Jason Knits

I’m still here. Work has been super crazy. We are working to completely redesign one of our web sites to reflect a name change. It needs to be done by July 1st. Lots to do. Also, our team is spread out in 3 different places (2 states). It takes time to do all the communication stuff. We use Skype a lot. Hey, we save money wherever we can.

I am doing a lot of Dulaan knitting. My plan was to practice Continental knitting at the same time, but it really slowed me down quite a bit when I did purling. I guess it would be a while before I get used to it. So back to English knitting. Only got about a month to get them delivered. No time to fool around.

So far I have one double-thick hat, one scarf and 1.25 mittens done. Lots more to do.

Ah “Violets“. That picture I posted a couple of posts back? The one that showed 5 rows of lovely violets? Gone!!! I ripped it. I did another row of violets with the TV on at the same time. BAD move! I didn’t make any mistake, but my tension was all over the place. The violets turned out in all different sizes. There was no way that I was going to keep it, so I took it off the needle and started ripping it. I ripped and ripped to just above the good violets. Looked at the knitting and just rolled my eyes. Fudge! I had no idea how to put it back on the needle. *scream* Oh well, nothing left to do but rip it completely. So it went. A lesson on impermanence.

So, is the “Violets” back on the needle? Nope! But I have been practicing different techniques that I will be using with the “Violets”. I got lots of help from Ted. He modified the pattern a bit to make the right and left sides of violet pattern looking balanced. Remember my complaint about one side looking looser than the other? That is solved now. Thanks Ted! You are truly a genius!

Oh, I will be using a “lifeline” this time around. I didn’t think I needed that. *eyes rolling* Duh! Anyway, I went out and got two balls of cotton crocheting yarn just for this. They will be quite nice for making markers too! Photo updates soon.

After seeing the big improvement the knitting had with lace weight yarn, I had to do another sample on “honeybee & faggoting”. I’d say it’s much better!

It’s been a long long week. After last weekend’s events I was left with very little energy throughout most of the week. Very little knitting. But that did not stop me from knitting a little on the “Violets by the River” shawl with the intended yarn that arrived 10 days ago. I am using KnitPicks’ Shadow in the color Sunset. 100% Merino Wool. I can’t tell you how much better it is knitting lace with lace weight yarn. I mean it looks so much better. A bit scary with very thin yarn. But I shouldn’t complain. Many others are using sewing-thread-like yarn for their projects. Just look at this. You can hardly see the yarn Ted is using for the Princess.

OK, here’s a picture of my work on the Violets so far. Only five rows of them but you can see that it’s definitely better than sock yarn.

Other than the concern of making mistakes when the shawl grows wider, I am also concerned that the right edge is not as neat as the left edge. It’s a bit loose compared to the left. I got the same thing when I was using sock yarn for tests. Hope this will be corrected during blocking.

Oh, that ball of yarn, it took me an hour winding it by hand. LOL And I have another hank to do. I don’t own a ball winder or a swift. Guess I should get them if I want to do more lace! My partner is going to roll his eyes when those show up.

Oh, hey, Gerald, thanks for sending all the lace goodies. It’s a stack of treasures! I’m going to have fun reading about the history, the different lace styles and all those project ideas! It’s funny that I feel that I know of the “conference”. But I just can’t think of where I’ve heard about it.