Monday, June 4, 2012

Roadtrip Knitting


I envy those people who can tat on a roadtrip. There's no way I can do that. Plain knitting is the most I can manage. I cast on stitches for a jersey for my husband before we left home and knitted the rib, on a circular needle. Then I could just knit round and round, keeping my eyes on the road, when I wasn't taking a turn at driving. In Bulawayo I didn't have the home distractions of cooking, cleaning, computer etc, so I could get a lot of knitting done. It was wonderful to sit in a beautiful, sunny garden, listening to the Heuglin's Robins and knitting. I knitted in the round to the armholes, then back and forth for the back and front. I picked up stitches round the armholes and used the magic loop method to knit the sleeves. Thanks to tips from Jesse of Jezze Prints I managed to avoid a ladder-look, though I had to learn a balance between avoiding ladders and having end stitches so tight that they wouldn't move along. I have a bit more to do on the second sleeve and then the neck to neaten.

7 comments:

  1. It looks wonderful!
    I don't know much about knitting, but I love to read what you have to say about it :o)

    I thought about you this weekend as I dyed my first skein of yarn.

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    1. Oh good, on both counts. I hope your skein turned out well. Did you find it much different to dyeing thread?

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    2. I found it quite different. It took a lot more dye. It was a pain to wash. Then I felt like it took forever to dry. So I wound a super big skein using the banister of my stairs and sat that on the porch for a couple of hours. It turned out really nice though. :o)

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    3. It is different. I had to really scale back to dye thread, being more used to dyeing yarn. The first lot I burnt, because I left it in the oven too long! What will you do with the skein?

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    4. Well, I guess you know what happened to it. But I would be willing to do more if there was ever a request for some. My mom has been crocheting more, so I may dye some for her.

      I tried to do the microwave method on some thread and did the same thing. I won't be trying that anymore. I have wrapped them in a heating pad before though. They cured in about 4 hours rather than 24 hours that way :o)

      Oh and Livi would love for an e-card just for her. If you email me at jess.d.foster@gmail.com I will give you a special coupon for my shop.

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  2. Beautiful! You are amazingly quick knitter:)

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