Friday, January 01, 2016

Happy New Year to us all! This is going to be a good one,

And thank you for all your welcoming messages.

My new plan, while it lasts, is to try to write a bit in the late afternoon (as now, with Edinburgh in Hogmanay mode beginning to sizzle outside the window), and then tweak and post in the morning – saving morning time and energy, such as it is, for the tax papers.

Doing the income tax is not really all that bad. Like many things, the worst of it is the terrified anticipation. But it does take time, and suffers from interruptions.

A dear friend rang up yesterday morning and said, why don't we go to that LYS in Bruntsfield? Pure kindness on her part – she's not a knitter. So once my husband was settled with his carer, off we went. (I've made a good start on the tax, and it's not even January yet.)

This is the one called "Be Inspired". It's a wonderful place, full of wonderful yarns, cashmeres and glowing silks, with a friendly and knowledgeable owner. There didn't seem to be enough of anything to knit, say, a sweater, but that may have meant that the serious stock was all below stairs. Art Needleworks Industries in Oxford used to operate like that.

I bought some very long circulars for the Dunfallandy blankie, and they're working pretty well. There are trade-offs – some time has to be devoted to pushing stitches along. Stitches seem particularly reluctant to slide around corners. But on the whole, things are going more briskly and I feel more secure.

I've done about an inch of border, I suppose. That augurs well for finishing on time. The final bit of edging, as I've said, involves garter ridges. The instruction for the purl rounds is to wrap the yarn clockwise. Why? What difference will it make?

I tried googling. Wrapping that way half-twists the stitch, which then reverts to normal in the subsequent knit row. “Combination knitting” comes in here somewhere. But in this case a) we're going round and round; and b) the next round is also purl-with-the-yarn-wound clockwise. How clumsy is that going to be? I'd get the garter ridge if I just plain purled. What's the advantage in going around the other way?


I really ought to swatch.

Christmas pictures tomorrow, I very much hope.

15 comments:

  1. Happy New Year, Jean! I'm looking forward to the Christmas photos. Is your husband enjoying Perdita?

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  2. Happy New Year to you too, Jean.

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  3. Happy New Year, Jean!

    RE wrapping the yarn clockwise when purling: In one of Ysolda Teague's tutorials she recommends this to tighten up purl stitches in ribbing. The yarn takes a shorter course round the needle and thus the stitch is a little tighter. I've used this technique a lot to tighten up corners, too. It doesn't exactly twist the purl, but it does make the stitch in the next row come backwards, with the right leg of the stitch in back of the needle.

    Here's an explanation:
    http://www.trulymyrtle.com/2012/02/ribbing-east-meets-west.html

    Maybe without it the garter stitch would be too loose and the border would wave? That's the only thing I can think of; it seems counter-intuitive to me since you also don't want the border to be tight.

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  4. It seems to me that the only reason is to keep the welts tighter if you purl loosely. Happy New Year!

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  5. Happy New Year Jean,
    I look forward to your posts every morning in New York...whatever your time schedule is...

    2016 will be a good year.

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  6. Happy New Year Jean,
    I look forward to your posts every morning in New York...whatever your time schedule is...

    2016 will be a good year.

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  7. Happy New Year! I look forward to joining your journey in 2016 through the blog.

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  8. Happy New year! The blanket looks splendid, and I'm glad you made it over to Bruntsfield to see Mei. She has some lovely stuff, doesn't she? There is an online shop too, so I expect there is more yarn in stock then meets the eye.

    Good luck with the tax, I've yet to start mine....

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  9. I don't want to comment on the wrapping idea, as it makes my head hurt to think about it, but I just want to remind you of someone's excellent unvention of adding in a second ball of yarn and KNITTING in the opposite direction to create garter stitch knit in the round.

    I also look forward to reading your posts first thing in the morning. I wake up wondering what you are doing. I once stayed up until 2am, and, sure enough, was able to read your post before I went to bed. I think I'm 10 hours behind you. I thought of writing to tell you I live near Hatch, New Mexico, but I realized you wouldn't consider 233 miles close. Let me put it this way: there's only three towns between us, not counting another three hamlets. You can certainly smell the chilis, just driving through.

    When I lived in Colorado, every fall our grocery store would have this: You would buy a 40lb burlap sack of Hatch chilis and take them outside to a man with a 55gal drum mounted sideways. He would put your chilis inside and rotate the drum somehow while heat was applied, thus roasting the chilis (while you did your shopping for the week inside). Somewhat eye-watering in the whole area. I have NO idea what a person wants or does with 40lb of roasted chilis, being of Norwegian extraction myself.

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  10. The happiest of new years to you, Jean, and to your entire family. I wish you a year filled with happiness and, in particular, with very good health. And a miaow to Perdita!

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  11. Happy, Healthy, Love-filled New Year to you and your family. Your writing sets me straight to persevere and enjoy life to the fullest. I'm glad you got out to the LYS, I love the moment I step into a yarn store. It is as if magic is about to happen.

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  12. Happy new year to you and your family and especially to Perdita! Reading your blog is a daily pleasure here in California.

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  13. Happy new year to you and your family and especially to Perdita! Reading your blog is a daily pleasure here in California.

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  14. Happy New Year from western NC in the USA.I look forward to reading your blog each day.
    There is always something interesting to learn in it--knitting, history, travel, and family life.

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  15. =Tamar7:33 PM

    lesizmo's suggestion sounds like a winner. Swatching is definitely required. Maybe a small square swatch could become a center for something random later. It need not be done in the yarn you are using, since it's only the technique that is being explored.
    Happy New Year!

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