Happy Fourth of July, to those who celebrate it. I hope you have time to relax and get some knitting done. This week's pattern could, potentially, be a way to recycle a former gauge swatch. Or it could just be simple, summer knitting.
Thirty to Ten Wash/Dish/Anycloth
Short version of pattern: Either take a 30-stitch by 60-row garter-stitch cotton gauge swatch and add to it, or start by making one. Then, pick up 30 stitches along one side, knit for 10 ridges (20 rows), cast off your stitches. Pick up 40 stitches along that left-hand edge, knit for 10 ridges, cast off. Pick up 40 stitches along that left-hand edge, knit for 10 ridges, cast off. Pick up 50 stitches along the last edge, knit for 10 ridges, cast off.
Conversation
This week, I talk with the woman who produces the TECHknitting blog. Her posts are always incredibly rich and interesting. If you have not visited the site before, be prepared to spend some time there. I always mean to read it for just five minutes and end up, well, reading it for a lot longer. However, it is always worth the time. We covered a lot of topics, and links are below.
Links
8-trick pocket hat
Pocket hat part 1: Putting gauge in its place
Pocket hat part 2: Reverse stockinette tubular ending
Pocket hat part 3: Jogless ribbing stripes with a trick to work your ends in as you go
Pocket hats, interlude: Color, texture and ribbing without the icky
dots: a mystery of knitting, explained
Pocket hats, part 4: A truly flat hat top
Pocket hats: blocking
Joining
Improved Russian join aka "Back join"
Why knit?
Process plus product, Work-to-glory ratio
Body shapes
Rududu's Ravelry Profile
Rududu's Blog
The Yarn Harlot talks about her "finger dance" in her book Free-Range Knitter: The Yarn Harlot Writes Again, (by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee).
Purl When You Can is one of the incomparable (my term) Meg Swansen's unventions (her term). It is covered in several books, including Meg Swansen's Knitting and Sweaters From Camp.
It is also in a number of patterns, that you can buy directly from Schoolhouse Press. Patterns parked SO are here. Patterns marked WG are here. SO#45 Family of Raglans, SO#48 faux cardigan, WG#67 Giant Latvian Mitten Cardigan, WG#70 Knitted Stitch Pullover, WG#71 Stylized Scribble, WG#73, SPP#18 Weeping Sun and Moon, and SPP#14 Swedish Delsbo cardigan.
Last but not least, it is on the Knitting Glossary DVD, which, really, is unbelievably rich and useful.
More Uses for Gauge Swatches
Number 19: As a starting point for a larger cloth.
Number 20: Checking your pattern for the Purl-When-You-Can method.
