Week Four

On Knitting:
Over a year later, I have finally finished the Cables & Feathers blanket!! But I forgot to take a picture of it.

I can't even begin to tell you how glad I am that it's done. But oddly enough, it's rejuvenated my fascination with blanket knitting. I started flipping through all my afghan patterns with a renewed awe. But instead of starting a new afghan, I decided to go for something a lot smaller. In my interweb surfing, I found a pattern for wrist warmers and decided to take mine a bit farther:





In keeping with my Jiu-Jitsu spirit and given that I'm on the bench at the moment, I've decided to call my little warmer "Wrist Lock" ("Wrist Locks" for a pair). And this pink and tan one is "001". Since this was pretty much a design test, I don't think I'm really obligated to make this one part of a pair. But I'll probably end up doing just that. I guess, technically, I have finally put on a "Designer's Hat"!! As a designer, I think I should step away for a moment and provide as unbiased feedback as possible on the design. So when I make a "real" pair, here is what I would consider and/or do differently:

• Experiment with different needle sizes: I used size 3's, mostly because that's the size I used for my socks. While 3 does make for a nicely sized sts in stockinette st, the K1P1 rib has no elasticity. Of course, this could be due to the yarn weight; I used worsted for Wrist Lock 001.


• Experiment with different ribbing: I used K1P1 at the bottom and K3P1 at the top. I'm definitely going to replace K1P1 with something else since it didn't have adequate stretch. The K3P1 is going to stay because I liked how it turned out at the top.


• Extend the K3P1 rib and experiment with different st patterns for the flare at the top. I incorporated some YO's in the flare, but you can't see them very well because they are embedded in the ribbing. Note to self: don't embed the YO's in the ribbing.

• I am considering experimenting with sock yarn. My only reservation is that the Wrist Locks will be too light weight. I'll probably end up trying it out anyway because there's always The Frog if I don't like it.


• Include a thumb hole???: A thumb whole is an option, but I like the fact that you can roll up the flare like a cuff.
  
  With a thumb, I'd have to incorporate a sort of flap in order to accomplish this. I don't think that would go over well, no pun intended.


• Play play play with color!!: This was my first "real" attempt with Fair Isle. From the start, I knew I wanted the diagonal stripes, but messed up a bit at the beginning. That "messed up" color patterning looked a little like lobsters, so I decided not to frog; just ride the Stitching Wave and see where it took me. The lesson to take away is to make a chart!

I've also been contemplating the functionality of my Wrist Locks and have come to the conclusion that their functionality is two fold:

• Decorative:
  
• Cuff Down: They pretty much decorate your whole forearm. I have some quarter length tops that Wrist Locks could certainly accent, given that they are a complementary color of course.

• Cuff Up: They can decorate the edges of long sleeve shirts.
  


• Temperature control:
  
• Cuff Down: I've been wearing my solo Wrist Lock at work. Yes, I looked weird wearing one solo Wrist Lock; but it was a teeny experiment that hurt no one. I was worried that the Wrist Lock wouldn't provide much warmth in this very chilly office. My worried achieved only half a merit. It didn't really keep my hand warm as much as it just kept the chill at bay, which is fine with me.


• Cuff up: It doesn't provide much warmth, but it certainly keeps chilly air from snaking up your sleeve. I imagine that this would work really nicely with my windbreaker when it's not cold enough for gloves/mittens, but chilly enough to be bothered by a breeze up the sleeve.
  

Knitting Receipt
Once upon a time, perhaps four winters ago, I was asked to knit a scarf. She was a trustworthy person and explicitly said she did not expect the service for free. I bought yarn that I would never have purchased for me as it was way beyond my budget. But she was a wealthy lady and all but said, "Price is not a matter." So I made a scarf featuring Plated Basket Weave (sorry, no picture), wrapped it up all nice & pretty and even included an itemized receipt so she knew exactly where her money had gone. I gave it to her and about 15 minutes later, she came back to me with her receipt in her hand. The pessimist in me told me that she was going to complain about something. Quite to the contrary, she came back to tell me that she loved the receipt. She went on to say that she did not expect to get one and that she appreciated my taking the time to itemize everything for her. Two weeks later, she bought an afghan from me.

That has been so long ago that I pretty much forgot about the receipt that I used. I was recently sifting through old computer files and came across the receipt template. The receipt was printed on decorated paper stock, so the original Excel template was extremely bare. I fiddled with it to turn it into a digital receipt and thought I'd share in case someone was looking for a receipt to use. I've read about a few people from KH looking for one, but can't remember exactly who.

You can find it on my resources page:


If you want to share it with someone else, I ask only that you use this link. You may certainly use the button also, but no bandwidth theft please! Host it on your own server or use a service the Flickr. And if anyone has a better receipt and/or invoice, would you mind sharing yours? I'm always up for seeing improvements!!

Finger Update:
"Scar tissue is like super glue"
Progress has hit a bit of stalemate, so I've been scheduled for more torture sessions throughout November. My new Brace/Pulley Splint is working, but slowly.


The bend in the pic is as far as I could go having adjusted the pulley that session. The object is to gradually keep increasing the pulley tension to bend my finger farther each time.

I'm just glad I was able to adjust my form and KEEP ON KNITTING! And I even decided to add some color to my sassy compression finger stocking:

Before


After

I made it a little too long, but that's okay. It's nice and loose so as to only function as a cover, because the actual brown stocking has enough compression on it's own.

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Thanks for reading!!
Until Next Week...