Here are the Denmark socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road. These socks were knit on size 3 Addi Turbo dpns with the very slippery Norwegian Sport Wool making the experience the knitting equivalent of ice skating. Lots of slipping and sliding and loose tension. These socks were also a bit damp when I scanned them which doesn't do much to improve how they look.



I'm curious how this yarn holds up over time - I've already had a problem (the Dale baby sweater with the bunnies and ducks and garden tools) with it but am hoping it will be fine if I don't use it for colorwork. I secured the ends very well using reverse duplicate stitch so we'll see.



Here's a close-up showing the Nupp stitch between the top cuff ribbing and the cables.

 



I happen to have quite a fondness for needle gauges. The blue Susan Bates model on the bottom is my oldest (it is actually cracked on one side) and has both the US and the metric sizes marked.



The long silver one (brand name Tailorform) is unusual because it shows metric sizes on one side and Canadian and American sizes on the other. It looks like the old Canadian needle sizing was close to the opposite of US sizes - for instance, a US size 13 needle is 00 in Canadian sizes. This gauge costs $1.95 at Wool-Tyme.



The one that didn't scan well and comes out black is a newer Susan Bates one, the Knit-Chek. It is the only needle gauge I've seen that shows equivalent crochet hook sizes. It can be purchased for a whopping $1.75 from Smileys (scroll down the left frame to where it says Accessories sale).



And finally my prized purchase is the white Skacel Turbo Needlegauger at the top. It is the only needle gauge I've ever found that goes down to 000 needle sizes. I can't for the life of me remember where I bought it but I did find it for sale online HERE for a mere $1.50 .



I keep one needle gauge in my knitting supplies tool box, one suspended from my music stand (that holds knitting charts and patterns), and one each in my two Circular Solutions storage containers - one for my circulars and one for dpns.



Thanks to all for the happy 20th anniversary wishes. DH brought home roses and chocolates and even made dinner for our special day. How sweet! I can't wait for my anniversary yarn present - I ordered so much I wonder if they'll even be able to fit it all in one box.



Keep the quiz answers coming! So far everyone who has entered the contest has gotten all the questions right.

In honor of my 20th wedding anniversary today we're having a color knitting quiz. I will put the names of all who have the correct answers in a hat. First Prize winner wins the Up North Mittens & Hat kit from Blackberry Ridge and Second Prize winner gets five skeins of Emu Superwash DK wool yarn in some variation of the following blue/green colors for a color knitting project. I may even have enough Emu for a Third Prize winner.







Email your answers to me at nanetteb at compuserve dot com. I'll announce the winners on Sunday afternoon May 2nd, 2004). Those new to color knitting are encouraged to enter the contest - I have offered hints for each question to help you. All the answers to the questions have been discussed on this blog previously.





COLOR KNITTING QUIZ/CONTEST



1. What is the difference between intarsia and stranded color knitting? (Hint - my blog entry of 3/22/2004)



2. What is the two-fisted technique of color knitting? (Hint - shown on the cover photo on Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting)





3. Describe the Philosopher's Wool technique of color knitting. (Hint - Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified by Ann & Eugene Bourgeois, page 28)





4. What is Meg Swansen's method of holding the yarn in color knitting? (Hint - my blog entry of 3/22/2004 or Ann Feitelson's The Art of Fair Isle Knitting, page 56)





5. Regardless of your particular color knitting technique, what is it important to always do consistently in color knitting? (Hint - Judy Gibson's web site at http://www.users.cts.com/crash/j/jgibson/knitting/2color.htm or Ann Feitelson's The Art of Fair Isle Knitting, page 57)





EXTRA CREDIT QUESTION (There is no right answer - I just want your opinions.)





6. What is the best color knitting book available?

Spin-Off magazine has been doing a series of articles where a spinner collaborates with a knitwear designer. These articles provide good insight into the design process.



Here is a photo of a pretty Estonian lace shawl, spun with the fur from Nancy Bush's Sheltie dog Kloo, from the Fall 2001 issue.







And here is a Scandinavian-inspired project from Deborah Newton in the summer 2002 issue. The yarn is a wool/silk blend.

BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID...







This is Bodmin who lives in England and is apparently the world's largest rabbit. His weight is around 50 kilograms and he eats whole lettuces and cabbages. The photo has been passed around our local bunny rescue people. It comes from Strange Cosmos where they say their photos are uncopyrighted so I am sharing it here. What I wouldn't give to grab him and hug him. Actually I probably couldn't even pick up the big guy.



Both Ann & Laura asked about the Digit yarn in my photo yesterday. I bought in on sale at Knitpicks and I use Digit interchangeably with Shetland Spindrift and Jamieson's jumper weight. Maybe I'm dense but I can't see a difference in these yarns so I buy them all and use them together for colorwork. I actually have so many different shades that I've started cutting small pieces of each skein and taping on a paper with the shade name so I can remember the specific colors.



Robin states she is a color freak and likes having different colors for different rooms. Every room in this painter's house was several different colors although usually in a theme. The guest bedroom was done in rich burgundy reds - different ones for each wall. Really cool. I'm starting to think of doing each wall a completely different color which would be fun as well.



Mare suggests keeping yarn out in baskets in various color groups for inspiration. Good suggestion Mare - I've got DH building me a YCS - Yarn Containment System of shelving so I can store yarn where I can see it. BTW, Mare is working on the Vogue Knitting Map of the World Afghan and each time she knits a country, she gives info about each place. Go visit her blog and join the fun.



And best of all Sarah emailed me with a great tip about searching through any blog's archives. If you want to search for posts from this blog about intarsia for instance go to Google and type in intarsia site:knittingpatternfree.blogspot.com . Then it will give you results from this blog. This works with any blog or web site and it is terribly cool.



Sarah (not to be confused with Handknitter Sarah) has a great post about color today. She recommends collecting paint chips for playing around with color combos which is a great idea.

FEAR OF COLOR



Several years ago I attended a party at a tiny adobe home near the university. This house was surrounded by one of the most beautiful flower gardens I've ever seen. The place was owned by a painter and her husband and every wall, every floor, every ceiling in the house was saturated with vibrant colors. I counted six different rich shades of purple in the kitchen. The furnishings were sparse - all you noticed was the color and the hostess' paintings on the walls. Every person I've talked to who attended this party remembers the house vividly and talks about how much they loved it. Great colors can make you feel great.



I always wonder why we all are not surrounded by more color in our daily lives. I do the beige furnishing thing just as much as anyone else even though DH and I really do love bright colors. New Mexico is more colorful than other states - you certainly can find homes with lime green trim and hot pink doors here, especially in Santa Fe. One of my favorite artist's residences on the Turquoise Trail is surrounded by brightly colored glass bottles - in the trees, whole fences of bottles, decorating the house. When you catch the house in the right sun it looks like a kaleidoscope.



Even though we are surrounded by such inspiration, most of my friends live with beige furniture and white walls. Some of it is cultural I guess and some of it is that we worry how others will react if we start painting our houses intense colors. I once saw a gardening show where the owner had a traditional beige suburban house. In his fenced back yard (which wasn't visible from any other house) he had painted about 50 different colors on the back of the house and the trim, the fence, the patio furniture. He had his wild colors but noone knew outside his house.



Many people, myself included, feel their color skills aren't great and don't feel confident to try something new and different. I'd be willing to bet that the color masters like Kaffe Fassett, the Starmores, Kathryn Alexander, and Sarah Swett think about colors often and put some thought and effort into working with them.



One of my goals is to develop my color skills and fill my house with more color. I believe color skills can be learned and improved with various exercises. Spin-Off did a great series of articles on this subject and one of the exercises was to design a project with different shades of one color.



Here is my first attempt. I've collected a few shades of red yarns and will start thinking about designing a pair of gloves. These colors are redder in real life than in the scan. This would be easier if I added a contrast color but I think first I'm going to try just reds.

Today's bunny event at the Earth Day festival was an unqualified success. Rusty the rabbit was in attendance and quite the draw but even after he went home the booth was completely swamped with folks wanting information on pet rabbits. I really think there is enough interest here for a full-fledged rabbit rescue group with a shelter. I met some neat people including a guy who became a bunny person after finding a rabbit in a shopping cart at a grocery store of all places.



Here's Peaches getting petted which she vastly prefers to having her claws clipped.

The winner of the colorwork sock book, Foot Notes, is Andrea B! Andrea, please email me a snail mail address and I'll send it off to you pronto. Thank you to all of you who bought Peaches merchandise from our Cafepress store to help out local rabbit rescue efforts. The link is still on the side of the blog for anyone who would still like to help out and purchase a fun Peaches mug or mousepad.



If you're in Albuquerque this Sunday April 18th please visit our local bunny rescue booth at the Earth Day celebration behind the Nob Hill Shopping Center off Central (behind La Montanita Natural Foods Co-op) 10:30 am and 6 pm. They'll have great bunny photos, brochures and advice on how to live with an indoor rabbit. Best of all Rusty the miracle foster bunny (who had over 100 bite wounds at the time of his rescue from a cage outside a feed store with another unneutered male) will be in attendance to meet and greet everyone.



Peaches says everyone should attend and bring a friend.

Jessica has sent me the most wonderful gift basket. Here's what was inside - her own apple cider soap, juniper sage soap, relish soap, along with some peppermint lip balm and a very nice hand salve. I just love this sort of stuff and her handmade soaps are wonderful with a very creamy consistency. Thank you again Jessica for your thoughtfulness!

Happy Easter!







Peaches was shedding a bit on her back last week so the top skein of 2-ply yarn is from her. Isn't it a nice color? Her fur is about 1 1/4" long and I spun it with my Bosworth purpleheart spindle. I plan to add it to a scarf made for the rabbit rescuer who fostered her for a year. I can't wait until she starts shedding again so I can make some mittens for myself out of her fur.



There is also a little I-cord bow and some sample yarn spun from my short-haired cat Jack. His fur is about 1" long. The white bell pattern is from the VIP Fibers pattern HERE. I've mentioned VIP Fibers here before - they custom spin any pet's fur. The yarn for the bell is a single ply yarn spun from Bosco my Himalayan cat. These little bells are a wonderful way to remember a pet and I plan to make more bells soon.



And here is a close-up of a plain stockinette stitch scarf made from a mixed pet fur yarn. I carded black Persian cat fur with white/flame point Himalayan cat fur.







I'm not a good spinner at all so if I can make something serviceable from yarn from long hair and short hair pets anyone can.

I've previously reported that Peaches is the cleanest rabbit I've ever had but she does have one messy habit. She loves to tip over her food dish.



Here she is looking quite innocent next to the aforementioned food dish.







Here she is trying to pick up the full dish and flip it.









If you can't pick it up then the next best thing is to tip it over.







Mission accomplished - food is now everywhere but in the dish.















If Peaches wasn't so busy trying to figure out where her food went, she'd say thank you to those of you who have purchased some items from the Four Corners Bunnies rescue store. There is still time to order something and get your name in the drawing for the colorwork sock book. I'll name the winner in one week.

When you really think about it, all books on designing knitwear should be pretty similar. Pick some yarn, draw a schematic, measure gauge, do the math... Every book I have on the subject is completely different. Some completely hold your hand and provide templates for patterns and some give you some advice and urge you to go off and create.



Deborah Newton's Designing Knitwear is the bible. This is the book that can launch you into fame and fortune designing complicated works of art. The color chapter is excellent. I don't think she covers designing for kids though.



Maggie Righetti's Sweater Design in Plain English focuses completely on designing knitted sweaters for people THAT ACTUALLY LOOK GOOD AND FIT WELL. Maggie's style of writing is warm and chatty despite the fact that this book has more mathematical equations than a high school algebra textbook.



Janet Szabo's Handbook of Aran Sweater Design is like having a talented designer sit down next to you and talk you through it. Every time I think up a question (like "How do you seam saddle shoulders so they look good?") Janet manages to answer it.



The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns offers templates for all sorts of simple sweaters and even better, accessories. I use this book often and it is quite handy. I guess I'd like more variety with this book and more info on how to change things.



My newest acquisition is Style Your Own Kid's Knits: Simply Choose a Pattern and Select a Motif by Kate Buller. This British book includes templates and patterns for each age range (from 3-6 months to 7-10 years) all done in Rowan Handknit cotton yarn. Doing a book like this all in the same yarn weight somewhat defeats the purpose but the book makes up for it in other ways. I really like the way this book uses detailed schematics (graphed out by stitch) for the sweaters. In the schematics they'll show different necklines or where to throw in colorful motifs. There are also pattern templates for two hats and two bags.







The Creative Library section of the book is what makes it shine and is well worth the price of the book. It offers a stitch library, decorative cast ons and lace edgings, letters and numbers, geometric patterns and plenty of wonderful pictures you can add in intarsia or duplicate stitch.

I was reading Margene's blog post where she was talking about using Excel to graph and re-graph color charts. I emailed Margene and she kindly and patiently walked me through using Excel to make my own charts. Margene's assistance has allowed me to do this:







which translates to this:







And thanks again Margene for your kind assistance!

FRA TOPP TIL TA, NR. 2







This is a wonderful Sandnes pattern book of accessories - I want to make stuff on practically every page. Fra Topp Til Ta or From Head to Toe in English is a knitting pattern booklet with loads of colorwork and Aran and lace designs. Check out these gloves:







I guess it is a Norwegian fashion to wear little tubes over gloves like that - interesting, eh? Lots of good stuff in this booklet - I bought mine from Bea Ellis in the Sandnes pattern section. There supposedly is a book 1 in this series but I can't find it. Velona listed it for a while but when I tried to order they told me it was out of print.



Thanks so much to those of you who have ordered items from our rabbit rescue Cafepress store. I'm so grateful and the rabbits thank you as well. Just in time for Easter we have added an adorable stuffed bunny for sale (wearing a HRS t-shirt). All profits go to nonprofit rabbit rescue.



Cafepress gives me the names of those ordering and two weeks from now I'm going to put all the names in a hat for this prize:







The photo shows the front and back of the booklet. It is called Foot Notes: Socks to Make Your Feet Dance by Joseph Madl "The Sockguy". This booklet has just been re-released with a slightly different name but it looks like the same book. All the socks are colorwork (except for one pair of Aran kilt hose) and all the socks use Philosopher's Wool worsted weight wool yarn.



In two weeks, April 15, I'll announce the winner and contact you for an address to send this booklet to. So if you still want to order some fun Peaches merchandise or items with our rabbit rescue logo from http://www.cafeshops.com/4cornersbuns you have two weeks to be added to the drawing list for the sock pattern booklet.