PROJECT – NO-MATH PULLOVER
A couple of failed start-ups ago, I was sitting in the cafeteria withthe company’sresident theoretical mathemetician. I was penciling out a new knitting project, and he was watching me shape the pieces and place repeats. I did a few simple calculations, ratios, slopes, division – nothing terribly complex, but he was impressed at the amount of math that was going into the design. So impressed in fact that he scoffed at the idea of pre-numerate people (meaning people who had no formal math education) coming up with complex patterns.
Now you and I both know that some prettyinvolved knitting went on for quite a while before modern math education took hold.Dr. Math and Igot into a discussion on the subject, and the outcome was I bet him that I could come up with a complex knitted pattern that was constructed using only simple counting. He took the bet. With a bottle of good single-malt Scotch on the line, I was off and running.
I decided to go further. I’d make a sweater that required no swatching, or gauge measurement to boot. I remembered an idea I had seen in a vintage Anna magazine, put out some time in the 1960s. I decided to give the method a try.
I fished some rustic Maine style wool out of my stash (Have Ewe Any Wool – I’d bought it at a Gore Place Sheep Festival the previous year). I knew from prior experience I’d be using a US #9 on this wool. I happened to have a set of 18-inch European 5.5mm DPNs, but I could have worked this on circs. Here’s the logic of my project.
Apologies that some lines have been lost in the above diagram due to file re-sizing, but they aren’t dead-vital.
First in the round I cast on enough stitches to make the neck ribbing (Step 1). I worked them for about an inch and a half. Then counting from the point where I cast on as center front, I determined and marked the center back. Once that was marked, I counted out the center ofeach shoulder. I eyeballed the number of stitches I should use for the shoulder strip and knit out two epaulette-shaped pieces (Step 2), leaving the rest of the stitches on holders. I kept going,trying on the piece until I had a strip that was as wide as my shoulders. I now had something that looked like a bell-pull with a hole in the middle.
I put the live stitches at the ends of the epaulettes onto holders, and began the center front bib area. Starting around a hand-span’s worth of stitches in from the end of the epaulette, I picked up stitches along the sides of my strips until I got to the collar. There I knit across the stitches I had reserved, and picked up the same number of stitches on the other side of the collar. I knit down until I had a hanging piece that was about2 inches below my arm, placing the stitches on a holder instead of binding them off. I repeated the process for the back (Step 3).
Once the bib areas were done, I added width so that the upper body was wide enough to fit me shoulder to shoulder. I picked up the first “wing” along the side of the bib area, then worked across the live shoulder strip stitches, and picking up along the side of the second bib piece. I put these stitches on holders instead of binding off (Step 4).
After the upper body was done, I folded the piece along the shoulder line. I picked up stitches along the side of the first wing, worked across the live center bib panel stitches, then picked up along the side of the second wing. At this point I decided I needed to add more length, so I knit about another three inches in the flat before joining the front and back and switching over to working in the round. I continued to knit the body down in the round, working until it was the desired length, ending with a ribbing (Step 5).
I now had a sweater body with two holes for arms. I picked up along the edge of the arm opening along the little bit of body I just added before joining, then worked across the live wing stitches, finishing by picking up the remaining few stitches along the side of the other bit of late-added body. I worked the sleeve out to the cuff, doing double decreases at the bottom edge every other row until the sleeve looked narrow enough for comfort. I continued working it out as a tube until it was long enough (yes, I know the diagram shows decreases evenly to the cuff. Shoot me.). I ended off with some cuff ribbing. (Step 6)
Here’s the result:
I admit on beyond the method described above, I tarted the thing up a bit with some cables and texture stitches:
I used the Twin Leaf Panel from Walker’s Second Treasury (p. 235) for the centermost panel in the bib area. I framed it with an unusual eccentric chain link cable that featured an openwork detail. I thought I got that one from Stanfield’s New Knitting Stitch Library, but I can’t find it in there right now. I also used the same cable on the epaulette strip, continuing the design down the sleeve to the cuff. Plain 2×2 cables (mirrored left and right) frames the fancy-work areas on both the bib and sleeves. I did like the openwork detail of the eccentric cable, so I decided to introduce more openwork into the piece by using YO K2tog or SSK YO combos instead of the more traditional purl ground on which most cables float. That’s what makes the curious spines between the patterned panels. The rest of the piece is done in seed stitch.
So there you have it. I produced a visually complex piece using only simple counting. To determine centers, I counted in from the ends rather than divide. To place cables knowing their stitch count widths, I counted out from my center markers, and placed additional markers to indicate where they went. I did no other math of any sort, and did no swatching or gauge measurements either.
Did I win my bet? Of course. To be fair, it WAS a sucker’s bet.
The Scotch is now long gone and the sweater is now a bit stretched out, but the Bowmore canister lives on as a trophy, happily holding needles here on my desk at wiseNeedle Central.
WORKING REPORT – WATERSPUN PONCHO
The Tiny One’s poncho continues apace. I only have had about an hour or so to knit each evening, and as you can see, I’m almost done. Dark blue is the last body stripe. The remaining plum is reserved for edging and mistake-fixing.
It does turn out that the neckline is way too wide. 100 stitches as cast-on would have worked for an adult, but for a tall Kindergartener (size 8), it’s too big. If I were to begin again, I’d probably go with 80 stitches, tops. Instead of ripping everything back and starting again, or unpicking the top and knitting in the opposite direction, I’m going to fudge it and in doing so produce a detail that (I hope) will look planned.
My goal is to preservethe currentrolledcollar as a welt detail,but fillin the loose-fitting neckline with a contrasting texture. Using plum, I’m going to pick up stitches in the purl bumps of the last row of thecurrent rolled collar, just before I switched from plum to the teal and began the body increases:
Using these stitches, I’ll work at least six rows of K1, P1 ribbing. Where the "corners" of the piece happen, I’ll use a double decrease, keeping the centermost stitch of the decrease on top: slip two together as if to knit, return both slipped stitches to left hand needle, k3 tog.
With luck, I’ll have just enough of the plum left over to do an I-cord edging. If not, I’ll rip back any completed I-cord and buy another skein. Even if the dye lots don’t match (which they probably won’t as I got the plum months ago), between the striping and the large visual distance between bits of the same color at neck and hem any differences will not be noticeable.
The moral of the story is – if you decide perfection isn’t a prime goal, make sure you have coping strategies on hand that turn any shortcomings into design features.
GADGET – WPI TOOL; PARROT SWEATER
Private eMails brought three questions yesterday, which I answer in turn.
What’s "parrot-color"?
The easiest way to explain the parrot thing is to show you this pullover:
It’s a flash sweater knit from Rainbow Mills Matisse.Their "Navajo Panted Sky"kit included six 4-ounce skeins of Matisse, and produced a one-size-fits-many sweater that’s about 48 inches around.Mine is about as big as the materials provided allow, and I wear a tall 18. Note that thewidth of the piece isfixed so that thecolor repeats flash. Smaller peoplecan make thebody and sleevesshorter, but end up with a baggier fit than I get.
I foundthis10+-year oldkit for buried in a stack of other things at my local yarn store three years ago. Although I’ve seen Matisse listed on a couple of on-line sources lately, and know some of their other kits are still around, I hadn’t seenthis particular packagefor quite a while.I lusted after the thing because I’ve got a magpie’s taste in color, and because I’d done a couple of flash-type pieces before: the one worn by The Tiny One in yesterday’s post (Grandma’s Little Darling,a Rainbow Mills kit of unfortunate name), Flash (my own noodling); and my Typeset Tee (a modified flash piece, also original).
I enjoyed this piece immensely. At this giant gauge (well, giant for me, anyway) it went very quickly. I finished it in about a week. The single-ply construction Aran weightMerino is particularly soft. Even though I rarely wear even the softest of wools next to my skin I am comfortablewith only a cami or tee underneath. Of course the tradeoff for having such a soft wool spun as a single is a certain amount of pilling, but it’s actually quite moderate compared to the pilling I’ve experienced off of Manos.
What’s a WPI Tool?
I know that lots of people – especially spinners and weavers – employ the Wraps Per Inch (WPI) system to describe yarn thickness/weight. I’ve had people recommend that I include fields for it in the yarn review collection. I’ve held off doing so because of an experiment I conducted a while back.
Over the course of a week I took several yarns and a ruler into my local yarn store and asked about fifty people to determine the WPI count for each. I asked most participants to do the test twice. I used a fingering, a sport, a worsted and a bulky yarn. The results were quite disappointing. There was very little consistency among the readings with large variations from person to person, and in some cases from attempt to attempt. Bad data is worse than no data, so based on this lack of consistency and the limited familiarity of the knitting public with the WPI measurement, I decided not to include it in my standard data set. I did however continue to play with the system myself, trying to train my bumbling fingers in The Right Way.
I had absolutely no success at consistent WPI measurement until I found the WPI Tool put out by Nancy’s Knit Knacks. I bought mine within this past month. It’s shown in yesterday’s post – the little stick thing with the notched end. It also is marked off in 1-inch increments and comes with a laminated card that lists the WPI count for various yarn types. It provides a smooth, calibrated surface which is twirled to accumulate the wraps, in contrast toan edged ruler around which the yarn is wound (and apparently, stretched). Using this tool I can finally get consistent, accurate WPI measurements. I still don’t plan on adding WPI as a permanent field in the yarn review collection, but I’m going to add that figure to all future write-ups as part of what I write aboutin the yarn review Comments sections.
So what’s with the endorsements?
For the person who wrote toask if I’d been paid off to post thegadget articles here, please note that I maintain my full independence. On beyond the "no affiliation" disclaimer, I can say that I’veforked overfull retail for every item I’ve described, and have received no compensation or consideration from any pattern writer, yarn or gadget maker, retailer, or wholesaler in connection with anything I have ever said or published about a particular product.
In the interests of full disclosure, I have written patterns that I have sold to publishers including KnitNet, Schaefer Yarns, and Classic Elite, butI have recused myself from reviewing any yarn connected with those sales, and (with theexception of remindingpeople not to bug me for the Seesaw Socks)do not provide references or links to retailers selling them.
BUTTON PUSHING
Thanks to the ingenuity of QueerJoe, there’s now a button for this rag.
I takehis contribution as the highest form of praise and bush slightly; heapcopious thanks upon the sender, and soldier on.
GADGET – IMPROVISED STITCH HOLDERS; GADGET POUCH CONTENTS
We’ve all heard the one about the parentage of invention. More than once, I’ve found myself knitting late at night without the stitch holder I needed, or on the other side of a trip involving air travel, having neglected to pack all the doodads I needed. For some reason stitch holders seem to be the things I most often forget.
Yes, I know I could always just cut a length of my working yarn to serve as a stitch holder, but I prefer not to do that. I either don’t want to crack into another skein, or I don’t want the hassle of figuring out which is the stitch and which is the fastening yarn when time comes to transfer the stitches over. I could also just employ a bit of string, but that would mean that I’d had the forethought to remember some in the first place (and if I had done so, I probably would have remembered the stitch holders, too).
As a result, I’ve pressed all sorts of things into service.
Spare needles are a natural first grab. Stitches can be slipped onto a DPN and secured with a rubber band looped around both ends. Circs can be used as long, dangly stitch holders. But again – if I don’t have my full knitting bag I might not have these to hand. For larger yarns, chopsticks and pencils can also be used instead of DPNs.
Sneaker and shoelaces are good stitch holdersfor large numbers of stitches. The the skinny kind made for kids shoes that still have the reinforcement on the lacing end works especially well. Thread the stitches you need onto the lace, and tie the ends. Plastic lanyard string is also good because it is stiff and easily threaded through stitches, although shoelaces hold knots better.
Safety pins are a natural for small numbers of stitches. The coil-less ones work best, but if I’m without my knittinggadget bag, I’ll use the standard kind. I’ve also used paper clips, twist-ties from plastic bags, and once in a moment of absolute desperation – a hoop-type earring.
But the ultimate improvised solution is making one’s own stitch holders. Store bought holders will always be prettier, and will have nicer ends, but in a pinch late at night when the yarn shop isn’t open, these are viable substitutes. In fact I still have and use some of these I made when I was just starting to knit and had more time than money.
Tomaketwo stitch holdersyou need a wire clothes hanger and a pair of wire snips or cutting pliers (the kind with a cutting jaw), plus a pair of some kind ofbending pliers (the kind with either asmooth end or a ridged end for gripping and bending). The hangers that are too skinny to hold anything heavier than a dress shirt are the ones that cut the easiest. The snipping part might leave a bit of a burr on the cut ends of the wire. Nibbling away at the end with the snips will take off most of it, a file or rasp might be needed if you’ve got a really big burr that bodes to catch on the yarn. Wire hangers being so plentiful, and with each hanger supplying raw material for two holders, if my cuts are rough, I toss the snipped part and just try again. Cut one end a bit longer than the other so that you have ample length to fold over to make the hook that secures the holder. The last sketch below shows the stitch holder seen in perspective, so you can see how that end is bent:
Again, these aren’t perfect, but they’re cheap.
And what’s in the knitting gadgetpouch I (almost) always keep in my knitting bag? Here arethe contents of my best-equipped one:
The mid-size stitch holder next to the needles and pins is one I made myself from a coat hanger.
Airline travel is the main reason for not having this or a similar pouch of goodies in my knitting bag. Rather than poking through the thing and removing the banned pieces, I tossa spare calculator,tape measure, a couple of stitch markers and whatever else I rememberin the bottom of my knitting bag, but leave the tool pouch at home.
Have you other must-have tools you wouldn’t be without on a daily basis? Let us know!
WORKING REPORT – WATERSPUN PONCHO + SHEEPSHEARING DAY
In an effort to use up leftovers, reduce the stash, and find something mindless to do, I’ve hit upon doing a quick poncho for The Tiny One (age two below, but now in Kindergarten):
TheClassic Elite Waterspun I’m using is left over from a swatching/pattern design exercise I did earlier this year. I’ve got seven colors, but onlyabout 80% of a skein of each. It should be enough for a little kid’s poncho. If not, I’ll pick up an additional skein in another color and add another stripe. Before starting thisproject I swatched out my remnantson a US#9 (5.5mm) at 18 st/26rounds = 4 inches (10cm).
I decided to minimize thinking, so I cast on around 100 stitches in the round, did eight rows of stockinette to make a rolled collar, then placed four markers evenly spaced around the piece. I did a M1 increase just after the first stitch and just before the last stitch in each marked group, alternating these increase rounds with plain stockinette rounds. I’m planning on doing just plain old stockinette, using up each color in turn, saving out the plum for last. I’m not taking special care to always end my colors at an increase corner, I’m just knitting until I run out of the old color, then starting a new one. Depending on how big the thing gets, I’ll use the remaining plum to do some kind of simple edging, one or more rows of applied I-cord, or maybe just some rounds of seed stitch to finish. Any of those treatments should tame the bottom edge enough to minimize rolling. No fringes though. Small children, woolen fringes, twigs and leaves can meld themselves into an inseparable glob that I’d rather not deal with come wash day.
I’m doing this poncho using the two-circs method popularized recently for socks. In the photo above, you are seeing the thing sideways, because the needles meet at the shoulders, not the center front and back. The poncho is identical in all dimensions though, so these points are arbitrary, and don’t really matter. Here’s the logic of the thing:
The two ends of Circular #1, shown in teal above,are used to knit the front. #1 **always** stays on the front of the work. The two ends of Circular #2, shown in orange above,are used to knit the back. #2 **always** stays on the back. At no time does the entire piece end up on one circular needle, nor at any time am I working with an end of Circ #1 in one hand andan end of Circ #2 in the other.
One advantage of this method is that the stitches are nice and spread out instead of being jammed onto one needle. I can call the Target Kid over and try the piece on without having to transfer stitches to a piece of string. I can also add another needle or two if the poncho grows too wide to handle with only two needles. While I don’t find this method of special advantage for socks (immodestly, I’d say I’m wicked fast with standard DPNs), I do like it for large pieces knit in the round, and for sleeves.
I’m still not sure if the neck hole is too big or not. It looks o.k. for now, and fits well over my daughter’s head, but I’ve seen ponchos stretch out due to their weight. When the piece is done I’ll check back. I might haveadd a few rounds of K1, P1 rib (with mitered decreases) to tighten up the neckline. If I decide to do so I’ll pick up stitches on the inside at the base of the rolled collar and knit them up from there, leaving the rolled outer edge as a trim detail.
GORE PLACE SHEEPSHEARING FESTIVAL
Hello to everyone I bumped into yesterday at the Sheepshearing festival in Waltham, Massachusetts. Please excuse me for not naming everyone I met, but I am afraid if I try todo so I’ll leave someone out. The sun was bright,andthe air was cool – perfectwool weather. My daughters and I were there from around 10:15 or so to 3:00. If you saw someone in a crayon-bright flash sweater, followed around by a little girl in vertical orange/yellow stripes and a larger pre-teen in blue, that was us. Also apologies that there will be nophotos of the eventhere. I’m not of the pix-as-part-of-the-experience crowd. I never quite remember to stop what I’m doing at the time in order to document it. I had the camera in the backpack, but somehow it never tunneled out from under my day’s purchases, and never saw the light of day.
In spite of the perfect sweater weatherI was disappointed (as usual) to see how greatly Polarfleece wearers outnumbered wool wearers, there were quite a few notable hand knits in the crowd. I saw a couple of really nice mosaic knit cardigans and coats, several hand-done Arans, a couple of Fair Isle style stranded sweaters plus twoScandanavian-style sweaters(one was a Dale Nagano, the otherpossibly from Norsk Strikkedesign), a whole flock of little kid cardigans, hats and pullovers,several very nicely done Intarsia pieces,a long-length coat done entirely in cables, a Surprise-style vest. I also ran into someone buying yarn for a Rogue at one of the yarn booths. There were other great looking hand-knits around (including quite a few pairs of socks). Please forgive me if I neglected to mention yours.
As far as yarn/fiber vendors – there were about eight, including some animal-to-skein outfits outside the main fiber tent and a booth from Minds Eye Yarns, a local Cambridge, MA store catering to spinners, dyers and knitters in with the sheep and llama farm yarn people. One outfit was selling whole fleeces (apparently you could also bid on the fleeces from the Gore Place sheep if you were there at the right time). I got a couple of skeins of rustic styleAran-weight from the At Nick’s Meadow Farm booth. They’ll end up as a felted pillow, similar to the one I described before. I’ve used their wool before, and found it an excellent value for the type. Joie de Vivre Farm,was there too, with some of their Mostly Merino, in fingering, sport, worsted and chunky weights. I did get a little bit of hand-spun fingering weight Merino from the Greenwood Hill booth. I’ve just added the basic info for their yarns to the collection, no reviews yet, though. I’m thinking it may be enough for a couple of simple lace scarves to be lagered away as future gifts.
Verdict? A grand day out in the only glorious day of spring weather we’ll probably get here this year (we don’t usually have many). Meet me there next year!
NEEDLING AND NOODLING
Lo and behold! Yesterday I write about needle gauges, and today I receive a huge package in the mail from a friend of 20 years ago with whom I have recently reconnected.She sent me a stash of needles, collected over the years by a knitting friend of hers:
As you can see, I’ve used the gauge to sort them. On the right are metal needles in pairs. On the left are plastic, wood, Boye Balene andBakelite(?) straights. The center bottom are metal DPNs, and above are Balene and plastic DPNs. At the top are singlets – still useful but not in official pairs. About half of these needles aren’t of modern regulation size, but instead sit between sizes. I’mdelighted to have these, and intend on bestowing most of the plastic ones to local knitting groups that work with people in elder care homes, and giving away some of the metal ones to people I teach. Please don’t write to me in pursuit of the Bakelite or old Balene needles. Iintend on keeping those. (Hi, Ellen! And thanks again!)
Like QueerJoe, I’m in the What’s-Next doldrums. I’ve also got some Chest of Knitting HorrorsTM abandoned projects to revive, but they’re mostly in the storage cubby. I’m fragmented and unfocused on knitting right now because of the attendant hoopla surrounding the house acquisition/move. Starting the project from the blue Wool Crepe is just too much think-work for me to countenance at the moment.
I do have a quantity of Waterspun in assorted colors. There might be enough of it to do a small poncho for the Kindergartener. Maybe a doodle poncho, inspired by QJ’s Rosemary’s Baby blanket. Or maybe something else in concentric garter stripes, but using some narrow mosaic knitting patterns where the stripes meet.
Oops. I’m back into think mode again….
GADGETS – NEEDLE GAUGES
More observations on little things that make a difference.
This time it’s plain old needle gauges. Why would I need a needle gauge when every needle has its size printed on the side? Well, some needles do and some don’t. Most of my double pointed needles aren’t marked. While many of my circular needles ARE marked, the labels are teeny, difficult to read, and in some cases, pretty much illegible.
I also have a collection of needles accumulated by regular retail purchase, from yard sales, and that have been given to me by friends and relatives. Not all of them are labeled with accurate sizes (the needles, not the friends or relatives). The older needles in particular can vary quite a bit from their imprints. I’ve got 7s,big 7s, and little 7s. All are labeled 7, but some are spot on to the modern definition of 7 as 4.5mm, and some are closer to modern 6s(4mm), and some are closer to modern 8s (5mm). I find the differences useful, as sometimes to get perfect gauge I can slide over to one of my in-between needles instead of going down a full modern size. Sometimes the difference isn’t readily perceptible if I’m grabbing needles and just moving along, but using a small 7 DPNs to start off a cuff but following that up by a large 7 circular when the project’s circumference warrants can lead to all sorts of mismatched gauge problems. But in order toeither take advantage of minute gauge differences or avoid them, I need to know how my needles stack up against a set of standardized sizes. That’s where a needle gauge comes in, and why anyone who has accumulated more than a few pairs of DPNs or needles of specious size should consider buying one.
Here’s the most common needle size gauge.The Susan Bates KnitCheckis about 5.5 inches x 3 inches,made from aluminium, and in the US is sold just about everywhere that sells yarn. The little two-inch L-shapedslit for measuring stitch and row gauge is very handy.The KnitCheck isalso very inexpensive:
And here are both sides of my favorite one. One side lists the metric sizes, and the other shows the US and the old BWG (British Wire Gauge) sizes. It’s plastic, is about 2.5 x 3.5 inches and is slighty more expensive, but still only a couple of bucks:
Why do I prefer the European gauge from Inox? Because it’s more accurate and more complete. The Bates gauge rates their own needles, and is US-centric. There isn’t as much difference among different companies’gaugestoday as there was in gauges of10 or more years ago, but some small differences still exist. For example, Bates US #6s measure 4.25mm. Other companies’ #6s measure 4mm.
Bates gauges also skip all the interstitial metric sizes that have no corresponding US size.Those extra holes on the Inox aregreatfor measuring my in-between vintange needles and European-origin needles that don’t exist in the modern US scheme of things.For example 2.5mm is between a US #1 and US #2 (2.25 and 2.75mm respectively). The Inox gauge can parse it correctly, but the Bates gauge can’t. The Inox gauge is also smaller, and fits in the box I keep my DPNs. Of course since most of you probably aren’tusing a Glenfiddich Scotch Whiskey box like I do as prime needle storage, this may not be as much of an consideration. Of course ,the Inox model doesn’t have that stitch/row gauge measurement slit or a nifty little ruler down one edge, but I carry a measuring tape in my knitting gadget bag, soneither absence is a big loss.
My only wish is that both of these needlesizers went down smaller than US #0/2mm. I’ve got a stack of DPNs ranging down to 000000 (.75mm) and a gauge that went down that small would be very helpful (of course Bates needles don’t come that small, so they really have no motivation to do so, but Inox needles do). I know there are a couple of brass gauges available on the Web for around $15 US that go down to 0000, but that seems rather pricey. I keep hoping I’ll find a metric wire gauge in a hardware store that’s a bit more reasonable.
While I’m at it, here are some other pix of needle gauges that I found while web-wandering today. The first two are available mostly in Canada and the UK. The Braille gauge is from anAustralian site that specializes in tools for the visually impaired. And the brass sheep gaugeappears to be a specialty product in limited circulation(Google searching for "knitting needle gauge" sheep should turn up the source).
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WORKING REPORT – SUEDE T DONE!
A few zillion ends later, here’s the result. My Shapely T done from Berroco Suede.
Overall summary – a @*)% to knit, nice effect though. A bit spongy andheavy (meaning weighty) for a summer T, but living in Massachusetts that shouldn’t pose a problem. I sewed up using the yarn itself, in mattress stitch, so the seams are invisible. I used this method to sew on the sleeves (page down the PDF for the English text). Because the yarn is all nylon, I didn’t bother blocking it first. I’ve been warned thatSuededoes stretch a bit in the wash, so I will probably stick to dry cleaning for this piece.
The pattern was excellent. I had no problems using it as a point of departure, tarting it up with additional trim at hems and neckline. I like the lay of the body, the shaping makes it quite comfortable and flattering, but I’m less pleased with the way mysleeves turned out. I did make them longer than the directions specified, but they seem baggy inthis rather un-drapey yarn. Perhaps if I use this pattern again I’ll use one size smaller sleeves. For the record, I knit this following the size 44 directions, so there’s plenty of scope for people who wear larger sizes to use the Shapely T pattern.
What am I going to do next? I’m not sure. I’ve got the Cursed Socks to tuck away, but that’s only a couple of evenings of work. I did indulge myself last week and get some Mountain Mohair Wool Crepein the color "Alpine". It’s listed in the yarn review collection as being a bulky, at 2 stitches per inch for the manufacturer’s gauge, but that seems wildly off. Although my label stats match the entry in the collection, the stuff I havelooks quite fine. Allowing for the boucle texture, it looks like it would knit up at sport or DK weight.
Perhaps the 2spi is a recommendation for lace, as this yarn is most often used for lacy shawls. I plan on making another short-sleeve pullover (I should have just enough if I’m frugal with the drape and keep the sleeves short. I want a more opaque look. I’ll be swatching over the next several days. One thing I want to do is to play with the hand dyed color. (Yes, the blues are as intense as the photo shows.) I’m thinking of knitting something where the colors bounce back and forth in narrow strips, perhaps body-wrapping diagonals or straights.Here are some sources of inspiration from one of my all-time favorite knitting sites (no patterns available):
- Vertical narrow strips
- Another vertical strip, but slightly wider
- Nothing to do with the strip idea, but I love the lines
Off to swatch and stew.
On the house front? We’ve accepted an offer on our place, and have signed the purchase and sale agreement on the new house. We’re on track to move come early summer. And here’s proof that for one brief and shining moment in my life, my desk (wiseNeedle Central) was clean.
EVENT – GORE PLACE SHEEPSHEARING FESTIVAL
I kick myself for not mentioning this earlier, but if you’re in the greater Boston, Massachusetts area tomorrow there’s a mini fiber-festival in Waltham. It’s an annual event that celebrates spring, or as we in this state like to think of it "mud season."
There’s no doubt that in the world of sheep and wool festivals, this one is a speck, a microscopic dot, a merest taste, but it’s local and a fun time out. You can expect a large tent staffed by spinners and dyers from the Boston Area Spinners and Dyers Guild, doing demos for adults and hands-on activities for kids. There’s usually one or two large tents housing various fiber-related retailers, mostly local sheep-to-skein outfits selling their own yarns. Sometimes there are vendors selling fleeces and roving, or dealers taking orders for wheels, looms or other spinning and weaving equipment. Again, in total there are usually fewer than a dozen fiber-related vendors, but that’s enough for me.
There are also live demos of sheep shearing, both with snips and electric clippers; a sheep dog/herding demo; live music and dance performances; wandering puppet players or minstrels; food vendors; historical crafts demos including lacemaking; and a general crafts type fair of around 50 booths selling everything from fudge to picture frames. Inpast festivalsthere have been llama rides for the littlest kids, a rope walk, and as many as 20 yarn sellers, but not every yearfeatures those goodies.
I’ll be there with both kids in tow. I’ll be wearing the loudest parrot-colored flash sweater ever knitted. If you see me (and if you’re there that sweater will be hard to miss) stop and say hello. It’s always nice to put a face to an email address.
One word of warning. It’s been rainy today. If you’re thinking ofstrollers or wheelchairs, be advised that the site is quite hilly, and being unpaved can live up to the "mud season" designation.
String-Or-Nothing 