Fun With Grafting
Yesterday I completed the third square for the Kousa Dogwood Shawl. Being the eager beaver that I am, I decided to graft them together this morning. Have I grafted before? Yes. Am I confident I know what I’m doing? Of course not! So I found a rather helpful article on Knitty with great pictures and easy-to-follow instructions and was merrily knit-purl-purl-knitting along with my tapestry needle (the only one I can find at the moment, since I seem to have misplaced my Chibi, is very, very tiny so the work is simple, but rather labor intensive). I was feeling so proud of myself and nearing the end when I notice that the wrong side is facing out on one of the squares. Arrrrggghhh! Don’t you hate it when you are pleased with yourself and the knitting gods just slap you right down? Check twice, graft once. Right.
So, instead of getting all three squares grafted, I only managed to just barely get two done. It is at moments like these that one of the prime temptations of working at home rears its ugly head — the temptation to just keep knitting (or spinning). Of course, that is the most expedient way to ensure that I no longer have any work to do from home, so I must force myself to put down the needles and get going. It helps that I can get going in my pajamas, but I digress.
Anyway, pictures (hopefully) tomorrow of the Kousa Dogwood progress.
March 16th, 2006 at 9:22 am
*sigh* I don’t know what it is about the fates. Is it lack of focus when we are congratulating ourselves? It truly can’t be connected…otherwise we have to go back to believing in Gods on Olympus laughing at humans when they are bored.
March 16th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Fates? Focus? Or maybe biorhythms. Whatever it is, there are times when I should stay in bed and not handle anything sharp or breakable, let alone complex. The good part about knitting is that mistakes can be taken out. (Let’s not mention mohair.)
March 16th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
I will be checking out that Knitty article because I have some grafting to do in the next day or two. Usually I chicken out and do a two-needle bind off but it’s not appropriate in some patterns.
What a coincidence: today I was looking through an old Threads magazine and I noticed a letter to the editor written by…..Selma Miriam, designer of your WIP! She was talking not about lace but two color knitting done with both colors in the left hand. I really must find some yarn to start that shawl.
March 17th, 2006 at 8:47 pm
I can’t wait to see some pictures! I’m starting the shawl too (again - first attempt was w/ sport weight, next will be with fingering) using Frog Tree Alpaca in creamy white. It has a soft slightly fuzzy look similar to the original, done in qivuit. I put up some pictures on my blog.
March 17th, 2006 at 8:49 pm
Sorry - my blog link didn’t work. It’s Myhaven.typepad.com/myknittinghaven