Cross-posted to lotr_knits and (in shortened form) tengwar.

A while ago, I did one of those "comment to recieve art" memes in my personal LJ. I got about three responses, and here's what I came up with for the first of them:

( The Butterfly Effect )

I have done a little bit of design work recently:

( Treble clef )

( Original cabled castle )

( Butterfly )

( Dragons )

( Z! )

1. Finish Ed's sweater. ( Not done. )
2. Do some sort of original design work. Not done. Not even started.

June goals:

1. Finish Ed's sweater by June 17. I know this is the third time I've said this, but I think, even at this rate, I'll actually achieve it this time.
2. Get enough of a start on a sweater & hood for my mother that I believe I can finish it by July 12.
3. Secret projects that shall not be blogged, because they are Knitty submissions and/or presents for people who read this.

1. Sweater for Ed. ( Not done )
2. Very small teddy bear. Done.
3. Socks! Not really done. I've got parts of at least two pairs worked up, but nothing I feel like showing off.

1. Finish Ed's sweater. This time for sure!
2. Do some sort of original design work. I've got two distinct ideas of what this could be. One idea is: more dragons. The other idea is: knitted snarks.

   It was pointed out (in a community I read) that the Szekeres snark would look really cool as a cables-and-bobbles pattern. I'm probably going to start simpler, with the flower snark. (To my surprise, although the Petersen Graph is the simplest snark, and has a lot of different ways of being drawn, none of them lend themselves particularly well to being knitted. This is really too bad, as the Petersen graph is probably the most famous single graph in graph theory, and is further cool because it is the smallest counterexample to everything.)

   Of course, if I don't get around to knitting snarks, I can always make a ( quick snark )

1. Finish Peacock Feathers - Done.
2. Dragon lace swatch - ( Done )
3. Make a hood for a friend who requested one - ( Done )
4. Do the swatching, photography, and final rewriting for an article I'm writing for (I hope) Knitty - not done
5. Obtain all measurements and project ideas for longer-term projects - done with 3/4.
6. Update this a bit more often - not done. Sooo not done.

1. Finish Mandy's sweater. This will be Eris, pullover version, in Andean Silk in Leaf. I've just gotten a few rows past the end of the collar: ( It looks like this. )
2. Swatching and photography for article. This time for sure!

( Dice bag )

( Cthulhu )

( Siefert surface )

( Mittens )

WIPs

( Frost Flowers scarf )

( Faramir )

benazeer

advanced_knit

( Sock for the sock exchange ) Edit: As of now, Thursday October 6, 2005, at 10:04 p.m., I have bound off the second sock. I have not woven in ends on either of them.

Let me know if this is confusing, or if I messed anything up. I knitted this in the round, so I'm not really sure if I got the instructions for the wrong side right.

Edit: This might look better.

If you do yarn overs the normal way, by "back twist" I mean "knit 1 through back loop," and by "front twist", I mean "sl 1 knitwise, return to left needle by slipping purlwise, knit through front loop." This produces a twisted stitch (like k1 tbl) which twists in the opposite direction.

However, I find that my yarn overs are smaller and neater if I do them backwards. That is: bring yarn to the back between needles (if it's not already there), bring yarn to the front by wrapping over the needle, then bring it to the back between needles if necessary. This may or may not work for you.

If you work yarn overs this way, replace "k1 tbl" and "front twist" by "knit through front loop." This should not leave a hole, and be a bit harder than knitting through front loop the normal way. Replace "back twist" by "slip 1 by inserting needle from back to front, return to left needle, p1 tbl."

This is why I distinguish between "back twist" and "k1 tbl". Where I say "k1 tbl", I just mean "twist it in some direction so it doesn't leave a hole." Where I say "front twist" or "back twist", I mean "twist it in this specific direction; it's the direction that makes leaves look good."

Second Edit: Some people are getting holes in their twisted yarn overs. I prefer a twisted yarn-over decrease because I am a very tight knitter; I need the YO just to give me enough yarn to work it.

If you are not a tight knitter, you may prefer to substitute a raised increase for twisted yarn-overs. This increase is done by picking up the yarn between stitches of the previous row, twisting it, and knitting it.

To incorporate this stitch into the chart, skip the YOs. Just pretend that they aren't there (or that they're ``no stitch'' blocks.) Then on the next row, work increases knitwise instead of knit 1 tbls and work purlwise increases instead of purl tbls.

• The thing with increases and decreases that's on the cuff really is the best way to arrange for a small non-flat-sided section of your knitting to be in reverse stockinette.
  
• Leaves should be at least seven rows high and should have more space around them. (Five-row leaves just look like blobs. Seven-row leaves actually look like leaves.)
  
• If most of the branches are two stitches thick, the roots should be too.
  
• If I do this again, I will move the tree up so that I can use four branches in the neck cables instead of two.