singles and 4 really full bobbins of plied yarn, plus a wee bit of singles) and then promptly put it on top of Ekho. The look says it all.
Here they are washed and dried.
Fiber/Amount: about 8.5 ounces of Spinderella’s Thrums, which are a one of a kind mishmash of random fiber bits she collects and throws together, so really it could be anything. Wheel/Spindle: Ashford Traveler Preparation: Pre-drafted Spinning Technique: Sort of fast and loose. Since I knew I wasn’t going to get a really consistent yarn because of the many textures in the roving (including bits of thread), I just approximated about the same weight for each of the singles and spun with a more woolen single in mind to keep it lofty enough to fill in the iffy bits if it got too thin. Wraps Per Inch/Yardage: 9-10, Heavy Worsted/275 yards Verdict: It’s great, it came out balanced and it’s still soft, so I’m happy. Planned Project?: Nothing yet. Suggestions?
