Knitting Daily has a preview of the Fall 2008 Knitscene up on their site. I like opulent raglan, ahlstrom bodice, lady's duet, and burnished tunic. The inari skirt, kimono socks, and brocade leaves pullover were also interesting. Check them out.
Elann has a sneak peek of some new yarns going on sale July 1st 9:00 PST. I especially like the Pure Bamboo and the Katia Scotch (a silk and wool tweed w/gauge = 3.75 spi). I should mention for my fellow NC knitters that the Pure Bamboo has a Carolina Blue colorway -- no really, it's actually called Carolina Blue! I bet the Duke and NC State fans won't be happy about that ;-) hee!
I learned something new: the purl long tail cast on. I happened to find a link to this when reading a Harry Potter bookscarf pattern. I hadn't really thought about how to cast on for double knitting when using the long tail method. Doing it the purl way isn't hard at all. I decided to use it for the tail of the mermaid costume I'm making for Marie since it begins as a 2x7 rib. What's cool is the purl CO stitches have purl bumps, while the knit CO stitches look like the regular long tail CO. Neat, huh? I like it. After learning how to do this, I went to YouTube to see a video on how to do a double knitting CO in two colors and found a couple more interesting CO techniques:
1. Ysolda Teague shows how to do a long tail tubular cast on for 1x1 and 2x2 ribbing. It's two-stranded.
2. I also found a video that's similar since it's two-stranded, except it doesn't twist the alternate stitches.
3. Here's a video of a one-stranded tubular cast on that doesn't twist alternate stitches. The twisted way can be seen on knittinghelp.com.
4. I love the Cat Bordhi demonstrates Judy Becker's Magic Cast-On video -- gotta love the jungle vine, tick-tock clock, and udder references used to teach this CO for toe-up socks! Cat's video demonstrates how to CO without twisting alternate stitches.
5. One more video I found is Lucy Neatby demonstrating a much clearer way to do the German Twisted CO. I could search for and watch knitting technique videos on YouTube for hours if given the chance!
Oh yeah, I totally forgot to mention... Have you checked out Knit Picks lately? The new colors and yarns of the fall line are up! Handpainted sock yarn! Woohoo! ...and I don't even knit socks regularly. Check out all the super-nice colorways. I see socks in my future which will include the new handpainted Imagination and kettle-dyed sock yarns. Of course, I also love all the new colors of the staple yarns. It makes my mind race, thinking of all the things I want to knit this fall and winter.
No vacation pics yet. Soon!
Edited for clarification and correction on 12/30/08.
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