Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Knitting: Go Speed Racer

Holy guacamole, I actually started and finished a pair of knee-high socks since last week... I guess the title of world's slowest sock knitter needs to move on, eh? I even made them longer than usual.





I've also just cast on a pair of mittens from the book "Magnificent Mittens and Socks" I love this book and hate this book at the same time. One the one hand, it's full of interesting-looking mittens and socks. On the other hand, it has that annoying habit of saying "For this mitten, work the steps as for Mitten Y" and then when you get to the generic instructions for Mitten Y, the first step reads "Do this mitten as you would for mitten Z" I mean, is it a flip book, or a pattern book? Here's an idea... put the directions on every freakin' pattern. Would it kill you to put an inset box in the corner of that full-page color photo of the finished product?

Actually, the instructions aren't that complex.  HOWEVER, had I known that what I was reading at the front of the book was never to be repeated again, I would have paid attention more.  The patterns are cute, and once you actually try to put together a mitten, the instructions are easyish to follow.  The problem is the flipping to three different pages to find out the steps.  Fortunately it seems like you only need to do it once, and it's easy to remember how for the second and subsequent mittens, and all you need is the chart.

4 comments:

  1. Those are A-MAZING! The color work is divine...I must attempt some myself this year.

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  2. It's just two yarns, one semi-solid, one handpainted, knitting every other stitch. So although it looks like it should have been hard, most of the work was done by the yarn.

    I'm tempted to buy more yarn to try other color combinations, but I *must* stash knit. :D

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  3. You make it sound easy when I know I'd find a way to make it complicated!

    You should have seen me just joining a new skein of yarn on this shawl I'm making. I need a little more practice. :)

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  4. Joining new yarn in lace knitting is problematic for even experienced knitters... there's just so few places to weave in an end where it won't make it look lumpy, depending on the pattern.

    I usually end up tying the ends together in a loose knot and then going back, unknotting it, and weaving in the ends when I've done a few more rounds. It's much more stable to work with. My woven-in bits still look odd, though. :D

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