I’ve been playing with glass blowing lately…mostly with borosilicate glass. I keep getting requests at my studio for classes so I figured I’d better get good at it. I’ve dabbled and played but now I’m actually studying. Don’t I have enough glass techniques to know about? (not really, you can’t get enough glass, can you?) So I thought I’d explore glass blowing here too. A good start is with Wikipedia and traditional glass blowing. I’ve tried that too but don’t have quite the interest since so much equipment is required. Won’t rule it out completely but one thing at a time. Wikipedia does give a bit of information regarding blowing and they always have suggestions for further reading. You Tube is also a fabulous source of information on blowing. Both boro, lots of boro, and off hand. Take your pick. And it’s so much fun to watch!
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Play with Color in the Pixel Tweed Pullover
A lot of times when I share knitting patterns that are meant to be colorful I will say something about how they would be good stash busters because you can change colors as often as you like or need to as you run out of yarn.
I’m not going to make that recommendation when it comes to the Pixel Tweed Pullover by James N. Watt.
That’s because for this pattern to work it really does best as three distinct, repeating colors throughout the project.
James was inspired by the red, green and blue pixels on vintage TVs to create their color palette, but of course you can use any three colors you like. This is another pattern where looking through the finished projects on Ravelry is super helpful because you can see how different color combinations work. Sometimes if the colors are too close in value one of them almost disappears, but that’s also an interesting look.
Whatever colors you choose, this is a bottom-up crewneck is worked flat in pieces, with all over color patterning worked with slip stitches on a garter stitch base. The cuffs, neckline and bottom hem, as well as seams on the sleeves, are worked in one of the colors.
It’s available in nine sizes and ranges from a chest measurement of 36.5 to 68.5 inches, or 76 to 174 cm. It is meant to be worn with 4 to 8 inches (10-20 cm) of positive ease.
I love how this tweed pattern almost looks like crochet from a distance, and I think it would be a lot of fun to knit. This is one way to get some practice working with multiple colors if you haven’t done so before without having to pay too much attention to following a pattern or reading a chart.
The pattern is available on Ravelry.
[Photo: James N. Watt]