Taos Woven Jacket

Check your new issue of Cast On for the Taos Woven Jacket:

I'm so excited to see this in print.

And the original:



Still working on the stash reduction blanket.  One problem with the stash reduction blanket:  Mr. Zip and company keep taking the stash

Yeah they look innocent but they aren't.


Job done:




With some divine intervention.

Hemlock Ring Blanket

Work is continuing on the Hemlock Ring (Doily) Blanket. This is such a fun project.  I wondering if I've got enough yarn.  I may need to get more.  It's really a clever idea making a doily large enough to be a lap blanket.

Hemlock always remind me of Socrates.  So if you've never heard the world's shortest biography:

Socrates was a man.  Socrates was a Greek.  He went around telling everyone what to do.  They poisoned him.

Hmmm.....

My Level three made it to the TKGA office.  I think it will take close to 3 months to review, especially since the convention is this May, and they will all be busy with that.

I am also working on a "stash reduction" Blanket.  I saw something like it on the Yarn Harlot's

Ravelry page.  So I can't take credit for this one.  It's great if you've got alot of yarn snippets and part used up balls of yarn.  Some of you saw it last week.

This is a project my student's will love.  No gauge swatch!  No (real) counting! (if you can count to 3 you're set and even then if you don't feel like counting---don't).

Basically what I did was:

Size #9 (32") circular needles

Using a worsted weight yarn make a tail that is several yards long (don't measure--Esimate!!!) Start casting on (lontail) while your waiting for pages to load on the computer or reading emails or what ever.  Cast on for about 1/2 hour with distractions.  You should have 200 +/- 

stitches. Don't count!! Should fill up your needles. 

Choose a pattern stitch.  I'm doing garter st.  Then work one row with your cast on yarn.  Cut yarn , leaving a tail.  Pick another yarn from your stash and begin knitting with that.  Tie the tail of this yarn together with the first yarn (fringe).  Knit an odd # of rows (I've been doing 3 so far), cut yarn leaving a tail.  Keep doing this until you feel like stopping. Or just keep going.

I am now on Twitter as lipizzanknitter (what else!!)

Bread and circuses

News:

I sent my level III off this morning. Hoping it gets to

Zanesville safely.

Master Knitter Level III Update

Here is the knitting I will be submitting for the TKGA MK Level III:

Tubular Cast On/Bind Off




Double Decreases:





SSP:





P2tog tbl:





Yarn Overs:




Brioche Stitch:




Herringbone Stitch:



Smocking Stitch:




Elongated Stitches:





Traveling Twisted Stitches:




Entrelac:



Slipped Stitches:






Mosaic:




Charted Symbols (Lace and cable):




Intarsia:




Duplicate Stitch:




Short Rows:





Doily:




And the
Aran Hat:




Nordic Style Stranded Sweater(blocking):





I reviewd 2 magazines:
Piecework
Interweave Knits
2 design books:
The Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd
Colorful Knitwear Design by Threads

I wrote 2 reports:
1. Description of 6 fibers covering the 3 main fiber types.
and
2.Traditional Knitting Report
a. Traditional Technique: Yoke Sweaters. Here I included 3 swatches of tradtional yokes:




b. Tradtional Regional Knitting: Traditonal and Ethnic Knitting in Finland.

Cherry Tree Hill Socks...The Men's Version

I've gotten a few requests for an update and resizing so here it is:




Cherry Tree Hill Socks...The Men's Version


Download a PDF of Cherry Tree Hill Socks...The Men's Version

Size: men’s med(9.5” circumference)/large(10” circumference)

Materials:
450 yds of Fingering weight sock yarn
One set Size US2 DPNs or size needed to obtain gauge.


Gauge: 28 sts and 38 rows = 4” or 10 cm in st st. To save time, take time to check gauge.

Abbreviations:
DPN: double point needles
St(s): stitch(es)
Rnd: round
St st: stockinette stitch
K: knit
P: purl
Sl: slip
k2tog: knit 2 sts together
p2tog: purl 2 sts together
Ssk: slip slip knit.
st st: stockinette stitch

Cuff and Leg:
Cast on 68/72 sts. Arrange sts evenly on 3 dpns. Join in the round, being careful not to twist sts.
Cuff—Broken Rib stitch as follows:
Rnd 1: K1 P1
Rnd 2: K
Repeat rnds 1 & 2 until piece measures 2”. Continue Leg in st st (knit every rnd) until leg is desired length.

Heel:
Knit across 17/18 sts, turn work and purl across 34/36 sts. These are the heel sts. The other sts will be the instep stitches and will not be knit until later.
Work back and forth on heel sts as follows:
Row 1 (RS): *Sl 1 k1* repeat across row
Row 2 (WS): Sl, purl to end of row
Repeat rows 1 & 2 until 34/36 rows have been worked (end on a WS row)


Turn Heel:
Row 1: Knit across 19/20 sts, ssk, k1, turn
Row 2: Sl 1, p5, p2tog, p1 turn
Row 3: Sl 1, k 6, ssk, k1, turn
Row 4: Sl 1, p 7, p2tog, p1, turn
Row 5: Sl 1, k 8, ssk, k1, turn
Row 6: Sl 1, p 9, p2tog, p1, turn
Row 7: Sl 1, k 10, ssk, k1, turn
Row 8: Sl 1, p11, p2 tog, p1 turn
Row 9: Sl 1, k12, ssk, k1, turn
Row 10:Sl 1, p13, p2tog, p1 turn.
Row 11: Sl 1, k14, ssk,k1 turn
Row 12: Sl 1, P14, p2tog, p1, turn
Row 13: Sl 1, k15, ssk,k1 turn

Row 14: Med Sl1, p16, p2 tog p1, end (20 sts)
Large: Sl 1 p16, p2tog p1, turn
Row 15: Large: sl 1, k17, ssk, turn
Row 16 Large: sl1, p18, p2tog end (20 sts)


Gusset:
Knit across all heel sts and with the same dpn pick up and knit 17/18 sts along selvedge edge of heel flap (This is needle #1)
With another dpn knit across all instep sts (This is needle #2)
With another dpn pick up and knit 17/18 sts along the other selvedge of the heel and then knit 10/10 stitches from needle #1 (This is needle #3)
The rnd now begins at the center of the heel.
Rnd 1: Needle 1: k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1
Needle 2: k
Needle 3: k1, ssk, k to end
Rnd 2: knit (no decreases)
Repeat rnds 1 & 2 until 68/72 sts remain

Foot:
Work even in st st until foot measures 2 1/2” less than desired length.

Toe:
Rnd 1: Needle 1: Knit to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1
Needle 2: K1, ssk, knit to last 3 sts,k2 tog, k1
Needle 3: K1, ssk, knit to end.
Rnd 2: knit (no decreases)
Repeat rnds 1 & 2 until 24/28 sts remain, then repeat only rnd 1 until 12/12 sts remain.
Knit sts from needle1 onto needle 3. Cut yarn leaving an 18” tail. Using Kitchener st, graft remaining sts together.

Finishing:
Weave in loose ends. Block if desired.

Garbage can liner:

For the Wednesday afternoon girls:

Garter stitch garbage can liner.
A boring and worthless project.
Remember 5 year olds can make this in their sleep.

Finished measurment: each one is an individual
Materials: yarn you you hate.
Needles needed to get gauge.
Gauge 16 sts = 4”/10cm To save time, take time to check gauge.

Cast on 160 sts.
Knit every row until the piece fits your garbage can. Seam side and bottom .Weave in ends. Put in the garbage.


He's not making a garbage can liner:

Writing a book review TKGA style

From my moment of wisdom:

This is from the post so many people have pm'd me about on Ravelry. I added a few notes to it. Hope it helps you out. Writing a book review isn't that hard especially with an organized format to follow:

Here’s a list of items I put together (from searching the internet) before I wrote the book reports:

1.Write a statement giving essential information about the book: title, author, first copyright date, price and ISBN number of pages.

(I put this information at the left top of the page)

Then began the prose with:

2.State the author’s purpose in writing the book. Sometimes authors state their purpose in the preface or the first chapter.

3.Talk about the contents. What topics the book covers. Describe any thesis or themes at this point.

4.Explain the layout/organization of the book. How the chapters are arranged, etc.

5.Evaluate the book for interest, accuracy, objectivity, importance, thoroughness, and usefulness. What did you agree/disagree/like/dislike. Is the book relevant. Is there anything new or special to this book or does it retell (better or worse) information.
Include the Front matter which would include table of contents, preface, introduction by someone else etc.

6.Discuss the book’s format. layout, binding typography, quality of pictures and diagrams.

7.Check the back matter: Is the index accurate. Does the book provide a good bibliography. What sources did the author use.
Backmatter would include appendices, index,glossary,sources, bibliography.

8.Summerize/Analyze the contents. Do you recomend the book and to who. State any other opinions you have about the book. Do not introduce new material at this point

9.Provide information on the author.

Good luck to you all!!

As far as magazine reviews go… 

I wrote mine using the format of the Book Review with a few changes. First you must decide whether you are going to write about the magazine in general or a specific issue. I did one of each, that way I wrote two different types of reviews. Today I might choose to write about a print magazine and and online magazine. But it really doesn’t matter.

Basically you want to observe the magazine, just like you would observe anything, notice the makeup both physical and content. Just use words to describe it.

There is a whole lot more to write about a magazine than a book, which was a surprise to me.Here are some ideas in no particular order, but your magazine may have something else worth discussing as well:

Introduce the Magazine being Reviewed. How often is it published and by whom? What is the main content dedicated to? 

What issue or issues are you using for the review.

Who is the editor? Who writes the mag intro?--usually one of the editors. 

Typically there will be “departments” or columns? What are they and who writes them? Are they good/bad/ useful/fluff? 

Where are they located in the magazine?

What else in the magazine occurs on a regular basis? Is it helpful. I’m thinking about the list of errata from previous issues, “knitting instructions or school”, glossary of terms, etc. Classified section--what’s in it? Letters to the editor? Table of contents.

How user friendly is the magazine. How hard is it to find something using the page number. Do I need to flip pages when working a pattern or are they fairly easy to follow. How well written are the patterns? Riddled with errors that we master knitters pick up right away?

What about the advertising? I found some magazines did not include advertising with the patterns? Useful or not? Is the advertising something of interest to the reader? or totally off topic? Distracting? Is there a list of advertisers at the end? 

Sometimes the advertising is more useful than the magazine.

What about the patterns? Types? Who are they for? Trendy vs Classic? Levol of experience? What about listing of supplies for the patterns?

Talk about the quality of the photos, charts, schematics etc. Glossy vs Matte pages. How sturdy is the magazine.

Who would enjoy the magazine--target audience.

Any online supplements? How does one access them?

Where can your reader get the magazine? How much does it cost per issue/ subscription? How about those annoying cards that constantly fall out?