Projects
Casting on Asterisk
Dear Ann,
Knitting brings calm, generally. Most of the time, I sit down, start knitting, and feel the zen kick in.
Michèle Rose Orne’s Asterisk Cowl has reminded me, though, that sometimes you have to bring the calm to the knitting. When I cast on Asterisk yesterday, it had been a while since I’d done any two-handed colorwork. (Can it really have been as long ago as last year’s Bang Out a Sweater? I think so!)
You can’t be a jangled, distracted mess at the start of a Fair Isle project. You can’t stop in the middle of a row to answer an email, or drag the project around the house and keep having to set everything up again—it just makes you mad at the project before you even properly start it. The two strands of yarn start tangling and getting wound around the circular needle, for an effect that is the opposite of soothing. You have to be in the mood to focus, at least at the set-up stage.
But once I got in the groove on this simple asterisk motif—by the second row of the chart, really—it was smooth sailing. I remembered why simple, two-color Fair Isle is so satisfying: there is a rhythm, repetition, and symmetry. Things make sense. This pattern is centered on the line of knit stitches down the center of the asterisks; everything arranges itself nicely in relation to that pole. Very quickly, you know where you are, and you can let go of the chart. Ahhhhh. (Does anybody else feel like this kind of Fair Isle has the same effect on the brain as playing a phone game like 2048? You get in the zone, and time stands still. But with 2048 you do not get a cowl at the end of the game.)
Note: the single stitch in the center of the asterisk shape is supposed to be in the third color. The pattern gives the option to put those stitches in later via duplicate stitch, which is very sensible. I’m going to copy Nell Ziroli‘s idea, though, and put French knots in that spot instead. It adds an interesting bit of texture, and if Nell did it, I think it’s worth doing.
I’m loving this Swans Island All American yarn. It’s 100% American Rambouillet! (What’s a Rambouillet? It’s a French breed descended directly from a flock of merino sheep that the King of Spain sent to Louis XVI in 1786. Rambouillet have “a body size and conformation seldom seen outside the mutton breeds”—they look like the sheep in old landscape paintings.) The yarn is light and springy; from a few feet away, the colors are lovely, but up close they are exquisite. I’m knitting it on 3s.
It’s going fast. Not at Wendy Johnson speed, but quite quickly considering I don’t do Fair Isle very often. I’m following instructions and keeping the pattern color in my left hand and the background in my right, and I’m catching the long floats on the back of the work as shown in this video.
(Confession: I steamed it a little because it was too curly to photograph. That’s show business!)
While I’m knitting the cowl, I’m thinking about whether I will do the hat using the Asterisk chart—matchy!—or the Dot chart. (I’m also wondering whether I have a body size and conformation seldom seen outside the mutton breeds.)
Love,
Kay
Conformation, not confirmation.
I should have sic’d that!
Thank you ladies! As a dog person, that was going to drive me nuts. 🙂
“Wendy Johnson speed” — LOL!!! And I am a big fan of steaming as I go!
I really only did it for the photo, but honestly it is so reassuring to see that my floats are good. They look so loopy when they are on the needles, without the steaming. Trust and verify!
Kay, your report of the *** satisfaction in knitting this cowl is palpable. I could actually feel how satisfying a knit this is while reading your letter. I like the idea of the French knots, and appreciated your clever comment “That’s show business!”, which made me laugh out loud. Glad I got the Field Guide #2; there’s a fair isle in my future! ****♡
I recommend starting with the Asterisk chart, either as hat or cowl. It’s so predictable. I want to try it in much bigger wool as a baby blanket. So cheery!
Wow! Great idea!
French Knots! Love them, and they’re a great way to use the little bits of leftovers in glorious colors…
Eek! French knots! I used to do a lot of counted cross stitch, and I was very good at it – I loved teeny tiny stitches just like I love teeny tiny needles now — but french knots were the bane of my cross stitch existence. I’m not sure I want to introduce them into my knitting.
Kay – (from one who hasn’t done Fair Isle before) – what about using yarn bowls? Help or hurt?
I think the main thing is to not cross the yarns when you put the project down for a minute. If you are using the two-handed technique, the yarns stay separate. A bowl would be handy to keep them from rolling across the floor, but not really necessary.
Bonus to this lovely hat: the Kurt Vonnegut reference. Works for me!
Although I have made a Fair Isle before I have not used the two handed technique. The video was very clear and helpful. Thank you!
I like the wrong side of this, too. (I’m weird that way. ;-))
Kay, my dear I have learned a great ,any things from your posts, knitting tricks, great sites to visit. But today you created a monster because until today I was blissfully unaware of 2048. And now, even though I still don’t really understand it, I think it may be time to sell my stash because I can not stop playing this thing! I have long been quite adept at procrastination but this…. it’s worse than when I had to take Tetris off my computer during law school. Also on this first day of addiction, I’ve lost my voice from a cold so I can’t even pack up for Knitty City to escape. I fear what will happen once I really understand how this game works.
Marilyn, I am SO SO SO SO sorry! 2048 is the bane of my existence. My kids tell me, “Mom nobody is playing 2048 anymore except you.” But it does shut everything out and sometimes you need to do that!
So true that “sometimes you have to bring the calm to the knitting” and that describes the situation I’ve been struggling with lately. Maybe now that there are words for it, I’ll be able to fix it! Thanks!
And whoa, 2048…did you know there’s a cupcake version? A puppy version? A Doctor Who version? Well, you do now. You’re welcome!