Cyber Monday

I managed to get just about everything left over from the faire listed (hooray!).  I do still have a few batts and scarves to get photoed and posted, but feel free to nudge me if there's something in either of those categories that you're particularly interested in.

In the meantime, I would like to offer anyone reading this a Cyber Monday week discount:  free shipping.  Use the code "CYBERMONDAY" at checkout.  My shop is linked, but in case you want to get there yourself, it's at www.zibbet.com/theuglyroom.

Without you...

... I wouldn't be able to go to the faires and share my craft.  So another big, huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone that stopped by Mischief & Mirth at this year's Connecticut Renaissance Faire.  And especially to anyone that purchased anything from us.

I was fortunate enough to be there three out of the four weekends, bringing my two antique wheels and a bunch of drop spindles, and got to demonstrate some spinning.  I showed a ton of people how it works; some even wanted to work on it themselves (remember: "pinch, pull, slide!").  I taught my not-quite 7 year-old and a 9 year old how to spin on Belle.  I hate history, but was satisfied in my ability to describe the history of spinning, even if dates were sort of generalized.

Our next planned show (me and the leatherworkers) is the spring CT Faire, and then Mutton & Mead.   I believe the leatherworkers are planning to be at the Fetish Flea again this year, among others.  Due to scheduling, we're taking a break from Arisia this year (boo).

In the meantime, next week I'm hoping to start getting things back up into my store in time for holiday needs.  If there's anything you don't see but would like, please feel free to email me, contact me through Zibbet, or pm me on Ravelry.

Thanks again to everyone that came and supported us!  We love you!

I can stop anytime I want to

After finding Belle, and bringing her to Mutton & Mead, we've been planning on my bringing her down to the fall Connecticut Ren Faire to do some demos.  They've given us a bit of extra space, so I can set something up.  In the meantime, I've been looking for good pictures depicting the history of spinning, as well as reading up on some of the high points.  My plan has been to bring some raw wool, washed wool, my hand cards, and Belle.  I've also always wanted a more period-friendly flyer wheel, as my Spinolution and HeavenlyHandspinning wheels are too modern for a faire, and it would be nice to show the progression to the more modern wheel technology.

I watch Ravelry, and Craigslist, and even Ebay.  Most days checking in, to see if there's anything good.  Imagine my delight when someone on Rav posted she had been fostering Homeless Puppy #1 and was looking for a home.  For free.  And she's only about an hour and a half away from me!

So, meet Hermione.

We're not sure where/when she's from, but best guess puts her at about 200 years old.  She has a maker's mark, "C.C", but no luck yet in finding to whom it belongs.

She looks similar to a Nova Scotian wheel someone else posted on their blog.  That one had a different mark, made by someone named McDonald, but in the same time frame.  So right now, my guess is that she could be from Nova Scotia, about 200 years ago.  But no real idea yet.

I've got her up and spinning happily.  I've managed a good two or three ounces of art batt this weekend.  You'll notice the flyer bearing has been replaced.  After throwing the driveband repeatedly, I swapped out the suede lace for some braided raffia.  It's stiffer, so holds the flyer at a better angle.  She's repeated the band-throwing a couple of times, and increasing the tension has helped.  Once the cotton band reaches its maximum stretch, it should be good and stable for a while.

So she's coming to the CT Faire with me this weekend.  Stop by and say hi if you're there!

Belle

I have purchased my first ever antique.  It's very exciting.  I kept it in check - I wasn't bouncing all over the place being obnoxious; that's just not how I roll.  But I don't think the seller was expecting an actual spinner to buy his spinning wheel, especially intending to actually spin with it.  He was impressed when I showed him where Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger.

It started a few weeks ago, when I started looking into some of the history behind wool processing.  I want to be able to talk about how yarn was made and used in the middle ages (being the primary time frame of the ren faires I go to).  My "research" (yeah, just googling stuff.  Nothing too fancy.  I hate history) suggested that drop spindles have been around forever, and sometime in the middle ages, the great wheel came about.

Hmn.  A great wheel.  I see those on Craigslist all the time!  Off to Craigslist I went.  And then more googling on what the missing pieces could be, and how to make them.  And then I was hooked on the idea.  Bringing a big-ass spinning wheel to faire?  I can only imagine it'll draw a decent crowd.  I'm still working on being able to talk about the pertinent history (yes, I know, I need to pick up a couple of actual books if I want to be fluent in it), but would love to be able to share one of my passions with a large group of people.

I went to CTRF a couple of weeks ago without one.  I had contacted someone on Craigslist, but the wheel had sold.  It's probably for the better because, even though it was cheap, it was missing pertinent parts (like a spindle) and I didn't have time that week to make replacements.  When I got back, I just kept checking everyday.

And then it appeared, Wednesday afternoon.  A listing about an hour away.  The pics showed a confusing setup.  But what was clear was that all the important parts were there:  a wheel, a table, a spindle (albeit, tucked up next to the wheel, in the hole on the axle where the cotter pin goes to hole the wheel on), and a complete miner's head.  I sent the email off right away.  It was still available.  He could meet me after work on Thursday.  Apparently three others also emailed him after me.  He took it upon himself to wait until I had had first dibs at it, as I had contacted him first.

I came home with a great wheel.  For the record, a 47" wheel fits in my 2009 CR-V.  He was shocked.  Once I got home, I managed to figure out what parts go where.  It's missing a leg, and there is some damage/wear where the back legs meet the body.

But I got it spinning this weekend.  It's not the most pretty yarn as I work on my long draw, but I've got some alpaca roving that falls apart if you look at it cross-eyed, so it's a fairly easy bundle to practice.

I've joined the Spindle Wheels group on Ravelry and they've been a lot of help!  We've been brainstorming possible fixes for the back end.  I'll work on that this weekend so it's good to go for Mutton & Mead.  They've also clued me in to the history of this particular wheel.  It has a maker's mark, "J Bell".  Apparently there's a James Bell from New York who made wheels approximately 1860s or so.

My daughter and I have decided to name her Belle, a play on the maker as well as the princesses, because we all know it wasn't Belle who pricked her finger.

A huge Thank You!

To everyone who came by Mischief & Mirth at the CT Faire at any point in the last three weeks, and especially those who bought any fluffy goodness.  I hope to see your projects, either here or on Ravelry.

Mutton & Mead is coming up next, the weekend of June 20/21.  I'll personally be there at the Mischief & Mirth booth (look for the leather masks and/or fiber goods - you can always tell who the fiber artists are, when they don't even notice the masks) on Saturday the 20th.  It's looking likely that I'll be bringing my new great wheel to do some spinning demos.  Please stop by and say hi if you're there.

I will also be helping out at my son's daycare's table that day (Girls Club of Greenfield), selling frozen "penguins".  These are chocolate-dipped cheesecake on a steeeeeeek and I hear they're amazing.  Make sure you head over there and try one out while you're there.

Ack!

Where am I?  Busy.  That's where I am.

The spring often ends up kind of busy in Pitzapooh-land.  Between getting the house ready for summer, the end of Bug's school year, a dance recital with all of its preparation and ~D off at a couple of LARPs, I often find myself with little time for much else.

This year, my faire-partners and I have been thrust into a last minute three-week run in Connecticut (the Connecticut Robin Hood Faire in North Haven), on top of our usual Mutton & Mead in Turners Falls, MA.  With most of my stock being wiped out at Arisia this year (woo hoo!), I'm busy trying to dye all the things, as well as make some new drop spindles and "Unicorn Farts" (art batts).  I'm not entirely sure yet what my booth-sitting schedule will be, but be sure to stop by the Mischief & Mirth booth and say hi if you're at either of these faires (I'll post an update when I know for sure when I'll be there).

And then, I managed to get a gig doing some test/sample knitting for a big yarn company.  (Shucks, I get paid to knit, and they even provide the yarn!)  While the turnarounds aren't terrible, it still means those projects take priority over other things.

All of this adds up to not doing a whole lot on Master Knitting right now.  But I'm putting my new skills to use with the test knitting, so it's not a complete loss.  And I've been slowly working on the questions during my lunch break, too.

So, I haven't forgotten about this blog.  Just busy doing other things to sit down and type.

In which I contemplate an actual design

I've always described myself as "too left-brained to actually design something."  I have no problem tweaking a pattern to make it my own (especially when sewing); I love troubleshooting patterns, which is part of why I do a fair bit of pattern testing.  I've even done some amount of tech editing.  But to come up with my own pattern?  Nope.  Have never been all that interested.

I think that a lot of it has to do with originality.  I have no interest in creating a pattern for the same old stockinette stitch sweater, or a scarf with boring cables.  I could combine different lace patterns into a new shawl, but, with so many lace shawl patterns out there already, what would I be adding to the knitting world?

I want something original.  That's where my left-brainedness comes into play - I can't come up with anything that hasn't been done to death before, so I don't bother, and instead knit, support (by buying), and help others who are able to.

Well, that may change soon.  I've gotten a bit of a designing bug this spring, perhaps the only good thing to come out of this long New England winter.

It started when I bought some yarn for a Dreambird shawl:  Malabrigo sock in golden tones and Zauberball in browns, burgundies, bricks, and occasional golds.  Nice phoenixy colors.  Then I started knitting it, making a few suggested modifications (knitting the between-feather spaces in stockinette, for example).  I finished my third feather and look at it.  The garter stitch looked so... ugh!  It looked sloppy with all of the short rows.  From a distance, no problems.  But being up close, it was just so unpolished.  I frogged it, restarted with a different short row type.  Yuck.  Frogged again, tried incorporating different stitch patterns.  Still no good.  Which means I'm trying to find a nice lace pattern that will show off the gradient of the Zauberball, with fire!  I haven't had any luck finding the "right" pattern on Ravelry.  Most of them are worked side to side, which won't make the best use of the Zauberball.  I know I'm being picky, but I have a vision, and nothing is matching it.

So my proposed pattern will have a feather-like body, in the gold, with a perpendicularly-worked edging made to look like flames.  I haven't figured out any details yet.  I want the edge wide enough to take advantage of the gradient shifts, while not causing the whole thing to stripe instead.

After dreaming this up (and not making any progress for various reasons), I looked at one of my favorite skirts (a lightweight cotton, twirly, not knitted).  It would make a really fun knit.  It's a little more involved than "knit a tube" and hope it looks okay over what I lovingly refer to as "the baby flap".  I've worked out how it needs to be constructed.  Again, it's just a matter of doing it.

But that, too, has been put on hold.  Watching Once Upon a Time on Netflix, I've been inspired by a shirt worn by Tinkerbell.  And this one, I'm seriously excited about!  I'm not sure if I'll try for publication first, so haven't posted any pics at all anywhere yet.  But I'm thinking it will probably be self-published on Ravelry.  I bought the yarn for it last week.  I have sketches.  I have gauge swatches and even some preliminary charts.  It's not a design I've ever seen before (not that this doesn't mean it doesn't exist - I just haven't seen anything like it in my travels).  It will use triangles (and geometry!) to achieve some shaping - think of the top as being fairly fitted, but the bottom flaring out, with cabled wings built into the back.  Light and airy in a loose gauge.  It'll be awesome!  If you're interested, keep an eye out for more details.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Seed Stitch

In the 1x1 ribbing, etc. post, I hypothesized that working two medium-length transitions on each side of a purl (or knit) stitch would give the most even result and close up some of those pesky holes that so often plague us.  In the same post, I described what works best for my 1x1 ribbing, too: working a column solely eastern, or western, as necessary.

Taking these two ideas, I started working on my seed stitch swatch.  Seed stitch, for those who may not know what it is exactly, is essentially alternating columns of garter stitch.  K1, p1 across.  On the next row, work the opposite what you see.  (If there's an odd number of stitches in the row, just repeat the first row.  If there's an even number, then work it p1, k1 across).  What happens is that a column will be worked only as purls, or only as knits.

And here's generally how it will look:

how it is worked      how it will appear from the RS (*s are purl bumps on the RS)
4  kpkpk                         *-*-*
    kpkpk 3                      -*-*-
2  kpkpk                         *-*-*
    kpkpk 1                      -*-*-

I worked my first attempts thusly:

          *Kw1, Pe1* to last stitch, Kw1.  Repeat this row on both sides.

The result (which happened more than once, so I know it wasn't a random occurrence) was a nice, dense fabric with no holes, but the stitches very cleared paired themselves off, as seen in this picture:

(Okay, so the picture isn't showing it nearly as clearly as I thought it might.  But trust me, it's there!)

While the effect is subtle, it is not the result I was looking for.  And I suspect (I don't know, but I would hazard a guess) that it wouldn't be acceptable for MHK standards.  Though it might make for an interesting texture to work into a pattern...

So I sat down and started again, but this time alternating which columns got the eastern treatment.  My next attempt was worked this way:

          R1:  *Kw1, Pe1* to last st, Kw1
          R2:  Kw1, *Pw1, Ke1* to last st, Kw1
          (because my edges come out nicer if they're worked western, at least with this swatch).

No more pairing!  The columns are clearly defined, there are no holes.  In this demo swatch, I am seeing alternating columns of different sized purl bumps, which I haven't found in the other yarn that I've been working with (I use the Patons Classic Wool for pics here because the stitches show much more clearly in photos than the Valley Yarns Amherst).

But, I'll admit, it was giving me fits trying to remember (and, more specifically, reminding my fingers) which way to work which stitch.  While the stitch mount is the obvious cue, the slightest distraction would send me back to the first pattern (because I had tried it so many times making slight adjustments).  Argh!

I then remembered a comment made by Remclave on Ravelry (hi!  If you're reading this!).  She had found the same 2x2 solution as I.  But rather than than Kw1 Ke1 Pe1 Pw1, she came up with the mnemonic KUO PUO, which stands for "knit under, knit over, purl under, purl over".  If you watch how you wrap the yarn when you make the different stitches, it makes sense (rather than just thinking of it in terms of clockwise/counterclockwise, as I usually do).  My mnemonic for working my new seed stitch swatch:

          R1:  under under under under under under under...
          R2:  over over over over over over over...

Ta da!  So much easier!  Thanks, Remclave!

I've started working on applying all of this to my cables, too.  I'll have some of my findings in another post, hopefully soon!

Ribbing and tension, pt. 2

2/24:  Now updated with pictures!

Last time, I discussed better tension in a 2x2 or more ribbing section.  This post is to tackle those instances where you're only working single stitches, such as 1x1 ribbing, seed or moss stitch, or even 3x1 ribbing.

To briefly summarize my last post:  the transitions between a k-p and p-k use different amounts of yarn.  Changing the stitch mount (via "combination knitting") in various combinations will change the amount of yarn used in that transition:

• "Short" transitions are worked KePe and PwKw;
• "Medium" transitions are worked KwPe, KePw, PwKe, and PeKw;
• "Long" transitions are KwPw and PeKe.

Which length to use will depend on the project, but, generally speaking, with ribbing, a knitter will want to use the short transition symmetrically so that it has the most pull-in at the transitions.  So a 2x2 ribbing section will look best when worked (Kw Ke Pe Pw) across both RS and WS rows.

All caught up?  Awesome.  So let's look at single-stitch transitions.

I hereby define, for purposes of this blog, a "single-stitch transition" as one where a single purl or knit stitch sits between two "panels" (widths can vary from one stitch to more) of the "opposite" stitches.  A 1x1 ribbing, or a 2x1 ribbing... 10x1 ribbing, seed stitch, moss stitch, might all benefit from this discussion.

Cast on some amount of stitches and work an inch or two in 1x1 ribbing.  If you're a tight knitter, it might not be quite so obvious, but looser knitters might find very loose, uneven knit columns.  The times that I am able to work a 1x1 ribbing suitably evenly, my hands ache for days afterwards and the object has very little elasticity.  Not the result we want from ribbing.

KwPw throughout - ick.  I'm not going to bother showing the stretched version.  Take my word for it, it's a hot mess.

If we think about it logically, based on the stitch combinations above, it is impossible to mirror a short transition (which is the ideal), or even a long transition if we wanted, with only one stitch.  KePeKe will give you short then long transitions on either side of the purl.  KwPwKw reverses that:  long then short transitions.

The best we can do to even out the pull-in on both sides of that purl stitch is to work each of them as medium transitions.  Pick whichever one works better for you:  work the purls eastern, or work all the knits eastern, and western for the opposite:  KwPeKw, KePwKe.  If you work on the tips of your needles, you might see even more improvement.

KwPe worked on both sides

KwPe stretched - notice the smiles are fairly even, even if the frowns look a little loose.  So the transitions are where we want them.  Let's make the stitches in each column a little more even now.

The last piece to this particular corner of the puzzle comes in working RS vs. WS.  For me, purling everything eastern and knitting western in ribbing causes the dreaded row-out, where the knits are generally actually larger than the purls.  To make it more consistent, then, I have changed my thinking into less "knit western" vs. "purl eastern", and more into a "column A western" and "column B eastern."  How is this applied when I work it?  On the RS, knits are worked western and purls eastern; on the WS, knits are eastern and purls are western.  So the knit column as I look at the RS is made up of stitches consistently wrapped western and looks much neater.

R1: KwPe
R2: KePw
Looking tons better!

A 3x1 ribbing, with the purl column (as viewed from the RS) worked eastern (so on the WS, the knits are eastern and the purls are western)

Same 3x1 swatch, showing the WS.

Seed stitch is worked similarly to a 1x1 rib.  Purling eastern on the RS pulls the stitches closer than working everything western (KwPeKw), reducing or eliminating the holes that plague many a knitter.   (Hopefully, obviously, you may have a better result with KePwKe on the RS).  I have found that I get satisfactory results regardless of whether I work the WS as KePwKe or KwPeKw.  The key is to make sure that the stitch mount is alternating with each stitch, and being consistent throughout the work.

I haven't had the opportunity to test out my theory on moss stitch, but I would hypothesize that working it like 1x1 ribbing will make it look the best.

Experimenting and swatching are the only way to see if it helps.  Other consideration, such as your tension and evenness in stockinette, and selvedges, still apply.  But hopefully you find the "magic" combination that works best for you.

Ribbing and tension, pt 1 (2x2 and up)

The TKGA's Master Knitter program makes you do ribbing, both 1x1 and 2x2.  I don't do a whole lot of ribbing, and it has showed.  But tackling this issue actually helps in other areas that I *do* do more often:  cables, seed/moss stitch, and others.

This post does not concern the 1x1, which I've found needs to be worked a little more differently.  I'll address that in another post.  But it does work (for me - obviously, you may have different results!) for 2x2 and up.  Knit cables that are surrounded by purls, too.

Don't know what the issue is?  Pull out some needles and yarn.  Do a k2, p2 ribbing for a couple of inches.  Then look at your swatch.  Loose closely.  Do you see it?  Are your knit stitches all the same size?  If so, congratulations!  You don't need to worry about this aspect.  Or are the stitches on the left of each knit column (right before the purl column) bigger or looser than those on the right? 

The needle is pointing at the wonky column, also highlighted in pink; notice the neat looking green column.

Having trouble seeing it?  Take it a step further and do a k3, p3 swatch.  Then take a look at the left stitches in the knit column.  How do they compare to the two k stitches in the column?

3x3 ribbing, showing the wonky column

For some, the reason for this (and its correction) is simple:  many knitters work purls looser than knits.  This excess yarn is then best seen on the reverse side, as a loose knit stitch.  Pull the yarn tighter when you wrap your purl stitches and voila!  Neater ribbing.  For extreme cases, combination knitting (which I'll discuss below) can also help to make a tighter purl stitch.  I was first introduced to this idea by a Webs' Tuesday Tip. 

For others, the solution isn't so easy.  The problem lies in the *transition* between the knit and purl stitches - moving the yarn from behind the needle (knit position) to the front of the needle (purl position) adds a little bit of extra yarn, which then works its way into both of the stitches, though it's easier to see on the knit side.  This is where some more creative "combination" knitting comes in handy.

Combination knitting describes the use of both the "western" and "eastern" styles of knitting.  These are achieved by wrapping your yarn differently around your needles.  I won't get into the history of these styles - there are plenty of other places to explain it and I won't rehash it here.  But briefly, in western knitting, you wrap the yarn counter-clockwise around the needle (if you're looking down at its tip), and eastern, you wrap the yarn clockwise.  In addition to changing the amount of yarn you use for a stitch, the different styles will change the orientation of the stitch on your needle.  In your next row, you'll work western-style stitches through the front leg on the needle; eastern-style stitches are worked through the back leg. Make sure you're working your stitches the correct way, or else you'll end up with twisted stitches.

Just about everywhere I looked for a solution to the ribbing problem had the same solution:  work all of the purls eastern and all of the knits western.  I tried this.  I tried it, plus tugging with everything I had.  I tried Portuguese knitting.  I tried continental knitting (yep, I've always been a thrower).  I tried Norwegian purls.  I went down a size, killed my carpal tunnel syndrome, and knit some great Kevlar-esque swatches.  I tried working everything eastern.  Still no good.  

I started looking at the stitches and, more importantly, their transitions.  Why do I not have the same problem with the p-k transition?  I pulled the ribbing out tight and started to notice that the k-p transition, even with the fixes, was still very loose, with a loop between the two stitches, but the p-k was very tight; that "loop", while there, wasn't loopy.  It was about as tight as you can get.

This shows the difference between the transitions.  The p-k transition in green is actually tucked very neatly behind the right leg of the first k stitch.  Compare to the k-p transition in pink.  Yuck!

Here, I have stretched the p-k transition as much as I can to show the tight "frowns" right before the k stitch.  This is the transition we want to replicate on the other side.  Pardon the lack of a manicure.

Many, many swatches later, with the help of Sara from Let me ExplaiKnit, I've learned something about the length of the transitions.  In a western-worked k-p, the yarn comes out the back of the k, around the left leg of the k, under the needle, then over the needle and back to the front.  That's a lot of extra yarn.  So I've assigned this a "long" description for the transition.

Kw Pw

If you work the k western and the p eastern, this distance is shortened:  out the back, around the left leg, under the needle, then over the needle, but it doesn't really go back to the front.  I've assigned this a "medium" description.

Kw Pe

If you work the k eastern and the p western, the yarn starts more forward when it comes out of the k, then goes under and over the needle back to the front.  This one is also a "medium" in my head.

Ke Pw

Finally, if you work both the k and the p eastern, the yarn takes the shortest possible trip around the needles:  front-ish coming out of the k, under and over the needle, no return trip to the absolute front.  So this one is "short."

Ke Pe

Using the same method on the p-k transition, working both western results in a "short" transition, one st eastern and the other western are both "medium", and both worked eastern give a "long" transition.

To make the ribbing look nice and neat and pretty, the transitions on both sides of the column need to match.  I tend to focus more on the purl column, but you can think about and apply it to the knit column as well.  Because we want ribbing to pull in, the shortest transitions are going to achieve the best results.  In the k-p transition, both stitches should be worked eastern, and the p-k should be worked western.  It doesn't matter how many stitches you have in between.

Stretched, you can see that the transitions match

The nice, neat, tucked 2x2 ribbing

Try it.  See if it helps.

One last note:  in a 2x2 rib, the suggestion to work all purls eastern and all knits western isn't without merit.  As detailed above, this will result in each side having a "medium" length transition.  But for ribbing, you want that transition to be tight, or else it won't pull in as much as ribbing should.

Next time, I'll dive into 1x1 ribbing, moss, and seed stitch.

Master Knitting, level 1

For Christmas, ~D and the kids got me the TKGA's master knitting level 1 program.  I've been knitting for about 11 or 12 years now.  I've done test knitting and tech editing.  The more intricate the lacework, the happier I am.  I figured I had this in the bag.

For those who don't know about it, the program is notoriously picky - almost no one passes on the first try.  They don't call you a "master" knitter for nothing; you have to earn that title.  I've seen some other contenders suggest that some reviewers will fail you just because they don't think someone should pass on the first try; after all, they didn't.  Others insist that you won't learn anything by passing straight away.  Regardless of the motives, it happens.  And I have to let go the idea that I'll pass in the first try.  I think my biggest gripe is that they don't give you *any* guidance for what they're looking for in your knitting.  They give you a stitch pattern and tell you to look it up.

Since I first learned about the program and some of its requirements a few years ago, I've been accumulating tricks.  Now that I have the packet, I know that some of them won't fly (such as the "improved" ssk - nope!  They want it the traditional way).  Some of them I just don't use (ribbing, for example).

A few general things I've learned as I start working though:

1) my tension is much more even with finer yarn.  The program makes you do it all with worsted weight, but I do very little actual knitting in worsted weight.  I use fingering or laceweight almost exclusively.

2) my Addi Lace interchangeables, while nice, don't really suffice for TKGA purposes.  I'm close to being a Knitter's Pride Platina Cubics convert (but I don't want to buy another interchangeable set).  They have a similar finish to the Addis, but are cubic and have long and amazingly sharp points.  Be careful when you sit on the couch (or pick up your 2 year old with the needles in your purse)!

3) relaxing gives me more even tension. I know some people get better tension when they're knitting bullet-proof sweaters.  But that just hurt my hands and actually made the guttering worse.

4) if the ball band says it's worsted (and I've tried multiple!), I can only get, at minimum 5.5 st per inch.  The 5 st that the program requires is still somewhat elusive.  I have managed to get it close enough that I can block it appropriately.  (Edit to clarify: the program doesn't specifically require 5 sts per inch.  There is a range given, of which 5 is the upper limit.  Because my trouble lies on the side of too many sts per inch (my sts being on the small side) I am arguing with my yarn, hands and needles to achieve the upper limit, so that I am within the appropriate range.  I'm sorry for any confusion I may have caused!)

5) knitting "eastern" or "combination" is more than just making the stitches wrap tighter.  It's about changing the path between stitches.  So, while "make all purls eastern" might help some people with their ribbing, it's not helping me.  More on this later.

6) it's more expensive than Patons, Northampton, or even Cascade 220, but I really like Valley Yarns Amherst.  It's giving me the best results so far.  But, being merino, it doesn't hold up as well to frogging.  Practice on the cheap stuff; work the final on the good stuff.

7) just because you've published a book doesn't mean you can really knit up to master knitting standards.  I find it hard to take someone seriously when their sample swatch looks rather like my 6 year old's first scarf.  The same is true for blogging, I'm sorry to say.  (That said, take anything I say here with a grain of salt!  I'm just cataloging my journey.  What works for me may not work for you).

I've gotten 5 or 6 of the swatches done now.  I'm holding off on blocking everything until I'm closer to submission.  (Another clarification: I did a bunch of pre-swatch swatching, complete with blocking, so I could get a good sense of how the yarn will react to the blocking.  It's necessary to know how many rows will equal a certain length in different stitch patterns after blocking).

I'll start getting into some of the technical stuff when I have a chance.  I do want to share (if anyone ever actually reads this) my thoughts on combination knitting.  Until then, keep knitting!  Have fun doing it!