(No new pictures in this post, but lots of links. I've got a new computer that is driving me crazy. I've had problems with four programs already and spent two and a half hours with computer support last week. This week it's the photo card reader that's not working, but I'm going to post anyway.)(Edited to add photos two days later.)
Here's the reveal of the last FO from 2011:
It's the Loop of Luxury from Cowlgirls, knit in Wisdom Yarn's Skye chunky weight. I love this colorway 101, a lot of brights along with a soft gray mauve that keeps it from being too garish. This was a gift for my daughter's birthday. She was the New Year's Baby for our city the year that she was born.
My 2012 Knitting New Year's Resolutions are the same as every year; I always have good intentions to:
1. Knit from the stash instead of buying more yarn.
This Aestlight shawl knit in 2009 was only worn once or twice. It got badly caught in a suitcase zipper and I couldn't get the pulled row eased back to proper tension so that the shawl looked right. So it got frogged and became stash once again, purple Estelle Cadenza fingering weight merino silk.
It's being reborn as Shibui Knits' Draper shawl. The larger size has a nice balance of knitting. The triangle starts at the top centre back with some stockinette, then one lace band, more stockinette, then two lace bands, some more stockinette, then ends with three lace bands. Even the lace chart is simple enough that it made good car knitting when I travelled down to Mom's with my husband, daughter, and two grandsons for New Year's. I'm on the final stockinette band already.
2. Finish some of the UFO's that haunt my yarn room.
I was inspired to start my Northern Lights Cardigan after the Knitting at the Top of the World blogger completed hers as the first step in her endeavor to knit all the projects in the book in order. She's halfway through the book now, and I'm halfway through my one sweater.
This thermal rectangle is the bottom of the back and fronts knit in one piece up to the armholes, as shown a year ago. I have recently completed one sleeve and half of the other, which will be fit in with the body to begin the circular yoke. I've swatched the yoke pattern, using a lighter mauve, grey, and black for three of the contrast colors and trying to decide between burgundy and leaf green for the most contrasting colour.
3. Try some new techniques.
I've never tried Brioche stitch before. Last fall, I discovered that several staffers at the library are avid knitters, and one has fallen in love with brioche and has been encouraging me to try it. When I was checking out books a few weeks ago, she tried to describe how to do it, and it sounded pretty confusing and complicated. This week she showed me the cowl that she had knit, and I went from curious to converted - I had to try it. I knew I had some patterns with some instructions, and settled on a smaller neckwarmer from Melanie Falick's book Weekend Knitting. But I found the instructions and photos from this free pattern helpful as well.
Brioche is a kind of rib, and the technique involves slipping stitches purlwise with the yarn in front to create a double-faced fabric. Normally when you are moving the yarn back and forth from a purl to a knit position, you have to be careful to keep it between the needles and not over the needle, creating a yarnover. It's easy to make that mistake. So when it clicked that brioche is all about creating those yarnovers with every slip stitch and then working them together with the slipped stitch on the next row, it's really pretty easy.
I'm using two colorways of an older wool from WalMart, Sean Sheep Armitage. One ranges from red to purple, and the other is grey to white. On one side the red/purple stitch is raised and the grey/white recedes, and the other side is the opposite. The fabric is thick and squooshy. Very warm, and very cool at the same time!
So far, I'm on track with the knitting resolutions. Much better than the diet.
My sister-in-law loves brioche, I just get confused! Love the look of it though.
Posted by: freshisle | January 24, 2012 at 06:14 PM