Posted in knitting

Works in Progress Wednesday

For the past several weeks I have had been knitting on two projects.

Let’s start with the Arrowhead Lace Interrupted cardigan.

As of last week, this project has been sent to Time Out. Here is where I am so far.

It’s looking pretty good. However, during the last repeat of the arrowhead lace sequence, I discovered pattern row 1 was short by two loops. And in my efforts to “fix” it, I lost three more loops!. Gah!

I’m having a much better time knitting the Biome hat. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/biome-hat The biggest challenge for me has been reading a chart that has 120 stitches per row with no pattern repeats.

After struggling to keep track of where I was on the long row, I decided to stack the two sheets together, held on a clipboard with a purple strip of paper to mark the current row. This proved to be much more manageable.

When I reach the end of the first sheet, I simply insert the second under the purple place holder. Using this practice, I easily completed 20 rows of the 50-row chart.

Here’s a better look at the Biome, in sunlight.

I’m calling the hat Summer Smoke, because the North Woods of Wisconsin was blanketed in smoke from Canada while I was visiting this summer. I purchased the yarn at North Wind Fiber and Book store, in Spooner, WI.

I think this hat looks pretty cool so far. It will go to Henry on his birthday in November. I expect there will be requests from other family members for Biome hats once they get a look at it.

Posted in knitting

Cast-on Monday: Now for something Completely Different

Honestly, the project itself is not completely different. It’s a hat. It’s a 2-color hat. It’s a 2-color hat knitted in fair-isle technique. The difference lies in the chart.

It was generated by computer using a program coded by designer Rianna Suen.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/biome-hat

@ Rianna Suen

In her words, “Simplex noise is a clustered randomness algorithm. When translated into knit stitches, it produces a colorwork pattern with an organic look.” The upshot of it is that no two patterns will be alike. Each time you click on the link, the algorithm runs and displays a new chart. If you don’t like what you see, move a variable and run it again. Save a few runs and use the pattern that you like the most.

My chart looks hand drawn, because it is. I was unable to get a workable print-out of the computer-generated image. So, I hand copied it, just like the monks did in an era prior to the invention of printing. Ha, take that! 21st century.

Here are my yarns.

Ultra Alpaca is an old friend. I used it and loved it many years ago in making a skirt with a colorwork band at the hem. The beige skein I selected is natural undyed fiber. The forest green was selected by Henry, who will receive the hat when completed.

I’ve got the band finished.

It’s now ready for me to start working from the chart. I’ll expect that the work will go slowly. There is no pattern repeat that can be memorized. Each row is unique and there are 50 of them.

If you like to experiment with your knitting, check out the Biome Hat on Ravelry.