[knitting] Totally Biased #12

The recently finished Totally Biased cowl:

I checked my Ravelry projects and this is the 12th time I've knit this pattern.

I used one ball of Knitting Fever Painted Desert. I'm not exactly sure but this is probably the Salt Fish colorway. I cast on 70 stitches provisionally and knit with US 4 needles. 

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I made a lot of progress on my D'Artagnan socks at the Green Mountain Knitting Guild meeting in Saturday. The meeting was good- it was nice to meet more members and discuss/give input on programming for the coming year.

It was a good cooking weekend, too. I made some Instant Pot yogurt, which I haven't done in quite a while. I strained the whey to make it extra thick and will use the whey for a bucket of no knead dough and other things. 

The chocolate chip cookie dough didn't get mixed until yesterday- it's resting in the fridge and I'll try baking a sheet tonight. 

I got a large lamb roast at the grocery store for $12. We had a nice roast dinner last night and I'll be using up leftovers the rest of the week. Lamb gyros and (probably) shepherd's pie.

And I knit up the cutest little rat toy for the cats on Sunday, for the lunar new year.

[knitting] Handspun Totally Biased

This is one of my last-minute projects that I entered into the fair last week. I pre-registered for an "item knit with handspun" but didn't have anything in mind, really. In just a couple days, I whipped up an infinity scarf with one of my favorite patterns: Totally Biased (free on Ravelry):

Looking at this project makes me think of the series Episodes with Matt Leblanc, which is what I was watching while I worked on it. (It's a great series- I really enjoyed all of it- it's on Netflix.)

I've done this pattern half a dozen times, it's knit on a bias with periodic garter rows. The garter rows help keep the finished fabric flat- I've knit it entirely in stockinette and the edges roll in.

I chose to do my garter rows at irregular intervals because it's too hard (for me) to remember to do them at the right time. When I realize I've forgotten to knit on the wrong side, I can't be bothered to tink back and just decide, "Whatever, I'll just do them when I remember."

The yarn is pretty dense and I only cast on 38 stitches. It's nice and squishy and I'll definitely be wearing it a lot this winter.

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After work yesterday, I stopped by Poverty Lane Orchard to do some apple picking and picked up some cider. I'm starting to get into the fall spirit.

Then I stopped by a farm close to my house to pick up a couple acorn squash, a delicata squash and some corn. I had a hankering for buttery roasted acorn squash filled with black rice. Next time I might be extra and dress up the black rice by mixing in some cooked shallots, dried cranberries, pecans... 

Was able to wrap up some spinning last night. I started 4 oz of wool by Into the Whirled to demonstrate the at fair. I finished the singles at the Green Mountain Knitting Guild retreat. Last night I plied them. All that's left is to wash/dry.

Last night was chilly enough that I received a frost warning to my phone. I threw and extra quilt onto the bed and wore handknit wool bedsocks for the first time of the season:

It also helps when all the kitties are snuggled in with me:

[knitting] Totally Biased Rainbow Cowl

I finished this a while ago but only got a chance to take pictures over the weekend.

The pattern is Totally Biased (rav link). This is at least my 9th time making this pattern and I love it. It's easily customized to different weights of yarn and widths. The only hard part is the grafting at the end but that can be meditative.

I used one skein of Knitting Fever Painted Desert in a marled rainbow colorway. 

It's a fingering-weight sock yarn. I provisionally cast on 70 stitches and placed my purl ridges randomly (trying to roughly line them up with the color changes).

The cowl was taken on my work trip to DC last week and worn around the Metro area.

[knitting] Totally Biased Nebula

Finished the Totally Biased cowl in striping sock yarn:

Yarn: Berroco Nebula, one ball (Purchased at Sin City Yarn shop in Las Vegas!)

Needles: US 4

Notes: Cast on 60 stitches

My kitchener join between the blue and brown yarn is spot on:

Blocked around a large cardboard box.

Love how this turned out. Perfect width (after blocking) and circumference. I should have this pattern in a pair of needles all the time. I don't even stress about the purl ridges if I forget to do it until I'm halfway down the row- I just remember to do it the next time- I like the irregularity of the purl ridges then (and I'm not wasting time tinking back).

I'm going to dig in the stash and pile up "Yarn for Totally Biased Cowls" so I always have some ready to go.

[knitting] Mitered Cowl

Working on a mitered cowl with my handspun:

[knitting] Disco Moss Cowl

Pattern: Totally Biased (rav link)

Yarn: 'Adele' by Stacy Charles Fine Yarn, 3.5 balls

Needles: US 8

Mods: Cast on 76 st. Knit until loop would be long enough to be worn doubled around the neck, then grafted both ends closed.

I've made this pattern so many times; I love it. It's a good yarn-eater and customizable. 

The color in the pictures is a little washed out. It's a bit darker in real  life with small rainbow sequins all over. Very nice and sparkly in artificial light. Will definitely get a lot of wear this winter. 

[knitting] Blue Biased

The last biased infinity scarf was knit during the trip home. I used the same yarn as the previous one (Regia Hand-dye Effect) but made this one completely in stockinette and a bit more narrow.

It definitely rolls at the edges when you wear it. I would recommend keeping periodic purl ridges to maintain the width of the cowl.

I knit it this way because the boucle biased cowl was made as plain stockinette and stays completely flat. Apparently this was just an added benefit to the texture of that yarn. This smoother sock yarn didn't work that same way. Still, I like it. It's long enough to wear doubled and matches one of my favorite winter hats.

[knitting] Rainbow Biased

For my trip out to Palm Springs, I had a bus ride down to Boston and two flights- i.e. a lot of knitting time. The bus and flights were completely full. I furiously knit this entire project in one day to keep my mind from fixating on things like (a) why won't the girls in front of me avidly talking about nothing SHUT UP, (b) why are neither guys giving me either armrest even though I'm in the middle seat, (c) should I offer the woman next to me who is sniffing every 4 - 15 seconds, THAT'S RIGHT I COUNTED, a kleenex, (d) STOP WHIPPING ME WITH YOUR HAIR EVERY TIME YOUR TURN YOUR HEAD, (e) WHY ARE YOU STICKING YOUR LEG INTO MY FOOT AREA, (f) AAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

So. Obviously I do fixate. I just don't like to be crammed into a can with a hundred strangers. I didn't have the two things with me which would have solved all my problems- earbuds and lorazepam. But I did have knitting. I made another Totally Biased with sock yarn- this is a perfect project for self-striping sock yarns with wide bands of color. I'd love to make another with Noro Silk Garden Sock. The yarn I used for this was one ball of Regia Hand-dye Effect.

This one was knit as 80 stitches on size US 8 needles. It can be wrapped around neck twice but it's a little tight. I haven't blocked it yet, which should make it longer. I worked a purl ridge every 8 rows.

[knitting] Totally Biased

My handmade Christmas gift for my sister:

Patten: Totally Biased (rav link)

I love my sequined Tiara-lly Biased so much, I wanted to make another. 

Yarn: DyakCraft (formerly Grafton Fibers) batts:

Handspun yarn:

I really like this mix of colors- brick red, autumn orange, teal. 

Here's my sister modeling the cowl:

And doubled-up:

Good pattern for handspun yarn. I think I'll need to made another. For me.

[knitting] Tiara-lly Biased

Finished a cowl:

Pattern: Totally Biased (rav link)

Yarn: Fame Trend Paljett by Marks & Kattens

Needles: US 8

The pattern is called "Totally Biased" because you create a biased shape- you increase one stitch at the start of the row and decrease one stitch at the end, to grow the fabric diagonally. This type of fabric doesn't roll at the edges, which is nice.

I was working on this project while waiting for my car to be serviced; when one of the guys came out to talk to me about work that my car needed, he saw me knitting something. As he approached, he joked, "Are you making me a sweater?" Once he got close and saw the project more closely, he blurted out the word "Tiara" for some reason. It was funny. I said, "I hope you like sparkly sweaters!" Anyway. Tiara. It felt so right, I call this cowl Tiara-lly Biased.

So I provisionally cast-on 80 stitches. Worked until nearly all the yarn was gone, then grafted the two ends closed. The grafted row is nearly invisible but you can see where it is- it's the one area between two purl ridges that is wider than all the others:

It's not noticeable when I'm wearing it.

Hey, you remember that feeling of utter frustration when you were a kid, when you'd lay in bed kicking the mattress with your heels and scream-crying to the point to hyperventilating? If you'd ever like to achieve that again, trying grafting closed 80 stitches with yarn strung with sequins. This project was so easy to knit but it was a nightmare to graft. 

Let's think about closing these 80 stitches. There's 80 at either end, so that's 160 stitches. And you're going through each one twice, with a needle threaded with yarn, so that's like working 320 stitches. 

Imagine you have 300 yards of rope and every 30 yards is a tire tied to the rope. That's 10 tires. Imagine pulling that entire length of rope through a manhole. By the way, the tires are only just smaller than the width of the manholes. Now pull all that rope through 320 manholes with every single tire getting stuck at every single manhole opening.

After I closed the first five stitches, I wanted to get up and kick a hole in the wall. I even thought, "I'll just wear it as a scarf. I don't need to close it." It took me HOURS to calmly and carefully and evenly graft this thing closed.

I'm so glad I persevered, I love this cowl. It's light, it's sparkly, it's just my taste. This is definitely a ME-ME-ME project; no way I'm giving it away. I honestly don't mind grafting- I plan on doing this pattern again. But I will NOT be doing it with beaded yarn or sequined yarn or yarn that has anything attached. Ever. Ever again.