Crocheting For Knitters

On Sunday I took part in Judi Swartz's Crocheting for Knitters workshop, and loved it. Judi is a wealth of information -- she's authored numerous knitting patterns, as well as Hip to Crochet and Getting Started In Crochet, and she used to manage a Chicago yarn store.

The all-day workshop was at the perfect pace for a novice crocheter like myself. My previous crocheting was limited to a one-hour private lesson with Cathy Montoya, followed by some fiddling with a few crocheted accents and Doris Chan's Crocheted Slippers pattern from the Fall 2005 Knitscene:

So I already felt comfortable doing the stitches, but like I didn't really know when to use crocheting instead of knitting.

Judi taught us how to add borders, including what pickup ratio to use, and how to use crocheting instead of the mattress stitch to seam knitted pieces. We also had time to make a few accents. Judi set a relaxed tone, and instead of my usual M.O. of worrying about getting the stitches perfect, I just stitched merrily along, ignored the glitches, and kept up with the rest of the class. Yes, my samples turned out wonky, but they're done and they're mine. :)



Check this out -- I blocked my swatches before I went to class, and took a picture of the bathwater because I couldn't believe how much oil and dirt I got from half of one skein of Philosopher's Wool.



This is Dark Purple Heather and Light Purple Heather from their Woodland color scheme:

The unwashed wool is a little grabby to work with, but it smells wonderful, and the heathers are gorgeous.

After lunch we worked on edging a scarf. Judi had instructions and samples for fancy edge stitches, but since my knitted scarf was visually complex, she suggested doing a simple picot (those are picots, not super wonky stitches sticking out on the bottom left sample above). Step 1 is to add single crochet to all the borders, which I can finish during my commute. Step 2 will be to add the picot.

You can see that the left side of the orange scarf is rolling under by about half an inch, and that the right side with the applied crochet is already lying flatter, even pre-blocking:



This scarf was my motivation for taking the class, so I couldn't be happier.

The long and the short of it: if you get a chance to learn from Judi Swartz, jump on it, she's a great teacher, and if you can't learn from her in person, seek out her books.

WIP Report -- Simple Trekking Socks

I had a three-day weekend, but never sat down to graft the red lace scarf. Instead, I ran long overdue errands, put some books on ebay, washed sweaters and hats, and played with Lib in the snow.

I have to be in a more patient mood to sit and graft 170 stitches.

It's too bad I have to go to work because today would be the perfect day to spend on the couch with a time-consuming project. We got an overnight snow fall and we're supposed to get a lot more. Maybe a foot. D shoveled the sidewalk before he left and it's already hard to see the concrete.

I've got some mindless knitting in progress for the commute. A pretty new shade of Trekking XXL in muted purples and blues.

Eye Candy Friday

Happy Friday!

This is the flowering bulb that's currently gracing my bathroom. It not only looks great, it smells great and makes the whole downstairs smell like a greenhouse. Outside it's all of 7 F/-14 C, damp, salty, and windy. Brrr. Inside = better!

See you guys Monday. Go Bears!

It's Here, It's Here!

If you're an artist or crafter, you know that project ideas sometimes come to fruition quickly and sometimes not so quickly.

Yesterday's cranberry stringing project was the quick variety.

Today's project is the not so quick.

This yarn has been on the back of my mind for several years, finally came to live in my house, and, hopefully, next year will become warm, cozy sweaters.

It's rustic 2-ply wool from Cottage Craft Woollens in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada/Calais, Maine, U.S.A.

Cottage Craft sells sweater kits and they offer a little discount to people who buy 3 kits at once, so I ordered a sample card and enticed two knitters to join me in ordering.

Bonne Marie's choice was the Kelp yarn on the top of the pile -- a blend of green and black fibers. Corrine's choice was the St. Croix Navy in the middle -- a blue so dark it looks almost black. My choice was the Blackberry on the bottom -- a dark denim blue made from a blend of green, red, and blue fibers.

We each got about 2176 yards/1984 meters of light worsted wool and a sweater pattern for $34 + postage. If those numbers don't mean anything to you, I'll tell you its a lot of yarn and not so much money.

I think Cottage Craft is hinting at a slight price increase in 2007, so if you're intrigued by this stuff, you may want to ask them for a yarn sample card and order form ASAP. Happy knitting!