Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Knitlympics Day Six - NYC Day One

The 8:30 am flight to Chicago ended up being the 11:45 am flight. A line of thunderstorms kept all flights grounded at O'Hare, so while our flight was late it meant that our departure flight was also delayed. We had less than half an hour to run from one gate to the next (fortunately not a long run). We took off with a flock of teenage girls that had more air in their heads than the plane's tires. By the time we got to LaGuardia, it was nearly 10 pm eastern time. It was good to land and stretch and get away from the airheads. I was dressed for cool weather so when I got to LaGuardia I was drenched.

I flew with the bulk of the Confluence Chorus group, so the waits and flights weren't interminable. I had a chance to talk with Renee's wife Donna, who is a weaver and knitter. She was working on a cabled vest for Renee in beautiful heathered grey 2-ply wool while we were traveling. I had a chance to chat with her about weaving and weaving measurements vs. knitting terms. I learned:

1. Sett is not the same as wraps per inch. The sett is the number of warp threads per inch depending on the type of weaving pattern you're going to do. A basic weave sett is roughly half the measurement of wpi, because you're leaving spaces between the threads.

2. Weaving yarn, especially warp yarn, is treated so that it can handle the constant friction of the shuttle. Some yarns are treated with a substance that washes out later. It's something to watch out for when buying weaving yarns for knitting projects.

I cast on the Knitlympic sweater front the night before so that I could work with two sets of needles for the edging. The border requires that the cast on edge be picked up with the next row of stitches to make a picot edge. The rest has a border along the steek where the zipper will go, so the front isn't entirely mindless. By the time we landed in LaGuardia, I had finished one skein of Rowanspun and knitted up 13 1/2 inches of the front.

More tomorrow....dreams of leather and getting a full night's sleep....

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