Yarn Blob

Art critic kitteh does not approve of your Yarn Blob interpretation of the Greyed Rainbow.

Cast-ons

I'll admit to being highly intimidated when it comes to learning new cast-on techniques. After all, the one I've been using works. Funny thing is, it's apparently not even called what I thought it was called. I thought it was the thumb method but apparently it's actually the single cast-on or backward-loop cast-on. Seems like back when I learned it many years ago, they called it the thumb method, though I could be mistaken. Maybe they've just developed the craft a lot more, or found a lot more from around the globe thanks to the Internet. There wasn't a lot of information on it at the time. Now, Better Homes and Gardens has updated their site, which is the one I originally learned from. I see they still don't mention Continental vs. English. But I digress.

I saw a cool video awhile back that showed how to cast on in 2 colors for a knitted braid edging. In this case, it was to help with a hat pattern they were selling on the same site. I liked the hat, but at the time I figured I was seriously not ready to attempt it. I had never seen anyone move yarn around that way with even one color, let alone two. I guess that's what happens when you teach yourself to knit from a 2-dimensional image.

Recently, however, while looking up who knows what, I came across a site called Knitting Help that has videos for several cast-on techniques. I haven't watched all of them, but the cool thing is that for the more complex cast-ons, they have videos for both Continental and English knitting styles. I'm always pleased to see that, since I knit in the Continental style. But I digress again. I watched the video for the long-tail cast-on and actually managed to do it. Boo-yah.

Then, of course, I remembered that hat video with the cool braided edge, and recalled the yarn manipulation for the cast-on looking very similar. Unfortunately, I hadn't bookmarked the video, apparently thinking I just would never be able to do it. But, being who I am, I hunted that puppy down. It's on the Knit Whits site and was posted to their Facebook page, which is where I saw it. I knew it was one of the ones I read most frequently, and they are one of the top two. For inquiring minds, the other is Knitting Daily (Interweave Press).

Having located the video, I was surprised to realize that apparently, by "awhile back," I meant September of 2008. Wow. I can't believe it's been that long. In re-watching the video, now that I've learned the long-tail cast-on, I totally get it, and am determined to try it. Not today, but soon, before I forget (or before yet another year goes by). I have since bookmarked the page so I can buy the downloadable hat pattern, which I still very much like.

I hate to post blog entries with no pictures, so here's a pic of a mini my Hubby painted for me, that I used in probably the first D&D game I played with him serving as DM:

Her name is Shadow (though the mini is officially called "Therese" by Reaper Minis), and she is guarding the yarn with both weapons, so watch out for that sneak attack.

Don't Step on my Brown Suede Dice Bag

Will wonders never cease? I actually wrote a pattern before I knitted the object. Of course, in this case it was necessary because I needed to change back and forth between cabling and stockinette stitch, and the gauge is always different between the two. I got to use the new Bienfang NoteSketch book though, and I suppose it’s okay. I would still prefer graph paper rather than a blank area at the top, as that would have made it easier to transfer the cable pattern. Being who I am, I traced a section of graph paper onto the page instead:

Naturally, I redacted the cable pattern itself, since that copyright is held by the publishers, but you can still see where I added the graph. You can also see that I ran out of room at the bottom and had to squish my writing so it would fit on one page. I do have a reputation as a mad knittist to maintain, after all, and I suspect my notes accomplish that pretty well.

Here is the yarn I’ll be using:

These are my test swatches: one in stockinette stitch, one in the cable pattern. Both are knitted in the round since the dice bag itself will be knitted in the round, and as I’ve come to discover, my gauge in the round is different than my gauge back-and-forth. Arrgh matey, it be the purls.

Note Book Randomness

So, I have this little notebook with a flexible leatherette cover and graph paper pages, about 2 inches thick. I like the thing except that it won’t stay open on its own, the result of which is that I don’t use it very often. Occasionally when I am using it, I’ll flip through the used pages to see what’s there. It has several scribbled patterns for blankets, sweaters, mittens, dice bags, etc. Some pages contain notes where I was apparently trying to explain math and how to tell time to one child or another. Some pages contain partial pattern notations, like this:

Clearly a knitting notation. No clue what it was for. I generally use 4 DPNs, not 3. Mittens, perhaps? Probably not, given that using size 3 needles with only 20 stitches would be way too small for a mitten. So what is it? Alas, the world may never know. I sure don’t.

Here’s another little gem I can’t identify, this one complete with sketch:

I have no idea what that is, or what it might have been part of. Seriously. No idea. Trying to visualize something smaller at the base than at the top with points on the wider edge does nothing to refresh my memory. One might think the fact that I went so far as to make gauge and size notations would solidify it in my mind. One would be mistaken.

Moving on, this next bit of randomness isn’t even a pattern:

Some kind of Rebus puzzle, perhaps? Nope. In this case, I remember what all three images are; I just don’t remember why they’re on the same page. The first two were probably me explaining to my Hubby how the dragon tea cozy was going to work. What other reason would there be to have a tea pot and a dragon together? Unless of course the dragon was going to heat up the tea, but that could get tricky.

The third is a glyph we were toying with for use on a website my Hubby had during our pre-Blogger days. Now that one is a mystery. Not what it is, just, why it’s there with the tea pot and dragon cozy. Weird.

Dice Bags

I finally took some pics of my own dice bags; the ones I knitted and actually use myself, except the putty-colored one, which my youngest son uses. This one is made from a bamboo yarn in an all-over cabled stitch which negates the need for a liner (the quarter is for scale):

This one is made from LionBrand ribbon yarn, which produces a thick cloth that also doesn't need a liner:

This is a tiny one, made to hold a tiny set of dice:

This grey one isn't my favorite, but holds a surprising number of dice: that's three sets of 6-sided dice, 36 dice per set:

This one (the one in the foreground) is made from purple "camo" yarn. I can't imagine what one would have to be standing next to in order to be camouflaged by this particular color scheme, but the bag is highly useful nonetheless. I made it large and collapsible by alternating bands of stockinette and reverse stockinette stitch. In order to show its shape while full, I stuffed 3 of the other dice bags inside it:

This is my favorite dice bag, made from two types of yarn, and it holds an incredible number of dice:

Currently, it holds 9 sets of 7-piece polyhedral dragon dice, though given the stretchy nature of yarn, it has held up to 12 such sets. I had to break out the dice tray so they wouldn't roll off the table:

This is the inner layer:

This is where I keep them all when not in use:

Pay no attention to the plastic D&D minis around it, nor the toy dragon whose teeth you can juuust see at the upper left: she guards my 3-Dragon Ante game and game pieces. Okay, I know you want to see her, so here she is in all her glory, surrounded by more plastic D&D minis and the B-2 Stealth Bomber and Fighter:

Cable Knitting Test Swatch

This is a test swatch for a hat and scarf set I'll be knitting for my best friend (who has no blog - what's up with that?):

The yarn is Ella Rae Classic Superwash (100% wool) in Color 36, which is a dark teal, though the scan doesn't quite match the actual color. The pattern I'll be using is a set from Cables Untangled (pp. 33-35), by Melissa Leapman, which is a wonderful book with lots of schematics. Here's how the original looks:

Isn't that cute? Let's hope I can make the finished product look like that. But in teal.

To my credit, my cable knitting has improved over time. I used to pull the yarn too tight on the crossovers, trying to make sure there were no gaps, and this did interesting (translated: bad) things to my gauge. I gave that up and now it looks like it should, and my gauge is right. Boo-yah.

Knitting in Pathfinder: Needles of the Ebon Strand 2

I posted recently about my Hubby’s entry in the Pathfinder writing contest. Obviously, since the needles he wrote about don’t exist, we have no pics of them, nor did we have props to simulate the dark needles or their shadowy product. Coincidentally (or, perhaps, serendipitously), my LYS had no Brittany DPN’s in the size I needed this past Saturday. Since I really dislike using bamboo, I bought a set of Bryson needles, made of rosewood. I also bought some self-frilling black yarn (not to mention more sock yarn), and since I was up way too early Sunday morning, my mind made the connection, and here’s what I came up with:

I think the needles and black yarn portray the mental image I got from his description, but it needs a better background, like the Hag who’s supposed to be using the things (no, not me, tyvm, I mean a Hag as defined in Pathfinder).