Color Me Double

"Enlightenment must come little by little -- otherwise it would overwhelm."

-- Idries Shah

I saw this swirly pattern in Nicky Epstein's Signature Scarves and loved it. I didn't want to line it though and I definitely didn't want to do duplicate stitch.

So I decided to try something new. I've been wanting to learn about double knitting where you knit two sides of a fabric at once. The two sides mirror each other except their color schemes are reversed. It makes a thicker fabric but as you can see, the results are just amazing.

I've always thought this technique would be difficult but it turns out it is really simple and surprisingly enjoyable. I think my next double knitting project will be to remake my slip stitch cats in a scarf. I am loving that idea for fall. The nice thing about this technique is you can take any colorwork pattern with two colors and recreate it. With double knitting, you don't need to twist the threads or carry yarns you just choose the one you need and knit it. Think of the possibilities!

This scarf has been an exercise in shifting my perception. When I'm on the rainbow side, I must admit I tend to get excited at watching the colorway shift. On the opposite side, I love to watch the colors penetrate the inky blackness. But I really do love both sides equally. If you asked me to choose...I'm not sure I could.

The truth of the matter is I wish I could look at myself with the same lack of scrutiny. I'm like this scarf in so many ways. On the one side, I'm a big happy kid who is passionate about life. Everything empowers me. Life and nature is a constant source of wonder for me. I find beauty and meaning in everything and my loves are as diverse as a rainbow.

On the other side, I'm easily discouraged and quit many projects when the going gets rough. I have a horrible temper which I most often turn against myself. When I allow doubt and worry to take over I become lost in it...it's like trying to find my way in a night without stars.

Either extreme can be severely debilitating. My happy :) smiley face self struggles with the stresses and every day challenges to stay upbeat and empowered. And my negative :( think the worse self finds it hard to stay down with so many blessings abounding through my life.

When I see this scarf I can see both sides of me a little more clearly...the fabric provides just a little glimpse of enlightenment about my inner workings.

In some temples in Tibet, there is a practice of putting out food for the negative spirits before one meditates. This appeases them so that they can eat happily and not disturb the meditative process.

Many believe that when it comes to inner demons, that if you resist them then they become more powerful. Try saying, "I'm not going to think about squirrels." Don't think about them all day. I bet you won't see them in the trees, running all over the place. You probably will not think about how they are storing their nuts for the winter ahead. You probably will not even remember that you said this statement at all.

Studies show that this is not true. Instead, you will probably notice how many squirrels there are this time of year. They will seem to be everywhere...like a squirrel population explosion. You will think about them because anything you resist becomes your focus. But if you say, "There are squirrels and I'm okay with that." There is no resistance on your part and you and your relationship will stay as it is...it might even improve.

For some reason, I haven't been able to get this out of my head.

But I digress...

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Happy crafting,

Ruinwen

***No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post.***
:)

Some Bunny Loves Me

I had forgotten that for each cowl class I was supposed to have a slip-stitch square also. So today I quickly made this square and when I turned it upside down my cats turn into demon bunnies *wah ha ha*

How utterly cool is that? :)

I got the cowl pattern written up with the 2 slip-stitch pattern so that is another thing off my plate. *yeah*

Also, my shawl class participants gave me leave not to finish the shawl so I could use it to work in the class instead of having to make a new one. Again, how cool is that?

I feel as if a huge weight has been taken off my shoulders and for the first time since Friday I can heave a sigh of relief. And since the shawl is pink...it will fit right in step with Breast Cancer Awareness Month...I'm just tickled pink (pun intended).

So, thanks for cheering me on and sticking with me during this difficult time...you make this all worthwhile. :)

Happy crafting,

Ruinwen
:)

Slip-Stitch Cats Fini

My sweater is complete. Maybe one of these days I will actually design the sweater first...nah...

All in all, I am thrilled with the way this turned out. I used 220 Cascade and Feza Zarone and I think they worked together well. I used ribbing on the arm decreases so it wouldn't be all wonky. I also used my first spit-join so I wouldn't have to hide ends in my cowl. I may never add a yarn a different way again!

Happy crafting,

Ruinwen
:)

Slip-Stitch Cats Preview

"Enlightenment must come little by little -- otherwise it would overwhelm."
-- Idries Shah

Here are my Halloween slip-stitch cats. They took a good portion of Sunday and three hours yesterday to graph. If you know about slip-stitch, then you know that there must be a stitch to slip in order for the pattern to work. And since you carry only one yarn across a row and slip the other, it varies every two rows. Thus round things and curves are very difficult.



But all in all, I love this pattern. It is all mine and I worked very hard to get the tails in the center to curve in a neat way. I also think they look kinda spooky and if you look at them long enough you see other things...or is that because it is 5 am?

Now hopefully the rest of the sweater will design itself. *grin*

Happy crafting,

Ruinwen
:)

Slip Stitch Cats

Here is my first attempt at slip-stitch. I think it came out pretty good. I had promised this year I would learn some sort of stranding technique and I have! I am so excited!

I really like slip stitch technique is also called mosaic knitting which was coined by Barbara Walker in 1976.

In slip stitch, one carries only one color across a row so the piece is not as bulky as some Fair Isle but it does have a sort of texture to it where the slipped stitches are used.

My next attempt is a slip stitch hat with these cats which are from Slip-Stitch Knitting - Color Pattern The Easy Way - By Roxana Bartlett.

Happy Knitting everyone!

Ruinwen
:)