Eastlake and Russian Grafting

I just ran across this YouTube video on Russian Grafting and I am so excited to try it on my next pair of kilt hose. I don't like the way grafted toes look, probably because I'm not very good at it. I had the idea of knitting kilt hose top-down, then when you reach the toe, put half the stitches on a holder (the sole), and using the the toe-up method, form a toe pouch, then graft it back together on the sole. This Russian grafting video looks like exactly what I was thinking of, so I guess I'm not the first one to think of it!


Russian Grafting YouTube video


I also finished Eastlake, of course it took much longer than anticipated and there were, unfortunately, many errors in the pattern, some uncorrected despite the errata sheet that came with the pattern book. She also tried this weird neck extension thing that extends like straps from the front and meet together in the back that was a little different. (You can see the seam at the back neck in my photo.) Some Ravelers left it out completely, but I decided to try it. All in all I am very pleased with the way it turned out and I am sure I will wear it often!

FO: Radiating Star Blanket

Finally blocked the Radiating Star Blanket, the eyelet edges curled terribly after washing. I wanted this to be something she could toss in the washer and dryer, but she's going to be unhappy with the way the edges curl. Maybe if it's folded after drying they'll flatten.

Since I didn’t use bulky yarn, I knit rows 1-94, then repeated rows 71-94, ending with row 95, then started the eyelet row. Next time, I would add two rows of garter after the eyelets to give weight to the edge.

Book Review: Seven Things That Can "Make or Break" a Sweater

Just bought a new book, Seven Things That Can "Make or Break" a Sweater. At first I was a little disappointed, because it doesn't have any new, startling, who'd-a-thunk-it information that I didn't already know. But then, I realized, it's all the little things, tips, tricks, techniques, that I've learned along the way all compiled into one book, into one place. I sure wish I'd had this book when I was doing the Master Level Handknitting course, it answers a TON of questions that we looked up elsewhere. So, instead of trying to remember which book has the method for, say, increasing evenly across a row in ribbing, I can just pull out this book. Pretty neat.

I have about 200 irons in the fire right now, including T-shirt and Hoodie orders for our elementary, my youngest son's birthday, Halloween, and too many WIPs.

Oh, and I got a knitting job, a pair of kilt hose for a fellow piper! Yippee!

I'll try to take pics of the WIPs tomorrow. Too much to do today.

Radiating Star Blanket

Cast on for the (Ravelry link) Radiating Star Blanket which I have absolutely no business doing given the other things I have on or planned for my needles. But it's nicely addictive, watching the pattern emerge. I do have a recipient in mind, our neighbors are expecting a new baby girl. I'm knitting on size 7 needles with 5 balls of Cotton Ease in apple green, which is my new favorite baby girl color. Pink gets old.

I've started my Giraffe Jacket design three times and have been unhappy with the results. So it's marinating in my mind, still.

I washed the John Anderson kilt hose, and, as promised in the pattern, they softened up beautifully. I was afraid they'd be stiff as a board. I may even have gotten a knitting job making kilt hose after a local pipe band member saw my hose at the Fair. We'll, see he hasn't called back.

State Fair Loot

I was extraordiarily blessed at the State Fair. I won two first place ribbons with a Best of Show, and two second place ribbons!

FO: John Anderson's Kilt Hose

I finished the kilt hose last night, ended up having to undo the bindoff on the first one because it wasn't matching the second one. I used the K2tog, pass stitch back to LH needle, repeat. Now they match, but I just tried one on this morning, and the bindoff is too tight. Sigh. These are toe-up socks knit very densly with worsted yarn on small needles and I'd really like for them to go away! Ha.


But, they are a Christmas present for my husband, so I'll spend another hour this morning ripping out the bindoff. I guess I'll do EZ's sewn castoff.

UPDATE: Ripped out the bindoff, did the sewn bindoff, worked beautifully. It uses the same amount of yarn as a regular bindoff, so if you need to rip something out, don't worry about running out of yarn.



EZ's Sewn Cast off from Knitting Without Tears:
Break yarn, leaving a tail about 4 times as long as the circumference of the sock. Thread a tapestry needle.

* sew forward (right to left) through two stitches as if to purl, leave the stitches on. Sew backward (left to right) through one stitch as if to knit and remove the stitch. (For the very first stitch only, after you go backwards through it, do not remove it, instead move it to be the last stitch on the final needle. It will then become the final stitch to be cast off. This gives a neater finish to the end of the round. )
Repeat from * until you run out of stitches. Work in tail on the inside of the sock and trim any excess.

The above directions were found here, but I couldn't find them on socknitters as it cites.

Had to un-friend a knitter on Facebook

I am hoping to one day make my living in the fiber world. So I am always studying other people's work, reading their blogs and trying to learn all that I can. I admire the work of Annie Modesitt, read her blog, and "friended" her on Facebook and Twitter. (I have since discontinued Twitter, I don't like it). I soon learned, however, that in order to read her posts about her latest project, which is taking medieval pieces and re-interpreting them as knitted items, I was going to have to wade through a whole lot of liberal socialist crap that doesn't even make sense half the time. I perservered, ignored the posts that made me want to scream and just played nice. But then, she offended me beyond tolerance when she posted the so-called "survey" that 77% of Oklahoma high school graduates did not know who the first president was, and I could no longer be silent. But I was nice. I suggested politely that I wasn't sure that that was a real survey, and if it was, then possibly they only polled the one problem school district that we have that has a 50% dropout rate. I really said it like that, very nice. SHE DELETED MY POST!

I looked her up on Twitter, thinking that if she lived in California I would suggest that she wouldn't like being compared to Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" morons just because she lived in California, then discovered that her location is Tehran! Iran! She doesn't even live in this country, yet I'm wading through all her stupid opinions of how this country should be to get to the meager knitting content. I started to post something on her wall to that effect, then realized that she isn't interested in anyone's opinion but her own, and she also isn't interested in facts. I know she gloats over the number of followers that she has on Twitter, so I struck back in the only dignified way that I could. I "unfriended" her, on Twitter, on Facebook, and on Ravelry. I'm sure my one insignificant stat will not even be a blip on her radar, but I feel better.

I still like her knitting work, but she should keep her offensive political opinions to herself.