New York Minknit

You can learn to knit for free in Bryant Park. And the research and main lending libraries are right by!

Oddly, Knit New York is downtown — a few blocks east of Union Square. Why didn’t they do it in Washington Square Park?

Also, as a new weird place that sells yarn, I noticed that Ivy League Stationers (“We give change with a smile!”), near Columbia, is now selling yarn and needles. But oddly, expensive yarn — like Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. I mentioned that I didn’t know they sell yarn, and a couple weeks later, they posted a sign in the window that says “We sell yarn and knitting needles!”

So it all began on Friday night, when I used a gift card given to me by Sarah to buy the sock book, Knit Socks! aka the book shaped like a sock. Apparently I was so sucked into my new excitement about a future of sock knitting that Adam came right up next to me and yet I totally didn’t see him and clutched the only copy available at Barnes and Noble and headed down on the escalator. I was like, don’t mess with me knitters! I have the only Knit Socks! book in the store! (Note that the book is called Knit Socks EXCLAMATION POINT! Excitement is clearly soon to come.)

Then, even though my co-worker generously gave me her needles, the sock book teaches you to use  a set of 5 double-pointed needles (DPNs), not 4 (she gave me a set of 4 clover bamboo needles), so I had to drag Adam to Purl Soho before dinner to get a set. (I dare not defy the instructions of a book with an exclamation point in its title.) I managed to squeeze in right before it closed.

I’ve been thinking about making socks and at work knitting today, my co-worker got fed up with her sock yarn and needles and gave them to me.

The yarn is super cute, I think it is Trekking in the shade pictured. I am grateful because it’s like a ready-made sock kit, free! She is threatening to take the socks once I knit them…but that’s cool, since I mainly want to learn how to knit a sock.

And my other co-worker has this book shaped like a sock, and I might try to make a sock from that.

Pattern:I started with the calculations from this site, and then I ended up switching to the instructions on Crazy Aunt Purl’s site here.

Yarn: A little less than one skein of Louet Sales Gems Sapphire (their bulky weight yarn) from Seaport Yarn

Needles: Most of it was done on Clover 9 circular (24″) and then at the end I also used Balene 9 circular (16″) as well.

Skills learned: How to decrease using two needles instead of double-pointed needles. (I had a tough time with the double-pointed needles for Francisco’s hat, so I decided to try the two-needle method.); Using markers to mark decreases.

Other thoughts: This yarn has many ply (eight, maybe?), so it’s easy to split. If you don’t watch carfeully, you only pull the yarn through some of the loops, so it gets splitty. On the other hand, the yarn has a nice, dry hand (now I sound like a wine critic), and feels smooth and crisp. Also, it is machine washable, so that’s a plus.

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I bet you thought I only wrote about knitting and I never actually knit. Ha! Look at the post below–an almost finished object. I finished the sweater while going to and from Coney Island.

I am wearing my So-Called Scarf and knitting on my Lexie Barnes knit bag that Adam got me for Christmas. I knit Continental, as you can see in the photo. I was taught to knit in China, and every time I tried to move the yarn to the right hand, some Chinese knitter would come over to give me a refresher course. Chinese knitters feel there is only one way to knit, and that way, grasshopper, is Continental. But I’m glad they beat me into it. Continental is, in my humble opinion, faster and easier. (I think it’s harder to learn, but it’s easier to feed in the yarn once you get it.)

It’s almost a finished object! Because all it needs is weaving in of the ends and a washing and a blocking.

Pattern: Knitscape custom pattern (this is Artfibers custom version of the Knitware software)

Yarn: Artfibers kyoto, 4 skeins

Needles: Clover circulars in size 9 and 10.5 for the body and Balene circulars in 9 for the neck and armhole.

Skills learned: Picking up stitches, casting off loosely, slanted decreases facing right and left, increasing in circular garment knitting, three-needle bind off (for shoulder seams).

Other thoughts: This was a good first sweater project because it was pretty easy. Only problem was the nasty cast off. And now it’s fixed! Also the bottom of the armhold is a little loose, but that’s okay.
Click through for more views of the sweater.

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