October 2013

Judging by the increase in hits we've been getting in the past couple of weeks it must be knitting season again. Hooray! I don't know if it's because the weather has turned colder or if everyone is in sudden desperate need of cuddly eyeballs but either way it makes me happy.

06/11/2013

Cobweb Complete

I've writted up a pattern for the lacy cobweb. I'm still thinking about how to make the chunkier cobweb beautiful.

29/10/2013

A Different Approach

Blocking is basically getting the thing wet and then drying it in shape yes? That's what I'm trying with web attempt number four.

(Please excuse the scruffy towel, I wasn't sure if the black dye would run.)

I reduced the number of spokes to six because I have vague ideas about fixing several webs together to make a tessellating fabric. I'm imagining highly impractical throws and Halloween shawls, neither of which I'll have time to make before Thursday.

On another note, following on from my previous post bemoaning the lack of laciness in my web I though about how lace stitches are worked, how I make holes and how I could make bigger holes. The result of this though process is now tied to my kitchen shelves. It's promising.

27/10/2013

Cobweb Concerns

My first attempt was a definite failure.

I didn't pay enough attention when I started shaping so the finished web has a twist in it. I've not done that since I first started circular knitting and I've just remembered how extremely frustrating it is.

My second attempt unravelled quite a bit when I tugged too hard and one of the stitches dropped. It was going quite well up to that point, even if the web wasn't quite laying flat.

The third attempt was better.

Kind of scruffy I know, but it looks better when you put some tension on the spokes of the web.

So I'm going to have to put the web under tension for it to look good. I suppose I could try blocking (something I've never, ever done before) but even the stretched out web looks kind of chunky. It could be that I've spent so much time working on various webs the past few days that I've gone off the technique, but... I don't know. I'm not sure I like this approach any more. The appeal of cobwebs is their delicate laciness and I certainly haven't captured that in my knitting.

20/10/2013

Cobweb Construction

As it turns out there are may ways to draw a cobweb without taking pen from paper.

You can go up and down each spoke and then round and round to make the spiral. I'm not doing it this way because I like my knitting patterns to be as fool proof as possible and if I told myself to knit enough stitches to reach the next spoke, then pick up a stitch at about the right place to attach the spiral... I would go wrong a lot and I doubt the cobweb would keep its shape.

Instead I'm gong to try this approach.

I'll keep each section of outward spokes the same length, then work out how much of the spiral to knit between them using maths (YAY MATHS). I'll cast on and make the spokes in one long line, then cast off and pick up the tips of the spokes to form the cobweb.

15/10/2013

Wonderful Webs

I intend to knit a cobweb. In my mind they all look something like this.

Which is unlikely to be true of all spiders, but is definitely true of the ones who live in the hedge outside.

Even that sketch looks a bit complicated so I'm going to start off with a simplified version.

My first instict for linear knitting is to use i-cord, but if I knitted this shape in i-cord it would create vast, VAST amounts of sewing in or up or together and I'm just not interested in that. Instead I'm going to knit cords by casting them on, then casting them off. This way I can make cords with branches in them (e.g. Cast on 20, cast off 10, cast on 10, cast off 20. What shape do you have?) I think I should be able to knit any outline that I can draw without taking pen from paper.

Next question. Can I draw this cobweb without taking pen from paper?

05/10/2013

One Up, ??? To Go.

I did a pattern already. It's a ghost like this one ^^^. So what shall it be next. Bats? Spiders? Viscera?