ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

This is a sunset at our new place in Miranda

Unique Boutique Knits on etsy is now on vacation – because Best Beloved and I are riding from Haarlem, the Netherlands to Switzerland on our bicycles starting Friday 5th August and then we will fly home to New Zealand.

There we are selling or hoping to have sold our house in Auckland and we will be moving into a house in Miranda, the Waikato. It will take us a bit of time to sort out our stuff, reorganise and plant a spring garden. We hope that we will be sufficiently well organised to reopen for pattern sales on Unique Boutique Knits by the end of September.

we will post odd notes – on our personal blog of our travels and will be starting a new blog as yet unnamed to deal with our new life down on the farm. (2.2 acres or .9004 of a hectare – I think that is the right way to write it). Yes for all those on farms – for us we think anything over 1/2 acre is a farmlet not a farm. But down on the farm has a nice ring to it.

Ages ago I received a question regarding a scarf pattern for this yarn and was also asked about needle size.

I have had many computer issues for some months – and I cannot find the mail in my folders – so if you were the one who asked me I am sorry it has taken a while.

I seem to remember that the question was should 4mm needles be used, me I would use a larger needle than the label suggests because there is quite a variety of yarns in the hank and you will see them better on a larger needle. I would also leave the knots as they are so they become part of the design of the scarf. This scarf will not need a fringe because of the interest created by the mix of textures in the hank.

Cast on 15 or so stitches and knit every row until there is only enough yarn to cast off, sew in the ends and you will have a unique skinny scarf which will be fun to wear.

OR you could modify the method I used for the throw by increasing to 15 or so stitches and you will have created a skinny scarf with pointed ends.

Because we are moving I don’t in which box my Moda Vera is to check the label for the suggested size. A little rave about the yarn

Flamboyant scarf – free pattern This is a free pattern from Pickles website based in Norway. The instructions are in English – it is a bit like what I have suggested here.

Good luck with it.

I have spoken at times of the cloak that I created back in 1992 – very nearly 20 years ago. This cloak has been in exhibitions, it has been tried on by many people, it has been photographed on many people. Sadly it is showing its age.

I am attending the knit retreat “Knitting in Nature beginning tomorrow, and I am taking my “Island” The Great New Zealand cloak with me to show to the other knitters there. Why? Well I am teaching a workshop on Intarsia Knitting and this is one of the best examples I still own of my intarsia creations. I hope that seeing it will still inspire someone of the group to try freeform intarsia knitting after they complete the workshop.

In late 1992 or early 1993 the cloak was in an exhibition at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. The judges there decided that it was not suitable to be sold due to the fragile nature of the creation. I think 20 years of display and wearing is not bad for a creation of a fragile nature, using around 90 or so different yarns from wool, mohair to linen and a variety of fancy fibres. I actually think it has done rather well. And I am so glad it was not listed for sale as my family and I have loved it and worn it, as well as exhibited it.

I think “Knitting in Nature” may well be its last journey because it is rather thin and frail in some sections now, and we will store it away gently on our return to New Zealand and hope that we can still bring it from time to time and say “we remember this piece very well” and put it away again.

I am feeling rather sad that this piece that has been such a big part of my life is not going to be worn again BUT that does mean that it is time for another creation.

Maybe I am losing it a bit – you know addled somewhat. But all these maths options have begun to excite me a little and that is odd as maths and I were not such good friends all those years ago at school.

But just maybe there is a way to knit a Juxl Puzzle – I will keep you posted on the progress, once it has begun. Right now it is just in the brain somewhere.

The Juxl Puzzle was created by Nathan Vargas and adapted from his page. http://portfolio.nathanvargas.com/content/nathans-juxl-puzzle
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All you need to make a Juxl puzzle link here is a sheet of paper and a pencil.

The rules are simple, but they are also more challenging than you might expect. Once you have solved a Juxl, you may add colors or shading to create your own artwork which in my case might mean something that could be then knitted. I wonder if it is possible.

Draw four groups of three lines each. Leave some space between the lines. You can put the groups anywhere on the page, facing any direction, but it will help to leave plenty of space both between the lines and between and around the groups.

One possible first curve. Draw a curve between the end of any line with the end of any line in another group. Place dots at both ends of the curve.

A possible second curve. Draw another curve between the end of any line and the end of any line in another group.

The third curve goes between the second curve and an open endpoint in another group of lines. This completes the first move. On the second curve only, place a dot anywhere between the two endpoints. Draw a third curve connecting this point with either end of any line in a group that the second curve does not touch. This completes your first move.

A possible second move. Continue making subsequent moves in this pattern. One curve between open endpoints in two different groups. A second curve between open endpoints in two different groups. A third curve between any point on the second curve and any open endpoint of another group.

Do not cross the curves.

or if necessary, run the curves between the lines or snake them around anywhere else on the page. If you intend to embellish your Juxl as an art piece later, you may want to try to take up the whole card and add interest to the shapes of the curves.

Complete the Juxl by connecting all the open line ends with curves, according to the pattern of moves.

Definitions:
A curve is a path you’ve drawn.
A move means you’ve drawn 3 curves.
A line is a straight line in a group.
An open line has only one dot or no dots.
A closed line has 2 dots (one dot on each end).
A dot is a visual cap on a line.
A third curve always starts halfway along the length of your second line and cannot connect to itself.
Both ends of each curve must always connect to an open line.
Curves may not cross one another or cross lines.

Do not connect any curve to any line in the same group.
Do not cross any lines at anytime.
Once a line has two dots (one on either end) no other curves can be connected to that line. It is closed.
While drawing your third curve it must connect to a line in a completely separated group (to be a valid curve).

The Juxl Puzzle was created by Nathan Vargas and adapted from his page. http://portfolio.nathanvargas.com/content/nathans-juxl-puzzle
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Crikey it has taken me a bit of time to do this little write up. Shame on me really because within the digital pages of Entangled is an article about moi – and I don’t think I have really told anyone yet. Why is that – well I have been dealing with computer issues for some months, and I am sure that I have told you that. Of course now I have my fully featured, fully functional, but without all my data laptop back I have months of stuff to catch up on and as we are moving countries soon this may be my last real post for 2 or 3 months, maybe.

But this is really about the new on-line magazine from New Zealand “Entangled”. The brain child of Genny Stevens et al, of Crafternoon tea with Grannyg fame

You can review Entangled via the link below:

Click on “Inside” in centre of the screen, then on “Preview this article” followed by another click on the magazine cover of Entangled to reach the screen which has characters along the bottom including arrows. Click on the arrow pointing to the right to turn the pages and enjoy.

There is no cost for turning the pages digitally through this, the preview FREE offering of Entangled to view the delights of a glorious glossy full of ideas and information, inspiration and opportunity to delight and create. Go on have a look. Turn that digital page and you will see Knit graffiti underlined on the next page – and if you do nothing else here do click on Knit Graffiti and it will take you to an article about, you guessed it – Knit Graffiti (stuff done by two oldies in the Netherlands – you may even know or recognise us, maybe). Then please do page through the rest of Entangled as there are many many delights therein.

You may remember that GrannyG interviewed me about 9 or 10 months ago Grannyg and moi talking across the world and there are many other interesting interviews and odd writings on Crafternoon Tea with Grannyg

Entangled Magazine is only available digitally, Issue 1 is out now and it looks great, Issue 2 will contain a story of a Sydney yarn crawl which beats a pub crawl any day. Although wine and gossip after the yarn crawl will surely have followed.

You can become entangled with “Entangled Magazine” on twitter @entangledmag and if you like, you can like “Entangled Magazine” on Facebook.

Just in case you thought it – No they didn’t bribe me and cross my palms with silver. I do think this is a great addition to the craft, art, yarn, fibre world wide arsenal of information and it is beautiful as well. You can’t get better than that.

Thank you Grannyg

apart from a print copy, maybe. I was a librarian after-all, and we fear the digital world, or we used to.