Gauge hat that was a long time coming
I am still looking for inspiration for my sweater, and I am getting closer.

The hat has turned out to be exactly what I don't want and the hem is way bulkier than I want. BUT, it was/is useful for a number of things.

I have never learned to knit really well by throwing with my right. I do know how to throw, and that is how I knit for years, but I throw with my entire hand, and it is very slow. SO, I practiced throwing with my index finger. What a kick it was for this old dog to learn a new trick! As a result, my tension was wonky for a while, and this hem, along with being too thick, has a bell jar curve at the base.

I got some great tension swatches for measuring, and I am finding that I like the feel of this fabric when knit on the loose side. And I found out I am not really as crazy about the checks pattern as I thought I was.

My son loves this style of hat, and this was the typical early English knit cap style (Gunnister?) dating to 1500, I believe. So, as there is value in anything knitted, I may see Bob with this on yet.

At any rate. It is too dark and there is not enough contrast. I simply had to get it out of my system so I could move on. My next attempt will be a high contrast job. I am hunkered down with NORDIC KNITTING by S Pagoldh. I love the pictures in this book and I think I will run with their aura.

A new sweater

Nordic color stitch patterns have always attracted me. The sharp contrast between light and dark, and the "licing", or sprinkling, of light/bright against the dark background is the first thing that catches my eye. I have had a love affair with this type of design from day one of my knitting journey.

As I begin the study of actual stitch patterns and ideas for this next sweater, I am spending time with my collection of knitting books, magazines and patterns. This will probably take a month to wade through. But, last night as I sat watching INDEPENDENCE DAY for the 6th time this month (GREAT movie to knit through), I decided I just had to start playing with my HEILO yarn collection. So, with a #4 circular 16" Addi Turbo needle, I cast on 120 stitches in charcoal heather for a hat.

Many of Elizabeth Zimmermann's ideas are firmly mine now, and I always make many hats before I make a sweater. Hats are the best gauge swatch for seeing what the yarn does in the round for GAUGE and stitch sampling. I will start with a long tail cast on so I can finish the edge as a HEM, and she explains exactly how to do this in KNITTING WORKSHOP, page 63.

The first 5 colors that are charming me

are charcoal, light olive green, cadet blue, dark gold and natural. Stay tuned.

Gansey sweaters
Topic: gansey knitting

I love gansey/guernsey/fisherman knit/purl patterns. I like the fabric that they make. Sweaters constructed with them are warm to wear, interesting to look at and truly enjoyable to knit. They are not hard!

The shaping and construction of these sweaters is based in folk and tradition, and I find this enormously appealing. Folk knitting traditions leave the details to the knitter. The samples of old sweaters left for us to dissect are different enough to see the wonderful variations inherent in the context of such a garment. But they all share circular and seamless knitting construction where the knitter keeps building on the parts finished, so there are no pieces to keep track of or to seam.

This seems overwhelming to newer knitters, but once you get through your first sweater this way, you will never look back. There is an energy present that demands completion, and you just keep going. I find this process addictive, and I advocate for it.

This weekend folks will tackle one of 4 sweaters, and one of 2 hats at the Rip Van Winkle Knitting Retreat. I love weekend retreats where we all do one thing and do it thoroughly. There is room for beginners and true knitaholics at these things.

One can knit just a hat for a TRUE gauge swatch, stop there OR begin any sized sweater from 3 mo to 56" in two styles OR cast on (determinedly) and knit (seriously) through an entire 3 month sized gansey sweater, seeing how it all goes together while under my watchful eye.

The "Aha!" moments that occur during these knitathons is truly rewarding to the teacher in me. And the (knitting!)friends I make are priceless.

Project for the near future
Topic: nordic knitting
I am just about all packed and ready for the Rip Van Winkle Knitting Retreat next weekend. So ready, that my mind is drifting towards the Next Big project.

I have been planning a Nordic sweater for about 10 years. Along the way, I have dabbled with Nordic designs in my patterns to see what I like. I like vertical patterns, and I also like "licing". This is tricky to combine, but I'm working on it. My favorite design to date hails from the Faroe Islands:
. No licing in that one, but it's brewing. Those Faroese knitters don't lice...but they make a real pattern out of filling space. Simple and effective. But, not lice.

I peruse the 'Net hunting for pictures of what I like and I have a folder of them on my desk. I was just at Ann's Sheepshots blog(since she was so nice to send me a note about the bunnies on BareHare, and she has the cutest little hat pattern posted on April 12 sporting Truly Nordic stuff.

It's all good.

The Nordic Sweater that is brewing will be made with Heilo and I have 46 colors I am looking at out in the shop. Hard to decide. But, I always make a hat to get started, and the week after the retreat will see me embarking on one.

A New Blog and Vest of the Month
Topic: cables
I give up. The best way to post info about patterns I am knitting, with all the picture details is take the plunge and start a blog.

I will join the thousands of knit bloggers who have created an ENORMOUS amount of inspiration on-line for all of us.

I had a hankering to make myself a black vest. And simply cabled. The trick was working the straight line (which the cables create) into a curve that would work around my body parts (which are not a straight line). Elsbeth Lavold has made an entire career out of doing this by shaping vertical rib patterns. The pattern is in the works. I hope to have all the details ironed out by the summer.

The neck:

You'll notice that the cables are soft and subtle. That required DRASTIC altered spacing of the cable twist rounds. In fact, once blocked, the cables are hard to really see, rather giving the illusion of something going on.

This is, in fact, quite fine with me. I am, after all, a double Pisces, and we don't quite work in the real world.