RETURN FROM LIMBO
I’m back in place after a horrific spate of work-related deadlines, followed hard by a much needed vacation and its attendant flood of post-vacation laundry. We visited with family; took in the warm, sunny, Florida weather (in spite of all the locals shivering in what they perceived to be a cold snap); played golf; ate way too much; watched the kids splash at beach and pool; and tried to stay away from work and eMail.
I even had time to do a little bit of knitting, but I did not bring Older Daughter’s vest with me. I have finished the back and am about half-way through the vest fronts. With just the armhole/neck half left, a fair bit of blocking would be required before I could play with finishing and adding on the trim. Since there is generally not enough room on aircraft for aggressive blocking (or aggression of any sort), I left that project home and took the Galaga hat instead.
As you can see from this one-handed shot, I’m moving through the thing. It’s slow going, with a fair bit of more than two color stranding involved over 9 stitches per inch.
I used a provisional cast-on, then knit a plain gray self-facing about three inches deep (approximately the height of the first two courses of the motifs. Then I worked two purl rows as a turning edge, and the white triangles as the first visible bit that will be seen after the self-facing is fused back into the hat body. I placed two white ships on either side of the hat.
On this side the first course of bug-enemies will be in teal, using the larger bonus ones from the game – one splayed and one flapping. The other side has three, set somewhat skew to the ship. After this course is done, I’ll fuse the facing, then do a decrease and work the next tier. It will also be the larger bonus enemies, but in the other color combo. After that will come another round of decreases, and several tiers of the shorter non-bonus bugs. In between each tier will be another decrease round.
My biggest complication is that I am very short on the colors. I’m using scraps of Frog Tree Alpaca left over from Older Daughter’s rainbow hat and scarf. That’s why the enemies aren’t marching in full continuous rows around the whole hat. It’s also why I’m not working this truly in the round, although the piece is on circs. Yes, the piece is seamless, but I’m muddling my way through a variant combo of stranding and Intarsia in the round. On motif bearing rows, I’m working a knit row across all my stitches. When I reach the end of what would be the round instead of going forward and continuing in knit, I wrap that first stitch, return it to the left hand needle, then turn the work and head back the way I came. When I reach the end of this purl round, I purl the final stitch along with its wrap, wrap the next stitch (on the next needle). Then I return that wrapped stitch to the left hand needle, flip the work over, and head back on the knit side. When I get to the last stitch of the row, I knit it along with its wrap, wrap the next – and so on.
What I’m getting at the joining point is a bit of a thickening that were I working in a lighter color, might be more visible. But in my plain charcoal gray, it’s not very evident. This may not be among the approved methods for working something seamless on circs, but employing both knit and purl rows, but for me and for this project it’s fine.
KHAKI WAISTCOAT – BEGIN AGAIN
First, a celebration of a past project – the 1941 vintage vest redaction I knit for The Resident Male. Pre-season golf is an iffy thing in Massachusetts, but he and some pals went out this weekend past. His new vest came in handy:
I had to take a sanity break last night from my thundering herd of deadlines. I managed to get a whole half-hour’s worth of knitting in before exhaustion triumphed. Just enough to figure out that my piece was too narrow (the point of knitting the back first), and rip back to begin the whole thing again from scratch.
Why?
I discovered that the fabric of my 1940 waistcoat-style vest draws in more than I thought it would, and that to ensure that there will be enough width in the final product for the buttons to close without gapping, I need to tinker a bit with the stitch count, adding a few to the original specifications.
Sometimes swatching just isn’t enough. It wasn’t until I had the entire width of the back on the needles and knit to about 6 inches deep that I was able to get a good feel for the behavior of this particular yarn and its larger gauge in the designated rib pattern. My swatch measured out o.k., but my 6 inch square turned out to be less representational of the final fabric than is the norm. Which isn’t to say swatching is a bad idea. Instead it’s good to remember that changing as many variables as I am doing multiplies risk of ripping back, and if you do such things, you should be prepared for unexpected results.
Since the bulk of the body (front and back) is done in a simple K2, P1 broken rib, I added two ribs (6 stitches) across the back, increasing my cast-on number from 73 to 79. I think I’ll also have to add length. Target daughter is on the tall side, like me. The original dimensions plotted out on her frame look like she’s wearing something intended for her 8-year old sister. I intend to keep a fit on the snug side, and not lengthen the piece more than her height calls for. So all in all, I’ll be preserving the proportions of the original, but scaling it up a bit in all dimensions. Given that the original looks like a size small (33 inch bust and a very short bodied 16 inches collar to waist), and I’m both changing gauges and rewriting the thing to fit a 5’7″ tall size 14, such adaptations should be highly expected.
Now if only I hadn’t ripped out the swatch (I am a frugal swatch yarn re-user) and the back before writing this post. I could have illustrated this with a comparison between the two. Trust me to think from frustration rather than forethought in the middle of this hectic week…
BACK TO THE 1940s AGAIN – WOMAN’S WAISTCOAT
Thank you to everyone for all the suggestions! Elder Daughter has looked them over.
She does want a vest, and not something with a shawl collar. The retro ’70s belted sweater is nice, and something her classmates would wear, but not spot on for Elder Daughter.
Also she has fallen in love with the Tahki Saba yarn. Being a 4 to the inch bulky weight, the mass of additional pockets was not something she wants in this piece. But she does like the idea of lots of pockets with military type buttons, and has filed that away for future Mom-torture.
The Audrey sweater had promise if turned into a vest, but she didn’t like the placement of the cables and the way they ended before the shoulder. She liked the shape of the silver screen cardigan (not a knit pattern), but thought it was a bit overly dramatic for daily wear. She also liked the Lavold pattern Cul de Sac, but it would be difficult to adapt it to the much larger gauge yarn. Besides – that one is on my list to knit someday for ME. However the idea of a waistcoat instead of a horizontal bottom did stick big time.
By seeing everyone’s suggestions, she got the idea that there were other patterns available for browsing on the Web. So she made a sketch of her idea:
and we went looking.
Lo and behold, we found something that is pretty darn close:
This pattern is from a 1940s vintage Jaeger troop knitting leaflet made available by the Victoria and Albert Museum as part of an on-line exhibit on knitting. In addition to the other items from this booklet, there are several more of similar vintage. There’s a link to a contemporary Rowan freebie there, too.
The original was written for worsted weight wool, and is presented in only one size, with a 33 inch measurement around the chest. But doing the math, working at 4 spi rather than 5 should yield a garment close to our target measurements.
Elder Daughter likes the broken rib texture of the original. It should work well with the texture of this particular yarn. BUT she’s still stuck on the idea of the cable running up the front on either side of the button band. I’ll oblige her, but I’ll play with it somewhat. Instead of forming the V by ending off at the neck edge, I think I’ll put the cable immediately next to body edge, moving the decrease point to inside it. The cable should then continue uninterrupted, and the wide ribs of the body should dead-end at the cable as it traverses them. Depending on how much the ribbing draws in, I might also add some kind of under-bust dart, narrowing away one rib at the narrowest point at the waist, then slowly reintroducing it above that point.
So there you have it. Another adaptation of a historical pattern. I’ve swatched and she’s busy casting on for the thing now (I promised her I’d let her work on as much as possible, given the restrictions of matching our gauges). I’ll do the back first and use it to confirm fit. If that goes well, I’ll noodle out the transformed front and go for it.
Oh. Should you wish to knit this one up yourself verbatim from the pattern instructions, you should know that the yarn, notation and needle sizes are true to the historical period. The yarn called for – 8 ounces of “Jaeger Spiral Spun” appears to be a standard worsted. I’d substitute Cascade 220 to get the pattern’s native gauge of 5 stitches and 7 rows per inch. The needles called for – #5 and #9 are old UK sizes. UK #5 is equivalent to 5.5mm, and #9 is equivalent to 3.75mm. Amusingly enough, 5.5mm is a US #9 and 3.75mm is a US #5. So you’ll still need a #5 and a #9, but you’ll need to flip the references to them where they appear.
Another feature of this pattern rarely seen today is that all of the edging bands – the buttonhole band and armhole edging included, are worked separately as strips on the smaller needle, and then seamed onto the finished piece. This is a rather fussy finishing detail that if done neatly makes a significantly more professional looking treatment than does picked up and knit out ribbing. We both like the look and I’ll try to do it properly.
More on this as we get deeper. Again thanks for all the hints!
END OF SQUEAKY; BEGINNING OF VEST
May all your finished objects be received with this kind of joy:
In terms of knitting experience, the Classic Elite Star worked up very quickly. It is a bit hard to knit because of its elastic component. I ended up stretching it as I went along. My stitch gauge was pretty close to target, but my row gauge was off, with more rows per inch than I thought I’d get. The crinkly finished look mostly obscures stitch texture. There’s no point using this for anything much more complex than stockinette or garter stitch. Intarsia type colorwork would work although it would look best with large, clean shapes rather than anything fussy. Stranded colorwork would probably be problematic, because of the uneven appearance of individual stitches, and the gauge complexity of using an elastic yarn evenly in stranding. Still, the yarn was enjoyable to work with. I’d use it again.
I have had very little knitting time over the past two weeks, but 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, I did manage to finish the sleeves of Smaller Daughter’s Squeaky sweater. It’s urchin-baggy, just the way she wanted it, and I had **just** enough yarn to finish. I’ve got a half skein of a couple of the colors left over, but I used every scrap of dark blue, yellow, dark green and light green – which is why that last light green stripe on the shoulders is only half-height. Not only was I out of light green, but the color itself may have been discontinued. It was flat out unavailable from any of my usual sources, so I made do. The sleeves are just long enough. I may have to go back add length to them in future years as target child grows. Or not if this piece ends up being loved to death before it gets outgrown.
I will not be posting this pattern here. After the last post about it I was directed to KnitNet, where this month a similar looking toddler dress is being featured. Since my sweater looks a little bit like it, I’ll avoid stepping their toes. Besides, no one reported being interested anyway.
Larger Daughter is now clamoring for something. Her tastes run more to camo, black, and khaki – far more aggressive than the happy-unicorn-rainbow suite favored by Smaller Daughter. She has combed through my stash, and come up with this:
The Saba is an old Tahki yarn, probably from the late 1990s. It’s a thick/thin single-ply in construction, 100% wool 89 yards per skein. Recommended gauge is 4 stitches per inch on size 9 US. It’s very soft, and if I had to guess (not being sheepy myself), I’d guess that it has a high Merino content, though the type of wool is not marked. I got this lot for free via the local town on-line discussion list. Someone posted that they were putting it out on the curb, available to the first taker. Being just down the street, I zipped over and rescued the bag of 12 skeins steps ahead of the trash truck. 12 skeins is about 1,068 yards total.
The buttons were part of this year’s holiday haul. I ordered two 95-cent lots of assorted shank style military buttons from American Science & Surplus. Between the two lots, I got enough of three different button types/sizes to furnish four sweaters. This particular group of four bears Air Cadets Canada markings and insignia. The others I received had Soviet stars. My guess is that they’ll eventually end up on other sweaters for this same daughter.
What to make with this yarn? A vest has been requested. Something a bit on the long side, with waist shaping, a deep V-neck and (obviously) four buttons. Maybe with a simple cable running up both sides of the button band, and a hem facing on the bottom rather than ribbing at the bottom edge. Final decision on those last details has not been made. Since this yarn is relatively soft and a single, I am expecting it to pill somewhat. I haven’t swatched it yet to determine optimal gauge, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see that it looks better knit a bit tighter than the label directs. I’d hate to totally obscure the thick/thin texture though.
Open invitation: Style pointers for this project from those of tastes and ages similar to Older Daughter would be greatly appreciated, in part because anything I suggest has Mom-Taint attached. She’s far more likely to entertain suggestions from other sources than from me. The constraints are the limited quantity of this yarn, a rather shapely size 14 target currently in high school, four military buttons, and the basic concept of “buttoned vest with a deep V neck.”
Since my broken-field run through the deadline swarm at work is not lessening, I don’t anticipate quick progress on this project. But I’ll try to document some of the interesting bits and decision points as I go along.
WHERE’S STRING?
Deadlines. Evil deadlines have eaten my life.
Some knitting is happening in the small bits of time in between the deadlines. Not much though. The Squeaky Sweater is inching toward completion, although what should have taken just a couple of days has stretched into two weeks; the gray leaf sweater sits in a pile, waiting for final finishing; and the blue Klein bottle hat languishes, waiting for time to do the final grafting.
I long for May, when this spate of chaos abates somewhat. In the mean time, web presence and blogging in general will be sporadic at best, although I’ll try to keep up with answering private mail.
SQUEAKY PROGRESS
The striped pullover in Classic Elite Star progresses. Karen however warns that in her experience Star can bleed in the wash. I’ll take that into consideration and treat it as a hand-washable.
I’ve completed the body and the collar, and am now starting on the sleeves.
I don’t have any more of the navy blue, so I’ve started the cuffs in the darker of the two greens. They’d make an incomprehensible and boring photo right now, all muddled up on a very springy circ, so I’ll spare you that image. The color progression on them will be (more or less) the same, but because they are three inches shorter, they will probably end with the deep green at the top, too. And yes – I did calculate the stripe widths so that the turquoise one that spans the top of the shoulders and that is seamed up the center is the same width as the other stripes after assembly.
The reason I have only one or two skeins of each color is that this mixed bag lot of Star was a thank-you gift from a friend who works at Classic Elite. A couple of summers ago I pitched in to help her complete several sweaters in their fall line when their scheduled finishers couldn’t make the photo shoot deadline. It’s been stash-aging a while. This sweater will probably end up almost all of what I have – 1 skein of yellow, navy, and light green, two skeins each of all the rest. It’s a good thing I started it now rather than wait any longer. Too much longer and the target child would have outgrown the available coverage.
If anyone is interested when I’m done and can incorporate any notes from production, I’ll post the pattern in this one size.
PROBLEMS WITH TRACKBACK
We here at String or Nothing are getting hammered by spam trackback requests. We are turning off the trackback feature in its entirety until this wave of annoyance has passed. Since we get almost no legitimate trackbacks, this shouldn’t be much of an inconvenience to the few readers here. Apologies if it is.
ANCIENT KNITTING BOOKS ON THE WEB
Back to a series started long ago, I present more summaries of out of print knitting-related books. But instead of exhuming these from my local library system, I found the full text of these works on-line via a Google Book Search.
Directions for Knitting Socks and Stockings. Revised, Enlarged and Specially Adapted for use in Elementary Schools, by Mrs. Lewis, printed in London in 1883 is a pamphlet written in response to a bit of British educational legislation, mandating that all girls be required to learn to knit. Aside from pedagogical pedantry in service of this goal, it does provide some interesting bits, although there are no illustrations. Pages 12-14 contain a comprehensive “sock recipe” chart, listing numerical sizes and the numbers of stitches to be cast on, and the number of rows or stitches that compose other sock and stocking features (rib depth, length to heel, heel stitches, length of foot, etc.). This chart however does not present gauge or finished measurements. From the measurements however, it’s pretty clear that gauge is quite small by modern standards, with the smallest boy’s sock size starting off on a 49 stitch circumference, and the largest man’s sock size starting off with a 121 stitch cuff.
Prose directions to accompany the charts begin on page 15. They describe socks with Dutch style heels. I would not recommend this booklet for a modern knitter starting off on his or her first pair of socks because the description style used in the directions is obtuse by today’s standards, although for the time – the instructions are pretty clear. But if you have done a Dutch heel before and are familiar with it’s components and features, you will be able to follow along.
The leaflet goes on to present directions for Muffatees with Thumbs (page 24) – fingerless mittens, but knit flat rather than in the round, and are worked sideways rather than parallel to the bottom edge of the cuff and seamed up the center of the palm. Wrist ribbing is constructed from knit/purl welting. This pattern is a little bit more accessible, although the description of picking up and knitting the thumb is a bit of a stretch. (I’m thinking of quickly trying this pattern out and posting the redaction here if anyone is interested). There’s also a beginner’s scarf knit in the flat, featuring a simple fagoting detail running its length. The booklet finishes with a description of various historical yarns. Names and in-skein weights are given, but aside from an estimate that a certain weight should be ample to produce a pair of socks – no yardage is described.
The Lady’s Assistant for Executing Useful and Fancy Designs in Knitting, Netting and Crochet Work, by Mrs. Gaugain, London, 1847 is one of those Ur books that informed later generations of stitch pattern reference works. I’ve seen it mentioned in bibliographies, and was excited to find it on Google. Sadly, I was very disappointed. Although it is listed as containing over 220 pages, the scan cuts off around page 70 or so, and of the initial 70, quite a few are skewed, truncated, or flat out missing. None of the netting or crochet sections are included in the on-line version. Given the difficult notation and lack of illustrations, I’d need more patience and perseverance than I have to spare tonight to make much headway with the contents.
The Young Ladies’ Journal Complete Guide to the Work-Table: Containing Instruction for Berlin Work, Crochet, Drawn-Thread Work, Embroidery, Knitting, Knotting or Macrame, Lace, Netting, Poonah Painting and Tatting, London 1885. This one is a bit more promising, more along the lines of Weldons Encyclopedia volumes or the illustrated needlework sections of Godey’s Ladies’ Book. The crochet section includes some nicely done illustrations of basic techniques, including a basket pattern I’ve not seen before (p. 12); and excellent illustrated beginners’ guides to Guipre style darned netting. The knitting section is relatively advanced, with descriptions of gauge and its importance. There are a few texture patterns shown – nothing that hasn’t made its way to modern sources; plus counterpane edgings and motifs, stockings, knee-caps, baby shirts and other items. On page 52 theres an interesting shawl, knit using two weights of yarn to produce a honeycomb line effect with lacy infilling. There’s also an unusual welted insertion pattern similar to the pattern shown on the cover of Lewis Knitting Counterpanes, except that in this case there’s no bundling of stitches using wraps ( p. 61).
I also liked the point lace (needle lace) section. The first style shown would be familiar to most people today through the Battenberg lace style, it is rarely illustrated in contemporary works on stitching and needle lace. This book shows various infilling needle lace patterns for use inside of the outlines formed by the loops of purchased woven tape. Other forms of point lace are also shown,
Poonah painting apears to be some sort of stencil work done with enamels and varnishes, applied to both hard surfaces and textiles. I have to admit I wasn’t that interested. More interesting was the macrame and tatting section. This is macrame as in fancy finework fringes – not heavy cording tied into owls or plant hangers. I have used some of the simpler style fringe tying patterns on scarves and knit blankets. They add another layer of complexity to the designs, and look much more finished than do fringes attached and left otherwise untied.
The book finishes up with brief sections on drawn and withdrawn thread embroidery styles and on some of the fancier forms of knotted netting.
FUTURE HAT INVASION?
Yesterday I mentioned that I was working up two new projects. The second is still on the drawing board. While The Resident Male likes his crazed llama herder hat, he’s mentioned that it can be itchy, especially when wet. It’s also a bit tight on him. He’d like another that’s slightly larger, knit from softer wool than the first, but he still really likes the style and shape.
So I was thinking about what I could put on a hat for him, and what colors of sport and fingering I had on hand. I’ve got some small quantity leftovers from the rainbow scarf set. Not much, but enough for accents. Plus I really like the Camelia sport I’ve been using, which is about the same gauge but at my LYS is only available in very staid colors. So I began thinking about what would be mostly background with flashes of bright colors, yet would be guy-wearable. Then I saw the latest issue of Knitty. If someone can put Space Invader graphics on a sock, why not highly colorful Galaga spaceships on a hat?
For those of you born during or after Bush-the-Elder’s administration, Galaga was a very popular coin operated console video game of the Galaxian type – vintage 1981. You can play it here. It has been brought out for X-Box and some hand-helds (even phones!) but it’s not the same. It was also one of The Resident Male’s absolute favorites. (I preferred Tempest, but those vector based graphics wouldn’t chart up well for repro in knitting.)
So I set about graphing out the Galaga galaxy of sprites from screen shots preserved hither and yon. There are three enemies, each shown in two animation phases. One of the enemies repeats in a different color scheme. There’s also a separate sprite for the player’s ship, and a toggle that shows how many more player lives are available. Here’s one of the lower level enemies:
I’m not quite sure how I’ll fit these onto the hat, but I note that in my original, I buried all the decreases in the plain rounds in between the step-type pattern repeats. I had 10 decrease points per decrease round, and that the pattern repeats themselves were based on 10 stitch x 10 row units. Each decrease zone between bandings removed one entire repeat. That’s why I was able to repeat the pattern seamlessly as the hat narrowed.
I changed the rate of decrease as I moved along, narrowing the hat more steeply in the upper area not by increasing the number of decrease points, but by shortening the interval between them. You can see that the lower courses of the design are three pattern units tall, but the uppermost ones are only one unit tall. After that last unit was completed I didn’t have room to continue full design iterations, so I ended off with a solid color top.
My Galaga sprites are nine, thirteen and fifteen units wide, without background framing left and right. So I’m still on the drawing board for this one. Plus I can’t actually begin knitting until I finish my second Klein Bottle hat. Still, I’m armed and ready to begin.
SQUEAKY WHEELS GET SWEATERS
As I finish up the gray leaf pullover, and wander through the midpoint of a second Klein Bottle hat (solid navy, difficult to photograph), I plan my next set of two projects.
The first of these I’ve already begun. It’s a quick pullover for Smaller Daughter who has now outgrown the Regia Crazy Stripes raglan I made her two summers ago. I’ve mentioned her fascination with her favorite toy before.
Squeaky is still with us, but he’s aged somewhat. His original colors are only a dim memory. The strings on his head were surgically reattached after a regrettable incident featuring scissors. His music box long ago gave up trying to play Born Free (a welcome change); and the retractable leg that triggered the play no longer draws back into the body. His shiny black nose was chipped back to its pink undercoat after being inadvertently slammed by in a closing car door. He’s going bald all over. More suspicious stains than I care to remember have added to his decoration. But he still is a source of comfort and inspiration.
Smaller daughter wants yet another striped Squeaky sweater. I had some Classic Elite Star stashed away, a skein or two in each of a bunch of crayon colors. It’s a cotton bound with lycra. Although the recommended gauge and fiber percentages are a bit different, it’s visually similar to the old Silk City Softball – a nubbly and cozy machine washable cotton boucle that knits up into a soft and interesting texture. In a departure for something I find buried in stash, Star is still in the current CE line. Armed with Sweater Wizard, I’ve noodled up a quick roll neck pullover, knit in the round, sized for a tall 8-year old who wants something with a generous, boxy fit. As you can see, I’m off to a quick start.
Orange, yellow and light green are next (I have no purple on hand). Stars being a lycra-enabled cotton is not necessarily a quick knit though. Care must be taken to always knit it with the same amount of stretch, or gauge can be affected. Also, it’s texture makes counting rows very difficult – something pointed out by the person who posted the Star yarn review. Since my stripes are each 20 rows deep, and it’s a pain to keep track on a separate piece of paper, I’m relying on a little trick to stay on track.
Every five rows (an easily grasped smaller unit), I flip a yarn color change tail to the front or back of the work.
These big “basting stitches” make counting simple – four groups of five and I’m ready to grab the next color. Later when I finish this piece it will be equally simple to tease these ends out to their points of origin and end them off inside.
One caution – this isn’t a yarn that crocks (sheds color on hands and needles). Were it so, I would not use the dangling tails for this purpose. Instead I might use a length of plain white smooth cotton string. That would give me something easy to remove later that would not run the risk of leaving contrasting color marks on the lighter areas.
And Squeaky himself? In a bit of art-imitating-life-imitating-art, the toy that inspired the Regia Crazy Color sweater for the child has his own Regia Crazy Color sweater.
String-Or-Nothing 