I've been thinking about knitting a shawl--a sort of substantial one, though, not one just for looks. Something that I could take on airplanes, maybe, or wrap myself in on cold evenings at home. I looked through the Patternworks catalog last night and found this one (the one on the left):

I ordered the pattern today, along with enough yarn to make it in the same yarn and color as in the picture. It calls for Size 11 needles, which are larger than I like to work with, but I imagine that will be okay. I ordered a pair along with the pattern and yarn. It will be something nice to work on in the fall.

[ Posted by Willa at 4:18 PM ] link me

Thursday, August 22, 2002:

Just because I need to save this somewhere (it has some corrections/tips for knitting a couple of patterns in "Knitting in America:" Knitting Pattern Corrections and Errata

[ Posted by Willa at 1:37 PM ] link me

I finally took a couple of pictures of the vest I'm working on. I've finished the ribbing and a few inches of the body; I'm almost finished with the first skein of yarn. I'm using a bamboo circular needle. The stitches don't slide very well on them, so it's hurting my hands some--I can't do much more than four rounds or so at a time. But that's okay.

One of the things I don't like about working with large needles is that it makes me rush, makes me feel like I should be finished NOW. Sort of like reading short stories. I don't know exactly why that is, but as a rule I avoid both.

I like to read substantial books that let me sort of fall in and get involved. I tend to stick with smaller knitting projects because of my afore-mentioned problem with commitment, but even with small projects, I prefer small needles because it makes me slow down, makes me relax into the knitting, which is what I'm knitting for.

This vest is knit with size 6 (for the ribbing) and size 7 (for the body) needles, which aren't exactly tiny, of course, but small enough that I don't feel like I have to finish the vest in a weekend or something.

Here's a close-up of the vest showing the basketweave pattern.

[ Posted by Willa at 9:25 AM ] link me