With that title, I feel like I should be laughing manically and tenting my fingers.

Anyway, I've finally updated the look of the blog. Anyone who uses blogging software is probably well aware of how time consuming it can be to redesign a blog template. I think it's in good working order now.

I'm considering trying to teach myself how to do that whole skinning thing, but for now, I'm just happy the blog has a similar look to the rest of the site.

If anything is wonky, please let me know.

If nothing looks different to you, you may be caching the old site. You can either clear your cache or wait a few days and it should all appear fresh and new.

In other news, last night I had my second machine knitting class. We did lots of little technique things. Having a really solid understanding of the construction of various knit stitches makes understanding the machine much easier. I don't think it's necessary to understand these things to succeed, but I think learning complex techniques is made easier by it. Here's a pic of some of my swatches.



On the left, we have a full fashioned picot hem, stripes and, though you can't tell, increases and decreases.
The middle is a regular full fashioned hem, with two color "plating" I love this effect. From the front, you see the main color with the secondary color just barely peaking through. It's a bit tweed like. From the back, the secondary color dominates with a little of the main color showing through. The effect from afar is that the piece is lined. I think it's great.

The final swatch is a haphazard of faux drop stitch, faux ribbing and plain knit. I really enjoy playing with the various tools and techniques and seeing what happens.