the Intrepid Fiberwizard

adventures in spinning, knitting, gardening and life

Sunday, July 9, 2006

Slippery Stuff

Summer comes, and my thoughts turn to alternative fibers (meaning anything not wool) This morning I was digging around in my stash, and found this yummy fiber.

It's going to be a cabled tank top - made from a micro fiber hand dyed ribbon yarn, that I picked up from Tess Designs at Stitches West. Beautiful, simple - and a rather no-brainer type of knit (perfect for relaxing)

Yet, I have one dilemma for all you knitting pros out there; I find that when I go from a knit stitch to a purl stitch I end up with a small "ladder" looking blurp in the middle of the two stitches. uck. I have pulled, yanked, said a few choice things, and then pulled and yanked again... all to no avail. The ladderettes remain.
If you take a close look in the photo, to the left of the cables, you'll see what I mean.
Let me know if you have any ideas.... otherwise, I'll be crossing my fingers that it will "even out in the blocking" (didn't some famous blogger that we all know say that blocking solves a miriad of knitting dilemmas?)



Meanwhile, on the fiber section of the farm, dyeing continues in it's various stages. (grins)
and it goes on and on ! (good thing that I enjoy it, eh?)









We're getting ready to leave for vacation tomorrow - heading off to Upstate New York, to lounge around by the lake. It's a dandy old cottage; the kind of place where you can toss a t-shirt on over your wet bathing suit and head right on in to eat dinner - nothing formal, we all take off our wrist watches, and generally chill. (thanks to my baby brother for these great photos)
This marvelous old cottage has been in our family for more than 100 years. Every year some things need "tweeking": roof repairs, paint, new steps... oh yes, and the clean up from the mice and squirrels who lived there during the winter :-)
A big thank you to my parents and my brothers (who all arrived earlier than us this year, and have done all the work)
Another thank you goes out to our lovely house-and-goat/sheep sitters... thanks for minding the farm! We'll be raising our glasses of Bully Hill in a toast to all our knitting and spinning friends.

10 Comments:

At July 9, 2006 at 11:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How gorgeous! All of it, the fiber, the lake, the cottage! How fun for you!!

Enjoy your vacation, Teyani! Looking forward to pics when you return!!

 
At July 9, 2006 at 12:00 PM, Blogger Thorny said...

Hi there! Coming out of lurkdom to share my ladder-busting solution:

When I go from a knit to a purl stitch, rather than tugging on the working yarn or anything like that, instead I sort of scootch the knitted fabric on the right-hand needle toward me a bit. So instead of the knitted fabric hanging straight down from the needle, the just-knitted row points toward me and the rest of the fabric hangs down from there. That helps shorten the distance between the back of the knit and the front of the purl, pretty effectively eliminating any ladders.

Hope that helps, and enjoy your vacation!

 
At July 9, 2006 at 3:37 PM, Blogger Jenny Raye said...

Sounds like my perfect idea of a vacation! Enjoy!

 
At July 9, 2006 at 6:35 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Have a great vacation! A cottage by a lake...mmmmm!

 
At July 10, 2006 at 3:48 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow Teyani! That "cottage" looks like something right off a movie screen. Looks wonderful! I can just imagine you there relaxing and not even missing us! Grin. Have a WONDERFUL wonderful time.

 
At July 10, 2006 at 8:05 AM, Blogger Miri Mack said...

Beautiful!

Hmmm...you could try knitting into the back of the stitch.

 
At July 10, 2006 at 8:37 AM, Blogger Karen said...

I get that one one side of my cables too. I have found that snugging up the yarn helps somewhat and blocking and wearing helps with the rest.

If anyone deserves a restful vacation you guys do. You guys work so hard! Enjoy your time away!

 
At July 10, 2006 at 10:06 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Teyani!, regarding your purl stiches, I was just reading about combined knitting, and a bit different way to purl. this method apparently allows your purl to 'sit' differently and also use a bit less yarn! Check out annie modesitt.com. she has animated diagrams for her stiches!! have a great vacation in NY. I am headed to Alaska for 10 days!! knitting is being packed first!..take care Liz

 
At July 10, 2006 at 3:46 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Teyani...are you on Keuka Lake? Oh my word! That is one of our favorite places to visit. I will just have a duck if that's where you are staying!

 
At July 18, 2006 at 6:44 AM, Blogger Stacey said...

Have fun on vacation! Relax! You deserve it!! :)

 

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