I’m Knitting As Fast As I Can

I guess I need to embellish a bit on both my linen stitch cowl and the I-cord bracelets.

The cowl was inspired by the Chickadee Cowl by Kirsten Kapur.  I saw the pattern on Ravelry when Kirsten first posted it but she used a bulky weight yarn and the stiff look of the finished cowl just didn’t sing to me.  When I was searching Ravelry for something to make from my skein of Tosh Merino Light, however, I stumbled upon an adaptation of Kirsten’s design using fingering weight yarn.  I was sold!

Following the lead of some other knitters on Ravelry, I cast on 149 stitches and used a needle much larger than the one recommended for the yarn.  The larger needle is really the key to the success of the project.  I think it’s easy to work linen stitch too tightly by failing to maintain an even tension when the yarn is carried in front of the slipped stitches.  

When worked in the round, linen stitch is a two-row pattern worked over an odd number of stitches:

Rnd 1: *K1, move the yarn to the front of your work, slip 1 purwise (with the yarn in front), move the yarn to the back of your work; repeat to the end of the round.

Rnd 2: *Move the yarn to the front of your work, slip 1 purlwise (with the yarn in front), move the yarn to the back of your work, k1; repeat to the end of the round.

As you can see, the stitches you knit in the first round are slipped in the second round and vice versa. By holding the yarn in front when you slip the stitches, you create a series of little bars across the front of the work.

Tedious, but so lovely.
There’s a little more information on my Ravelry project page if you’re interested. And check out the other linen stitch cowls worked in fingering weight yarn. Some of them are amazing.

I had some questions about the I-cord bracelets, too.  I used a 3-stitch I-cord, but I think I’ll use 4 stitches next time.  The “Life Is Good” clasps are from Blue Moon Beads and I got mine at Michaels.  They came in a package of 4 clasps:

If you can’t find the clasps at a shop near you, I’ll give you a chance to win this package. Just leave a comment, (amusing comments are always welcome!), and I’ll put your name in the proverbial hat.

Winner announced by the end of the week so speak up!

Lu guessed that the design European Tour Set from the book, It’s In the Bag, was in my knitting bag and she was correct!  Lu wins a copy of the book.  Thanks to everyone who played along.  If time is on my side this week, I have a little project to share that I made using the weaving technique I blogged about.  But no finished photos yet, unfortunately.

I’d like to send out sincere thanks to everyone who purchased my patterns on November 19th.  I transferred a grand total of $259.64 to the Red Scarf Fund on the morning of the 20th.  Awesome!

Don’t forget that in addition to cash, the Red Scarf Project needs hand-knit scarves.  Norma just put out an “urgent” call and I intend to answer it with at least one more scarf.  Although I rarely knit for charity when store-bought items will serve the same purpose, the Red Scarf Project really is different.  The scarves are not so much for warmth as they are a means to communicate a message of encouragement to the recipients.

I know time is at a premium during the holiday season but please consider knitting up a red scarf and sending it to OFA.  My son is a sophomore in college and I just boxed up a care package that I’ll send to him during finals week.  I know how much he loves receiving these packages and I can visualize the eye rolls when he unpacks the silly items I included with the food.  College is stressful and difficult.  A few hours of your time can really make a difference to a college student with no family support.  All the details are here on the OFA website.

On Friday I’ll be participating in the blog tour for the book, It’s In the Bag.  Since, I’ll be highlighting a very unique project from the book, I thought I’d take a stab at working up a little sample.

Interesting, huh.  Stay tuned. There will be a contest, too!