Two-sided Reversible Intarsia
I got a request for a “ladybug” scarf.
Ladybug
Design: a reversible spotted scarf
I knew immediately which yarn I wanted to use. I had been suffering from Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino envy and just needed an excuse. I knew it came in black and a perfect red.
It’s light enough for an all-over k1 p1 ribbing scarf, it will be nice and flat. Since it will be hanging with all the tension in the lengthwise direction, it will always be un-expanded.
Wider and shorter would be a great Baby Blanket , lots of great colors of DBBC!
I knit a large swatch in k1 p1 ribbing to get the pattern gauge.
DBBC k1p1 ribbing swatch
I measured the gauge (un-expanded) and made a graph to match the size of the scarf I wanted.
Each square represents two stitches, one knit, one purl. Only the knit stitch will show, the purl stitches will recede and be visible as knit stitches on the other side.
I added circles to represent the spots and then tried different combinations of filled squares to get the best approximation of a circle.
Next, the worst part, okay maybe the second worst part, figuring out how to make a two-sided intarsia scarf that doesn’t look crappy on one side.
Floats = looks crappy
How to make the wrong side (WS) look as good as the right side (RS)…
RS to the left, WS to the right
Here’s what I came up with:
right side (RS), expanded
wrong side (WS), expanded, much improved
Here’s how I do it:
To hide the floats, I lift the float over a (same color) stitch that appears as a purl stitch on the right side (RS) (knit stitch on the wrong side (WS)). The float zig zags between the front and back laying on top of the purl bumps.
unattractive float (WS)
WS, lift float over stitch so float hides on purl bump
(knit stitch on WS) of same color stitch
WS, float dropped onto purl bump
WS, float woven between stitches (hidden),
float highlighted with white dots
One more time, going back the other way.
WS, ugly float
(flipped over to) RS, float lifted over from behind
RS, float dropped onto purl bump of same color,
float highlighted with white dots
RS, float woven between stitches (hidden),
float highlighted with white dots
right side (RS)
right side (RS) expanded,
floats highlighted with white dots
wrong side (WS)
wrong side (WS) expanded
floats highlighted with white dots
NOTE: Be sure to weave the float over stitches of the same color.
The Actual Worst Part:
Weaving In The Ends
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
(thank goodness for Project Runway Season 3 on dvd!!!)
Each spot creates 4 ends. 21 spots = 84 ends
(in addition to the usual beginning and end of every ball)
NOTE: Weave in the ends mostly vertically, so they won’t work themselves out when the ribbing is stretched and springs back.
Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, it is super soft. Lots of great colors for other spotted scarf combinations or baby blankets. It PILLS though. The beginning of the scarf was pilling by the time I finished it. DD is very happy with the scarf, we’ll see how it wears.
CANADA! (Happy 150th Birthday British Columbia!)
THE GOOD NEWS:
I finally made it to the legendary Button Button.
I kept seeing handknit sweaters and admiring the great, perfect buttons and I kept hearing “I got them in Vancouver (hmmph)
Seattle’s not a button town”.
What does that mean???
I wondered what a ‘button town’ was.
Is it filthy with button shops like Starbucks in Seattle
Do they sell buttons *in* their Starbucks???
How many button shops can a city support?
I began asking more specifically and learned that everyone was talking about ONE particular button shop in Vancouver: Button Button.
Wow. I took pictures, but they can’t do it justice.
An incredible variety of buttons and so many of them.
Shelves, trays, DRAWERS full of buttons.
that drawer thing is full of vintage buttons
and it isn’t the drawer thingy
So many buttons, so little time.
It was our ‘family’ vacation; spending two hours in a button shop and missing the 12:55 ferry to Nanaimo was not to be suffered.
I will have to go back with an open mind and plenty of time. I want to look at ALL the buttons.
Two hours probably won’t be enough
THE BAD NEWS:
Button Button is “leaving at the end of August”.
WHAT!?!
New Location: “don’t know, but somewhere”.
I know! it’s August NOW!
She is taking email addresses to let us know where she ends up.
The family did suffer a bit of yarn shopping later in Victoria, though. I waited as long as I could and then casually said “uhhhhh, I’m going to swing by the yarn store…” and started walking toward Beehive Wool Shop. I have been enjoying the Butterfly Super 10 cotton I bought last time so much, I decided I ought to get more.
Butterfly Super 10 cotton color 3829
(I know it looks like the same as 3834, but it’s not!)
DD requested a scarf with a texture pattern. A Soft Scarf. I’m a sucker for a request from my yarn-suffering family.
Misti Alpaca Worsted (in 100g hanks!) color SFN 10
Beehive Wool Shop in Victoria: a great yarn shop, with tons of
bee-uuu-tee-ful yarns. It’s an eyeful just walking in the door. They have things I never see in Seattle, like the Butterfly Super 10 and Misti Alpaca Worsted in 100g hanks.
On top of it all, they are super nice and helpful. When I said DD wanted “something cream colored and soft”, yarn suddenly began appearing in her hands for a squeeze; I think they pulled a ball or hank of every single cream colored yarn in the store and were ready to start making phone calls!
DD went all puppy-faced when she touched the Misti and that was that.
Things I love about vacation:
my family
Canada
reading
the beach
new places
views
playing poker
no computer (surprise!)
Vancouver: The Sylvia, Banana Leaf Malaysian restaurant on Denman, French Connection (WHAT? they were having a “sale” and I have teenagers…), Button Button, BC Ferries
Tofino: Ocean, beach, crab dinner, Ocean Village Beach Resort, The Schooner Restaurant, NW Coast Indian Art, no tv, no telephone, no computer, no radio = reading, knitting, poker, beach-time, family-time.
MacKenzie Beach
time well spent 
crab dinner at the cabin
Ocean Village Beach Resort cabins
Victoria: 150th BC birthday party in full swing!, High Tea, shopping, Beehive Wool Shop, Butchart Gardens, gelato,The Provincial Museum,The Black Ball
Victoria, B.C. Inner Harbor
Butchart Gardens
Butchart Gardens
Butchart Gardens
The Black Ball Ferry (MV Coho)
I’m ready to go back!
O Canada!
VACATION!!!!!
I’m taking (at least) two knitting projects:
Butterfly Super 10 Cotton, color 3834
from Beehive Wool Shop in Victoria, B.C.
It comes in 118 shades
I bought this yarn in Victoria a couple of years ago, I’ve been itchin’ to get to it and I like the idea of taking it along on a trip back to Canada.
I have started swatching.
Swatching is ALWAYS frustrating, but it’s even worse when the swatching is in a lace pattern. How do you measure a lace pattern swatch? In cotton??? The slightest tug and it measures at a completely different gauge. I don’t even have to tug, I can just move the scale over half an inch and get a different gauge Sigh.
I wish all pattern gauges would be given in stockinette stitch.
Whatever the stitch pattern, the same size needles could be used to come up with a corresponding stockinette gauge.
So, if the plan survives the swatch (what’s that saying? “no plan survives the first encounter with the swatch”)
I’ll be knitting Vogue Spring/Summer 2007 #8 Oversize Lace Top by Deborah Newton (Ravelry link)
For mindless easy knitting I will take along this sock project:
Blue Moon Socks That Rock Lightweight in colorway Husky (specially dyed for us University of Washington Huskies)
What? your school doesn’t have it’s own STR colorway???
Awwww, that is just sooooo saaaad.
Next time, pick a *good* school. 
I should probably pick out another sock yarn, lots of driving on this vacation and socks are just the thing for that.
Maybe I can sell socks as I go – to pay for gas…
Shibui + Hilltop
Finished:
Lurrrve it!
Rhapsody in Lace and Ruffles by Megan Wright
from Hilltop Yarn in Seattle.
ShibuiKnits Baby Alpaca DK in color Spruce
from Knit Purl in Portland, OR.
This yarn is beautiful, it comes in rich colors, slightly variegated, soft and smooth, delightful to knit.
This yarn is a lighter gauge than the yarns specified in the pattern, so I modified the lace panel to make the wavy part wider, adding two stitches and two rows. I also added rows and details to the top and bottom borders.
That ruffle wanted to curl sooooo bad. I wondered how I was going to block a ruffle, thought about it the whole time I was knitting those 14 curly 581-stitch rows of stockinette. Here’s what I came up with:
it worked
ETA: see me showing off here: http://knit-purlpdx.blogspot.com/2008/07/rhapsody-in-spruce.html
New Knitter
This is not a problem. It’s an opportunity.
BFF and a good time to learn how to knit
I expected her to be considerably less mobile and thought that a ‘little something’ to keep her occupied would be just the thing.
I arrived with wine and pie and beautiful yarn…heh heh heh
She picked it up quickly and got cranking right along
respectable first effort in minutes
The next day this arrived in my Inbox:
Ripped and started over all be herself! Cast on and everything
Yay!
Lucky Me
A dear friend visiting from Norway just brought me this.
Hifa 2 (the yarn used in Poetry In Stitches designs)
colors: 6038 Navy, 6085 Forest, 6072 Burgundy, 6053 Black
It’s always lucky to have a dear friend. A friend that brings yarn, well, there ought to be a word for it.
I started Poetry In Stitches 166
This Hifa2 yarn is a delight to knit; when my friend asked if there was anything I would like her to bring from Norway…
I could not resist.
We drove to Portland and I was delighted that she enjoyed The Button Emporium and Ribbonry at least as much as me, albeit for the ribbons, while I go for the buttons.
I did break down and get a couple of ribbons.
The dragonfly ribbon is sheer and delicate The brown and green ribbon, I noticed that each circle was different, then I noticed each circle was a maze, and FINALLY I noticed the flyer right next to the ribbon telling the story of each maze. So cool. And it’s reversible!
I have NO idea what I’m going to do with it.
ribbon by: LFN Textiles
Portland is so cool, people leave their unexpired parking stickers on the pay stations so people can use them if they find them before the time is expired!
Time on the meter, even when there’s no meter
Portland Buttons
Another quick trip to Portland, I finally made it to The Button Emporium And Ribbonry. Once inside, I was overwhelmed, every few seconds I’d see a button I wanted. Fortunately, I had taken a ‘yarn chip’, kinda like a paint chip, but with yarns intended for patterns that include buttons. I wrote the number of buttons needed next to each yarn.
I do better when I know how many, what size, and what color button I need.
pewter buttons for Poetry In Stitches 166
Celtic knot pewter buttons for
Alice (are we allowed to use her name?) St*rmore vest
another future sweater
I did not EVEN get into the ribbons. That was too overwhelming. The fancy ribbons had fancy prices, so I need to have a plan for them. I have some ideas now and I’ll be back there next week.
The Wall Of Koigu and A Clever Design
“What’s next?” turned out to be the Koigu fingerless mittens, mostly because they required the least amount of thinking. Thinking can really slow down my knitting. Some times it even halts my knitting. They’re pictured below in front of The Wall Of Koigu at Knit-Purl in Portland, where they lived in a previous life as hanks.
fingerless mittens
Koigu (KPPPM) color P529
~62g, on #1 dpns
matching nails – OPI “Dominant Jeans”
I was treated to being photographed by The Blogger of Knit-Purl, who is even more delightful in person than on the blogpage.
Not a treat, was me rolling out as the champagne was rolling in! Aaah! that was tough, but I had a three hour drive north and work the next morning. If I lived in Portland, Sip ‘N’ Stitch at Knit-Purl is definitely where I would spend my Thursday evenings.
A Clever Design
I was visiting Portland State University, walking past Stephan Eppler Hall:
The break in the pathway caught my eye, it is part of the building’s rain drain system:
The downspout empties into a bed of stones, which drains out the bottom through the spout on the bottom left:
The spout empties into a channel with an arrangement of granite bricks that allows the water to flow across the walkway through the spaces between the bricks and allows pedestrians to walk without tripping or spashing:
At the end of channel the water falls into a sunken garden with stones at the base of the waterfall:
Each drain is different, each bed of stones is different, each sunken garden is different:
I love a clever design.
What’s next?
The hats are done.
Koolhaas Hat 4
Koolhaas Hat (large) – IK Holiday Gifts 2007
Noro Kureyon color 188, ~60g on #7 needles
Painting by John Dempcy
I don’t normally knit the same thing over and over, except socks, but I knit four of these hats, in a hurry. DD went to Alaska and needed hatS. Wasting no time, I knit the same thing four times and in four different yarns.
Here’s the pile of stuff for a teenager going to Alaska and the Yukon with 54 (!!!) classmates for ten days in Spring:
It looked much bigger when I was sitting in the middle of it trying to label everything.
There are the four hats along the bottom:
Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted (green),
Noro Kureyon (purple green),
Noro Kureyon (turquoise brown),
Debbie Bliss Merino Aran (gray).
So, knitting hats and getting DD all geared up and ready for the big Alaska/Yukon adventure sort of took over my spare time for the last few weeks. Now I have a chance to think about what I want to do next. There are the dust bunny issues…but that is not what I want to think about.
Where was I? Poetry In Stitches, Koigu fingerless mittens, that vest I knit last year and need rip, re-write and re-knit, AS vest in Shibui Midnight, the Mason-Dixon Knitting Inspired Dining Room Project (needs it’s own post)
So much yarn, so little time.
…and three days after that
Wednesday:
ETA:
See them three days earlier:
http://knittinginmind.com/2008/03/16/28-hours-later/
and the day before that:
http://knittinginmind.com/2008/03/15/shitake-mushrooms/
Oh, right, this is a knitting blog:
Koolhaas 3
Koolhaas Hat (large) – IK Holiday Gifts 2007
Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted, color M120 Limeade,
~77g on US7 needles
Next up, one more hat:
in Noro Kureyon color 188
