July 2013
Summer is my least favourite of the seasons, so this year I'm taking steps.
![knot summer](1307/knotsummer.gif)
I have a fan, a backup fan, lots of cold drinks, black-out blinds (essential for lie ins / midday tv watching) and access to the seaside. What I don't have is a way to prevent the yarn and needles squeaking when I'm knitting with hot hands. Squeaky knitting is the worst sort of knitting. It's one of the few things that will make me find something else to do.
Edit: I take it back. One time I was doing a lot of knitting with cheap plastic yarn and gave myself a nasty friction burn around my little finger. I had to keep knitting to finish the project on time. That was the worst sort of knitting.
31/07/2013
So Close
I've almost written the alder leaf pattern up, just the primping to go. My final design is very like the 'nearly there' pattern below, but with the bottom part missed off to make the leaf rounder and the top corners nipped in a bit. Sort of like this...
![Alder Leaf Attempt 4](1307/aldertry4.jpg)
26/07/2013
Nearly There
Attempt three. This time I wanted to neaten the edge and do something about the finishing.
![Alder Leaf Attempt 3](1307/aldertry3.jpg)
OK, this is going to sound picky but now I'm worried that the edge is too neat and that I made the body too long. I do like the cast off edge though. I hid it by not actually casting off, I just threaded the yarn through the remaining stitches and pulled them all tightly against it with a second needle.
16/07/2013
Alder Again
Attempt two and I decided to lengthen the middle section by working a few extra rows. I'm also going to knit in some spaced out ribs to help the fabric lie flat (at least k2, p1 on the right side).
![Alder Leaf Attempt 2](1307/aldertry2.jpg)
Taa daaaa! I like the ribs but the cast-off edge has become even more obvious. It's so chunky it makes the whole thing look less round. Also the edge is scruffier. I can't decide if I like it or not.
15/07/2013
Alder
I'm still enjoying leaf making so here we go again. Alders (the sort I'm used to anyway) have almost round leaves with a pointy bit where the stem joins onto the leaf. I'm going to make one out of the same knitted material as the oak leaf – see last month for a description and a grid.
I drew out the alder leaf shape on the grid and used the techniques for knitting irregular shapes to work out a pattern row by row. I could tell almost as soon as I had started that I'd drawn out the shape too big. I stopped and started again.
Below is the grid I drew out. The unsuccessful first attempt is the bigger red outline with crossed off stitches in blue. My second attempt is the smaller red outline, with stitches crossed off in purple.
![Alder Grid](1307/colouredgrid.gif)
This time I worked all the way through the leaf shape. Here it is.
![Alder Leaf Attempt 1](1307/aldertry1.jpg)
Not perfect. The edges curl up and the top curls over. The cast-off edge stands out against the rest of the knitting. Overall the shape is good when it's spread out, but could do with being a big longer in the middle.
12/07/2013
Oops
I'm supposed to be designing more leaf patterns but it's too warm to think and my needles slipped and oops I knitted a twig. With leaves. By logically extending the pattern I would be able to make a branch and hence a tree. Knitting myself a forest is truly just a matter of finding the time.
09/07/2013
Patterns
Last month I didn't do a pattern. This month I put off updating the front page so I could get two patterns written up right off the bat. I've done an elm leaf and an acorn because I'm sticking with the forest theme.
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