Easter (with Knitting)
This was Chappy this morning, waiting for my sister and her family to arrive.
We had a really lovely day. The weather was perfect, everyone was in a good mood. The food was good, and it was just . . . nice.
Patty-and-family got here around 12:30 . . . just in time, really, since Chappy’s patience was running out. He knew they were coming. (Or at least, he knew that somebody was coming–Mom, Dad and I were way too dressed up for a normal Sunday morning–not to mention the fact that Dad wasn’t golfing.)
He was much happier once everbody was here!
(He wasn’t the only one. Pity about the red-eye, huh?)
In between cooking (london broil, new potatoes, asparagus, and corn for dinner; sponge cake with berry sauce and fresh whipped cream for dessert) and socializing and all of that, I did still get some knitting done.
Well, Eva tried, but she made her comment just a little too late. I’d already finished the garter stitch heels in my socks, tried them on, and discovered that, unlike the stockinette-stitch heels, they were too small. (Yes, the pattern for the heels mentioned that possibility, it’s my fault.) So tonight, I riiiiiiipped the heels out and will start them over again in a night or so.
My Celtic Dreams sweater? I finished the upper back last night and started the upper front this morning. Right now, it looks like one, odd rectangle with a hole in the middle . . . but the cables look fabulous! And I’m actually getting gauge . . . so that’s something, huh?
Speaking of gauge, Janet mentioned in a comment in Margene‘s blog the other day that, “Since I was a crocheter before a knitter I hold the yarn in my left hand, tensioning with the index finger very far away. I think that used to be my problem with knitting loosely.”
Now, this made me think. Because I technically did learn to crochet from my grandmother before I learned to knit, and when I taught myself to knit Continental style in college, I just automatically carried the yarn in my left hand in the same way. And I think we’ve established that I’m a loose-gauge knitter, huh? (Aran weight yarn on size 2 needles for my Celtic Dreams; the Union Square Market Pullover not only on smaller needles, but with 2/3 the number of stitches, and so on.) I wonder if this makes a difference? Or not . . . my gauge wasn’t nearly this loose, say, two years ago. I really have no idea what’s happened. I feel like I knit the same way, with the same tension in my fingers, but these gauge issues are getting kind of ridiculous. I wonder if it’s possible to re-teach myself yarn tensioning, or something?
But, my cables are looking fabulous, and isn’t that what really matters?
(And, of course, can’t forget the proud grandparents!)
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Tannenbaum.
House Calls
dinner sounds yummy! Hope all enjoyed! Sorry about your heels
Glad you had a nice day – Chappy looks handsome in his Easter finery!
You may be knitting a lot faster, and have loosened up to do that. That is what happened to me. Now instead of bending all my needles and fighting with the yarn, I am actually almost always on gauge.
That’s interesting about your gauge. I, too, was a crocheter before a knitter and I carry the yarn in my left hand, tensioning over my index finger. And I’m a loose knitter – I find it almost impossible to get gauge on Starmore patterns without going down three or four needles sizes, which can get difficult when she starts on a size three! Same with Dale of Norway. But I’m comfotable with the way I knit and I think trying to change tension would make it just not fun. So I say – knit away loosely. You’re probably more relaxed.
I was a crocheter long before I was a knitter, and learned to knit continental in university. I’m a very loose knitter as well, so was very interested to read this entry.
My knitting teacher said as we got more comfortable with knitting that our tension would loosen up. It has definately happened to me (I knit in the English style) but I also changed the way I tension the yarn. (I used to wrap the yarn once around my pinky and then weave it through my fingers with the yarn going over my right index finger. Now I just weave it through the fingers.) I am currently knitting the Noro Eloise pattern on US 5′s to get gauge (the pattern called for US 8′s) and it is driving me crazy! So I sympathize with you and Celtic Dreams. Glad you had such a nice day yesterday.
Oddly enough, I got to talking with a second cousin on Easter and she is a crocheter who keeps trying to learn to knit. Her problem is exactly the opposite of yours — she knits way too tight. I told her to try different needles or, more importantly, to stop trying to knit with the cheap acrylic from AC Moore (okay, so that last one was really a personal bias thing done in the name of natural fiberholics everywhere!).
Can’t wait to see more progress pics of CD- it’s looking great so far (judging by the pic a few days ago).
Whenever I knit continental my gauge is loose – I am right handed so I’m more comfortable ‘throwing’ but as an added bonus, when I’m throwing my gauge is usually dead-on.
I’m not a crocheter. I knit continental. And I knit loosely.