Oolong knits

Just yesterday I had a big argument with my love on ethics. And it wasn't even the first time. A lapsed catholic, brought up in a very religious family, my dear one is, as should be expected, strongly on the side of Kant, and his categoric imperative. I, on the other hand, was brought up in a catholic country, but was never one, neither was the education I received from my parents. In addition, my parents had very different, and often incompatible moral perspectives, which compelled me, from an early age, to develop my own set of beliefs. Not necessarily the ones that were offered to me by the catholic tradition of those around me, but not necessarily against it either. In doing so, in attempting my lonely way into ethics, albeit strongly influenced by the ideas I was familiar with, I become necessarily a consequentialist, with a good mix of judeo-christian, and Kantian humanistic tradition. Strangely enough, starting from very different directions, my beloved and I arrived exac...

I know how to knit in a few ways and I use all of them regularly. I can do the knit stitch using German and Portuguese styles, but also Portuguese Reverse. What I mean by the latter is knitting Portuguese style from right to left. I can also purl Portuguese, Norwegian and German style, but I avoid the latter like the plague, because I really never managed to get the hang of it. Why have I bothered to learn all of these different techniques, you ask? Well... even though I must confess I love learning new stuff, that is not the main reason. There are two better reasons to learn to knit in more than one style, and these are speed and even tension . As for speed I decided to do a few test and check. Here are my personal results (per 100st): 4:20    purl pt (pt=Portuguese) 6:10    knit pt 6:00    knit reverse pt 5:50    knit de (de=Deutch=German) I haven't compared the speeds of other purl techniques because they're obviously much,...

Lately I've been obsessed with shapes. No surprise there, I'm kind of a math geek, and shapes are the way that math and knitting get together and have a good time. The most trivial non-trivial topology is the Möbius strip and we've already learned how to knit those . You can take the connection between knitting and mathematics much, much further , but, if you're only beginning, like me, there is a lot to be said about trivial shapes. The easiest way to knit a triangle is to knit a half square or rectangle. The idea is to start with a certain number of stitches and as you go along keep on doing a regular amount of decreases. Or, if you prefer, you can do it the other way: start with only a few stitches and as you go along keep increasing the stitches regularly. Here is an example to make it more definite: Cast-on 3 stitches. Row 1: knit one, increase one (make one, or any other increase you prefer) and knit to the end of the row Keep repeating row 1 until you...

I've done a post on circles before , or was it two ? I really like understanding how things are done. So I'm fascinated by the problem of how to get a particular shape and why a certain sequence of increases and decreases accomplishes it. Recently I've spent (or shall I say wasted?) quite some time trying to determine how to get a crescent shape all on my own. Eventually I was clever enough (I'm trying to think positive, but the truth is I was stupid enough to spend many hours thinking and knitting before I realized that...) to realize that I needed to check out some patterns done by others. It is faster and less error prone. So I went to Ravelry and used their great search engine to look at other people's work. Here are some of my results. There are many ways of getting a crescent shape, as you can imagine. The simplest one is: Cast-on 7 stitches Row 1: k3, I1, I1, I1, k3 (10 stitches) Even rows: k3, I1, purl every stitch except the last few ones, I1, k3 ...

If you've read my previous post on Portuguese-style knitting , you'll know I knit Portuguese because I find it easier and faster than either German or English-style knitting. You don't need to speak Portuguese to knit Portuguese-style, on the contrary, this style is used in many other countries where people do not speak Portuguese, like Egipt, Greece, and certain Eastern European  and South American countries. It is almost sure that it did not originate in Portugal either, so the its name is a misnomer (just like German and English-style knitting, which also most surely did not originate in these countries and most definitely are not exclusive to them). Still, I personally find it useful to keep a dictionary of Portuguese-English knitting words and this is the reason for this post. 1 stitch=1 malha row=carreira purl stitch=ponto liga, tricot knit stitch=ponto meia stockinette stitch=ponto meia, malha, jersey (this is confusing but in Portugal the knit and stockin...

Have you ever had your yarn ball rolling over to the other side of the room while you're happily sat on your favourite chair knitting away? Oh! and the mess you find after you've got up and picked it up. All covered in dust and lint picked on its travel through the floor (unless you vacuum-clean often, of course). Many knitters have thought of solutions to travelling balls. Here are a few I know of: The cheapest, easiest and most versatile method: use one of those plastic bags that have a seal. Close the seal half-way leaving a hole that allows the thread to go through easily but keeps the ball inside. No rolling and no dirt either. Very nice if you take your knitting with you. Also, if you're doing colour work, you don't need one bag for each ball. Keep balls in one bag, and seal the middle area, leaving two holes on each side (you can also make it work with more holes). This will keep the yarn disentangled. You can also poke some holes in the plastic bag if it...

The short version of this post: The difference between Addi and KnitPro is relatively small, so you'll be happy with which ever you buy. I personally prefer Addi Lace. KnitPro Synfonie and Nova being second best, in my opinion. Do not buy KnitPro cubics. Basic Addi have rounded tips that make knitting (knit and purl) easier and faster, but knitting lace (making increases and decreases) a lot more difficult. So I do not recommend them (even though I use these needle the most often), because sharper tips are simply more versatile. Metal vs. wood or bamboo: metal has less friction, thus knitting with this is faster and more pleasant. But, for the same reason, stitches are more prone to drop off metal needles. I'd recommend wood for beginners, metal for more experienced knitters. Metal needles are less prone to breaking. Long story told short, I own both a set of Knit Pro interchangeable Symfonie wood needles and the Basic set of Addi interchangeable metal needles. I also...