Wool in Soft Colors

Work in progress:
Capelet, wool, stockinette stitch, size 13 wood cable needle, 24 in.





This beautiful bulky wool is knitting up quickly - just what I need after working on so many fine gauge projects!



I'll be finishing off the ends, etc. so that it is reversible - I like the reverse stockinette look too.

Two different yarns make this lovely washed out look.

Green merino wool and silk

Brown alpaca capelet

Reds

Scarf encore

Scarf, wool and silk blend, twisted stockinette stitch, crochet fringe border approximately 5 in x 80 in

I got the knitting done on this scarf and felt that it was blah, although I like the stitch pattern. It needed something. I took up the crochet hook and voila! The fringe along the long edge gave it just the body and pizzazz it needs.

Finished scarf

Scarf, wool and silk blend, twisted stockinette stitch, size 13 needles

This is another item in the finishing frenzy. This curled quite a bit during knitting, and I really spread it apart when blocking, to maximize the lacey effect. After doing that, I think I'd make it wider. It will be plenty warm since it's long enough to wrap around the neck a good couple times and won't be too bulky. But it looks a little forlorn to me, since I'm accustomed to much more dense fabric. I simply had to try lace using a bulky yarn. I do love the effect of the stitch pattern done with those big needles. They're big bamboo, so they feel like wonderful warm sticks while knitting.

I took fourteen finished pieces down to the Woodstock Guild gallery, Fleur de Lis, last night. For the second or third time I did an artist's statement, and I think it's the best so far, although only about my knitting:

Knitted textiles by Lorre Smith

Knitting is a hand looming technique that uses a strand of fiber and two sticks to form and intertwine loops in such a way that they create a stable and sometimes stretchy fabric. I have knitted all the items in this display without using assistants or apprentices. All the processes I use are manual processes or those that may use a very simple apparatus such as a yarn swift and a ball winder. Yarn manufacturers and spinners often shape lengths of 100 or more yards of yarn into a very large loop called a skein. The skein will tangle easily, so the swift and ball winder help put the yarn into a tighter and more usable form for knitting. The yarns I use are from all over the world and include, silk, wool, cotton, linen, nylon, polyester, metallic fibers, viscose, tencel, acrylic, alpaca, acetate, mohair, cashmere and rayon.

I knit in order to create beautiful textiles in ancient forms such as wraps and scarves. I often seek a wide range of yarns, sometimes more than 30 or 40 to create one fabric. The colors and surface design of each piece grow through a duly considered process of color and fiber selection and combination. In some pieces it is important to select a smooth yarn that will highlight the fabric pattern. In other pieces it is more desirable to use wildly different yarns with extraordinary texture created by yarn combinations rather than a fabric pattern. I am endlessly attracted to the combination of utility and beauty.

In the studio

Scarf, all wool, twisted stockinette stitch

This is the Colorado Wool company "Vail" yarn, and it shows the twisted stockinette stitch beautifully because of the very smooth way it has been spun. It took me awhile to love the "Vail" yarn, but now it has captured my heart because of the weight and the beautiful way it shows off a pattern. It is currently about as cheap as dirt at Webs. I love this intarsia long stripe design and will probably use it more, with different stitch patterns. I happen to love the twisted stockinette too, so I'll looking around for ways to use it again.

In the studio

Scarf, Noro "Silk Garden" yarn - 45% Silk, 45% Kid Mohair, 10% Lambs Wool, twisted stockinette stitch (I don't know the official name of the stitch), size 15 needles

I've become obsessed with this twisted stitch. I think I'm doing about four things now using it. This one is almost done, and very lacy because of the huge needles. I like doing the stitch with smooth rather than fuzzy yarns so far because it has such great lines, and I like them to show clearly. I found it in a magazine sweater pattern and didn't want to do the whole sweater. The magazine sweater was done in a light blue cashmere blend yarn and is utterly smashing because of the twist pattern. I apologize for not being able to cite it.

The studio is really jumping these days with projects. I at last realized that I can listen to internet "radio" while I'm in there and so I'm spending hours and hours listening to "radio" from all around the world and that keeps me going with the knitting - "just have to do a few more rows here so I can listen to the rest of this show" and like that. And I'm brushing up on my French, German and Spanish too!

This is the first purple and gold piece, with color names "curry" and "eggplant" from Dale of Norway. It's beautifully soft. The stitch is a variation pattern on stockinette with right twist then left twist in the knit row, then a purl row. You cast on multiples of four. I like that the colors are not straight purple and gold.

On the library front: My library is purchasing blogging software to be used for various library communications. I'll probably be shifting my newsletter on scholarly communication and open access to a blog format. So that means four blogs for me. How did this happen?