About the sash...

Hokay, so I was thinking about posting this yesterday, inside the spinning post, but I thought better of it, because what I'm going to post about now, while still having nothing to do with knitting, also has nothing to do with spinning, other than it uses yarn. Mostly because I am a little crazy with tracking who reads this thing (by location, and how they got here; I'm not crazy enough to need to know who you actually are) I've been noticing something of an odd trend in visitors. Probably once every week or so, someone stumbles in looking for information, or pictures, or instructions on how to make a Métis sash. Originally, I thought it was a little odd, but at this point I've gotten used to it; it's all because of this post almost a year ago. But now, I've decided to indulge all those people who patiently put up with a knitting blog in search of some kind of intellectual content. Well, maybe I can't promise intellectual content, but I can promise much sash. On to the pictures, shall we?

First of all, there's the sash I was wearing when I met the Lieutenant Governor in March last year. It's the most basic of the "Métis" sashes, and the most common. They're loom-woven, more than one sash wide, and cut and serged along what would normally be the selvedges. The ends are just knotted and left fringy.



Next, there's a variation on the basic, and it's one of Marksman's sashes; this one is the same pattern as the one above, but with blue in the weft instead of red. It's made the same way, though.



Now comes the fun part. When I was in Australia (of all places, I know) I got bored in the hostel in a small town in the Blue Mountains, during a rainy day. So I decided to make myself a hat band, and fingerwove it out of embroidery floss, in all the (Canadian) scout colours. I don't have a picture of it here, but when I got home, I started to do more weaving. In wool, this time, because it holds the weave better, unlike slippery cotton. So I have a couple of examples of finger weaving experiments and practice. First, the basic chevron. It's a simple V, but you can build a lot of things from just a V.



Next, comes the basis of the Assomption sash, the lightning pattern. This is not a good rendition of it, but I'm still learning.



And then I got bored, and started something a little different... This is (essentially) a chevron band, with simple diagonal bands to either side. Occasionally the two sections switch, and the outside becomes the inside. I like it. I want to to something similar, I think, on a larger scale. Now I just have to find the patience.



For anyone who's interested in learning how to finger weave, I have 2 books to suggest, both of which I've used. The best I've found so far is actually also the most compact, but it has the best illustrations and photos, with the clearest most concise directions. It's Carol James' Fingerweaving Untangled and while compact it's also brilliant, with tips about classic beginner mistakes. The other book is Gerald Findley's Fingerweaving Basics which is also a decent reference, again with colour pictures and illustrations, but some of them are less clear than Carol's. In any case, there's nothing to do bu try, right?

Metis sash = +5 charisma

ETA, March 21 2009: If you are looking for Métis sash stuff, go to this post instead. I promise it will be better.

So I've gotten back into my knitting groove, I think. I've been knitting a whole lot lately. I made (finally) a bunch of new dishcloths, and I think that's what sparked it. Surprisingly enough, this is the very first time I've tried the ever-popular Ballband Dishcloth from Peaches and Creme, eternalized in Mason-Dixon Knitting. But, I was bored, and wanted something easy to knit, that looked good, and we needed dishcloths. So. I learned that I have HORRENDOUSLY loose gauge. I used 34 stitches on 3.5 mm needles, with Bernat Handicrafter Cotton, and still managed to turn out a 9x9-ish dishcloth. (For anyone that doesn't know, the pattern calls for 45 stitches. Though I don't know necessarily how the Bernat compares to the Peaches.) But anyways. No pictures of that, because they're just dishcloths. But then. I picked up the PJ socks again. (I might have done this earlier, actually. Like, back when I posted about starting socks from the top again, to see if I finish more of them) The first one of the last pair is now done, and I like the way it looks. I might need to get ahold of a scale, though, to make sure I have enough yarn left to do the last one. It worked out nicely, and I'm looking forward to doing the next one. The tops and toes and heels are all done un-striped. Well, as much as they can be, considering I'm using self-striping yarn to begin with.

The inside and the outside of the heel and the gusset. I like it. A lot. I didn't really think about the fact that the colour sections would line up the way they did, but it's good. I'm pleased, and I'm hoping that the next one works as well as this one did. (No, I do not have bigger pictures, because I fail at taking pictures that are non-blurry when they are bigger than these ones)

And more knitting, even. Last time Sir Marksman and me were on the Island, for birthday celebrations, I pulled out the sock in progress. The one you just saw pictures of. And Tim peeked over my shoulder and asked, oh-so-nonchalantly, "do you knit gloves?" And I said that, well, I suppose I could, but I'd never done it before. Which prompted a discussion, where we talked about how a forestry engineer can't wear real gloves, because they need their fingertips too often. And ended with me getting hand measurements so as to knit some fingerless gloves. I debated making Cigar, from Knitty, but that didn't pan out. So, I did a gauge swatch (gasp!) and wrote my own pattern. It took me three tries to get it right, but it worked out nicely. It was also pretty much the quickest project ever that was not a hat or a dishcloth. (It turns out I work well on a deadline.) And yesterday was the BC-Yukon Queen's Venturer Ceremony out at Government House in Victoria. I had, in the morning, only just finished the ribbing on the second glove. But I had a 2 hour ferry ride and 40 minute drive and a LONG ceremony to sit through. And at the end of the ceremony, I had two fingers left. To knit, that is. And it looked like we weren't going to make it to the 5pm ferry anyways, and the 7pm from Nanaimo was going to be the new Coastal Renaissance, so Andrew suggested heading up-island instead of waiting around. Me, being the resourceful Rover I am, asked if we could make a quick stop enroute. Ladysmith is, after all, on the way from Victoria to Nanaimo. And I had at least an hour to finish two fingers and weave in some ends. And so we made a surprise visit, and I dropped off some fingerless gloves, and we caught the new ferry home. The gloves turned out surprisingly well, I think, considering I've only done mitten-type things before, closely following a pattern. And I have a new favourite increase. Knitting into the stitch below (either before or after your current stitch) is going to be my standby for a while I think. I like it a whole lot more than m1's (mine always leave holes, even if I use the m1a (picking up the "bar" between stitches) method, and I've never really liked the way a kfb looks. So I decided to try something new, and behold! It works!
No holes, and no untidy purl-esque stitches. I am a happy knitter. And Tim is a very happy forestry engineer, who hopefully no longer has cold hands. I forget how fulfilling gift-knitting is.

For the sake of it, because I suppose I should write these things down somewhere, that was two strands of Four Seasons "sockenwolle" on 3mm needles, with a gauge of 5.5 stitches per inch. In navy blue, from some kind of kit my aunt bought and gave me the solid coloured yarn from. I think it went to good use.

And that sash, in the first glove picture, is the Metis sash from Marksman back in October. We've determined it's a +3 conversation starter and a +5 charisma when the person you're talking to is either a) of aboriginal descent or b) knows what it is (probably because of a). Case in point? When Hon. Steven Point, Lieutentant Governor of BC, and the very first Aboriginal to hold said position, was finished with the official-type picture taking yesterday, he came over to talk to me. Because I was wearing my sash. And Marg-mom, when I dropped off the gloves, gave me a new/shiny/clean one, because "if [I was} going to wear one, it shouldn't be one of [Marksman's] old beat-up ones. Wheeha.