Posts from — September 2006

My dear sister is making some serious knitting progress! I taught her to knit over labor day and sent her home with some yarn and a pair of my Denise’s. She just sent me an update. Is it just me or is she a knitting genius? I showed her the knit stitch, she practiced for about an hour went home and with no further guidance is churning out a beautiful first scarf. Trust me, I zoomed in hard on those pics and her stitches are all nice and even and perfect! The only thing that’s bothering me is that it’s taking this long. I’m was hoping to get her totally addicted and this pace makes me think she’s not quite there yet.

So, I’m getting my blog fix on and what do I find…Julie had this fantastic idea of raising money for a spinning wheel. For each $10 you donate to the Wheel Fund you get 50 grams of hand spun, customized just for you beautiful yarn. I’ve seen pictures of some of her spinning and she makes some yummy stuff I tell ya! Oh and besides that, she is really an awesome person. I got a chance to meet her at my Chicago knit outing last year and she was great.

Yep, that is where I feel like I’ve been today (and yesterday and the day before). If you don’t get the reference (Princess Bride) don’t worry…it’s self explanatory. Why am I in the pit? Cascade Yarns put me there. I found out two days ago that I can no longer do business with them. That’s right…they won’t take my money. Apparently, there is a little bit of CYA going on over there. When I originally asked about opening an account there, I never indicated that I had a physical store location. This is significant because a lot of yarn companies will not do business with you unless you have “brick and mortar.” It is important to a lot of companies so when they ask specifically I ALWAYS tell them I don’t have a store (yet) and that is the end of it with most places…”contact us when you do.” I have been fortunate that several realize the value of an online retailer and don’t care one way or the other. I went back through my correspondence with Mr. X and the question was simply never asked. I also used my business email address so there was no question as to my intent.

I really go back and forth on my understanding of this particular practice. Obviously, the yarn companies want to keep their stores happy. Which I do totally get. On the other hand almost every conceivable type of retail business is online. Like it or not, that is where the world is going. Online retailers can have lower prices, but what about all the other barriers to cyber business? People don’t like to pay shipping and you certainly can’t see or feel yarn through a computer screen. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a LYS even within a couple of hours. And some that do don’t like the ones they have…rude owners, poor selection, etc.  What are those poor souls to do? Suffer with Walmart acrylic for the rest of their knitting lives? I’ve had so many positive comments about both my yarn and great service that I find it hard to believe there is not a strong need for the type of business to which I aspire.  Oh, and where do those @*$(#!@ ebay people get their stuff? Some Cascade, some this and that yarn co (I know some of them are yarn store owners, but all of them????  Come on.)  I’m telling you…it’s a strange business, this world of yarn.

I’m hoping I can fight through this. It was nice to be able to supplement the luxury yarn niche with affordable yarn for felting (especially the one that everyone loves) but that may just have to end. I’m thinking of finding a replacement but would people even want it? So many people are attached to 220 that it may be impossible to compete.

:scream::scream::bananabeer::champagne:

At long last! My beloved smilies are back! They’ve been lost since the big Wordpress 2.0 upgrade. For some this may actually be quite annoying. I know…they’re kind of childish and unnecessary, but what can I say? They just make me happy and if that’s all it takes…well you more refined adult people will just have to deal with it.

So…if you use wordpress and the wp-grins hack as I do, this was the problem. One little stinkin’ symbol in one line of the vars.php file. You can find the correct code here.

Ever since I saw this pattern at knitty.com, I’ve wanted to knit at least one square. Besides that, it is a great distraction from the pattern I’m designing and supposed to finish any minute now.  I haven’t decided yet if an entire afghan in Noro Kureyon is quite appropriate but a pillow or some other such one square wonder most definitely is. I have to agree with the designer on this one…the pattern really does show off the yarn beautifully (this is #154)…even if it requires eleventy gajillion short rows.  I didn’t swatch (of course) especially since gauge isn’t critical for this project. However, I’ve decided once and for all that I am a loose knitter. My square is 15″ x 15″…a far cry from the 10.5″ x 10.5″ squares in the pattern (no, she doesn’t ever actually give the dimensions of each individual square, just the finished project…seeing as how I’m not afraid of “the math” I just figured that one out on my own). Which I guess if I’m making an afghan, could be good. I’d only have to do 3 squares by 5, reducing the number of expensive Noro skeins required to “only” 15 instead of the 24 in the original pattern. Hmmmm….maybe I should go ahead with the afghan…I’d actually be saving a ton of money!

I think a pillow would be great BUT notice while blocking though the fabric underneath shows through. Not good news for pillow filling. Or it could be a hot pad or something of that nature if felted. Think it’s possible to keep a square relatively square while felting? Oh well, lots to think about.

I have been very bad at this whole blog thing lately! To make it up to you, I’m doing a tutorial. Some of you may already be familiar with the magic loop method. If you’re not, it’s a way to knit circular small diameter with one long circular instead of double pointed needles or two circular needles. You need a 40″ circular needle for this method. Some people use a shorter needle, but I feel like the shorter one stretches the join too much. You may also use a longer one, but depending on what you are knitting all that extra cord can get cumbersome (though it can be great though for knitting TWO small circular items at the same time such as sleeves or socks). Ok, so lets get on with it!

First, cast on as usual. I like the long tail method but do whatever makes you happy.

Divide the cast on stitches evenly and mark the middle.

Pull the cord out through the stitches where you divided them.

Continue to pull the cord through until the cast on stitches are on the needle portion of the circular needle.

Now you are almost ready to join and begin knitting in the round.  As with all circular knitting, it is important not to twist the knitting before the join.  It’s helpful to line up the cast on edges between the two needles as shown here:

Make sure your working yarn is on the right before you knit the first stitch to join the circle.

Now you’re ready to begin.  Pull the right needle (the one with your working yarn) until the stitches are down several inches below the needle, onto the cable.

Now your right needle is free and available to knit.  Knit the first stitch on the left hand needle (like with all circular knitting, you may want to pull on the first couple of stitches to make sure you get a tight join).

Continue knitting until no stitches remain on the left needle. You now have half of the cast on stitches worked…they are on the right needle now.  The stitches that still need to be worked are on the cable.

Pull on the cord so that the stitches on the cable are pulled up to the needle portion of the circular on the left side.  Then on the right needle so that the stitches that have already been worked shift onto the cord.

Now you are ready to begin knitting again in the same manner as before.  Just keep repeating this process until the circular tube you are creating is the desired length.  You can, of course, do shaping or patterns as you go just as with “regular” circular knitting.

I really have no excuses for being away…just tres busy here at Casa de Kemp. I have a little secret that has involved a lot of work the last couple of weeks. No…I can’t tell you…yet. I’ll just say it’s a good thing and absolutely nothing to worry about.

I also had company for the holiday weekend. My little sister Erica came to town and FINALLY asked me to teach her to knit. Turns out, she is quite the prodigy…caught on quickly and is already pretty fast. I think it’s from already knowing how to crochet and immediately learning the continental method (or it could just be she has an excellent teacher??? :rofl:). She agreed that the picking of the yarn with the continental style reminds her of crochet. She has been practicing at home and already sent me an updated picture of her work! Her first project is going to be a scarf with yarn she picked out while she was here and I can’t wait to see it. I’m sure pictures will be coming. For now, behold the teaching process!