7 Rows of Ribbing completed...

Evangeline Fog; that’s what I’ve named the fingerless mits I cast on yesterday.  They’re a pattern available on Ravelry called Evangeline.  Reading the notes of others who have already completed the pattern it’s evident that a thumb gusset makes them more comfortable to wear.  Hence the fog as I’ve taken the thumb gusset from a pattern called Vancouver Fog and spliced it onto the Evangeline.

I’m knitting them using the magic loop two at a time method to try to avoid the dreaded second sock syndrome.  I struggled with how to get started and this video shows you what to do.  I guess I’m a pretty visual learner as once I’d seen it (rather than reading the instructions I’d found elsewhere) I got it!

I wanted to use a super stretchy cast on, unfortunately it doesn’t work too well with textured wool so I’ve done a knitted cast on instead.  I’ll definitely be using this with the next pair of socks I make though!

I plan to finish with the stretchy bind off though, which looks like it will work well with any sort of wool!

Hopefully these wont take too long, although I’m going to have to concentrate when doing the thumb gussets and working two at the same time…  I may take one-off at that point and finish one glove before finishing the next as frogging (ripping out) would be difficult!  Anyway, I plan to knit on the sofa with the Mr when I’m not progressing my circle skirt…

Got to love a sheep stitch marker!

Figuring out how a student is approaching the material, what misconceptions they may have or what terms or statements they may interpret differently from the teacher, can be the hardest part of teaching. It can also be the most fun; I learn new ways of looking at the constellations or lenses or circuit diagrams or the dreaded mass-on-a-spring problem every time I work with someone new to the concepts. And it is certainly the most vital, because if teacher and student don’t speak the same language, how can they hope to communicate their thought processes and understanding–or lack thereof–of the material?

It was through teaching others that I realized the importance of this skill, but I’ve come to appreciate it perhaps even more as a student.

Here is an excellent example: I have been practicing various forms of dance for the past seven years. Despite the 3+ styles of dance (Okinawan taiko*, ballroom, bellydance, random bits of modern/ballet/jazz/hip-hop/etc) and at least a dozen different instructors, it was not until today, during the bellydance course I’ve been taking for a month or so now, that someone finally managed to successfully teach me how to turn properly. Naturally my turns are not now instantly perfect; I need to practice them a lot. But I finally understand the concept of spotting and how to actually do it, because it was finally explained in a way that made sense to me. (For future reference: Nurses make the best dance teachers. They know the human body well enough to explain exactly what to and what not to do.)

Today has been a big learning day for me; it took over four hours, but I finally managed to teach myself the tubular bind-off for my Showy Seadragons. I went through several books and websites and could not for the life of me get any of the methods described to work until I finally found this video. And then it worked like magic! Well, magic that is just barely stretchy enough to fit over my ginormous instep/heel (I actually have small feet for my height, I swear! They’re just really deformed…), but I’ll take it. Maybe I can make the left sock a little looser…

I was trained in the highly-esteemed 'prop your leg up on your desk and snap a quick picture' school of photography.

*I have not for the life of me been able to find a good link to explain Okinawan taiko in English…unsurprisingly, they are mostly in Japanese, which I can’t read. This is the best I could find. Check out their glossary and pictures for a bit more of an insight into the culture. I used to play the paranku, and man do I miss my jika-tabis!

You need to BIND OFF.

It’s a fairly simple process, but the trick is in the TENSION.  This word, tension, refers to how tight or loose the stitches are.  And in this case, you must have a loose tension in all the bind off stitches!  Really, YOU MUST!

So here’s how to go about Binding Off your final row of stitches:

Knit two stitches. Loosely.^(see photo above)

Take the left-hand needle and pick up the first stitch on the right-hand needle…^ Note: The “first stitch” is the one closest to your right hand, not the one closest to the tip of the right-hand needle.

Pass it over the second stitch…^

And remove the left-hand needle from the loop, leaving the second stitch on the right hand needle.^

Knit another stitch. Stay loose!^

Then pass the FIRST STITCH over this newly knitted stitch.^

Repeat these last two steps over and over…the above^ is a photo of how it will look along the way. I’m getting ready to pass the first knitted stitch over the second one.

Here I’m pulling the second stitch through…^

…and off.^

Keep going, repeating these steps until you get to the very end.

You will have one loop left on your right hand needle.^

Cut the yarn, leaving a longish tail (6 inches) and pull this tail through the final loop on your needle:

Give the end a little tug to close the knot and…Voilà!  You’re done!

Well, almost.  You gotta weave in all those ends!  Click here to learn how to do this!

One of my favorite recent knitting technique inventions is Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. One of the notoriously difficult things to do in knitting is to bind off (finish) loosely. If you have ever tried to squeeze an ill-fitting sweater over your head, and felt the neckline about to squeeze your brains out through your ears, then you have felt the personal wrath of an edge bound off too tightly. Jeny’s technique adds one extra step — a yarn over before working each stitch — that makes all the difference in the world.

Serendipitously, I just found a great way to use this bind-off: as an edging. I wanted to put a simple, decorative edging on a baby vest that I just knit, so I picked up stitches around each edge, using a contrasting color. On the next round, I bound off all the stitches, working each stitch as a purl and using Jeny’s bind off. Look what a sweet edging it makes.

Saturday 9:15 pm Liver Chick has a panic attack in realizing she forgot to buy a gift for the birthday boy.

Saturday 9:45 pm After going through several options, Liver Chick decides- against her common sense- to knit something, no matter how long she has to stay up. Sleep be damned!

Saturday 10:00 pm Cast on stitches for a boy’s slouchy hat

Sunday 1:27 am Binds off and starts stitching the hat closed

Sunday 1:40am Satisfied with her outstanding feat and skills, Liver Chick makes a note to herself to offer up a skein of silk to the knitting gods for their help and then collapses on her bed and sleeps

Sunday 9:20 am Liver Chick over sleeps and rushes to get ready

Sunday 10:45 am Liver Chick hurries to wrap gift while ride is on its way

Sunday 12:23 pm Arrives at party that is in the middle of nowhere Arizona!

Sunday 3: 18 pm Liver Chick captures the cutest picture ever! (Oh, and the birthday boy looks nice too!)

(1)  Berroco video about attaching a buttonband that has been knit separately (Norah Gaughan) (embedding not working today);

(2)  Photo tutorial by Sarah of the “Live and Let Knit. . . and Craft” blog, about a Japanese version of 3-needle bind-off;

(3)  Make your own fabric-covered buttons with a kit, recommended by Cirilia Rose of Berroco;

(4)  Loved this Knitter’s Christmas poem when I heard interviewer-Patty and Nicky Epstein read it at the end of their “Yarniverse” video interview.  It was written for Nicky by her husband as a Christmas gift!

That said, this post isn’t about my recent trip or my head-shaker of a week – past or coming. Instead, I thought I’d spread a little bit of my weekend sunshine around. As tough as it was for me to change gears when I discovered on Tuesday that I’d totally forgotten registering for a full weekend workshop our knitting guild sponsored this weekend, I’m really glad I didn’t cancel out on it. We had Candace Eisner-Strick come in for 12 hours of classes, and despite the fact that I was battling a migraine, I managed to learn some really great new knitting tricks. Can’t wait to incorporate them in some real knitting!

Saturday was a bit frustrating for me. Our class was on Bavarian Traveling Twisted Stitches – or some permutation of those words. For me, the concept was very simple to grasp, and an hour long class would have been more than sufficient on the topic, but there are a lot of different combinations of learning style and experience in a group that large, and Candace wanted to take the time to ensure every student succeeded, so the class was a six-hour venture that left me very glad I’d brought along my Baby Surprise Jacket to knit. I nearly finished the BSJ, and I also made the sampler just below. I’m glad I attended, even if I did feel like it was moving too slowly most of the time. Whereas I’d have had no problem doing this alone, having the day away from the house with this being my primary goal made it actually happen. Considering I’ve had two of the best pattern books for Austrian knitting on my library shelf for at least a couple years, I think I needed the kick in the pants to actually do it!

I know – doesn’t really look like much, does it? It’s just one repeat of each of 11 different stitch patterns set one after the other, so they aren’t very distinct for the most part. Today I started working to separate each pattern with a basted contrast strand, and for this post, I put a straight line between each of the designs. We worked the patterns in the round with three identical patterns, so in all, each was worked 3 times. I really wish it was a technique that lent itself to back and forth knitting, so I could see what three repeats looked like worked in succession instead of side by side, but I’ll have to wait until I produce a real project, I suppose.

Candace does her twisted stitch knitting in a non-traditional way, twisting the stitches differently for left travelers than right travelers. I want to play with some samples done in the traditional fashion as well, with all the stitches twisted the same way, as apparently the Austrian queen of this technique wasn’t particularly keen on this alternative look. Me being me, I’m going to have to play with it both ways. I suspect I’ll be happy with both, and I will choose when I wish to use each style. I wouldn’t dare use the modern take on it to knit a sweater for an antique German doll, after all!

Sunday there were technically two separate 3-hour workshops, though the edges sort of blended together in the end. The first of these two, titled “Traditions!” was unquestionably my favorite of all, and the best reason for me to have invested a weekend in these workshops. Candace led us through 5 traditional techniques, 3 of which were entirely new to me, and one of which was presented with a tidbit of info that I needed to have known long before now.

First we did the Channel Island cast-on. It’s just a dab more fussy than most other cast-ons I’ve used, but not that much slower once I learned how to hold my tongue just right. We used it both as a base for ribbing and as a provisional cast-on later in the day, and although I’m not totally smitten with the provisional use, it looks so gorgeous with ribbing that I’m definitely sold there, and I wonder if I’ll be able to use anything else when I’m ribbing in the future. It’s definitely worth the effort in this application!

The Fair Isle Corrugated Ribbing was… well… a wee bit of a trial for me, as I didn’t see what was happening until I was done with it. One thing we learned later on during the Norwegian Lice segment is that when you are knitting with two colors, the strand that is running in the lower position on the back is the one that will have the larger, dominant stitches on the front. (This totally explains a minor disaster I had earlier this year…) You don’t have to be an expert to see that I must have swapped the positions of my two colors on each row I knit on my corrugated ribbing. In my defense, this ribbing was never meant to be knit flat, but because of time constraints, we were doing precisely that. Knit in the round, there wouldn’t be a nasty backside row teasing me into swapping colors to the opposite hand in order to avoid purling continental…

It’s a toss up as to whether I love the Channel Island with ribbing or the Latvian Braid more.  Both are pure knitting magic! We were to make one braid, but I decided to double mine, reversing the direction of the second one. I’m definitely going to have to find a good place to use this wonderful little trick in the future!

I skipped the the fourth tradition – knitting a swatch of Old Shale. Having just finished an entire shawl in that pattern, I figured my time was better spent working on the BSJ… The last item on the agenda was the Norwegian Lice. Of course, the bit about the lower yarn color being dominant was the big surprise in this part of the lesson. I hadn’t expected to learn anything doing such a simple pattern, and must confess to an internal eye roll when I saw it on the list. Live and learn! Candace also took a moment to show me that there really IS a quick and easy way to lock a long float into the back of of colorwork when it’s the right hand yarn that needs anchored – yet another tidbit that was nearly worth the price of the entire workshop for me.

Sunday’s second segment was focused on two of the primary uncommon techniques in Candace’s newest book, Strick-ly Socks. She’s worked out an unusual way to knit the toe (and the heel the same way), which allow them to be started flat. It’s pretty slick, once you get the basics worked out, and I bought her book, figuring I need to try a whole pair out, if nothing else, just for the experience. I’m always game to try something new. If you like to knit toe up socks, but you aren’t comfortable with any of the normal starts, don’t give up until you give this one a try, as it’s a totally different way to go.

You probably can’t tell a thing from this photo (Try clicking to make it full sized?), but we also used a totally new to me method of binding off, too. It works, and it looks pretty good, but the jury is still out as to whether I will embrace it in the long run or stick with my comfortable Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off that has been serving me so well. Jeny’s is definitely faster, and I don’t have to worry about whether I’ve cut a long enough piece of yarn, but Candace’s does work, is rather tidy, and is also very stretchy. It’s definitely worth trying out if  you are the curious sort of knitter.

So, although I felt like Saturday dragged terribly and I had to drive into the city two consecutive days, I do feel that over all, my weekend was very well spent, and I’d definitely recommend Candace’s workshops – especially Traditions! since it was my very favorite. Each had much to offer if you have interests in the areas covered, and I know that I have come out of my class time a better knitter than I was.

As you can see, I’ve been knitting away on the textured shawl this week. And last night, after a lovely late night beer and knitting date, I realized that I was getting very close to the end of my handspun. This morning, with my coffee, I knit a few more rows, and then gambled (poorly) about whether I’d have enough to bind off on the right side. This is a photo of the gamble, alongside my proposed solution. (Remember the sweater I frogged awhile back?) I made it halfway through the bind-off row when I ran out. Luckily, even though the Rowan Felted Tweed stands out against the backdrop of the textured shawl in this photo, one strand, on the edge of half the shawl, blends right in. I spit-spliced and continued binding off, and then raced against the clock to soak the shawl and pin it out before power-walking to campus to teach section this morning.

I stretched it out as much as I could, though the cast on edge is a bit tight, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the whole thing relaxes into a cozy, comfy, drape-y shawl.

And now I have a few food pictures to share from the week. (Yep, no transition. Sorry about that.)

Last weekend I made a pan’s worth of eggplant parmesan using a big, beautiful farm eggplant. It was awesome. And last Friday (I think) I made gazpacho.

This was so good. Exactly what I needed on a very sticky day. Here’s the recipe. We ate it with toast and cream cheese, and it hit the spot. I will definitely be making this the next time I have a handful of super ripe, juicy tomatoes.

Happy almost weekend! (And if you’re on the East Coast, happy arrival-of-weather-that-is-suitable-for-knitwear!)

Socks are by far my favorite knitting project. (At my knitting club this past Monday evening, I took a knitted purse for show and tell, and one friend commented that in years of knitting together, she never remembered me knitting anything besides socks.)  Socks are always an interesting project with new techniques and patterns to learn.

One problem that new sock knitters often encounter is that the socks will slouch down their ankles, and logic would suggest that tighter ankles would be the answer. Not so.  Often, the very top row at the end of the ankle can be too tight, causing the sock to slide down your ankle as it works its way towards a more narrow spot.  So the answer to slouchy socks is frequently not a tighter ankle but a more stretchy top row.

Socks can be knit either from the ankle towards the toe, or from the toe towards the ankle.  So the tight row can be an issue of a tight cast on row (for an ankle-down pattern) or a tight bind-off (for toe-up). 

Nowadays, I am knitting strictly toe-up socks, as it lets me see how much yarn is left to knit the ankle area and alleviates that panicky feeling that I’ll run out of yarn before the sock is finished.  So for me, the last row of the sock is the one that is at the top of the ankle, and that’s the row that needs to be nice and stretchy to make the sock stay put.  And with my latest pair, I found the world’s best sock bind-off, which is easy to learn and available as a YouTube video by none other than knitting goddess Cat Bordhi. Cat credits Jeny Staiman with inventing what she calls “Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off,” and I’ll be using it on every pair of socks from now on. It’s as easy as adding a yarn over and makes the bind-off row as stretchy as the rest of the ribbing. Enjoy!

A podcast, an episode of Project Runway, and two mugs of coffee later, I present to you my hemlock ring, in blob form, and I love it. Now, where am I going to block this thing?

Boh has no idea.

Yesterday afternoon,  I quickly added a fourth (red) button to my Shalom, and then swapped out the less matchy orange button (second from the top) in order to make this wearable, and quick. See, yesterday was cold and rainy, and, let’s face it, rather unproductive. A coffee shop work plan took shape, and I decided that I needed to be able to wear Shalom. I think I will eventually swap out the orange buttons for red ones, but this worked wonderfully for yesterday’s coffee shop work date (followed by a french-fries-with-delicious-dipping-sauces-reward-for-reading date). Here are a few more Shalom pictures! (Tough to take good photos in artificial light. The blurry ones are my favorites.)

Back to the pile of reading!

This is going to take awhile, but boy, is it ever pretty! The knitted bind-off option for the hemlock ring involves a repeat that includes turning your work, and then knitting and purling into one stitch several times to create that lovely loop. Then you turn back and bind off those stitches, and continue on to the next grouping. Slow, but worth it, I think.

Also, last night we had a super easy, super delicious meal, completely inspired by this tomato tart over at inoakpark. I followed the recipe that K. links to, though I used slightly less butter in my crust, and didn’t need the additional tbsp of water. Also, I only slathered whole grain spicy mustard on half of the dough, as the boy is not a huge fan. I used mozzarella instead of goat cheese, fresh flat-leaf parsley for the herbs, and tucked a few stray rounds of zucchini into the gaps left by my tomato slices. The dough took less than ten minutes to make, and requires no resting time. Thirty minutes after that, this deliciousness came out of the oven. I’m not ashamed to say we polished off the entire tart. I will be making this again.

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. . . so I undid the Bo and bound off just in purl.  (Isn’t it great when you can make it do what you want?! — at least, mostly.)

I also redid the BO on the thumb (after this photo), and am about halfway through knitting the second — about 3 rounds until thumb trick!

The yarn has arrived for summer Cast On project, so my next post will likely talk about that.  Ever heard of “1/2 N 1/2″?  ( I hadn’t — this’ll be a new experience! )

If I don’t talk to you again before Friday:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Bind Off

This is a LARGE close-up view of Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off (JSSBO).  See the double row of horizontal bars?  The top row/round has the usual teardrop shaped stitches when viewed from the top.  The loops underneath are the extra YO’s you made between every stitch.  The YO’s end up as horizontal loops around the necks of the last row’s/round’s stitches.  This extra yarn can be drawn upon by the BO stitches to allow extra stretch.  This BO also eats up a lot of yarn, as you can see here because I used a variegated yarn:  the color blocks get used up doubly quick, about 7 white BO stitches vs 14 white normal stitches in the ribbing.  It’s also a bit bulkier than the surrounding knitting.  Not too hard to do, though, and goes pretty smoothly.

And here is the Slipknot Cast-On (JSSCO).  Both the BO and CO remind me of the Twisted German CO, with the extra loop around the base of each stitch.

But these do follow the bends of ribbing very well.

The trouble I had with this cast-on was that the yarn (non-superwash merino) didn’t want to pull through the slipknot smoothly, but kept sticking and knotting up prematurely.  When this happened, I had to undo that knot and re-cast-on that stitch.  Not even/uniform enough for Master Knitter work, but good on a hat.  I think I’ll try Twisted German CO (also called Old Norwegian, and some use the same names for slightly different cast-ons) again soon, and compare them for stretch.

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Here are some more “normal” shots of the green and tan cap I just completed.

The yarn, “Impeccable worsted” by Loops & Threads, color #02003 “sage butter ombre”, was an impulse-buy at Michael’s Arts & Crafts.  Whenver I just want to try out a new yarn, I make a top-down cap — only takes one skein/ball, and I can simply increase until the top seems “big enough” and switch out needle sizes as I go until all is “just right” (i.e. no pre-swatching!).  This time, I started with 7′s, as the yarn is worsted weight, but it was so spongy it wanted more breathing room, so I sized up to 8.  When it got big enough to go on a 16″ circular, my only available 8 was a Bryspun and the plastic needle material didn’t react well with the acrylic yarn — stitches stuck — so I sized up again to a 9 KnitPicks nickel-plated.  Ahh!  Smooth sailing from there on.  Switched to 2×2 ribbing after 7″.  Used JSSBO.  The “pattern” is a version of my own “Square-Top One-Skein Cap”, available over on Ravelry.  (When using a 50 gram ball, you don’t have enough for ribbing, so that pattern calls for a rolled edge; here I had 100 grams/192 yds.)

“Jeny’s Stetchy Slip-Knot Cast-On”, demonstrated by Jeny Staiman.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n8E3I6Cg2k

“Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off” demonstrated by Cat Bordhi.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abBhe-JYmgI

That took awhile, I can tell you, because I hadn’t mastered the art of using the needles as needles. I was stuck in crochet mode, so I would knit a stitch, pick up the back loop with my fingernails, and pull it over the new one.

Some of you are probably wincing. It made for very splitty yarn and very messy stitches.

Anyway, once I got it raveled back I asked my sister for the proper way to do things. She kindly straightened out the stitches I had twisted, and demonstrated knitting and purling while binding. Then she gave it back to me. Binding off took longer than I thought it would, but I was a good girl and only grabbed loops with my fingers a few times.

Finally, after ten ‘o clock at night, it was finished and blocking. I was going to weave in the ends before blocking, but I was informed that that wasn’t the done thing, so I left it alone. Now I just have to resist the urge to stand over it with a blow dryer.

The first scarf I made for Andy was quickly followed by a scarf for myself. Then, it was on to hats! The first four or five really didn’t come out that well — not enough length to one, a little condom-like knob atop another, too large of diameter on another….until finally I got it right and Andy had a matching hat to go with his scarf. That was a happy day for my knitting mind.

Andy's 1st scarf and hat

My first scarf

Since then I’ve used YouTube to learn how to  add another color to make stripes in hats,

Timmy's hat

Laura's hat

 stripes in a baby blanket

Gabriella's blanket

and even in my little peach bag.

I’ve learned how to knit in the round and how to use double pointed needles.

Knitting has become important in my life. I really, really love it. I love deciding what to make and then, picking out my yarn, choosing the right needle size, and whipping up something new. Sometimes using a pattern, sometimes just casting on and making whatever it is I’ve thought about. I’m learning a little bit every time I knit something new.  I wonder if I’ll ever be half as good as the all of the other knitters who have posted photos of their cabled cardigans, mohair sweaters and delicate lace scarves. I see all of these beautiful knitted garments and wonder if it is realistic to want to be able to knit like that. Like THAT. Yeah, like in a thousand years or so, I think to myself. But I’ll keep knitting and getting better at it.

I guess it is really is about the journey. Knitting has become a way of life for me.

I’ll post some of my earlier projects here, as well as those I’m working on right now.

The stitch pattern actually matches the Woolly Mammoth scarf pattern (free pattern listed in the Jan 7th post).

The top of the hat is finished using a 3-needle bind-off method. There are some pictures and a free tutorial pdf to download on the PurpleSage website.

The 3-needle bind-off shown on another hat.

As you can see here, I had no idea what I was doing with the dye, but the socks turned out pretty colorful and cute.

The pattern I followed is Red Hot Socks by Annie Knits. The stitch pattern can be found in the book More Sensational Socks by Charlene Schurch. I can’t remember what the stitch is called**, but it’s easy enough to find in the stitch pattern section of the book. It’s an easy pattern to memorize.

So now I’ve knitted the socks to the length I like, did the 1×1 cuff ribbing, and I appear to be stuck with the bind off. First I tried regular old bind off which to me looked chunky and crude. Then I tried tubular bind off which was really fun to knit and looked super nice, but I couldn’t get the darn sock over my heel. I’ve never made toe up socks before and I don’t really know what kind of bind off works the best. Any suggestions?

**ETA: The stitch pattern is called Decorative Ribbing on p. 87. Just FYI.

I finally finished the Shetland Lace Rib Socks I’ve been working at off and on since (ahem!) May.   That’s just awful.  But I have  resisted all temptation to start another pair (or two) until I  finished these.  They are KnitPicks’ Gloss, a 70% merino 30% silk yarn, in Cocoa.  That is a lovely yarn, and I highly recommend it.

Tangent Warning – Why did it take me so long to finish these?  I like the easy lace pattern, I like the yarn and the color, I definitely like the intended recipient, so what was the holdup?  I don’t have a good answer, but I wish I did.  I always like to understand why I do the things I do, or at least have a good working theory.  There was some angst about the fit, and I ripped back a bit to work on that, which could explain part of it, but I was not excited about these even before I got to that part.  Actually, I’m still a little concerned that they still might be too long, so they may end up with someone else, which means the original recipient will get to pick another yarn.  It’s all good.  Just not all fast.

Okay, back to the bind-off.  My preferred sock method (if you care to know) is toe-up, provisional cast-on of half the total stitches, short-row toe and pick up the CO stitches, then on up to a short-row heel, maybe with a few stitches added for a teeny gusset there, to be decreased away when the heel is turned.  Then up the leg until it is about as long as the foot.  I learned on, and still prefer, five double-pointed needles.  Not four.  That makes it way too tight at the corners for me!  Anyway, I’ve used and been pretty happy with Elizabeth Zimmermann’s sewn bind-off for my socks for quite some time now, but ran across this stretchy bind-off and thought I’d give it a try.

It looks a little more substantial than the sewn one, with  a more definite line of demarcation than the sewn bind-off shown on the blue sock, which just seems to fade into the ribbing.    Because of its added bulk, you can see that it flares ribbing out a bit.  But especially for socks, that’s totally immaterial – it’s the stretchy that is important.

So how does it go?  The instructions I have are for K1P1 ribbing, but I’ve adapted that a bit, so here goes.  Just remember to work each stitch as it is, then do the “2tog” according to the stitch you just worked.  I hope that will make sense when you actually get to it!

For K2P2 ribbing: K2, with yarn in back, slip left needle into the front of the 2 stitches you just worked, and K2tog.
*P1, with yarn in front, slip left needle into the back of the two stitches on the right needle and P2tog.  Repeat.
K1, with yarn in back, slip left needle into the front of the two stitches on the right needle and K2tog.  Repeat.
Continue from * until all stitches have been worked, break yarn and pull through last stitch. Using a yarn needle, work in the end of the yarn.

I am confident that most of the rest of the knitting world knows all about this BO, and even knows the name for it.  But I thought I’d share it anyway.  If you do happen to know what this method is called, please leave me a comment with that bit of information.  I don’t have the time to go browsing for it just now, but would like to know!

Next up, a pair of “thank you” socks… and a pair for me, too!

And here’s something I bought a while back at The Shivering Sheep in Abilene, Kansas during the Central Kansas Yarn Shop Hop.  Dare I say that it would be a perfect last-minute stocking stuffer?

I might actually get this one finished before spring.

Ok, I’m a really new knitter.  I know this because I had never worn a piece that I knitted out in public (other than a scarf) until Saturday.  I know!  It was great though, and I even got a compliment from my friend, who didn’t know I had made it.  He was very impressed when he found out that I had.  It was the Ribbed Lace Bolero by Kelly Maher.  It was a good feeling and I’m excited to wear many other pieces in the future!  Hopefully the next piece I complete and wear will be my own design!

Now that I have the textured tunic finished, I can start on my own designs.  I have lots of patterns saved up in my queue on ravelry, and I’m sure I’ll still knit from those from time to time, but at least for this next project, I can’t wait to create something all my own!  I think it’ll be a cami.  I have some cotton yarn that I got on ebay that I am swatching right now.  When I have it swatched I’ll decide which design I want to make, and then I’ll work out the details.  This is a very new experience for me and I’m making it up as I go.  I can’t wait to see how it unravels (well, hopefully my knitting won’t unravel).

There is not enough time in a day to knit!

The second bind off, on the first sleeve, is a knit bind off with the same size needle, because I didn’t have a larger needle with me, and I knew I’d go back and re-do it but I wanted to start the second sleeve.

The third bind off, on the second sleeve, is a purl bind off, because I liked the way it looked on the February Baby sweater, but I used the larger needle as requested in the Lady pattern. I don’t like it. It’s too “loopy” or something.

I think what it needs is a purl bind off with the same size needle that was used for the knitting, as in the baby sweater.  It would make it match the cast on edge better than the knit bind off (I used long tail).

If I had used a cable cast on, the knit bind off would match, but that’s not the look I was looking for. Can you say “picky?” “Obsessive?” “Knuts?”

All this talk about edges and bind offs must make you think that I’m done, right? Well, sort of. But I’ve decided that the sleeves want to be about three lace repeats longer than they are. Apparently, I’m a trial and error knitter. But willing to rip to get what I want, always.

Onward!

Knitting at Knoon – Kitchener Stitch - has a video, too…

TECHknitting - An easier way to Kitchener Stitch (also called “grafting seams” or “weaving seams”)

*k2tog, pass stitch back to non-working needle*, repeat from * until no stitches remain.

Perhaps when things settle down here I can compile some of the other methods into a list for Knitwith.us.  What method do you like to use for binding off your knitting projects?  Does it vary depending on the item being created?