The First Stirrings of Spring

the obligatory first crocuses of spring photo

Things have been a little hectic around chez Silverdragon the last few weeks.  But thankfully, things are back to normal.

We celebrated Ostara with steak, baked potatoes, and asparagus.  It was delish on a beautiful warm day that was a promise of the sunny days to come.

I planted new seeds that I hope will bear beautiful fruit over the coming year.  I am going to do my best to water them and nurture them with love, light, compassion, and understanding.

In that vein, I am taking a crystal reiki class.  Reiki is something that I have been doing for as long as I can remember.  It is an important part of every day.

I have loved crystals since my Daddy took me hunting for shiny rocks in the newly developed dirt of a housing development.  I still have that piece of quartz and it is one of my little treasures from my childhood.

It only makes sense that I would find crystal reiki interesting and engaging especially since it is taught by a scientist and healer.

I am also gathering all the pieces parts that I need for the taxes.  I want to finish those up soonish.

I have not knit more than a few stitches here and there in the last week since my attention has been directed in a bunch of different directions and might still be for the next few weeks as I work on lessons and taxes and spring cleaning.

Oh, I also made myself a new Ostara anklet.  I have been wearing these for three or four years and it is nice to have my Ostara seeds present with me all the time as touchstones for the things that I am hoping to plant this year.

To make one of these you first need to know what issues you are focusing on.

Say, you have this affirmation:  "I am worth it"

1     2     3    4     5     6    7     8     9

A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H    I

J    K    L    M    N    O    P    Q    R

S    T    U    V    W    X    Y    Z

You substitute a number for each letter from the above chart and get the following:

9  14  56928  92

Then you add up all those numbers and get 55

Then you add 5 + 5 to get 10 and 1 + 0 to get 1

"I am worth it" has the color energy of 1

1 - red

2 - orange

3 - yellow

4 - green

5 - blue

6 - indigo

7 - violet

8 - rose

9 - gold

"I am worth it" equals red as the color energy provided by numerology.

I just followed this process for all of my five main affirmations and then I took those five colors and created an anklet so each step I take is guided by my goals.

Wishing you tons of bright blessings!

💫

**************

So, the photo above is a close-up of the sleeve portion of my top (pardon the cat hair).  This is a commercial knit and has very tiny stitches but you can tell that it is ribbing.

Ribbing is such an amazing thing that we take for granted in our clothes and accessories.

Ribbing is made up of vertical columns of knit and purl stitches (or stockinette and reverse stockinette) that are alternated based on the amount of stretch that your pattern needs in a specific area.  That is why ribbing is used on hems, cuffs, waistlines, and necklines.

If the area that the ribbing is on is not stretched you might only see the knit stitches since the purl stitches tend to recede into the fabric.

I find being able to read my knitting is a truly valuable skill.  Being able to identify different stitches really helps me when having to fix mistakes or double-checking a pattern row.  

If you are new to ribbing a little mantra that might help you to remember how to knit ribbing is, "knit the knits and purl the purls."

When knitting the rib the working yarn is in the back and when purling the rib the working yarn is in the front.

One of my knitting friends today was talking about she sometimes found a yarn over in her work and didn't know where it was coming from.

We sussed out that sometimes when she was switching from purl to knit that she would forget to move the working yarn to the back of her work before making the knit stitch.  This resulted in a yarn over.

If one only does this once and a while you can just drop the yarn over when you come to it and it will be reabsorbed into the fabric. 

1 x 1 Ribbing

The ribbing on my sleeve is 1 x 1 ribbing.  This reversible ribbing has a decent stretch and looks nice.

Even number of stitches (cast on multiples of 2):

Row 1:  *K1, P1* repeat ** to end of row

This pattern is the same for in-the-round knitting.  1x1 ribbing in the round only works with an even amount of stitches since having an odd amount will allow two knits or purls to be next to each other on the first and last stitches of the round.

Odd number of stitches (cast on any odd number 3 or greater):

Row 1:  K1, *P1, K1* repeat ** to end of row

Row 2:  P1, *K1, P1* repeat ** to end of row

2 x 2 Ribbing

IMHO reversible 2 x 2 ribbing is much more stretchy than the 1 x 1 ribbing.  I use it all the time for socks, cuff, and anything that I want to make sure I can get on.

Even number of stitches (cast on multiples of 4):

Row 1:  *K2, P2* repeat ** to end of row

This pattern is the same for in-the-round knitting.

my Caitlin pattern shows how ribbing can be used with
cables to create a stretchy interesting fabric

Ribbing is not limited to 1 x 1 or 2 x 2 it can be any combination of stitches you want as long as you knit the knits and purl the purls on every row.  

The above photo of Catlin shows how a cable was used in every other vertical knit column to add texture and interest to the pattern.  The ribbing and the cable used in this pattern is 4 x 4.

my Stressless Mitts pattern uses ribbing to create a snug fit to the
fingerless mitts, this pattern uses 2 x 2 and 4 x 1 ribbing and 
can be found here on the blog from 2007 - at some point, I want to 
retest the pattern - but I still have these and I wear them 
quite a bit

Some things to note about ribbing:

Many patterns will ask you to go down a needle size for cuffs, hems, or other ribbed items to help the fabric to be a little tighter in those areas.  I find that swatching for these types of fitted garments is very necessary.  Making a swatch in the smaller ribbing size and then regular ribbing size can save hours of having to rip back later.

Swatching your ribbing to see it behaves the way you want can also save you tons of time in the long run.  You might also find that you like a 1 x 1 ribbing over a 2 x 2 ribbing in your application even though the other one is called for.

While bigger needles and yarn will still yield an elastic fabric, the stretch will not be as generous as it would be on smaller needles with smaller yarn.  Again, test swatching can save you a lot of hassle and let you see if your desired fabric can be achieved.

Bright blessings and happy crafting!

**************

If you have any questions or comments on this or any of my other tutorials, please leave me a comment.

****************************

Safe socially-distanced hugs  🤗

****************************
Sending love and light to everyone being affected by this virus.  

May you be safe.  

May your loved ones be safe.  

🙏

***************************

Sending love and light to everyone facing discrimination, hate, prejudice, inequality, or racism.
🙏🙏💖💖🙏🙏