Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

On the Alacrity mitts, I knit myself into a spot a didn't expect. I cast-on. I worked in the round. I introduced the thumb gusset using a bridge. I decreased away most of the thumb gusset. And then I got to the bottom of the gusset and realized I needed to work a reversible 5 into 1 decrease to keep everything in pattern. Yes, this is a reversible centered quadruple decrease. Park the five knits on one needle and the five purls on another needle. Use a crochet hook to enter the obverse stitches in order 3-2-4-1-5. Yes, you will need to park stitch #1 and remove stitches from the needle as you work. Using the hook, pull a stitch up through the whole stack. Place the stitch on the right needle. Turn the work. Repeat on the reverse. Turn the work back. Not fast, but it can be done.

As I continue to explore reversible lace, there are more and more techniques to develop. I've already posted how to work left-leaning and right-leaning decreases. The obvious corollary is how to work double decreases. I need to explain there are different types of reversibility. For example, if the obverse is this: /O/O The reverse could be this: O\O\ or this: /O/O The first example is mirrored reversibility, but the second example is identical reversibility. In a centered double-decrease, there are also two possible configurations. The stitches start out on the needle as left - center - right. The final stacks could be either: center                    center right           or         left  left                 ...

I gave the direction to use a bridge to create a thumb gusset. As this is an unusual maneuver, I thought I should explain. In a top-down mitt, you cast-on in the round and work a tube. At some point, you may want to create a thumb gusset without breaking the yarn. You can do that by casting on more stitches, joining them back to the main tube, then continuing in the round. For reversible lace, I use a waste yarn tab to mimic the tubular cast-on and bind-off I've used elsewhere in the project. Knit across the tab, turn, yarn over and slip one purlwise with yarn in front for the first pair, then work alternating knit 1 in the running thread, slip 1 purlwise with yarn in front across the tab. After that, turn and work 1×1 ribbing across the tab. Now that the tab is established, join to the body of the mitt using a crochet hook to work the last knit-purl pair on the body a second time. This produces a secure join that won't gap. At that point, I can return to working...

I've already stated that for reversible lace, I like the tubular Italian cast-on. I have discovered, however, that it is not the easiest cast-on to work in the round. It is very easy to introduce an unintentional twist! Could there be an easier way? This alternative is not as fast and requires waste yarn. However, I think it is easier to work. And it creates the same tubular structure as Italian cast-on. Cast-on auxiliary yarn using whatever cast-on you like and casting on one stitch for each knit-purl pair you want for your project. In other words, cast on half as many stitches as you intend to have. Work several rows back and forth to create the auxiliary yarn tab. You can work in garter or stockinette, as you prefer. Since the tab is what keeps the work from twisting, please don't skimp on it. I would work at least five rows, maybe more. I like to work one row of a separate thin and slippery waste yarn. That way I can reuse the auxiliary yarn tab in another project ...

Time for more reversible lace! The Whole Nine Yarns hosts an annual Christmas in July event. This year's event will be this Sunday, 24 July 2016, starting at noon. My contribution this year is a reversible lace pattern I've named Alacrity. These are fingerless mitts worked from the top down. If you know how to work two tubes simultaneously, you can work these until you run out of yarn. This is a yummy luxury yarn you won't want to waste — The Fibre Company Road to China Light, containing alpaca, silk, camel, and cashmere. I had less than a yard leftover. This pattern will also help you work your way up the reversible lace learning curve. It uses double increases and centered double decreases. The mitts are identical, so there aren't any weird directions about making a left-hand versus making a right-hand. And they are reversible, which means you can even turn them inside-out! The freebie version of the pattern is somewhat abbreviated. I'll post the full v...

A few months ago, a member of Atlanta Knitting Guild arrived at a meeting with a challenge. She was making a blanket in pieces and was ready to seam it together. She had used slipped-stitch selvedges and was discovering that mattress stitch did not appear to be a pleasing solution. There was quite a bit of discussion amongst members but no sure-fire solution. I let this question mull in my mind for awhile. Then I remembered a trick I had seen Gayle Roehm use in her "Sssinuous" scarf pattern , Knitter's Magazine #117, Winter 2014 . As you might guess from the name, Gayle's scarf twists around and back on itself. Because it is a scarf, a tidy slipped-stitch edge is appealing. After all, most of the selvedge is visible in the finished accessory. But there are places where the scarf needs to be seamed together. And the scarf will be seen on both sides, so reversibility is highly desirable. I am pleased to report that Gayle has thought this problem through and solved it...

As you know, sometimes I'm working on a project that suits a vision, and sometimes I'm just experimenting to see what happens. ("Experiment" — isn't that just a grown-up word for "play?") Four ounces of Corriedale recently hit my fiber stash. This was from A Good Yarn in Sarasota, Florida . I had been a winner in last year's Spinzilla , but somehow we had never quite coordinated getting the prize into my mailbox. No worries, as it arrived just in time for the summer dyeing season. Yes, while the rest of Atlanta melts in the heat, I figure I should make use of this free and excess heat energy. I divided the fiber into thirds. Using Jaquard acid dyes, I dyed one chunk with 602 bright yellow, the second chunk with 608 pink, and the third chunk with 624 turquoise. I did the sun tea version of dyeing, but I should have used larger jars. I had trouble with the fiber not dyeing evenly. I got the yellow saturated in only one or two tries, but the pin...

Today is the first day of Tour de Fleece 2016. While I am not formally participating in it, I do have my fingers in some spinning projects right now. To kick off the occasion, I decide to post this video from July of 2014. These are Leicester longwool locks from Rivendell Farm in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. These raw locks came from a ram. As you can see, Brûlée likes the male smell. He rolls around in the locks so as to get the smell on himself. I've seen this scent anointing behavior in other animals, such as my favorite pandas at ZooAtlanta. As a spinner, knitter, crocheter, and weaver, haven't we all had a moment when we wanted to just roll in the stash?