The Knitting Fiend

Table runner done!

You can see why we need a runner. The cat likes to sit on the cedar chest and look out the window. He’s been there for a few hours now.

This is, by the way, a nice beginning machine knitting project. I used the latch-tool cast on and latch-tool bind off and knit stockinette in between. (This runner is 88 stitches wide and 500 rows long. I think it took me a half an hour– at most– to knit. Maybe 15 minutes! Yarn cost? Maybe $1. I got this yarn at Midwest Discount Yarns, and it’s very inexpensive.)

The one possible problem with a stockinette runner is that stockinette usually curls to the knit side at the cast on and bind off edges and curls to the purl side on the other edges. However, the curl was easy to steam out of this yarn. I set the iron on “synthetic”, then I soaked a very large, old cloth table napkin, and, laid it on the knitting, carefully flattening the fabric below. I placed the iron on the wet napkin, and let the steam saturate the knitting. I let the fabric rest and cool a little before moving it; this makes steaming the runner a bit more time consuming than just ironing.

If you want to knit the runner, and hope to steam out the curl, you must test on the swatch first. Too high a temperature could kill a synthetic yarn, or worse, melt it. (If you accidentally do kill the yarn, you may decide you like killed yarn; lots of people do. If so, that would be a positive learning experience! In contrast, melting is always bad.)

Anyway, if the beginner picks a yarn they can successfully steam, this is a terrific project. It has no fiddly edge treatments!

Oh, did you notice if knit narrower and shorter, it’s a scarf?

I know based on email, some were hoping I’d make the man pleasing tube top. Jim is still pressing for one. He mentioned the idea to his brothers, and they concur that man pleasing tube tops should be knit. (They are hoping I can initiate a fashion trend.) Mom, who is not inclined to see tube tops make a come back, suggested a chair cushion cover.

This yarn is very thin, and I have plenty left. With the remaining yarn, I am planning to make:

• A husband pleasing tube top.
• Beer (or pop) can huggers.
• A chair cushion cover.
• Maybe some baby thing I planned in the first place!

Supposedly, today I’m making Jim’s cardigan — before I make all these other things. But, maybe I should procrastinate some more and test out my instructions using the gaudy yellow yarn and test knit the cardigan by making one for the doll? Hmmm…….

100% Virgin wool
$1.25 per ounce.

Jim needs a cardigan to match his slacks. He likes to wear clothes in the olive-khaki-putty color range. I hunted for a wool olive colored yarn, but couldn’t find one I liked. But, I liked the slightly soft fuzzy feel, and the dark flecks in this putty colored yarn.

7 st/inch
Tension setting 8

I knit a 20 st x 20 row mini-swatch. It will knit nicely at tenion 8 on a standard machine; the gauge will be about 7 st/ inch. I’ll be knitting a real gauge swatch today; I’ll let it rest overnight. I spent some of last week coding a sideways knit raglan pattern generator, so I’m hoping I can start Jim’s cardigan tomorrow. I’m hoping the main piece will be done. (Cross my fingers.)

Gosh, sometimes that knitlist drives me nuts!

Some of you are probably familiar with Yahoo’s email lists, and the knitlist in particular. I usually love the list. People ask questions about knitting. They mention great new yarns, and describe popular patterns. It’s a fount of information. But, some people can be such…. oh, decent words fail me.

Ok, here’s an example: One woman, describing herself as a new knitter, asks what the next “hot” item for hand knit gifts might be.

It’s not a question I, “Lucia the unfashionable”, would ask, but it strikes me as a sensible one. After all, if you like to knit, and you like to give friends hand made gifts, you’d prefer to find out what people might be excited about rather presenting them with something that was popular in, oh say, 1843. Right?

But someone wasn’t content see it this way. No, someone had to lambaste the new knitter for asking about fashionable items. The respondent suggested that, if you are interested in knitting “what’s hot”, you are knitting for “the wrong reason”.

Well, shoot! I thought knitting was a craft and a hobby. What is the “right” reason for knitting? The wrong reason? Is it a sin to knit because it’s “in”?

Oh, and I’m tired of people complaining that new knitters like fun fur too much and wailing that the new LYS are stocking too much novelty yarn. Don’t those new LYS owners know they should stock nothing but elite, sophisticated, whoppingly expensive yarns for elite sophisticated knowledgable knitters who knit “for the right reasons”?!

Yeah, well, ok. Fun fur is not my favorite. But, you know, it can be fun! Who doesn’t sometimes want to trim a purse, gloves or neckline with something outrageous? Does every project on the planet need to be a time consuming, complicated lace, cable or fair-isle pattern? What’s wrong with new knitters liking to knit garter stitch scarves in relatively inexpensive fun fur?

Oh.. I guess I don’t always “get it”. Despite my years of knitting, I must not be “real knitter”! I just have fun making things that fit, are fun, and hopefully, flattering. Ok, I’ll admit, sometimes, I like to knit things that are just cute and silly. I figure other people like to knit things they like. So what if I’d never knit it? Sheesh!

In the end, I just keep wondering: How could a knitter having fun knitting something fashionable be wrong?