Life gets in the way of my knitting!

#1

Howdy!!

I knit, ALOT.
Let me say also, I crochet, embroider, sew, punch needle, rug hook, paint, ect ect ect. What person who crafts, crafts only one thing? (forgive me if there are some of you out there)

I have alot to say about crafting tho so I thought I would put my thoughts on paper (or virtual paper as it were) for everyone who gets a fancy, can read it.

Getting to the reasoning behind the title of my “Blog”…
I always say “Life gets in the way of my knitting”…I said it tonight at 7pmish as I secretly wanted to turn every clock in the house to 8:30pm, hoping I could convince my 6yo son that it truly was bedtime so I could get some “Mom Time” to work on this. He wasnt buying it and I had to wait another hour and a half to put him to bed before I could knit. Its not like I cant knit with him around me…I stand in line, (DMV) sit in waiting rooms, driving (while im a passenger of course, im not [B][I][U]that[/U][/I][/B] good, or stupid. take your pick.), I even have my knitting bag hanging on my arm while my son and I take walks, But not lace. Lace is like a high maintenence drama queen. It must have all the attention and will not put up with anything less. So I waited till my “Mom Time”.

Im thinking this is an addiction…but its not to the point of neglecting my children for it…close…but not yet. My husband? hes up a creek.

I am working on the Shawl now tho…(well, not right [B][I][U]now[/U][/I][/B]…) This is my design, or compendum really because all of these patterns came from several different pattern books and some stuff straight outta my head, and then thrown together like one of those leftover stews? Yanno what I mean? The thing is…ya cant just “throw” it together…theres more details involved…theres math and then…why the hell ain’t this working!!!

Its not a pretty picture…

But it will be. When Im done with it. I hope to get a legable pattern together so I can sell it. After all the time I have already put into this, It would be good to see it knit and enjoyed by other people.
More pics and chat about knitting the shawl and other stuff to come later…

For now…I leave you with this…

:knitting:
Melissa

#2

My knitting always curls at the edges, even when knitting garter stitch, and no matter what yarn I am using (whether wool, acrylic or another). I have tried casting on more loosely, but with no difference. I always block woollen pieces, which helps, but not with acrylic. Apart from crocheting the edges, which is good but not suitable for everything I make, is there another way to get my knitting to lie flat by changing the way I knit?

#3

depending on what your making…a suitable edging is in order…
You could do 4 or 6 stitches of seed stitch around the edge or if you are knitting stockenette, you could do a border of garter stitch. But you need a border around the main body to make it lie flat…it could be knitted while your knitting the body, knitted on after you finish the body. I do a crab stitch border alot.
Your garter stitch shouldn’t be curling tho…not sure why that would be.

You should post your question on the “How to” forum here on the site and get more answers…

Thanks for reading!!
Melissa

#4

Its been about a week now and I’ve been working on the prom shawl when I can (life gets in the way of my knitting…or I’d have this thing done by now!)
Here is the body of it with 6 of 10 pattern repeats done…looks horrible dont it? It will look good when its dressed.


Anyway, It occurred to me that there are some weird yarnovers. Ones that aren’t used in the average pattern.

So I thought I’d talk about it.
Some of the following text is taken from Let Me Explaiknit’spost on yarnovers shown in quotes.
“In most cases, all YOs are done so that the resulting loop sits in Western orientation, with its right leg in front of the needle. There is a circumstance, however, in which this is not wholly desirable. That circumstance is when a pattern contains pairs of YOs that are intended to be symmetrical, but one YO is preceded by a purl and followed by a knit, while the other is preceded by a knit and followed by a purl.”

There are LOADS of these paired YO’s in this pattern.

Sara goes on to explain the differences in the k-YO-p, and the p-YO-K combinations.
Im going to focus on the 3 YO combinations used in the pattern.

The first one is the K-YO-K combination. This is the common YO. The knit stitch ends with the yarn in back of the work. It’s then taken under the needle to prepare for the YO, over the right needle to form the YO, and then it’s already in the proper position to form the following knit.

Here’s where it gets hairy. Grab some chocolate and keep reading.

The second and third YO’s used in this pattern is the k-YO-p, and the p-YO-k combinations. As Sara explains in her post, if you do both the YO’s normally, you will wind up with one big hole and one small hole. And then the whole symmetrical thing is out the window…So one or the other needs altered.

I went with the small holes…This is how I did it.

"The k-YO-p combination. After finishing the knit stitch, you will bring the yarn from back to front over the top of the right needle, and then proceed with the purl stitch."


Some folks do this on accident…when they forget to change the yarn position when changing from knit to purl. thus creating a new stitch they have NO IDEA where it came from…In this case, its done on purpose.
Another way of thinking about it…instead of putting the yarn UNDER the needle to change from knit to purl, you would put the yarn OVER the needle when you change from knit to purl. In other words…you would go from a knit straight to a purl without any extra motion. There would automatically be a yo in between these two stitches, and when you come back to it you will have something that looks like this…


BREATHE…this is doable!! BUT, as you can see, its VERY EASY to pick up a stitch you didnt want, or put your new stitch in the wrong stitch. The YO is being pulled by the previous(now the next) stitch. You want to work your new stitch into the yarn above the needle(the YO from previous row). And since this is the altered stitch, it sits on the needle in the Eastern orientation, which means its twisted, which means you have to work it thro the back loop so you keep it open and dont squish it shut.
When you make your new stitch, you want to pull towards you, like this…




Making sure the needle goes under the yarn. This will pull the previous(now the next) stitch back in place for you to make your next stitch into. And you should wind up with a recognizable stitch. Something like this…

Grab some chocolate and let this soak in.
Ok, Lets move on…
"In the case of the p-YO-k combination, by contrast, the purl stitch ends with the yarn already in front, so it’s simply taken over the top of the right needle to form the YO, and then it’s already in the proper position to form the following knit."


I wanted to show you the backside of the p-YO-k, but the site wont let me upload any more pics…maybe tommorow.

But anyway, for now…Both YOs pass over the top of the needle only, and are the same length. We have our symmetrical holes and all is right in the knitting world…

At least for this project…

:knitting:
Melissa

#5

Melissa,
Love the lace you are working on, its beautiful! I also really enjoyed the title of your blog and the U-Tube clip you shared. I also take my knitting with me EVERYWHERE!!! I’ve been told that there are worse things to be addicted to. I home school my girls and while we are sitting at the table working in our work for the day, they will hear my knitting needles clicking away :teehee: Keep knitting :knitting:

#6

I think the prom shawl is very pretty! Thanks for the other information too. :yay: