This is easy and relatively fast to knit and looks good on both sides, so it’s basically reversible. When I finished the scarf (at work) a couple of people wanted one, including women, so it’s not just for men. I designed it for a male friend of mine and he clearly liked it. The pattern deters curling edges, and the extra thick yarn and simple pattern makes it fast to knit. I used Lion Brand Woolease Thick and Quick in Charcoal color.

The pattern is a geometric grid that has narrow parts alternating with wider parts, both vertically and horizontally. I if you know something about knitting you can use this as a basis for other designs with this thickness yarn. I am using it to do some cabled hats for gifts to match scarves I made last year. Be aware that cables pull in more side to side and make a piece a little smaller.

This hat I designed to go with the scarf fits me “not tight” and I have a large head and almost covers my ears. If you need a hat smaller, take out 8 stitches around leaving 48 loops for a smaller hat, and remove 5-8 rows for a shorter hat.

For a variation of this hat with faux cables see the picture and link below. It looks nice also.

Materials and tools:
Scarf: 10.5 straight needles.
Yarn: two skeins Lion Brand Woolease Thick and Quick (106 yd/97 m), or equivalent size 6 yarn.
Hat: 10.5 circular needles, 24 -36 inch length or whatever works for you.
Yarn: Less than one skein of the above selected yarn.
7 or 8 stitch markers.

You could use just two skeins and do the hat first, then use the remaining yarn to make the scarf as a shorter muffler if you like.

HAT:
Cast on 56 (48 for a smaller hat) on to circular 10.5 needles. I used long tail cast-on.

Join to knit in the round without twisting.

Place a marker.

P2, K2 for 8-10 rows.
K2, P2 for 8-10 rows.
P2, k2 for 8-10 rows.

Decreases: I designed this decrease so the two columns of knit stitches on the outside bend with the decrease rather than being cut off.

Move beginning marker so it is between two nearest knit stitches on the outer/right side of the hat. Using markers of a different color, insert one every 8 stitches. These should likewise be between two knit stitches on the outside of the hat.
Follow current pattern – knit knits and purl purls – until you get to the last two loops before a marker and for those two, knit two together.

Continue until you have reduced to about 6 or 7 loops on the needles – 6 for the smaller hat. It doesn’t really matter at that size.

Remove markers.

Break yarn with about 1.5 ft tail, thread yarn through loops using a crochet hook, remove from circular needle, draw tight to close the hole, tie firmly and weave in ends.

I have another version of this hat with easy faux cables instead that looks great.

SCARF
Cast on 20 using super bulky yarn on 10.5 needles.

BEGINNING OF SCARF

*P2k2 for two rows.
K2p2 for two rows.*
Repeat * to * once for a total of 4 rows.

BODY OF SCARF:

Always purl the first and last stitch of each row to reduce curling of the edge. This also give is a nice texture on the edge.

*P1, k7, p4, k7, p1: – repeat for 9 rows.
P1, p7, k4, p7, p1 – repeat for 5 rows.*
Repeat *to * to desired length.

End scarf with:

P1, k7, p4, k7, p1: – repeat for 9 rows.

Then do END OF SCARF again:
*P2k2 for two rows.
K2p2 for two rows.*

Weave in ends.

I stopped by Gail Knits, the LYS near my home looking for inspiration. I just finished by Christmas gift blitz of six scarves and two shawls in three weeks (all on superbulky yarn and or large needles, so don’t be that amazed) and want to knit something for myself. I’ve been eyeing a leaf lace pattern for a scarf, but try and try again I keep messing up, not liking the yarn, not liking the pattern, wanting to change the pattern and not getting it right, and ripping everything out about ten times by now. Something was wrong. I had what I’ll call “knitter’s block”. Nothing would cooperate: not my hands, not the yarn, not the pattern.

It was the fiber. I wasn’t doing what I really wanted to do with the yarn I like. I was reminded of this at Gail’s store when I found the Eco Alpaca and Eco Duo by Cascade. NIIIIIIIICE. It’s single ply, which to me is wonderful, old world, “real” yarn, not the “city-fied” stuff they make by the millions of miles nowadays. I like the feel and vibe of natural fibers, especially naturally dyed or non-dyed. I love the hand spun look of single ply yarn as well. Comparing them in the store, even the beautiful blends that have tencil or some acrylic in them, they just aren’t right. They feel like they are made of plastic, and they are. They are plastic yarn. This is not real.

I have come to  a point where I am just not satisfied with synthetic fiber. As nice as it can look, as affordable, colorful and easy to get as it all is, it just isn’t real. And I think that is something of a theme in my life development. I want real. I want real me, real friends, real purpose, and real fiber in my knitting just underlines realness in all the rest.

What I want is my single ply, undyed alpaca reversible cable scarf I planned last summer but never bought the yarn for it. That will be my next project. So the other, artificial yarn I have I will use up for Christmas gifts and experiments. Yes, artificial, like flowers made of polyester and plastic. It’s not yarn snobbery, but wanting real stuff. Like real tile, not vinyl flooring, or real wood doors, not moulded mdf printed with wood grain and texture. Real chicken nuggets, not injection molded reconstituted chicken substance. And so on.

Like so many of us I am finishing a few gifts I started late for Christmas. I didn’t really get the knitting bug for gifts until a week into December and managed to bang out four scarves and a shawl in time to ship and arrive before the 25th.

I did a soft, girly, garter stitch scarf for my grand-niece Rei in Vermont. She is all of 7 years old and just the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen. The scarf is made with some downy mini-bouclee yarn that is mostly white with a shifting of colors over it in pink, blue and green. No pic, sorry.

I made a simple shawl for my mom, who is all of 89 years old. You may know how it is when the right colors of yarn just announce themselves, “I’m for her” and you don’t have to think. I did this one in Homespun Tudor, which is a nice light mix of soft greens, aqua, lavender, gold, and rose. It was perfect for her. Just another garter stitch piece because I had to mail it asap. I was able to finish it in three days, with a total of 8900 stitches or so. I put a crochet chain fringe on it that I tend to favor for such things, as it looks really nice, but you also can’t do a cut fringe in this yarn as it just frizzes out.

Here’s a pic of Mom looking at me on the TV as we were doing our now annual Google video Christmas chat. I highly recommend it. This is the second year we’ve done it and it has turned out great. Mom says the shawl is warm. I didn’t think it would be with such a large needle. I would have done something fancier but I didn’t have time. She is also legally blind so wouldn’t be able to see any fancy stitching with her very blurry vision anyway. I was going for color and feel alone because of that.

I also did a leaf lace scarf for my other niece Erin. I did it in Thick and Quick Charcoal on 15 mm needles. It was my first serious lace and I really liked how it turned out. The large needle made for a pleasantly squishy fabric that is good for stuffing around your neck and in the opening of your coat or jacket.

The photo is not so good. I used two skeins and joined them at the finish line with mattress stitch as I liked the naturally shaped starting row caused by the pattern. It gave it two lobes that eliminated the need for any fringe. Left unblocked it had a nice, rumpled look. I will do a similar scarf for myself with another leaf lace pattern. I got her pattern from Jimmy Beans wool website under the title “Twin Leaf Beaded Scarf Free Knitting Pattern“. Here it is in case it’s not there any more. There’s a pic there of it done “normal” size.

Abbreviations

• CO – Cast On
• Dec – Decrease
• DD – (Double Decrease) Sl 2 sts together knitwise, k1, pass 2 sl sts over k st-2 sts dec.
• P – Purl
• PB – Place Bead, slide bead up next to the needle and knit stitch with bead ending up on RS of work (on DD, PB, on k st, on SK2P, PB on k st)
• RS – Right side
• SK2P – Slip1, knit 2 together, pass slip stitch over K2tog
• sts – Stitches
• WS – Wrong side
• yo – Yarn Over

Directions

**Pre string beads, by using a small needle, threaded with your yarn (250 or so) prior to CO

• CO 22 sts
• Row 1 P10, PB, k1, PB, k1, P10.
• ** all following WS rows P10, k2, P10.
• Row 2 K6, DD, yo, k1, yo, p2, yo, k1, yo, SK2P, k6.
• Row 4 K4, DD, k1, [yo, k1] twice, p2, k1, [yo, k1] twice, SK2P, k4.
• Row 6 K2, DD, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2, p2, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2, SK2P, k2.
• Row 8 PB, DD, k3, yo, k1, yo, k3, p2, k3, yo, k1, yo, k3, PB, SK2P.
• ** Repeat rows 1-8 until desired length. Bind Off.

I also did a couple of scarves for my older niece Jaimie and her Husband Morris, my first big cable projects. Here’s the (crappy) pic. I need a better camera.

They are done in Thick and quick Oatmeal and Wheat. I think I need to block the one on the right as the two cables make it curl back too much. I’m tempted to rip it out and redo it on larger needles to make it bigger and more relaxed. I used US17 needles.

I also did a piano keyboard scarf for my brother but I’m waiting for him to send me good pics of it so I can post them here. The scarf turned out great and was pretty easy to do. Stay tuned. Happy Gnu Ear.

I made this scarf recently for a gift and it turned out great. This is a squishy, loose-knit scarf and the pattern is reversible, and looks good for a man or woman depending on the color you use. You may be able to finish it in three hours or less.

There is another, newer free pattern with a hat here http://knitforbrains.net/patterns/fast-knit-manly-geometric-hat-and-scarf-but-she-likes-it-too-free-pattern/ and a Faux Cable hat here http://knitforbrains.net/?p=960

By the way, sorry I haven’t posted much lately here. I grew a handlebar moustache this summer (2010) and have been doing a lot of blogging for that at www.handlebarmoustachelife.com. Take a look.

For this scarf use just one skein of Lion Brand Thick and Quick Yarn or another yarn just as thick and long (108 yards or 98 meters) – or even multiple strands of thinner yarn, on 15mm thick needles (US size number 19) for a ~5 foot scarf about 5.5 inches wide with no fringe.

I did this one with a simple looped cast-on of 12 stitches so followed the pattern in sets of 4. You could make it wider but the scarf would be shorter if only using one skein. If you are using all wool you can make a nice invisible splice of the yarn – looks like no break at all – and add more for length or width increases, but I used just one skein and got a nice scarf good for cool nights. It would be very suitable as a muffler to fill in around the neck to keep someone warm. I like the squishy-ness of it and will make a similar one for myself when all this darn knitting for gifts is done.

The pattern is simple. I’ve heard it called a dragon scale stitch. It forms a pattern of right triangles that have great texture due to the proximity of knit and purl stitches above, below, left and right in the grid. You have to pay attention or you can easily get mixed up. Once you get a repeat done you can use it as reference for the next set of rows in the pattern.

I actually tested this pattern that I typed and had written it all backwards at first, so now what is below is correct. Again, once you get a couple sets of rows done you can use them for reference as to what you do next rather than having to read the pattern constantly. Just be sure you are building your triangles in the right direction if you are doing it by sight.

You might balk at the pattern because it switches form purl to knit a lot, but I did it with portuguese knitting style and it wasn’t a problem. The texture is rich and looks great.

OOPS! I originally posted this with “repeat three times” instead of the correct “repeat two times”. Sorry.

You can alter the pattern if you like by adding stitches to each repeat and rows to match, so it could be 5 stitches by 5 rows instead of the 4 and 4 I have here, but write it out and test it, of course. You can also make a wider scarf by adding another block of 4 and cast on 16 using the same row by row instructions below, but it will use more than one skein of Thick and Quick – or make a shorter scarf.

Cast on 12

Row 1: K12

Row 2: *K1, P3*, repeat two times.

Row 3: *K2, P2*, repeat two times.

Row 4: *P3, K1*, repeat two times.

Row 5: P12

Row 6: P12

Row 7: *K3, P1*, repeat two times.

Row 8: *K2, P2*, repeat two times.

Row 9: *K1, P3*, repeat two times.

Row 10:  K12

I hope this might help you with some last minute gift needs. It’s pretty easy on the fingers with the large yarn and needles. I was getting sore doing another scarf with the same yarn on size 15 needles. Happy Holidays!!!!

Here’s another, crappier picture of the texture.

Sometimes when you’ve been knitting a lot you get to a point were you just don’t want to do it, but you’ve got three or six or nine projects sitting around and all that time and money invested, and you know you enjoy knitting. So why can’t you knit now and what can you do about it?

Well, sometimes we just need a break. You need something different for a while. Really, your brain and psyche and spirit do need variety. Yes, some people can knit until the cows come home, but remember everyone is different. You know about how people with different astrological signs can be do different? Well, that applies to knitters as well. Not everyone is made to knit until the cows come home, to the sheep or alpacas or whatever. You are unique, so see that maybe you need to break it up a bit. Find other things to focus on periodically, with the intention to refresh yourself so you can get back to knitting happily. Read something – that’s not about knitting! Spend a little time on a craft that doesn’t use yarn. Do some gardening or other creative things that are distinct from knitting to refresh your tastebuds and you will enjoy your knitting more when it’s no longer stale on your palate.

And this uniqueness extends not only to knitting itself but what and why you are knitting. Here are a few variations on that:

Are you knitting to “save money” on gifts? You should know by now that knitting is not a great way to save money. Yarn doesn’t grow on trees, unless it’s part silk and part mulberry fiber and that’s another thing altogether. So if you do it for some back of the mind idea of affordable home made gifts and garments, you might want to think again – or plant mulberries. Or cotton.

Are you knitting for others and not yourself? Ultimately you should be knitting starting with yourself, if not literally, then experientially, meaning you need to enjoy it. What are you getting out of it materially? Have you knitted anything for yourself lately? Or are you being a servant of sorts to others, making gifts, fulfilling requests, answering promises or other “obligations”? How fun is that? If so, you need to rethink. You are not a knitting manufactory. You are a person. Unless you knit for a living, you don’t have to do it.

Handcuffs are not knitting tools.

Firstly, remember you are not truly obligated to knit something you don’t enjoy knitting for someone who asked you, and if you “promised” you can change your mind about it. They don’t own you. And that boring scarf you decided to make for someone – do you really think they want you to suffer through that and be unhappy for that long so they can have a scarf they may not even love? I don’t think it’s a good idea to knit in a bad mood or knit something you don’t like in any case because it puts bad vibes into the piece. Unless that was your intention, and I don’t think it is.  You can, in fact, put good vibes into a piece deliberately by repeating prayers. I read about a woman who repeated the mantra OM for each stitch she did in a shawl for a spiritual teacher she was going to visit and he was able to feel the good vibes that were embedded in it.

And just because someone asked for a hat or something that you agreed to make because it’s “small and easy” doesn’t mean you have to do it, not even if you do it because you are generous and love to knit, and not even because you said you would. Again, they don’t own you. If you are spending all your time knitting for others you have become a servant and not a person who loves to knit and you will suffer. “I said I would do it for them.” Well, now you can tell them you changed your mind because there are other things you want to knit for yourself. Self-affirmation is good for everyone, and teaches others not to be slaves to petty promises.

And another thing about knitting for others: are you knitting to impress them, to be part of a group, to keep up with the pack or fit in somewhere? If you are at all knitting to be liked in some way then you are not being a strong, self-affirming person. I don’t want to be around you – other than to tell you to cut it out. Think of the heroes and others you admire: they are strong, self-affirming people who do what they want and don’t run around trying to please and impress. It’s fine to knit because you enjoy it and enjoy the company of other knitters, but look for the real reason under that and be sure you are coming from your center, not their favor.

Nothing for you. As I said, what do you get out of it materially? My cousin recently admitted that she has not made one thing for herself short of a couple of dishcloths and washcloths – woo hoo! What remains of her nicer finished projects in her house is something she made for the cat. Believe me, your inner child or inner adult wants something knittied for her/his self. “I want one too. What about me?” Give to yourself of your knitting as much or more than you give to others or you will probably, at least subconsciously, feel cheated and left out.

Another reason we balk at knitting is we don’t love the yarn or the color. I have started at least two projects where I had to force myself to knit with the yarn, and then when I realized I didn’t like the color or fiber in yarn for this or any project I canned it. Does the fiber feel good, does it make sense, is it made of what you want to knit with? I’ve decided that for the most part I’m going to knit with organic, unbleached, naturally dyed fibers. Bleaching is needed for dying, and dyes are synthetic and synthetic fibers, pesticides and other dye chemicals all come from petroleum, so there you have it. Eventually I want all my clothes and bedding to be the same, in hemp, cotton, wool – of course alpaca!

On that point, here is a picture of what I call my hamburger scarf because the colors look like old hamburger you find in the fridge and need to throw out – blackish brown, meat-red brown, tan and so forth. I had a small quantity of this hand-spun, hand-dyed yarn in strange colors. I bought it on clearance for a gift for someone else, but one day I just needed something simple to knit at work, and I needed a scarf for myself. So I made this. I like the yarn itself but don’t like the colors. Everyone else loved the colors. It was okay for mindless knitting, and now I have a strange scarf that I like because it is strange, and it reminds me that what I think I don’t like, about myself or anyone or anything, is not a universally unlikable thing. It wasn’t a mistake; it was a life lesson. Yes, I will wear the scarf. Until I make my natural alpaca one with reversible cables.

My hamburger scarf.

Or maybe you just want to experience some exotic yarn once and then you will be fine with your more common yarns for a while. Get it out of your system.

The pattern is too hard or too plain or too repetitive. I had a scarf pattern I was going to do. It was complicated. Involved lace and small cable like cross-overs. It was mind-bending to do this pattern! Needless to say I have ended the adventure. The same can be said for the boringly repetitive scarf or whatever. I’ve looked at scarf patterns with lengths of cables repeating on and on and on and think to myself that I would have to keep changing the pattern so the cables did different things every 4 to 6 inches. I absolutely would not do a 4 to 6 foot scarf in all the same pattern. That’s what machines were invented for. I’m not a machine.

You don’t love the piece, the stitch pattern, the stitches in it. How interesting is this to you? Does the garment flatter your figure? Is the pattern not particularly exciting? If you do actually secretly want to impress others, will this do it? And do fear or dread the stitches? Some people love cables but not doing them. If the stitches are an issue, dive into some stitch practice swatches and see if you can learn a better way to do cables or whatever the challenge is.

You don’t need the piece. Motivation of some sort has to be there. Do you actually need another sweater in that color? Maybe you feel you have too many already but do want this one. Then find one or two you don’t love and give it away or frog it out. Thus you clear a space for the new one and create motivation for yourself to do it. Think of something you haven’t knitted for yourself and would like or could use and make that instead.

It’s nothing new. How many of these garments have you done? Why are you doing so many of them? Maybe you are actually the sort of person who needs to do one or two of a lot of different things. Explore and expand. Maybe a different garment or item would be more exciting and motivating. Try different stuff.

Tired of running with the pack; everybody does these pieces. You are an original and maybe you need to find your own knitting niche. Break the mold, break formation, break into a new to you and maybe new to the world field of knitting.

The project lacks true creativity or self expression. One of the things that keeps me going is inventiveness. I love to take a pattern and modify it, sometimes on the fly. I’m making a Glengarry had from the Folk Hats book by ____ and the first issue is it’s too small. I made one exactly as the book instructed just to figure it out, and didn’t like some of the features. So I have the exploration of how to make it my size, plus I get to change the pattern in a few ways to suit my creativity. I changed the bottom edge so it won’t curl on me, I’m putting diagonal ridges in the sides using carefully placed purl stitches in a field of knits, plus I am using short rows to make the front band taller than the back of the had, which is more like conventional Glengarrys. And for the top I’m going to make it all full of holes with yarnovers so it’s cooler in the summer. I may put holes in the sides for ventilation and decoration as well. So maybe you, too, need to inject some of yourself into your project. Then you get to learn and invent and have the mystery of how will it turn out ahead of you.

Nothing to learn. I like to learn new things, so if I’m doing the same thing over and over and not extending or expanding myself it gets boring. It becomes a chore. Find projects or things you can add to the project that will make it a growing experience for you. This motivation makes your knitting more valuable to you. Have you tried intarsia? Entrelac? Colorwork? Break your bounds and explore. Even if you don’t intend to do anything with a particular technique you will feel more complete and confident as a knitter when you master more skills. And you may discover a new knitting avenue to fire up and inspire your knitting.

You don’t have a great place to knit. So make yourself a knitting place. Where do you like to sit. Is it comfortable, warm or cool enough, lit properly, quiet enough. Maybe it’s too lonely. Find a knitting friend or circle. If it’s your space, fix it up, neaten it up and make it work for you. I used to knit with yarn in Ziploc bags. Not very romantic, so I found some fabric lined baskets that nest, and I like the look and vibe of having my yarn so contained while I’m knitting and the look of it when I’m not, and I like to knit on my couch with classical music playing. My cousin Leigh knits out of select pieces of her pottery collection at her dining table with good lighting. Don’t just plop down anywhere. Make it a pleasure to yourself.

My knitting awaits me.

You knitting energy is literally too dispersed. I believe it’s possible that if you have six projects going it can stall all of them. It is good to have maybe three so you can give yourself variety, but maybe you are the sort of person who needs to learn not to have too many irons in the fire. There are too many wips and not enough energy for any one of them because the energy you have is spread too thin. This could also be a sign of indecisiveness or poor choices and you aren’t knitting for some of the reasons on in this article.

You just have no real reason to knit. Well, if you do generally like to knit you can just knit nothing in particular. Just practice stitches and learn new techniques with swatches, and someday you will have those skills when you have a reason to knit.

Another way is to make it meditation or concentration practice. We all know how relaxing knitting is. If you are a bit stressed knitting can bring you back to center. And the effects of neuroplasticity will actually train your brain to support you in being generally more calm. With neuroplacticity you actually grow brain cells that make it easier to be relaxed.

You can also use knitting to train yourself to concentrate better by focusing on the stitches. Pick a more complicated pattern and stick with it to train your mind and grow your brain into shape. Better concentration has a powerful benefit and your life would be improved in many other ways. It develops the will and that is central in self-affirmation. Often when we are knitting we are thinking about several other things at the same time and listening to other conversations. See if you are able to think only about your knitting.

Talk about not being able to get knitting out of your head...

Remember that just because you started a project or are half way through you don’t have to finish it if you aren’t enjoying it. Either find a reason to enjoy it or cut your losses. And if you can’t find a reason not to enjoy it maybe you just need to learn to finish things. This can be a challenge, especially if you have a lot of Aries energy in your chart – like me. Pisceans are good at finishing projects – not like me. Believe me, your astrology does affect your knitting, so don’t blame yourself. Learn who you are, what works for you and how you work and learn to make knitting enjoyable.

So how do you get back into knitting? Knit what you love. Knit with yarn and needles you love. Knit for whom you love. Knit with whom you love. Knit how you love to knit. Knit where you love to knit. Knit with love in your heart. Knit as a gift you yourself. Know and love who you are. Make a happy, fulfilled self your gift to the others. Remember: you are the one knitting, and it’s your life.

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I know that’s backwards, but I couldn’t resist.

I got my ball winder from knitpics.com the other day and it’s pretty cool. Very affordable at just 19.99. I didn’t have any skeins I wanted to ball up yet so I turned its fury on a scarf I crocheted back in May before I decided to get into knitting. It was the bulky Wool-ease in a sort of oatmeal color. The scarf didn’t excite me, just done in alternating rows of dc done in the back loop. It had an interesting accordion like texture but seeing it was 105 degrees outside I was not too attached to it. I decided to canibalize it for a cossack hat and so threw it to the hungry ball winder.

The top of the winder has a sort of notch to hold the start of the yarn but it’s not cut right for a bulky yarn. Once I got it started it made short work of the scarf. I held it to the floor with a foot and just wound away. The ball winder is designed to put more distance between the turns of the yarn than I would have thought. As you can see in the picture it’s not closely wound. So the ball was bigger than perhaps necessary, and being bulky yarn it turned into a ball that was a little too large for the winder to finish.

It was crochet; it had to be destroyed.

.

So now I have a very cool ball of yarn to turn “reinyarnate” into a hat. (Read about technique below…)

Proof of Reinyarnation

There is a bit of a technique to using a ball winder. One thing I find is that if I don’t control the incoming yarn it will flop about a lot and the ball will be kind of loose and larger when done. So what I do is take a small piece of fabric and hold it loosely around the strand of yarn so that it keeps a very mild tension on the line. This produces a somewhat smaller ball and deters the yarn from tangling in the wire yarn guide.

Another thing I do is put the source skein or ball in a shoebox or paper bag on the floor. Backing up a bit: I clamp my ball winder to the back of a chair and put the source yarn on the floor below it. So with the source in a bag or box it won’t travel all over the room.

And sometimes I will put the source on a vertical paper towel holder if I can get the rod through the ball/skein easily. This helps more with oblong skeins you buy at craft stores as when they are being unwound they can flop about a lot in the bag or box. Don’t expect them to actually turn on the towel holder, and at a certain point you will have to deal with the last bit of yarn flopping about oddly anyway.

I find the ball winder very handy, and use it to rewind balls for projects that I’m restarting, or when I’m done with part of a ball, as the ball becomes squishy when you pull from the center and it’s nice to put it back in good order for storage or further use. And you can in many cases, of course, rewind and rip out at the same time, straight back to the ball.

Last Sunday I went to my nearest local yarn/knitting shop, Gails Knits, to take advantage of their summer sale and bought yarn for my first project, the cabled scarf with seed stitch border you see in the page header (That’s a pic from the book – I haven’t started the scarf yet, but I did pick red. ) and as I was checking out I told Gail about the Portuguese Knitting DVD and how much I liked the style. I showed her the basics, and she in turn showed me her style, which is eastern european knitting (EEK). Apparently, it’s pretty rare. She said there was an article some years ago in a knitting magazine that listed the top ten styles of knitting, and it was number 9.

It turns out it is a bit faster than Portuguese knitting, seemingly having one less step in that you don’t have to flick the yarn over the needle. That’s not a big chore, but when I was watching Gail demonstrate it she was amazingly fast. I’ll have links to videos and pages here soon. It’s a variant of continental knitting, a pick style, and is quite worthwhile.

I’m still practicing but I did find that it wasn’t so great for a bulky yarn. I am doing a cossack hat from the Folk Hats book by Vicki Square and even with my nice and pointy new Options Nickel Plated circulars didn’t work so well on the thick, bulky Wool-ease yarn by Lion Brand when using EEK. I couldn’t catch the yarn and pull it through. So I tried the Portuguese knitting and it was much easier.

That’s interesting and handy to know. Now we have more tools with which to knit. I’ve learned one should choose carefully from knitting style, yarn material, yarn thickness, needle material and pattern. When I started out I would never have thought it mattered.

Here’s what the hat will look like when done:

The cossack hat in the book.

The hat is from Folk Hats by Vicki Square, pages 88-90. This one uses a bouclet yarn which seems to emulate shearling. I may do one with black later. For now I’m just re-using the yarn from the crochet scarf I killed playing with my new ball winder.