Cutting it Close

In today’s entry you will find:

1. Little picture tutorial on how I fixed my mistake of running out of yarn.
2. I love my leftover yarn!
3. A shawl in the latest Rowan magazine totally got me drooling!

Just the other night I discovered I did not have enough yarn to finish a pair of gloves…

At first I was angry, then put aside my anger and moved on, and now I am ready to fix my mistake. In this entry I am going to show you how I did that!

First I rip out yarn from my first square untill a certain height ( I calculated that carefully). Then I wind the ripped out yarn in a centerpull ball:

Then I finish my first square (left photo), bind off and cut off the yarn.

Now comes the fun part of joining yarn!

I am working with Wool Silk dk from Rowan which is a 4-ply yarn. I untwist both strand in two and you can see in the photo that I have 4 strands. I diminish those 4 strands in two and then start twisting the yarn around eachother untill it is joined. Hope this makes sense! If not just look closely at the pictures, okay?

Now I am ready to keep on knitting untill I finished my second square! And I have a little bit of left over yarn!

I don’t mind left over yarn at all!

Are you a knitter that dislikes leftover yarn? I don’t mind my left over yarn at all. I love my left over yarn; I’d rather have leftovers than cutting it too close or running out of yarn.

Cutting it too close makes me nervous and I do not like knitting like that at all so I always try to play it safe and have lots of little leftover balls of yarn. I love them! They are so cute!

Have you seen the new Rowan magazine for Fall?

Something got me totally drooling… it’s a gorgious shawl I saw in the latest Rowan magazine…take a look yourself:

Want a closer look?

So gorgious…

Bye for now!

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Yowza…my bad…

You know that feeling when you are working on a project and you are watching your ball of yarn grow smaller way too fast and you know something is not right… that feeling of uh oh, I am going to run out of yarn before my project is done?

Yesterday I came home a bit disappointed because I so wanted to post the picture tutorial and be done with it… So I thought, oh well, post it tomorrow and start working on the second glove in the mean time.

And then it happened… I ran out of yarn before the second glove was finished:

I just couldn’t believe it… what had gone wrong? I so carefully picked out a delicious yarn to feature in my picture tutorial and now this happens?

Yowza… my bad… I did not pay attention to the yardage when I purchased that cute ball of yarn.

You see, for this glove pattern I need at least 120 yard of dk weight… and the Wool Silk dk from Rowan I picked out only has 109 yards… oh well, what to do? I shrugged my shoulders and set aside my upcoming anger of having wasted my time.

What to do you know, other than just take a deep breath and move on.

And so I did, I moved on and picked out a new shining star:

Sorry everybody who is waiting for the picture tutorial. Sometimes, things are not going the way I want them to go. But hey, there are far worser things in life!

Wheresoever You Go …

“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart”

~ Confucius

Wheresoever this little knitter goes, she takes her knitting with her…

When going to a teahouse or coffeehouse, I take my knitting with me.

When I go to have something to munch, I take my knitting with me.

When I travel, I take my knitting with me.

When sipping mah booz, I take my knitting with me.

Where ever I go, I take my knitting with me.

 

Hoped to have finished another picture tutorial, but alas.

Remember the fingerless gloves I made for the Seattle Hostes? I had hoped to post a picture tutorial of that very glove today.

At 10 am in the morning I started my picture tutorial “production” and scheduled to be done with it at around 3pm. When I found myself still working at around 5pm, I shook my head and called it a day. I am sure you will forgive me.

However, here are some preview images!

Have a great weekend…

 

Where have you been..?

“I have always been here, you silly. Waiting for you to open the gates…”

~ Inspiration

This morning I heard a firm knock on my front door. It woke me up immediately and a sweet sense of excitement bloomed in my heart. With my hair still ruffled and my eyes swollen from a good night’s rest I rushed to the front door, unlocked it and swung it wide open.

A gentle morning breeze caressed my face and I smiled from ear to ear as I set sight on my visitors: several swirling energetic colors, some fine spun yarn, a croaking toad, a honeybee, some rays of sunlight, laughing fuchsias, timid pansies, a pair of bamboo needles, written words, embracing light tones of music, secrets of life, deep conversation, giggling forest fairies, a sea of Love and… and… and so much more sweetness gracing my front porch.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!”, I cry out.

My visitors all look at me as they morph into one being of Inspiration and reply: “I have always been here, you silly. Waiting for you to open the gates.”

Comfortable in Monotone Simplicity

Knit 4, bring yarn to front of work in one gracious movement, purl 4, bring yarn to back of work in another gracious movement. Repeat 4 times more, turn work, feel the yarn while it caresses your fingers.

Now start with purl 4, bring yarn to back of your work, don’t forget to be gracious in your movement, knit 4. And repeat 4 more times… Over and over and over again, row after row.

Slip slip knits, yarnovers, knit two togethers, knit three togethers, wrap and turns are all not present. It is just me, the yarn, the needles and the two most basic stitches of all stitches; Knit and Purl. We are happy and satisfied in the soothing drone of Monotone Simplicity.

One little square after another is completed with so many different dk and very light worsted yarns: Rowan cashsoft, Artyarns Supermerino, Lonesome Stone Mountain Feat, Lonesome Stone 100% Alpaca, Araucania, Colinette, Misti Alpaca and Mountain colors.

The stack of little squares is getting higher and higer, the strands of yarn form a colorful streaming river.

I squint my eyes when I detect the pattern floating among the many strands. I approach it and ask: “Pattern… it is time to write you down and reveal you. Do I have your permission?”

It looks at me and teasingly replies: “No. Not untill I say so. First you seam that mountain of squares into little gloves.”

I sigh and reluctantly gaze at the stack of squares. The pattern continues:

“It may look like a mountain and nearly impossible to conquer, but trust me, seaming is not that hard. Take a deep breath, make the darning needle your friend, and seam. It is merely the last step in your journey of creation.”

Now if you all excuse me. I have a mountain to seam.

Picture Tutorial Fingerless Glove Emanelle

Some time ago now, I promised to post a picture tutorial of Fingerless Glove Emanelle. I was procrastinating because first of all it is a whole lot of work to get this done and secondly I didn’t think anybody would care, really.

But then knitter Chloe left me a message asking me when I was going to post Emanelle’s picture tutorial… and I was like, hey, somebody does care.

So here goes, Chloe, especially for you, your granddaughters, and all other knitters who are interested…

Click here to download the pattern Emanelle.

For all entries on Emanelle, scroll down to the bottom of this post.

This blog is dedicated to the novice knitter and all knitters who are interested in learning new stuff. I am a novice knitter myself and by no means an authority on knitting whatsoever. I am just an enthusiastic little novice knitter who would like to share her adventures.

In this entry you will find:

1. Some very quick Cable Basics
2. Plaited Cables
3. A step by step picture tutorial on Emanelle

Some very quick Cable Basics

Have you seen my first little tutorial on Cable Basics? If not please click here before continue reading.

In my first tutorial, we touched cables when holding your cable needle in front of your work.

Now we are going to see what happens when we hold the cable needle in the back of your work

When the patterns says: “Slip 3 stitches onto cable needle and leave at back, knit 3, then knit 3 from cable needle” this is what you have to do:

Slip 3 stitches and leave at back:

Leave your cable needle at the back of your work, ignore it and just knit the next three stitches. After you did that you are going to knit those 3 “ignored stitches” from your calbe needle. By doing this you are actually twisting stitches

This last step feels weird at first but keep on going and soon enough you will see that you have made your first twist!

Now put your cable needle aside, cruise for a bit untill it is time to twist again and this is what you will see:

What is the difference between holding your cable needle in the front of your work and holding your needle in the back of your work, you may wonder? Take a look at this:

The first photo shows what happens when you hold your needle in front of your work, the second photo shows what happens when you hold your needle in the back of your work:

Cable Needle in front creates a left slanting twist.
Cable Needle in back creates a right slanting twist.

For more cable tutorials go to:

Knittinghelp.com and watch Amy Finlay’s excellent tutorial video on cables!
You will find it in the “Advanced Technique” tab and then go to “decorative stitches”. I learned how to do cables from Amy’s video.

Plaited Cables

Plaited Cables are merely a combination of right slanting and left slanting twists. This creates a cable which looks like it is braided. It may look difficult at first, but fear not, it is actually very easy…

See those 9 centre knit stitches which are situated in a field of purl stitches? Those centre 9 stitches are our window of Plaited Cable opportunity.

When the patterns says: Slip 3 st onto cable needle and leave at back, knit 3, and then knit 3 stiches from cable needle, this is what it will produce:

After this, you will not need your cable needles for like 3 rows:

Now when the patterns says: Knit 3, slip 3 on cable needle and leave at front, knit 3 and then knit 3 from cable needle, this is what it will produce:

So this is the base of your plaited cable! If you continue in the pattern, in the end you will have a beautiful braid:


Picture Tutorial on Emanelle

Click here to download the pattern. This little fingerless glove is knitted flat, and then later on seamed on the side.

Step 1: Start with 6 rows of ribbing

Step 2: Plaited Fun Commences!

This is what the back of your work will look like:

See your work grow and grow:

Untill it is time to start your final 4 row ribbing and bind off:

Last step is seaming the glove! Start seaming from the top down. Remember when you ribbed for 4 rows? That is your top. So start there. If you don’t know how to seam, go to knittinghelp.com and watch Amy Finlay’s excellent video tutorial on the mattress stitch. Scroll down her page untill you hit the “finishing” section and click on the mattress stitch!

Then from the bottom up:

Finally, you weave in the ends and your glove is done!

Enjoy…

All Entries on Emanelle:

I want it to last for an Eternity

Win these luxurious fingerless gloves

Winners of Deneadin and Emanelle

Free pattern Fingerless Glove Emanelle