Trust the Pattern

I tell clients all the time to just trust the pattern.  I also told my kids to do as I say, not as I do.  Well, I’m just not trusting this pattern to turn out to be what I want it to be.  So I’m cheating.–My best skill. It’s the Shawl/cape pattern from Maggie Jackson, a marvelous, inventive designer.  But her models are 10 feet tall and weigh 87 lbs.  I, of course, am not and do not. So, I cheat.

I found some old pellon interfacing.  How old you ask?  Well, the package of 4 yds cost 99 cents.  How long has it been since anything was 25 cents a yard?  It is a bit discolored and will tear if you pull on it, but it will serve this purpose.  That’s why I don’t throw things away.  It is to be a template, a pattern, a sloper.

Pellon and pattern for shape and size

I went to the shawl drawer and found the best of my shawls, shaped like I like.  The one I altered the pattern from a triangle to a curved one by short rows .  The one I finished in Australia.  Yes, the one that has a bad side where I didn’t quite do it right and the good side where I finally figured it out.

Layout with good half on the fold

I only traced the good half of the shape and placed it on the fold of the pellon.  You can see that it didn’t quite fit.

The extra bit that didn’t fit the 22 inch width

I am Knitter!  I am resourceful.  I have strong packing tape.  A little pencil outline, some scissors, and voila.

My body curved template

Now to put it to use–

Disclaimer:  The owner of this blog in NO WAY means to imply or guarantee that what you see next will in any way resemble the final product.  The whole point in this practice is that you don’t have to commit to anything until you have completed the project and sought the advice of every knitter you know.  These pictures represent Plan A.   Like that mystery writer,  I have 25 other letters.

Using the template

Closeups of the swatches so far–Click to enlarge if interested.  Uh-h-h-h, I stopped following the pattern on these as well after I knit the second one.  Don’t blame Maggie if this doesn’t look great.   Did I mention that I am having fun?

center back plan A

More later–

Creative Quandaries

The rationalization:  I am ADD so it is constructive for me to have lots of projects underway at one time.  Then I can bounce from project to project as my attention wanes or a decision looms.  It seems to be working so I am owning it.

Sewing: Jake’s harness.  No pattern so I am winging it.  Dogs are shaped funny.  Dogs don’t like to do “try ons.”  Next:  Cut top off and make a new neckline.  Maybe a strap in a slot to make it more flexible.

Knitting: Bit by Bit summer jacket.  Sleeves weren’t working for me so I took them off.  I’ll put a different one on but I don’t know which yet.  Next:  Add a 3 inch border which also decreases the circumference at the side seams and at the normal vertical dart places on the front and back.  Stitch?

New Multiyarn Purse in Pink and Green:  Really a sweet look, but will it be boring as is?  Next:  Try a light blue, a greenish taupe, and a green Provence yarn and see what works.

Steve’s socks:  I’ve knit a few rows.  5 or 6.  But don’t they look great in the Knit Bag Jan Smiley gave me?  It is cute and very functional.  I knit with it on my wrist at Evan’s soccer games.  I’ll post details when I find the card that came with it.  The designer has an etsy site and it will be a great place to buy gifts.

Quilting: The Cabin on the Hill.  Find the right background.  All of the golds was too busy; one gold was a bit flat.  Trying pale green, blue and pink batiks.  Softer effect, but contrast may be too great.  Dragonfly beads show well on the light batik.  Gold is more dynamic and looks better on  the wall.  Next:  Fiddle some more.  Try a blend.  Maybe batiks just a bit darker.  Greens?

Crochet: Lace shawlette.  Love the yarn and the stitch pattern.  Am new to the shaping so am winging it.  I’ve made some errors in the increasing, but I learned from them.  The yarn is all cotton in a charcoal—bought it in Copenhagen years ago and knitter it into a shawl that I never wore.  Saw a shawlette in the new Knitscene (“Starboard Cape” by Courtney Kelley) which tacked the cape together under the arms and made a sleeve of sorts.  I may try this with this one, but with a longer piece to allow a bigger underarm room.    It’s going to require some short rows to make that work.  Never done short rows before in crochet.  Just like me to make the first ones in a lace pattern.  Next:  figure out how to do that.

Swatches in fine cotton: Playing ********

Interrupted for a bulletin.

I’m also watching an old Firefly while I write.  “Jaynesville”  River is wearing an adorable white lace crocheted vest.  Just sayin.

Swatches in fine cotton:  Playing with fine cotton.  Trying to determine open but stable st patterns for a vest.  Can’t be too open or I will catch it on things and rip it.  I don’t watch where I am going.  Also still learning what needle will give me the drape I want without looking to loose.  It would help a lot if I could remember to code or write down the hook I use with the swatches.

Crazy Lace: The humongus swatch I was knitting is finished.  I finished by doing a bit of Crochet Crazy Lace on it.  Next:  Block it and see what it looks like.

Embroidery:  White linen-cotton blend napkins.  I’ve done florals, cutwork, traditional stuff, but now—one just for me.

More later–

Rowan #49 Arrives

Sandy Harris talked me into subscribing to Rowan International and I’m glad she did. I never make anything from this magazine, but it affects many things I knit. It is photographed so beautifully that you could frame every picture and the layout always makes me feel like spring at the beach–even the winter editions.

So the new one is here and I wish to discuss it. In detail. Hope I don’t get arrested for copyright infringement.

Initial look-through

1. English beauties with skin to dye for. They make plain beautiful.

2. The Art! I want to visit every locale.

3. Neutrals! Mix them and they are luscious. Even the dark colors work like a neutral. Can wear forever.

4. (about the knitting, finally) Horrible shapes. Unwearable unless you are a 20 year old model, size 0. Except two of the men’s sweaters.

Second look–always the productive one

1. Awesome stitch patterns. Steal them and make your own projects.

2. Some interesting details used very well. Steal these too.

My list of swatches to knit.
1. Fancy by Erika Knight– She uses Kid Silk Haze. There is no substitute for Kid Silk Haze. Look-alikes don’t drape as well and are invariably scratchy. I say this and I don’t even like mohair, but I love Kid Silk Haze. The st pattern is new to me. I would use it for a scarf, cowl, or shawl.

2. Ghost by Amanda Crawford. This is the first of several that uses elongated knit sts (wrap the yarn around the needle 3-5 times then drop the wraps on the next row).

3. Gentian by Grace Melville, Like above. The drape and airiness is good for warm weather.

4. Cicely by Grace Melville. Worth the price of the mag. She’s figured out how to knit cables with holes in them. Hint: Think intarsia.

5. Earthy by Erika Knight–Steve wants this. Unstructured. Made from Purelife Revive, a classy, recycled yarn which has not one bit of stretch or memory. It feels like linen which has been washed for decades–soft! This is an openwork pattern that we’d call lace in a woman’s pattern. Steve is not afraid of lace!

6. Honesty by Marie Wallin (my favorite of their current designers–her stuff is so wearable) This is simple with a neat serpentine detail down the center of the sleeve. Easy to copy and use on other patterns. She shows how effective one well placed detail can be.

7. Illusion Wrap by Marie Wallin. We all know the summer will really unleash a desire to crochet. This is made from several motifs and they are not all square which I like. I have to make the really open square for my freeform project.

8. Unwind Wrap by Kaffe Fassett. Dead simple but so effective. He combines Summer Tweed and Kid Silk Haze. They are so different. He just uses stockinette stitch to create a Scribble Scarf which has been done often thanks to Debbie New, BUT Kaffe does color like no one else, and using these two yarns together is genius. A mindless project that will wow.

Question: Can I do this using a one ply Kaalund silk which lives in my Aussie stash? I’ll let you know.

9. Wholesome by Jennie Atkinson. Knit a solid color sweater and then embroider on some color rows. More than duplicate stitch, she uses real embroidery. An easy and effective way to get two or more color knitting.

That’s it for now. I do plan to knit swatches of these and will keep them to remind or inspire me. If I were a product-driven knitter, I’d do them all in shades of one color and sew them together into a something—scarf, bag, whatever.

Oh, Kaffe also has a home dec section where he has framed some of his colorful surface design patterns. I can do that!

More later–

Swatching some ruffles

It really pays to swatch.  I’ve known this forever,  but am now really trying to remember it before I go headlong into a big project.  This swatch is about several things.

First is linen stitch.  How well does it work with fingering weight yarn and how does it look in a pattern dyed yarn?  So I knit some up.

Actually I knit an 18 inch strip using size 1 needles. It takes 10-12 rows to get one inch of linen st in this size yarn. But I like it a lot, so would be willing to knit a long time to get a nice cardigan band or a cuff for a sleeve.

Thinking about bands and trims reminded me of ruffles. What pattern do I like best for ruffles? I don ‘t really know. Time to swatch some more. Might as well use the band.

But wait!  Will just knitting it onto the band have an effect of some kind on the ruffle?  Better cast on some to the end of this row and ruffle with and without the band.

So I cast on 20 extra stitches and used the first 20 stitches of the band and did the following:

Row 1:  (K1, yo) in each st to the end, end k1.

Row 2-4:  Work in stockinette st.

Row 5:  (K1, Kfront and back) repeat across

Row 6: P all.  Row 7–9: Knit all.  Row 10:  Bind off in Knit.

Discovered:  1:  Band restricts curling of piece just a bit; 2.  yo increase drapes more than Kf&b; 3:  I like a little garter at the end of the ruffle with a RS bind off.  Need to remember #3.  4:  Don’t like wobbly edges.

Therefore must knit another ruffle.

Ruffle #2 starts with Binding Off 16-18 stitches of the linen band.  I’m trying to make the edge more stable by using the bind off and then pickup method to eliminate stretching.

1. Pickup one st in each of the bound off stitches.
2. K5, Purl to last 5 sts, k5.  (Keep 1st and last 5 sts in garter st.)
3. K row
4. P row
5. (K1, yo) across for increases
6. P
7. K
8. P
9. (K2, yo) across for increases
10. P
11. K
12. P1, yo, (P2, yo) across
13. K
14. K
15. K
16. Bind off in K.

I like that it’s not so kinky, curly.  I like the openness of the yo increase.  Increasing every four rows is nice.  Garter edges are good too.  But what is the easiest and fastest increase to use?  Can I use a rib stitch for a ruffle?

I really like the lifted increases.  Cat Bordhi has brought this technique back into popularity, but it’s been around a long time.  It’s fast and it’s invisible.  Try it.

Ruffle #3

1. Knit up the next 18-20 strips from the strip.
2. K row
3. K row
4. (K1, M1) across using the Lifted increase for the M1
5. K1, P1 across–a 1×1 rib
6. rib
7. rib
8. rep. row 4
9. rib
10. rib
11. rib
12. bind off in knit using the fingering wt yarn doubled.

Rib makes it stand up more and curl less.  Love the doubled yarn bind off, both the enlarged size and the blending of the colors.

Look at the bind off from the top. 

Now I lose my mind.  How do I do a double ruffle?  (Why would I want one?)

This way lies madness, but this is really what I did.

1. K 8 sts from the linen strip.
2. K
3. K1, Inc 1, K to last st, inc 1, k1
4. K
5. K
6. P
7. (k1, yo) across, end K1
8. K
9. Grab a double pointed needle or a toothpick and slip the yo’d sts to that separate needle.  It’s every other st; don’t twist them.  Hold this needle to the back of the work.The row goes( K1, slip 1 to dpn) end k1.
10. Ignore the dpn and those sts.  Working on your regular needle, (k1, yo) to the end.
11. k
12. k
13. k
14. k
15. Bind off in knit.  Part one is now finished.

Part 2:  Attach yarn to the sts on the dpn and k2–3 rows.  Bind off in knit.

Part 3:  With the RS facing you, pick up one st in each of the bumps created by knitting row 2.  (8 sts)  Begin picking up on the left hand side.  Attach the yarn on the right hand side and begin knitting.

1. K f&b
2. p
3. (k, k f&b) across
4. p
5. repeat row 3
6. bind off in purl

What I learned?  Too much is too much. But I kind of like picking up across some RS bumps and adding a bit of ruffle.  Nice embellishment.

However–

This bit across the back is just plain ugly.

Am I finished?  Nonsense. 

Ruffle 5

Work in the next 15 sts of the linen strip.

Row 1:  (K3, P3) 2x, k3

Row 2:  (P3, K3) 2x, p3.

Repeat once or twice more.

Then ?????????

Just for fun, here’s the whole thing.

Could be the end of a shawl?!?

About the yarn.  This is a sock yarn from Coats and Clark, Red Heart Heart and Sole Color 3960,  that was sent to me to do some design with.  At first I didn’t like it, but that changed.

The dye for pattern effect is never a favorite for me, but the uneven stitch count skipped the pattern and just blended the stitches in a really nice way.

It’s not Malabrigo, CTH, or Tosh, so it doesn’t have that softness or clarity of st pattern; but it also doesn’t cost as much so you can afford to buy it just to play and discover.

True Confession—The longest wearing, best-looking-after-being-washed-forever socks in my extensive collection are two pair of Lion Brand sock yarn designs.  The yarn in this appears to be the same blend and spin.  And they are sock enough.

I will use this yarn again and I will nag Cat to get them to create some solids.

More later–

Stateside Projects and Experimenting

I’ve received some great pics of work friends/students are doing and I think it should be shared.

Vicki's vest

Vicki has been knitting about a week.  She doesn’t really do scarves or other new knitter projects.  She does sweaters.  And she ignores the patterns most of the time.  This is her latest and she looks wonderful in it.

Debbie's blanket

Debbie shared this blanket.  It is heirloom quality.  The interesting thing to me was the construction.  It’s done with a medallion center, and then the mitered middle section is knit in four pieces and seamed at the miters.  I love this because it allows you to fudge a little if you need to in order to keep it flat.

Border pickup

Finally you pick up and knit the outside border.

Nancy Bush tells us that in Estonia, the women often knit borders of lace and then sew them onto the foundation piece.  Don’t squirm.  The sewing is easy.  In fine yarn it can be a simple whip stitch and work wonderfully.  Again, you have wiggle room when you do this.

I do like to keep my options open.

The Mapstone scrumbling workshop emphasized this.  Prudence reminded us that you can always sew  a new piece over one that isn’t really working.  And if you keep the motifs small, you can fiddle and change a great deal when you assemble your final project.

Australian Scrumbles

Speaking of scrumbling,  it is much like eating potato chips from the bag—you cannot stop.  Here’s what I’ve done with the limited amount of yarn I have here.

And my practical approach to scrumbling—sew it over the food stains on your T-shirts.  This will same me a lot of money.

Backstitching the Brain Stitch

Wrong side after sewing--Note Stain

A bit of pink embroidered on--Finis!

Finally, I’ve been making up lace patterns.  I did buy a lot of laceweight silk at Kaalund and now need to figure out what to do with it.

Cotton 20 thread

Scooped Up Lace in leftover Zephyr

Thanks again to Vicki and Debbie for sharing their work with me.  I love feeling like I got to be part of someone else’s work.  Hint!  Hint!

So much yarn, so little time.  And now I’m interested in sewing again.  Oh, well . . .

More later—

Walker Treasury Swatches

Mock Cable Rib–A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker, p.42.

Pink yarn is Plymouth Galway, worsted 100% wool.  Used a size US 3 needle (3.25 mm) and obtained a washed, unstretched gauge of  28 sts and  32 rows per 4 inches/10 cm.

This pattern has only one fiddly row in four and is faster than an actual cable rib, yet captures a similar look.

The back side of the Mock Cable Ribbing is a 2×3 rib with a backslash in the purl section which I quite like.  I think this would look good on one of those cropped sweaters with the ribbing around the waist.

Lace Rib–A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker, p.48.

The yarn is Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller, Bamboo Ewe, 55% viscose from bamboo and 45% wool.  This is a worsted weight yarn and I used a size US3/3.25mm needle.  The washed, unstretched gauge obtained is  25 sts and 30 rows per 4 inches/10 cm.

This is still a very loose rib.  I would recommend it as a stitch pattern for the body of a garment, not the edges.  It would also make a nice reversible scarf.

The back of the Lace Rib is also very attractive and has a severe vertical effect.  I think it too would make a good garment body pattern.

Knotted Rib–A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker, p.48.

Pink yarn is Plymouth Galway, worsted 100% wool.  Used a size US 3 needle (3.25 mm) and obtained a washed, unstretched gauge of 35 sts and 32 rows per 4 inches/10 cm.

Fabric is dense and stable.  The pattern is as easy as a plain 2 x 2 rib.

The back of the Knotted Rib stitch pattern looks much like a normal 2×2 rib, except the area between the knit sts is narrower and firmer.  This would be great on a kid’s sweater.  It won’t wear out.

I learn so much doing these swatches for The Walker Treasury Project.  I encourage you to join us.  Details available by clicking the button on the right side of this blog.

More later–