More Sporadic Updating--Knitting

[dmarley]

Dear United States Postal Service,

Thank you for finally delivering a knitting magazine to my mailbox. I take back all the nasty things I said about you.

I actually learned a new cast-on from said magazine (Vogue Knitting International, if anyone's interested). It's called the German Twisted Cast-On (the writer felt there was something a bit un-PC in the original name by which she learned it: The Twisted German Cast-On). It's a lot like the tried and true long-tailed cast-on, but with a couple of extra twists that add a purl bump to both sides of the cast-on edge, preventing the edge from rolling as much. I tried it out on one of my bear bags (see below), and it only takes about two milliseconds longer to do than a normal long-tailed cast-on. It did make a nice little edge, but it also has the not-always-desirable effect of making the edge look like I'd started with a solid purl row. Still, it'll be nice to use for things that I don't want to roll as much, and maybe it'll help me cast on a bit tighter.

In other knitting news, I've been working lately on some charity knitting, specifically knitting teddy bears for Teddies for Tragedies. It only takes me about a day to make a bear--even considering how much of said day is spent running around after Boo--but two or three days to make the optional bag to carry it in. They've been a lot of fun to make, and I was very, very grateful to have been carrying them around in my knitting bag when vaklam's toddler was in desperate need of a sanity thread. I'm told it's been well-loved. :)

I found out about the bear project through a knitting-pattern-a-day calendar I got for Christmas. The pattern was a really good one for the purpose, simply constructed and easy for even a beginning knitter to follow, but I took one look at it and went "Argh! Seams! Seams everywhere!" So I made up my own knitted-almost-entirely-in-the-round pattern, which is probably about fifteen thousand times more complicated, but which only has a few small weavings for finishing. Some knitters will go to any lengths to avoid purling. I'll purl, weave, steek, and even use a wretchedly fiddly invisible cast-on to avoid a seam. :)


I've also been doing some blanket squares for Warm Up America (Drat, didn't bookmark it. Well, I found it listed on the Woolworks knitting charity page). That's been taking precedence this weekend, since there is a deadline for the local store collecting them just now, and not one for the bears. I've made six so far, and I'd like to get a total of ten done. We'll see how that goes.

Comments

Re: seams

[sanba38.livejournal.com]

I don't even own a set of knitting needles currently.

I do have a sewing machine, and one last denim chair cushion to finish sewing.