Bella Knitting

Playing with Colors

Laura

After my foray in to the many gardens in the San Francisco area I had colors on my mind. The amazing potential in the variety of colors that can be combined by Mother Nature and by designers - be they working with yarn, fabric, paints or computers. One of my favorite little tools on my Mac is a Widget by Color Schemers.

The site has a Color Scheme Gallery with hundreds and hundreds of color schemes with amazing names like:

- Cold Shoulder,
- Grab that Dog,
- Mermaid on the Rocks
- Sunny Spot in Dark Forest,
- Mean Girls,
- Pepperoni Pizza and
- Sad but True.

I enjoy looking at the names as much as I do the color combinations! These designers are very imaginative, makes me want to rename some of our projects!

Under their products tab you'll find two free downloads. One for Mac Users and one for Windows.  The Widget shown above is for the Mac Dashboard. It has thousands of inspirational color ideas - many of which I would never have thought of but really like.  I would love to design a sweater using all the colors in some of my favorite palettes. The hex color values are included above.

Windows users aren't left out either. ColorPix is little app that let's you grab the color values and screen coordinates at any pixel on your screen. Then it  translates any screen color into RGB, HEX, HSB and CMYK color values.

I have not tried this one but it certainly looks fun.

And there is one more free tool to tell you about.  Their online color selector allows you to enter the RGB or Hex number for any color you want. The selector will lay out a series of coordinating colors then you can lighten or darken the entire palette. Great for selecting yarns, web colors or even paints like it did for my new living and dining rooms that are adjacent to each other.

Book Review: lace & eyelets

Laura

Never in the 320 blog entries Sarah and I have written have we ever written a negative post. I’m afraid I have to break that streak in the interest of preventing anyone else from buying this book and wasting your money like I did.  I should have trusted the other knitter’s reviews on Amazon, but no, I a lover of all knitting books and collector of all Stitchionaries thought I just couldn’t go wrong with a book based on the Harmony Guides and with such a pretty cover. So  wrong. Let’s see, where to start….

Most complaints had to do with the lack of charts, a draw back but not a crime. The authors seemed confused, who was the target audience for this lace book. They must have decided that first time, “I’ve never held a knitting needle in my hand” knitters-to-be were a target market since they included instructions on how cast on and ‘the knit stitch’ in the beginning. Really? They also included inane knitting “tips” like “stitch markers are your friends”.  I guess they needed to fill up the tons of white space on the page. All of these, while annoying, are still not that criminal. But I’m not done yet.

Let us now move on to the total lack of consistency. Want to yarn over? You will have to read through instructions that say yf, yb, yfon, yfrn, yo, yon, yrn with a glossary hidden in the back after the graph paper (huh?).  They must have used multiple photographers as well. Some photos are so close you can not tell what the pattern will look like and there are shadows under the eyelets that make some of the patterns extremely difficult to see.

But wait there’s more! There are instructions to wrap the yarn (why with seven different yarn over instructions do I now need to wrap yarn too?! Then there's knit and purl "twisted" as opposed to "KB1" which means knit into back of next stitch, as opposed to tbl. And don't forget to "draw sl st over".  Confusing but I do understand this is an update of a classic, and so there is more.

Imagine my surprise when I started to look at the pattern for Lacy Diagonals on page 145 and the pattern is for the WRONG stitch altogether.  That's right the photo and the directions do NOT match. I decided to look online to see if it was listed in their errata. This was the final shocker (and the thing that made me decide to post) there are two compact pages of errors! egad!! They list almost 200 pages of incorrect use of yarn over vs. yarn forward (quell surprise) and 16 patterns will multiple errors  - not including the one I found where the entire pattern is mismatched.

I could go on (OK, I will I just have to vent!)

•    the difficulty seeing some of the dark colors and the washed out look of the lighter flesh colors
•    the total lack of organization so that similar stitches are spread through out the book,
•    missing instructions (Vertical Slit Cables; rows 6 to 13 have no stitch instructions at all and certainly could use a how to with such an unusual method to work. Is this the same book that thought we needed instructions on how to cast on?)
•    Similar stitch patterns (Mesh and Staggered Eyelets, and a few of the zig zags) that just fill space

While I like Erika Knight she let this one get by her and so did Interweave. I really think they owe us an apology.

OK, I feel better now. Thanks. I think I'll go look at some Barbara Walker then I will be at peace with the knitting universe. But I must leave you with this last bit of wisdom from page 166:

"As a beginner, avoid working with novelty and fuzzy yarns as they can make stitches difficult to see." What, do experienced knitters some how suddenly decide to use fuzzy yarn when knitting lace?  I may need a glass of wine after that one.

Follow up below ...

Store Bought Sweaters

Laura

This is my friend Susan (sans head as promised). We met when we both lived in the Chicagoland area. I moved west to the San Francisco Bay area while she headed south to Austin. All in all three fabulous places to live. We met for a brief time last week at the San Francisco airport. A bit odd, yes, but she had a three-hour layover on the way to Hawaii. So while I didn't get to go on the vacation I  ran up to have a bit of lunch in the plush surrounding of SFO.

Look at the cute sweater she has on! My knitter's eye immediately started dissecting it. The varying lace patterns, the solid band, cute hood. It would be fabulous in a nice light bamboo yarn. She told me it's a sweater by Cabi. They sell clothes via home parties, they're nice I have bought some Cabi things myself.  The thing is if I were to buy this sweater, I would forever be asked if I knit it. I stopped to think and realized that the sweaters I do buy are the ones that won't be confused with the ones I knit. I was especially careful of this when I worked in a LYS - no sense confusing customers. Am I the only one that thinks this way? Do you buy hand-knit looking sweaters or like me are you busy making sketches of what you see in the store to add to your project list?

Shhh, here's Susan. She's just too cute to have her head chopped off! Thank you iPhone camera.

Pre-finishing

Laura

I've been playing with a new yarn, Karabella Lace Merino Silk. I am really enjoying it (in spite of my little mishap with the pattern the other day).

I seem to be attracted to merino/silk blends first the Cascade Venezia and now this wonderfully soft yarn which is delightful to knit with and has the slight shine silk brings to yarn. I think it will make a lovely all season shawl.

I've only knit about a foot of my new shawl so far but I already steamed it to see how the pattern will look when done. I like to do a little finish work along the way sometimes; steaming part of the work and sewing in ends before I'm done. It gives me a sneak peek into the finished project and keeps me motivated.  Fewer UFOs that way.

Lemonade

Laura

I've been having a bit of trouble with my eyesight lately. It was interfering with a few of my favorite things like knitting, reading and blogging - no big surprises there. I looked upon this issue as an excuse opportunity to  start a brand new collection. Some women collect shoes, some purses (and there's nothing wrong with doing both). Me, I'm going to try reading glasses. It's a pretty harmless thing to collect, cheaper than a good shoe or purse and more limited in quantity than my yarn stash!

It's not as easy as it sounds. There are many many boring reading glasses available in your local drug store - those are not for me! But you never know where you will find the perfect pair. I'd love to tell you I'm browsing chi-chi boutiques but this snazzy red pair is from my local car wash. The vigilant shopper is rewarded with great finds. :)

I like that I can be much more daring in my glasses collection than I ever would in my wardrobe. I think a pair to match every knitting project is an admirable goal don't you?!

Thanks to CIndi for recommending ICU Eyewear (get it?). They actually make the red glasses above and sell lots of sets with matching glasses and case. Not sure why I find that appealing but I definitely do.

She is, however, feeding my addiction. I already ordered a pair - brightly striped sun-reading glasses. Who knew there were such things. Now I can knit outside in the sun. Summer here I come!

 

Ancient Knitting Proverbs

Laura

She who experiments with a perfectly good lace pattern in the middle of a project is foolish.

She who makes more mistakes trying to repair foolish choice is careless.

She who tries it all again gets what she deserves.

.

.

Lovely tulips in my kitchen bringing me inner peace as I start all over again.

The Hybrid

Sarah

A while back, I fell in love with the Elizabeth Zimmermann hybrid sweater as knit by Brooklyntweed -- but then again, who didn't? I planned on knitting one for Jason, so I chose my yarn (Plymouth Encore worsted) in a tweedy dark brown, plus a ball of tweedy camel for the contrast-color hems. Then, like a good knitter, I took Jason's chest measurement, swatched, and did the math.

Math isn't always all it's cracked up to be. I measured Jason's chest, thinking (I thought logically) that I would want to knit the sweater body to fit his body. What's the problem there? Well, Jason has a very V-shaped torso, so his waist is quite a bit smaller than his chest. Also, I aimed for a tiny bit of ease. Can you guess where this is headed? The fact that it's not Jason wearing the sweater in the photo, but my dad, has probably clued you in.

The sweater didn't end up being ridiculously large on Jason, but it was large enough on him that it looked sloppy. To be worn well, I think this sweater should be pretty fitted. Jason suggested that I "knit it smaller" and I must say that I laughed at him mockingly. Reknit the entire sweater at a finer gauge, or with a smaller number of stitches? No way. Not when I could tell that I could solve the entire problem by changing the designated recipient!

The sweater fits my dad perfectly, and he loves it! Of the four sweaters I've given my dad, this one definitely turned out the best -- so really, my miscalculations were a stroke of luck. I've got some ideas for a new Jason sweater, so he's not hurting. (Not to mention the fact that the weather has turned considerably warmer here -- it's not like Jason would have gotten much use out of it anyway.) I'm also quite pleased to have tried out this hybrid construction: I used the instructions in Knitting Workshop, but you can also find them in Knitting Without Tears. I think this version is called the shirt-yoke version -- the saddles are knit across the back and grafted together in the middle. For the neckline, I did a contrast-color folded hem as for the sleeve cuffs and hem.

Though overall I'm quite happy with how things turned out, I have to say that I am not planning to work with this yarn again. It's a blend of 75% acrylic and 25% wool, and it just was not that pleasant to work with. Supposedly it's easy-care, but I felt like it did not hold up as well in my gentle washing process as pure wool does -- it definitely lacked wool's resiliency. Oh well, my dad is such a great knitting recipient that I will happily knit him a replacement if it wears out!

Dropping Needles on the Floor

Laura

I love watching other people knit. Not only does this mean I am most likely also knitting myself, I enjoy the amazing variety of styles and techniques we each bring to the same craft.  There are the major differences between western and Continental knitting, straight or circular needles, how we hold the yarn, our needles, and the little quirks in our techniques - a bit of a tug here or a pinkie sticking up in the air there. All things buried deep in our muscle memory so we are mostly unaware of our repetitive movements.

My husband's cousin is sadly just out of the hospital, again. She's had a hard time of it and so we wanted to send her something that would bring her comfort. My first thought, cashmere, in this case Karabella Boise. It's 50% cashmere and 50% fine merino making it super soft but just a bit more practical. Certain to bring joy into the life of any knitter. Our cousin is a beginner knitter and will be understandably weary for a while so I thought a simple scarf would be just the trick. This pretty brioche pattern is perfect for new knitters, its easy, there's no purling and so much more interesting than garter.

I wanted to get her started so she could jump right in. Thing is, since I was sending the needles along with the scarf, I was working with straight needles for the first time in years . . . and I kept dropping them on the floor! Literally on the floor. At the end of each row my left hand automatically let go of the empty needle it had been holding; not a problem if your knitting with circular needles but not such a great move with these bamboo needles. It was an automatic action, without conscious thought or as it turns out control. In spite of my efforts I dropped them time and time again until I changed to a wider chair where the needle would only fall on the seat.  I guess that makes me an old dog.

Knitting Families

Laura

Did you start to knit as a child or an an adult? Maybe you picked it up again after many years away. So many of us learned as children, maybe at a grandmother's knee before taking a bit of a hiatus. Knitting in general took a bit of a break, even skipping an entire generation of women as those who knit before us celebrated freedom from knitting and darning yet another pair of socks. No second sock syndrome for them - no knitting meant cold toes.

Old country connections influenced my reentry into the knitting world. First, when living with an Irish housemate then again when I married into a German family where both my MIL and grandmother-in-law (GMIL?), Oma to her grandchildren, were both life long knitters. Intrigued I picked up my needles some mohair and never looked back.

My husband's brother and his wife are visiting this week from Philidelphia with their two daughters. The most cooperative and photogenic little angels I have ever been around. If you think this picture is cute you should see her our new Home Page with the Anny Purls Buddy Bag.

No need to pose here - the kids are completely enjoying the warm California Spring air jumping for joy on the family trampoline. The sweater, knit by my SIL, is an old Debbie Bliss pattern. A bit oversized, super easy to pull on but not at all bulky in this pretty purple Cashsoft.

So how did my mother-in-law, who raised only sons, end up with two daughter-in-laws that knit? Serendipity, fate or  was it the knitting connection that brought us together?

Perfection

Laura

The mailman moved way up on my list of favorite people this week. That's because he brought me two skeins of this Handmaiden Camelspin.

It's a bit pathetic, I am carrying the skein around the house with me from room to room; placing it lovingly in a spot where I can see it, reflect on it's stunning colorway and casually strolling over for a bit of a fondle now and then. It's simply to die for. I have written effusive, flowery notes full of praise to Handmaiden Yarns asking (OK, begging) to carry their yarn, any of it, to no avail. They are sold out.

So in the meantime this will just go on my list of personal knitting pleasures while I wait for the knitting gods to smile down on me and add us to the vendor list.

Although some say that there are enough scarves in the world already I really truly think this yarn has to be wrapped around my neck to be enjoyed to it' maximum potential. It is a knitter's dilemma. I guess I'll have to think of something special and am open to recommendations. I have 600 lovely meters.