Jason Knits

Last night’s Stitch N’ Pitch was a lot of fun! 560 of fiber loving people and their family and friends showed up. Each person got a free tote that’s stuffed with gifts. Most contained two balls of yarn and a pair of needles. Good stuff. I didn’t take a camera with me. So if you want to see some photos, you can visit Faith and Ellen.

Update, 8.14.2006, more S&P photos on A Mano’s Blog. Don’t forget to look in their sidebar for more.

I took with me a spindle, some fiber, a ball of Manos del Uruguay and US 11 needles, so I could choose to spin or knit. One look at the gigantic stadium I chickened out on spinning. We were sitting at the first row on the second tier. Right there on the edge where it was possible to drop stuff and have it fall all the way down to the first tier. I did not want to risk loosing my lovely spindle. No way! So I chose knitting. I had a printed copy of “My So Called Scarf” pattern.

I wanted to do this scarf long time ago but had forgotten all about it. Thank you, Dave, for reminding me. I had to knit this right away so I won’t forget it again. With that decision made, I went to A Mano and picked up two balls of Manos, color 110. Speaking of the Manos, it involved a little bit of mystery. Gerald put me on a little treasure hunt. Long story short, he got me a gift certificate at A Mano, but pretended to be only a messenger. I did think that he was behind all this. But for him to be the person to tell me threw me off. LOL Good going, Jerry! I am sure that I also made him anxious. Being a low-key person, I waited a few days for someone to call me about this surprise. Alas, no one did. I then questioned Gerald about it many times. I am sure he just wanted to kick me then. But he was good at keeping it to himself. LOL Anyway, I put that generous gift to good use as soon as I got it…

Three bundles of spinning fiber. About 4 oz each. Lovely colors and wonderful to add to a new spinner’s stash! And, of course, the Manos. Oh, I love color 110! They knit up so nicely…

I know, not much done on the scarf. There was a lot of chatting, you know. Also, “My So Called Scarf” is not recommended for baseball games. At least not for me. It is quite easy, but it involves couple of tricks in the pattern. Some attention is required.

Thank you for the very generous gift, Jerry!

Thanks to Ted’s recent post on Looser Cast-on, I now understand how to do it properly!

He breaks down the construction of a cast-on stitch and shows you where you need to pay attention to get a looser cast-on. Complete with photo illustrations. I’d like to join the others who have said this before… Ted should write another book! He has a wonderful way of explaining things.

I have finally started doing something with the Lotus Blossom Shawl. I knitted the gauge swatch on Tuesday. The yarn is KnitPicks’ Palette, color Red. US size 8 needle. I wouldn’t have chosen this bright red if not for my mom’s love for such colorful clothing. Bright red is very lucky for Chinese people. And I think that she wears it well too.

The size maybe a tiny bit smaller. But I really like how it looks unblocked. (Yes, I still have to block it to make a final decision.) My mom is a smaller woman. I think this might just work out great. The gauge swatch uses the “stem” pattern of Lotus. Looks OK I think. Gives me a little more confidence to tackle the whole thing. I do think that the cast-on looks a little tight. The instruction calls for a “very loose” cast-on. I used a size 10.5 and this is what I get. How do you determine these things?