Saturday, January 19, 2008

I didn't mean this to be a knitblog...

And yet the compulsion to take pictures of my projects in progress and report to you on the techniques, materials, etc. is overwhelming. Ah well. I'm gonna go with it until someone complains.

I have been feeling this mania to try new things lately, and my latest experiment is with double knitting. This is a technique whereby you knit a two-sided fabric, working with two contrasting strands of yarn at the same time. It's not actually all that hard, but it is fiddly. I'm refining my technique of holding two yarns on the same hand, and knitting with just one at a time. Here is my scarf in progress:


And here's the magic part -- here is the back of the same piece:


Ta da! Reversible. The pattern is my husband's -- he's a computer programmer, he said something about "Life" (the way he said it made it sound like it ought to be capitalized). It sounded like some kind of pattern that appears in some sort of life-behaviour simulator? I'm unclear. I said he could guest-blog to explain it, when it's done.

But to return to the knitting -- isn't that awesome?! I'm very taken with this technique. The scarf is just the beginning. You can use double-knitting to knit two socks, at the same time, on the same needle, one inside the other. I know -- magic. I wanna do *that* magic trick.

In other people's knitting, here are Inara's mittens, done with my wool and pattern. Aren't they pretty? Like stained glass.


I've been dyeing all week, and I have a bunch of new BFL that will be posted this week. I have a bit of new corriedale dyed, and I have 10lbs in the mail, on its way to me. And for those of you who are local -- Three Bags Full will be getting a new delivery of my rovings on Monday. Anyone wanna meet me on Main Street for coffee and knitting?

6 comments:

jayne said...

And what's wrong with a knitblog?? You're a fibery kind of person aren't you?

Your etsy mini looks fab!

Gotta go and see my newest handspuns (I blogged today). Can't believe how well it's going.

YummyYarn said...

Oh nothing wrong with it, I guess. It's just all so trivial and self-absorbed, most of the time. It's really the same reason I don't keep a diary, either -- the trivial details of my life, whatever aspect of it, don't interest me long enough to write them down.

I resisted starting a blog for ages; I only started this one because it seemed like a less intrusive way to communicate with my customers and other interested parties than an emailed newsletter. And yet, having started it, I find I'm getting slowly but surely sucked into the blogosphere.

I find the blogosphere to be a strange place. I find the blog *impulse* to be fascinating, although I don't really share it.

Just to be clear -- there are some non-trivial blogs out there. I have read things which are fascinating, things which are inspiring, things which are heart-rending. I stand by the use of "self-absorbed" though; that's just the nature of the beast. A blogger can't really hope to be anything but. One only hopes that one's own life is as interesting to others as it is to oneself.

Hence my ambivalence. I wrote a post about a half-finished scarf. It seemed important to do so. And I can't help but wonder why that is.

Ashley said...

Geeze, tempting - main and 3bf aren't too far from me. However, I dread the possibility of attempting to knit in public with both of my wild ones about :P

YummyYarn said...

I hear you. There's a reason I don't attempt these things when I have my daughter in tow.

jayne said...

LOL, I won't argue with you about trivial and self-absorbed. As long as we're all clear about that and no one's trying to fool themselves.

YummyYarn said...

Disclaimer: I was kept awake last night wondering whether I had offended anyone with my ruminations on blogdom, and I want to say, for the record, that my wit is sometimes so dry it can hardly be classified as wit. If I say something that offends anyone, please believe that I was probably trying to be funny.

Glad to see I didn't offend you, Jayne. At least you've met me in person, and could therefore probably tell that I was serious, but not actually taking myself seriously.

That defines a lot of my life, actually. It's a very relaxed perspective.