Japanese Short Rows

I'm back at long last and and moderately healthy.  It really takes a long time to get over a cold.

Back at the first of the month, I taught at the Tenntucky Fiber Arts Retreat which was a lot of fun.  It was at the Lake Barkley State Resort in KY.  The facilities were great and the meeting was so well planned.  Joseph, Rachel and Ann did a fabulous job.  It will be an annual event.  The participants all had a great time as well.

I then went off to Stitches East to work at the TKGA booth.  Lots of knitters stopped by to say hello.  I had time to visit some booths.  I'm actively looking at yarn for the Yarn Tasting.  I couldn't buy much as I wasn't checking luggage but I did find a few things.  One of the vendors carried Wild Hare fibers and I couldn't resist this bright yarn for a pair of socks.  The green is from Neighborhood Fiber Company.  I hope they can participate in the Yarn Tasting.  I fell in love with their yarns.  The colors are named for neighborhoods in Washington DC, Baltimore and Columbus OH.  I had to get Rock Creek Park, the DC neighborhood I lived in.  I am hoping to see Chevy Chase, DC sometime soon.



I flew from Hartford to Santa Fe which took most of the day.  We spent several days in Santa Fe and I had time to visit a lovely yarn store a few miles from downtown--Yarn and Coffee.  I like to look at local yarns where ever I am and they had several.  Their stock was down as the Taos Fiber Festival was the week before.  I did get these two skeins.  You can't see the label of the second yarn, it is Wooly Wonka.



We then went to Durango and took time to do the train to Silverton.  This view reminded me of the sweater I did a couple of years ago.  Durango has a lovely yarn store, Yarn Durango, as well.  I stopped in and got some yarn for to work up a pair of mitts for the free pattern sent to new TKGA members and a pair of Herdy earrings.

I did a lot of knitting during the month and came home to my computer to write up the patterns.  The photo shoot is November 11.

STUDENT NEWS
Not many lessons arrived while I was gone but I am ready to review now!


TIP OF THE WEEK
As promised, this is the final video on Short Rows.  It is my least favorite but don't let that influence you.  My recommendation is that you try the various methods and find the one that gives you the best results.  My problem with this particular technique is that it is easier if you use safety pins and I'd rather not use props.  Also, I can never remember how to do it.  Preparing for this video, I looked at several sources and many of them are inaccurate or downright wrong.  Add my bad attitude to the mix and there you go.

The chief advantage most sources give for using this method is that you avoid wraps which doesn't seem to be that big of a deal to me.  Instead after you turn and slip the stitch you place a safety pin or marker that clips to the working yarn.



When you work the short rows you knit (or purl) the slipped stitch and then use the safety pin to pull up a loop to work with the next stitch.  When you work this on the purl side you have to move the loop to the other side of the stitch.  The video goes into this process.  Here is the link:  Japanese Short Rows

If you are doing the Masters Program, be very careful if you use this technique for the short row swatch.  Some sources are better than others.


KNITTING SALON
Salon will be on Saturday from 1:30-3:20.  It will be the Great Yarn Giveawy.  I had not cleaned out my basement studio in a year.  What with my hip problems and all of the deadlines, travel, etc.  I just didn't get around to it.  I took time this week and hauled up tons of yarn.  This is a perfect time of year for this with holiday knitting coming up.  Bring a bag.


CURRENT PROJECTS
First up is the striped dress.  I worked on this at the Tenntucky Retreat and at Stitches.  I finished it up on the flight to Santa Fe.  I discuss the design process of this dress in the blog I am doing for TKGA.  The front and back are exactly the same.

Next up was the dish cloths for the Confident Beginner pattern.  These will be styled as a wedding shower or  house warming present.  The article focuses on how to read charts.  The garter stitch border also provides an opportunity for learning about the differences between garter and stockinette.  The yarn is Quince and Co Kestrel which is a linen tape.  It is ideal for a dish cloth.



Then it was time for the hand towels.  They are part of the same article.  The yarn is CotLin from KnitPicks. They had very little in stock.  We had to change our color selection several times.  I wasn't wild about the black but it would be a good choice for a hand towel...doesn't show the dirt.

Finally some short row shawls.  We had selected this yarn, Kavo from Shibui for another designer but it wouldn't work for the project.  I decided to use it for shawls.  It produces a very interesting fabric.  The shawls are done in garter stitch and it looks like chain mail.  I had enough yarn to work up two samples.  One has short rows worked every fourth stitch while the other has them worked every three stitches.

Now that those things are done, I am moving on to holiday knitting.