Thursday, March 29, 2007

Video Day - Portuguese Knitting: Casting Off

Long time no post... I'm very busy at the moment and don't have time to blog. I need to write too many thesis pages in too little time, so keep your fingers crossed I'll meet the deadline! More details on this and other topics as soon as I'm done.

In the meantime, for those of you who want to try knitting like the Portuguese do it, here's part 4 of the mini-series. This week's topic: Casting off.



Have fun watching!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Video Day - Portuguese Knitting: Cast On

For all of you who ever wanted to know more about Portuguese Knitting... this is part 3 of the mini series: How to cast on in Portuguese knitting.



Watch out for part 4 next week!

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Casting off, take #2

Yesterday after finishing off the Italian cast-off, when I couldn't get the turtle neck over my head, I thought I knew what the problem was. I thought as I didn't have much yarn leftover that I had sewn the finish too tightly. To explain this a bit further, casting off this way requires you to knit the last 4 rows on a smaller needle size (0.5mm smaller, to be precise) and then to finish off by sewing the remaining stitches. This results in a smooth, rounded edge, unlike the usual cast-off.
Okay, so I un-sew the finish, tinked the last 4 rows and re-knitted them with the ball of yarn I had left (fortunately, there is plenty of yarn left of the ball as I didn't use this color much. For sewing, though, I had to cut the yarn). So far, so good. I was almost done with these 4 rows when I tried stretching the stitches on the needle and it was... not so good. Too tight. Damn! So, even more tinking last night, and hopefully some more relaxed re-knitting tonight. Stay tuned for more Italian adventures!

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Italy I like, but casting off in Italian?

Last night I finally finished knitting the K_sweater. Well, for now. I tried the sweater on - oh, why me? You have to know, I have quite a large head. So I thought that would qualify me to test the flexibility and endurance of the turtle neck as I used the Italian cast-off there. The instructions said the yarn I was knitting with should be at least 3 times as long as the piece I was casting off. Okay, that's what I did: 3 times and then some. Guess what!


It wasn't long enough. See the short bit of camel-colored yarn? That's how much I had left!
AND, what is more important, I could not get the turtle neck over my head. I must have sewn too tight... but as I was running out of yarn, this didn't really come as a surprise to me.

So, my plans for tonight are to redo the last bit of the neck, and hopefully get it all done tonight. I still don't feel too great due to my cold, so we're staying in tonight and K is cooking for me. (Yay for K! He's so sweet to me when I'm sick.)
I'll leave you into the weekend with a closeup of the cast-off edge of the turtle neck... hope you can see something!

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Video Day - Portuguese Knitting: Purling

Guess what: I still haven't finished the K_sweater! I didn't feel much like knitting, or seaming, or whatever, lately. I developed this cold that makes me feel weird, and today I pretty much lost my voice, forcing me to cancel a session today. It's weird, if I speak for a little it seems okay, but the longer I talk, the less voice I have. I guess I'm lucky I don't publish a podcast...

Anyways, here's this week's video. Last week I showed you one I found on knitting in Portuguese style, and this week we all can learn how the Portuguese knitters purl. Don't forget to turn your speakers on, and have fun!

Monday, March 12, 2007

Randoms

Not much knitting has been going on here at d.knit. The K_sweater is almost finished; the turtle neck needs a few more rows and then there's the Italian cast-off. I haven't tried this one, I just hope it looks as good as the Italian cast-on! And then there's only about half a gazillion ends to weave in... I'm thinking if I should thread them into the seams which makes the seams go stiffer (or at least that's what I think happens) or if I should just weave them in, running the risk of ends of thread peeking through on the right side. Anyways, the sweater isn't so urgent any more as it's getting warmer each day. Sunshine is nice, but this time we've missed out on winter. It had snow for a couple of days which was good, but it wasn't cold for long at all. The seasons in 2006 were messed up anyways: half a meter of snow in March (which is very unusual for Munich), cold until June/July, a heat wave during the whole month of July, a rainy and chilly August, a very warm September and October, well, until Christmas actually. This winter was actually the warmest since they began tracking the temperatures - 400 years ago.

The new Knitty is out! As opposed to the Interweave Knits Spring 07 issue (that issue was a BIG disappointment... why on earth would I want to knit a thong? Or a strange capelet, that doesn't cover shoulders nor boobs?! Or that bandeau top, merely just a boob warmer? And don't get me started on the new layout!), I like quite a few of the patterns. Isabella for example (just not in that color); I think it uses the same yarn as the Victoria Tank (I still need to fix that!). Or Ester, even though I usually go for more classic knits. I think this one has a special something to it though; oh, and I found out that the knitty photos for this one don't show the actual color. The real yarn is a burgundy red, no hint of purple whatsoever. Morestripes is interesting too, even though I'm not too much into this color and I'd make it a bit more figure-hugging. And I wouldn't want to do the steeking. (I think this is the first time that I've seen a pattern and thought "I love you... now change!", like in Debbie Stoller's Stitch'n'Bitch Handbook) Vestee's cute too; I'd have to make it larger for my nephew to fit (he turns a year and a half in May) because I'd want to make it for his birthday in November. I'm picturing a short-sleeve version with a hoodie, so he can wear a longsleeved shirt underneath... would look cool! I'm also tempted to make Clessidra; they'd be "home stockings" though because it would be a shame hiding that pattern in pants. Or maybe I could bring that large cable pattern to the front as well and make a short version... I just noticed that this is actually the first time that I look at patterns (more than one!) and I change them in my mind, to my likings. Before (before what?), erm, earlier, some time ago, until now (I think that fits) I always either liked a pattern, or I didn't. And for the patterns I liked, some of them I just felt like knitting them because they were a challenge but I wouldn't have worn them; and the others I wanted to make for myself, but that was a minority. I'm picky when it comes to clothing. Shoes are even worse, that's why I didn't find winter shoes this winter. As it turned out, I didn't need them anyways, so I was lucky.

Alright... I should get back to work now (meaning I should get started working before it's officially too late). I know it's Sunday, and the weather is just gorgeous outside right now, but I'm running out of time for my thesis so I really must work. Thing is, the later it gets, the more I'm wondering if I'm still able to make it at all. I'm my biggest enemy in this situation, as my inner voice keeps telling me that whatever I do and whatever I want to write about just sucks. Also happens sometimes when I'm blogging. But I'm working hard on tracking down this bloody voice and quieting it! It's just annoying whenever I'm set back, and right now I'm set back a lot. Oh well.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Video Day - Knitting Portuguese Style

... and I thought I knew all about how to knit!



I wonder how she holds the yarn, and where.
There's more to come on Portuguese Knitting next week!

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Now I see you - now I don't

The other day I seamed front and back of the K_sweater. I used mattress stitch to do so, because it always gives the smoothest results.
It's funny how the seam is quite visible on one side, like in this picture below,


but not so much in this one (below).


Weird... the "perfect" seam is the one I did first. I don't know what went wrong with the other one.

We had the most beautiful sunset tonight. I don't get to see the actual sunset as my lounge room window goes out west, but I always get the light reflections on the big ugly buildings (there's only one in the photos below) - that's the only time of day that makes these buildings worth looking at.
The light on the apartment building was so golden! It was really beautiful because the sky was dark from the rain in the afternoon... such a beautiful combination of dark blue purple-ish and gold!


Only a short time later it looked like this:


A sky for lovers... pink clouds, so diffuse!

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Video Day - knittaplease

I always knew that Texans were a bit crazy...



...not that Bavarians are any better!

Oh, Interweave Knits had let me know that my copy should be here by March 2nd the latest. I'll keep you updated...

ETA: It's March 2nd today, and my letterbox is empty. I'm slowly beginning to wonder if the mailman ate my IK copy.

Getting closer

Can you guess what this is?


I'll give you a hint: it's 2 pieces that took 200 pins.