BOOTIE SHAKING QUESTIONS
Questions, questions…
What’s lucet cord?
Making lucet cord is a craft that goes waaay, way back. The most common form is sort of a two-stitch I-cord, formed on a very graceful looking lyre-like gadget:
There are other forms of lucet that use frames with more prongs, and their output is even more similar to standard I-cord, or spool knitting (aka corking, knitting Nancy, horsereins). If you don’t have access to a talented and obliging woodworker or to a shop that specializes in obscure tools for historical needlework, you can attempt lucet on your fingers, or over the tines of a plastic fork with all but the two outermost prongs broken off.
The image above was shamelessly stolen from Phiala’s String Pages – a site dedicated to various forms of historical braiding and weaving. If you’ve ever lain awake at night wondering how you could distinguish among pieces produced by sprang, naalbinding, and tablet weaving, Phiala has tried them all and provides pictures. Here’s her lucet how-to.
Did you actually finish the pair, or just the one bootie shown?
How long did the pair take?
About as long as it took to watch the third Matrix movie on cable TV. It might have taken less time, but I kept jumping up to photograph my progress.
How much yarn did it take?
It’s hard to say. Very little, to be sure. I started with a partial skein of the green, and used less than half of that. I suspect around only 50-60 yards. Perhaps a bit more. I used to be able to get a pair of booties (without ties) out of what remained from two balls of Socka after I’d finished knitting socks for me.
Why is Rogue taking so long?
Because I don’t have a lot of time each day to knit. I usually only manage an hour or two at most in the evenings, while policing homework or watching TV. Less if other needs press.
I know some of you are writing to me in frustration because you’re trying to follow along with my progress, but there’s a reason why I neither participate in nor initiate knit-alongs. I knit on my main project when I can knit. Sometimes I choose to do other things – like reading, cooking, earning a living, accomplishing quick side projects, adding 150 yarns to the wiseNeedle database, or shoveling out the driveway instead.
Rogue progress tomorrow. I promise. Now I’ve got to go back outside and back to shoveling.
DIGRESSION – ANN KRECKEL’S BABY BOOTIES
A quick side trip. Faced with a need for a last-minute small baby gift, and having at my disposal some orphaned leaf green Dale Baby Wool provided by my pal Kathryn (Thanks, Kathryn!), I do up a quick pair of booties from a time-honored pattern.
Ann Kreckel posted this pattern for Janes Baby Booties to the KnitList in 1995. Her pattern was collected and preserved at Woolworks, itself (in Internet terms) a venerable Ur-source of knitting info – one of the first generation of knitting sites on the Web. Woolworks is now defunct as I update this post in 2021, but bits can still be found on the Internet Archive (aka The Wayback Machine).
Ann’s booties are a version of the classic Stay On Baby Bootie. Her pattern, though all text is clear and easy to follow. I can vouch for the fact that these booties do stay on. In fact of all the booties I knit for my spawn in their larval stages, these were the only ones that ended up being at all practical. (Thank you Ann, wherever you are today.) Other versions of this same basic idea exist, including ones published in the Taunton Press Knitting Tips & Trade Secrets book (1996, reprinting a letter to Threads circa 1991), and the XRX Socks, Socks Socks book (1999). Based on these sources and other hints of similar items, I suspect (but can’t document) that the fundamental design of these booties goes back through “knitting for charity and bazaars” leaflets and oral traditions that probably reach back to at least sometime between 1900 and 1920.
There used to be several websites around that showed pictures of the finished items. The only other one I can find is here, but it doesn’t show the eyelets and ties. I remedy the lack and post some interim progress shots as well.
Knitting the first part – the strip of garter stitch that will become the sole. I used US #0 (2mm) needles to achieve a newborn size. I slipped the first stitch of each row purlwise. This made both counting my progress and picking up easier. When I had 18 edge stitches on both sides, it was time to begin the next step, with no need to sit down and count out 36 actual rows:
Here’s picking up around the outside edge. As you can see, I used a set of five DPNs. That allowed me to assign one needle to each side of the rectangle. Much easier than fiddling with dividing the stitches among fewer needles:
Here’s a photo after the completion of the knit and purl welts that form the sides of the foot box. These can be made a bit wider or narrower. (Hint: If I’m doing the purl welts in a contrasting color yarn, I switch on the LAST KNIT ROW before the new color welt begins):
Yes, at this stage the bootie looks rather like a cozy for a tiny box of facial tissues. Don’t worry. Baby feet are small things with roughly the same proportion as bricks. These WILL fit, in spite of their boxy appearance.
Here’s working the top of the foot. Here I chose to do this part in stockinette. I find it easier to knit or purl the last stitch of the top of the foot along with the first stitch on the side needle by transferring the last stitch over to the appropriate side needle, then working the K2 (or P2) from the side needle.
The next step is the transition to working the ankle. This is the only tricky bit in the booties, and Ann provided a very useful tip to get past it. There is a slight tendency for a hole to form at the indicated spot. I fudge this using Ann’s method. Just before working the last stitch of the first ankle round, I look at the spot I’m approaching – the first stitch of the round I am completing. I slip the loop of the stitch just below that first stitch onto my needle end, and when I work the last stitch of the round, I do it together with that “rescued” loop. Done this way there’s no chance for a little hole to form at the juncture point.
I often part company with Ann’s instructions after the eyelet rib section is completed. Here’s the spot to get playful. In this case I’ve opted for expedience instead of playfulness, and finished my bootie with ten plain rows of stockinette to make a simple roll-top. Sometimes I work a very small knit or crocheted edging onto this live stitch edge, working perpendicular to the established rows and attaching the edging as I go along.
Once the booties are done I work my ties on my Strickmuhle I-cord machine. I used to do the I-cord by hand, but the ties often took as long to knit as did the pair of booties, so I switched. I’ve done braided, crocheted, ribbon-insert, and lucet style cords as ties, too but I like the clunky look of the I-cord the best. In this case I’ve used a bit of yellow Baby Ull left over from a previous project (There are no such things as leftovers, just bits of future projects waiting to be hatched.)
And the finished product, just in time for a spring baby:
The yellow is actually paler and less mustardy than my lousy photography skills can show.
00P BOOK REVIEW – KNITTING STITCHES AND PATTERNS
A minor setback on the Rogue today. The needle got pulled out of the pocket stitches, probably during an energetic pillow fight last night. No great harm done and I can’t apportion blame as I was a participant, but it was more than judicious picking up with a crochet hook could fix. I ended up raveling back a couple of inches to even everything out. I’m now at exactly the same place I was the day before yesterday. So apologies if you came looking for progress. There ain’t none.
Instead I offer up yet another book review of an older off-the-library-shelf book.
Knitting Stitches and Patterns
This book was written by Diana Biggs, copyright 1972, and published by Octopus in London. Biggs presents a basic knitting course, couched entirely in garment patterns. Her directions are clear and well written, and the book has lots of color photographs. After a knitting skill overview section, she shows the obligatory beginners scarf and other intro patterns, but quickly plunges into shaped garments, starting with a sleeveless vest. Fit is tight by today’s standards, and armholes are cut high, but they are shaped armholes for the most part, not dropped shoulder pieces.
If you want to know what people were REALLY wearing circa 1968-1972, this is a pretty good source. It’s not the most fashion forward representative of its era, but the designs are the sort of thing I remember both my mother knitting, and everybody wearing.
The later chapters include more detailed exploration of traditional styles, with simple Arans, yoke-style Fair Isles, and ganseys. There are also lots of relatively plain but well executed raglans, vee-neck striped pullovers, and short sleeved lacy tops. There are a few very classic looking mens sweaters in the mix.
The accessories and kids garments hold up even better than the mens pieces (mostly because the fit of the adult sleeves is too high). All of the kids garments could be knit and worn today. There are a couple of quite charming kid-size ganseys, plus jumper/pinafore style sleeveless dresses, meant to be worn over a blouse, or in a summer cotton – alone (jumpers if you are in the US, pinafores if you are in the UK). There’s even a side trip into knitting with beads; and a side trip into lace knitting, with patterns for a square and a round lace doily. Other features include some socks, home decor items, and some toys including a knit Gollywog doll that may or may not straddle the cultural line between "quaint" and "in questionable taste," depending on your own background.
One final useful feature – in the back of the book is a chart offering up yarn substitution suggestions for knitters in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, and South Africa. While? not all the yarns in the book are included, and most of the substitutes that are mentioned are long gone, having a big range of suitable yarns makes finding modern subs easier.
This two page spread is of an elongated stitch triangular shawl, done in a glittery yarn (Goldfingering, the glittery yarn used is still widely available) and a silky finish yarn; plus a zip-front tunic top or dress, done in a textured two-tone yarn. Please excuse the poor picture quality. I believe this book was originally a soft-cover. The copy I borrowed from my library has been re-bound with one of those heavy and anonymous green cloth library bindings. It’s very tight and I had a lot of trouble trying to get it to lay flat enough to photograph, even with a book weight.
On the whole, if you run across this in a library, take a peek. If you find it in a second hand shop and are partial to pattern books and are in the market for something to help plan a first or second project, it’s well worth the used book price. I see dozens of copies on line for under $5.00 US – some lower than the price of a single sheet pattern. While even for its time it wasn’t as trendy as the various urban knitter/hip knitter beginners pattern collections today, it does offer a set of useful basic patterns, plus more technical meat than any of them.
And I do note that styles ARE cycling back to fitted armholes and away from drop shoulder boxy things…
BOSTON GLOBE ARTICLE ON SOCK KNITTING
No. You can stop asking now.
I’m not the 50 pairs of socks per year customer mentioned yesterday’s article on sock knitting from the Boston Globe.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home/articles/2005/02/24/the_joy_of_socks/
(Link probably good until Saturday 2/26, at which time the Globe will most likely archive it and charge for access.)
ROGUE – QUESTIONS
I’m about an inch up the pocket. Everything’s going well. Not enough progress to photograph, so I thought I’d answer some questions.
Ever establish a second layer by knitting into the front and back of each stitch?
Judy asks if I’ve ever done this. The idea is that on the foundation row, one knits into the front and back of each stitch, then goes back and separates the stitches onto two needles.
I haven’t. I stumbled across the two-strand method early on, and haven’t tried other methods. I’m a bit skeptical of this one though. I suspect that you’d get a line of stressed, slightly open stitches, almost eyelet-like at the base of the two layer part. I don’t have that problem when I knit two strands.
Is the discontinuity in the Little Dragon Skin pattern noticeable?
Yes, I’d have to say it is, but I’m looking for it. I considered ripping back and starting again with the original (and more elegant) Walker version, but I decided that to do so would be being too picky. Target Daughter is pleased, so I’ll keep going.
How do you know the pocket placement is correct because you’re doing it differently than the pattern says?
First off, my placement is within 10% of the original. I doubt the difference will make a major change in the look. Some minor change, yes, but not enough to kill the piece. That I’m able to plow ahead making changes like this is testament to the thoroughness of the explanations and clear logic of the pattern. I can read it and understand the principles underlying why something is being done. If I know why, I also can get a grip on roughly how far I can bend that why, before something breaks.
In this case the pocket is a self contained module. The original presents a stitch count at the pocket’s base, a pattern of decreases that yield a gracefully curved pocket edge, and a final stitch count after the pocket flap is completed. My pocket may have been started on a different number of stitches, but I will retain the slope and pattern of the original decreases, and end up eliminating the same number of stitches as the original. When the time comes to fuse in my left and right pocket, I’ll count in the number of stitches from the center front cardigan opening, mark the body stitch that corresponds to the endmost pocket flap stitch, and fuse accordingly.
Your texture pattern has decreases and increases on it. How are you working that in with the pocket shaping?
This pattern maintains its stitch count on each row. If I eliminate the opportunity for one of those increases to be made, I either have to eliminate its partner decrease, or fudge a substitute increase where it will be inconspicuous. Fudging the increase would mean changing the slope of the pocket shaping, so for the most part, I’m killing decreases in concert with the eliminated increases.
This pattern is pretty easy to eyeball. There are 10 stitches in a half-repeat. Each half of that includes one increase and one decrease. I started the pocket at one of the verticals. I "ate" five stitches by designating one as an edge stitch, and then working k1b, p1, k1b, p1 for my pocket edge ribbing. The insidemost purl is the column on which I am working all the pocket decreases. Since the pocket edge has consumed five stitches, the next five constitute a full increase/decrease segment of my pattern. I worked them until the pocket edge’s march to the garment’s center intruded on the decrease. After that I worked the remainder of that five-stitch quarter-repeat unit in plain stockinette.
Do you always screw around with a pattern instead of knitting it as written?
It depends on what you mean by "screw around." While it’s true I don’t often work from "boughten" patterns, I don’t avoid them on principle. If I see one I really like, I’ll do it. Some I do verbatim. My last several lace projects were like this. I’m still getting the feel of lace, and aside from several counterpane motifs and a couple of simple scarves, I haven’t plunged into designing my own yet.
I do tend to play with garment patterns more. Sometimes I do them as written. More often I play with yarn substitutions, which may or may not bring gauge adjustments, too. I’m also a bit on the tall side of large, so many patterns need some alteration before I’m satisfied with the fit. Other times I’ll like most but not all of a given design, and adjust some of the parts, even swapping in different textures, collar lines, or details.
I admit the multiple injustices I’m doing to Rogue are rather extreme, even for me. The design though is robust enough to survive my abuse.
Will you send me the pattern?
No.
There are few ways more calculated to set me off on an anti-copyright infringement tirade than receiving this question. The pattern is a good one. The price is very reasonable, especially considering the vast amount of hand-holding it contains. It’s easy to find and buy. Heaven knows I’ve provided enough links to it, and it’s so widely talked about that even the most rudimentary searches turn it up.
The author deserves recompense for her time and effort. Copying patterns in this manner is piracy. Beyond just being immoral, it’s flat out illegal.
 |
Be warned. I am considering posting the names and addresses of everyone who makes this request from now on, so that their lack of moral integrity and basic ethics will be made known to the on-line community at large. |
End tirade.
ROGUE – STARTING THE POCKET
As you can see in today’s progress photo, I’ve finished fusing the hem. I’m quite pleased with the result. You can also see that my bottom edge is in fact scalloped, and that the scallops stand up nicely without cupping or curling, and that the hem facing accommodated their shape without any special adjustments.
I’m now up to Row #4 – the row on which one is supposed to begin the kangaroo style pocket. I have to admit that I’m going to depart from the pattern and cheat a little here. I know the pattern calls for working just the pocket front, then going back and picking up stitches at its base to provide the foundation for the back side of the pocket. After both are worked to the same depth, the pocket front and back are fused, and the knitter continues on to work the rest of the body.
A while back I did several Wonderful Wallaby sweaters for assorted nieces and nephews. It’s a raglan pullover that also has a kangaroo pocket in front. Those directions called for something similar – knitting a bunch, then picking up stitches and knitting a second layer (in that case for the pocket front) then fusing the two layers together. I found the picking up to be tedious at best, so I came up with an alternative lazy person’s method.
On the row where the second layer is introduced, I knit with two strands of yarn. Then I take two needles and stitch by stitch carefully slip one loop of each stitch to the needle I will use for my pocket front, and the other loop onto one from which I will end up transferring the stitches back to my original body needle (on small things, I just use the other end of the body circ for this, then shunt the stitches back to the correct "ready to knit" orientation). The yellow arrow indicates the circ that’s carrying just the pocket front stitches. The pink arrow shows the circ that’s carrying the full body.
In this case, because of the split cardigan front, I’ve had to start two more yarn balls – one for each half of the pocket. Again, in order to accommodate the zipper tape, I didn’t work the two stitch thing all the way to the cardigan opening edge. Instead I cast on four "free" stitches left and right for the inside the pocket piece, leaving the outside presentation side smooth and uninterrupted. I am now ready to do the sloped side pocket itself, on this confusingly presented second circ, now hanging off the front of my work.
As for where I introduced the pocket – I fudged. My chosen stitch pattern has strong verticals. I’ve moved the pocket opening over a few stitches so that it lines up with one of those verticals. Since it looks like ten stitches are decreased away during production of the pocket, and my verticals are present every ten stitches, I think I’ll be able to be similarly congruent when I finally work up to the fusing row.
One last note – like the Wallaby, the pocket edge appears to be in garter stitch. Frankly I am not a big fan of garter, and I don’t think it will complement the already busy surface patterning of my mutant Rogue. I’m thinking of doing four stitches left and right in twisted stitch ribbing instead. I’ll play with that idea a bit and see if it works. If not – it’s rip-back time again, and I’ll revert to the original garter pocket edging.
ROGUE – FUSING THE HEM
Here I am again, on Row #10. For me with my non-pattern-compliant stitch and row gauge, that’s the row on which the depth of the hem facing is the same as the depth of the public side. It’s time to unite the hem facing and the body into one unit, eliminating the need to do this bit of finishing seamwork later.
I’ve unzipped the chain of the provisional cast-on and put the newly freed stitches onto the smaller diameter circ I used to work the facing (the gray needle). The work is folded along the turning ridge, and I’m holding it with the hem facing showing. You can see the bit of ended off facing I mentioned yesterday. If you squint at the spot indicated by the arrow you can just make out the little "plateau" of the four terminated stitches. Instead of doing an orthodox bind off, I used a crochet hook to loop the stitches together, looping the last one around the base of the fifth stitch in from the end. While this is a legitimate bind off technique it is rarely used, as it makes an extremely tight, unstretchy edge. (Some buttonholes use this trick for extra firmness). Besides tightness the other reason for doing the bind-off this way was to eliminate the need for extra ends. I’ve got only one working strand here. If I were to do a normal bind-off on the four end stitches, I’d need to introduce a strand with which to do it.
In the photo above, my right hand needle holds four purled stitches of the body, and three stitches in which I’ve purled together a body and a hem facing stitch. (I’ve stretched the thing as much as possible for clarity).
Here I am making one of those purl togethers. The facing is closest to the camera again. If it looks awkward it’s because I’m holding the thing at arm’s length, and The Target Child (official house hand photographer) is standing on a box with the camera perched on my shoulder, giggling. This shot answers another inbox question – as you can see I did NOT work the facing using twisted stitches. I knew I wanted to do this fusing step, and I wanted to eliminate any possible source of biasing.
ROGUE – ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK
This weekend saw some Rogue advances and retreats.
Advances
First, I knit up to the point where I had the same width of finished motif-bearing front as I had stockinette hem facing. Because of the needle size change, this happened on row 10 of the side panel motif chart – a few rows before I was to begin the front pocket, very conveniently – a row without cable crossings on the side panel motif chart. I decided that I wanted to fuse the hem to the body, rather than wait and sew it down later.
This isn’t part of the original pattern. Jenna suggests sewing down the facing in as part of finishing. It would be difficult to write up doing fusing. The "how" is easy (see below). The "when" is harder. When to do it depends on row gauge, which can vary enough to make the answer too subjective for hard and fast directions, especially considering that not everyone would be doing it on the same row, and that exact directions would vary depending on the row used. I can see why she didn’t include it.
Here’s why. For me, fusing the facing posed two potential challenges. The first is common to everyone making either the cardigan mod or the original pullover. The side motif chart includes increases. There are more stitches on Row #10 than there were on Row #1. 21 as opposed to the original 15. If I were to knit one facing stitch with one body stitch, I’d run out of facing stitches, and the hem would be bias skewed.
The second challenge is unique to cardigan mod makers. I’m doing a zip front. If I just work the facing in straight across I won’t be able to encapsulate the lower part of the zipper tape inside the doubled-over hem facing. Not a vital concern to be sure, but one of those finishing/neatness details that are nifty to do (if you remember in time).
So I went about my fusing step. I popped open my provisional cast-on’s crochet chain, and slipped the stitches it released onto my smaller circ, one by one. I folded the piece along my turning row with the purl side on the inside, and began working my body and facing together. Doing this is a lot like working a three-needle bind-off, but without the final bind-off step. Working in my established pattern, I either knit or purled one stitch of the body together with one stitch of the facing, uniting them into one unit. When I got to the side panels I fudged a bit. Because I had more side panel stitches than facing stitches, starting two stitches before each panel, and ending about two after – and trying to be more or less even in my spacing between – I worked one stitch of the panel without a companion stitch from the facing. I did this as many times as I had "leftovers."I am pleased to report that my facing was nicely fused into the main piece, and even in my non-stretchy cotton the facing relaxed nicely, avoiding any puckering or undue flaring out.
Now about leaving room for the zipper tape. I didn’t just begin fusing at the stitch. I left the first and last three stitches of the facing on safety pins, working the corresponding stitches of the body by themselves. I’ll go back later and either end them off with a crochet hook (possibly tacking them down with a couple of sewing stitches), or I’ll sew them down to the zipper tape when I do my final finishing. In either case, I’ve left a slot along the zipper edge to accommodate tape placement.
In other issues, as predicted the Little Dragon Skin pattern did scallop at the bottom edge. The facing accommodated the scallops with no problems, and in fact – I think the non-straight edge looks quite interesting. I like the effect and the treatment because the facing is keeping the scallops from cupping and turning in on themselves. I think I’ll have to play with this hem facing technique on other projects using deeply embossed or deformed edge patterns.
All in all, the fusing step was a rousing success.
Retreat
O.K. Having done all of this, I ripped back the entire thing and started again. I am now up to exactly the same point as I showed in Thursday’s post. I did this because of a size issue.
My gauge was spot on. The measurements were good. However, I forgot to include one vital thing in my ease calculations. Target Daughter is in the cocoon phase of early adolescence – the phase in which one wants to hide in overly large, baggy, anonymous garments. I seem to remember similar sentiments, and that the whole hiding thing ended up being a prelude to a later butterfly phase.
She "tried on" the piece on the pre-pocket row and was shocked that it wasn’t going to be as generously full a fit as her original concept. So being a good maternal-unit, I decided to subscribe to her comfort level, and start again.
This time it’s going to be harder, as the measurements of the garment she’s chosen as a size model combined with my smaller native gauge preclude use of the stitch counts of the largest size of the original Rogue pattern. I’m going to increase the width of the body panels a bit, but not tinker with altering the angles or numbers of the waistline decreases, nor mess with the armhole. The largest armhole should be adequate. If not, there’s always ripping back and trying again.
If anyone HAS done an up-sizing mod on Rogue and has met special concerns with which I am blissfully unaware, I’d greatly greatly appreciate a warning. Finally, this ripping back thing is good for followers of String. On this second go-around I hope to be able to provide photos of the fusing process.
ROGUE AND CENTRAL DOUBLE INCREASE
I admit it. I’m wrong. Not that it happens all that infrequently. Yesterday I answered a question on the KnitList about the central double increase used in the side panel cables of Rogue. I didn’t have my knitting with me, nor was I at my base station, surrounded by my reference library. So of course, I messed up.
Because confusion persists, and I still think there might be a typo in the directions for this stitch as written, I present a walk-through.
The bottoms of the closed loops in the side panel cables are formed by central double increases. The Rogue pattern directions say:
I think the "knit into front and back" should be reversed. The all-knowing Barbara Walker in both her Charted Knitting Designs (aka Walker III) and Fourth Treasury of Knitting Stitches (aka Walker IV), says this (paraphrased from page xxiv of Walker III):
Like a dingbat I also reversed the front/back first step. Here’s how it should go:
First, knit into the back of the stitch (needle shown inserted into back of next stitch, ready to knit):
Then knit into the front of THE SAME stitch (needle shown inserted in the right place, ready to knit):
Here’s the result after doing the two knits described above:
If you look carefully, you can see the vertical bar both sets of directions describe. I’ve called it out with an arrow:
I take my left hand needle tip and grab that bar, then knit into the back of it as well. Bar shown on the left hand needle tip, ready to be knit as a twisted stitch:
The end result: three stitches where there was one before:
The beatings may commence at sundown. Thanks to Rosemary who took me to task on this one.
Edge Scallops
I also received an interesting observation from Melanie, who said she’d tinkered with Dragon Skin and noticed that it made a very pronounced scalloped edge. She wants to know if Little Dragon Skin does this too, and whether or not it will be a problem.
Little Dragon Skin also scallops. (It would make a very nice scarf stitch for this reason). I am hoping that the two-inch hem facing, knit on smaller needles will help tame the scallops. I can’t say for sure that it will. This may end up being one of those bugs that lives on as a design feature.
I’m almost up to the point where I will be unzipping the provisional cast on, putting those stitches on another needle and working them along with my main body stitches. In effect I’ll be fusing my hem facing to eliminate the need for sewing it down later. I should be able to tell at that point if I like the effect.
Should I have taken the time to work all this out in the swatch before casting on for the main piece? Sure. Absolutely. Most sane people would have thought to do so. But I find knitting to be more exciting when you live dangerously, and I don’t mind ripping back.
ROGUE AWAY!
Just spent the morning answering questions over on wiseNeedle, so forgive me for cutting today’s post short. Feel free to ask (or answer) questions on knitting technique over there.
Dragon Skin Rogue
I’m surprised no one noticed the discontinuity in the Little Dragon Skin graph I posted yesterday. It’s not as elegant a pattern as its big brother because there’s a break in the lines formed by the decreases and increases when the chart replicates after Row #11. I haven’t decided if I like it yet. The swatch looked o.k., but I need to see it larger. I may end up ripping back the body if I’m less than pleased.
Here’s the obligatory Wiggly Worm Photo of a piece just aborning. Proof positive that I’ve actually cast on and am working on the thing:
You can see the white string of the provisional cast-on, the ten tons of markers keeping me on track (my new silver ones mark the center back, plus the beginning and end of the two cable detail side panels; the older beaded ones mark the dragon skin repeats). I am about to start one of the side panels, and my cardigan split is on the right, where the extra crocheted chain trails off.
I’m using Almedahls Texas. It’s a 100% cotton in faded denim type colors (50g, 105m, color #30). I’m already fearing running out of the stuff as The little bit you see – about two inches of hem facing plus four rows of the main body) is more than half of the first ball. That’s in spite of having 18 balls – about 2060 yards, which should be a ton. In theory…
I can say that this is NOT my favorite cotton yarn. It’s multi-ply, with the multiple plies only loosely wound together. It splits like crazy, and is about as inelastic as cotton comes. It’s nice and light for a cotton though, and shouldn’t have the leaden drape of many worsted weight cottons. Very soft, too. Between the softness and blue color, I can see why Target Daughter picked it from my stash.
String-Or-Nothing 