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Happy Friday bloggers!

I have created a separate site for the Fearless Fair Isle Project -- click on the link above to go there. We're not gonna start knitting until July 29, so anyone who still would like to join in has plenty of time to do so.

Did some work on Dalriada last night -- I'll be able to finish the back and start a sleeve this weekend.

Not much else to report, so y'all have a great weekend!

6.27.2002
Thursday - and I'm not going to work

The bad news is that's because I have a medical appointment today. But I ought to be able to squeeze some knitting time in. Even though my wrists are hurting again (insert ominous music here).

On the train coming home yesterday I finished up the socks I was knitting -- look here.

These socks are for my friend Odet who wears size five shoes and his the tiniest ankles I've ever seen. I plan to do the whole leg ribbed so they'll fit around her ankle.

6.26.2002
Wednesday - Hot Town, Summer in the City

The heat's getting to everyone. This morning a scuzzy-looking homeless guy followed me from the subway to the entrance to my office, shouting obscenities. I'm glad I can walk fast.

Hey all you Fearless Fair Islers -- guess what I did last night? A swatch!

Woo-hoo! Pretty cool, huh? If you wanna see the whole swatch, check here.

I knitted it using my new ebony circular needle.

These needles were recommended to me by a friend (Hi Margaret!) as being great for fair isle -- the wood has just enough drag to enable you to spread out your stitches so that your floats have a nice even tension.

These needles are made from the by-products from manufacturing musical instruments (or from recycled musical instruments, depending on whose description you read) and are somewhat difficult to find. so don't ask me where I got mine -- they're sold out. :-)

6.25.2002
Tuesday - Another Code Red Day

Yes, we are all urged to take public transportation, refuel our cars after dark, and stay inside all day.

For those of you doing the fearless fair isle project, I think it's time I started knitting a swatch for you guys, doncha think? This is a really ugly week, but I'll really try to do it by the end of the week. Those of you who have your yarn could knit your own gauge swatch too. Cast on 28 stitches and knit a complete pattern repeat of 32 rows. You won't be knitting this in the round, but instead of knitting back and forth, that is, purling on the way back, break off your yarn at the end of each knit row and go back to the beginning and knit each subsequent row. The reason for doing this is that your gauge will differ between knit and purl rows. If you knit every row of your swatch, you'll get a much better representation of your gauge for knitting in the round.

And when you are doing two-color fair isle knitting, you will be working with two colors per round most of the time. You will need to carry the color you are not using loosely on the back of the work. Some fair isle books tell you not to carry your unused yarn more than 5 stitches, but I do. I don't weave the unused yarn, I have "floats." You have to make sure that you are carrying it loosely so that your work does not pucker. Once you are done and steam your work, you will find that those floats attach themselves nicely to the back of your knitted fabric. That's one of the great things about shetland wool!

If you are unsure of this technique, knitting a swatch is a great way to practice. Check a fair isle book for pictures of the technique -- if you don't own one, you can usually find one in the library. I own the Alice Starmore Book and the John Allen book, as well as a couple of other lesser known ones, but there are more good reference works out there.

Happy Monday, bloggers! This morning on the radio the weatherman said it was going up to 94 degrees in the DC metro area, with air quality "code red." That means don't breathe when you are outside.

I did get some aran knitting done over the sweltering weekend. Here it is. This is the back, I've got the front completed. I'm knitting slower on the back, due in part to the fact that I've been having some pain in my arm. I need to be careful while knitting so it doesn't escalate into something serious.

Fearless Fair Isle

Lots of people have joined up to knit along -- see the link at the right. And in case you didn't know, I've posted the pattern for the fair isle here. Charts are here.