Slouching into the New Year.

I started a new pattern on Saturday night. It really was just something to fill the time while watching a Middle School Boy's basketball game. If you have ever watched Middle School Basketball, you won't blame me for needing something interesting to do. But sometimes a last minute, lark turns out to be a great decision. Slouchy('s no Slouch) is a free hat pattern that I found on Ravelry by Lea Kobayashi. (Free is good -- Remember?!) I have been looking at the pattern for the last few weeks and I even saved a PDF of the pattern on my computer. So, of course it was a natural when I needed to make a quick choice.

I have been working the pattern over the last couple of days worth of commuting and have made good progress. At this point I am almost through the 1st of two skeins of the Knit Picks' Wool of the Andes that I had left over from my Avocado Carnaby. As I said then, the stitch definition of this wool is excellent.

The hardest part about the hat so far was knitting the cables -- not actually knitting the cables, it was getting under the seat on the train to pick up the cable needle when I lost control of it going over a bump. The cables were a ton-o-fun to do. I have not done any in a long time -- and these were small and easy. Forming ribbing, they are both lovely and useful. I also like the detailing formed by the SSK and the yarn over. The combo creates an interesting spiral to the ridge of the hat. The hat is topped off with a quick i-cord and a decorative bead.

I am nearly to the point of decreasing for the crown of the hat. The knitting has been so easy that I have yet to grow tired of it. This may end up being a "go-to" favorite for gift making.

Happy Knitting!!

Knitting with Lace Weight Yarn and Having the Right Needles

I began knitting another lace shawl. This is the lovely Haruni by Emily Ross. This is one of the first lace patterns that I fell in love with, but have put it off as I thought it was too hard. I even posted about the yarn I bought to do this project over 6 months ago. However, things change and I am doing this project with a completely different yarn than planned. I decided to use the Cascade Alpaca Lace in Garnet that I bought on a lark a couple of months later.

This yarn is 100% baby alpaca and is the finest yarn that I have ever tried to knit. This was the crux of my problem. Through knitting about 32 rows, I was repeatedly tinking back to redo stitches that I picked up under the row beneath that which I was knitting. This error basically un-knits the stitch and creates a slip stitch of the row beneath and a long loose yarn over in the same place. Of course, if not caught, the pattern is  ruined. I was also struggling with trying to SSK (slip slip knit) -- my Addi Turbos just did not have enough of a point.

I had "graduated" myself to Addi Turbos over a year ago when I got a great recommendation from my knitting sister who convinced me to try them. I have been a rabid convert ever since. Today, I am trying the Addi Turbo Lace. So far this has turned out to be a good decision. I have knitted only a couple of additional rows and it has made a huge difference. SSK's are much easier and I am not slipping under the stitch.

In the picture on the left, I think you can see that the points on the Addi Turbo Lace (the gold needle) has a longer and sharper point than the regular Addi Turbos have. In addition, the Addi Turbo Lace needles seem to be slightly less slick than the regular Turbos. This might be a benefit as the only drawback to the Addi Turbos have been that they are almost too slick for lace. It is true that the right tool for the job makes all the difference.

As long as I am talking about the baby alpaca yarn being the finest that I have ever knit, I thought I would give you a visual on different yarn weights.  Here is a graduation of different yarn weight of yarn that I have in my stash. On the left is the lace weight yarn in question, Cascade Alpaca Lace. It is followed by a fingering weight yarn, sock weight, sport weight, DK (double knit) weight, worsted weight and bulky weight. Of course all of these yarns are different manufacturers and fibers, but I think that you can see the differences between most. Prior to the Cascade Alpaca Lace, the finest lace I had used was the fingering weight yarn which I used for my Alexandra Gold.

Well, I have some knitting to get through, so I will sign off. Happy Knitting!