Garter Stitch

I have a confession to make: I like Garter Stitch.

I really do, it's a wonderful and extremely under-appreciated stitch. I should probably stop here for a moment and confess that I actually like a lot of things that you're not supposed to like. Minivans for example, I quite like minivans; they get good mileage, have an amazing amount of space to put stuff or people in, and most can come with a tow package so you can take your (small) trailer camping. What's not to like?

But back to Garter Stitch and the reasons to like it. It's simple, you just knit every row so there's no thinking making it wonderful for watching TV or reading while you knit. It's wonderfully stretchy, OK that makes it a questionable choice for a sweater but not all projects are sweaters after all. It lies flat; what's not to like about a stitch that doesn't curl up on you? And because it lies flat it makes a terrific border for other stitches that do curl. Example:

Mitered squares are also cool. Of course, you can do them in Stockinette Stitch too but I like them in Garter Stitch.

Which brings us to another thing: it's square. Or at least it can be if you knit the same number of ridges to the number of stitches you cast on. Frankie Brown takes advantage of this feature with her Ten Stitch Blanket. I will forever stand in awe at the sheer genius of this design. Here's my version:

And, of course its the only stitch you need to know to make a Doctor Who scarf. A project so cool it has it's own website: http://www.doctorwhoscarf.com/s12.html. Or maybe that just says something about how many nerds/geeks knit. Either way I'll take it.

Interestingly a search on Ravelry for "garter stitch" today got me only 2,717 patterns but 260,339 projects. Not at all sure what that says.

In a way its a shame how many new knitters just want to breeze past Garter Stitch. Yes, you should certainly know how to purl but one should not neglect or fail to appreciate the lowly Garter Stitch.

Current Weather
19C and partly cloudy.

Wordless Wednesday

Nom, nom, nom

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Wordless Wednesday

in order to bring you a Worded Wednesday.

Finished a bright red baby blanket, I see no reason why babies have to be exempt from strong, bright colours. Absolutely love this pattern, Frankie is a genius at designing simple patterns that are entertaining enough to hold your attention. This came out a little smaller than I really hoped for but I ran out of yarn, I could block it a bit bigger and I probably will when I find the ambition to get out the iron and make some steam. Its big enough to snuggle a baby in as it is though so we'll just see how ambition goes.

Pattern: Ten Stitch Blanket by Frankie Brown
Yarn: Craft Smart Value Solids in Bright Red
Needle: 5.5mm
Gauge: Not critical

Current Weather
16C and mostly sunny.

There has been knitting

Really, there has. Just not a lot of finishing.

Wait... no, there were a couple of things finished. Poo Bag Bags for people with dogs. Still tweaking the pattern for these:

Pattern: Coming soon
Yarn: Cotton Worsted, ball band long gone I'm afraid
Needle: 5.5mm

This might be better on a slightly smaller needle.

Pattern: Coming soon
Yarn: Patons North America Astra (Solids), this is a sport weight yarn
Needle: 3.75mm

I think this should have been done on a slightly larger needle but I couldn't find my 4.0mm or 4.5mm.

A pair of summer socks, mostly cotton, continue to grow although very slowly. They're sitting right by my computer so most progress is being made while waiting for the computer to do something. Like upload pictures.

I really wanted to try some of Frankie Brown's Ten Stitch blanket patterns because they just seem so darn cool, so I'm doing a bright red Ten Stitch Blanket.

And a variegated green Ten Stitch ZigZag. These will both be baby blanket sized and so far I'm loving these patterns.

And more fish for the Fishy Blanky. This will not be the final configuration for the Fish, I just laid them out to take a picture.

Other things are continuing too, a fingering weight sweater for myself, not really needed until fall. And my Scottish Sister's sweater. I swear I'm going to finish it before she leaves!!

I had to abandon the Loom Knitting, it was just too hard on my back and neck because of the way I had to hunch over the loom. It's too bad because I loved the fabric I was getting but one cannot abuse the body too much or the consequences can be painful. Or worse. I'm still trying to think of a way to make a stand for the loom to see if I can resolve this. We'll see what happens.

Current Weather
21C and about to start storming.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday