END OF YEAR POST

I was hoping to do more on floats this week but I'll get to it next week. Instead I wanted to look back at 2010 which was a good year overall. Knitting-wise perhaps not so much. I remember back a few years ago when I'd tally somewhere near a hundred small projects a year and this year it was more like 15-20. So that is my New Year's knitting resolution - to knit a lot more. I'd like to have more like 100 projects to show you in 2011. I have one final project to design using the gorgeous Sunday Knits yarns and then I'm going to focus on other people's designs while I work on a cookbook project.

The KP Chullo was my favorite project of the year. Here is a photo of it dry. I really like working with kits so I'm going to put some effort into finding colorwork kits to knit in 2011. I already know I'm going to get the Starmore Hat Trick kit and the Renaissance Dyeing Kilim Socks kit (3 colors per row!).

My fave design this year was my Chamrousse Gloves - I must have liked them because I knit them three times.

My favorite new book was Stephanie Van Der Linden's Around The World in Knitted Socks.

My favorite new yarn was the Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe - I really need to order some more for a project.

My favorite online knitting discovery was Sock Knitter's Anonymous on Ravelry. I became involved last summer when my knitting mojo was pretty low and being around so many incredibly passionate knitters (with some serious knitting skills) was very therapeutic.

ONE LAST NOTE: You have until midnight (Mountain Time) tonight to vote for the Stranded forum's next KAL project. Go HERE to vote for all of your favorite projects; the KAL will start January 1.

Bubbles has made some New Year's Resolutions as well - 1) Take more bunny naps, 2) Eat more delicious treats, and 3) Insist on more jaw rubs from her two bunny slaves.


HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

A Chullo for Christmas

I decided to do an additional Christmas present for DH at the last-minute - this is the Andean Chullo from the Knit Picks kit that is unfortunately no longer available. I made some changes after reading some of the Ravelry comments about the hat. 1. I added 3 colors of teal to the beige and brown colors that came in the kit. 2. I added 16 sts to the cast on number. 3. I made the hat much shorter. 4. I striped the top decrease section. 5. I made the I-cord ties longer. 6. I did thicker applied I-cord to make sure the ear flaps won't curl. 7. I used this Raveler's method for the I-cord so the cast on edge wouldn't show through the I-cord.

I think it will fit him really well - the hat is wet in the photo but I'll get a shot of him wearing it after Christmas . When I got the kit several weeks ago he was the one who decided on adding teal for some extra colors and he also specifically requested no alpacas. (There actually is a very small alpaca motif near the top - the alpacas are black - but I doubt he'll notice.) Best of all it will be a surprise because he never pays attention to what I'm knitting.

Knitting the chullo was so much fun; I immediately went and downloaded Mary Ann's Polar Bear Chullo and I think I'll get Shirl the Purl's Blossoms Chullo pattern as well. Plus I want to make another one of the Knit Picks chullos with the alpaca patterns.

Another FO is this gingerbread house we made from a kit we received as a gift. It was DH's wacky idea to use cheerios on the roof but my piping skills for the window frames were non-existent. Plus DH kept eating the candy during assembly so we ran out.

Bubbles is modeling one of her Christmas gifts - a new plush bed. She currently has about 12 in all shapes, colors, and sizes and she never actually manages to get her entire self in the bed. She prefers to position only her front half or back half in a bed or sometimes she will stretch out over two beds. It's a pretty tough life for our large white house bunny.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday - I will try to return next week with more about floats.

What's so special about red?

I watched the HGTV White House Christmas decoration show last night; I've been watching this every year for a while now.  The hostess this year, Genevieve Gorder, said something very intriguing. She said that red is the only color that always matches perfectly with itself in all its various shades. Is that really true? You can make an all purple knitted project that wouldn't look good? Of course now I want to do an all red knitting project.

 

I did find an old blurry photo of an all-red Spontaneous Scarf I knit in a zillion shades of red.

I also remember hearing from a quilting show that red can be used as a neutral with other colors. After that I knit my Peace Gloves in a background  of red with all pastels. They turned out better than I thought they would.

I just finished adding some color theory links for the Stranded group on Ravelry and I thought I'd share them here. 

  

Suzyn’s Color Theory for Knitters - from Knitty

Technicolor Knitting by Julie Theaken in Knitty  (Wouldn't this be a great name for a book?)

PDF from Knit Picks on Color Theory

Color Theory - Color Choice in Knitting: How to Select a Color Palette for Knitting Projects - Suite 101

Knitter’s Review - How to Use a Color Wheel

ALL ABOUT FLOATS, PART ONE

I'm beginning a multi-part series about floats in stranded color knitting. I've discussed them before HERE but apparently I have more to say. A lot more! I'm going to show you four ways to deal with floats and you'll be able to see how the front and the back of the work looks.

Floats happen when you knit with two colors. If you knit three stitches in a row in one color, you'll have a float (or strand) across the back of your work in the other color three stitches long. A float is considered long when it is about an inch or so long, about  5-7 sts long depending on yarn weight.

Today I want to talk about how you can determine if a pattern has long floats. Time and time again I see beginners choose patterns with really long floats without knowing what they are getting into. Basically short, geometric patterns have short floats and patterns with asymmetrical larger patterns such as animals or robots often have larger floats.

These Bunnies and Carrots Hats have really long 15-20 st long floats between the bunny's ears.

No long floats in this rainbow mitten design I abandoned.

A really popular pattern during the Olympics was this cute reindeer hat. It has long floats between each reindeer and the original pattern used high contrast colors - white and dark blue - for the design. What this means is that if the floats were woven, the dark color could possibly show through to the front of the work. The Ravelry project photos for the hat are interesting to read - some knitters used intarsia in the round or duplicate stitch for the reindeer to avoid the long floats.


Traditional Fair Isle designs from the Shetland Isles pride themselves on not using floats longer than five stitches. Scandinavian designs do use longer floats but some savvy designers use single stitches or small designs in more complex motifs to help break up long floats. In the famous Dale of Norway polar bear sweater by Mette Handberg, check out the geometric patterning inside the polar bear. That was done to keep the floats from being excessively long.

I always consider the length of the floats when deciding on a pattern. A few long floats here and there won't deter me but if I see a pattern with many long floats I know it will take me longer to knit (whatever method you use for floats can interrupt the flow of your color knitting) and could possibly cause tension problems. Of course, long floats can also give you a spectacular looking hand knit so they are often worth the trouble.

Here are a few stranded patterns from my Ravelry queue. 

Long floats -  Nightingale Socks, Running Horse Hat (section of horses), Dancing Stars Hat

Short floats -  La Gran Fair Isle Pillow, Quo Vadis Mittens, October Fair Isle Pillow

December Color Knitting Links

Wow - I have a LOT of links today. Go grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea first. I tried to focus on holiday knits you can make quickly. If you don't have time to knit but need some gorgeous stranded hand knit items to give as gifts, I highly recommend the Baltic Shop for lovely Latvian mittens, gloves, hats etc. to send to your family and friends.

ETA: Just realized Drops is doing a Christmas Advent type calendar with a free holiday pattern each day. Click HERE each day to see the newest pattern.


FREE PATTERNS

I love Melissa Leapman's Fair Isle Pullover that uses Cascade 220.
Amy Loberg offers these pretty Winter Wonder Mittens that use sport weight yarn.
Eloise Narrigan's Rabbit Knee Socks are meant to be worked flat in intarsia but I might do them in duplicate stitch.
The Mitaines Nuit d'Hiver have a lovely snowy night scene on them and are knit in Palette.
I used to love the Magpies when we lived in Colorado so I adore these cute Magpie Mittens.
I've said before I'm a huge fan of Heather Desserud (I'm working on one of her designs) and she is offering her tenth mitten design, Lotus Mittens, for free.
Kathleen Taylor's Elephant Tam pattern has instructions for an adult and child's version.
Sandra Jager offers these cute Reindeer Socks.
These incredible Dizzy Knee Socks remind me a bit of Lucy Neatby's Paradoxical Mittens.
Lion Brand's Shadows and Light Scarf pattern looks like it will knit up quickly in Aran weight yarn.
Drops 122 offers several free reindeer patterns - knee socks, hat, gloves, and a couple updated reindeer sweaters.
Check out Torirot's adorable Selbu Sea Horse Mittens.



PATTERNS FOR SALE

Sandra Jager's Sleigh Ride Tammy is just perfect for a holiday gift.
Tabitha Rose's Snake Patterns are realistic enough to send a shiver down my spine. You can buy the patterns in an ebook or separately and they'd be a perfect gift for a little boy.
String Theory 2.0 offers these lovely Lotus Flower Gloves using a solid and a variegated yarn.
Lynnette Meek's Eastern Medley ebook offers an interesting variety of colorwork sock techniques.
Galina Carroll's Mittens for Mother combine colorwork with embroidery for a striking mitten.
On Etsy I found these pretty lined Nor'easter Mittens.
Denise's Needleworks has Cynthia Wasner's Wild Blue Horses Cap pattern for sale to match the sweater.

KITS

Kathryn Alexander has a new DooDad scarf kit for sale that uses 32 colors.
It looks like you can buy kits for these Bohus sweaters from the Bohuslan Museum if you email them.


HOLIDAY

Here's a quickie free Christmas Wreath pattern that can work as an ornament or gift topper.
Savannah Cottage offers an O Hannukah! dog sweater pattern for sale with menorahs and dreidels.
For only $4.95 on Etsy you can purchase a pattern for ten of these adorable Jolly Tots Dolls - any of these dolls would be a wonderful stocking stuffer.

EYE CANDY

Here's Pantone's 2010 Fall Color Forecast. I'm not that thrilled with them this year though.
Check out MuzzerZ's Christmas Tree Skirt knit in Cascade 220.
I've talked about Janine's Parcheesi log cabin afghan pattern before but I just  had to show you this version done in sock yarn scraps by Knitorious. Gorgeous!!
Another incredible colorful scrap blanket is debbruskin's Mola Blanket.
Coolest Christmas Stockings ever! Spindleknitter's Patrick's Stocking.
I love Libbyuk's Foolish Virgins Scarf.

I wish it looked like this here today but it is still pretty warm, in the 50's and sunny. Poor Santa is going to keel over from heat exhaustion!