Lizard Ridge afghan complete

Lizard Ridge afghan
from Knitty, Fall 2006
Started: October 11, 2006
Finished: November 16, 2006
Noro Kureyon, colorway 116-- 19 balls
Patons Classic Merino, Black-- 1 ball (more than 1/2 of the 100gm used)
US 8 (5.0mm) 24" circular needle, Addi and size f crochet hook for edging



What can I say? :) Checklist stuff first.

Basics:

I used 18+ balls of Noro Kureyon, knitting from 2 balls at the same time and alternating colors as directed in the pattern. I followed the pattern as written, except for the modifications I'll rewrite about below.

I used only one colorway, and knit the entirety in panels instead of blocks. I knit until the end of the skeins and just added a new one in when needed. When adding in colors (or compensating for knots!!) I just spit spliced. I didn't really make an effort to keep the colors the same when adding in a new ball; I took skeins and pretty much worked them in a grab bag way, working a dark or light starting yarn into a dark or light end of skein if I could, but not a big deal if not. When I spit spliced knots that joined non-similar colors, I just went for it and spliced them where the knots were. I didn't switch or change out colors if they lined up to the same color from the previous skeins, so what you see is an example of the kureyon patterning every other row.





I used mattress stitch to seam it up, and edged it with the black Patons merino wool. On the second row of the crochet edge, I skipped 3 stitches instead of 2-- I think on my sc (1st) row of crochet, I picked up too many and the resulting second row was bunchier than it should have been... my "waves" looked more like peaks, so not wanting to redo the 1st row (I've not crocheted before!!) I went with this. Still a little "peaky" but that's okay.





I wet blocked it in Kookaburra woolwash, and just laid it out to dry (first squeezing the water out in towels, etc.) I didn't block it to any measurements, just tried to make the edges even and the panels straight. They're not perfectly straight, but I'm okay with that... neither am I :)



Mods:

1) I knit garter ridges instead of stockinette for the non-short row rows; so rows 1-3 garter (knit every row), row 4 as written, rows 5-9 garter, row 10 as written, rows 11-12 garter. This made the afghan less shibori like when knitting it; the pieces generally were flat pre blocking.



I really enjoy the texture of the garter ridges, even though they are less pronounced after the wet blocking. The garter edges also made seaming *much* easier for me... I used the ridges as markers to make sure my seams were straight and even. I think the line of garter ridges across the afghan helps with the horizontal continuity, and also gives a visual "clue" as to when there is a color/skein change as the colorway is darkish and there were overlapping colors between the 2 skeins.

2) I broke yarn and wove in the ends while knitting instead of carrying the yarn up the sides. I actually do consider this a mod, especially seeing the panel where I did carry the yarn up the side compared to the next three where I wove in the yarn ends as I went... the carrying yarn panel was "shorter" (more compacted) than the others, even though the floats were as loose as I could make them without flopping on the wrong side (WS). I was a bit uncomfortable with the loose yarn on the WS (I didn't plan to and won't back the afghan), and doubly so for the panel that would be on the far right edge and edge of the blanket-- so I'm happy those fears were allayed this way.





[edit, friday nite... i thought i'd posted too many pics, but here's one of the entire WS of the blanket since some of you were interested in the back (i like it too!)...



btw, i haven't trimmed the ends yet, wanted to take photos first to show how deep they were woven in-- but i will be cutting them down before its given to gma.]

It took a bit more yarn to do this (weaving in ends while knitting), but not much. (I wove in the ends over approx. 2.5-3" where carrying the yarn up the side would take less than an inch, depending on the place in the pattern.) Now, there was no way I would have ever have done this if I wasn't weaving in the yarn ends as I went-- it would drive me crazy as I hate finishing. Luckily I was taught how to weave in yarn ends while knitting from JP Pett-Ridge during a colorwork class (and was accepted to Yarnival! vol 1.3 for showing off the technique! w00t!), and definitely think its a great way to go with this afghan.


The elephant in the room? What about the Noro Kureyon?

Knots in Noro, who knew?! ;) 17 in 19 balls, most not keeping the color continuous and joining dissimilar colors. Vegetation? Yup, picking out stuff as I knit-- straw, hay, farmland stuff. Even all of that, I loved it. I like the "rustic," not super processed feel of the wool and I didn't mind the knots in this project. It wet blocked softer than it started, and is warm and makes a nice afghan. However, part of the new love I feel for the the Kureyon is how much it makes me think and wonder how they make it-- how they arrange such delicate color transitions while spinning long colors, all in a mass-production way. The knots really detract from that; I wouldn't want to try and guess where stripes will repeat in the Kureyon, but I hate missing out on the gradual color changes when dissimilar colors are knotted together. I'll use it again sometime, but for smaller projects... I don't see myself knitting sweaters anytime soon, but I'm not averse to it. I want to know how they do it though! (Yarn spies, call me!) :)

[edit, November 29... Rachel pointed me to her discussion with Noro/KFI re: knots in their yarns, and her discussion also includes some background on the base fiber and spinning it; very interesting stuff! Also check out the links here 1, 2, 3 from Anne's discussion with Jeffrey Denecke of KFI, Noro's USA distributor, about her Noro Knot Experience. Yes, *that* *same* J. Denecke from yarn recall/no cashmere in Debbie Bliss/Noro fame...]

The Patons Classic Merino was the real eyeopener for me... $5 for 100gm/223yd, comparable to Knit Picks Merino Style but heavier weight, often on sale at craft stores. I've never tried it but I'm glad I did. I stopped myself from getting a few armloads for making toys for the kid (with the current $10 threadless tshirt sale, and my yarn binge last weekend, its for the best anyway!!)


Jack London was a Knitta, yall.
(See the pre-at at's in the background?)

Roundup... I loved it. I loved knitting it, I loved the final product. I'm awfully pleased with it, and think that I may make it a bit of tradition to knit my grandma an afghan every year (and I can start earlier this time!) Maybe the Great American Aran Afghan or Barbara Walker's Learn to Knit afghan... I've batted that idea around before, but I really like the result and scope of this project so I think I'll do it. Need to think about it more after the holiday though!! :)

One last shot for scale...




Previous posts on Lizard Ridge:

October 12, 2006
October 16, 2006
October 18, 2006
October 23, 2006
October 24, 2006
October 26, 2006
October 30, 2006
November 4, 2006
November 10, 2006

i've got nothing.

In order of importance, today... winners of my socktoberfest contest?

Koigu (or any other sock yarn from Article Pract) to Becka, the knitting wounded
Crazy hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy yarn to Laurie in Maine

I have about half of the other h2g2 roving spun up, hopefully will get the rest done this weekend (to relax)... :)

***

I'm really off my game the past week, and its echoed into me becoming a bad blogger and knitter and general community member as well. I haven't replied to my blog comments, which I always do if I can (read: if you have a blogger account and have "show my email address" checked in their profile. Anyone else who leaves comments via blogger's comment system-- I can't hit "reply" in gmail and have an email go out to you so I can't reply to your comments in email. I know I could use haloscan or some other comment plugin, but I'm 29 now and have decided to be ornery already.)

I'm sorry, I'm just in a funk. I've been spending just about all my time this week hanging out with my son, trying to burn this time into my memory to revisit later when the times aren't so good to come. I tend to do this, store up the good things and live off of them in my lean times; cache, cairn, other c-words of memory and rememberance, grief and loss. That won't be on the lower 48, so I don't feel as dirty now.

Should have had the 4th panel done, but here it is 2/3 of the way...


Lizard Ridge afghan, 4th panel of 4

Looking at it, right now, I'm totally thinking what Cookie guessed I would-- if I hadn't overknit this thing, I'd be done by now! :) I actually have a super secret pipe dream of having it done today (Friday) so I can start to seam it up over the weekend-- and wanted to ask some advice on that if anyone has some to give :)

I stink at finishing. I don't even know if I do it "right" most of the time, and its probably why I like the tiny projects knit circularly from one skein of yarn over all others. How do I go about seaming these panels together? I mean, I have books and books and the intarweb to teach me, but I don't even know what sort of stitch to use to do it. (Usually I'd be too embarrassed to admit this, but hey! There's got to be some upside to be so down.) The panels are both stockinette and garter, and the stst will line up with the stst & the garter with garter. If anyone could just point me in the right dx of what stitch to use that'd be wonderful :)


The boyfriend dad sock has a heel but no cuff. Just like Rachel says, the foot works up SO fast. I set them down to work on LR... hasn't been much, admittedly.

I've also narrowed down my choice for when I knit some manLace (hypotenuse, by anne of knitspot) for myself...


Schaefer Anne (red's not color correct and you can't see the variegation/tone on tone)

Not sure which. At first I immediately thought of the orange and black, but then the red really started to creep into my brain and just sit there like-- you're going to pick me, why are you even thinking of something else? Not only the crowd favorite, but your favorite. Admittedly, red's gotten under my skin lately but its hard letting go of the once favorite for the new. I don't have time yet to knit it for myself soon, but at least I can stop "worrying" about finding yarn for it (though I still think ryc's cashcotton 4 ply in Vivid would be so perfect, too).

That's it! That's all I got for yall :) Hopefully I'll be back on my game soon, but apologies in advance for not replying to comments via email or commenting on blogs (I have been reading, but not commenting.) I think I'm going to be using my "get out of jail free card" and not do any of it for a bit, just going to withdraw and read and play with my kid and knit for now-- but I do read everything and appreciate all of you reading and writing along with me.

To show just how offkilter I am... a meme. I am in the camp that you should learn drips and drags about a person by reading what they put out there and not in lists, perhaps why I get all long winded about stuff sometimes, but I just... yeah. For someone else more than me, for things easier said than done.


48 things.

1. FIRST NAME? aija

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? yes. a korean stage dancer in las vegas, a dear friend to my mother who died before i was born. really, and of what i don't know.

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? sunday.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? yes, and i think it's awful and indecipherable on its face most of the time. i think anyone who takes the time to try and read what i've written (longhand) truly loves me. i've only known one person i've sat and taken the time to do that with, and i owe her a long-overdue thank you for my birthday present (sorry j, i loved it).

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? anything that's good with avocado and mayonnaise. used to be anything good with avocado, but i'm on a downslide with the mayo obsession lately. or things that can be dipped.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? no. i'm shy and terrible at maintaining eye contact, let alone friendships.

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? this is it. and another, but thats private and not quite a journal either.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? yes. i've never had anything physically major happen to me, except the birth of my son and getting my tongue pierced.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? maybe. i'd be afraid of hurting myself, more than the fear of jumping off. par for the course.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? kix. i remember going often to the generic elementary school fieldtrips to the petting zoo and cranking dimes into the metal and glass feedbins (repurposed supermarket vending machines with those plastic bubble toy containers holding solid rubber bouncy balls at 25 cents apiece or sticky hands to throw on walls at 50 cents each... damnit, i *just* remembered i forgot my toy car. so #3 should read, "right now" but i'm not changing it) ... the ten cent feed at the petting zoo was stale kix cereal. i always made my mom buy it to eat at home, and would often eat it out of my hands like the wiry goats did. i didn't use milk on cereal til very recently, always ate it dry (kix or no). i don't eat kix anymore though... too easy and fun for my kid to head-crush between his fingers, so its honey bunches of oats in the pantry.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? if i have to. which means yes.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? yes but its a lie i have told myself enough to believe it. my muscles are not so much solid as they are liquid, and my heart's the opposite.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? used to be mint chocolate chip, but now its anything but chocolate or strawberry and not with a lot of hard pieces in it.

14. SHOE SIZE? us 9 or 9.5. my feet grew when i was pregnant (spread out from carrying the weight! i was almost, ALMOST 200lbs at my heaviest, literally. i waivered at 199lbs for weeks, tried to eat more to gain that extra pound but no dice)... they grew but i don't know if they've returned to pre-pregnancy size.

15. RED OR PINK? red. i think of lots of things when i think of red, one i can share with yall... when i was younger i'd learned all i needed to know about human sexuality from a set of books my mom gave me when i hit puberty, and cosmo. cosmo before it was marketed to 13 year olds, anyway. i remember in one of those many many "differences between the sexes" articles (found between directions on the "butterfly kiss" and "how to shave your armpits") i learned women preferred yellow-red and men blue-red; practical advice when choosing your wardrobe and lipstick colors it said. oy. [fwiw, the schaefer anne above is what i'd think to be blue-red.]

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? fear to the point of immovability. laziness. self-hate of body and personality and emotional range. how i hurt those that love me. how i hurt myself.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? ...

18. WHAT FOOD WILL GET YOU OUT OF BED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT? nothing. i'm usually out for the count.

19. WHAT COLOUR TROUSERS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? blue jeans, threadless' "blow with the wind" t-shirt, red converse, green hedera socks.

20. LAST THING YOU ATE? buttercream bun from the best chinese bakery-- napoleon super bakery on franklin in oakland's chinatown. i regularly get into a gentle shoving match with the patrons there, no one wants to queue up but instead cut in front of the hapa chick with the stroller; not a good idea when I'm in this mood.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? thomas the train on tv.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? washable black.

23. FAVORITE SMELL? public: sampoerna extra clove cigarettes, when someone else is smoking them. private: chest just below the neck.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? #17.

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? if they can get me to want to maintain eye contact.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON YOU STOLE THIS FROM? sure, found it on bunches of blogs but didn't think i'd actually do it. but i like everone i read, even if i couldn't tell you where i saw it first.

27. FAVOURITE DRINK? coke zero.

28. FAVOURITE SPORT? chasing my kid.

29. EYE COLOUR? brown.

30. HAT SIZE? i have an abnormally large head. i wouldn't want to know.

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? yes. i spent most of my years in law school behind my glasses, but once my son was born and moved into fascination with them, he took them off my face enough to crack the frame and have me in contacts all of the time, except when cleaning them. in college i wore grey tinted ones and purple tinted ones, too... when i stopped wearing them, i thought i looked very strange with just brown eyes staring back at me in the mirror. now i realize how odd i truly looked.

32. FAVORITE FOOD? naked in bed foods.

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? i can't do scary movies. my mom gave me absolutely free rein when it came to watching movies with sex in them, but absolutely no violence. her reaction to violence in movies (in keeping me totally away from them, and at the same time totally aware and afraid of it), reverberates in me and i just am terrified of seeing violence or human pain in the medium. that said, i much prefer the heartbreaker endings as i'm kinda overly tragic myself.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? winter. i hate being hot (read: have to wear clothes that reflect hot weather season.)

36. HUGS OR KISSES? hugs.

37. FAVOURITE DESSERT? deep fried ice cream. i haven't had this in ages, can't remember the last time. huge scoop of ice cream, rolled in crushed corn flakes and deep fried, topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

38. WHAT SIDE OF THE BED DO YOU SLEEP ON AND WHY? right. just do.

39. IF YOU DIDN'T MAKE THE DECISION TO GET MARRIED AND HAVE A FAMILY, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING TODAY? failing.
[edit, later in the afternoon... of course i'm only talking about myself. i didn't plan on this path for sure, the staying home with a kid path-- i was supposed to be doing "something" with the years of slaving in uni under my belt. i know now i'm not made for that, i'm made for "this."]

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? the second sex, simone de beauvoir; romeo and juliet, shakespeare; invisible man, ellison.

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? don't use one.

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? didn't.

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? my son laughing and squealing and dreaming in his sleep. my other favorite person laughing and squealing and dreaming in sleep.

44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? beatles.

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? i feel pretty far from home right now. physically... somewhere in mexico with my high school senior english class, eating marlin tacos and drinking out of a vodka bottle.

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? avoiding answering questions.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? las vegas.

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? no one. and i'm sending it to no one, either :)


...off to the library and a long walk. thanks for reading, and don't worry about me. i'm okay on a scale of one to sixtyeight.

assault on the senses, ahead

I know, I said I wasn't going to the yarn store this weekend! Anne's manLace pattern has been haunting me though, along with my unreasonable cashcotton fetish... I had hoped to find some 4 ply in Vivid there today (I thought they had it) for a scarf-sized manlace/hypotenuse for myself, but no. (Not enough Blue Sky Alpaca Alpaca/Silk sportweight either, but I was really wanting the cashcotton instead.) Oh well :) At least I snapped this photo of the Koigu there-- blurry as I had to hurry, the fellow fiber enthusiast (not pictured) in front of it was there for a good 20 minutes and I only had time for one surreptitious snap :)

(This is a selection of the koigu colorways available if you win my socktoberfest sock yarn contest...) They do have the purple (lower far right) and the beautiful orange (3rd row from top, 3rd from right) along with the speckly pink (??) I bought earlier (remember those pics are a little brighter colored than irl), and I almost caved to some grey/white (bottom row, 3rd from right)... but I was good. No telling what I'll buy next week though if I don't find that cashcotton for myself.

I'm loving the feel of the cashcotton though, finished up another pair of one-skein footies socks from it...


Plain Vanilla Footie Socks
Started: October 27, 2006
Finished: November 3, 2006
one ball of RYC Cashcotton 4-ply, shade 905 (imp)
50 gm/197 yd
US 1.5 (2.5mm dpns),4 -- 8 sts inch
64 st width, for 9.5" long foot

Same everything as last time, except the BO is a little looser... I couldn't remember if I'd used a US 2 or 3 for the bindoff in pattern, so I used the 3 and it feels looser. I think for the next pair I'll use US 2's again. The color's "imp" but it reminds me of lucuma ice cream at mitchell's in the city. The cashcotton in general reminds me of ice cream, even the thick texture of it.

On a bit of a sock kick again...


Boyfriend Socks by Alice Bell
Started: November 3, 2006
Interlacements Tiny Toes, Pearl Grey
US 1 dpns (2.25mm), 4

Same as the purple-blue boyfriend pair, except grey and for my dad :) I'm loving this yarn; Interlacements does such deep, saturated colors and it really really works for their solids (my jury's still out on their variegated sock yarns, have a pair of those in progress for my walkaround knitting). The solid colors are just so there, so dense. Its not variegated or even tone on tone, there's a little, tiny variation in the color as handpainteds are wont to do, but just... solid. I love it.



This color in particular has snagged me-- its... luminescent. Of course I'm still loving the pattern; I have a final set of red skeins of the Tiny Toes in the stash that I may use to make a pair for myself (when the holiday knitting dies down, of course!)

Speaking of holiday knitting...


Lizard Ridge afghan
3 panels (of 4) complete
Noro Kureyon, colorway 116

Tell the truth, I am feeling the burn on these. The last/3rd panel (I'm not sure which is which in the photo!) had me counting every other short row, wondering how fast it would be complete. I think I may start another panel tonite, but will be juggling it with the boyfriend dad socks to try and stave off the burnout. (Don't worry! I *will* be finishing this project!)



The complete panels sit here on my desk just like this, within constant sight, daring me to finish :)

One more, a public service announcement...



"Beds are for sleeping, not yarn."

panel and spectrum

I think its usually better to start with the good.


Lizard Ridge afghan, 3rd panel
(about 4 squares, or 2/3 complete)

I was hoping to have this panel done this weekend, but I decided to spend my Saturday evening and Sunday morning with this instead...


Yarn spun from "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" handpainted merino superwash roving
(rocking dave's basketcase socks in sandals... you weren't supposed to see that!)

At best, at the very very best, I am ambivalent about this yarn. At medium spin cycle I dislike it. And at the extreme end where I tend to spend my waking hours, I hate this with blind fury. Its... ugly. Garish. Its kinda like the H2G2 movie-- starts out like a good idea but when you get into it, its just a mess and you want to like it (really really want to), but oy. Kinda like that. The fact I "wasted" part of my weekend with it, instead of working on Lizard Ridge, chaps mah hide too.

I feel guilty almost, hating my own handspun. I can't imagine using it, except maybe to subject my son to a crazy hat or something that he wouldn't wear anyway.



Its about 240 yd, fingering-ish weight (pretty good for newbie me, I think!)... half of the 4 oz of roving I dyed. Yes, I have half of the roving left and I can't bear to spin it. At least I don't think I will. :) I split the roving widthwise (to split it for 2 socks worth), then lengthwise to fill 2 bobbins for a 2-ply barberpoled yarn. Everything was spun in long color sections, so (in order) the yellow & green was plied with black/blue (more blue showed up than I thought would), the red with the dark pink, and the orange with black. Pretty much anyway...

Oh yeah. The best part? Knots. I had fewer of my singles breaking this time (a miracle happens when the lazy kate on the joy is cleaned & oiled!)... but still had floaty breaky bits of underspun singles and when they happened along and fell apart, I just tied them together with the yarn into a knot and kept spinning.

What *do* spinners do when you plies break? If this wasn't superwash I'd just join them and be on my merry way, but I couldn't think of what to do.

Ugh! Just talking about it makes me mad! :)

***


(deep breaths)

Okay :) Better now. Going to hopefully finish this third panel of LR... and figure out what to do for Socktoberfest! I know I've knit some socks, but I dunno. Need to do something else-- shoot the sock yarn stash (again?) I feel like I just did that! Maybe that's what I'll do... or a quick review of "Designs for Knitting Kilt Hose and Knickerbocker Stockings" (oop) by Veronica Gainsford? I wanted to write a review of that book but don't know if 2 days will do it justice. (Plus, I have some Fearless Fibers yarn just begging to be worked into some kilt hose for me, and it may be too much temptation...) Ergh. Something else? Advice? Of course "nothing" is a fun and valid answer, too ;)

reading, roving, ridgemetic.

And then there were two.


Lizard Ridge afghan, 2 panels of 4
Noro Kureyon colorway 116
(newest panel on the right)

The scope and size of this project is near to impossible to shoot. Every time I see a lizard ridge square (or panel like mine), they just don't visually give you that, "my goodness is that huge" vibe. They're about 10.5" across, and come up to my neck from the floor. Even still, I need to figure a better way of taking these progress shots :) I tried photographing them inside, but my son *loves* these panels... runs on them, plays with the ridges between his toes, has decided he no longer needs train tracks and these will do kindly for the Thomas collection thankyouverymuch, etc... Pray for me when I have to seam this sucker together.


New panel.
(1st complete panel pics *here*)

Another reason to love the "weaving in ends while you knit" thing I just posted about? I did lay these panels side to side and the older panel, which has stranded yarn along the edge for the color changes in the rows, puckers. As lightly and as loosely as I stranded that yarn along the edge (with an eye to keep it "non-floppy"), compared to the panel where I wove in each end as I went it is puckery... so much so that when I laid them together, I thought I'd overknit the new panel since it was a few inches longer than the older panel. It will work out when I block it and seam it (I hope!), but its another reason to rejoice that I don't have to worry about weaving in ends anymore.


Second verse, same as the first.

Some have commented that I'm going quickly thru this project... to me, not quickly enough. I still have several gifts to start (at least I pretty much have all of the yarn for all of them on hand, but will show it as the projects get started), and I'm feeling a bit nervous. I would also like to be able to finish a few "personal" projects... my red herrring socks, sherwood for my kid (which I realized I was knitting incorrectly! oy... more on that later), and a new design project as well-- ergh. Need more hours in the day! :)

At least I still know how to have fun, even if I don't have the time for it...


Trees. Not just for yarn anymore.

The culprits of my stained fingers (and toes! yes, really)... Henry's Attic Superwash Merino roving, of course. I love this stuff, I love dying it. I got a little crazy with the squirt bottles but that's okay :) (Any recommendations for able-to-purchase-locally squirt bottles? Mine stunk!)

I took my colorway inspiration not from nature like some, but from books on my (dusty) shelves... (I've had this idea ever since I dyed for Dye O Rama and named my pal's colorway from "even cowgirls get the blues," the book I was reading around the time I was dyeing that yarn...)


"Ender's Dragon" colorway

From "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. I am on the last book of the entire Ender series (finished the Shadow series, finishing the Ender series with Children of the Mind as I type). I'd read them all before (except Shadow Puppets and Shadow of the Giant, both of which weren't released when I'd read the series before.) In the first book, Ender's child army was "Dragon"-- the colors? Grey orange grey.

I was playing with mottling the grey within the orange and it didn't stand out (obviously)... only tiny bits of grey stand on their own. Seeing it dry I was tempted to call it Dune, but I have another colorway in mind for that one (I've been devouring my scifi shelf lately!) I still love it, I really love this color. Later I will dye more roving using the same colors and try to allow the grey to stand on its own, but for now I love this quite a bit.


"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" colorway

How could I resist? :) I'm curious to see how this will spin, a good chunk is black with all of those bright colors dyed in sections. Even though I think I prefer spinning from the fold, I may try and attempt long draw next time to keep the colors together and 2-ply them for some crazy color barberpoling action.

This one turned out a little differently than expected, too... I was dyeing outide at night (yeah, uh...) and when I went over the blue section, I'm pretty sure I grabbed the black instead-- so there's more black than I anticipated, and no blue. (One blip of blue at the lower left corner-- that's it! Too bad since I think the blue is beautiful, and I'm not usually a blue fan.)


Together.

None of the colors overlap between colorways, so this was a pretty intensive dye session... but fun!! I was going to dye some matching Kona superwash dk as well (I even skeined up long hanks again for self striping), but was exausted and just shelved that for now :)

Oh, you want to braid your roving too? Pop on over to loribird's blog and check out her DIY braiding roving tutorial :)

Phew. Back to ridging...

How to weave in ends while knitting (VERY PIC INTENSIVE)

Okay! Here is where I attempt to show you the coolest.thing.ever that I learned from Jennifer "JP" Pett-Ridge during my colorwork class at my LYS Article Pract. The heavy pics are a necessity, and if you want to "get it" I'd suggest starting up a swatch and following along (I know as I look at these pics, they don't make sense... but as you go with needles and yarn in your hand, its a revelation fo sho.) These instructions are written for an English/right hand knitter, since I'm biased that way ;) (Seriously though, I don't know how to knit Continental so I can't show how to do it left handed.)

(edit, 10/07: Jen in KS has unvented the continental answer for those of pickers who want to weave in ends while knitting continental! go jen!! :))

Also, please excuse my colorful hands... I fought the dye and the dye won. (Pics later, too many today!) :)


First, begin with a new color. Knit the first stitch with your new color (black) as you would normally. Hold the end of the old color (purple) in your left hand, and hold your working/new color in your right as normal. You will not let go of the end yarn in order to keep it taut/tensioned-- it may feel awkward at first, but you don't want to drop and pick up the yarn. (I'm not holding the end/purple yarn in my hand in this pic, my timer went off too soon :))


While holding the yarn as described above, insert your working needle into the 2nd stitch on the needle as if to knit it normally.


Take the end of the old color (purple) and lay it across the top of your working needle (counterclockwise fashion, the OPPOSITE of how you would wrap your working yarn to make a stitch.) You're just laying it on top of the needle and holding it there w/ your left hand.


Another view of laying the end yarn over the working needle. Notice its just draped across.


Now, while holding the end yarn in place as described above, knit a stitch with your new color (black). Note that the knit stitch is wrapped the OPPOSITE way that the end yarn is wrapped.


Another view of knitting the 2nd stitch on the needle with the end yarn draped over the working needle.


Pull the working yarn (black) thru as knitting a stitch normally. Note that the stitch is not only being knit, but the working yarn is "catching" the end yarn and going under it to create the stitch. Only the working (black) yarn will be pulled thru and made into a stitch.


This is what the 2nd stitch on the needle looks like, as the end yarn is woven in behind.


While still holding the end yarn in the left hand, knit a stitch with the working yarn normally. (You don't have to do anything "special" on this step except for retaining the end yarn in your left hand.) The working (black) yarn will go over the end yarn to "hold" it down and make it point downwards.


(Second view.) How the 3rd stitch on the needle looks, as the stitch is worked normally as described above.


What 3 stitches look like with the end woven behind the latter 2 stitches.

Now, that's it. :) What I mean is, all you have to do is lay the end yarn over the working needle and knit, and then not lay the end yarn over the working needle and knit. Weaving in ends is just that 2-step process-- weaving in the end yarn and locking it down. Only the first stitch is knit normally, until you have enough of the end woven in as you prefer. (an inch? two? six stitches? twelve? up to you.)

The following pics are a repeat of the process above as I work across the row.


Again, lay the end yarn over the working needle in a counterclockwise direction, and knit the stitch with the working yarn as normal.


The end is woven in as the working yarn makes its stitch.


The working yarn makes a stitch as normal, and in the process "locks down" the end yarn that's being held in the left hand (but isn't being draped across the needle now).


2nd locking stitch complete.


Here I've woven in the end of the yarn over 10 stitches + 1 (5 pairs of weaving & locking, plus the original 1st knit stitch). After the end is woven in to your desired length (and after a pair of weaving/locking stitches), you just drop the end and knit across as normal. This pic is of the WS after knitting/weaving across one row.

If you look *super* close, you may be able to see where the end yarn (purple) is doubled-- every other "purl" bump on the WS will have a "double" bump where the end yarn has been locked down after being woven in. Its easiest to see this where the purple end is hanging-- the bump above is a doubled bump with the end woven in, and every other stitch preceding it also is doubled.


Purl back as normal. All of the weaving happens on the wrong side (WS), so you have to have the right side (RS) facing you as you weave in your ends so that they end up on the WS. No work happens on the purl back/WS row.

Here you repeat the weaving steps, this time with the end of the new yarn (the black end that was left from when you added the new color).


New RS with new color. Note you can't see the purple end woven in thru the RS (and its pretty tough to see it on the WS, too!) :)


Knit 1st stitch on needle.


Holding end of yarn in left hand, lay it over the working needle in a counterclockwise dx.


Knit stitch with end yarn draped over (sliding the working yarn under and catching the end yarn).


Knit 2nd "locking" stitch as normal.


Proceed across row, alternating weaving & locking til end is woven in to your satisfaction. As above, drop end and knit across as normal. (WS after knitting across row & weaving in the end yarn.) Near to impossible to see the black yarn end woven in, but its there.


This is the RS after a few normal (non-locking/weaving) rows have been knit. Note that you can't see the purple yarn thru the RS where it has been woven in.


This is the WS after a few normal (non-locking/weaving rows). Again, you can't see the woven in ends, but you can tell where they are from where the ends hang. You can trim these to your heart's desire too.

****


I am super grateful to JP for allowing me to share this technique I learned from her. It has made a huge difference to me (and will in the future too!)... but my immediate gratification came from the Lizard Ridge project. I had been carrying up the working/alternating yarns up the side of the afghan as directed in the pattern. If I didn't, I would have to have 96 ends to weave in for each panel (not including the ends when starting a new ball, or the cast on/bind off rows-- there are 48 short rows to work and 2 ends each to weave in.) It would be mind numbing to weave in 384 ends over 4 panels, so I just carried the yarn up the side...


1st Lizard Ridge panel with stranded yarn up the side

I didn't care for the look, and was terrified of finishing the afghan with all of these strands to contend with (and, one end of the afghan may have strands off of the side edge!). Again though, there's no way I was going to weave in those ends after... but this new weaving in ends as you knit is just the best.thing.ever...


Nice, neat edge with ends woven in as I knit. Not sure how close I'll trim those ends once done.

It may feel awkward at first to do, but you really get a hang of it and it doesn't take that long (and doesn't make me recoil like a darning needle does). I can see this technique opening up worlds to me-- I won't be afraid of stripes anymore, and as I am letting my fear of colorwork go, it will make the process more enjoyable as I won't dread the finishing.

Good luck! Thanks again to JP for teaching me this AND allowing me to share it with yall... she teaches various knitting classes across the bay area-- jump at the chance to learn something from her! :)

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