I have a warped pinkie

I've been working on my work glittens as you can see by the posts below and have been trying to learn to knit with the yarn held more over my knuckles rather than in my palm. This method does seem like it would give me better tension because the index finger is used to maneuver the yarn while the middle finger minds the stitch being knit into. If I wrap the yarn around my pinkie finger it causes way too much twisting of the yarn; if I just hold it between my ring and pinkie fingers I can only get about 3 stitches done before it just slips out. Now I normally knit without wrapping the yarn around my pinkie so I couldn't quite figure it out. I'm still a little perplexed BUT I did discover something that could vastly affect future knitting difficulties; my pinkie finger is warped and barely rests against my ring finger! Yep, that will definitely cause the yarn to slip out. Maybe I need a little pinker glove to fill in the gap er somethin.

My Glitten Progress and Video link

Glitten KAL Videos - The Stitches & The Pattern

Video 5 is long and I'm a bit off centered in quite a few parts, but there's definitely enough information there that you don't have to wonder if you're doing it correctly; after all I've already done the trial and error!

Video 6 shows how to increase for the gusset which starts at Row 4. I decided that I like M1R and M1L better than the simple k1f&b as the pattern says to do because (to me) it hides the color change better.

Video 7 works Row 19 showing how to get stitches off the dpn and onto a waste yarn then how to cast on 13 stitches using the backward loop (or simple) cast on.

Video 8 shows the waste yarn being knitted across the palm in Row 22 and Video 9 shows how to continue to knit after adding the waste yarn.

Video 10 A-C shows how to do the SSK and K2Tog decreases from each of the 4 decreasing points per row. The 4 decreases are worked over 10 rows thus you decrease from 54 stitches down to 14 stitches.

Video 11-A & B shows the kitchener stitch to close up the top of the mitten and weaving in the yarn end.

I've just completed the mitt part of my glitten. It's a bit big but I'll just shrink it a little bit since it's wool and it should be fine.

I did notice that the part where the letters are I knitted tighter which I thought was going to be a problem but turns out that it actually looks way better than the rest of the glitten because I can see the weavig through the other parts. The tops stitches still look ok though.

Here's what they look like so far!

Is it Fair Isle or Fair Isle Faux?

Today I pondered whether or not this new great technique I've learned is truly "Fair Isle" knitting since I've read many posts before on the matter but never really let it sink in because I hadn't had any need to try it yet. So I consulted my good friend "Google" whom I rely on countless times to point me in the right direction while on a quest for the truth. Google pointed me to my other reliable internet buddy, Wikipedia, who has yet to let me down in deciphering the complex questions of the world such as this one.

Is it Fair Isle or Fair Isle Faux?

According to Wikipedia while it is most certainly "fair isle" it is also a variable of the traditional knitting technique which gained by popularity by the Prince of Wales who later became Edward VIII and was named for a tiny island in Scotland. The traditional technique never has more than 2 or 3 consecutive stitches in a row and only uses 2 colors per row and is knit in the round. The modern version is called "woven Fair Isle", where the unused strand is held in slightly different positions relative to the needles and thereby woven into the fabric, still invisible from the front, but trapped closely against the back of the piece.

"Fair Isle" is the technique often used to describe colourwork knitting where stitches are knit alternately in various colors, with the unused colours stranded across the back of the work. Others use the term "stranded colourwork" for the generic technique, and reserve the term "Fair Isle" for the characteristic patterns of the Shetland Islands. Other techniques for knitting in colour include intarsia, slip-stitch colour (also known as mosaic knitting).

So there you have it! I'm knitting the modern version of Fair Isle called "Woven Fair Isle" that became popular because the Prince of Wales wore fair isle tank tops in public in the early 1900's.

Glittens - The Stitches and the Pattern

So I've figured it out! I think I was doing the weaving wrong. Something didn't quite look right on the inside so I carefully watched that video again on weaving and think I got it. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong....

Basically it's when knitting more than 2 stitches from the right hand more than two stitches the first stitch is regular then it alternates with the woven stitch. I'm still not sure if it's 2 plus more or just more than 2, but I'll keep an eye on those stitches in the back and see if one makes more sense than the other.

For the LEFT hand anything more than 1 stitch needs to be a "pretend stitch" but again the first stitch on the left hand is a regular stitch. I was doing them all as "pretend" stitches.

You'll have to watch the video link above to know what a pretend stitch and woven stitch are. Are there actually real names for those stitch maneuvers?

Ok, I just frogged back to my life line and I'm going to start again with the color change. See, now you know why I put that in there?

The pattern for the top side of the glitten is on the right. The palm pattern I'm using is the one that was posted online. (see glitten pattern link)

Glittens - A video KAL!

Oh, I hope I'm not biting off more than I can chew, but I've decided to do a video KAL. Kal being an acronymn for "knit-a-long" just in case there's anyone out there oddly watching this blog. :D

I'm going to need a new pair of gloves for my job and these will be just perfect. Oh yeah, did I mention that my independent evaluation showed up Next Day Air today stating I'm fit to return to my regular job. Funny... I don't really feel all that fit. I hope it goes well!

SOOOOOOO, without further delay I've decided to knit the "Glittens" that Melinda (aka WildMountainHoney) was nice enough to post pictures of her fabulous and quite colorful glittens. You can view her Glitten posting here. The pattern that Melinda used and that I'll be using can be found on this blog over on the side bar.

To be more specific the Glitten pattern is here and a pictoral page here.

Here are the first 4 videos of my "Glitten KAL Playlist " to kick off this video KAL.

I'll add other's helpful videos as I work this KAL too. So far I'll mention that KnittingHelp.com has a great selection of videos suited for this Kal such as:

1. The Long-Tail Cast-On
2. The Knit Stitch
3. Joining new yarn for a single strand of yarn
4. Fixing mistakes (without ripping out)
5. Small Diameter Circular Knitting: Double Pointed Needles
6. Knitting 2 Colors at a Time: Stranding Method

Before we can knit 2 colors we need to know how to add the other color! Weaving or wrapping as demonstrated here is how I'll add my second color.

The Two-handed Fair Isle Technique - This is a great video for 2 color knitting in the round but if that seems a little daunting you can always use Amy's Stranding video above.

Ok that's enough information for one post and a bit a head of my knitting!

I put together a video of this project basically step by step. Here's the Glitten YouTube playlist.

Happy New Year!

Ready, Set, GO.... 2008! Some friends of mine went to Bookies Tavern for new year's for some drinking debauchery. It was a pretty good night I guess. I'm still not sure how happy I am about that "youngster" saying I was not only a "cougar" but my lack of children made me, quote; "A cougar and a half". Oh my. Should I be happy about this? So I guess it was a compliment, but sucks because I'm OLD! We attempted to play darts which didn't get much further than putting money in the machine because the house darts were a mess with most tips missing and a couple others with just nubs that surely wouldn't stick. We later learned that it was probably Katie that took the darts home on a previous night out at Bookies. How Ironic. Anyway, I could have done without the shots because they just get me too wasted so knowing that anymore alcohol would only make me puke, I went out to Lance's car just to chill at about 3am (bar serving until 4 today). We of course crashed at Katie's and I discovered the next morning that Anna picked up a stray named Joe who apparently had a fit when he found Anna comfy crashed with Lance in the downstairs bedroom. Joe punted the Jenga game that Dimitri was drunkenly trying to stack across the room. It's sort of a morning after game where we fill everyone in about what they did that night. We had a very slowly served 4PM breakfast at Big Boy. Ah nothing like starting off the first day of the new year with breakfast while the sun goes down.