Saturday 2 February 2013

Knitting in the Round - Do Not Knit Your Tail

Every time I discover a pattern that requires "knitting in the round", the instruction immediately following "join for working in the round" is without-a-doubt "be careful not to twist your stitches". It must be close to 15 projects that have required me to join for working in the round, and I have never once twisted my stitches. What I have done 100% of the time, and sometimes multiple times per project, is knit my gall-darn tail! Why don't they bombard you with this warning?! It is quite as irksome upon discovery as any other defect - requiring unknitting all of those hard earned stitches. Though, I'm positive it wouldn't make a difference if they did warn you - like when my mom warns us not to get in car accidents. So there you have it - for what it is worth - do not knit your tail. Clearly, I have no words of advice for how one avoids this - just keep your eye on that sneaky scoundrel.

I spun a variegated yarn last week, just to practice my colour blending. I was not trying to be organized or patterned (very unlike me), what fun.


It was just a tiny skien, and I was eager to test it, so I wanted a small project. Why not knit a decorative felted bowl?



Truthfully, I preferred the skien to the bowl. I can appreciate that I made bowl out of yarn that I spun from once-filthy fleece, but anyone who knows me, knows that I am far too gothic for this colourful nonsense. I am happy to get rid of it to the first person expressing interest in the comments. As long as that person isn't secretively thinking it would make a lovely hat (a bowl is but an up-side-down hat after all), but I assure you it would not, and with any luck on behalf of your fashion sense, it will be too small for your head. I couldn't bare the humiliation of having someone scampering about with my bowl on their head, telling anyone who will listen that Ashleigh Sauve made it. Telling people that I had the novel idea to knit a bowl is quite another thing.


8 comments:

  1. I suppose I should have specified that the bowl will have to stay in Sault Ste. Marie, as I can't imagine making the effort to ship it.

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  2. I think your bowl is beautiful, and I am thouroughly impressed by your recently acquired skills:)

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  3. Thank you Amie! Pay us a visit and the bowl is all yours!

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  4. I love it, Ashleigh!
    honestly!
    It's amazing! I'm so glad that you are learning to do these things!
    I especially love the colours in it, I must admit!
    (I'm an "earth-tones" kind of person!)

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  5. Dear Ashleigh
    This issue has been haunting me since I read your blog and I think I have just figured out how to deal with this dilemma. See I myself have had this same issue; those damn tail just seem to creep up and want to be knitting into the piece. So, how to get past this issue, tie a fishing weight to the end of the tail!
    All the best,
    Katina

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  6. That is a great idea Katina! I am currently knitting a sock, and I wound the tail up into a little ball. It is working out very well. Though apparently no knitting-in-the-round project can go without difficulty. Twice I caught myself knitting with one of the three stitch-holding needles instead of using the fourth needle. Another thing rarely warned about!

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  7. SIGH, again I know exactly what you are talking about. It is almost as if we need to use different coloured needles so that we know which one to use next.

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  8. Here is how I solved my tail problems with bling; I pick out a pack of beads that match the yarn or use one leftover previously. Attach the bead (often I use a baby crystal bead) and it dangles just enough to keep that pesky tail from being knitted back in the sock's body. Hope you enjoy your dangling crystals from your circular knits!

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