Tuesday, April 01, 2014

The knitting lept forward yesterday, but that fourth corner is still untidy. I had a restless night during which I devoted the necessarily wakeful moments to thinking about garter stitch in the round, wrap-and-turn. Without much success. And googling doesn't help.

I've done it before. Why can't I do it again?  My only problem then was a strong line, formed by the wraps, down one of the mitred corners.

One of the places I went on Google said to wrap the stitch every round. But wouldn't that mean that it never gets knit? If I finish a round, wrap the next stitch, turn, that wrapped stitch may be said to be the first stitch of the next round. So when I get back there again, I...what? Knit it, turn, knit it again? That doesn't seem right. Turn just before it, slip it back to the left-hand needle, knit it as the first stitch of the next round? Perhaps.

I really ought to take a few days off and try this on a circular swatch of some sort. It takes so long to circumnavigate the shawl that it is hard to accumulate experience.

Otherwise, however, all goes reasonably well.

I had occasion to write a brief note yesterday, actually using a piece of paper. I was taken aback to find how unsteady my right hand seemed. Could this have something to do with the multiple problems I seem to be having with the Unst Bridal Shawl? I don't feel unsteady when I'm knitting.

Comments (non-knit)

Peggy, the picture went to Maastricht but wasn't offered for sale there. Don't know why. I don't know why she has come to Edinburgh, either -- she will soon go back to London and be put up for sale in the dealer's Bond Street branch. The Edinburgh leg of her travels may have been at least in part in order to show her to my husband. If a captious purchaser should say, But there's no record of the artist ever having painted a picture of this sort, the dealer can now say, Miles likes it. And he has also provided them with evidence that the artist did paint it.

I don't think this would be necessary. It's a stunning thing, surely self-authenticating.

Cat, I'm afraid I still think Alexander McCall Smith should have found time to speak to the Drummond Civic Society. Your happy meeting with him was at a book-signing. That's a thing authors have to do. It's business. We were asking a favour, to turn out on a November evening and speak to a couple of dozen elderly folk. His presence would have boosted attendance, but probably not by all that much. Apathy is a powerful force in Drummond Place.  We are his characters, and I feel he owed it to us.


Magnus Linklater spoke to us, when he first moved to Drummond Place. He hasn't got fully as grand a name as A McC S, but still, he's a name.  

7 comments:

  1. Oh dear - I wonder if he realises....that's sad.

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  2. I cannot think my way through knitting problems, I have to have yarn and needles in hand.

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  3. have you tried knitting back? i learned it at Knitting Camp... will have to suss out an explanation later as i am in getting ready for work mode.

    i use it for heels.. and the wraps are eaten up as you knit back the other direction ....

    anyone else have the problem with their ipads that i have - i type a whole post and hit publish and poof the post disappears. this happens practically everytime. this one is on the desktop... but have to dash to work.

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    1. I've had comments disappear using my iPad and I've had them freeze up when trying to correct something so now I compose my comments in Notes and then copy and paste them into the comments, it's much less frustrating!

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  4. Gerri3:56 PM

    It just seems like a lot of time and effort to avoid purling, but I know there are people that feel that strongly. Have you tried the Norwegian purl? I love it and since I knit mainly continental, it neatens up my purls.

    As for the ipdad comments-I gave up trying to respond with my iphone.

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  5. Hello Jean,

    Apologizing in advance, this will probably be a long comment.

    When you wrap and turn, I'm guessing you have a marker set to mark the corner. You knit to the marker, slip the marker, slip the next stitch and wrap the yarn around it. Turn your work, slip that wrapped stitch, slip your marker, and start the row.

    When you come to the end of the row, that wrapped stitch is the last stitch before the marker. You knit it, slip the marker, slip the next stitch, wrap it, turn your work, slip the wrapped stitch and the marker, and start knitting.

    Does that help at all?

    As far as handwriting goes, the last time I signed a check I noticed my signature was slipping into wavery, "old person" territory -- I almost never write in cursive anymore, so I am out of practice. I knit all the time, so I'm in good practice there. I've heard that they no longer teach cursive in schools here in the US -- I wonder what their signatures will look like in 20 years?

    I hope your day is going well, Jean; mine almost always goes well, because I start with a cup of tea and your blog! Thank you!

    Cam

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  6. IowaQuiltLady8:08 PM

    Hi, Jean,

    I'm not sure I follow all of the details about the short rows, but do understand some of the challenges they present.

    I've recently been working on Dreambird, a pattern I found on Ravelry. The designer suggests using German short rows. Initially, I just did "normal" short rows, but I got lost with all of the shaping.

    Then I found this tutorial on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_6Pjl20zKA. I tried it, and I absolutely love it.

    You are very likely familiar with this technique as you are a most proficient knitter. I'd be remiss, however, if I didn't at least mention this option. I hope you're able to work things out with the shawl, regardless of the solution.

    Judy

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