And I finish my first Christmas ball right on time.
Maybe I should explain that better. Mid January I noticed that one of the blogs I follow, KnittingSarah, had a year long knit along going on that really tripped my trigger. One Christmas ornament a month, knit, from 55 Christmas Balls book. Now, I stumbled across this late, my book came in last weekend, but my yarn did not arrive until yesterday. Thank goodness it was a snow day, since I was able to rattle off my January Christmas ball in just one day. There were two first associated with this knit. The first being the use of a stranded colorwork thimble. I’ve always done stranded colorwork with two hands, one hand working english and the other continental. But, I figured I’d give this a try and it did work beautifully. The second new thing was steam blocking. You see, stranded colorwork really needs to be blocked to look its best. I didn’t want to immerse the unstuffed ball and then block it, and the book doesn’t even suggest that. It suggests steam blocking. So, I fired up my iron and gave it a try, with the ornament still on the needles actually. That worked great too! It quickly loosened up the fibers and evened everything out, so that when I stuffed it I ended up with a beautiful end product. And thus, my snow crystal ball is complete!
Did you know that During the first World War, knitting was far more that just an art — it was a cause!
It looks beautiful! Awesome job! Did you enjoy using the thimble over two hands?
I think I did. When I use two hands, it has typically been with bulky yarn and large needles, so the small and fiddly nature of these ornaments lends itself well to the thimble I think. I don’t think it sped me up at all, but it was convenient.
Good to know — thank you! I have knit 2 colors with 2 hands with all weights save lace weight at one point or another. I haven’t tried a thimble, so this makes me curious to give it a whirl!