Incredible Indeed!

Last summer I was approached by a very nice lady at Lion Brand about my Non-cho pattern that appeared in Spun last spring.

I did it up in a couple of Lion Brand yarns and sent it off to them. I had basically forgotten about it until today, when I was surfing their site checking yardage on one of their products for a substitution... and there it was! My Non-cho in Lion Brand Incredible! (Behind a registration wall, be warned.)

Wow. I feel like I've hit the big time.

Spun Mag Spring Issue

Check it out. Some terrific patterns, interesting articles and great book reviews. And I'm not just saying that because me and some of my knit friends write for it...

Best Yarn Magazine Art Ever, also.

Real Sheep!

My brother the environmentalist is a member of an organization called "The Rare Breeds Survival Trust" in the UK. In their words, "the RBST is the leading conservation charity working to restore Britain’s native livestock breeds". He buys terrific Christmas cards from them, with beautiful images of livestock -- notably, in my opinion, the sheep. In all their natural glorious colours.

You'd think they'd sell the yarn, wouldn't you? I'd buy yarn and contribute to the Trust. You'd think they'd promote places that sell the yarn, wouldn't you? Nope. Nothing. (They do promote the sale and consumption of the meat from these animals, though.)

At the Downtown Knit Collective's Knitter's Frolic this weekend, I found Woolly Acres' "Real Shetland". It's yarn that comes in sheep colours. Undyed. Terrific tweeds and combos.

My brother is getting a scarf for his birthday.

Further on the Practicality Thing

I was in a waiting room type of situation today. With my knitting, as usual. I've picked up the Bee Stripe socks again. (I did mention I'd had to rip them back, didn't I? Anyway.) Knitting away in a waiting room.

The other waitee, an older woman, asked the inevitable question.

"Socks."

"Oh yes," she said, impressing me, "I knew it had to be socks or mitts because you're working in a circle."

"Are you a knitter?"

"My mother was. She made lots of socks and mitts."

"I like sock knitting, it's very portable."

"And practical, too."

Err... I have had many people say many crazy things about my knitting, but never that it's practical. Sock knitting with hand-dyed yarn on 2mm needles is practical? Paying $20+ dollars for the yarn, and spending hours upon hours (I hate to count, the thought frightens me) to create something I'm going to put on my feet.

Practical.

If you hear a woman telling a story about being laughed at by a redhead knitting yellow and black socks -- that was me.

Practicality vs. Art

Have I shared with you my theory about knitting generations?

My mother is a very skilled knitter but she doesn't really like doing it. Her mother, Hilda, was a knitter without parallel. No matter how skilled her work, Hilda knitted because she had to.

My mother sees knitting as her mother's drudgery, and if she doesn't have to do it she won't. I don't have the negative association. I see knitting somewhat romantically, something my beloved Grannie used to do. And so I can knit with love for the process. (I wonder if the generation after us will feel this way about ironing?)

For our grandmothers, knitting was about practicality. They were making clothes for the family. They were making garments and accessories to be used, that would last, that were to meet a need. Knitting was a chore, not an art.

I was reminded of this recently. An older friend of the family was showing me a blanket she's working on for a new baby in the family. Beautiful, detailed, lacy work... In acrylic. Cheap, nasty, rough acrylic. I could feel the pills forming as I touched it. Surely she can't be enjoying the process, knitting with such awful yarn? Surely it must be a chore.

Oh wait, it is.

Bye Erin

Just wanted to say bye to Erin. It was fun working with you, and sharing our passion for socks and music.

Safe travels and hope to see you again soon.

Taking a Good Look

Every class I teach is different. The students are at different levels; they have differing degrees of experience and confidence in their own skills.

But it's pretty universal -- all "beginner" knitters seem to have one thing in common. They don't look at what they're doing.

They're concentrating on each stitch, on reading the instructions, on holding the needles -- they're concentrating on the knitting, but not on the knitting. I looked at the work of a couple of my students this week and there were some really very obvious mistakes. For one student, it was purl stitches where there should be knits in a number of places. For another, a wholesale change of sides so that what was stocking stich became reverse stocking stitch.

And in both cases, they hadn't noticed the mistake, they said, until much later.

I read in a book, once, a long time ago, that a good knitter stands back to admire the work in progress, on a regular basis.

I tell all my students to take a good look at what they're working on. Hold it up. Examine the pattern stitch. Make sure that you're working the right direction.

I've seen fronts of sweaters with the armhole shaping only done on one side ("Oh, so that says 'at beginning and end of the row'"?) . I've seen stocking stitch reversed mid-way through a piece. I've seen purls where there should have been knits. Cables that haven't been crossed. Mis-aligned ribs.

Hey, I've done many of these myself. Every knitter makes mistakes. Even experienced ones. The difference, it seems, between a beginner and a more advanced knitter is how quickly the mistake is spotted.

Fixing mistakes is another set of skills entirely, of course. But you start by knowing where a mistake is.

OT: Rant about pleats and vents

Ok, this is OT but I have to rant somewhere...

People: That jacket you just bought, with the vent in the back. The loose thread holding the vent shut is meant to be removed before you wear it.

Oh yeah, and the same goes for the label on the sleeve of your new winter coat that brags about the cashmere content.

They're sewn very loosely so you can remove them.

Sheesh.

Repairs 101: Spring Knitty

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/FEATrepairs101.html

The thrill and sense of pride that comes with being included in Knitty will never get old. I'm honoured to be included with such excellent company.

Fitting a Sock - Harder Than It Seems

Am working on some cotton socks. Cotton's not like wool. It stretches, it loses elasticity, and worst of all, it changes shape after washing.

So how do you make a pair of cotton socks that actually fit?

Ribbing, sure. But how tight? Really tight ribbed socks will certainly stay up (for a while at least), but oh how they clutch at the leg. Looser is great for comfort, but they're down at your ankles in no time.

All this thinking has sent me scurrying back to my myriad hand-knit wool socks. And something has occured to me: I'm making 'em too big. They're loose. Way too loose. They fall down. This is why I knit, isn't it? To make things that fit me ... little old petite small-footed fine-ankled me. So why in god's name am I knitting one-size fits all for socks? Certainly, I knit them to the right length, but what's the right width?

Hmmmm....

Different needles, different gauges: it's true!

So I indulged a bit of time in some knitting science yesterday. (This is what happens when I'm stuck at home with a cold and a lot of back episodes of CSI.)

Here's two swatches of the same yarn, on the same size needles. One was knit circularly, on dpns; the other flat.

The gauge is indeed different... I'm looser on dpns than flat. 30 sts/10cm flat, 28 sts/10cm round.

Hypothesis proven. (Note careful notations pinned to swatch.)

Meditations on a Sock Project/Bendiness

Why is 3x1 ribbing less tedious than 1x1?

And knitting with drinking straws isn't nearly as much fun as you think it might be. I tried those new Pony plastic dpns - they're yellow with red stripes. (That's weird, I can't find any reference to them online to link to them... Hmmm... .)

Very cute, but too damn flexible. Way too bendy. They may be more manageable in a different size -- I was using 2.5mm. They feel nice, and they have the right level of slight slipperiness for knitting cotton. But I found the bendiness slowed me down significantly.

Look at the picture. I mean, really! I'm hardly putting any pressure on them. Knitting needles should not bend this much.

Four Senses

I've always known knitting is a sensual experience.

It's the feel the of the yarn -- rough, silky, smooth, bumpy.

There's the look of the piece as it grows in your hands.

Consider the sound of the needles, clicking endlessly.

But scent.... Scent is rarely discusssed. I was helping some students in my class choose their projects. L eventually settled on a Handmaiden kit for a wrap, in silk. Mmm... silk... The scent of silk is distinctive and fairly strong.

Denny and I were talking about it. She suggested some washes to get rid of it, but I like it. I clearly remember a purple raw silk top I owned 15 or so years ago, and its constant, faint aroma.

So now I'm obssessing about what I'm going to knit in silk.

All about accessories at the moment

I don't know whether it's the in-between weather (14 degrees) or just me, but I can't seem to wrap my head around any actual garments at the moment.

I'm thinking scarves and socks and little capelets, but nothing with sleeves.

Flotsam Optimist

As pattern below, 11 sts. Creates a nice scarf, about 10cm wide and 150cm long.

Flotsam

Am swatching up an interesting new novelty yarn from Louisa Harding, called Flotsam. (At least it's not named after an Abba song.)

40% cotton, 35% polyamide, 15% acrylic, 10% viscose. It feels a bit like paper. Trying it out for my Optimist Scarf. It's the sort of yarn that doesn't really lend itself to a solid fabric (despite some of the supplied patterns), but makes really great low-effort, high impact accessories. A one-ball wonder. The colourways are interesting, too.

The Optimist Scarf - for Days When You're Going to Wear a Light Jacket Anyway, Mercury Be Damned

The Optimist Scarf
Two versions - a single yarn narrow version, and a wider version created with two yarns held together.

Version One: Cool Blue
Materials:
1 x 50gm Rowan Cotton Tape
1 pair 8-12 mm needles – whatever you have on hand; the sample was made with 10 mm needles

Tension:
Doesn’t matter!

Finished Measurements:
8 cm wide x 60 cm long, approximately

Version Two: Cotton Candy
Materials:
2 x 50gm Lang Opal
1 x 50gm Rowan Calmer
1 pair 8-12 mm needles – whatever you have on hand; the sample was made with 10 mm needles

Tension:
Doesn’t matter!

Finished Measurements:
20 cm wide x 60 cm long, approximately

Method:
For Version One, cast on 11 stitches.
For Version Two, using a strand each of the Calmer and the Opal held together, cast on 21 stitches.

First row (WS): knit all stitches.

RS: K1, *yfwd k2tog; repeat from * to end.
WS: Knit all stitches.
RS: K2, *yfwd, k2tog; repeat from * to last stitch, k last stitch.
WS: Knit all stitches.

Repeat the last 4 rows until you’ve just about run out of yarn. Finish with a WS row, and then cast off.

Knitting for Summer?

Am working on some designs for summer.

Knitting for summer? Does that even make sense? I used to think that summer knitting was only about the odd shawl or cardigan to drape around your shoulders in an agressively air-conditioned office.

It was actually a sock design commission that made me think differently about summer knitting. I worked on them last April, designing open-toe and flip-flop socks. It made me realize that knitting is an ideal solution for those early spring days when you really do want to wear your summer clothes (and shoes) but it's not really warm enough for them. Want to wear your flip flops? Flip flop or open-toed socks keep you warm. Want to wear a light summer dress? A shawl or cardigan or capelet will insultate you from drafts. A short-sleeve top in long-sleeve weather? How about wristwarmers? A light jacket? How about a light scarf to go with it?

There’s a wealth of patterns for these kinds of early summer projects, and some truly wonderful yarns that provide a nice compromise between warmth and weight and a summery look. Am really enjoying working with Rowan Cotton Rope – it's heavy enough to provide an actual layer of clothing insulation if you need one, and comes in light shades that conjure thoughts of flowers and seaside and ice cream treats.

And who says that scarves aren’t appropriate for summer? I have a white jean jacket that looks terrific with a colourful scarf draped over it.

And a Hat to Go With the Wristwarmers

This used up the leftovers from the 100gm ball of chunky weight yarn I used for the wristwarmers

Simple Hat
One Size Fits All

Materials:
1 100gm ball chunky weight yarn
(approx. 100m)
1 pair 6mm needles

Tension:
20 sts and 20 rows over 10cm/4” square in K2 P2 rib (unstretched) using 6mm needles.

Finished Measurements:
50cm/20” around, approximately
20cm/8” long

Method:
Cast on 70 stitches.

Row 1 (Right Side): *K2, P2; repeat from * to last 2 stitches, K2.
Row 2 (Wrong Side): *P2, K2; repeat from * to last 2 stitches, P2.

These two rows establish K2 P2 rib pattern. Repeat Row 1 and 2 until hat measures 18cm/7”, ending with a Wrong Side row.

Complete final 6 rows of hat as follows:
Row 1: *K2, P2tog; repeat to last 2 stitches, K2. 53 stitches.
Row 2: *P2, K1; repeat from * to last 2 stitches, P2.
Row 3: *K2tog, P1; repeat from * to last 2 stitches, K2tog. 35 stitches.
Row 4: *P1, K1; repeat from * to last stitch, P1.
Row 5: *K2tog; repeat from * across row. 18 stitches.
Row 6: *P2tog; repeat from * across row. 9 stitches.

Cut yarn, leaving a 30cm/12” tail. Draw yarn through final stitches and pull to tighten. Use the yarn tail to seam up the hat.

The Moebius: Indeed A Mind-Melter

Another one to file under "because I had to". I picked up a kit for Cat Bordhi's Moebius capelet on the weekend, and had it finished by Monday evening.

Denny, who has a nice sideline as Moebius cast-on consultant, got me started. She even let me steal a circular needle from her current WIP. Now that's friendship!

Being a mathematician, I do understand what happens... and it's very, very cool. But I'll be damned if I can figure out how Cat worked it out. I'm in awe of her spatial skills.