Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Knitting GeniusI just picked up the new book by Debbie New... Unexpected Knitting. She's a genius. Everyone should pick up this book and read through it - she thinks about knitting in a different way. I love the MATH of it (my math geek side is coming out - I didn't study Math in College for nothing). The space filling curves sweater intrigues me... as does the Cellular Automaton knitting. Its going on the list of projects to work on.


Panda Sweater

I started sewing up the Panda sweater yesterday. Eyelash yarn is really hard to seam - its almost impossible to see the stitches. However, I got both shoulder seams done, as well as one sleeve sewn on. That took a couple hours - but I only have one sleeve, 2 side seams, and a hood to sew on, right!?! (and the zipper to sew in - I got the best zipper. It is rhinestone on black. SO cool.)

Duck Slippers

I've got 2 knitted up. I realized about 3/4 way through the second that they were running a bit small. Instead of 6 sts. to the inch, I'm getting 6.5-7... I'm going to block them best I can to get as much size out of them. No pics, imagine ribbing on the last pic, and multiply by 2. This is what I get for not swatching. I'd go to a 4, but I'm afraid the fabric will be too loose... So, I'm trying a new pair with the larger-diameter pair of my 3.75mm needles. (previous pair was done on 3.25 out of Dale superwash wool). Which leads nicely into my next topic -

Needle Sizing

Knitting Needle sizing is SCREWY. (I've been knitting for years.. I knew this already, but it got shoved in my face again today). I'm working on a baby blanket out of Encore Bulky in a Feather and Fan lace pattern. I'm working on either 6 or 6.5 mm needles (theyre not handy, and I don't remember). 6mm is a 10, 6.5 is a 10.5. Why is an 11 all the way to 8mm? ICK. Fortunately, one of my LYS (The Yarnery) carries a bunch of different branded needles, and had a 7mm (10.75 sized!) needle. Anyways.. why do we stick with the funky numbers anyways - not only are there different interpretations of them (I forget which "size" I have in 2 different mm widths...4? 5?) Why not needles graduated up in size by .25 mm? Or by .5 mm? I'd buy 'em. Heck - I go exclusively by mm sizes anyways. Which isn't bad until you end up with 2 needles labeled 3.75 mm of which one is visibly larger...

Rant off. Must go off and sleep - stave off incipient cold...