I have finally learned to knit fair isle. I didn't even know there was a specific technique for continental knitters! All my english and american books just show various diagrams of holding this and that yarn in this and that position. I didn't know none of that works for continental knitting, but what I
could tell was how ugly my earlier swatches were. An hour or so with a Danish book worked wonders. At first I was sceptical. Holding one yarn over one finger and the other over two? But it really works, and is actually quite comfortable.
So then I just wanted to get straight to business. Well, that is the kind of business with only two colors, and not more than 7 stitches in one color. I still haven't figured out how to cross the yarns on the back without switching the skeins around, which I'm sure is not the way to do it.
I wanted a round and flowery pattern, so I was happy to find that
Pinneguri's beautiful thistle pattern doesn't have more than 7 stitches of one color.
After some swatching (yes, indeed), I decided to cast on 288 stitches, which is 9 pattern repeats. I cast on with the dominant color (which in my case is an orange-blue-brown multicolored Kauni, I used a grey one as background) and tried a tubular cast on first, my new favorite for rib! But it really does not work for a two-color rib. It was too bulky, so in the end, I used a standard cast-on, and -
IMPORTANT - one row of all knit stitches in alternating color, followed by the two-color rib proper. This way, bumps of wrong color are avoided.
Then, after a few rows of rib, 28 cm of the pattern followed
I have to admit that the blue color blends more into the gray background than I had expected. But, this is really just an experiment, so I guess that's ok. As you can see, I've started decreasing for arms and V-neck (more about that later - I'm using some numbers I came up with, so we'll have to wait and see how it works), with some stitches for steeking inserted. I've of course never made a steek, so in that respect, too, this is an experiment. In other words, don't worry about the colors when the whole thing may still fall apart later!
I really like the way the dusty colors blend but still stand out.
The beautiful flower pattern on the vest comes from Dale of Norway, and was originally published with the name Damask. Lots of people have since made their own versions, many with Kauni, so this is just one of them.
Then, after a few rows of rib, 28 cm of the pattern followed
I have to admit that the blue color blends more into the gray background than I had expected. But, this is really just an experiment, so I guess that's ok. As you can see, I've started decreasing for arms and V-neck (more about that later - I'm using some numbers I came up with, so we'll have to wait and see how it works), with some stitches for steeking inserted. I've of course never made a steek, so in that respect, too, this is an experiment. In other words, don't worry about the colors when the whole thing may still fall apart later!
As you can probably tell, it's a crochet hook case. It is beautifully made by my sister, who (of course) also put it on ravelry, where it has 39 hearts as of now :)
This find was much cheaper! 3 sets of double pointed needles and one standard set, plus 6 Norwegian style metal buttons. All together 25 kr or about $5. Well worth the time picking through all the other junk! The needles are all metal - hard to get your hands on nowadays. The dp's are 2, 3.5 and 4 mm, and the standard ones are 2.5 mm
I knitted tightly on 2.25 mm needles (a bit hard on the hands) and followed The Yarn Owl's instructions for thumb gusset and fingers, which worked out perfectly after switching left and right to their meaningful places in the instructions. But that's OK, I also still have problems with those words myself.
I used Yarn Forward's pattern, with quite a lot of lazy modifications instead of obtaining gauge with my random stash Harrisville Orchid Yarn:
This solved the problem perfectly, so now the hat looks like this, just what I imagined (although maybe a hot iron wouldn't harm it):
The new puke mill was my Christmas present, and arrived along with its companion, the japanese winder. Winding is very addictive, and we are in the process of winding our stashes.
The third layer is again vertical, and is - more or less - the only layer that shows in the end, the second layer peeking through just a bit. We decorated the third layer with different colors of roving and scraps of yarn to give interesting effects
Now comes the part with the hot soapy water. The entire ball with wool is wrapped in nylon stockings with the legs cut off (two pairs) that are knotted tightly. This keeps the wool more or less in place during the bouncing stage (yes, technical term) where the entire assembly is bounced in the hot soap water for 10-15 minutes. This felts the wool together, forming a fabric (which is strong because its three layers are at right angles to each other).
Now comes the fulling stage, in which the hat is rubbed against a washing board, or in our case a tray for paint. This makes the fabric shrink and thicken (the only stage you go through with items that are knitted, because they are already a fabric when you begin)
We fulled the hats until they fit, trying them on several times on the way, and shaping them to our heads and taste. I kept my hat round, Debi made hers flat on top. This is maybe the most interesting stage, where the wool can be bent and worked. In the very end, we ran the hats on a wool program in the washing machine to wash out the soap, followed by some final shaping (as the machine washing shrinks the hat somewhat).
