Quick Fiction: Knitting patterns
I hate [[grafting]]. I hate it enough that, as I am approaching the end of a piece and the next step in the project is grafting it onto the previous piece, I start slowing down.
I can say this at the moment, halfway through the 11th wedge of the current dishcloth, because I do not plan on grafting this together. At least, not right now. I am going to finish this one, cast it off, leave a long enough tail to finish it, then break the yarn. And immediately cast on another 19 stitches and begin again. I am not slowing down yet.
The current project is to blast out a half-dozen of these cute cotton round dishcloths, then build up a stock of related kitchen project – matching hand towels for the stove, maybe a couple cotton tea-cosy, if I have enough time I will design a couple of other pieces to do quickly before the summer craft fair. I have 10 cones of kitchen cotton yarn. I am knitting it up as loose and as fast as I can – which isn’t very fast – so I will have enough to sell at the craft fair at which Jaime has a paid for a table.
In the meantime, my lace is put into the bag awaiting a less-rushed moment. If I get stuck holding down the fort at the craft fair I will work on it there. People walking through without much interest in the actual knitted goods are far more likely to stop and watch as I am working out some complex lace magic than they are to just look at kitchen dishcloths.
The lace is a coverlet for a quilt I’ll probably never have time to make. The yarn is a lovely fine merino, somewhere between olive and sea foam with just a hint of blue. It’s a little dull on the needles, not as springy and lively as I’d prefer, but the over-spin means it will stay looking good for years if I take care of it. In the back of my head I am thinking an off-white cover , probably my usual window-pane pattern with the seams quilted through a wool batting so it’s warm and a bit too heavy for most people. The lace will be hand sewn to the cover, the lighter background showing up the pattern very obviously.
I chose a fairly simple pattern, from the Walker library, one of the basic lace meshes. It’s so wide – 320 stitches – that I have it on two big circular needles. And I have not even added the border yet! That is something I have yet to decide on, actually, probably something a lot simpler than what I used for the pillows I did for my mother before she died.
And here I have talked so long I’ve finished the 12th wedge, broken the yarn, and am casting on the next one. What matches up with a round dishcloth?
