Product or Process?

My current project is the Romance Ruffle-Collar Shell designed by Irina Poludnenko for Tahki Yarns. I saw it completed in The Wool Basket and fell in love with it.



What do you think?
Should I add sleeves?

I have the back done and I am
half-way up one of the fronts . . . and I will confess to you . . . I don't really like working on it. Because of the incongruities in the yarn (which is one of the things I love in the completed project), I am finding it hard to maintain a grip in my right hand and keep a tension. But I already have a dress to wear with the finished shell.





So as I was working on it this morning and suffering in silence (well my husband doesn't really want to listen to me and there wasn't another knitter around!), I started to think about 'process' vs. 'product' knitting.






The rhythmic clicking of needles and the feel of yarn between my fingers always made me think I was a process knitter. I have worked out many problems in my life while my needles clicked away . . . (perhaps Congress should knit while they are in session) . . . or, if my pattern was hard enough to demand my full concentration, I could at least escape them for awhile! 

While I sit and knit I often picture my work once it is completed. Will my husband love it? Will my son/daughter wear it? Won't it look nice on one of my friends? If it is a gift, I try and knit a little wish of love and good health in between each stitch for the recipient.

Sometimes I like a complicated pattern. The challenge of multiple colors or cables added to following a graph and keeping track everything going on in one row . . . I feel like I am putting my brain to use! But sometimes I need a 'no think' project. I need to just work stockinette or an easy pattern that I already have memorized.

I must be a process knitter.

So I will often have two projects going at the same time . . . but I always finish them. (In fact I'll stress with more than two!) My closet is not crowded with sweaters left languishing on the needles. I love that feeling when the last end is woven in and the item is done. I quickly snap a picture of it and rush to post it on Ravelry. Ah, such completion.

I must be a product knitter.

Hmm . . . I don't know. Can you be both?

What do you think? Which are you?

Until next time, keep your nose in book or your fingers in fiber.

From the Library's Shelves

I bet I know what you did last week. You became so enthused with our sock knit-a-long that you went to your local yarn store (LYS) to buy some sock yarn. But when you went in, you became overwhelmed with the choices. There was self-striping and self-patterning, variegated and colors you didn't know existed. There was bamboo, wool-nylon blends, silk blends, and even cashmere tempting you. Don't worry, you need only to confess to yourself that you bought too much. 

But wait. Did you buy too much? Perhaps not. Just because the label says 'sock yarn' doesn't mean you have to knit socks with it. You can knit other things with sock 
yarn. . . it is your yarn after all!

If you're not sure what to make, check out this book from the library. It will give you ideas for projects that use just one skein, or two or more skeins. There is a great explanation about what sock yarn really is along with how to deal with color repeats and pooling. I'm not sure which pattern I like the best . . . either the Fortunate Cowl or the Hodgepodge Wristers. (Although my mother has such a stash of left-over yarn I am also thinking about the Lizalu Blanket). 

click here to place a hold

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

Monday Night Knitting Group

Another great night of knitting! We did cast-ons and seaming and had a wonderful time knitting with friends.

Carolyn brought us warm-from-the-oven
chocolate chip cookies! Yum yum.

Lindsey showed us her great looking socks and
Suzanne is getting close to finishing her afghan!

Marguerite finished her chemo cap.

Hope to see you when we meet the next time - November 18th. There's always room at the table!

Until then, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

Monday Night Knitting Group

Did you check your calendar? It's October 21st . . . the third Monday of the month. That means it's knitting night at the Duxbury Free Library! I can't wait to see what everyone has accomplished. 

There's always another chair available . . . so join us! There's also always an extra skein of yarn and a set of needles . . . so if you would like to learn to knit, join us!

Until tonight, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

From the Library's Shelves

Have you been admiring your sock? Well you should be!!

It's very easy to get bitten by the sock-knitting bug. Soon you will find yourself wondering how you could have lived without hand-knit lace socks or wildly-funky colored socks. Once you get started using self-striping yarn there may be no turning back. Why would you let that special man in your life wear socks without mock cables or yes, even argyle socks? 

If you are hooked, here's another book to check out of the library. This is another one you will want to have in your own collection. It begins with a history of hand-knit socks and then goes into construction detail for both toe-up and top-down socks. There is a
 great chart that  provides all the numbers you need to
 knit socks from a  baby to an adult XL . . . and in
3 different weights of yarn no less!
 

When you are ready to start designing your

socks there are guidelines and suggested stitches to

use. Patterns are also included if you would rather follow directions than write them!

click here to place a hold

I confess . . . this is my favorite sock book so far. Check it out from the library and let me know what you think.



Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

Puzzling Jigsaw Tangles

Thursdays are "Puzzling Thursdays" at the library. You can come in and work on part of a huge crossword puzzle, fiddle with a rubics cube or work on a jigsaw puzzle. When it's not a Thursday, the jigsaw puzzle is stored in the staff room.

Here is where I become puzzled. I have seen my co-workers spend their break, lunch and even go home late to stay and work on this jigsaw puzzle. They stand in front of it carefully scrutinizing, straightening and strategically moving around these small pieces. They do this for a long time. Then, they triumphantly turn around and announce to me "I got a piece in!" Really? Really? I confess I just don't understand it and can't quite share their enthusiasm. Don't they know how many rows they could have knitted on a project in the length of time it took them to latch one small piece next to another small piece?

Admit it. It has happened to you, hasn't it?
It's a challenge any knitter would tackle.
Spend hours untangling - as opposed to
cutting and having another end to weave in

Then this morning I had a little 'ahah' moment. Someone gave me a skein of yarn that needed to be use double-stranded for a project. There was a tangle in it that of course became worse during the transport home. Did I cut the yarn like any sane person would do? No. I spent (no, I won't even tell you how long I spent), untangling this mess. I sat there drinking my coffee working loops through loops, keeping it loose so it would not knot, following the path of yarn into the black hole of the tangle . . . and yes, it was relaxing, soothing and stimulating all at the same time. It was a bit of a  brain
                                                           test. I would not let this mess get the
                                                           best of me.

Then it hit me. This was my jigsaw puzzle! It's just that mine is made of yarn and can be picked up. Now when my co-workers happily connect those little squares of 1" cardboard pieces I will silently root for them. (Silently . . . because I wouldn't want to disturb their concentration.)

If you can, come in on Thursday and help them out with the puzzle.

Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber. (Yes, sometimes literally in fiber!).

Sock Knit-a-Long #9

Are you ready to finish your sock?!


I have finished all my toe decreases and I have 16 stitches left.

Using needle #3, knit across the 4 stitches on needle #1.

You now have only 2 needles, with 8 stitches on each one.

Cut your yarn from the skein leaving about a 15" tail. Thread the end through a blunt end tapestry needle.
(My favorite are Chibi by Clover).


Next go someplace where you will be left alone for about 15 minutes. You will be glad that you did.


Hold the two needles in your left hand (I insert my index finger between the two needles to keep them stable an separate). Using your right hand,




- insert the needle into the first stitch on the first needle as if to knit and then slip the stitch off the needle.










-insert the needle into the second stitch on the first needle as if to purl, but leave the stitch on the needle.







-insert the needle into the first stitch on the rear needle as if to purl and slip it off.









-insert the needle into the next stich on the rear needle as if to knit, but leave it on the needle







Repeat these four steps until all the stitches have been joined. (This is why I told you to go someplace quiet. It's much easier to do this if you just repeat the directions in your head as you do it. Sometime the words come out of my head and I find I am talking to myself. If you are alone, well people won't know).

Too loose . . .

Just right.

 Do not pull your yarn too tight. I tend to work a little loose. I think it's easier to adjust the stitches afterwards using my Chibi needle.




It's much harder to adjust stiches that are too tight.

Fasten off the end of your yarn inside and also weave in the cast-on tail.

Put your sock on and dance around the house and say "Look what I made, look what I made!"

Then quickly sit down again . . . I think the Patriots are playing at 4:30 . . . you can cast-on for your second sock and work on the leg ribbing during the game!