A ripping good time

7 Small Shawls: T - 84 days and counting down.

Okay. So right about now I am totally hyperventilating. Look at the number above: 84. :breathe: :breathe: :breathe: And then take a look at what I just did below. Yes. I ripped. Yes. Shawl #4 got ripped back. It just wasn't looking right to me, you know? And it needs to. It badly needs to look right to me. There was just too much going on. I wanted more simplicity. First, I thought I might rip the diamonds down and reknit them one by one. Then I decided that I really needed to enjoy my knitting, and that was sooooo not going to do it! So I ripped. I ripped down past the diamonds and started knitting it back up. I'm almost back up to where I was before, and I also have a great tip for ripping beaded knitting (thanks to a special member of my Ravelry Group who went through a period of lots of ripping).

Are you ready for this wonderful bit of simplicity? Put the item to be ripped back in a bag. I used a ziploc bag so I could close it around the strand of yarn emerging form the top.

Then start ripping, bay-beeeeee!

All the beads that would otherwise have flown across the room are neatly controlled in their little bag.

Isn't that fabulous?!

When you have ripped back enough, just remove the piece from the bag and replace the stitches on a needle. I like to use one that is smaller than the working needle. It's much easier to get the stitches back on without mishap. Then I just knit the stitches onto the correct needle size. Now I'm motoring along and determined not to fall behind!

Speaking of mishaps...I had one with the computer this week. It was nerve-wracking. The Mac kept freezing up completely. It took me quite awhile to get it sufficiently repaired - time I really didn't have. So when I really started getting nervous, I made a deal with myself. If I could just get the computer back up, I would back it all up and never be a bad girl again. Because really? I have no excuse. I have Time Machine after all, and all I needed was a giant (1 terabyte!) hard drive. Which I purchased and had over-nighted (for $3.99 extra, courtesy of amazon prime!). Isn't it cool?

It's now even cooler, because now it has all of my data safe and sound - all backed up! For the geeks (like me) among you: I also put my old Mac mini in target disk mode and wiped it (the video card is dead, but the hard drive is still fine). Now it's my Photoshop scratch disk. Woot!

Did I mention before what a cool summer we've had here? While the rest of the country was sweltering, we've been chilly! So cool, in fact, that September - when the heat finally came back - saw our very first ripe tomatoes of the year, and now we're getting more of them! And what tomatoes they are! My dear friend Susan gave me the plants and they have produced the absolute perfect tomato. Aren't they beautiful?

They are tangy, sweet and salty, juicy, and incredible. Susan thinks these are the Paul Robeson variety, but said it might be Carbon. Of course, this was over the phone, and I'm now hoping she can identify them from this picture! What do you say, Sooz? Which variety are these? Because zOMG. They are SO. GOOD.

Well, swim meet this weekend, so I'm trying to get everything together and finished before heading out Saturday morning early. Wish me luck!!!

Tubular

7 Small Shawls: T - 149 days and counting down.

Here it is, demonstrated on my Maia fingerless mitt in green! My very favorite stretchy cast on for socks, mitts and hats: often called "tubular" or "kitchener" cast on. It gives a beautiful finished edge.

Start with a provisional cast on of half the stitches you wish to use. IOW, if you want to cast on 30 stitches, provisionally cast on 15 using a smooth cotton waste yarn. I like crocheting directly onto the knitting needle. It makes the last step, where you will remove the provisional cast on, easier.

Most times when you use a provisional cast on, you will be picking up the stitches to knit the other direction. Not in this case. Here, it is just to hold the stitches for the time being. I will be doing the cast on in the round, so the first step is to provisionally cast on to one double pointed needle.

I then pick up stitches and distribute them onto four dpns as I go, thus: [k1, yo] repeat to end.

It looks messy for a bit, but do not despair. As long as you don't twist the cast on when you join, you'll be fine.

On the second row, you will be slipping the knitted stitches with yarn in back, and purling the yarn-overs.

After that is a row of [k1, sl1 purlwise wyif] repeat to end. When these three rows are finished, you can do whatever ribbing pattern you wish. Mine here is one by two garter ribbing.

As soon as you have knit those three rows, you can remove the provisional cast on with no problem. Here, I just kept knitting because I felt like it. :)

Now remove the knot from the end of the crochet chain. If the chain does not now unravel when you pull on it, you have used the incorrect end. Now worries; just try the other end. You're looking for the one that will unravel easily.

Keep pulling, the chain will unravel all the way around,

leaving a strand of waste yarn through the initial row of stitches.

Pull this out, et voila! It's magic! (But I have to say I was really nervous the first time I did this.)

Once you see how marvelously stretchy this cast on is, you will never want to use another for socks and mitts!

Drive by swim meet report: the boys had a fantastic meet this past weekend! #1 Son got his first 11/12 A time in the 500 yard freestyle and pulled off a stunning anchor leg in the 200 IM relay where he caught a bigger kid who was half a pool length in front of him. He is a real team player, and we were all so proud! Da Bear got his first ever A time in the 8 and under 25 yard freestyle and he's 2 seconds away from a PRT (Pacific Recognition Time). This is very good. Especially since he only turned 7 in March! They both came to play, and it was an awesome meet. They have come a long way!

I can't get no satisfaction

7 Small Shawls: T - 155 days and counting down.

First of all, thank you all so much for your kind comments on Fiori di Sole!

Onward to the main attraction here.... I've never been one to leave well enough alone when I think something is not exactly perfect. So, even though I do like the edging swatch from the other day, I found myself thinking and thinking about it. It wasn't quite right. So I tried again. Nope. Not exactly. I was liking those two little diamonds of material near the top less and less. At first, I had added them for a little more interest, but the more I looked at them, the more they bothered me.

So out they went. I worked up the swatch without them. But I was still bothered by bead placement.

I decided to remove a couple of beads. These beads are glass, so easily breakable, but this is a very delicate operation and needs to be done carefully! I know of knitters who have hit the beads with a hammer, and in the process they have cut their yarn. My favorite method involves some jewelry pliers and a little pressure. First step: put on eye protection and make sure that anyone else nearby also has eye protection (the bits of glass can really fly). Next, grasp the bead with the edge of the pliers, being careful not to get any yarn along with the bead. Pull the bead gently away from the fabric and squeeze until the bead pops. Easy! I've never had this method cut the yarn.

Of course, after I removed two beads, I realized that I actually needed more, not fewer, beads.

So I carefully placed beads where I wanted them on the swatch.

Then I took pictures and updated the chart. I like this version. Yes, I think this is it. It's possible I may even be satisfied. :)

And she was

7 Small Shawls: T - 169 days and counting down.

Today, between moments of packing club shipments up and making more pins, I got a little time with my preciousssssss. I just had to pet the yarn and play with the beads. It's been so long.

Plus, I was aching to try out a new method for placing beads. After hearing so many great things about it, I decided to try SuperFloss from Oral B. I had to track some down online first. Apparently, no one around here uses it.

It comes in a box of 50 (I think) pre-cut pieces. Each piece has a stiff end (for threading through braces) and it's fairly easy to string beads on it. And even though I knotted the end, I really didn't need to, since the floss plumps up and the beads really stay put.

To place a bead, stick the end of the floss through the stitch to be beaded and then move a bead up and run the thread back through the bead.

Pull the stitch off the needle.

Settle the bead down on the stitch and replace it on the left needle. Work as usual.

The best thing about this method is that you can keep quite a few beads ready to go on the floss. It seems like it would be great for travel.

Other than that, though, I'm not a huge fan of this method. It works fine, but I love my little teensy crochet hook more. :)

Well, now. It's back to work for me. Happy beading!

Killing it softly

7 Small Shawls: T - 172 days and counting down.

No, the title isn't a reference to the song contest. :) I'm just channelling 70s music again. Yikes!

So...yes! You all were correct: Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) by Billy Joel was the somewhat oblique reference. I had an :ahem: 8-track tape of The Stranger. Heh heh heh. When it died, I bought an album. A vinyl one. :) But enough of that tangent! The first reference was to Le Freak by Chic. I went on over to random.org and plugged in the number of commenters who talked about Billy Joel, and up popped A Crafty Lawyer's number!. So, my dear, you are the new owner of a Fiori di Sole pattern! I'm afraid you'll need to wait a little bit until it comes out, but nonetheless, it's your yours yours!

Back to killing it softly....

The one thing that isn't completely optimal about using sock yarn for shawls is the seriously bouncy nature of merino sock yarns (great for socks but not so great for keeping a lacy block). Even the superwash ones bounce back after I block them. You can see here that my Brandywine is plumping up instead of laying properly flat. Hmph.

So I decided to re-block and "kill" it, according to a friend's instructions. Happily, a small shawl like this is super quick and easy to block. First, I submerged it in my very favorite wool wash (Kookaburra) and let it soak through. I rolled it up in a towel and walked on it to get the extra moisture out. With larger and less delicate items, I spin them in the washer to get rid of the excess moisture. I pinned the shawl out on the floor on top of a towel and let it dry over night.

The next morning, I heated up my mother's old Rowena steam iron. And when I say steam iron, I mean steam iron. This thing packs a punch!

I pulled out an old bedspread, wet it down and spun it in the washer. It would have been easier to use a spray bottle, but all of the spray bottles had inexplicably disappeared into a alternate dimension and were never to be heard of again.

When the bedspread was just damp, I laid it over the shawl. I turned off the steam feature on the iron and just used it on its highest setting. I ironed the shawl through the spread. It sizzled. It popped. It sputtered.

When the spread was dry over the shawl, I removed it and let the shawl dry out completely and cool down. When it was thoroughly and completely dry, I unpinned it. Just look at that drape!!!

So far, so good. It hasn't bounced back yet. Fingers are crossed! One word of warning: do not do this with synthetics unless you want a melty puddle. There are other ways to kill acrylic, dear readers. (btw, did you all see Saloni's kind blog post about Brandywine? So sweet of her!)

In other news, the sekrit project is winging its way to a new home. Yay!!! More yarn for another stealth project came in today, and yarn was ordered for yet another. I'm really excited about these two projects! I cast on for the Maia fingerless mitts today. I am so thrilled to be knitting on these! I have some wholesale orders, both pin and pattern to catch up on, and I need to finish writing up the sekrit project pattern. Meanwhile, stage 1 of my summer pins & lace club shipment is going out on Thursday. Several of you have asked about signing up for next year. Although it's not open yet, I will announce it here, in my Ravelry group, and on my announcements list. I'm so excited that you all are interested! Thankfully, this weekend is not a swim meet weekend, so much catching up will be accomplished.

Lastly, here's a question for everyone: should I have a Facebook fan page or are there just so many now that they're annoying? Inquiring minds want to know. :) More tomorrow!

Beads and more beads

7 Small Shawls: T - 191 days and counting down.

I got to work a little on my beaded beauty today, but most of of the day was spent running errands, going to swim practice and working on my secret project. Shawl #3 has a random pattern of beads, and they are all placed using a crochet hook, rather than by stringing the beads beforehand. I prefer this method for several reasons: the beads stay where you put them, they can be seen equally well from either side, they don't have to slide up and down the yarn, and this method doesn't require much pre-planning at all. It's a very simple process, really. Really! It is. :)

When you come to the spot you wish to place the bead, get out your teensy crochet hook!

You start by placing a bead on the small hook. This is a size 14 steel hook and a size 6/0 square holed seed bead. Then you put the hook through the next stitch on your left needle.

And you pull the stitch -with the hook- through the bead.

Pull the stitch off the left needle.

And then replace it.

Work the stitch as usual.

And there you have it! Beaded!

In other news, remember last week when I said I'd have something exciting to share this week? Well! I can finally tell you that my sweater is on the cover of the fall Knitscene!

I am beyond excited! It's up for pre-sale today on Interweave's site. Squeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Stretchy!

7 Small Shawls: T - 200 days and counting down.

Today I have almost nothing new. But next week, I think I'll be able to tell you about something that has me pretty excited! In fact, next week, I should finally be able to see the something for myself, and I am waiting with baited breath. Not that I want the time to pass quickly. I have so much to do that I had better not wish for that! Only 200 days for the rest of my 7 Small Shawls to be designed and knitted! Ulp.

Today I have a wee little tutorial for you on my favorite lace bind off. I can't remember where I first saw this, but I have been religiously using it for some years now! It takes more yardage than a straight bind off, but it is super super stretchy and fabulous.

You start in the usual way, by working two stitches (this is Maia that I'm binding off in the pictures).

But then you put them back on the left needle and knit them together through the back loop.

This is how it looks close up. It basically adds an extra row plus the bind off row.

As you can see, I used most of my yarn on Maia.

This is because I added an extra couple of rows onto the end of the chart so that you can knit them as many times as you wish to use all of your yarn. That is, if you are, like me, a stickler for such things. I hate having yarn left over!

In other news, we had a little visitor today.

Well, maybe not so little. He or she is about a foot long.

And was kind enough to pose for me. :)

I had a lovely dinner of chocolate ice cream, and now I'm off to finish up my stealth project!

Joining

7 Small Shawls: T - 206 days and counting down.

I bound off Maia today, and about halfway through the bind-off...well, you can see below. I ran out of one of the two balls of yarn. Luckily, there was still some left on the other ball!

So I cut the other ball off and got out my needle for a Russian join. My fav! I use a Russian join when the yarn is not feltable and cannot be spit-spliced.

I threaded the needle with one of the strands, and then wove back through the yarn.

Here's a close-up.

I left a loop.

And then repeated with the other piece of yarn, looping it through the first section.

I gently pushed the loops closed, but left them a little bunched up.

Then I separated the plies and broke strands off. I find this makes the join less lumpy.

I smoothed it all out.

Here's a close-up.

It's a fabulous and strong join, and works great even on silk and other slippery fibers!

More on the bind off tomorrow. :)