Woolgathering Dot Net

Close observers will notice that a number of older entries have been removed from the archives. These are the entries that detail the production knitting I did for Debbie Stoller for Stitch'n Bitch Nation. She's requested that I remove the specifics until the book comes out, which is totally cool with me, so I have honored her request. After its publication, I'll republish those entries as written. I feel this is a comfortable compromise: I do not have to alter my writing and those entries will come back up after the book (and its patterns) are out there.

Y'all will just have to see the finished products when the book comes out. Hee hee! I guarantee that the designs will be fabulous and uber-cool. I'm already itching to make myself a few of the pieces (if just to work with the Soft-Kid and Lana again)! I've heard of a couple more designs that will be in the book (that I didn't work on) and they sound really great too.

Stitch'n Bitch and Stitch'n Bitch Nation. The first taught me how to knit. The second (well, knitting pieces for the second) taught me even more. I highly recommend the first for new knitters looking to pick up good techniques and practices. Start on page one and you can't go wrong!

Becky of Always Knitting Something is our newest Salt Peanuts knitter. She ordered the Muench Bergamo in Air Blue. This is her first attempt at a sweater! Woo hoo!

Lenore, another new Salt Peanuts knitter, started hers recently and is knitting a size smaller than what she typically wears. She is on Weight Watchers and is hoping that, by the time she is done, she will be the right size. (Crossing fingers!)

I noticed that Craftster.Org has created a new subsection in Knitting: a topic for knitalongs. Our Salt Peanuts knitalong thread was moved to there. Since last I wrote:

Jas finished the fronts and has moved on to the sleeves. Huzzah!

Emmdy got gauge on the first try (US10.5s) and is almost finished with the waist increases. Although she had a bit of stickiness with the lace ribbing, it now looks really good and she's trucking along. Double huzzah!

Paige is finished the back! Woo hoo!

Jill has finished the back too (double Woo hoo!) and is taking a short hiatus to knit a Princess Snowball Cat Bed for her yoga instructor's cats.

Drealle finished a Slytherin scarf for her friend! Woo hoo! She wove initials into the scarf, instead of using a duplicate stitch. Loverly!

Kari just put the fringe on her Gryffindor POA scarf! She knit it to mid-thigh, just so they wouldn't be too long. Check out her pictures! Her next project is a classic Ravenclaw and then a POA Slytherin scarf for herself. Impressive!

We also have a new PoA knitter, Jackie of Wake Up One Morning and You're Famous. She's working on one scarf each of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin in the SS/CoS style, and a special Hogwarts Scarf in the PoA trapped bar pattern. She says she'll post pictures as each scarf is completed.

Jackie just started hp_knitting, a LiveJournal community "devoted solely to those who have / had / are planning to knit their way into Harry Potter fandom."

Check it out!

Also on the knitting news front, Cindy has sent me an update on her Ravenclaw scarf. I think I spy 10 trapped bars. Fabulous! About 2/3 of the way done.

Mary Jo has started her scarf. It looks to be quite a big scarf!

To distract me from my tank-top bad feelings, I swatched for Ron's Animal Cracker hat.

A couple of things:
1. I know I knit it up on WAY too large needles. US10. Even though I knit tight, it was very loose. So, I will try it on US8s (which is the recommended needle size) and see how it looks then. I stopped by a not-so-LYS and picked up some Addi US8s.
2. I need to pick up an issue of Interweave Knits Fall 2003, to read the article on seamless intarsia knitting (in the round, I think). I am unhappy with the placement and size of holes between the color changes, which are very frequent and, seemingly, unavoidable because of the purl/knit nature.
3. When I do a color change, I don't like how the colors mix together with the purl ribs. I have no idea how I can avoid this, but it makes me a bit unhappy. Thankfully, one doesn't see them too clearly.
4. It still doesn't seem right. The pattern, I mean. I need to watch it again. Or get more stills. Many more stills of the hat, as seen from many different angles.

So, I'm soliciting for any suggestions on how I could improve the pattern. Perhaps it will look better once I reswatch it. I have the feeling that the decreases happen pretty soon, which gives the white diamonds a smaller appearance in the stills I've seen.

I want it to really look perfect. Hmmmm.