A Rock is not a Stone...

...but knitting is still knitting whether one does it Continental or English!



I'm making this top-down raglan sweater, from the Fitted Knits book, for a class this winter. It's done in Cascade's Pastaza yarn - a luscious blend of llama and wool. It's lovely shape is derived from the COPIOUS use of 2x2 ribbing. Simple enough, but hard on the wrists...

I'm finding the wrist strain from the alternating knits and purls is greatly diminished by throwing in a row or two of Continental knitting every so often. Although I'm somewhat of a slow poke with this method and I have to work harder at maintaining an even tension, I must admit that the relief to my wrist when "picking" makes the snail's pace worth it!

We're such an opinionated bunch, us knitters... proponents of both methods can get rather hot under the needles when defending the merits of their preferred technique. But really, in the end, all that matters is that it looks nice!!

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Finally...something besides that Jack o"Lantern!!

It's been busy around my house...
since Halloween, the addition has moved along nicely. The guestroom is just about done, although probably won't be inhabitable when my sister's family comes for Thanksgiving...but at least the new bathroom will be functioning!

I've just about driven my builder to a Home for the Hopelessly un-Hinged by taking SOOOOOOOOO long to make the sun room flooring choices and then, when I finally did decide....it's turned out to be a floor from Spain which will take ages and ages and ages to get here... plus there are some installation issues because of the type of stone it is...so now I'm thinking it would be really nice to have the sun room done by Christmas.



And then the other big thing of course was Beauty & the Beast at McDowell High School. Here's my very own personal Chip(ped) tea cup!! :He loves being on stage and had a blast with all the high school theatre arts kids, but we were all pretty done in by the intense rehearsal schedule and run of shows last weekend.

But



despite all the distractions,

I have managed to make some progress on my knitting projects and even teach a few classes.
Here are the ladies working on Fair Isle hats. They're using Debbie Bliss Rialto, DK or Baby Cashmerino which all feel like butter, and everyone was pretty focused on getting down the technique for working with 2 strands of yarn at a time. I love all their color choices!

I also have a Mitten class going on, and the 2 lace shawls, plus another Intarsia Bag class, and it looks like there's enough interest in an evening Oops class to schedule something for December or early January. So it's looking pretty busy.

Shirani has turned the shop into a Holiday Wonderland of gift ideas, kits and beautiful new yarns, so stop by and take a look.

Yours in knitting,
Claire