Fixing Mistakes in Colorwork

There are two ways to fix mistakes in colorwork other than frogging back until the mistake and starting to knit over again.

The first way is knit to the exact column where you see the error and purposely drop stitches until you get to the mistake. That's the easy part - the hard part is making sure you pick up THE RIGHT FLOAT as you are picking up the dropped yarns again. For instance if your mistake is 4 rows down and you're knitting with 2 colors per row there will be 8 strands of yarn and you'll only use 4 of them when picking up the stitches again. I'll get photos of this process soon - it really is a challenge to get it right.

I use basic duplicate stitch to fix colorwork mistakes that I notice long after the possibility of dropping stitches is over. That's what happened with the Christmas Bells mittens - I actually didn't even notice the mistakes until I looked at a photograph of the mittens.

So here I goofed and knit a "U" instead of an "O".

I never anchor the yarn by weaving in the ends before I start duplicate stitching - instead I wait until after I'm done to secure both ends. Usually to start I just thread the needle and insert it from the outside several inches from the spot I'm fixing. That way I can use both ends to adjust the tension after I'm done with the duplicate stitch so it looks its best.

The yarn starts from under the stitch to be fixed and goes around just like the original knit stitch. I always do duplicate stitch from right to left, from bottom to top. It looks much neater when you always do it in the same direction.

Fixed.

Knitting Letters

I really enjoy knitting letters; I occasionally dream of doing a sweater with an entire poem or book excerpt.

Besides the Christmas Bells mittens I'm working on, I've done a couple other knitting projects with letters. The Bewitching Gloves are my own design - the cuffs include the witches' chorus from Shakespeare's Macbeth. They're also knit in Palette.

The Poetry Mittens pattern was originally published in Piecework Magazine in 1995. These  photos are from before I had a camera - instead I  used to shove everything in a scanner for blog photos.

I noticed a few errors in the red, white and green Christmas mitten from my last blog post. I'll get close-up photos to show you how I deal with mistakes in colorwork.

The Preemie Baby Sweater Continued...

If you remember, a few weeks ago, I knit this little preemie sweater for my friend's new little baby.



I had to knit something really fast, and so designed this little sweater. I loved it so much I decided to work on the design to make it into a pattern with a range of sizes from premie to 18 months.

I have been reworking the design, and am now in the final stages of testing the pattern.

Next come the photos and then I should be ready.

I will be offering this pattern for $5 as a downloadable product and I will be donating $3 for every pattern sold to the March of Dimes Foundation, an organization which supports research and programs that help babies begin healthy lives.

That's it for tonight.
Back to work...

Millinery Flowers from La Droguerie

While in Paris, I went to La Droguerie , the most beautiful craft store I have ever seen. There I bought some yarn and the most precious colorful velvet millinery flowers.

I found the little flowers at the far end of the store, so pretty in their little glass jars, catching the gentle sunlight that filtered through the nearby window.

I had been wanting to buy some for such a long time, but could not find any here in Boston. So when I saw them, my heart jumped, I grabbed a little straw basket and started picking the most colorful miniature bouquet.

I do not plan on making hats, though maybe who knows, one day I may try my hand at that too. I have been playing with different ideas, using them to create jewelry, headpieces, to adorn knitted garments, of for dresses.

For the time being, I am just enjoying looking at them... thinking about the yarn colorways they could inspire me to create...

My Trip to France

I have been back for a little more than a week now, but I was busy with a secret project that involved a lot of knitting, writing and calculating, but shsh.... I just finished the knitting marathon this morning which means I can now take the time to tell you about my trip.

Heaven! Pure heaven! No words can really say what a wonderful time I had. But I will start from the beginning.
My plane took off as planned in spite of the ashes from the Icelandic volcano. I had a window seat, and spent the night looking out the window, getting more and more excited as the hours went by. I could not sleep I was so excited. 
I had not been back to France in 12 years, I was going to get to hug my daughter on her 20th birthday, and I was going to see my family, so you can imagine!
Finally in the early hours of the morning (French time) I saw a glimpse of land, and I was so overwhelmed tears filled my eyes. Who knew that seeing the French quiltlike landscape, with its neatly arranged fields could make me cry? I did not know.
The plane landed, and I walked in amazement through the completely changed Roissy Airport.
After quick formalitites, as soon as the gates opened, I saw Miss SockPixie, and my Godfather , this was the best hug ever!
The rest of the day was a whirlind. Breakfast with fresh baguette, brioche, and croissants. I had to taste everything. With every bite I closed my eyes, you know it was like Proust's Madeleine. With every bite  pleasure, and with every bite, memories, emotions, feelings so long repressed were brought back to the surface. This was one breakfast!
After a quick 2 hour nap, we went to the completely transformed Marais to meet my Godmother. I had forgotten how beautiful Paris was. There were musicians playing Klezmer music, the perfume of food, and zillions of people. It was warm, and people wore colorful clothes. It was a rainbow of colors, patterned fabric, brightly colored store fronts.
Then we took the bus to my cousin's appartment in the 12th. The whole family was there to celebrate Miss SockPixie's birthday. After kissing everyone, we sat and talked as if not a single day had gone by, and picked up our conversations where we had left them. I met the whole new generation born during my 12 years of absence. I must have been really tired, but I ignored it. We sang Happy Birthday to Miss SockPixie, we ate chocolate cake, apple tart, and strawberry cake...
We returned to my Godfather's appartment, his wife had prepared a delicious dinner and then I slept.
The following morning we got up at 5:45 am. Miss SockPixie and I had to catch a train for Trouville in Normandie. My family has been vacationing in Trouville since the 1930's. I spent every single one of my childhood vacations in Trouville on the beach. This is the most special place in the world for me. It seems to hold a special place in Miss SockPixie's heart as well.
The train ride was wonderful. I watched with wide opened eyes as the landscapes played in front of me. I marveled at the little houses, and you should have heard me when I saw my favorite Normand cows!

We dropped our bags at home, and headed to the Farmer's market, le marche.
We bought the most wonderful Pont l'Eveque cheese. I asked the lady for a Pont l'Eveque. She asked me when I wanted to eat it, I said today, she then methodically opened each box, and gently pressed on the wrapped cheese, saying "non", maybe, and finally "oui!", this one is perfect. I had forgotten that cheese merchants did this. We picked up fresh brioche, fresh crusty baguette, and went home to eat.

Right after lunch we headed back out. The weather was incredible. We headed to the beach. The tide was far out, and we walked to meet the sea. The water was so cold it hurt, but even that little pain brought back beautiful memories. We collected the shells that the 2 of us had collected throughout our lives. We saw children searching between the rocks for crabs.

We then had a waffle with sugar. The waffle is a ritual in my family. Everyday as a child I would get a waffle, and so did my daughter. The place that sold them is still there, and the menu has not changed. We bought our waffles with the confectioner's sugar, and we ate them while walking, our faces and clothes covered with the sugar blown by the wind!

We walked home, and both if us crashed for a little nap. We woke up at 9 p.m. and headed back out for dinner, to the Marine Restaurant whose owner has known me all my life.

He recognized me immediately, and again it was as if not a single day had gone by. I had steak tartare: raw beef, with raw egg yolk, onion, mustard, spices and capres.

Then it was time for bed.

We spent 2 more days in Trouville. They were pretty much the same as the first one and definitely as perfect as the first one. The market, the food, the beach, the waffle, and all the talking, and hugging and dreaming with Miss SockPixie.

On the Thursday we took the train back to Paris. I was sad when I saw the last Normand cow...

My best friend was waiting for us at the train station. We dropped our bags at my Godfather's house, and headed to the Droguerie behind the Sainte Eustache church. There were yarns, buttons, fabrics, beads and milleniry flowers. I bought yarn, buttons, and milleniry flowers. This was an incredibly beautiful store, with aged wood, knitted samples everywhere, garments sewn from their flowery fabric, and millions of beads in glass jars. I have never seen such a beautiful store!

We had sushi for lunch, laughed loudly, and then sadly said goodbye. Thursday evening was sadder. I said goodbye to my family, and packed. Friday was the departure day.

I still feel sad when I think about it. I cried when I kissed Miss SockPixie goodbye, and when I kissed my Godfather. The worst part was on the airplane, when the plane took off as I saw the quiltlike landscape of the neatly arranged fields one last time. My eyes stayed full of tears for a while.

Once we were over the ocean I started feeling better, and thinking that I would soon be hugging Mr SockPixie, and the children brought a smile back to my face.

Christmas Bells Mittens

Here's another project I picked up again.

I am working on a pair of mittens with the first stanza of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Christmas Bells poem. I told this story previously on my blog but it was a few years ago when I started these mittens so I guess I can tell it again. 

Longfellow had endured a tragic few years. First his wife died in a freak accident - she was sealing a letter with wax and her dress caught on fire. (Longfellow wore a long bushy beard after that to cover his burns from when he tried to save her.) Then his son was severely wounded in the Civil War. On Christmas Day 1864 he wrote this poem. The first stanza is, "I heard the bells on Christmas Day, Their old familiar carols play, And wild and sweet, The words repeat, Peace on earth, goodwill to men." You can read the entire poem HERE - it is really lovely.

I contacted Knitpicks' and they sent me the yarn to knit these mittens in two colorways. If they accept the final product the pattern will appear in their Independent Designer's Program on their web site for $1.99. The pattern comes in three sizes (depending on needle size used) and uses 3 colors of Palette. The mittens feature a peasant thumb and a twisted rib cuff. The one in the blue colorway is a size small knit with size 0 (US) dpns and the one in the red and green is the large size with size 1.5 (US) needles.

 

Now I'm off to knit the other two mittens.

Dale of Norway Update

It has been an interesting few weeks for Dale of Norway news; first we were told that the pattern booklets would be available only for download. Then Allegro Yarns started offering them for free but apparently they stopped because Dale asked them to only give them away with the purchase of yarn. Then the online Dale of Norway store starting having problems displaying images (I had just ordered some sale booklets from them the previous week!).  I personally started freaking out when I read on Bea Ellis's site (one of my fave Dale retailers) that they would not be taking orders or inquiries until October. I think losing Dale of Norway's yarn and designs would be a HUGE loss for the knitting world.

But fortunately it does look like all is well. The President of Dale's North American operations posted HERE on Ravelry and it looks like each retailer can decide how to distribute the booklets. Woolybaabaa is doing something I like - you buy the booklets for download for $10 and you get a $10 yarn credit. Best of all it looks like Dale is planning on distributing their older booklets via downloads by this fall.

 Isn't it obvious I am in desperate need of more Dale of Norway pattern booklets???

Starting Up Again

I've recently come back to several projects and hobbies. I decided to work on some embroidery projects for summer. (I usually struggle to get a lot of knitting done in the warm weather.) I just started this crewel Pomegranate Pillow and am about 1/4 done. I'm glad I picked a less expensive project to begin with because I was doing the Long and Short Stitch (the main stitch used) wrong initially. sigh Once I get back up to speed I'm going to choose one of these gorgeous projects. (Check out the Kaffe Fassett needlepoint projects at that site as well.)

On the knitting front, I'm back working on this Virtual Yarns Celtic Keyknot pillow. I bought the kit probably close to 10 years ago (it was less expensive then) and I started it a long time ago. The reason I stopped was that it was turning out way too wide while simultaneously requiring an uncomfortably tight knitting to get gauge. When I came back to it I'd lost one of the colors so I am subbing the bright turquoise Shetland yarn which gives it a completely different feel. I also went up a needle size and chopped 100 sts off the original st count so it is already much different than the original design. It should fit a 14" pillow form with my modifications. I plan to add some big chunky tassels on each corner.

Also, I've decided to finish the step-by-step photo glove knitting booklet. I'm only going to show how to knit gloves on dpns though; that will allow me to keep the size (and price in print) down. I have several other knitting design projects to do before that but it will be done by fall.

Lastly, I've re-started my veg. cooking blog, Cooking in Color. I noticed I simply cannot stop talking about food on Facebook. Originally I was looking at the blog as more of a professional obligation and I wanted to post twice a week with 4 new recipes a month but that was too much. Now I'm just going to do it for myself and post less frequently.