Knitting by the Sea

Three Women Knitting by the Sea, by Josef Israels, ca. 1900

Your weekend plans just got better, because I know what you really want to do is come and play with us at the Astoria StitchFest!  

Instructors Sivia Harding, Michelle Bernstein, Laurinda Reddig and I will be teaching and learning in Historic Astoria, on the Oregon Coast this Saturday and Sunday.  Come Friday night and join us for dinner at the StitchFeast, too! There'll be a fashion show, a book-signing, and best of all: Dinner with your fellow knitters at Baked Alaska.

Hosted by the Astoria Fiber Arts Academy, StitchFest is poised and ready to take the northern Oregon coast by storm in this, its very first year.  What a treat it will be to say we were there at the beginning!  Grab a friend and get ready to make some new ones, too.

I'll be teaching classes on Norwegian Mittens, Color Theory, and Knitting Project Planning. CLICK HERE to register, and see all the other teachers' offerings - you'll be glad you did!

I'm Back in the Saddle(s) Again

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Thanks, Antibiotics!  I'm almost completely better, even though on Saturday I was hoping just to get well enough to die. I can see why, before they knew better, physicians used to hand out Penicillin like it was PEZ: When antibiotics work, they REALLY work.

Campbell's better, too, though Lindsay and Phillip are still lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut.  While the other patients barked in the background, I sat up in bed and made saddles for my FLAK.

They're upside down in this shot, but hopefully you'll be able to tell: they're interlocking hearts. Since the saddles continue down the whole length of each sleeve, I couldn't resist having hearts.  On my sleeves.  Get it?  And look! The cables even mirror!  And not because I was clever enough to get that right the first time, either.

Remember when I was wondering what happens when you just flip a cable chart upside down to work it from the top down?  The answer is this:  Nothing.  Almost.  Cables that are symmetrical from side to side will reverse perfectly, like this:

Here's an affable wee 2/2 LC (2 over 2 Left Cross), as seen in its natural habitat of bottom-up knitting.

Here's the same little 2/2 LC, rotated 180 degrees, as would happen when working the chart upside-down.  No problem!

But this cable cross is not the same from side to side: It's a 2/2 LPC (2 over 2 left purl cross)

See what happens when we turn it? Not only are the purl symbols now on the lower half of the symbol; they're on the wrong side of the cable cross.

So even though you could probably get used to reminding yourself as you work that the purl indicators are all backwards, it would confuse some of us (cough-me-cough) all the way to the neurologists' office.

Lucky for me, I have a swell cable-charting software machine, which allowed me to redraw the entire chart, reversing every cable cross that flipped wrong.  Which I still managed to get backwards in several spots (see cross-outs and scribbles on my chart in the photo above) before I sorted it out.

But what should you do if you don't have charting software?  Here are my suggestions:

1.  Don't use any cables that aren't reversible.  Don't be like me and fall in love with a bunch of directional motifs, unless you are sure you can work them upside-down.  If in doubt, rotate your chart and swatch to make sure.  If there are only a few culprits, try correction fluid and/or highlighters to fix a copy of your chart.

2.  Work your FLAK from the bottom up.  Although the FLAK is a top-down garment, you can get Janet's book Aran Sweater Design HERE, where she describes how to work the very same sweater from the bottom up.  You should probably have this book anyway, because it's really good, and has gobs of information you'll use in this, and future cabled projects.

3.  Break down and open a vein.  It won't hurt much!  For only $99 US, you can use the very same charting software employed by yours truly.  CLICK HERE to see the tutorial, and download the free instructions.  If you've ever wanted to change a cable, or a lace, or a stranded colowork design, you'll be happy you did this for yourself. There's a really helpful Ravelry support group for this product HERE, in addition to fantastic direct customer support.

And while I'm enabling you, I might as well suggest that you try out this little gem: The Cable Knitting Handbook, by Annie Maloney CLICK HERE. Check out Annie's Ravelry group HERE for more on her wonderful (and unusual) cable designs. Click on the "Pages" tab there for a wealth of information.

That about covers my progress on cable finding, choosing, and/or placement, up through FLAK part 3.  How's everyone else doing?

Whoop. There it is.

Phillip's bronchitis-not-pneumonia is neither. It's bad old-fashioned Whooping Cough. We figured it out in the middle of his third week, when the actual Whooping started. The sound is indescribable: somewhere between a Native American war cry and a Rebel Yell. Definitely guaranteed to strike fear in the hearts of the brave. Lucky for the rest of us Huffs, we got antibiotics in time, and are just plain old sick. So far, anyway, knock on wood. And yes, if you are wondering, all of us have been immunized.

*Begin rant/gross description* We'd like to extend a big thank you to those who are choosing not to immunize their children for this new and more-virulent strain. The flock is only safe when ALL members are inoculated. As a public school teacher, my husband stands every day in the biological cross hares, waiting for a direct hit. 

Phillip has 3 cracked ribs and innumerable broken blood vessels in his eyes and face. A coughing attack lasts as long as 10 minutes, during which oxygen intake is severely compromised. The attack only stops when stomach and lung contents are violently expelled, and the sudden intake of air produces a high-pitched screaming gasp. Less of a "whoop" than a "shriek". And this is in an otherwise fit, healthy adult man. Can you imagine watching this happen to a helpless infant? Who may not be strong enough to survive it? When you could have prevented it?

Whatever your views on childhood immunization, I want to remind everyone of this: an autistic child is still ALIVE, and drowning in your own fluids is an unspeakable thing to inflict on anyone too small to choose for themselves. *End rant/grossness*

The FLAK swatches are piling up, almost as fast as the crumpled tissues. I think I've just about landed on the right combination of cables. The only question now is, what happens when you knit them from the top down? Do I just flip my chart upside down, and hope for the best? I'll let you know what happens, provided the antihistamines hold out. 

How are your swatches?