Isabelle

I think so far, I have unraveled a piece from every section, and redone it. It wasn't planned, but it helped me get the rhythm of things.

It's been great fun!

I just wasn't expecting to get this angry at an innocent strand of fluffy mohair.

A section of garter stitch and bubbles of the Go Go Dynamo Shawl, in a deep purple as the main color, and a pale purple as the contrast color. A ball of bright pink lace weight mohair yarn is lying on top of it. The shawl is a little scrunched up because it's still on the needles/a very long cable. The shawl is lying on a dark blue blanket, with the edge of a woven blanket in multiple colors visible. Underneath the shawl, the beginning ribbing of a sock in a dark red, on double pointed needles, is visible.

The color scheme in question: a deep purple with a pale purple, and a fairly bright pink mohair lace weight yarn.

The photo makes the deep purple look a little bit lighter and more pink than it really is.

Pattern: www.westknits.com/products/go-...
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll, and Aloft

I'll give myself a few days, and do what I should have from the start - swatch my various options.

I unraveled the single strand of lace weight mohair as the contrast color, but I could hold it double, or with my regular contrast color.

Or save it for later. Or another project entirely.

I unraveled the last row and a half in my Go Go Dynamo shawl, because the Mohair Dare was making me angry.

I can't really explain it.
But I could fix it.

There's plenty of things that I can't fix in my life, but this isn't one of them. I think this is one thing I really like about knitting. 🧶

Thanks! 😊
I've been wanting to try out self striping yarn, it seems like so much fun!
The patterns were really neat, it's all knits and purls, so it was really interesting to see how K1 P1, and K2 P2, can be shuffled and create so many different textures?

A red sock with a textured Guernsey pattern, with a ribbed cuff, a garter stitch heel, and a stockinette toe. There are a few white dog hairs on it. The ends are not woven in yet, so the one at the cuff is hanging loose. The sock is lying on a gray-brown faux wood background.

I finished knitting my first sock, and it feels like some kind of magic? 🧶

And now, I get to do it all over again for the second one!

Pattern: Dustland Socks: www.westknits.com/products/dus...
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll in Hollyberry

Ooh, those look fun! 😍

I aspire to this level of knitting absurdity 🧶: knitty.com/ISSUEfall06/...

Today I learned that if you have one of three measurements - ankle circumference, foot circumference, or foot length - you can calculate the other two from it, and use those to knit the right size socks! 🧶

knitty.com/sizing.html

A gauge swatch knitted in 1x2 rib, in an undyed, worsted weight corriedale alpaca yarn. It's roughly 20cmx20cm. It has five eyelets in the bottom right corner, and two purl bumps on the next rib in the same row as the eyelets, and one row up. These show the needle size used. There are strands of yarn coming off the back, as this gauge swatch was knit in the round.

Using eyelets and purls to encode the needle size into the gauge swatch is the only reason that I just noticed that I'd accidentally measured and blocked my first gauge swatch twice, instead of moving on to the second. 🧶

nimble-needles.com/tutorials/kn...

I'm doing gauge swatches for two different sweaters.
Using the recommended needle sizes, both of the initial swatches are off. One I will need to size up a needle size, one down. And then swatch again.

It's pretty interesting to see this happening, and it's good practice for the final sweater?

I will also be weighing what I have left from this hank, as I didn't end up using it all. The next one, I might do a few extra rows, and make it a little bit bigger?

Whispering Whiskers One Skein Shawlette pattern by Michelle Miller The Whispering Whiskers Shawlette One Skein Shawl features individual paw prints knit into the main body of the shawl and is knit with Baah Yarn’s La Jolla sock. The shawlette only uses 304 yards of s...

Pattern: Whispering Whiskers One Skein Shawlette, by Michelle Miller
www.ravelry.com/patterns/lib...

Yarn: Ancient Arts Yarns Little Nettle Soft Fingering Brown Tabby
ancientartsfibre.com/products/bro...

A part of the Whispering Whiskers Shawlette, in Ancient Arts Yarns Little Nettle Brown Tabby, a variegated yarn in shades of brown that look just like a brown tabby cat, pinned on cardboard, with the points of the shawlette on lace blocking wires. The shawlette is a triangle, the main triangle has lace paw prints running down and facing out from the middle. The edges are a lacey pattern of zig zags, and stockinette points that start from the lowest point of each zig zag.

A Whispering Whiskers Shawlette, in Ancient Arts Yarns Little Nettle Brown Tabby, a variegated yarn in shades of brown that look just like a brown tabby cat, pinned on cardboard, with the points of the shawlette on lace blocking wires. The shawlette is a triangle, the main triangle has lace paw prints running down and facing out from the middle. The edges are a lacey pattern of zig zags, and stockinette points that start from the lowest point of each zig zag.

A Whispering Whiskers Shawlette, in Ancient Arts Yarns Little Nettle Brown Tabby, a variegated yarn in shades of brown that look just like a brown tabby cat. It is off the knitting needles, but not yet blocked. The edges are curling inward. It is lying on a dark blue bedspread. The shawlette is a triangle, the main triangle has lace paw prints running down and facing out from the middle. The edges are a lacey pattern of zig zags, and stockinette points that start from the lowest point of each zig zag.

A Whispering Whiskers Shawlette, in Ancient Arts Yarns Little Nettle Brown Tabby, a variegated yarn in shades of brown that look just like a brown tabby cat. It is finished, and lying on a dark blue couch. The shawlette is a triangle, the main triangle has lace paw prints running down and facing out from the middle. The edges are a lacey pattern of zig zags, and stockinette points that start from the lowest point of each zig zag.

I finished my Whispering Whiskers Shawlette!
I know I say this for everything, but it was so much fun. I learned a lot, and I already miss working on it enough that I am about to wind up my second hank of Brown Tabby yarn, 🧶, so I can start knitting another one!

Chaos purling: the garter edges are western (Norwegian) purled, for the extra stretch that the western style purl brings by using slightly more yarn than a knit stitch.
Within the lace pattern, it's eastern purls, and thus combination knitting, to keep the knit and purl stitches more even in size?

I kind of want to start another one right away, and just keep going until it's a scarf this time.

The chaos purling seemed to work out? Although, I am a noob, there's a good chance that I just didn't understand something and I have done things horribly wrong.

Gothic Lace Cowl Learn to knit lace! Reminiscent of the arched windows of gothic cathedrals, this simple lace pattern is repetitive, rhythmic and symmetrical, making it perfect for beginner lace knitters.

Pattern: Gothic Lace Cowl by Tin Can Knits, tincanknits.com/pattern/goth...

Yarn: Berroco Vintage Worsted in Aurora

A knitted lace cowl, in magenta yarn, with a series of v shapes across the cowl, lying on a piece of light brown cardboard. The edges are slightly uneven, but it generally forms a rectangle.

My Gothic Lace Cowl, Chaos Purl Edition, is done! Or at least, it's off the needles, washed, and drying.
I still need to weave in the ends and figure out the buttons, both size and color.
This was really fun, even if I probably frogged enough to knit two cowls along the way. 🧶

This is very different from the dog training and interaction mentality that I learned growing up.

But I haven't seen any downsides. He's happy, and he's comfortable and confident trying out new things.
Only upsides, really!

If he gets too frustrated with a newer or more challenging puzzle, I'll end the game, open up the puzzle for him, and he gets hand fed the contents.

It's supposed to be fun, after all, and he's worked hard and learned things. That deserves treats.

This is what started us down the path of puzzle toys, and food dispensing toys.

He still enjoys the odd puzzle, as long as the rewards are appropriate for the task.

At the same time, he eats from a slow feeder bowl, and has since two days after I brought him home, because that was the fastest I could get a slow bowl delivered.

Because when he eats, he doesn't stop for silly things like breathing, or chewing. It works about as well as you'd expect.

If we ever get a second dog or puppy, or even a cat, that might have to change, because I have no doubt he'd cheerfully share everything in his kibble bowl, confident in the knowledge that he can ask for more when he gets hungry again.

He is an interesting dog though, he's never been that interested in food.
He enjoys his wet food, but kibble we free feed, because he stops eating it when he's full.
He's been like this since he was a puppy, saving his extra kibble for a later snack.

As he's an only dog, it works for now.

So he gets a little bit more breakfast: some extra kibble, and a lot of half teaspoons of wet food doled out over the indentations on three or so puzzles, depending on how he's feeling and I am feeling that day.

We vary puzzles based on all sorts of factors, to try to keep it fun.

Fluffy is Hungry, and needs Extra Breakfast.
He's happy to work for it in the form of puzzles. I think he sees the work as a bonus.

It's that time of year where his body suddenly remembers that he needs to grow a heavier coat, and that takes extra fuel.

Fluffernutter has, the last few days, requested that I hand- or spoon-feed him a few pieces of wet food (it's a dense meatloaf consistency), before he eats his breakfast, which is a mix of wet food and kibble.

He's absolutely adorable, and of course he gets his breakfast appetizer.

Two large Ikea sharks on a multicolored flower patterned bedspread, with a hank of magenta yarn looped and wrapped around both of them. To the left of the sharks is some ongoing knitting, in the same magenta yarn.

Walter and Walternate, helping me wind yarn 🧶.
Ikea sharks are endlessly helpful.

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That's a good idea, I will try that, thanks!