How Harry’s Knitting Life Changed in an Instant…and More…

Honeywort in one of flower beds. I love the blooms and it reseeds itself easily! BTW, the official name is Cerinthe major, with Cerinthe comeing from the Greek keros for wax and anthos for flower, since at one time it was thought bees got wax for their hives from the flowers.

Greetings again from my “shelter at home” social distancing life. Folks, it is working…we are flattening the curve. I am so grateful to be living in California where early action on social distancing has shown the lessening of number of Covid 19 cases and a flattening of the curve. San Francisco, which took action immediately in early March with a complete city shutdown and “shelter at home” mandate has had only 17 deaths from the virus. A city of 900,000 with only 17 deaths. It shows that such measures work. I live in extreme northern rural CA, in Humboldt County, and we have all been observing “shelter in home” since mid-March. We have 52 reported cases, three hospitalizations, and no deaths so far. So keep doing it.

How Harry’s Knitting life Changed forever…

There are times in our lives when events shift our awareness or insights dawn upon us, and our lives change, even if the unfolding of it is ongoing. This happens in our knitting life as well. I had just an experience at Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat this February. I was teaching my Vertical Stripes! K1 Below: Cowl Project class. At one point in the work shop, I was covering where one must adjust the number of stitches when going from the stockinette picot hem into the K1 Below column stitch (vertical stripes) section. Because the K1 Below column stitch results in a wider stitch, one has to decrease the number of stitiches, distributing them evenly, of course. As I’m going over the basic formula of how to do determine this, and how the formula rarely works out even, and all the ways one has to fiddle around to get the best reduction formula for the decrease role, a student says “Or you can just use an online knitting decrease calculator.” WHAAAT??? Such a thing exists? The student popped out her smart phone, brought up one of these miracle applications, and promptly put in current stitch count, number of stitches to decrease, and pressed “calculate” and instantly had the formula for the decrease round. IT WAS GLORIOUS!! I was giddy with excitement! I tried several different scenarios just to see the quick results. My knitting life shifted dramatically in that instant. Really. Using this online tool will save hours in designing because I am obsessive about getting perfect distribution of sts on increase and decrease rows. I am still strangely giddy that this tool exists…and I am slightly perturbed that somehow I didn’t know about it for all these years.

Now I know that some of you are saying, “Really? You didn’t know about this?? I’ve been using it for years.” But others of you are saying “OMG! Really?! Where can access this wondrous gift?” Right here. Thanks to www.worldknits.com. And the increase calculator is there as well, as well as calculators for tapering a sleeve with increases or decreases. I have no affiliation…this is simply the calculator that I first encountered. If you do a search “Knitting calculators”, you’ll find a range of other calculators for various things, some free and some requiring you to pay for an account. But even if you just use the free ones, you are going to save a lot a time!

So never again fear the math for evenly distributing increases and decreases! Go forth, be free, be happy! (And never again cram in several decreases or increases in the last 3 inches of the row…not that you would ever have done that anyway…right?…yeah, right.)

PATTERNS ON SALE:

As mentioned in my last blog, I’m putting two patterns of my designs at 50% off about every two weeks or so as a way of encouraging us to persevere together with some knitting contentment during this troubling time. The code to use for the two patterns below is ShelterInPlace2 and will be good until midnight on April 30 (on whatever time zone that Ravely uses).

PATTERN #1: Staying on Track Cowl

Model is made with Asia by Lang Yarns (70% Silk, 30% Yak), 50 g/145m/158 yds), 1 ball

Model is made with Asia by Lang Yarns (70% Silk, 30% Yak), 50 g/145m/158 yds), 1 ball

 This cowl should be made in a beautiful luxury yarn, such as Asia by Lang Yarns as you see in the model. It has gorgeous hand and drape worked up on Size 4 needle with a gauge of 7 sts and 6.5 rows = 1” over central track pattern of cowl. If you don’t use Asia, use a comparable weight yarn with a large percentage of silk or tencel to give it drape and sheen. This cowl demonstrates a key element of my design aesthetic, which loves texture within a linear flow. This is an easy knit…requiring the knitter to use only k, p, and k1tbl sts.

Model is made with Asia by Lang Yarns (70% Silk, 30% Yak), 50 g/145m/158 yds), 1 ball

PATTERN #2: Chevron Gauntlet Mitts

Textures and visual flow are always important factors in my GoodforaBoy designs. I am often first inspired by the visual appeal of a stitch pattern, and then design a piece fitting that aesthetic feeling. Something quite intuitive must be translated into a workable appealing pattern. In these gauntlets, active ziggurat chevrons on the hands are vibrant set against the sleek linearity of the elongated wrist, making this a great unisex piece.

These mitts are a great opportunity to learn how to do a picot hem, M1L, M1R, and M1p (make one purl). All these techniques are included in the pattern directions. So I would say an Advanced Beginner could accomplish this knit and learn a few things, and anyone beyond that level has found this a very enjoyable project.

Top of Gauntlet Mitt:

Model is worked in Soft Linen (35% Linen, 35% Wool, 30% Baby Alpaca) by Classic Elite Yarns, 50 g/137 yds, 1 ball

Palm of Gauntlet Mitt:

Model is worked in Soft Linen (35% Linen, 35% Wool, 30% Baby Alpaca) by Classic Elite Yarns, 50 g/137 yds, 1 ball

Or you can do version without the picot hem, as seen in the plum gauntlet below.

Plum model is Silk Blend (70% Extrafine Merino Wool/30% Silk) by Manos del Uruguay, 50 g/150 yds, 1 skein

You can buy these patterns, and all my designs, on my Ravelry site, Use the code ShelterInPlace2 to get 50% off these two patterns.

And I close the same way I closed my blog last time: While we must do social distancing as an absolutely necessary precaution to slow the spread and flatten the curve of this infectious disease, we truly need to maintain social intimacy—heartfelt connection to each other. As we practice isolation, we do not have to feel isolated. We can hold each other in our hearts and we can reach out and touch each other via social media. Stay apart…stay well…that is truly the most caring thing we can do right now. And knit on.