Friday, October 22, 2010

Knitting With A Hook

I recently came across a discussion about knooking - knitting with a hook.  Using a crochet hook that has been adapted with a cable on the end it's possible to knit and purl with the hook.  The cable acts like the second knitting needle and holds the live stitches.  Someone was thinking outside the box when they came up with this one.


I haven't thoroughly explored knooking.  For instance I'm not sure if it's possible to do all the knitting techniques with knooking - increases, decreases, cables.  If you're interested, there's a Ravelry group devoted to the technique, and YouTube has video clips of knooking to create the knit stitch and the purl stitch.  Maybe one day I'll have time to play around with this intriguing technique. 


On the needles . . . I've been cruising right along on my latest obsession.




This is Pogona (Ravelry link) by Stephen West.  A while back I made Herbivore (Ravelry link) also by Stephen West.




As with many shawl-type garments the construction starts small and grows larger.  Stephen has fun with geometric shapes to create interesting yet practical garments.


Pogona is basically a two row repeat.  Once I established the repeat, it was smooth sailing.  





Now I'm at the point where the stitch count has increased significantly and the rows are taking longer and longer to complete.  A single two-row repeat increases the stitch count by 14.


A view of the center section.




It reminds me of a giant piece of candy corn.  At this rate I'm sure Pogona won't be on the needles much longer.


One of our fall rituals is roasting New Mexico green chile.  If you're ever in New Mexico in the fall, you will see large roasters at grocery stores and farmers' markets.  You can get fresh green chile roasted right there on the spot.  The air is filled with the pungent, smokey aroma of the roasting peppers.


I always order fresh green chile in the fall.  This year I kept putting it off until one day I realized (with prodding from my friend Martie) that the end of the season was upon us.  I placed my order just in time and yesterday received my shipment.




Fresh and shiny and green.  But not for long.


This week my color inspiration is green chile from the Land of Enchantment.




Let the roasting begin!

1 comment:

MicheleinMaine said...

And a bag to match, haha.

Love that Pagona! Maybe that's what I'll do with my skein of Gourd....:-)