Day 2: Skill + 1UP - 2kcbwday2

Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet (can you crochet cable stitches now where you didn’t even know such things existed last year? Have you recently put a foot in the tiled world of entrelac? Had you even picked up a pair of needles or crochet hook this time last year? Last year for KnitCroBlog Week we were asked a question about what sort of skills we wanted to improve ... Let's see how we did (full post here)

The two main skills I wanted to learn/improve were spinning and continental knitting.

Check and Check.

While I don't have a picture, I do pretty much knit continental by default. Only when things get really tough or I have a whole WS purl row to complete do I use throwing rather than picking. I do surprise myself at times that I move into picking hand shape by default when I pick up my knitting.

Generally, my skill level has improved, mostly from practice, but I also discovered blocking and swatching (well I knew they existed before that, but I only started practicing them regularly this past summer).  This has been an easy way to make my projects look and fit better without knitting more stitches.

This time last year I had done mittens, bottom-up hats, and entrelac.

Since finishing up school in May I have made lace shawls, baby sweaters, top-down hats, Mobeus cowls, fair-isle hats.

I don't know where, but my father always quotes the fact that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become truly proficient at an activity (that works out to about 1 year, but taking into consideration the realities of life can be about 3 years of hard work).  I have put in quite a few number of hours knitting since last year, but I am still many, many years away from my 10,000 hours.  I also have expanded my color palette.

This year, some of the things I want to accomplish are re-learning how to crochet and planning a project from fiber to yarn to finished object.  As far as techniques, I want to work on my colorwork and double knitting and since getting Cookie A.'s Knit.Sock.Love. I have been tempted to try socks, or maybe see if I can turn one of her sock designs into a pair of mittens.  Oooh and dyeing yarn and fiber ... and tatting and making art yarn and ... you get the picture.

Day 1: A Tale of Two Yarns -- 2kcbwday1

Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.  

For me the tale of two yarns is in fact the tale of one pair of mittens.  Like many out there I am an avid Knitty reader and when the Winter 2011 edition came out with the Shelburne Mittens in it, I knew I had to make a pair. Due to living in Northern Ontario, and mitten weather lasting from October to April, I have a bit of a mitten obsession. I want to have a pair for just about every day of the winter (and for every possible weather condition).

So when I found this pattern I was well into my yarn diet and went diving into my stash (which you will see on Day 3) to find something that would work. I came out with this fantastic Dream in Color Groovy yarn I had ordered to make Bella's Mittens.

After swatching and finding that I had to use a needle about 3 sizes larger than recommended (for a yarn that was seemingly the same weight, and had the same ypp), I should have been reconsidering the yarn substitution but I blazed onward.  After a day of knitting I had this ...

Needless to say, something was terribly wrong.

After doing some research and a trip to my local LYS (which is 130km away) I found the yarn called for in the pattern, Rowan Felted Tweed Bulky and the difference between the yarns explained everything.

The DIC yarn was everything that the Rowan was not.  The DIC was a worsted spun superwash merino while the Rowan was a woolen spun merino/alpaca.  Now when I say worsted, I don't mean the weight of the wool, but rather how it was spun.  If you aren't familiar with the characteristics of sheep breeds and how yarns are spun I would suggest checking out Clara Parkes "The Knitters Book of Wool".  The book, which includes some beautiful patterns by amazing designers, includes a large section on the characteristics of different types of fibers and how preperation changes how the yarns feel and knit up.

The short form is that worsted spun doesn't allow twist in the pre-drafted fibers and is harder, firmer and not as warm (because there is less air trapped between the fibers), while woolen spun allows twist into the source fiber and it is fluffier, ligher and much warmer.  However, woolen fibers are much less abrasion resistant, think about a Malabrigo (woolen spun) sweater versus Wool of the Andes (worsted spun) sweater, which one is soft as all get out but gets holes and pills sooner (hint: Malabrigo) and which one is a bit picky and hard but wears like iron and after years of hard work it hardly shows any wear (hint: Wool of the Andes).

So to add to the issues of woolen vs. worsted spun I was having with my mittens, the amount of twist in the yarn was totally different. The DIC was plyed tightly, giving it an almost spring-like appearance. The Rowan by contrast was much more loosely plyed.  (If you read The Intentional Spinner by Judith MacKenzie McCuin, you will see this is in contrast to how most yarns are plyed).  This made the DIC more like a piece of spaghetti (perfectly round) while the Rowan is a bit more like linguine (with a bit more spread in the middle).

So for me the moral of this story is, there is more too choosing the right yarn than having a similar YPP and getting gauge, and that sometimes frogging and reknitting is the right thing.

For the Dream in Color Groovy I found the perfect pattern, the Fried Chicken Mittens.

This pattern was quite the adventure for me, and you can read more about these mitts here. I haven't started the Shelburne Mittens yet, the snow has been melting and my thoughts are on spring shawls and felted bags, but I know that the Rowan will look great and that the DIC found itself an amazing pattern.

P.S. It's not to late to participate in Knit and Crochet Blog Week, check out Eskmimimiknits for more info.

KniCroBlo Week -- Day 7

What a Yarn

There’s one love that we all share: yarn. Blog about a particular yarn you have used in the past or own in your stash, or perhaps one that you covet from afar. If it is a yarn you have used you could show the project that you used it for, perhaps writing a mini ‘review’. Perhaps, instead, you pine for the feel of the almost mythical qiviut? You could explore and research the raw material and manufacturing process if you were feeling investigative.

I know this is a day late, but I had other things going on yesterday, including the final revisions (I hope) on my MSc Report.

So, on to the question at hand ...

I adore Malabrigo, I first got my hands on some last summer when it was recommended to me by the staff at my LYS. I am pretty sure it is what restarted my interest in knitting last summer.  I love the single-ply, I love the softness and I loooove the colors.  I have a skein of water green that doesn't flatter my complexion, but I am itching to make it into something beautiful out of it. For the most part I have used the Worsted weight, but I have also used the lace and bulky weights (which are also awesome!).  I would really like to use the Silk Blend Merino.

KniCroBlo Week -- Day 6

Today's question asks, Revisit a past F/O

Bring the fortune and life of a past finished project up to the present. Document the current state and use of an object you have knitted or crocheted, whether it is the hat your sister wears to school almost every day, or a pair of socks you wore until they were full of hole. Or maybe that jumper that your did just didn’t like that much… However, I have few in the way of F/Os that are not sitting in my box of knitting waiting to be distributed, although I am about to drop off a few items to Safe Place, a women and children's shelter here in Austin.

So I am going to answer the wildcard question instead ...

All Tooled Up

Do you have a particular knitting/crochet tool or piece of equipment that you love to use? Maybe it is an old bent pair of needles that used to belong to someone special, or a gorgeous rosewood hand-turned crochet hook that you just love the feel of? Write about what you love it.

My favorite tool is one that I don't use that often, it is a J sized crochet hook.  What makes this hook special is that it was my Great Grandmothers, on my mother's side and more importantly it has a deadly sharp point on the tip (which seems to have been filed by Great Grannie) and because of her arthritis the handle has been wrapped in fabric tape to make it larger.  All of this adds up to a kick ass tool that I only use to rescue my knitting (as I rarely crochet, although if I did start doing more crochet it would likely be using this hook).  I also have her ruler/needle sizer/tension gauge which gives the sizes in U.S., Canadian and Metric, I am not sure when Canadian sizing fell out of favor but it  makes the ruler an interesting relic.

At one point I had a number of DPNs that were from my Oma (grandmother on my father's side).  However they were all bent and most of the sets only had 2 or 3 needles remaining.  It was nice to have them but in the end they were not that useful.

Note: I am out at my parent's house working on my thesis, I will post pictures once I get back to my house and my knitting supplies to post pictures.

KniCroBlo Week -- Day 5

Location, Location, Location

Where do you like to indulge in your craft? Is your favourite arm chair your little knitting cubby area, or do you prefer to ‘knit in public’? Do you like to crochet in the great outdoors, perhaps, or knit in the bath, or at the pub?

Anywhere and everywhere!  I am an unrepentant knitter, who has wanted to, on more than one occasion to pull out my knitting mid-lecture to help me stay awake.  I knit when I am waiting for things, I knit when I am watching tv, I knit when I am traveling (well not when I get on my bike or drive the car).

One place I am not overly fond of knitting is on the city bus.  I find that I can't ever get anything done because everyone thinks that me knitting is an invitation for a conversation. I am a generally friendly and outgoing person, and 9 times out of 10 I am happy to talk to someone about knitting, but sometimes I am knitting to forget about the stressful day and get lost in the rhythmic clicking of the needles.

At my house my usual knitting spot is in my office chair, because as a graduate student it is where I spend all time that I am not asleep or in class.  When I am at my parent's house I like the big leather chair or the sofa, where my mother usually insists on holding my yarn cake (or ball in the old days) and feeding it out to me.  She is helpful when there are tangles as she will pick them out while I am knitting. I also enjoy sitting on the deck at the cottage and knitting while feeling the sun and breeze on my face.

So, I like to knit, anywhere and everywhere.