2012AdventCalendarScarf Day 23

Hello,

I should almost name this:  The one where my 2012 Advent Calendar Scarf becomes a cat bed.

It is 12:20 pm and I have finished today's section and am ready to move on to the next and LAST section of the scarf.  I haven't checked Kristen Benecken's blog,  von-stroh-zu-gold,  where she posts the pdf's for each section, but my guess is that the last section, for Day 24 is up.  After I finish this post, I will check.  If I get the whole thing finished, spacer section - day 24 - spacer section, tonight, I will post again, though it will be another bad photo with flash.  I have bought some lighting equipment and hope to put together a light box when I am finished with all of this lace madness.  My photos should improve in the New Year.

Anyway, on to Day 23.

Another super easy pattern.  I had absolutely no trouble keeping track of the YO's today.  It's interesting, some days, when I knit back on the even rows, I find I regularly forget YO's.  Today, there were 0 misses.  Another thing, this pattern has instructions for both odd and even rows. This makes it "Knitted Lace."  I found a decent explanation of the difference between Lace Knitting and Knitted Lace at knitting.about.com

...some sticklers for tradition make a distinction between "lace knitting" and "knitted lace," saying that lace knitting is what you get when you have pattern rows only on the right side of the work, while knitted lace has pattern rows on every row.

The Knitted Lace sections often use the 2, or purl 2 together.  Although Kristen does not make a distinction, I try to figure out which way the stitches should lean, and purl together accordingly.  Today, it seemed that all of the 2's should lean left on the right side of the scarf, so I used the Slip knitwise, slip knitwise, transfer both back to the left needle, then purl two together through the back loop that is beautifully illustrated on the TechKnitting blog.


Here is today's section:

The YO's on both sides, as well as decreases on both sides, make the section extra airy, almost as if I had dropped a stitch.

I don't have very much yarn left.

I just know I am going to need to dip into my last skein.  Boo Hoo.  Hope I make it without doing that.  Winding that last skein will take T-I-M-E.

Peace,
Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with Day 23

12:47  Edited to add that I just checked Kristen's site and Day 24 is NOT up.  I will knit the spacer and check again.


1:50 pm  Edited again.  I have finished the spacer section except for the last row (because it might need to be increased or decreased for the next and last pattern).  Day 24 is up!

2012AdventCalendarScarf Day 19

Hello!

It snowed in the Cascades and then the clouds lifted enough this morning that I could see them.

Very quick post today about the 2012 Advent Calendar Scarf by Kristen Benecken, aka wollkistchen, on Ravelry.  My stitch group, Eastside Stitchers, is having our Holiday Party tonight at Crossroads Mall, so I need to finish putting together my gift for the exchange, and head out.  I am so excited to see everyone.  Really, I love Stitch Night.

The pattern today was very easy again.  No tough stitches.  Just the Purl 2 together that we have seen before.  I chose to make mine lean the same way as the k2tog in the proceeding row.  That meant that I had to ss (slip as to knit, slip as to knit), return both to left needle, then purl 2 together through the back loop to make what would look LEFT leaning on the RIGHT side.  This is not specified in the pattern, Kristen just gives the p2tog instruction.  But, I chose to interpret it this way.  Again, here is the link to the TechKnitting Blog that has the great graphic tutorial for this stitch.

Here is today's pattern:

Super pretty.  I do want to say that I couldn't seem to remember to put in the YO's.  This meant that I had the wrong count all the time.  Then I would have to look at the row below the one I was knitting, and figure out where the YO was supposed to be, and dip down, and add a YO.  Luckily, to me anyway, that is the easiest error to fix.  By now, I am a champion at it.

Peace.
Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with Row 19, and a party!

2012AdventCalendarScarf Day 17

Hello,

My cats have decided that they love my scarf, and take turns trying to lie down on it while I am knitting. Here, Beena places her "paw of control" on the computer.

2012 Advent Calendar Scarf update.

The pattern for today, Day 17, is very easy.  Again, the only interesting stitch is a double decrease.  Kristen gives  it to us as sl, k2tog, psso, slip one stitch knitwise,  knit the next 2 stitches together, pass the slipped stitch back over the stitches you just knit together.  I tried it that way, and again as a sssk (slip slip slip knit), and saw no difference in the end project.

Other than those decreases, it was a very easy pattern.
What does it look like?

For such an easy to knit pattern, it is very beautiful.

The entire scarf looks like this, now:

It is too long to fit width-wise on my table.

I have been neglecting to write the "life" part of my blog, with all of this scarf knitting.  I will try to catch up tomorrow.

For now, I think we can all use a little Peace.

Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with Day 17.

2012AdventCalendarScarf Day 16

Hello,

There is supposed to be a big storm tonight in the Cascade Mountains.  I doubt that we will get any snow.  I am sure it is too warm, still, down here.  We shall see, though.  Our hills are pretty steep, and if we do get snow or ice, even one inch, the schools close down.

On to the 2012 Advent Calendar Scarf, Day 16.
Super easy pattern today.  Kristen had some P2tog on the even rows.  Although she doesn't specify, I decided to follow the same leaning decreases that she was using for the ssk\ or skpsso.

Again I will give the link to TECHKnitting blog where she gives a great explaination of how to do a left leaning p2tog or p2tbl (purl 2 together through the back loop).

This is what today's pattern looks like:

 Can't wait to get started on tomorrow's pattern.

Peace.
Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with Day 16

2012AdventCalendarScarf Day 15

We had some sun yesterday

Hello!

I am continuing my posts about the 2012 Advent Calendar Scarf by Kristen Benecken, who is wollkistchens on Ravelry.

The section for today had one of those stitches where you have to BELIEVE.  In other words, you must drop 3 stitches and believe that your scarf will not be ruined. 

When I knit the section, mostly last night, there was a lot of discussion in the group because the English instructions and the German instructions were different.  I think 2 or 3 people went ahead and followed the English instructions and posted photos.  Those instructions were wrong.  However, the finished sections were very cool looking.  I am assuming that the English instructions for Day 15 have been fixed.  So anyone knitting this day of the pattern will get the correct instructions.  I want to recommend putting in a lifeline for this section, especially if you are worried about the dropped stitch.

So, what does this section look like?

And what is the special stitch?

Kristen simply uses the symbol 5.

I don't know if this stitch has a name, so I will just show how it is done.

When you are ready to make the stitch, 5, you will have made 3 different YO's followed by a \ (left leaning decrease) on rows 1, 3, 5.

Insert the right needle into the hole in row 1 from front to back

Bring the needle up and YO like a normal stitch.

Pull the yarn through the row 1 hole, making it a bit long.  One stitch.

YO (2 stitches)

Insert the right needle back into the SAME hole.

Bring the needle up and YO as for a regular knit stitch.

And pull through.  (3 stitches)

YO (4 stitches)

Insert right need one last time into the same hole in row 1.

Bring the needle up in the back, YO, and pull through.

You will now have 5 new stitches on the right needle.

You will now drop the next 3 stitches from the left needle.

Be careful that you don't drop the Left Leaning Decrease Stitch (\).

That's all.  When you even the stitch out, it will look a bit like this:

This is what my scarf looks like now:

It is too big to lie along the width of my dining room table.

I am still loving the knitting.


Peace.
Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with Day 15

2012AdventCalendarScarf Day 13 and Hobbits

Hello,

Yesterday, I went off to Crossroads Cinema to get in line for The Hobbit midnight opening show. I arrived at noon.  I ran in as soon as they unlocked the theater doors, and got my spot; First in Line.

Where I sat and knit... and sat and knit... alone, until about 3:30 pm when some poor high school guy who really wanted to be first finally arrived.  He did not look happy to see a middle-aged (almost) woman beat him to the line.

It was freezing in the theater lobby.  I was forced to drape my 2012 Advent Calendar scarf alternately over my lap and around my neck to try to warm up. 

I was tempted to text my daughter, Moogie, to bring me up a blanket.  Doc and Moogie came at 6;  Moogie took my spot (in the 2-person line), and Doc and I grabbed some dinner.  So far, I had mostly drank a GIANT cup of Doke (diet Coke).  I was trying to caffeine load in preparation for staying awake for the movie.

They went back home, and I continued my lonely vigil.  I was able to finish up the Scarf section for Day 13, and work on a pair of blue, beaded (well soon to be beaded as I am knitting them toe-up) socks.  Finally, Hobbits started arriving around 7 ish.  It was a bit sad, though.  My family was so excited for this movie, but I guess we were definitely in the minority.  Crossroads had 2 theaters for the opening, the big 3D theater 1 (we were in that one), and theater 2 with 2D.  I usually prefer 2D, but when I bought my ticket, they were only going to show in the 3D theater, and I was worried that we wouldn't get to see the midnight show if we waited to see if they had enough people to open a second theater.  Obviously, they decided to do a 2D showing, even though they did not sell out the first theater.  Theater 1 was not even half full. 

How was the movie?  Well, considering I fell asleep about 5 minutes in and woke briefly for some Trolls and then again for some giant eagles, I can't really say.  My family seemed a bit underwhelmed.  They said they liked it, but there was none of the gushing enthusiasm that followed all three of the Lord of the Rings movies.  I hope to see it again, though, in 2D, when Himes gets home next week.

On to Day 13 of the 2012 Advent Calendar Scarf by Kristen Benecken, wollkistchen on Ravelry.


This was an easy section, as far as stitches used.  The only stitch tougher than a left leaning decrease, was the centered double decrease,  ∆.

 There was a lot of shifting of markers, though.  So really watch for that.  I shifted markers in rows, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. Then shifted the other way in row 13!  I shifted again in row 19 and row 23.  In the end, all of the counts work out.  If you are confident of reading your knitting and hate shifting markers, you might want to just go for it.  I am way too nervous about losing stitches, so I just shifted when needed.

Here is what the section looks like:

And now I need to get knitting on the next section, as I am behind since I slept in this morning.

Peace.
Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with Day 13.

2012AdventCalendarScarf Day 11

Hello,

I haven't been posting many photos of my beloved Lake Samammish and Cascade Mountains because we have had such dreary weather here that I can't see the mountains, and well, I just don't feel like standing outside in the cold rain to get a blurry photo of a gray lake.

Knitting

I am continuing my daily posts about my progress on the 2012Advent Calendar Scarf by Kristen Benecken who is Wollkistchen on Ravelry.

The pattern today is a very easy one.  It has a mesh stitch (which I love) and a simple 4 stitch cable.  There is not much to say about the knitting since it is so simple, but I did make a little photo tutorial on how I do these cables without a cable needle.  Also, since there were only 24 rows, I was actually able to finish before noon.  Yay!

Here is today's section:

Tutorial

Cabling without a Cable Needle

 

Here you see a section of 2p, 4k, 2p

Purl 2, then, working with the 4 knit stitches that will make up the cable:

Insert the right needle into stitches 3 and 4 BEHIND the knitting from right to left

Drop all 4 stitches off the left needle.  There will be two free stitches, and two on the right needle.

If you are worried about losing the stitches, you can pinch the stitches with your right thumb and fingers (I usually do this if the yarn is at all slippery).

Pick up the two dropped stitches by inserting the left needle into them in front of the right needle.

Slip the two stitches from the right needle to the left needle.  You will now have 4 stitches on the left needle, but their order will be switched to 3 4 1 2.  

Knit the four stitches one at a time in their new order.

Voila!  You have a cable:

Since I have some time before the next pattern is released, I will fold laundry, and get some other knitting done.  Also, I need to get to work on sewing together the 2 afghans I made with the 2012 BAMCAL group.  I have signed up for the 2013 BAMCAL and am excited to make some more beautiful sampler afghans.  But that is for January.  Thank goodness.

Peace.

Yours,

f1bercat

shaping the world with Day 11.