Life as a Spectator Sport

Swaps of one kind or another are endemic on the knitting and quilting lists, and probably among all the fiber enthusiasts. People swap handknitted socks, scarves, quilt blocks, yarn, fabric, you name it. I haven't been tempted to participate in one of these up to now because I cannot commit to knitting for someone else within a prescribed time period. My own life is just too unpredictable. I could have participated in a yarn swap, but I never seemed to come across one of them at a point where they were taking signups. And the ones I did find were in groups where I didn't know any of the participants. But I'm in a coffee lovers group on Ravelry, and someone suggested a coffee swap. That I thought I could manage, and while I don't know any of the group members personally--face to face, that is--there is the common bond of both knitting and coffee.

The rules call for yarn, coffee or tea, and a pretty mug or cup, plus whatever else the giver thinks the recipient might like. I picked up this gorgeous stuff, 2 skeins of Noro Blossom, at Mosaic on my Labor Day trip, and after handling it and looking at it at home, I regret not having bought some for myself too. Like all the Noro yarns, it is spectacularly beautiful. I'll also send some home-roasted coffee, and a pretty Portmeiron cup and saucer, if the blasted order from Stash Tea ever arrives. I'm also going to tuck in my Nubbins dishcloth. I thought about stitch markers, or some other knitting related goodie, but not knowing what my swap pal already has, I figured everyone can use a dishcloth. If she doesn't want to use it for its intended purpose, she can always make a hot pad of it.

My knitting seems to have fallen into a pattern. During the week, I work on whatever larger project is on the needles. Right now, it's the Ducky Blanket for my grandson, and it's coming along very well. One side panel is finished, and the three times larger middle panel is more than half done. Good thing too, because I just learned that his birthday is ten days earlier than I remembered. But it will be finished in plenty of time.

Weekend knitting has begun to assume a life of its own. At first, I picked up something different just because I had seen something I really liked, had a suitable yarn for, and could complete quickly without taking too much time away from my "regular" project. But more and more now I've been deliberately setting aside my primary UFO in order to make something that can be completed within the weekend, like the dishcloths, and last week's Suede Booties.

This weekend's project is the Norwegian Baby Cap that I've been wanting to make ever since I first saw it. In this photo, it is just about half finished.

It almost didn't get off the ground at all. The knitting itself is as simple as can be, just round and round stocking stitch, with adroitly placed increases and decreases for the shaping. Just the sort of knitting it really like. But I ran short of yarn on the first long-tail cast on, started over, was still short the second time, pulled out a huge long length of yarn, and finally managed to get it cast on with most of the huge long length still hanging off the end. I didn't have exactly the right needles, 2.5mm and 3mm circulars, but since I prefer dpn's anyway, and I did have a set of 2.75 bamboo dpns, I decided I would just use them for the whole cap, knitting rather tightly at the beginning to simulate the 2.5mm size, and looser at the point where the directions said to change to the 3mm needle.

So far, so good. But 125 stitches proved to be too much for my 5" dpn's. Stitches kept sliding off the ends and having to be rescued and worked back up. No matter how I distributed the stitches, the decreases always seemed to come close enough to the end of a needle that I'd have to slip stitches from one needle to another to accommodate them, and I eventually got really aggravated with it. So I ripped it all out and started over with a 12" 2.5mm circular, the one I had decided against to begin with because it seemed too short.

Well . . . it was too short. The 12" circular needles have a bend at the cable end to permit the needles to be held at more or less a ninety-degree angle when knitting, since there isn't enough cable length to do so otherwise. Unfortunately, that means it's almost impossible to hold them parallel to each other as you need to do when you're knitting two stitches together through the back loops. I finished the first seven rows of garter stitch without too much trouble, but the first increase/decrease row defeated me. I had to slip the two stitches to be knitted together to another needle, do the decrease, then slip the resulting single stitch back to the working needle. Way too much trouble. So I set the whole thing aside until I could get some 16" circulars of the correct size.

The new needles came in on Friday, and yesterday I started over. I wasn't happy with the join I'd made using the 12" needle. Again, because the needle is so short, it was impossible to do the kind of join I prefer and I'd had to just pull the beginning and ending stitch together as tightly as possible. It didn't look good. So I ripped it all out again, cast on again (only took two tries this time), and finally have it mostly finished. I'll complete it by tonight and take another picure.

One works ten rounds of combined increases and decreases, and then just the decreases until the last eleven stitches. I've decreased to the point where I couldn't work on a 16" needle any more, and transfered it back to the dpn's for the last few rounds. Once the initial hurdles were over with, it went very fast, and I love the subtle contrast of the Koigu yarns. I'll definitely be making more of these, and may try it on heavier yarn next time for a larger size. Like a lot of simple patterns, it would be very easy to size up.

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RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email to liz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002