No More Scarves (for a while at least)

Finished the last of the scarves for our Meals on Wheels clients in a marathon session. I knitted four over the weekend...okay, one was done on the knitting frame but still, I had to manipulate it by putting in some knit stitches on the purl side in hopes of keeping it from curling (knitting frames are notorious for creating curl in objects). Didn't work much, so I blocked the life out of it and it finally lay flat. No guarantee that at the first tug lengthwise, it will return to the curl and end up looking like a tube rather than a scarf. But, hey, maybe the person wearing it will like it like that. One never knows.
Also indulged myself with an order from Knitpicks for more yarn (it isn't possible to have too much yarn, is it? Isn't it like that other saying, "one can't be too rich or too thin"?) and it came on Saturday. Oh, so much lovely yarn and so little time. I need to figure out how to keep on knitting and earning a living at the same time. That being said, at the moment, I could have a life of total leisure and still not be able to do much knitting as I am in an apparent flare (flare, as in, this will go away, as opposed to a permanent change in the status of my affliction) and my hands have been less than maximal for knitting. I have taught myself to do various styles of knitting and it has proven very helpful in working around whatever joints happen to be hot at the moment. Right now it is more of them hot than not so I have to stop a lot and loosen up before resuming.
BTW, I highly recommend learning "Portuguese" knitting (or maybe it's Argentinian or Peruvian), the kind where you loop the yarn over the back of you neck. It is wonderful for doing lots of purl stitches as there isn't that complicated little hooking required when doing continental style purling. The knitting part of this style may take a bit getting used to (aren't there tradeoffs no matter what one is doing?) but once learned will become automatic. You need to learn different ways to hold the yarn/thread in the right hand in order to create a tension. Mostly I loop the yarn around my thumb before the yarn goes over my neck. Check it out on YouTube to find a tutorial for this style of knitting.

White Elephant

I love to play on words, so for our annual office Christmas party white-elephant gift exchange, I decided to find a white elephant. It probably would have turned out more fruitful had I been mindful half a year ago that I needed to find one, but two weeks prior to the event doesn't leave much time to scrounge around for one. I decided to knit one. Finding a pattern is so easy with the internet; in fact the main problem is sorting through all the available patterns to find one that resonates.
I found one that has huge ears, minimal body and very large feet. He is quite cute and just the right size for a tree ornament, although I don't quite get hanging an elephant in the tree but I also don't get hanging a pickle ornament either but that's just me. I think I missed out on some traditions somewhere.
I wonder if I could knit a pickle ornament?

Really Gnarly

Just looked up the meaning of gnarly: it means anything from utterly gross to awesomely outstanding to smooth and wild, to wiry and knobbed. Can be used pretty much anyway you want to express what other words fail to do, as in "That was one gnarly stunt" if someone survives falling out of a 10 story window.
In re: my knitting, gnarly pretty much applies, since I tend not to follow directions well, or decide to go off in a different direction totally from what the designer originally planned, so I end up with anything from disgusting and gross to pretty cool, dude!

Note to Self: Brioche, etc.

When knitting any pattern with brioche stitches, remember it must have side stitches as a border to contain the brioche, which tends to go wild in all directions if not severely confined. Thus, it is best to have something like garter stitch as it has a good stretch without stretching to the limits of brioche.
Lesson learned the hard way: half of a neck scarf knitted with no edge stitches, looked too loopy, knitted the other half with garter edges, looked much better. Didn't like the first half, removed it (pull on a row of stitches until they all straighten out, cut the yarn, pull apart) and continued knitting onto the second half until I had a third half done. Viola! Finished scarf with nice, well-behaved sides and no wrinkling.
Love the brioche stitch but it does take a while, since all those slipped stitches pull up on the work vertically so you have to knit twice as much to go the same distance as regular knitting. I'm wondering how it would work as a sock top? Probably too loose, and I would have to figure out how to do it in rounds since it is based on garter stitch. Purl a row, knit a row I guess.
I am nearing the end of skein #3 on the pale yellow mohair shawl, one more skein to go and it will be finished. I don't think it is going to require any edging since the pattern itself seems to be creating a bit of a scallop. I need to think about what my next shawl pattern will be. The present one is based on Fountain Lace with another small vertical pattern in between each repeat (don't know the name of the smaller pattern, I learned it from knitting a glove).

Current project: a neck scarf of brioche stitch. White with metallic thread running through. It is a problematic stitch because it creates unanticipated looseness. Had I known that (first time knitting an article with brioche stitch) I would have allowed for some edge stitches to rein in the looseness of the brioche. As it is, about half of the scarf has been knitted with sort of wavy side edges which aren't very attractive. So I decided to knit the first two stitches on each side in garter stitch and the rest in brioche and it is working nicely to give a crisp edge. But that leaves me with that loopy edge on what I've already done. Oh, I'll figure it out some how, maybe even go so far as to knit I-cord all around. Tedious, but it will work.
Another drawback with brioche: if it takes 6 rows of regular knitting to reach an inch, it will take 10 or 12 rows of brioche. It just keeps pulling up as you knit. Maybe it's all those slipped stitches?
The brioche I'm working on right now is ribbed and I think I will try a bit of a different style on it. Instead of knitting two together (the slipped stitch of the previous row along with its yo) in the usual way, I'm going to k2tog through the back loop, just to see what a difference it will make in the appearance. And if I keep this up, by the time I've reached scarf length, I will have to rip it back out because of all the experimentation making it look like a sampler instead of a neck scarf.
I also think I'm going to make some of these scarves on the knitting frame, because they will never get done by hand in time (Christmas). My one concern is the impact on my back. I can't sit very long at something like a sewing machine or knitting frame without having back pain. One must try.

Why Do I Do This To Myself?

I am fascinated by very small needle/small thread knitting (well, not size 70 thread. That isn't knitting, it's masochism). I found a glove pattern for Opera thread on size 00 double pointed needles. What's Opera thread? I had no clue. Asked my connections, mainly two sisters who do this stuff as well, and they weren't sure either.
I also didn't have size 00 DP needles. Since I made a trip to Vancouver, WA around that time, I checked out alocal yarn shop in Camas. I asked if she had Opera thread, she thought she did. Rooted around in a basket, found some ecru Opera thread and finally, in the bottom (of course) of the basket, one ball of white Opera thread. I was thinking of sort-of wedding gloves, and they must be white, right? So I got the ball of Opera thread which was a bit spendy for plain cotton thread even if it does have a nice sheen to it. I found the needles within a mile of my son's house in Vanc. at JoAnn. A package of 000, 00, 0 and 1 needles, just in case I have the compulsion to knit something else in fine thread (don't they have medication for this?) Or failing a project, they will do just fine as a weapon.
So I had all my necessaries at hand and proceeded with knitting up the gloves. Did I mention that the pattern was in only one size? Oh well, I cast on the right number of stitches, got my pattern established (I thought) and knitted the lace edge...and somehow it turned out backward. The knit side, which I thought really was the nicer side, ended up in the inside, which I didn't actually notice until I was into the body of the glove a ways. By the way, I should probably mention right here and now that I would rather have a root canal than rip out a piece of knitting. So there I'm stuck with an inside-out cuff but figured I would simply make the other glove match and who would know the difference? No, it would not have worked to simply turn one side to the other since from that point on, I would have to knit it left handed, which I can do but prefer not to.
So back to the glove: I am now into the body pattern and it is a pretty interesting pattern with a stitch move I have never encountered. It required the third stitch from the end of the left hand needle to be lifted over the preceding two stitches, then k1, double yo, k1. On the next row, you knit one stitch into the double yo, knit a few rows, and do it all over again. The stitch acted about like a cable would, pulling in on the pattern quite a bit, which I didn't notice until I tried the glove on somewhere around the finish of the thumb gusset. Oooh. That pattern must have been printed in 1850 when grown women were the size of modern 10 year olds. My hands are on the large side and I wasn't disappointed I couldn't get my hand into it, but no way would my grand daughter have been able to either. Maybe a three year old?
For no sane reason, I finished the glove up to mitt size and cast off, but didn't cut the thread. Maybe after it's had a few months resting in the drawer, in a nice dark place, it will make nice and actually fit my hand. Not!
Rip it, rip it, rip it (frogging) to try another pattern another day. Anybody have any good Opera thread patterns?

Gnarly Gnitter

Gnarly Gnitter is all about knitting, just in case you had trouble figuring out the name. I hope to make this blog a bit more than just how to do a really super loose cast on or cast off. I hope to knit my thoughts as well as yarn in this blog. So here goes:
At the moment I have at least five projects (there may be more in hiding, waiting to spring out when my back is turned): a cotton lace shell knitted from the top down; a shawl using Araucania Lonco variegated cotton, blue/green/turquoise/lavender; wool/nylon sox in similar colors; a pale yellow fine mohair "hug" (I guess you can call it a prayer shawl) and a white, very fine mohair shawl which has been in the beginning stage for months. Oh, did I mention the scarves I am knitting for our Meals on Wheels clients for Christmas?
I work at a Senior Center and we were donated a huge pile of yarn, mostly acrylic, lots of eyelash, some chenille and other novelty yarns. We figured a good way to use it up would be to knit neck scarves for our MOW clients as we live in a climate that can get pretty cold and windy (East of the Cascades in Oregon). So far, between a coworker and myself, we have 15 or 16 scarves of really wild variations in yarn, color, length, width and pattern. The eyelash is a lot of fun and works up fast; so does the chenille which, fortunately, is in a color that is appropriate for one of our guy clients. Eyelash just doesn't say "masculine" and our clients are old enough that the difference is important.
Enough for now, I'll catch up on other Gnarly Gnitting soon.

The Gnarly Gnitter