The Sky Is Red

Scientists got it wrong: space isn't green, it's dark red. This picture of a comet is proof!

Yes, at least in my universe.

Here are some closer looks.

Now the comet needs a frame.

I knitted one part of this and then realized I'd started from the wrong side, so the seam part of garter stitch was showing. I couldn't talk myself in believing it was a design feature, so I had to pull it out and start over. What a gumption trap.

So I took time out for some pure play with the Colinette yarns, and made some wild scarves on the largest needles I have, which are 13s.

(Tropical turtles get cold in air conditioning.)

One is a long zigzag.

One is more lacy.

Yes, they succeeded in restoring my gumption.

Heart on a Pillow

Do you know how some things just speak to you? This heart spoke to me.

It was sent to me in a trade for a shawl from Bo2008 on Ravelry. She admired my All the Squares shawl, and I admired her whimsical jewelry, and a match was made!

I think I like the idea of a heart getting a rest.

Speaking of whimsical, how is this for a new idea for knitting? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx3NUlmjLw0

Shiny

The comet part is all but done.

The colors wandered in directions I hadn't expected. The actual piece looks a little more integrated color-wise in real life than in the picture here; some of the below are more true to life.

And here are some closer looks.

And then along the chevron part.

Okay, not the colors of comets. At least not in visible light....so maybe this is a comet in infra-thread?

Like A Comet

I was checking out one of my favorite online magazines, when I was captured by a window design from Frank Lloyd Wright. It's on page 119 in the Summer 2010 online version of Hyperseeing Magazine.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a stand-alone version to show you, for those that don't want to look at the rather large magazine. This was as close as I could find on the web.

My first thought at seeing the design was of comets, with the diamond as the head of the comet. And, with all those diagonals, it looked very knitable.

So that's what I started, using the same colorway as the last shawl.

Here is the beginning.

It was begun as a regular modular diamond, by casting on 85 stitches in orange, and then double decreasing in the middle on each right-side row.

I cast on with bright orange and then shaded into yellow, with a shiny gold at the tip, which is to the left in these photos. (The pucker is from a very thick yarn, but I expect it to flatten out at the final blocking.)

I don't know if you can see how it becomes shiny or not, but it does, to mimic how the brightest part of a comet is the leading edge.

Then I picked up along the cast-on side, and started knitting the tail side, towards the right on these photos. I knit two together at the beginning and end of each right-side row, and increased on either side of the middle.

I'm throwing in a few stockinette rows just to mix it up, and make the comet head more distinctive, although I'm not bothering to adjust the increase/decrease rate from garter to stockinette.

Knitting is forgiving.

Ninth 2010 One Done

Here it is, Organic Triangles:

I like it, but not as crazy-looking as I'd hoped, based on the initial inspiration.

Here are some closer views of each corner.

It does look a little melty, at least.

And I'm already off on the next one, based on a Frank Lloyd Wright window, but a quick google image search didn't show the right one, so I'm going to have to find it before the next post.

Log cabin triangles, good-by for now, and thanks for the mental entertainment!

Nearing the End

All done but the finishing. Here it is before casting off.

I decided to cast off very plainly along the top. Then I had to decide what to do for an edging, to give the piece a more finished look. Since this shawl is already all garter, I couldn't use my usual garter edging, and a lacy edging would have looked incongruous.

I finally went with what my husband is calling dreadlocks.

I am casting off with a crochet hook, casting off 5, then making a chain 15 stitches long, then single crocheting back down, cast off 5, repeat.

Here is a close-up. It surprised me that the 15-stitch chain gets shorter when I single crochet back down, by about a quarter to a third of the entire length, although it probably won't surprise any crocheters.

Now, be prepared to be jealous. Here is what I received in the mail.

That's a box of.....Colinette! Squee!

Here it is all stretched out, like I usually see in yarn stores.

I got the yarn from this Ebay seller (no connection except as a happy customer), at a wonderful price.

Yes, there is some serious winding in my future, but I think I'll wait a bit, just to enjoy how lovely it looks.

Tribrachidium?

Tribrachidium means three-armed, and it's the name of a type of Precambrian animal that had a very unusual three-fold symmetry which radiated from the middle.

My three-fold symmetry grows on the outside, which makes it more like a tree, to my mind. Animals grow from the middle out, trees grow on the outside only.

That's a yardstick, to show the side. A yardstick has 3 feet -- how tribrachish of it!

Here are some closer looks at each corner.

I like the herringbone look of the bottom.

And it is July 3, so does that make it Tridiem?

Carpe knitting!