from crazy aunt purl, with lots of handy comments, especially this one on neatening the join, which i presume applies just as much to dpns .

Another joining tip: After casting on, but before knitting a stitch, do the following:

1. Move the last cast on stitch from the right needle to the left needle.

2. Move the first cast on stitch to the right-hand needle. So this by using your right hand needle to lift the first cast on stitch over the one you just moved to the left hand needle.

3. Place marker and knit the first stitch on the left-hand needle. The first stitch will be alittle loose from all this maneuvering, but you can tighten it back up by giving the tail a little tug.

This sounds more complicated than casting on an extra stitch and knitting it together with the first stitch, but it’s actually easy to do. I think it looks a little bit neater too.

i’ve only knitted once with a circular needle, and it was a truly horrific experience. the tips were plastic (shudder - and nasty plastic at that) and the stitches snagged every time on the join (ouch). but i hear of so many people who only knit with circs, especially in the states, i figured it must be worth eventually giving it another go, with a decent set of needles.

i have visions of the kidsilk scarf in lengthwise stripes (as well as thinking baby blankets lately too) and i think it may take some experimentation to get the right needle size. yeah, so i can swatch on straights but i’m intrigued by the knitpicks interchangeables i’ve heard such good things about and i’m currently flush

so there’s me totally psyched up to treat myself and then i find they don’t ship internationally how stone age is that?

not fair (pouts and stamps feet)

jumper yarn arrived. six days after i ordered it. hats off to quality fibers it’s wonderfully soft and the swatches are fairly true although the colours are slightly more intense.

just finished mini swatch for the winter dreams sock i’ll be making in aran bfl as a christmas stocking for madam. it’s very rough and ready with a heap of lost stitches at the beginning and a few mistakes in the patterns, but i’m really pleased with it. it didn’t take long to get into the two-handed fair isle technique. i think because i’m still very much a beginner it’s not much trickier for me to pick up a new technique since i’m still mostly fingers and thumbs anyway.

i coincidentally cast on 24 stitches, 1/3 of the total 72 for the sock. the swatch came out at 2 inches across, so should end up with a sock around 6 inches across the top and 18 inches high, a respectable size for a stocking i think.

madam was asking what it was and who it was for. i told her about swatches, but insisted it wasn’t for anyone. i was wrong - as she pointed out - it’s a hat for bender of course. perfect fit, with a hole on top for his thingy

(oh and i know it’s not real fair isle but it’s reasonable shorthand - stranded colour work would have meant naff all to me a couple of weeks ago)

courtesy of The Knitting Princess and the Pea. dead simple but lovely, i really like this. something for me after the christmas rush is over, perhaps?

Lil’ Devil Baby Hat, as i clearly don’t have enough to do for christmas already… will be sans horns though.

yay pattern is up, and it uses as little yarn as i was hoping. and i took the plunge and went for cascade 220 superwash from ebay. the shipping was very reasonable, i loved the bright clear colours and i figured that washability really is worth paying for in kids’ clothes. so these (got yarn for both jumper and cardi) will end up as a minor indulgence, rather than cheapo, but i always doubted it would really work out like that.

i’ve doubled up on the yoke colours, will be pink on both, with green or blue for the body (main colour at left of swatches). fair dos, couldn’t beat that watermelon colourway. the red one’s lovely too, but madam’s only new jumper so far this winter is red, and she looks lovely in blue.

fab

the working title for knit and tonic’s drive-thru jumper/cardi appealed to me immensely, can’t imagine why…

these look fabby, but i’m left bemoaning the lack of resonably cheap wool yarn available over here. there seems to be naff all between overpriced “designer” and flippin plastic. actually, texere have a rather lush looking aran weight bfl which i’m waiting on as i type. it’s still nearly £3/50g i figured i only have a small project to do, so why not give it a try.

anyway, as soon as the pattern comes up (waiting with baited breath) i’m going to check the yarn requirements and prolly put in an order with elann, since even though the shipping doubles the price, it’s still cheaper than anything i can find here. depressing, eh?

oh and i don’t plan to knit these but i’ve miserably failed to spin any (well, enough) knitting wool for nanny so i thought she might like these while she’s waiting.

yay for blogsurfing. a lovely step by step tutorial here for top-down socks, gansey style (which i’m guessing translates to guernsey this side of the atlantic?).

i’m back and i’m thinking fair isle, this is a great blog: can’t find a permalink for the entry, but scroll down for a list of technical knitting posts