I decided my idle knitting this week, while the Acer repair awaits me, would be the next skullcap in line for Bob. But in order to feel like I’d accomplished something as a knitter, I also decided to Magic Loop the crown. I’ve never been comfortable with this method, and not sure I ever will be. I’m so incredibly strategic with DPNs — about where best to divide up my stitches, how and when to slip some from one needle to another, etc. Would I get there with Magic Loop eventually? Not sure. Plus it’s just not as lovely to look at as the mouth of a DPN triangle. But I’m giving it a whirl, because hooray for old dogs learning new tricks.
Also hooray also for this Kenzie* red, which is the best shade of red I have ever seen — somehow wonderfully vintage looking — and is making me really happy. I say that, too, as a person who does not generally enjoy red.
UPDATES
– Remember that Nikki Gabriel triangles sweater pattern you all helped me get my hands on? It’s now available in her webshop.
– This week’s Knit the Look was a simple stockinette beanie on Emily Weiss, and I recommended you calculate your cast-on from a swatch and a measurement — an extremely valuable exercise for anyone who hasn’t ever done that. But if you prefer a fully written pattern, Purl Soho just yesterday listed their Basic Hats for Everyone, a proto hat pattern with three brim choices (rolled, garter, ribbed) and optional ear flaps and tassels, designed for their new worsted-weight yarn. (Which I’m still dying to knit with.)
– Another recent Knit the Look was Sabrina Meijer with that black-and-white op-art sweater. I recommended a similar op-art sweater pattern, but have since spotted a new cowl pattern, Rama Lama, which has pretty much the same colorwork pattern as Meijer’s pullover. So if you’re good with colorwork, you could borrow that stitch pattern and improvise a sweater out of it. (Of course, if you’re very good with colorwork, you could improvise that stitch pattern as well. But there it is.)
ELSEWHERE
– Speaking of yarn I’m dying to knit with, hello Bare Naked Yarns from Anne Hanson. You can find them here.
– I’m excited about Knit.fm, a new podcast by Hannah Fettig and Pam Allen
– And in love with Fibre Space for teaching furloughed government workers to knit for free
– Thanks to Felicia at The Craft Sessions for bringing this fantastic post of hers to my attention: How to choose a sweater pattern
– I don’t know what the #CaribouKnits hashtag is all about, really, but Kay Gardiner has been cracking me up. (As usual.) I’ve been laughing at this one for seven days and counting.
– Not just the bunny, the bunny’s bag
– How long a wool sweater can last (Hint: 1700 years)
– My favorite yarny Instagram shot of the week, by Jill Draper
– And this one is an absolute MUST, do you hear me? A MUST. The whole conversation between Chuck Close and Robert Storr is fantastic, but you MUST go to the 1:10 mark and listen to Close talk about his grandmother and all the ways that her crochet and knitting impacted him as an artist and his views on art-making. Wonderful stuff, and I wish I could remember who pointed me to it. Thanks so much to Clare for having pointed me to it, and my apologies to her for having lost track of the source.
Thanks for a great week everyone, and don’t forget to enter the Manos yarn giveaway!
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*Provided to me by Skacel