I've Subscribed Again

Well, I never did subscribe to Spin-Off before, but I used to subscribe to other knitting magazines.

Rant
I can't remember why I subscribed to Spin-Off Magazine. I think there must have been a deal where I got an extra issue for free or something, but I don't recall.

Regardless, I'm quite glad I did...even if this is the only good issue I get in a year.

There's a wonderful article by Abby Franquemont on plying on a spindle. She's got a few e-videos where she shows herself doing this technique that Ted linked to in comments a few weeks ago, but they're non-tutorial. Combining the instructions from the magazine article, and the videos will be a good way to learning this new technique (new to me anyway).

Jacey Boggs had a fascinating article on spinning coiled yarns...I may never do it, but it was a fascinating read. I also got a lot out of Jeannine Bakriges article on Seven Drafting Techniques and Debbie Grale's article called "Two Yarns, Three Projects." While I don't intend on making any of the projects, her experimenting with different variegated rovings helped me understand spinning better.

Finally, I've realized I must own Abby Franquemont's new book, "Respect the Spindle: Spin Infinite Yarns with One Amazing Tool
"...I think Abby is amazing spinner and I find I understand her writing about the craft very well.

Current Knitting
With plain stockinette stitch on the current project, it's moving along quite well.

Since the project is looking more like the final gift, I've decided I will only link to my Ravelry project pictures of the garment.



I'll be working on this over the next week or two until it's done.

Re-Doing, Re-Tooling

One of the guys at the last Men's Spring Knitting Retreat (hey Vince!) taught a class on continental knitting and purling. I've been practicing it on and off since May, and just got the perfect excuse for doing a LOT of practice.

The Mom's Cardigan
After doing endless ribbing on US0 needles, I finally made my way up to the stockinette stitch of the cardigan I'm working on.

It only took an inch or two of knitting to realize that the fabric was going to gather way more than I planned as it transitioned from the ribbing to the plain fabric. I considered it to be completely unacceptable and I couldn't think of any way to fix it, so I realized I had to start all over...which meant re-doing all the ribbing.

My practice in doing ribbing in the continental way paid off, as I was able to re-do all the ribbing (actually about 10% more...so I wouldn't get the same amount of gathering).





I'm quite pleased with my progress so far. In fact, I'm pretty certain I will have to link to Ravelry for the remainder of my photos of this project so that my family won't get to see the project until my mom does at Christmas.

Here's a video describing how I do continental ribbing, in case there are those out there interested in learning it.



Four Days of Love
One of the best parts about four day holidays like this past weekend's Thanksgiving holiday here in the States, is that I get time to spend with my two loves.

Unfortunately, only one of them will let me take a picture of them!



Actually, Nico takes a bit of time getting used to me each weekend when I get home from work travel, and four days in a row with him and he turns into a complete love-bug.

Knitters - The Nicest and The Meanest

I had the great fortune to be able to meet up with the "Presto Knitters" this past Monday (they meet in downtown Wilmington on Monday nights for anyone interested), and they are a great group of women. We were discussing how the on-line knitting community has introduced us to both the most amazing people, and the most awful people.

Clearly the Presto Knitters are part of the former group!

Social Knitting
As anyone who has ever observed me at the Men's Knitting Retreats will tell you, when I'm around a group of knitters, I end up being WAY more interested in socializing than knitting.

The same was the case this past Monday. Here are pictures of the group.



I figured since I would only be going to this group once, I wouldn't bother myself with learning names.



The one in the center here is devilishly funny...ask her about Flamingo Bob if you ever meet her.





The woman on the right is Meghan...I promised I would link to her blog, Running With Needles...you NEED to scroll down and check out the picture of her dog...she told me it was a chihuahua and something mix...can't remember the other breed, but he's a complete doll...so is Meghan.



The man in the corner was there for over 3 hours, completely surrounded by knitters and never once felt compelled to move to a quieter area of the cafe. I was astounded.



And finally, the devilishly funny one...I had to go all "papparazzi on her ass" because she was getting a bit too sassy. Although she did suggest a new video series, "Knitter Girls Gone Wild" where we'll get a bunch of knitter women drunk and have them flash for the video camera.



It was a great time, and I was sad to have only discovered this weekly group the last week of my stay in Wilmington!

Current Knitting
I've almost doubled the amount of work completed on the new project.





Okay...so doubled isn't so much...but once I get past the ribbing, I'm expecting the sweater to zip along.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Regarding the cardigan, Ron Huber asks, "Are you going to make set-in sleeves? And if so, how do you calculate them?"

Yes, the sweater will definitely have set-in sleeves. I usually calculate the set-in amount at about 10% of the width of the sweater. I then come up with the number of stitches to cast-off each row at the sleeve hole opening that will give it the correct looking shaping. In the case of this sweater, I will have to carve out about 2.5 inches which equates to about 33 stitches. This will end up being binding off 8 sts on the first row of the arm hole, 4 sts on the next 3 rows, 3 sts on the next 2 rows, 2 sts on the next two rows and 1 st on the next three rows...or something like that. If the result doesn't look right, I'll re-do it.

Intent vs Letter

I know it seems a lot easier to have a world that's black and white with no grays, but as most of you know, life just doesn't work that way. Looking at what policies, rules and laws intend may take a bit more work, but it accomplishes what was originally....well....intended.

Certainties?
I have a friend who is very conservative, both politically and socially. He rages against folks that don't use turn signals, and can't abide folks that can't make snap decisions about things like sending troops into Afghanistan.

We were at lunch one day in a restaurant, and he loudly berated the waitress for some minor infraction of server etiquette. It seemed to me the ultimate in hypocrisy.

Etiquette, to me, is the set of rules by which we show civil politeness to each other, and yet my friend was willing to throw out all attempts at being polite...in fact he was quite rude...to insist that someone follow the rules of politeness.

The irony was lost on my friend when I tried to explain this.

I know it would be easier to just blindly follow the rules and pressure people to do the same, because a world of absolutes is so much easier, but the more experienced, sage folks among us will always tell you that there are no short-cuts. The easier, softer way will only lead to needing to fix shit later.

Current Knitting
I started a new project this week (as if I didn't have enough on the needles). A week or so ago, my mom asked me if I would make her a heather-gray cardigan for Christmas. She couldn't have asked for a nicer gift for both of us.

I measured one of her existing cardigans, did a bunch of test-swatches and then calculated out the majority of the pattern.



You can see I haven't gotten too far on the bottom ribbing, but based on the picture below, you'll note I'm working on quite small needles.



Fortunately, my mom is petite, so it shouldn't be too difficult getting this all knit up and finished in time for Christmas.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Thanks to all who commented about the new recommendations on breast cancer screening. As always, I found your ideas interesting and thought-provoking, and I was mostly glad to be able to read perspectives from women. I was particularly grateful to hear from the women that shared personally incidences.

Regarding my latest gossamer lace project, Kerry writes, "That lace design is interesting. Is it one of your own designs or is it commercially available?"

It comes from one of my lace books...I think it's from Gossamer Webs by Galina Khmeleva. I can't remember the pattern stitch name at the moment, and I don't have it with me...I'll check when I get home on Wednesday.