Color Techniques II Wk 1

Welcome back to class! There was a huge attendance inspite of the fog. It was nice to have new students, Kelly and Barbara, join us and to see Cynthia back from student teaching. Several ladies said when signing up for class, there was a note that said class was full. They called ARD and were able to sign up. Happy Birthday January purls!

Knit One Below
Linda went over this technique which is on our syllabus demonstrating the special cast on and how to k1b (knit one below) and p1b (purl 1 below). The special CO is a backwards loop cast on. She will show us the special bind off next week.


This technique is similar to mosaic knitting but no stitches are slipped. The advantages of K1b are the following:
You knit on one side and purl on the wrong side.
It is a stable fabric.
It does not curl up.
You can knit on the round.
It is a wider stitch than regular stockinette stitch.
You can combine different weights of yarn such as bulky with fingering wt, or ww with dk weight yarn.
You can stitch the first stitch to get a candy cane effect.
Both the right and wrong sides make a nice design.

Tips for this technique are:
Do it slowly.
Be on the alert: sometimes you are turning and sometimes you are sliding the work.
You must use dpns or circular needles; you cannot use straight needles.
Do not drop a stitch; it is very difficult to fix.
You will see the pattern after row 8.
Try not to put down your knitting until you finish an entire pattern (4 rows).
We worked on the Inside Out Scarf pattern in class. Linda feels that the Chroma yarn in the Knit Picks catalog is perfect for K1b. A K1b vest pattern was handed out. With this pattern, you do not have to worry about increasing or decreasing. We will work on this technique for a couple of weeks before going on to shadow knitting.

A $5 material fee will be taken next week.

Stitches West Bus Trip
There are 10 spaces that need to be filled for the minimum amount of passengers from Auburn to Santa Clara. The trip will take place on Sat, Feb 19, and the cost is $45. Checks will be cashed on Feb 1.

Yarn for Finger Puppets
Yarn is available to work on the finger puppet challenge. It is due on May 1.

Debi knitted and felted this morning glory scarf. She got the idea from the Cornish Fair. She made a couple of morning glories and a black roses scarf.

Vicky and Roni made Moebius scarves over the holidays. Roni is wearing hers.

Laurie feels like a real knitter now. She made this vest!

Nancy made a tweed scarf over the holidays.

Cynthia made an infant Baby Surprise Jacket that she saw at Stitches West last year.

She also knitted 3 pairs of socks; two are shown here.

Bonnie made a scarf out of Marble yarn. It is in her knitting bag.

Rosemary made this flame design hat.

Karen is knitting a scarf that was made for a Hallmark movie. It was designed by the editor of Knitter's Magazine.

Happy Knitting!