We are on our way to the Coastal Condo to see what kind of damage Florence left behind. First Tess to Heavenly Days (a dog's best friend) then on to the airport. Keep your fingers crossed.
I just finished one of my most challenging pieces and I must admit, it didn't always bring me joy. Do you remember this? I started Chrystal Falls in January but had to stop because of a stitch I wasn't enjoying. When I decided I wanted to knit something for my friend Lynn, I also realized I needed to knit something for her daughter Lissi for their help during Mom's funeral. I decided to knit two very different pieces and let Lynn and Lissi decide. You saw the Olgajazzy Issey scarf a couple of posts ago that I knit with love for Lynn, now let me show you Chrystal Falls and everything I learned from it. As a reminder, Chrystal Falls is knit from Kauni (one of my very favorite yarns) using Mosaic Knitting (one of my very favorite techniques.) This is my finished product. There are 3 learning from Chrystal Falls that I feel are very exciting. The first learning came immediately with the cast-on. Chrystal Falls calls for an I-cord Cast-on, a very time consuming technique well worth the time. The edge is is perfectly straight and firm. See how beautiful it is? I would use it again in a heart beat even when not called for in the pattern. I think it is perfect when a scarf is knitted the long way. At the bottom of the picture see the 4 stitch slip stitch? Now I want you to look at the back. See the long yellow stitches? Those are called floats and I don't like them. It was this stitch that made me stop in January. It is difficult to keep the floats from being too tight then again if they are too loose they will catch on things. Then I remembered a tip I learned some time ago. On the next RS row, you catch the float and knit under it pulling it in close See how much better that looks? I probably should have gone back and fixed the first long float, but I didn't. I hated the thought of tinking two rows of 400+ stitches but I'm going to say I kept it for a teachable moment. Now on to the 3rd amazing learning. This is the Bobble Bind-off. Isn't it amazing. Like the I-cord Cast-on, it was incredibly time consuming. It took about 8-9 hours to bind-off. Every 4th stitch you work 25 stitches to make the bobble. I love it. The juice was definitely worth the squeeze. Put it all together and you get this. Lydia makes everything look better. Now that Crystal Falls is finished, I am so proud of it. I love what it looks like and what I learned. I am very anxious to see which scarf goes to Lynn and which goes to Lissi. Knitting with love makes knitting worthwhile.
We are on our way to the Coastal Condo to see what kind of damage Florence left behind. First Tess to Heavenly Days (a dog's best friend) then on to the airport. Keep your fingers crossed.
1 Comment
Lori on Little Traverse Bay
10/9/2018 06:06:19 am
Love the scarf, but especially the bobble bind-off. I haven't seen that before, but it really adds something special to an already amazing knit.
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jan parsonThis blog is dedicated to Mary Helen Growt my first knitting teacher and the woman who changed my life. The mission of Knitting: A Love Story is to preserve, share and promote the love of knitting. Archives
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