Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

The weekend at Southeast Fiber Forum was a wonderful experience! I drove up on Thursday afternoon. It was overcast and/or raining during the entire drive. Fortunately, about an hour of the four-hour drive was through Great Smoky Mountains National Park . Plants were just waking up from their winter slumber and turning green. The creeks were running fast and high and small feeder streams formed little veil waterfalls as they flowed down the rocks on the mountainsides. I had only driven through the park once before, and that was more than twenty years ago and in the autumn. Although it would be a long day trip, I must remember it would be a great location for a photo shoot, especially on an overcast weekend when the park wouldn't be crowded. Fiber Forum was at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, which is on the main street in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I had not been to Gatlinburg before. It is a quintessential American tourist trap -- lots of  things to see and a main street of b...

I foolishly forgot to mention that in conjunction with Southeast Fiber Forum, I have work on exhibit at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in the Geoffrey A. Wolpert Gallery. If you happen to find yourself near Gatlinburg, Tennessee this weekend, please drop in to see a full array of fiber arts in the gallery. A better peek is on their website here .

The spinning wheel had been idling for about a month. I decided to go to spin night at The Whole Nine Yarns, so I just grabbed some fiber as I scurried out the door. I purposely grabbed something I didn't want to think much about. Well, I started to spin and wondered why I had even purchased this fiber. I bought it in Maryland. It was locally grown. The fiber is 70% Dorset and 30% angora. It is soft. It was undyed, so the color of dirty dishwater. And the batt was, well, not something that's going to win any awards. It had a lot of neps. What the batt most reminded me of was the galactic dust clouds from which new stars form. The price was good. I do recall chatting with the owner. I must have bought this thing just to be nice, possibly thinking that $15 for 30% angora would surely be worth it. Obviously, this was not going to be a worsted yarn. So, I spun it woolen. I just accepted that this was going to be a textured, slubby yarn. I spun it onto three different bobbins, t...

Feather and fan is a classic knitting stitch pattern. Anything that is a classic is so for a reason. Casablanca -- possibly the best dialogue in the history of cinema. Where the Wild Things Are -- a great visual description of childhood imagination. Macaroni and cheese -- comfort food that fills your belly and reminds you of home. The Feminine Mystique -- articulation of the "problem that has no name," which is really the universal human search for purpose in life. A little black dress or a string of pearls -- unfussy, modern fashion, subtly complimentary of feminine sexual beauty without being vulgar. Feather and fan is a classic for several reasons. Firstly, the stitch pattern gives you a lot of result for little work. Most variants of the pattern have action on every-other right side row -- i.e. every fourth row. That means three easy rows of knit all or purl all. The clustering of increases and decreases bends the fabric to create a wonderful wavy edge. If you are...

As I mentioned yesterday, I've used Cat Bordhi's center-out möbius cast-on but adapted it for lace. Start with the plain möbius cast-on. The trick is to change the numbers and only cast-on the knits and decreases but not the yarn overs. Then on the first round of the möbius, I added the yarn-over part. For example, my feather and fan pattern is: (k1, yo) ×4, k1, ssk ×3, dd, k2tog ×3, (k1, yo) ×4. The pattern multiple is 16 stitches. Each crest is 9 stitches (9 knits with 8 yarn-overs between them) and each trough is 7 stitches (three left-leaning decreases, a center double decrease, and three right-leaning decreases). If I get rid of the yarn-overs, I have 9 knits + 7 decreases = 16 stitches. Therefore, I should cast on 16 plain stitches for every pattern multiple. I don't need any extra +1 stitch for balancing the pattern since a möbius is in the round. However, to align pattern crests and troughs I need to cast on an extra half multiple. In the pattern I cast on 88 ...

I'm teaching a workshop later this summer on stash busting. I was sorting through my ideas for what techniques to put in the class; and it occurred to me a möbius would be suitable. But I wanted to teach it first before I commit to it. I decided the easiest way to do that would be to design a pattern and put it on the schedule at the shop. Thus, the Sonic Boom Cowl. You may not realize at first glance, but a möbius is a great shape for stash busting. If you use a center-out cast-on -- such as the one devised by Cat Bordhi -- the yarn will automatically produce mirrored stripes. This works with any skein of reasonably long-print yarn and would be perfect for a magic ball. In addition to the stripes, a möbius can be knit until you run out of yarn. Visually it is wonderful. Practically, it is a shape that permits maximum fabric with minimum waste. Stripes are also great for stash busting. One of the best is feather and fan pattern. Typically, there are three or five plain rows/ro...

After the quiet of the winter, I am about to enter the excitement of the spring teaching schedule. Here's some of what's coming up. Thursday 5 March I'll be giving the presentation at the Atlanta Knitting Guild meeting. I'll be talking about Rick Mondragon's sliding loop intarsia method. Rick published this technique twenty years ago. While it is a clever way to work intarsia as you go -- without a mess of bobbins -- it has some other interesting applications. In the photo above, beginning at bottom and moving clockwise: binding off at end of row, flat entrelac, modular intarsia, perpendicular edging, and beads. On Friday and Saturday, 6 & 7 March, I'll be teaching a workshop for North Georgia Knitting Guild. I've taught regular two-color double knitting previously. This time I'll be teaching plain one-color double knitting using my Generic Double Knit Sachet pattern. Again, this is a technique that has greater applications. It is the foundati...