A Bit of a Time

This past few months has been a bit of an emotional, and physical, roller coaster if I'm being honest. 

And that's held up some projects and changed the scope of others. So let's dive into what's on my needles and where it's all going, shall we?

When last I posted, I had finished a double-knit earwarmer, and was pondering and planning a few others to have a bit of a series exploring and/or refreshing aspects of double-knitting with the added techniques of increases and decreases. The first one is pretty basic if you've done any double-knitting. The increases and decreases are the only "spicy" bit, and only if you haven't knit a shaped shawl like those from Tania of Epic Knits/Knit 1 Roll 20 or Lisa of Nifty Knitter Designs. It's a very approachable little project.

To go with that, I started playing around with some tweaks to the concept, keeping the basic shaping. This led me to a 3 color design, and a 2 pattern design for earwarmers 2 and 3. A slight jump in skills but still very approachable, and I think a natural progression from basic double-knitting to slightly more flashy looking projects. I plan on knitting those up pretty soon. And then I thought the natural place to go was cables with a touch of texture. Again, building on what you've already learned and/or refreshed from the first 3. 

And then my brain got involved.

Fiber friends, I'd be lying if I said sometimes my brain isn't my biggest nemesis. 

Because of course I couldn't just stick to front crossing cables on the same colored background. Noooo, not me. I had to switch colors and have alternating panels both color wise (which would've been more than enough. An excellent middle ground), and cable twist direction. 

I bit off much more than I originally envisioned. Here's the supposed earwarmer 4 in progress. It's not quite halfway knit:

So! Upon reflection this is now earwarmer 5 lol And I need to scale back a bit for a properly placed 4 with not quite the time and contortion commitment. I'm pausing this one briefly just to catch my breath. I really went headlong at it with no real plot. Sometimes looking before I leap, even in knitting, is a much better idea.

What else have I been up to? I got the idea, made a plan and am nearly halfway through a 3 color shawl lol! 

This one's one of those back burner ideas that finally just clicked and I was off to the races. And it timed well with GST checks to get the yarn and extra long circular needle ordered (Plus one for Cherish the Ladies which I'll be re-diving into soon... ish)

I'm using Briggs & Little Sport (ordered from Halifax's Fia Fia🔗; link goes to their website. Canadian wool bought from a Canadian, and Atlantic Canadian too!, shop), and chose Fern green, Mauve, and Magenta for my sample colors. Wanna see?

The photo is a bit older now because I have roughly half of the second openwork done; it's in the Magenta. That will be followed up with another slipped stitch section, a section of Fern openwork, a final slipped stitch section, and then the bottom border with garter stitch, slipped stitches, and beads along with a picot edge. 

Talk about bringing some drama!

This is my Three Hand Reel design. 3 Hands, reels or jigs, are choreographed dances often combining elements from solos and céilís. My favorite was the one created by The Dance Brain, aka my 2 dance besties (S &H) and me. The colors are reminiscent of each of us too. And fittingly it'll end with a bit of added pizazz and sparkle, just like any good performance piece. A little nod to my dance days, and the friends who were on the ride with me. Good times!

This seems like as good a place as any to mention that I can no longer leave the house without my cane. Walking even a km has become really difficult. I still do it; I gotta get groceries and check the mail after all. And just het out of the house in general. But I've really been struggling with this downturn in my mobility. Not a fun time, fiber friends. I'm hurting pretty badly after an ill-advised "I need to get out!!!!" "moment" yesterday. I did get to capture this though:

This isn't far from my house. Maybe 5-10 minutes of a walk down to the water for someone walking a normal non-dragging speed. I think it took me just shy of 40 minutes to get there yesterday. sigh

Ah, my Rock in the ocean. There's something strangely soothing about a moody ocean. It was what I needed yesterday, even if I'm hurting extra today. Seems like that's a constant trade off lately.

Back to the good stuff!

I knit this little shawl mock up to try out another of my back burner ideas. It's not quite what I have in mind but it's close and it makes an adorable wrap for my little bear friend. She's quickly becoming my mini model for little one off's:

She's quite adventurous, climbing the trees in my backyard. 

I still haven't knit the sleeves for my Jeri🔗 (link to The Wayward Knitter Payhip shop) cardigan lol. The weather has warmed up and my cozy cardigan, though not forgotten, has been decidedly neglected. My hands want lighter yarns right now; the shawl is fingering/sport weight, and the earwarmer is DK. 

It's the first day of summer! What are your crafting plans as the weather heats up? I've been looking at my pattern collection, and I have to be honest I'm tempted to embrace my oft-suppressed inner mermaid.

Inner mermaid? While chatting with a friend about aesthetics, she asked me what I thought her vibe was, and I immediately said she's largely a Hobbit with a bit of an edge. She laughed and said that was fair given that to her I'm a Lisa Frank mermaid with a glitter problem. She's not wrong, fiber friends! Gimme the bright colors with a decided leaning to the cooler tones and if I can incorporate sparkle/bling or otherwise unexpected bits, yeah I'll do it. 

What does that look like? Picture the above palette on this gorgeous skirt Folly Skirt by Espace Tricot (sorry gang, I'm not finding their individual patterns listed on their website, https://www.espacetricot.ca🔗

Or this crocheted skirt (appropriately) called the Mermaid Skirt🔗 (link goes to designer's Etsy shop)

My mum would probably describe the vibe as "hippy dippy". I prefer mermaid comfort. I think a long skirt to go with my existing and in progress shawls comes first and then I can start exploring patterns for tank tops and other sleeveless tops. I have lots of shawls and cardigans to toss on when things are chilly.

Ok! I think that's it for today. I'll pop all my links in and get this up for your reading and viewing pleasure. Speaking of viewing: did you like my little video clip? Should I add those when I have them? I promise not to give any spoken commentary; no one needs to hear a cartoon character chattering in a nature clip lol

Yours in yarn, and not enough consideration for physical pain,

Síle

A Look at Double-Knitting

I've been doing a lot of swatching and playing with double-knitting the past few years, so I thought it might be fun to look at it in a bit more depth.

For those not familiar with it, double-knitting is a method of knitting that produces a fabric with no wrong side. Your finished product has two right sides, making it excellent for blankets, scarves, shawls, and even hats. This can be accomplished with one yarn/color by knitting and slipping alternating stitches, or with 2 yarns/colors (or more!) by knitting with one and purling with the other.

Designs can be knitted in by altering which color you use for the knits and purls. This produces a mirror image of the design on the other side, in opposite colors. For example a red flower on a blue background on side A is a blue flower on a red background on side B. This is regular or standard double-knitting, and it produces fabulous results.

Of course, there's always the desire to push the envelope. Standard double-knitting's mirrored image "back" side is problematic for words and numbers or other non-symmetrical elements. Which brings us to 2 pattern double-knitting. This method allows you to knit words that read the same front and back, handy for personalizing scarves for example. Or you could be like me and want two completely different images on either side like this heart and house square I knit last fall:

Completely different yet knit at the same time.

Last week I was playing with 3 colors in a regular double-knit. Because of the third color this method is approached, and charted, the same way a 2 pattern double-knit is done. Here's what I was playing with:

In my scarf pattern Rínce Fada (you can find all of my patterns at the pattern tab above), I used both standard and 2 pattern double-knitting. I also delved into double-knit cables and textured stitches. I bordered the long sides of the scarf with simple rope cables on reverse stockinette panels, you can see in this close up photo:

That small bit of cabling in a double-knit project has led me to other experiments with cables. I'm currently working on a swatch of 2 XO cable panels in opposite colors, on reverse stockinette stitches done in the opposite color. That sounds very confusing so here's what it looks like currently:

The reverse side is identical to this side. Because of the way I structure my cables in double-knitting, I could knit the opposite side completely flat in the same stripe sequence or even in only one of the colors. Even a third color! Oh the possibilities!

How am I doing this? By employing 2 short cable needles (I used toothpicks with the fingering weight yarn of Rínce Fada! Yes, really. Wooden toothpicks are grippy, and easily found in the house) I'm able to work my cables on only one layer of the fabric rather than twisting both sides of it together. So while the swatch in my photo is destined for a blanket pattern, I have other ideas where non-reversible cables may form a large part. Fun! 

Looking for more on double-knitting? Visit Alasdair Post-Quinn's website (linked in the sidebar; Fallingblox Designs) or YouTube channel (search for Fallingblox Designs). Also on YouTube, look for Lattes & Llamas; they release the annual Geek Along Afghan blocks which are double-knit.

Yours in yarn and double the stitches ;)

Síle

(All photos are of my own projects and patterns, some not yet published.)