Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

I pulled out a random skein of yarn last night and decided to work up a quick short-row scarf swatch. I wanted to see what the yarn ( Universal Yarn Classic Shades ) would do, and if the short-row scarf technique would work in 1×1 ribbing. As you can see, this is quite the misshapen mess! Starting at the bottom, I cast on one stitch and worked back and forth in 1×1 ribbing, working a Y-increase at the end of every row. You can see the bottom brown module ended up being a right-angle triangle that grew from the point to the wide base. The increase scheme of 1 stitch at the edge of every row or 1 stitch at both edges every-other row typically yields the classic 45-45-90 triangle. What got interesting was the short-row sections. I tried working them back and forth without any shaping. Start at the edge, work one pair of stitches in, turn work, work one pair of stitches back out to the edge. Next row, two pairs of stitches, turn, two pairs of stitches. Then three pairs and three ...

More than a decade ago, I posted how to make what I called an origami cardigan. It was a way to work with a color-pooling yarn while keeping the stitch count the same across the whole garment. A few years later, I made something similar using another variegated color-pooling yarn. A few days ago, baltimoreknits on Ravelry asked me if there is a pattern for the second jacket. Well, no, I didn't write up the pattern. However, it did get me thinking about this construction method. And I realized in trying to answer her question, that it would be easier to shoot video. I have not yet tried this with a piece of woven fabric, but I am guessing it would work?

Well, I was supposed to be teaching at Carolina Fiber Fest this weekend. We thought we'd get in one final fiber fest before the apocalypse. Instead, I spent Thursday driving up to Raleigh and Friday driving back from Raleigh. I've spent most of today in my pajamas and either knitting or playing with the fusion engine drum carder. Fifteen hours of driving and no interactions with students or fiber goodies or paycheck to show for the effort does not make for a happy crafter. On the plus side, Varian Brandon split the cost of the hotel room with me. We got to catch up and I got to see the lovely Fair Isle cross she is knitting for an art exhibit scheduled during Holy Week. And gas is under $2 a gallon. And the Indian food at the restaurant at the Ramada is dang good. If you are a regular visitor to this website, you may have noticed the link to STITCHES United is gone. Yes, STITCHES United is canceled. I even put an EZ Pass in my car so I could drive the New Jersey turnpike to...