I did not knit yesterday. Not a single stitch. I cannot remember the last day that went by without knitting — they are few and far between! When I said I started the front of my jacket, I had started it Sunday at the Como Zoo. I did nothing yesterday — shame on me 🙁
August 22, 2006
August 20, 2006
From Susan — Too Popular?
My dad once told me about the local grocery store that stopped selling one of his favorite items because they sold too fast to keep the shelves stocked.Â
I am going to Washington, DC in September to visit Sally (I’ll be her unpaid personal attendant) and to collaborate on our sweater design — plus, of course, it is a good excuse to hit a few yarn shops. I thought I would check to see when the DC Knit-Out Event is being held – what if it was held the weekend I was there.  Well, it is not being held this year at all because it proved too popular to be managed by the loyal group of volunteers that have been organizing it the past five years. They had 8,000 attendees last year!! WOW! They have decided to regroup and try to involve yarn companies, etc. to help defray the expenses. They hope to be up and running again next year. 2popular4words.
August 16, 2006
From Susan — Awaiting Inspiration
Again, I settle into the knitting doldrums with nothing to inspire me. I am slogging away on Oregon, but it progresses so slowly that it does not do much for my knitting mojo. I have toyed with a couple of new projects, but none of them are quite working out. I have some designs to work on but that takes too much brain power, and what I really want is something a bit mindless to take along with me. I can’t design “on-the-go.”  So that is why I have had very little to post lately. I just don’t have much goin’ on.
Here is a current picture of Oregon — looks strikingly familiar, right?
You can see there is a little bit of progress. It was interesting the other night, though. I was working on Oregon at a soccer game in the outdoor/natural light, and the colors were spectacular — incredibly bright and vivid. It was surprising to see the difference. The yarn really is gorgeous.
Knit Out Update — October 8 at Brookdale
I attended the Minnesota Knitters Guild meeting last night. Knit Out 2006 is going forward as planned and should be a lot of fun. Hope everyone within a 50-mile radius will be there!
August 13, 2006
From Susan — In response
Marina asked (and thank you for the nice comment about my knitting):
That’s interesting, Susan. How many categories are there for “knitting”? Knitting just doesn’t seem to be “big” here in SW OH. So different from Perth, W.A., Australia, where I’m from.
I think “SW OH” is southwest Ohio (?) — Marina, correct me if I’m wrong. There are 44 lots under Hand Knitted Articles (plus the two sweepstakes categories which you cannot enter). There are additional categories for Machine Knitted Articles and seniors. The entire booklet describing all of this is 50+ pages — and includes baking, canning, sewing, handpainting. The other ribbons I have won have been in sewing and baking. I missed the deadline this year for entering my Almond Shortbread cookies (I was bummed!). Baking is VERY cutthroat!
Marina is a fabulous knitter and is a speed demon at fair isle — click on her name in the previous post’s comments to check out her site.
From Susan — Count Down to the State Fair
I know it sounds cheesy, but the Minnesota State Fair is quite a big deal to many Twin Cities knitters. I have been entering stuff since the mid-80’s.Â
There are many different categories for hand knitted articles. They define plain knitting as stockinette and garter stitch (this is new this year — garter st used to compete against textured knitting); texture knitting is cabled, entrelac and lace; color pattern is fair isle or Norwegian; intarsia is intarsia; “limited use” means that only a portion of the garment uses color or texture. They have separate categories for hats, socks, mittens, gloves, afghans, scarves, jacket/outer wear, etc. So, even though you can only enter one item per category, there are many possibilities. The prizes are VERY nominal (embarrassing really).
The judges give you a score sheet with point totals on different knitting elements. They award points based on the quality of the knitting, the difficulty of the project and embellishments, if appropriate (i.e., buttons — they have a thing about buttons).  Sometimes they write in comments about why they scored your knitting the way they did. Over the years I have learned quite a bit about what they were looking for — they tend to favor the traditional and place a lot of emphasis on finishing.Â
It takes ~98-99 points to get a blue ribbon in a given category. After all the ribbons are awarded they compare the blue ribbon winners and award the sweepstakes. There is a separate sweepstakes for afghans.Â
Mindful Knitting
Sally has mentioned “mindful knitting” before.  State fair competition is where I got my first hint of mindful knitting. I had always just blindly followed the pattern, figuring it was the gospel from which you could not deviate. When the judges would mark off points and describe what I did “wrong” I was shocked: I hadn’t done anything wrong, I had followed the pattern exactly as written!!  I didn’t understand how I could get points taken off for following the directions. It slowly started to dawn on me – they didn’t care about the pattern, but how well the garment was executed — I told you I was a bit slow on the uptake! I needed to think the project through ahead of time, anticipate the finishing and make sure I would have the best result. It really made me think about my knitting, work on my finishing technique, and ultimately I improved my knitting quite a bit.Â
The first time I won the sweepstakes was in 1986 for a Penny Straker shetland lace cardigan — to me it felt like winning Olympic gold.  Here are close ups of the neckline and the bottom:
A crocheted buttonband! These are antique buttons that I got from my husband’s great aunt — I also used them on my Henry the VIII cardigan. Unfortunately, this sweater has not fit me in years!
Since then, I have won ribbons every year and several more sweepstakes along the way. It is fun to walk through the Creative Activities building and try to find your stuff and see how well you did. It makes going to the fair much more fun and now is kind of a ritual. I go to the fair on the first day and wait outside the Creative Activities door at 9am sharp to be one of the first in — I always run into other obsessed knitters, and we enjoy looking at the displays together. It represents the culmination of a year’s worth of knitting. They also have tons of other fabulous things to look at (amazing quilts, sewing, woodwork, etc.).
The icing on the cake is going to the September Knitters Guild meeting. We bring our entries and read the judges’ comments — then we get to look at the items up close and talk to each other about our projects.Â
This Year’s Entries — drum roll, please! You will recognize most of the items if you have been reading this blog (please excuse some of the pictures — it’s hard to photograph full sweaters).
The buttons STILL need to be sewn onto Sunrise! I will do that tomorrow and then take the stuff in on Monday. Ballerina has to wait until next year — I already have entries in the two categories it could go into (either plain knitting – cardigan, or jacket). It’s kind of nice to have something ready for 2007.
Anyway, there you have it.  I won’t know how I did until 9am on Thursday, August 24th….but who cares, right?
Â
August 10, 2006
From Susan — Save this Date
OCTOBER 8 — For Knitting Twin Citians (!? is that a word), the 3rd Annual Knit Out is scheduled for Sunday, October 8 at Brookdale Mall in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Knit Out is a national knitting event that is held anytime between September and November. The purpose is to showcase the different facets of knitting.  Sally has attended the Washington DC Knit Out in the past.
The Minnesota Knitters Guild organizes our local Knit Out. We have learn-to-knit clinics, “Ask the Knitting Doctor,” charitable knitting, various booths from local yarn shops, and fashion shows of gorgeous handknits. I am in charge of the Fastest Knitter Contest.  A picker and a thrower have won in previous years.  The event is a lot of fun and gets knitting out in the public eye. Hope you can be there.
 PS — I am sorry to have missed my knitting group tonight. There were too many complications with my second job as unpaid taxi driver.
July 25, 2006
From Susan — Fair Isle Facts and Fiction
Knitters are intimidated by fair isle because of its perceived complexity. Yes, these are challenging projects, don’t get me wrong. However, they look harder than they are. The time consuming part of the process is the gauge: usually 30 sts and 36 rows to 4″.  AS’s new yarns knit up to a larger gauge: 28 sts and 32 rows per 4″ — still not what I would call bulky!! For my size sweater, I am knitting 347 sts every round and each round takes forever!
Facts and fiction:
- Oregon uses 17 colors and looks extremely complicated, but in true fair isle, you never knit with more than two colors in any given row. In Bohus and Norwegian knitting, there are times you knit with up to 4 colors at once.
- People are scared off/confused by steeks. Steeks ( a word that roughly means “gate”) is used to bridge a gap, such as a center front in a cardigan or a sleeve opening, so you can knit in the round while doing color work. The benefit is that you always knit to create stockinette stitch. Also, the design pattern is always facing you — you are not trying to figure out where you are in the pattern from the wrong side where the stranding occurs.The steek itself consists of 10 sts of stockinette stitch. It is just a ~one inch wide strip of knitting strategically placed for cutting after the “tube” is done. Shaping is done on either side of the steek and magically appears once cut. As I get to the v-neck shaping on Oregon, you’ll see what I mean. You carefully cut the steek up the middle (leaving 5 sts on each side) and then finish the cut edges.Â
- If done correctly, the yarns will not get all twisted together (as in intarsia). As you knit, you carry one color above and one below. The yarns run parallel and do not cross each other. There is no need to twist the yarns together — in fact, DO NOT twist them unless absolutely necessary. I only twist the yarns for carries across 8 or more sts. I have seen sweaters where the knitter twisted all through the sweater and it looked terrible — the sts get very distorted and the color that is being carried shows through.Â
To keep track of the colors, I made a color card with the name and symbol of each color next to a small length of yarn. Some colors are very similar and difficult to keep straight. To keep track of where you are in the pattern, use sticky notes — place the sticky edge along the TOP line of the row you are on. Another thing people use is a magnetic board. Either way, you need to have a visual line to follow to keep track of your work.
There you have it: Fair Isle 101. Once you’ve done one of these, it all makes sense!
Wendy asked to see the inside of the color work. I thought I’d share a picture from an already finished sweater because this design really shows the reverse image of the stranding. Here is the outside (public) view:
And the inside:
This design is Henry the VIII from Tudor Roses. Now I must knit!
July 13, 2006
From Susan — Ponchette is Almost Done
My Ponchette will be done tomorrow. Once it is sewn and blocked I’ll post a completed photo. I think I will really like wearing it.
At lunch I sat outside and was knitting on the Ponchette. A fellow employee came over and asked about my knitting and said she loves to knit herself. We had a wonderful conversation about our shared love of knitting. She is quite avid about it and shares the ‘purpose vs process’ philosophy of knitting (i.e., she and I like to get things finished, not just get them started). She is Ethiopian and her name is Abebe (“flower”) — one of the two words I actually know in Ethiopian! The other I cannot spell — it means hello.Â
Knitting is the true international language!!
June 13, 2006
From Susan — A Comment
Someone asked in a comment if I planned on modelling Sunrise when it is finished. I think I can safely speak for both Sally and myself when I say that we will NOT be modelling any of our completed fashions. There are many blogs out there where people show off their beautiful creations by modelling them. This is not one of those blogs. It’s not that Sally and I are hideous or deformed, but I am not photogenic and do not feel the need to prove it publicly in an ongoing way!!
At the Knitters Guild “Knit Out” event held in October, we have fashion shows where volunteers model the sweaters that knitters bring to display. It is funny to see my sweaters on someone else because the sleeves hang down past their hands and they look like they are in mommy’s dress ups. Even then, I do not model my stuff.
June 11, 2006
From Susan — WWKIP Update (and Sunrise Update)
Yesterday was World Wide Knit in Public Day, as I mentioned a couple of days ago. I did make it to Barnes & Noble in Blaine to meet up with Mary and her knitting pals, Tessa, Becky, and Emily — very nice young women. A few of MY knitting pals also showed up: Marilyn, her daughter, Nicole, Julie, and Emily. My oldest daughter, Laura, came with me with her current knitting project. It was a lot of fun. Mary et al are just starting out on their knitting journey.  Some of the rest of us have “been on the road” awhile! It was fun to share our love of knitting and help out some of the newbies as they interpreted the sometimes confusing world of knitting patterns. I’ll be there next year, Mary!
I bought this magazine at B&N because of the pattern for the sheep puppets — I do not spin and do not plan on ever learning. I only have time for knitting.
Are these the cutest things you’ve ever seen? I think you could substitute fair isle weight shetland.
Sunrise is setting: I am finishing Sunrise. What intrigued me about this pattern was the possibility that the entire outer perimeter could be handled as one big circle, instead of working it in pieces — neck, lower back edge, front half circles. So, I decided to do an I-cord bind off around the entire perimeter (instead of a purl turning row as shown) and then I will pick up the facing and knit it in one piece in the round. To do this, I’ll either need several sets of circular needles, which I own but probably can’t find, or buy one really long needle. I had been thinking that the bottom back hem did not need a facing, but I think I’ll go ahead and do it to prevent curling. The sleeves will not get a facing.Â
This in-progess view shows the right front I-cord bind off completed. The bottom back edge is also finished. There is a way to do an i-cord bind off and keep live sts so you can keep knitting. It was not worth the trouble here and does not turn out as well anyway. As you can see, this is a fairly slow process, so I doubt I’ll get it done today. Button shopping is next 🙁
