beautiful things

Knitting group

I went to my first ever knitting group on Thursday! First of all, I think it's hilarious that I'm quite happy to drive five hours to and from New Hampshire by myself (I'm taking some classes there) but I really wanted to avoid the ten minute drive to Park Slope! I was worried about parking, you see - would I be able to find a spot? Also, I'm not a big fan of parallel parking. (I only started driving a year or two ago and don't do it much.)

So I was trying to decide - drive, bike, subway or bus? I decided to try the bus but I just missed it and the next one wasn't for half an hour. The subway is really only direct from the city and rather convoluted from my house, so I ended up driving and there was plenty of parking. It's usually only a problem a little further north.

Anyway, it was kind of crowded (with non-knitters) and a bit awkward at first but I settled in and ended up having a great time! It was good to talk to other knitting fanatics, as well as actually see other knitting in progress. For one thing, most people were knitting continental, and there were a lot of socks in progress, some on very tiny needles. I got to fondle a sock knit in the famous Koigu. I got to hear people other than podcasters bat around names like Shelridge Farm and Cherry Tree Hill and Tofutsies. And I learned that all casting on in the middle of knitting requires is a backwards loop!

I also learned that SSK is really just the opposite of K2TOG and K2TOG is the same as SKP or something like that... I haven't really fully grasped the mechanics of all that stuff yet but it seems there are many different ways of achieving the same result. I find it fascinating that knitting is really just a bunch of loops, yet there are infinite ways those loops can be connected. Amazing.

Anyway, the other interesting thing is that the knitters I talked to said they tend to order yarn online rather than purchase from yarn stores. I guess that's easier once you know the good companies and what you are getting, or if there's a yarn you read a lot of good things about in blogs, or if you're ordering the yarn from a pattern. I'd be kind of nervous about what I was getting without seeing it first... although I did buy that Rowan on the basis of a blog post.

In other news, I learned today that silky yarns tend to stretch a lot, which would explain why my silk garden scarf seems to be growing daily. I'm not sure how long it was to begin with but it's about 7 feet now! Thanks for the tip Nicole!

And finally, the other piece of news is that I signed up for my first ever knitting class! It's a finishing workshop in a couple of weeks... most of the classes I could find at yarn stores in the city are beginning classes, and while I am definitely a newbie, I don't really need to learn how to knit and purl. Hopefully this workshop won't be too advanced...

originally written March 30th, 2007

Silk garden scarf

So, I was coming to the end of "his scarf" and had an upcoming trip to Chicago. I needed a new project to bring with me that would last the whole weekend! So back to Gotta Knit I went. This time, after all the subdued tones of Mossy Tree, I wanted brighter "girl" colors. I was craving pink. I didn't have a lot of time to shop, and there were two yarns I couldn't decide between, so I bought them both! I was kind of astounded when, together with two sets of bamboo needles to fill in the gap between my Sally Bates #7s and #10s, it came to over $120! I had no context at all for the price of yarn but it seemed like I was buying expensive stuff. I got Silk Garden and Aurora by Noro (strangely I can't find Aurora on the Noro website) and have since heard and seen reference to Silk Garden and Noro in podcasts and blogs so I guess it's a pretty well known high end yarn.

I bought 3 balls of Silk Garden. The only had two in color 251 so I bought a third in a similar color 205. I bought Aurora in color 8. I'm not sure I knit the Silk Garden to its full advantage because look how gorgeous and delicate and fuzzy these look. Well, my scarf is different I guess. Here it is.

Silk garden scarf

Date:
Feb 3rd - Feb 10th, 2007 (approx)
Yarn:
3 skeins of Silk Garden from Noro, 2 in color 251 and 1 in color 205
$12.50 each from Gotta Knit
Needles:
US #8 (Takumi bamboo)

Pattern:

My own - four sections of five stitches of seed stitch divided by columns of K1, 27 stitches overall (I did K2 at each end). I learnt about seed stitch in the store and decided to try it as it uses less yarn than a ribbed pattern and I was concerned about how long a scarf 3 skeins would make (they didn't have anymore that went together).

The story:

I started this scarf on the plane to Chicago. I still wasn't swatching yet, but I did try a couple of things and rip them out before settling on the pattern. I liked the bamboo needles - easier on the finger tips. They only had long ones in the store though so they were a bit awkward, especially on the plane. I think this was my first knitting in public. I also knit on the CTA going into the city, and a bit around rehearsal for my sister's concert, and then back in New York at a Superbowl party. Yes, we left Chicago right before the superbowl, which I guess was good given the outcome...

I'm pretty happy with how the scarf came out. The second color blended in pretty well (I knit it in the middle of the scarf). I really enjoyed seeing the colors flow. It also knit up a lot more quickly than the first scarf. Because of yarn saving stitch pattern, it isn't the warmest of scarves - it's a good spring scarf for right about now when it finally starts getting a little warmer.

Finished object:

(Click images for enlargements of go here for the full set of photos.)