Insane KnittingOrenburg Shawl
This shawl was worked on size .5 mm (8/0) needles with 140/2 cotton thread. It measures 5.5 x 1.75 inches and weighs 607 milligrams. It is this year's (2002) donation to Leigh Witchel's annual benefit auction for his Dance As Ever ballet company."Wings of the Swan" Bag
This bag was worked on size .5 mm. needles from my hand-spun 2-ply silk, at a gauge of roughly 22 stitches/inch. It was donated in 2000 to Leigh Witchel's auction.Tiny Blue Sock
Purely masochistic knitting.
The blue sock is worn by Knitlisters to conventions like Stitches so that they can identify each other and run up and squeal, "Ooohhh, are YOU on the Knitlist, too?," and to mystify the opposition (members of the Crochet Partners List?). I will probably never attend Stitches but I knitted a blue sock last summer, just in case I ever win the lottery. It is knitted in blue polyester sewing thread on homemade piano-wire
needles. As you can see, the sock measures about an inch across. One of
the needles is shown in the scan. The gauge is around 30 stitches/inch
but this is a guess. I am not masochistic enough to knit a four-inch gauge
swatch to check but instead extrapolated from a quarter-inch measurement.
The pattern? Well, first you cast on 32 stitches and then divide them on
four needles ...... Let me know if you get that far and I'll give you the
rest. Seriously, if you ever decide to take up knitting miniatures, the
best advice I can give you is not to skimp the needle preparation. Sharp
edges and burrs will cut and snarl your thread, slow you down, and make
your blood pressure rise. Joan's Tiny Sock
Son of Tiny Sock.
I knitted this sock for Joan Hamer, editor of Pine Meadow Knitting News, a wonderful newsletter full of patterns and dedicated to knitting for charities. She sent me a "spinner's care package" of fibers and I asked what I could send her in return. She requested a tiny sock. Normally I would have hesitated (okay, I'll be honest--I DID hesitate) to knit something so fiddly for someone else, but how could I refuse the Sock Goddess of the Knitlist? Think of her next time you buy a ball of Wool-Ease. Her sock pattern might be inside. After the experience of knitting the first sock, I swore off knitting
with polyester thread and turned to cotton as it is much easier to handle
and doesn't pill and split as easily. This sock is knitted with size 70
cotton and is, consequently, coarser in gauge--about 28 stitches to the
inch. My First *Pair* of Socks
These were knitted on .5 mm (8/0) needles with size 80 tatting thread. They measure about 3/4" in length and weigh 568 milligrams. My husband was wondering why one weighed 8% less than the other and I had to confess that one had fewer rounds. I pulled it into shape to match the other, while blocking. I hope the recipient doesn't notice! (Mar. 2002)
Miniature Peacock Facecloth
There are several versions of the Peacock Facecloth (actually a doily). This one is Medrith Glover's variation. I knitted it on piano-wire needles with size 70 DMC tatting cotton. It measures 3.5 inches across.Masochistic Doily
This doily is probably my most ambitious so far, as I've never knitted
with thread this fine before. It measures only 3.25 inches across, despite
the fact that the pattern is 51 rounds. I knitted it on .3 mm piano wire
needles with 140/2 Honiton lace thread (cotton), which is about one third
as thick as regular sewing thread. This doily weighs 234 mg. (.0082539
oz. for the metrically challenged!).
Crocheting the edging was an unforgettable experience. Ever try picking up clusters of stitches from .3 mm needles with a .6 mm hook? After the first few attempts, I developed a hybrid method: the chains were done with the hook but the gathering together of the clusters of stitches was done with the needles, passing slipped stitches over. The pattern is from Gloria Penning's "Patterns for the Art of Lace Knitting.
The Complete Works of Rachel Schnelling," part one, doily #6.
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