Adventures with Lettuce Arm Warmers

This one of the more intricate pattern stitches that I've tried. The key to making sure that this pattern knits up right is counting.  A few times during the knitting of this project I got lazy with counting and it resulted in having to frog several rows to get back to a row that had the correct number of stitches.

I sewed them up and oops the are way too loose.  I checked notes on the internet from others that made this pattern and it seems to be a common problem especially at the hand and wrist where as you can see the fit is not right.

I've decided to soak them in hot water to see if they will shrink enough.

Pattern: Lettuce Knit Armwarmers

No Plastic Please - Hand Knit Shopping Bag - Progress Update

The body of the has been complete for about a week now. I just have to start the handles.  The handles are I-cords that are knit directly on to the top of the bag.  I've convinced myself that this will be difficult so I have been putting it off.  I'm going to Cornwall this weekend so it will be the perfect time to get working on those handles.

Knitting the Wrong Way?: No Plastic Please - Hand Knit Shopping Bag

 

I do not Knit Weird

I've been told I knit weird.  I see how other people I know knit, and I have noticed two things:

1. The technique I use looks nothing like their technique.
2. My way is a heck of a lot faster.

My final product looks no different than your typical knit item so, you would think that a faster way to complete a piece would be wildly embraced but nothing could be farther from the truth.  To make matters worse every How-to knitting book I've ever seen says that my way is wrong  and that my stitches face the wrong way i.e. are "twisted".  I guess you could say I'm a twisted stitcher *groan.

Anyway until recently, I thought I was the only freak that knit this way but thanks to the internet I've discover that there are other  twisted stitchers out there.  I've even learned that this style of knitting has a name - Combination knitting.  If you are from North America, England or Europe most likely the style of knitting that you use is called Western No Cross.  There are two ways to do this the most common in England and North America is called "English".  The English hold the working yarn in their right hand and wrap the yarn to make a stitch.  The other western style is called either "Continental" or "German" depending who you ask.  It is exactly the same as English except the continental knitters hold the yarn in their left hand and pick at the working yarn.

Being that both English and Continental are called western I'll bet you've already guessed that there is also a style called Eastern.  Bingo!  I am not exactly familiar with this style accept to say that, the movements are in the opposite to those of the western style.  

So what is Combination then?  It is kind of  like a knitting love-in.  It uses some aspects of both western and eastern knitting techniques.  I like to think of at as taking the best of both worlds.  

Started My Second Sock!

It seems silly that I would be so excited about starting on the second sock in a pair but I must at admit I am stoked.  This is my first pair of socks ever.  The first one turned out pretty good and fits my foot perfectly!  Just knowing that I've passed the halfway point of my project gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Baby Soft Ankle Socks

I've been working on these socks for about two weeks and I'm almost finished the first sock.  This is the first time I've ever knit a pair of socks so it's been a bit slow going.  So far I'm pretty happy with them.  The biggest challenge of knitting in the round for me is my "weird" style of knitting requires normally requires a purl row to untwist the stitches.

Thankfully the internet came to my rescue (what a wonderful invention) and I found out a modification I could make to keep the stitches from twisting while still maintaining my preferred knitting style.

Free Pattern Here