Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Twist and Shout

Okay, I figured out the scalloped edge on T-Twist. Not all by myself, though. The lovely Jenifer, brilliant designer of this pattern, was kind enough to e-mail me back with another way to look at the instructions. All I can say is, d'oh! It was really simple, but my brain wasn't able to process it. I blame the fever.

Here it is so far:


I'm getting some really interesting pooling, which I wasn't expecting. I was expecting something more like Reluctant Mango's, which used the same yarn (different color). Am I nuts, though, or is it kind of cool? I suppose I could do that "knit a few rows from alternating hanks" thing, but that sounds like so much work. All those ends to weave in. So I think I'll keep going and see if I like the result. The colors make me a little hungry, since they look like chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream.

Edited to add: Knitpastis, I thought *I* was the only one without ball winder and swift! It's nice to know I'm not alone :)

In case anyone else has my particular brain problem, check out how easy the scalloped edge is. You're really just twisting the fabric between the needles (which I think is word-for-word what the instructions said, but I got hung up on the "away from you, under the edge of the fabric" bit):


And you get this:


Voila! Keep going, and you have a nice scalloped edge.


The edge is curling a bit, but I think blocking should take care of that. I kind of thought the scalloped edge would be heavy enough to pull it down. Maybe it will be after washing.

Other knitting: I keep saying I'm not really a joiner, then I join things. First, the Knitting Olympics, now The Amazing Lace, co-hosted by Rachel, whose blog is fun and highly addictive. I'll be knitting the Indian Summer Shawl, which means I'd better finish designing it. I keep getting carried away with incorporating several lace patterns...I really need to narrow it down. I have decided it will be a rectangle. I think. Almost for sure. Who can resist a knitting group with such a pun-erific name? And spoofing reality TV? Awesome.

Reading: Still in a fluffy book rut.

Writing: Going back and fixing a timeline issue. That's one disadvantage of not outlining ahead of time; I'm still developing alibis for people.

Cooking: Soup, soup, and more soup. And toast, tea, and 7UP Plus.

11 comments:

Holly said...

I think the T-Twist yarn is turning out wonderful! I love that the pattern of it is so asymmetrical (sp?). I think it is really pretty!

Annie said...

I love the pooling! It's very pretty, and cool edge! Thanks for giving the 'how to'.

YarnThrower said...

I think your top is looking very nice! Just a comment about knitting from more than one ball... You won't have to weave in a lot of ends if you just carry the yarn from the unused ball along up the wrong side of your knitting for the couple of rows you are using the alternate ball. (However, I think your top is looking nice the way it is.)

Knittypants said...

The pooling is pretty, I love how it's knitting up.

I am with you on not having a ball winder and swift, I keep thinking I should get one, but that's a lot of yarn money!! I got to keep my priorities straight :-D

jen said...

Oh, I like it a lot! I love the pooling ... I first thought it was Noro when I saw the pict. :) I knit an hourglass sweater in the rnd while alternating every 2 rows, and I definitely got an odd "column" of slightly offset stitches, which was okay, but still ... but as someone mentioned, you just carry the other yarn up the side. Can't wait to see!

KnitPastis said...

Thanks alot for showing this yarn because now I am trying to talk my husband into taking me to DQ for some ice cream. It totally reminds me of neopolitan ice cream. Gosh I love those colors.
You are doing such a great job on the top and hand winding I might add...hugs!

String Bean said...

I love the yarn you're using for T-Twist. It does look like chocolatey-goodness! That's some pretty cool pooling.

I may use that edge on a hat I plan to knit. By 'plan to knit' I really mean 'don't expect it until next year'.

The Picovoli sleeve I tried out didn't work so I frogged it (*sob*) and began a(nother) sock to console myself. I knitted the picot edges for the sleeves this morning and just finished sewing them down. Now for the washing and blocking!

There will be knitting pictures aplenty this weekend. I've been pretty slack.

Rachel said...

You're not crazy -- that IS pretty cool pooling. And the edge is so cool -- it's amazing to me how many different techniques there are out there that create such unusual, interesting effects.

I'm glad you joined The Amazing Lace! I promise not to call you a joiner, though. :)

Rain said...

It looks gorgeous so far. I really like the way the yarn is turning out. It's a really cool effect for the edging and great that Jenifer was able to help you out.

KnitPastis said...

ok, it happened. He took me to DQ and I blame it all on this yummy yarn. Bloated now from that darn banana milk shake. LoL

Cal at Northern Sky Knitting said...

I just could not fathom out what the twist instructions meant and having only two photos here confused me even more as I couldnt understand what you had done!
Can't you just simply twist the whole thing around?
Could you also twist on the 3rd row instead so as not to have such a deep scalop?
And what if you would prefer not to have a twisted edge - would you need to adjust your stitches on the 'hem' to compensate for the lack of twist?
I do like your colour scheme- not the kind of colours I could wear (too pale) but the ice cream comparison is just too tempting....what is DQ by the way?

Keep up the good work!