Card Trick Method

There are lots of tutorials on the Internet that demonstrate this method better then I can. But here's a quick overview of how I made the blocks. 

This method allows you to speed piece HSTs and combinations blocks to make two Card Trick blocks at a time. One appears to spin clockwise and the other counter-clockwise. If you use the same color in the same place in each block, this difference is minimized.

Cut: 4 - 5 ½” squares each in 4 different colors

4 - 5 ½” background squares

2 – 5” background squares.

Cut one 5 ½” square of each color in half on the diagonal. Then cut one of those triangles in half. See diagram. The large triangle will be used to make a HST for the second Card Trick. The two small triangles will be pieced together to form center units, one per block.  

Draw a diagonal line on the back of each 5 ½” background square. Place right sides together with one of each of the four colored 5 ½” squares. Sew ¼” on both sides of the line to make two HST. Cut apart on the line. Square up one set to 4 ½”, using the Eleanor Burns HST triangle. Press seams open and away from the background. Set the 4 ½” HSTs aside.

Take one of each color of the 5½” squares and place them on the table right side up. Move them around until you like the look. Place the matching untrimmed HST on top of the 5½” square, right sides together. Then move each HST one space clockwise to ‘shuffle the deck’.

Place the HST in the middle of the square with the background in the lower right hand corner. Draw a line diagonally through the middle, and sew ¼” on both sides of the line. Cut apart on the line. Square up using the Eleanor Burns HST triangle, aligning both the ¼” seam at the base and center of the pieced triangle with the lines on the Square Up ruler. Press open with seam to the small triangles.

These are called combination units. There are two sets. To sort the like units into two groups, open each and place the background at the top. If the fabric to the left is a big triangle, place it in set one. If it’s two small triangles, place it in set two.

The combinations units will be placed in the middle between the HST corners. Place 1 combination unit with the background up, the big triangle on the left, and the small on the right. Take another combination unit with the same fabric as the small triangle and place it on the right, continue with the other pieced units

Take the trimmed HSTs from Step 2 and place them in the matching corner.

Take the small triangles from step 1 and match them up by color. Sew together and square up to 4 ½”, aligning both the ¼” seam at the base and center of the pieced triangle with the lines on the Square Up ruler. Press open. Place the square in the middle.

Card Trick

Our guild makes Community Quilts to give to Children's Protection Services and the cancer ward. The committee chooses a pattern and asks for block donations. This time around, the pattern was Card Trick. I was intrigued by the new piecing method, so I made a few.

Misty Morning

I saw this in our magnolia tree this morning. Such elegance.

Flying Geese Socks

I saw this pattern almost two years ago. I love quilting and knitting. I had to make them.

Sample from Knitty.com

But "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, again", has become my motto while working this Flying Geese sock pattern.

I chose these colors, stunning. The pattern is worked on size 3 needles. My main color is black. I couldn't see what I was doing! I learned not to work on it after five pm or when I was tired. Working on it outside in full sunlight helped a lot.

I knit and frogged dozens of times, as I tried to figure out the inventive short-row color shaping of the triangles. I visited Ravelry's project page and saw several knitters had completed these socks. I had an encouraging exchange of emails with a Rav member who had already made them twice. They must be do-able!

I went to the LYS for help, several times. I was not going to be defeated by this method! The clerks there said the pattern wasn't written very well and suggested I find another sock pattern. (!) That made me even more determined than ever.
 

 
Time has passed, other projects have been started and finished. But the socks still called to me. Then I had a light bulb. Why not knit a sample using DK in a lighter color on size 6 needles? When I couldn't figure out the lace on my shawl (fingering wt., size three needles), practicing the pattern on a larger scale had helped a great deal.

It worked! I didn't struggle and I didn't have to rip back! It looked like the picture.

They're still not finished, or even cast on. Other projects are still on the needles ahead of them. But I'm learning all the time, and that after all, seems to be why I knit.

Fiber Test

Once you become known as an avid knitter, people give you stuff; skeins and random leftovers.

I like to knit with wool and other natural fibers, because there's a pleasant ease to the yarn. But without the ball band, I don't know right off what the yarn's made of. This yarn looked like wool, was soft to the touch, squishy and appeared to have guard hairs. But was it wool? 

I put it through a few tests. First I buried my nose in it and inhaled deeply. Inconclusive. I can usually smell wool. It takes a little practice, but you learn to notice the lanolin fragrance and/or its wooliness.

Next I did burn test.

I snipped off a piece, lit it with a match and watched it burn. Wool and animal fibers will burn slowly and usually self-extinguish, a sure indication that the yarn has a high wool content. This one burned quickly, fizzled and had to be blown out before it burned my fingers. Wool leaves a soft ash and the smoke smells like burnt hair. This ash was medium soft and I couldn't tell if it smelled like burnt hair. Still inconclusive.

Next I sprayed it with water. If it was wool, it would smell like a damp dog. It didn't, it just smelled damp.

For whatever reason I wasn't convinced it wasn't wool, so I cast on to knit a 4" x 4" swatch. Within the first 2 rows I knew it was a synthetic by the way it acted as I cast on and knit. No give, no ease. 

I know there are times when a synthetic is a good choice. Like when you want a washable hat or baby item - but I didn't enjoy knitting with it - so I passed it on.

Irish Wool

I found this authentic Irish knit on the men's rack at the thrift store, $4.99. It was beautiful and heavy with cables. I didn't care that it fit me like a tunic. I bought it even though it was scratchy.

I wish the stitch detail showed better in the pictures. I put it to soak in lukewarm water with a touch of shampoo. I rolled it between thick towels to get the excess water out and laid it to dry. 

The yarn just bloomed and the whole garment softened to an incredible buttery feel. I wore it on the coldest days and felt wrapped in tradition.

It's too bad more people don't give their woolens a lukewarm bath. It changes them completely.