Episode 6: Yarn Floozy

Welcome knitters! In this episode we are "in the classroom," and it's all about our knitting. We discuss what's on and off our needles in our Show and Tell segment, our goals and if we met them, what's hot right now and we present a research paper about after and fore thought heels. Perhaps we've had a knitting howler or two in the past weeks?  Pick up your knitting and find out as you join us for our 6th episode.

Episode 6 Audio

Marcy, Kim, and Smitten
 Recording episode 6.

What's in our lesson plan today:

• Show and Tell
• Hot Right Now
• Research Paper: After and Fore Thought heels
• Knitting Howlers
• Knitting Goals
• What's on our Blackboard

Show and Tell:

We begin this segment with Kim discussing the goals that she set in the last episode.

1. Finish her Doodler shawl by Stephen West. Kim ended up crocheting the top and bottom borders using stitch patterns from the book, Complete Photo Guide to Crochet.  All info to be found on the project page.  Done!!!
2. Cast on a new sweater. The Breathing Space pullover by Veera Valimaki. Done!!!
3. Pick up her Elsie shawl and knit on it. Kim ended up frogging the original shawl, which was the Better Together shawl by Erica Jackofsky and casting on the Itineris shawl by the Yarniad.  Both shawls are beautiful and the Anzula Cloud yarn is amazing. Done!!!
4. Put her fiber stash on Ravelry. Done!!!
5. Finish her Autumn's End pullover by Nevernotknitting. not done...:  (
6. Finish her "Surprise! IDK where you came from" socks, research after and forethought heels, put in afterthought heels and write up a research paper on the topic to share on the podcast. Done!!!

In the end we decided that Kim had earned an A- for meeting most of her knitting goals during the past weeks. Phew... Setting goals doesn't work for everyone, but so far it has been working for Kim and gently prodding her to start and finish things on her knitting list. 

Errata*** The Tv show mentioned was Knitting Today and should've been Knitting Daily. 

Also, if you're in the area, check out the gorgeous Monarch Knitting yarn shop in Pacific Grove, CA.

Marcy is continuing to work on her gorgeous Casual Kimono sweater by Bonnie Riley. Both yarn and pattern are from Stitchsisterz. She's sadly running out of yarn and will need to order more. While madly perusing Ravelry and trying to decide what to knit next, she cast on the Be My Angel shawl by Martina Behm. Its beautiful and is the perfect comfort knitting for her right now!

Marcy also swatched for several projects: 

Youth Yarn Swatch

Allhemp6 Swatch

1) The Reflected Lines cardigan by Suvi Simola using Yoth Yarn in the kale color way. Although both the pattern and yarn are fantastic, with spring here and summer right around the corner, she's decided to put that on hold until fall, and 2) the Flirty Ruffles Skirt by Lana Hames using Hemp for Knitting Allhemp6 yarn in the aubergine color. Sadly, the fabric that her combination of needles and yarn is producing is not what she's looking for, so she'll continue to swatch and get back to us with the results. 

Kim mentioned that she's a combination continental knitter. Follow the link to a wonderful blog post by fellow combination continental knitter, Annie Modesitt.  She would also like to refer listeners who are interested in knitting skirts to this informative episode of the Knitmore Girls audio podcast where they review the book Knit my Skirt by Candace Eisner Strick.

Kim's Black strip version
with a ruffle bottom.

Kim's Blue version
with gray stripe.

Kim had forgotten to talk about her finished Cattails sweater in the last episode and wanted to mention how much she's loving and wearing it. She also added a seam to her finished Four Seasons Shawl,  and she's very happy with it and knows that she'll wear the shawl more often now that it's a hybrid shawl/poncho.

Kim added about a 3" seam to her Four Seasons
Shawl to make it more of a poncho.

Hot Right Now:

Marcy has been madly browsing patterns on  Ravelry while she's trying to decide on her next project. She's currently obsessed with the following patterns:

1. The Tracery pullover by Norah Gaughan
2. The Enchanted Mesa pullover by Stephen West
3. The Andrea Tee Revisited by Modern Culture
4. The Pixielated pullover by Jennifer Beaumont
5. The Faye tee by Tonia Barry, and
6. The Sandshore cardigan  by Alicia Plummer

Kim suggests the Mama Vertebrae cardigan by Kelly Brooker as a good option. Amy Beth, from the hilariously funny Fat Squirrel video cast knit one and she modded it.  Kim is thinking about summer sweaters and is pondering casting on a summer tee with her beautiful Forbidden Woolery Proverbs yarn. 

Research Paper: After and Fore Thought heels

Kim found a great blog called "Knit Better Socks" by raveler reenamd and a fantastic post on AT (after thought) and FT (forethought) heels. Go check her blog out, she's got years of wonderful information about sock knitting and she's very smart and informative. You can find it here. The post leads to another blog post from the Yarn Harlot from 2007 about AT heels and ultimately both bloggers had found their main inspiration from the renowned Elizabeth Zimmerman. Check out her great book, Knitting Without Tears. 

After completing the research Kim concluded that the term  FT heel is when we decide ahead of time, (so, with fore thinking...)to place a row of waste yarn in where the heel will go and then we go back after finishing the rest of the sock and pick up stitches around the waste yarn, unravel the WY and knit the heel. The term AT heel should be used when we knit the entire sock and then go back and cut a stitch to unravel a row where we want our heel placed and we then pick up stitches and knit the heel.

She knit her first AT heel and highly recommends that you give it a try as well. It's fun and interesting to try a new technique and keep our knitting fresh and inspired. Also, check out the great book, by Margaret Radcliffe, Circular Knitting Workshop, and the free pattern,  AfterThought Heel Socks, by Laura Linneman from the KnitGirllls video cast. Leslie, also from the KnitGirllls podcast, has a fantastic video tutorial  for knitting a FT heel. 

Getting ready to cut the
opening for the heel.

Picked up cut stitches.

Knitting the heal in the round.

Both socks done!

Knitting Howlers:

Marcy has a "tentative" knitting howler in that she doesn't know if her Casual Kimono sweater is going to be too big. She's working on the neck and front band and already knows that she'll need more yarn. She's planning on reblocking the garment after it's all done and possibly throwing it in the dryer for 5 minutes. (The Destined2Knit podcast does not advocate or recommend that you put any of your knitwear in the dryer! This is a very personal decision, especially when cashmere is involved!) We are hoping that Marcy's sweater will not be making an appearance in our next Knitting Howlers segment!

Kim howled at her knitting when she had repeated errors after knitting at night on her beautiful Breathing Space sweater and knitting short rows with black yarn. Her knitting resolution = only knit on black/dark yarn during daylight hours!

Knitting Goals:

Kim is setting a new set of goals for the next few weeks. They are:

1. Finish her Autumn's End pullover. 
2. Cast on a new summer  sweater. Possibly the Symmetry in Motion by Vera Sanon.
3. Finish her Invictus B & B socks, using an AT heel, but this time using 2/3 of the stitches as EZ recommends and also, putting in red contrasting heels and toes.
4. Spinning at least 5 times
5. Cast on a pair of socks in a pattern; maybe the Monkey by Cookie A or the Achilles HeAL by Lucia Light. Both patterns are free on Knitty.com.

What's on our Blackboard?

We'll "see you again in two weeks when we will share some fun interviews with you from our knitting group and talk about our LYS and what it has to offer. Have a wonderful couple of weeks, enjoy your knitting and  we hope that you're not howling at your knitting!