| Patchwork Girl's Rambling Warps | ||||
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Tuesday, May 27, 2003 ( 1:30 PM ) Jessica I'm still trying to decide what to do about the blog...I'd love to use GreyMatter again, but don't know if I trust the website's host not to crash again... I could write up my entries in a word processor & then cut & paste them so I always have a backup... not sure if I want to do this though, it would be clunky that way but it would be nice to be able to look back & know when I did what with my projects.. we'll see what happens! If I use my ISP's web space, I'll use Blog, which you can write into offline or online... I finished the back of Sanquar last night and started on the left front. I need to look at what I've done so far with the left front... there's a small chance I may decide to rip it & restart it if it looks too messy... this is not a problem, took less than an hour & most of it was comparing with the right front.... I felt pretty confused while I was working on it because I was trying to remember what I did & I want to match the decreases from the left side & I know I messed up the count until I started making tick marks on paper... I tried using a piece of yarn with 5 or 6 loops on the needle, but I find that the tick mark method works MUCH better for me... once I get this going, it will go by fairly quickly & I may have an FO report in the next few days...all depends on TV time... re: how to get things done with kids around: I can usually do semi-mindless knitting during TV time...if Reuven is busy (playing with his toys or his brothers) or nursing, I can usually knit then... it's not super comfortable to knit with my elbow on top of his head, but if I'm determined to knit, I will...I've pretty much designated certain TV shows to knit by...7th Heaven & Everwood on Mondays, although since they're doing repeats, I may find something else to replace this with until the new season starts again... Gilmore Girls on Tuesday... will probably watch the Amazing Race on Thursday...may start watching Charmed since I haven't been watching it..that shows on Sundays... sometimes I'll knit during Rangers baseball games or movies... Once I'm done with Sanquar, I'll work on socks during TV time until I get enough done for Crazy Socks day at school (September or October) & get my pink Cityline socks done..and a pair for Reuven..that's 5 and we'll all have hand knit socks...I'm also going to work on the Magic Carpet sweater...will probably swatch it sometime this week. I don't expect this project to be TV knitting since I'll probably have to concentrate, at least at the outset since intarsia is basically new to me...I used some intarsia techniques with other projects & did a little of SWAKKNIT's Intarsia technique book, so I'm not afraid of the technique... The other night, while watching Charmed, one of the girls, I THINK it was Phoebe or Piper, was wearing a cool lace cap & it reminded me of Medrith's Glover's little lace cap pattern...couldn't resist whipping out some bulky yarn & needles, but the lace gets lost in variegated yarn, so I'm going to try using some Lamb's Pride bulky in a bright lime green (what Bonnie Marie once called the "Shrek" color for her fuzzy feet)...Medrith's pattern calls for "chunky weight" yarn, and I have some old OLD Brown Sheep Naturespun chunky weight yarn, but it's pretty dense yarn & I don't know if I have a color that I like for this...I may refigure the pattern (or use a different lace pattern) for worsted weight yarn in a coral color Green Mountain Mohair... I want something for winter...I made an Aran hat from my Annabel Fox book but I don't like it very much...I used Brown Sheep wool-silk-mohair & wish I had made it as a cap & not used the rolled edge at the top... someday I'll take photos... Sweatergirl asked how I made the alphabet band: I used an inkleweaving pick up technique. It helps to be familiar with basic inkle weaving techniques & then you can try this: Plan a border (I used 5 or 6 strands of the same yarn on the edges of the band)...then for your lettering area, plan a warp with 2 contrasting colors with 24 strands warped as for checkerboard: P=Pattern color B=backbround color...the white was my pattern color & a variegated red/orange/gold was my background color on the alphabet band... border P B P B P B B P B P B P P B P B P B B P B P B P border You can vary letter size by making the warp wider...more on this another time... (I haven't tried this yet, so can't answer how it works) Once you have the warp ready, weave a few rows... Make up a chart of the letters...I'll give a couple of examples how this works & will chart out a few letters on the computer & will post them another time...the basic concept is to drop & pick up the appropriate threads for each section of the letter... warping in checkerboard gives you more options for the shed holding the weaving yarn in place... I suppose you could do this using a solid background & solid foreground & picking up the appropriate yarn colors, but I have not tried that method... Anyway, the letter A is done in 3 rows... a shot for the solid portion of the letter, then a shot for the top & middle bands of the letter & then another shot for the other solid line of the letter... O would also be done in 3 rows... a solid line at the left, then a line at the top & bottom & then a solid line on the right... WIth the warp I set up, you'll have 4 groups of 6 threads to form "blocks" of each letter... a chart will clarify this & I'll try to make one up in a day or so... To do the letter A....first you pick up & drop the appropriate strands to give you a row or two of a solid background color & throw the shuttle through the shed & beat..change sheds... Then pick up & drop whatever strands you need to get a solid line of Pattern color...throw the shuttle through & beat..change shed... Then pick up & drop whatever you need to get a block at the top & middle of the A with the rest of the space showing the background color... throw shuttle through & beat & change shed... Now pick up & drop whatever you need to get a solid line of pattern color like you did for the first section of the letter A..Throw the shuttle & beat & change sheds... pick up & drop whatever you need to get a solid line of background color & throw the shuttle & beat & voila, you've got the letter A... this might be easier if I could SHOW you how to do this, but I'm not sure my camera would cooperate... I'll try to answer any questions about how this is done... (sigh) I just had to put a much longer piece of duct tape on the refrigerator because Reuven kept opening it... we have an open kitchen & can't keep him out of it...ARGH! #
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