Tattva1 knits

I’m a firm believer in trying new things in knitting.  I’m not scared of knitting, which is probably why I started Reid after only having been a knitter for 6 months.  There is one thing, however, that I am fearful of: weaving in ends. 

I’ve seen Aija’s tutorial on how to weave in ends while knitting, and that seems great for stripes or just adding a new ball in.  But it doesn’t help with the cast-on or cast-off tails!  I hit the knitting section at Borders and found this book, which had all of one page on the subject. I’ve heard it’s a great book, but I didn’t buy it.

I consider myself OK at weaving in the ends when it’s just stockinette stitch; just work it along through the purl bumps. But what about when it’s in a ribbing? Or lace? AAAAAAAHHHH! Why won’t anyone answer that question with a full on in-depth chapter. Do you duplicate stitch? How do you keep that row from being thick and yuck? And then there’s a little bit of tail that sticks out or works its way free.

So yeah, there’s one of my weaknesses.  It hasn’t stopped me from knitting, but it has got me rather afraid of color work.  I’m sure someday I’ll find a way to work away those ends that doesn’t leave me trembling.  Until then, well, I’ll just keep practicing.

My one and only UFO.  Knitty’s Reid. I’m making it in Paton’s Grace, color Viola, and to get gauge I have to use size 2 needles.

I’m making it in size 4 because I knew it would take me forever to finish. However, my two year old is already wearing size 3T and some 4T shirts. She’s very long-waisted.

I just had to take a break from it. It’s my first sweater-like garment, and my first lace. The stitches are not hard to execute or anything, it’s just difficult for me to memorize the pattern (it’s a 16 row repeat). And after I made a mistake all the way across a row, I had to take a break. The back is complete; I think it was the left front that I started that I kept messing up.

So right now Reid is just sitting forlornly in the bottom of my knitting bag. She goes with me everywhere but never gets any action. Someday soon, precious. When I’m not so put off by fiddly knitting.

I’m a good monogamous knitter.  I know I have to finish my BFF socks because I love them and want to wear them.  But my order of Yarn Pirate from The Loopy Ewe came in today, and I want to knit them up right now. I’ve also got some Collinette Jitterbug all wound up ready to go. What’s a girl to do?

By the way, the yarn hadn’t been out of the package for 5 minutes before Wimpy tried to carry it off and love it like it was her own little yarn baby. She did choose the skein that was the closest match to her in color!

Now pardon me while I go stick my nose into the new yarn. (And maybe tomorrow I’ll explain why I’m not really monogamous, I’m just having a very long fling with sock knitting before I get back to the big project that has to be done before the year is over.)

First, I’m looking at the Cascade 220 Superwash as another alternative for the blanket.  The color selection is even better than Mission Falls.

Now you’ll get to see pictures of the second pair of socks I made.
Yarn: Claudia Hand-painted in Freesia from this temptress.
Needles: size 0 Crystal Palace bamboo 6″ dpns
Just a standard 64 stitch toe up with picot bindoff.

These socks were the first where I used Miriam’s “Better Fitting toe-up heel flap tutorial”. I should have started my heel about a quarter inch sooner, so the socks are a little long on me. I still love them, though.

Yes, the sock likes the plant.

So, in review, I liked the yarn, but I wish the two skeins had been just a touch more similar. I know, it’s handpainted and that’s just the nature of the beast, but I don’t like how the two socks swirl at different rates. The one on the left really didn’t like it when I added 4 more stitches for my leg.

I’ve started increasing for the gusset on the second BFF sock. I’ll probably be done with it in a week. I’m already dreaming about starting my Jaywalkers!

I don’t like gifting away my hand-knits.  Will the recipient love them as much as I do?  (Related question:  Will the recipient notice the glaring-to-me flaw on the 57th row 19th stitch?) 

But I’ve got a project in mind for my sister.  She will eventually have a baby, and although this event is likely years away I should probably get started.  (If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m a s…. l….. o….. w…… knitter.)  I want to make her a Log Cabin blanket.  I’m thinking about tones of brown and one accent color, maybe a light/mid green.  If she was currently expecting and knew the gender, the accent could instead be either pink or blue and would look great with the brown tones. 

So what I’d love to know is, has anyone used Knitpicks Swish?  Yes, the price is right, but if it’s not good quality I don’t want it. I have looked at Knitter’s Review to see if it was reviewed there, but I didn’t see it. I’m also thinking about Mission Falls 1824 Wool, and I know I like it and the colors that are available, but it’s twice the price of the Swish.

Hmm, it seems that Google is my friend. SaunShine reviewed this yarn just a month ago, and that picture of the fuzzy swatch is a real turn off. And anytime I see this:

This yarn does have joins in the middle of the skein.

I get a little nervous.

Still, I’d like to know what you think if you have an opinion at all. If you know of another yarn that would be good, go ahead and suggest it, too. I want it to be machine-washable, in the worsted/heavy worsted weight range. It doesn’t have to be wool.