Argus Knitalong: Week 8

[laughingrat]

Hey, the two month mark! Wow, yay! Originally there was some discussion of maybe going to biweekly posts after this point; what do you think? People not in the KAL, do these posts make you wanna gouge your eyes out? KAL peeps, whether wrapping up or maybe just getting started, are these potentially-useful spaces for you?

As always, please share your comments, questions, complaints, squees, progress pics, etc.!

Comments

[thistleingrey]

No eye-gouging here. :)

[laughingrat]

Hee hee, good. :-D It's not like the group is so traffic-heavy that it probably causes a lot of angst for us to have a weekly post, that's true.

[thistleingrey]

Precisely!

[laughingrat]

Ha! Here's a pickle. So I'm binding off, got about halfway across the shawl, re-read the bindoff instructions and just then noticed that they say to knit through the back loop. Er, whoops. This will ruin my bound-off edge Y/N?

[sedge]

What happens if you pin out a section of the shawl including the edge? Is the bindoff sufficiently stretchy? How does it look?

If it stretches enough and you think it looks fine, then keep going.

If not, then tink back.

[laughingrat]

Thank you! Yeah, it's good and stretchy. I was afraid of curling issues, but I said "Screw it" and switched to the ktbl halfway through (very ME of me to ask a question but not wait for a response, right? ;)) and there's equal curling in every area, so it's all good.

Imma block it today!

[rainkatt]

I completely fail at actually doing KALs, but I enjoy following along with them, so no eye-gouging here at all. :D

[laughingrat]

\0/

(Also, if anyone not actively participating in the KAL ever wants to make a comment or answer a tech question, I hope they feel free.)

[afuna]

This is pretty much me, yup!

[aquaeri]

Yep, I'm fine with reading about other knitters' KAL adventures.

[uninvitedcat]

I am up to row 13 on chart B!! This is the furthest I have ever reached! Fingers crossed I don't go wroung again....

[laughingrat]

Hurrah! Have you put in a lifeline at all before? That might help you preserve your progress if you have to rip out again. Chart B...damn, I don't have my pattern in front of me, but that's the one we do three times, right? No, that's A...well, point is, maybe after your next purl row you can pop in a lifeline. :-D Just make sure you don't feed it through your stitch markers! I did that once (and had the kind of markers that are just little closed loops) and OMG, the annoyance when I realized my mistake...

[uninvitedcat]

I'd never even heard of a lifeline until about two weeks ago! It's probably a very good idea, although (touch wood) I've nearly finished B now... Actually, no. It's a very good idea and I should start using them immediately.

At least my stitch markers are just spare wool tied around the needles, so I don't have to worry too much about knitting them into the piece!

(Row 17!!!)

[willidan]

Okay. Yeah. What is a lifeline? I can guess a bit from the title, but how do I work it in and take it out?

[laughingrat]

They can be anything, really, but it helps if it's a smooth yarn so you can thread it and pull it out as necessary. You can even use dental floss if you're working with pretty fine yarns, or some people use pearl cotton embroidery thread. When you come to the end of a row, take a length of whatever floss or yarn you're using as your lifeline--make sure it's plenty long, it needs to have enough room to fit your whole project row on there even stretched out--and thread it on a darning needle and just run it through every loop of the row. Just straight through, no weaving in and out or anything.

I mentioned the stitch markers before--make sure you don't do like I did the first time I ran a lifeline! I ran it through my stitch markers and of course that meant they were embedded in that row. Whoops. So out came the lifeline. Annoying! If you have those little stitch markers that open and shut, though, it wouldn't be a huge problem.

Anyway, if you wind up having a problem and ripping back, the lifeline keeps you from losing progress unnecessarily or having to worry about accidentally dropping stitches when you rip back. I really don't use them as often as I should.

EDIT: Here's a lifeline tutorial from Heartstrings Fiber Arts.

[willidan]

Excellent! Thank you. That actually will be a lifeline. For me and everyone in my life. I tend to get cranky when I have to rip out knitting.

[willidan]

Finished! Finally! No pics yet and I'm a bit disappointed that it's smaller than I wish it were, but I can still wear it. Sorta. Will try and post pics soon(ish).

[laughingrat]

Congratulations! Yes, I have mine blocked and dried and it's not large. It's a nice neck scarf, though. I'm increasingly wearing even my larger shawls sort of wrapped that way anyway--they sort of bunch up naturally near the neck, and drape at the edges. Comfier and less hassle than trying to wear them as open as possible and draped across my shoulders--they were always falling off or becoming disarranged.

[aedifica]

Mine is currently decorating the wall of my cube at work, where it harmonizes nicely with the color of the cube wall.

I noticed that even though I pinned the edge out in nice little points when I blocked it, it has lost those points--well, it still has vestigial points, but nothing like what it had. Still pretty though!

[laughingrat]

Yeah, I noticed that too...little points but nothing major. I wonder if I'd been willing to block the overall shawl smaller, if that would have freed up more slack for the points themselves?

The Seraphim shawl by Miriam Felton has a similar edge, but the points remained much more pronounced. I don't have that FO in front of me right now, but I seem to remember that she did an additional design factor that caused the points to be more prominent. In the stockinette sections of the edge, she also had centered decreases, so those sections pulled in more while the points naturally came forward. (I am hoping that makes sense!)

[aedifica]

That did make sense, and sounds neat!