Twisted Knitter

A few years ago, my friend Mariann told me about spit-splicing -- and today, I did it for the first time. Spit-splicing is done in order to create a continuous length of yarn and eliminate the need to join then weave in ends later. For my garter stitch shawl, it's the best method to use because I don't want to have a "wrong" side and I didn't want to join my yarn in the center of the shawl or on the ends if I could "splice" the yarn. I used Nancy Bush's method of actually putting the yarn in my mouth instead of spitting in to my hand -- it sounds gross, but it works.

And there's been progress too. I'm on Row 138 of about 280 total rows. And it's so tough for me, but I'm going to stick with the one-project-at-a-time thing -- and right now, this is the one project. So forgive me if this is the last in-progress shot you'll see of this shawl. You can't get more boring than a dark, solid-color garter stitch that grows ever so slowly. However, this is also the time where I allow myself to consider what I'm knitting after I finish this, and since I've gotten the needles necessary (Addi Lace, Size 4) to continue another Cheryl Oberle shawl, that's my next "big" project to finish (or in this case, frog and re-knit).

By the way -- In each of the photos above, I've given you a peek at a future knit.

Posted by Janet at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

After knitting laceweight Malabrigo on Size 3's, the Size 8 Addi Turbos that I'm using now feel like clubs -- but it's a nice change. I've been craving something simple, something that's just garter stitch throughout. It feels comfortable and common -- like this shawl will be when it's finished.

I was inspired by this, which is what I actually started before losing the love for it rather quickly. It was too dense and I wasn't looking forward to knitting the edging (although it's wonderful, I think it's too fiddly for what I wanted this shawl to represent). So I frogged and started the Garter Stitch Prairie Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's book, Folk Shawls. When this shawl is finished, I'll re-visit the other Cheryl Oberle shawl I've been working on.

I'll wear this garter stitch shawl, but ultimately I want to send it to a loved one.

Posted by Janet at 08:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)