Chat Back for Halloween

Answering questions from comments and email.

Susan asked . . .

Glory,I know that your mommy is much smarter than me and won't put you on that yucky stuff. Why don't you try running more?

Glory is 13. While she still gets around great for her age, she is an elderly dog and not so eager to plow through the snow anymore.

Last winter the snow started early, came often and deep, and lasted late. There just wasn't much opportunity to take longer walks and/or run. Glory and I both hope this winter is better.

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Ann said . . .

The stitch pattern is nice. It's so amazing that you can just start knitting & then decide later on the rest of the sweater.

Most times I have an idea of what the entire sweater is going to be before I start. Other times it's like doing a mystery knit.

I'm ready to decide on a horizontal mid-Gansey band now, so I did a little swatch and can easily see that the simpler diamonds (the bottom band) work much better in this yarn and with the pattern I'm using on the lower part of the sweater.

I love to browse through my stitch dictionaries, so the process of picking what's next is fun for me.

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Barb asked . . .

Do you use a cable needle, or do you use one of the "cabling without a needle" methods?

Whenever it's easy such as for single and double crossovers, I rearrange the stitches on the left needle and then knit them. I guess that's a "cabling without a needle" method.

I can do that without breaking my knitting rhythm and it saves amazing amounts of time and lost cable needles.

If I had to knit something like Kristi with a cable needle, it wouldn't be fun and I wouldn't do it.

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Suzann asked . . .

I have wondered if all the twisted, knit in the back stitches didn't draw the sock in a lot.

It does draw it in and it eats up the yarn yardage.

Even more challenging, the traveling stitches make the fabric less stretchy. A sock such as Kristi (above) can fit perfectly on the leg but be so inflexible it can't be pulled over the instep to get it onto the leg.

The Knitpicks Options 24" circulars I use for sock knitting have very flexible cords so I'm able to pull the sock in process on frequently to check fit. There have been some surprises and some frogging. I adjust smaller or larger by changing needle size.

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Dani asked . . .

Hubby chimed in again on your blog & says since only a few fish die & most don't they are indeed Trout. Either way, he wants to know why you guys aren't out there with flies & rods??

There's an old cement block smoker out by the creek. The former residents trapped the fish with a dam and smoked them right there.

Just guessing, I don't think that's legal. Just guessing again, I think some of the neighbors may be doing something similar. I don't want to know.

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Janna asked . . .

I love the heart in your swatches! Is it from a book, or did you make it up yourself?

It's from the Third Barbara Walker Stitch Treasury, the yellow one with charted designs. Many pretty things in there plus a wealth of technical information.

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