Continental practice

Click here to read about an Irish traveler who thinks US airline security is lax because they allow us to knit on flights. Apparently, she (I will assume it was a she, but the letter doesn’t specify) had a rather tense trip home due to the scary knitting action in the next seat. She actually counted down the minutes to landing . . . she was that stressed out.

Actually, doing some knitting herself might have calmed this traveler down. I am a former nervous flier myself (who will be flying again this week), and knitting helps keep a person in the moment instead of freaking out about what could happen. In her defense, the traveler perhaps was not aware that knitting needles are allowed on US flights and was wondering what else the security agents had missed in people’s bags.

Knitters can have their moments. We might get frustrated with our project or trapped with a seatmate who is a compulsive talker and divulging all his life stories, although OMG it went on for three hours I’m sure none of us have had that experience. 

But somehow I can’t imagine knitters attacking people. Knitters are generally a placid, congenial bunch. Even more, we would not want to cause any damage to our needles. Without needles, we can’t knit.

On to actual knitting.

I began this continental-knitting scarf in Barbara Walker’s moss stitch border diamond pattern but then decided I wanted a scarf with more dimension—not so flat—so I ripped it out. Instead, I’m using the imitation lattice pattern from Leisure Arts Sampler Afghans booklet (that’s the Spanish version; I can’t find the English version on the Leisure Arts website). I think this is the same pattern, but I’m not sure.

Anyhow, I needed a simple knit-and-purl pattern so I could improve my proficiency in continental knitting. This is how it’s knitting up.

  front

  back

Yarn: Dream in Color Classy; color: Cool Fire. The color is true in the first photo.

Here is the chart I made in Excel from the written pattern. I often do this, being more visually oriented.

The border is seed stitch. After I started the scarf, I almost frogged it because I wasn’t sure I liked the back. But the three-dimensional aspect of this pattern is pleasant, and I do like the back after all. So it stays.

How to hold the yarn for continental knitting continues to be a mystery to me. I am trying different ways and having quite a lot of trouble finding a method that keeps the yarn flowing smoothly. The yarn keeps getting hung up on itself between my ring and baby finger, working its way to the outside of my hand, and getting into a loose knot that stops the yarn. I would really like to figure this out.

I also think I should have chosen a non-superwash wool because this Dream in Color yarn is very stretchy, and it’s difficult to feel when I’ve got a decent gauge. Still, I’m happy with my progress so far.

Progress on the Tuscany shawl continues. I’m at 250 stitches per row now, increasing two stitches with every row.  >gasp<