It started out as me thinking about how to do a King Charles Brocade style knit/purl pattern in the round, and then became scribbling out ideas about different ways to transition into that (for shaping purposes; I’m thinking about how to incorporate it into a hat). I let myself just wander over the paper with the pencil, gridding out blocks and making eye-pleasing patterns.
From a technical aspect, I had been thinking about working out the math, and charting out the shaping and working out smaller patterns that would fit into the shaping. That’s the kind of thinking that gives me a headache – the good kind, I think, the kind that has me pushing at the boundaries of what is easy for me. That’s often a good starting point for me to go into a wandering creative direction, in which the seeds of the technical issue 1) start to annoy me, which often inspires me to find Something Else To Do, and 2) looking at patterns of lines and shapes light up other thoughts about how to express textures, and perhaps colorwork, and wouldn’t it be interesting to incorporate colorwork into the texture pattern, and oh, what if it was done in fingering-weight in strong colors, or in worsted Peace Fleece (have you seen the new colors for 2010 by the way? Baba’s Sienna looks like it would be gorgeous colorworked in a pattern with Volgassippi Blue, Soyuz-Apollo Teal, Baikal-Superior Green, Glasnost Gold, Chickie Masla, and a little hit of Violet Vyehcheyeerom), or in all soft colors (again with the Peace Fleece – Anna’s Grasshopper, Georgia Rose, Lena’s Meadow, Chickie Masla, Latvian Lavender...). This is, unsurprisingly, happening after I’ve done a massive de-stashing and gave my set of colored pencils to a child who has a great enthusiasm for colored pencils (how could I resist? His mother was telling me he calls out to her when she’s leaving the house to “bring back more colorrrrrrs!”). I’m going to make sure I have a pad of graph paper and a few colored pencils packed in my carry-on luggage. Although I can work out these sorts of patterns on my computer much faster than by hand, I find a lot of personal value in working out some ideas with pencil and paper. It’s really soothing and forces my thinking to slow down in some areas, which can lead to a blossoming of more ideas in the long term. It’s also a more peaceful way for me to work out how the patterns are structured, and how different geometric patterns can relate to each other. I can see that there are rules and formulas I could use, and it would probably be faster if I just went with that, but that does involve a certain amount of fighting with my inclinations (which is good for me in some ways, but sometimes I don’t want to be grouchy and breaking pencil tips over a possible border for a winter hat).
I don’t know if I’ll wind up using any of the ideas I have been sketching out, but I am really itching to get my hands on a skein of solid-colored sock yarn and start something smallish, like a baby hat, to start toying with knit/purl texture patterns.
August 2007: Heather of Heather Knits modified the knit Pullip/Blythe Beanie pattern to make a doll wig! She used the Locked Loop Rerooting Tutorial from Puchi Collective, but using the hat instead of a rubber scalp. You could also use the Simple Crochet Beanie
doll hat pattern too, and even use a lighter weight yarn (like
fingering) by using the same rate of increasing but working until the
circle is large enough for the doll’s head, then working even to the
length you want. Isn’t this a great modification? Imagine the
yarn/felt dreadlock possibilities!
Photos by Heather Wolff.
Wig as modeled by Heather’s Pullip doll
inside of the wig
The commuter project is almost done:
This is the unglamorous pre-blocking shot. I think I want to do more with the brim. I added a lining of Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in 1×1 ribbing to be nice and comfy against the ears, since this beanie is made to be worn low over the eyebrows and ears, what Mr. Bob likes to call "sensitive thug". I prefer to call it cloche. Semantics.
You can see the distinctive "X" shape of the double increases done on alternate rounds. I used yf, k1, yf for the increases (yf = yarn forward – like a yarn over, done in the reverse direction. If that makes no sense to you, you can just do a yo and on the following row remember to knit it through the back loop so that it twists and does not leave a hole). As you can see, I still need to thread the tail through the cast-on and tighten it, as well as give this a good washing and blocking.
This is the with the hem/lining turned up. I used odd scraps in sky blue, lemonade yellow, and honeydew green.
Pattern: my own Top-Down Ribbed Beanie
Modifications: Done in stockinette, hem added. Increases worked as yf, k1, yf (yf = yarn forward, like a yarn over in the reverse direction).
Yarns: Ella Rae Classic in Turquoise Green, 1 skein (with some left over) and Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in Sky Blue, Lemonade Yellow, and Honeydew Green, probably about 20 – 30 yards total but don’t take my word for it.
Needles: 16" Addi Turbo Circular size US 6 – link is to Knitter’s Review needle review
No, it’s not Goddess. Goddess is sitting neatly packed in a basket in my room, waiting for me to get my act together and do the big cleaning and sorting job that I so sorely need to do. So, given that I really need to get my living quarters squared away, what do you think I do? Why, I go to Isle Knits on my way home from work, and while neatly avoiding the basket of sock yarn near the door (Opal, I starting turning around in the shop and said out loud "now, Opal told me to look out for the basket of sock…there it is!"), I stumbled into an assortment of Ella Rae Classic worsted wool. It’s good quality, I think comparable in quality and price point to Cascade 220 and Elann Peruvian Highland Wool It comes in 62 colors. ! I cast on for a beanie at the bus stop. I’m using the Top-Down Ribbed Beanie Recipe, but in stockinette instead of ribbing. I’m thinking I’ll do a knit hem, with a cotton yarn on the inside of the hem. It’s the perfect project for me to take to the next Aloha Knitters meeting. At the last meeting, I got exactly half a round done on a crochet beanie. I don’t crochet without looking, but I can knit stockinette in the round by touch (and most of the time, do a decent job of it).
Yarn: allhemp3, color “foggy”. Allhemp3 is a fingering weight (1 superfine) 100% hemp yarn. I will either start using a thimble or have a gnarly callus on my left index finger.
Hook: US D
This pattern plays around with the (US term) double crochet stitch, starting from the top with plain dc, then a dc cluster pattern, with the final band using a dctog pattern. I’ve ripped this back because I want to do something different with the shaping in the final version, but I still have all my notes for this cap.
(NaBloPoMo)
Here’s the deal: Aloha Knitters collects no dues, you are not required to show up at meetings, there is no leader/owner/boss, and the age range of members goes from "still in high school" to "has grandchildren". You do have to join the Yahoo! group in order to read and post, but it’s so that we don’t get inundated with spam. We don’t require a novel for the "why do you want to join" – that’s to screen the spambots as well as to get an idea of where people are coming from and how they are finding the group (it’s nice to know if you will just be visiting, for example). There is a good mix of experience levels going on, and everyone has been very open and welcoming to new members and visitors of all stripes. If you are worried about being weird or shocking, don’t be. Honey, have you seen what I design and knit? The Mocha Java meetings can have anywhere from 5 to 10 in attendance, usually. If you want to have dinner, Mocha Java has a full menu that includes vegetarian options, Shintani diet options, and breakfast all day. They do ask that we not bring in outside food or drinks. If you don’t know if we are the sort of people you would like to hang out with, you can always show up one day, get a drink, and casually sit at a table or at the counter with a magazine, observing the group in action. Huge sunglasses optional. If you are very new and would like some pointers, please post to the group and let us know when you will be coming, if you have your own supplies, and if you’ve been trying to learn from a specific book or leaflet.
We’ve also got a MySpace Profile (www.myspace.com/alohaknitters) and a MySpace Group (http://groups.myspace.com/alohaknitters). You don’t need to be an Aloha Knitters member to be added to the friends list or to the group.
Aloha Knitters Yahoo! Group
Frappr! Map
Honolulu meetings are every Thursday at Mocha Java, Ward Center, inside. This may change, so check the Yahoo! group before making plans!
There’s also a Hawai’i Knitters Webring, so you can even sort of meet us before you meet us!
Currently, there are no regularly scheduled meetings outside of Honolulu, but members will post to see if anyone wants to meet up at a particular location/time/date. All ages, backgrounds, and skill levels are welcome! You don’t even need to knit, crochet, or spin! If you’d like to learn, just post to the list and let us know.
