The Art of Racing In The Rain

September's book is The Art of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein

If you are in the Tri-Cities (Washington) area September 22, Mr. Stein will be at the Richland Public Library for a presentation at 7 pm.  More information can be found here.


This synopsis was taken from the author's web page found here.  There is a lot of info on this site, including a video, excerpts from the book, and even some of Mr. Stein's favorite recipes!

Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast. Using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate all of life's ordeals.

On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through: the sacrifices Denny has made to succeed professionally; the unexpected loss of Eve, Denny's wife; the three-year battle over their daughter, Zoë, whose maternal grandparents pulled every string to gain custody. In the end, despite what he sees as his own limitations, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family, holding in his heart the dream that Denny will become a racing champion with Zoë at his side.

A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life...as only a dog could tell it.

September's Swatches

September is the first month in our study of cables.  In my opinion, cables provide the biggest "bang for your buck" in that they are relatively easy to do and make such a visual impact.  I really hope you like cables as much as I do!

SPECIAL MATERIALS:  Cables require one more piece of equipment: a cable needle.  Here are some examples of needles:

 

picture credit

As you can see, there are many different types of cable needles.  You can even use a small crochet hook or a double pointed needle.  How do you choose?  It really comes down to personal preference and what you are most comfortable with.  I personally like the straight needles (the second picture), but for a first timer I would recommend something like the purple needle in the first picture.  The grove gives you a place for your stitches to ''hang out'' so they won't slip off the needles.  Most cable needles are sold in packs, usually with a few different kinds of needles, so you can try them out and decide what you like best.

TECHNIQUE:
Cables are relatively easy in concept, although they can feel a bit clumsy at first.  There are two basic ways to twist your stitches.  One way (cabling to the back) crosses the stitches to the right.  The second way (cabling to the front)  crosses your stitches to the left.

Cable to the Front:
This method is usually written like this: C#F (example C6F).  This means that you will be cabling across the next 6 stitches.  Most well written patterns will explain how to divide your stitches for the cable cross, but this is the most common notation.

First, you divide the number of stitches in half (3), then slip these first 3 to your cable needle and hold the slipped stitches to the front of your work.  

 Knit the next 3 stitches on your left-hand needle, then knit the 3 stitches from the cable needle. 

Notice how the stitches lean to the left?  You've just cabled to the front!

Cabling to the Back:
Usually written as: C#B (example: C6B).  This means you will be cabling across the next 6 stitches, twisting them to the back of the work.

 First divide the number of stitches in half (3), then slip these first 3 to your cable needle and hold the slipped stitches to the back of your work.

 Knit the next 3 stitches on your left-hand needle, then knit the 3 stitches from the cable needle

Notice how your stitches lean to the right?  You've just cabled to the back!

Beginner:  Big Twist

C9F: slip the next 4 stitches onto cable needle and hold to front of work.  Knit the next 5 stitches on left hand needle, then knit the 4 stitches from the cable needle.

Cast on 45 sts
Border Rows 1-5: K1, P1 across

Pattern Rows:
Row 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 15, 17: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) P13, K9, P13 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 2 and all even rows: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K13, P9, K13 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 9: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) P13, C9F (see above), P13 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 18: Repeat Row 2

Repeat pattern rows 1-18 until square is desired size (approx 9 inches from cast on edge).
Repeat border rows 1-5.
Bind off all stitches.

Easy:  Alternating Twists

C6F: Slip the next 3 stitches onto the cable needle, holding the needle to the front of work.  Knit the next 3 stitches, then knit the 3 stitches from the cable needle. 

C6B:  Slip the next 3 stitches onto the cable needle, holding them behind your work.  Knit the next 3 stitches, then knit the 3 stitches from the cable needle.

Cast on 44
Border:
Rows 1, 3, 5: K1, P1 across
Rows 2, 4: P1, K1 across

Pattern Rows:
Row 1: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) knit to last 5 sts (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 2: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) purl to last 5 sts (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 3: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) knit to last 5 sts (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 4: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) purl to last 5 sts (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 5: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) knit to last 5 sts (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)


Row 6: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K5, P6, K12, P6, K5 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 7: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) knit to last 5 sts (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 8: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K5, P6, K12, P6, K5 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 9: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K5, C6F, K12, C6F, K5 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 10: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K5, P6, K12, P6, K5 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Row 11- 15: Repeat Rows 1-5

Row 16: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K14, P6, K14 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 17: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) knit to last 5 sts (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 18: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K14, P6, K14 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 19: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K14, C6B, K14 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 20: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K14, P6, K14 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Repeat these 20 rows ending with either row 4, 5, 14, or 15.
Repeat border rows 1-5
Bind off all stitches.

INTERMEDIATE:  Braid

C8B:  Slip 4 stitches to cable needle and hold to the back of work.  Knit the next 4 sts from the left hand needle then knit the 4 sts from cable needle.

C8F:  Slip 4 stitches to cable needle and hold to the front of work.  Knit the next 4 sts from the left hand needle then knit the 4 sts from cable needle. 

Cast on 44 stitches

Border:
Rows 1, 3, 5: K1, P1 across
Rows 2, 4: P1, K1 across

Pattern Rows:
Rows 1: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) P11, K12, P11  (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 2: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K11, P12, K11  (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 3: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) P11, K4, C8B, P11 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 4: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K11, P12, K11 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 5: Repeat Row 1
Row 6: Repeat Row 2
Row 7: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) P11, C8F, K4, P11 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)
Row 8: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K11, P12, K11 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Repeat these 8 rows until swatch is desired size (approx 9 inches from cast on edge).
Repeat Border rows 1-5.
Bind off all stitches.

September Delay

Hello Knitters!

We are taking a break for the Labor Day Weekend.

Check in after the long weekend for the new patterns.

Enjoy your holiday, and happy knitting!

A little Clarification

I've gotten a few questions about the Mitered Square pattern regarding the stitch count, so I thought I would do a little update just to clear things up.

The pattern reads as such:

Row 1: Knit 34, ssk, place marker, k2tog, k34
Row 2: Purl all stitches
Row 3: Knit to two stitches before marker, ssk, slip marker, k2tog, k to end of row
Row 4: Knit all stitches

Please note that Row 1 says to k34 sts on each side of the marker and decrease.  Obviously you won't be able to do this every time you knit a row 1 since you'll be decreasing  on each odd row.  To clear up the instructions, you will be decreasing as the pattern has been established in row 3 on every odd row.  Look at it like this:  Row 3, Row 2, Row 3, Row 4.  Hope this clears a bit of confusion up.

Hope you are enjoying this month's swatches! Happy Knitting!

August's Book Pick

This month's book is The Day the World Came to Town by Jim deFede

The story is about a small town in Newfoundland Canada that is overwhelmed with air travelers that gets re-routed after the attacks of September 11th.  Here's a review found on amazon.com:

The events of September 11 have seemingly been covered, analyzed, and discussed from every angle imaginable. So the subject matter alone of Jim DeFede's The Day the World Came to Town makes it noteworthy. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, 38 commercial airliners carrying over 6,000 passengers were forced, as a precautionary measure, to land in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada. Due to the ongoing closure of U.S. airspace, the passengers spent four days in this isolated town of 10,000 before being allowed to continue on their way. In that time, Gander's residents rallied together to extend a kind of hospitality that seems too expansive for the word hospitality. Townspeople not only opened schools and legion halls for use as emergency shelters, they invited the passengers into their homes for showers, meals, and warm beds while local businesses simply gave toiletries and clothing to passengers stuck without luggage. Despite the grim consequences that led to the situation, DeFede finds humor: two flight attendants are offered a car for sightseeing by a local woman who happened to be driving by; the stranded chairman of Hugo Boss finds himself shopping for men's underwear at the local Wal-Mart. But the real message of the book is how, even in times of great turmoil and conflict, people can and must look to one another for comfort, help, and hope. --John Moe

August's Squares

August is another technique month!  We will be approaching our swatches this month from a different point of view.  Instead of knitting the swatch from the bottom to the top, we will be knitting our swatches side to side!  The first of the techniques is knitting on the bias.  This means that we will start at one corner and finish at the opposite corner using a series strategically placed increases and decreases.  The second swatch looks much the same, but we will be casting on stitches for two sides and decreasing to a point.  This is called a mitered square.  Both techniques are seem like they might be complicated, but in reality are quite simple.  Because of the nature of these squares, we will only have two patterns for August, but give them both a try and learn a really cool technique!

KEY

yo: yarn over- A single increase.  Move the yarn to the front of the work, the same action as if you were to purl, then wrap the yarn over the top of the needle and resume your knitting.  This creates a hole or an eyelet in the fabric.  Also known as a yarn forward.

kfb: knit in front and back- a single increase. Knit into the front loop of the stitch, then without dropping the stitch off the needle knit into the back loop of the same stitch.  This is a single increase. 

k2tog: knit 2 stitches together- a decrease.  Insert the needle into the next two stitches as if to knit, and knit these stitches together.

Easy: Bias Square

Notice the knitted rows grow diagonally across the square.

 

Cast on 3 sts
Row 1: K1, kfb, K1 (4sts)
Row 2: K1, kfb, K2 (5sts)
Row 3: K1, kfb, K3 (6 sts)

Row 4: K3, yo knit to end of row
Repeat row 4 until square is approx 10 inches along one edge or half the size of your desired finished product (Check out "A Good Way To Measure" at the end of this pattern- I increased until there were about 45 stitches on my needles).  

Row 5: K2, k2tog, yo, k2tog, knit to end of the row

Repeat row 5 until you get down to 7 sts

Row 6: K1, k2tog, K4 (6 sts)

Row 7: K1, k2tog, K3 (5 sts)

Row 8: K1, k2tog, K2 (4 sts)

Row 9: K1, k2tog, K1 (3 sts)

Bind off all stitches.

Close-up of the Bias Swatch

"A Good Way To Measure" this square is to thread your knitting onto a piece of scrap yarn (be careful not to drop any stitches).  Spread the stitches out evenly, don't let them bunch up or get too far apart, you want to mimic the natural shape of the knitting.  Lay your work on top of another one of your squares.  Pick one that is pretty average in size (not too big or too small).  This square should be close to half the size (slightly smaller is ok as there will be some stretching with blocking) of your finished square.

Easy:  Mitered Square
For this square you will need one stitch marker.

Cast on 72 stitches
Row 1: Knit 34, ssk, place marker, k2tog, k34
Row 2: Purl all stitches
Row 3: Knit to two stitches before marker, ssk, slip marker, k2tog, k to end of row
Row 4: Knit all stitches
Repeat these four rows until 4 stitches remain.

Row 5: ssk, remove marker, k2tog
Row 6: k2tog, cut yarn and thread through the stitch remaining.

Close-up of the Mitered Swatch

I hope you enjoy these two unique squares- they are one of my favorite techniques.  Next month we will start our study of cables- which is sure to be fun!  As always, if you have any questions please email me at yearofswatches@gmail.com. 

 Happy knitting!

July Correction

There is a correction that needs to be made to the Horseshoe Lace Pattern on Row #8.  It should read:

Row 8: (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1) K7, P1, K3, yo, sl1 k2tog psso, yo, K3, P1, K7 (K1, P1, K1, P1, K1)

Hope this clears up any confusion :)

Happy Knitting!