As The Yarn Turns

Domino Knitting

The newest knitting book I'm reading is Domino Knitting by Vivian Hoxbro. It's a tiny little book, only 88 pages, but the book is an excellent introduction to domino knitting. From what I can gather, domino knitting was made popular by Horst Schulz in the 90s but it has been around under a number of different names for many years.

The book gives instructions for making some of the basic squares that you can practice by making several designs of potholders and headbands. I tried a couple of squares with some leftover unnamed acrylic yarns just to get the hang of it. Headbands and potholders will have to wait until later. I tell you though, I found it addictive. Each square is small enough that it can be completed quickly. It give me a small sense of accomplishment. Then I just couldn't resist starting another square. Most of the time there is enough variety to keep it from being monotonous. The only problem I had was keeping track of the right side and the wrong side, especially when starting a new square. That was my fault, not the book's fault. It says clearly to pick up and knit stitches with the right side facing you. Here's my practice swatch. As you can see, I have the wrong side on one square and the right side on another square, but that's why I like practice swatches. I would much prefer to make my mistakes in a practice swatch.

In addition to potholders and headbands, it has projects such as hats, scarves, throws, ponchos, vests, shawls, wrist warmers, coffee pot covers, table runners, baskets, and backpacks. Basically a fun little book, well worth the money. It gave me much inspiration for other projects. Now if I can just solve that time problem, I may be able to make some of these.

The Fair

We have a tiny little fair here, the North Alabama State Fair. While it's small, it does have all of the things you expect a fair to have - carnival rides, farm animal competition, arts and crafts exhibits and competitions, garden competitions (you know, the largest pumpkin kind of thing), and food competitions as well as other profit and non-profit exhibitors. I was surprised this year they actually had 3 knitted items entered; last year there were none. Usually there are far more quilted and sewn items. We also went on the day they had the sheep competition. That was fun. We only had a chance to stay for the children's costume competition. Children five and under dress up themselves and their sheep in costumes and everybody wins a ribbon.

What a hoot! I couldn't believe how well behaved the sheep were in their costumes. They also had children's showmanship competition. I'm amazed at how well these kids did, and some of them were tiny kids. Over all we had a fun time.

 

by Sydney  |