April 2006 Archives

After working on this for a week I've decided this design is indeed Heidi (Lisa in Chicago -- thanks for the suggestion!)

I've knit the yoke a couple times now. I've changed gauge twice, and decided to give more ease in the top. Here's where I am now.

I'm really happy so far. I've pinned the sleeves and front top to simulate the size once I knit the neckband. I think it's going to work.

I thought a lot about how to size the yoke, and where to put the band that separates it from the bodice. As you all know I'm busty. I went to the mall and tried on a variety of tops and confirmed what I already knew -- if you're busty, you won't want this yoke to go all the way down to the bottom of your bust (well, unless you want to bring new meaning to yarn ho). So the top hits me about 3/4's down my bust. I think this will be a good length for most people (as your bust decreases, it will outline and accentuate it even more.

Still, I plan to include instructions on how to lengthen/shorten the yoke area. It's a simple adjustment and gets to one of my primary goals for my patterns -- explaining where and how to change fit.

I'm also concerned about making my patterns too complicated and therefore cause someone to feel overwhelmed (can you tell I've been thinking about this a lot?). So I've been working on the layout and structure of the pattern. I want to strike the right balance.

OK, off to knit the neckband!

I know you all warned me about trying to pre-wash more hanks of linen but I had to try. It's really hard to accept defeat.

I'm happy to report complete success this time! If you like the way knitted linen feels but hate that hardness of the yarn here's what you need to do:*

1. The hank comes with 2 ties already on it. Add 3 more to each side, and tie them in a figure 8. To be safe I made each figure 8 into 3 sections instead of 2. 270 yards makes for a think hank and I wanted to make sure this yarn didn't budge.
2. Fill the sink up with warm water, a little laundry detergent and a little fabric softener.
3. Put the hank in the sink and let it sit for a good hour.
4. Drain the water.
5. Fold the hank in half, half again, and then wring. I would never do this with wool but it really helped with the linen.
6. Untwist the hank and rinse until the water runs clear.
7. Repeat the wringing out process.
8. Put it in a lingerie bag. Pin through the bag in 4 inch intervals very close to the hank. Make it so the yarn can't fold onto itself and tangle.
   
9. Drop it in the dryer with a few lint-free items. I used woven pajama bottoms. This step isn't necessary but giving the yarn something else to bang up against will speed up the process.
10. Run it through a few cycles of drying. It took a little more than 2 cycles to dry my hank.
11. Unpin, remove from the bag, and wind.
12. Sit back and enjoy your beautiful and stress-free pre-washed linen yarn.

*Many thanks to Jayme and Patty (blogless) for their comments and suggestions. This method is a combination of ideas they sent to me. Thanks ladies!

This story is entirely my own fault, and I'm sharing this it so you don't make the same mistakes I did.

i seriously doubt you would

It starts out with a comment from Jayme, suggesting I wash the linen hanks so they'll soften before I knit with it.

jayme honey, i'm not blaming you for this...it's all my fault

I tie the hank in 4 places (making it 6 places with the 2 that are already there), drop it in my easy-does-it-can't-felt-to save-my-life front loader. A little detergent, a little fabric softener, and we're off.

i go upstairs, make myself a french bread pizza, and wait for my soft and fluffy hank to finish its bath

An hour later I take out the hank and it's a rumpled mess. It's linen's version of felted. It's twisted and knotted all onto itself. I try to untangle it but wet linen is like velcro and it won't budge. It even makes irksome creeky noises when I pull on it. I put it into a lingerie bag and let the dryer do its thing.

at this point you're probably wondering why i didn't use the bag for the wash cycle. join the club.

Three cycles of drying later and the hank is fluffy, soft, and haloed.

and knotted, kinked and clumpy

It's midnight, and I go to bed, exhausted and annoyed.

Next night, I detangle it enough to get onto the swift and commence unraveling it inch by inch by hand.

2.5 hours later and i'm done. i considered taking a pic but i just didn't have it in me

Equipped with a wonky looking (but detangled) hand-wound ball, I drop it in a tall box on the floor and attach the free end to the winder.

this was blissful for about 20 seconds

And then, the ball exploded into three mini-balls. The ends wound all up onto each other, and it was again a mess.

i swear this happened, and even though i had consumed 4 mai tais earlier that evening, it in no way impaired my perspective. the ball exploded and made three mini balls of hell. they were multiplying.

Another hour gone by (with a TIVOd episode of CSI: Miami in the background) and I was back in business.

i was a ball-winding-madwoman. no one could stop me.

And no one did stop me. But something did. It was at this moment that the 2/3rds of a center-pull-ball-in-progress did the only thing it could do to thwart me.

It flew off the winder. In majestic form. It arced and hit the wall with a thud, trailing a lone strand of yarn still connected to the winder. For a brief moment it was beautiful, almost comet-like.

The fucker committed suicide

Isabella thought this was just grand, and did what any kitty would do to her prey. She pounced on it and squeezed it with all four paws.

I extracted the ball from her and plotted my next move.

I took the suicidal ball and stretched and pulled and got it back on the ball winder. Conscious of my speed, I wound at a slower pace, stopping occasionally to make sure the ball didn't work its way back up the winder.

the yarn was obviously committed and i wasn't taking any chances

A few moments later I emerged victorious.

Behold, a pre-washed, fluffy, soft, drapey and cuddly ball of yarn.

So I thought about it all day yesterday and decided to take Jayme's advice and prewash a skein.

Here's the before and after

It definitely fluffed up. When it came out of the washing machine it was all stuck to itself and I was sure I was going to have to throw it away. But after it dried most of the tangles worked out easily.

I will have to wind it my hand first, and then via the winder. Too many of the strands have stuck to each other and I haven't been able to hand-comb them out very easily.

Has anyone else tried pre-washing linen yarn? After I took it out of the washer I realized I should have put it in a lingerie bag to help with the tangles. I'll give that a try on my next hank.

The New Blog

So, whaddya think? I've had this domain for over two years. Sheer laziness prevented me from doing it sooner.

I've checked it in IE and Firefox and I know that Firefox is missing the gray bar on the right. Otherwise things are looking good. I still need to update the other templates and I'll do that over the next week. I know the comments page needs to be able to take bigger images. Let me know if the main template is behaving badly for you. I'm particularly concerned about Mac browsers because I don't have access to a Mac.

Gallery

I still have to decide what kind of gallery I want to implement. Any suggestions? I could do a separate page on this site, I could add an FO category and just link to that page, or setup a Flickr account. Any others? What have you seen that you really liked?

Updating Your Feeds

If you use newsgator or bloglines you can click the buttons below.

When I was in grade school I made a lot of my clothing. I think I started around the sixth grade. I don't even remember a time when I didn't know how to sew, or even learning how to sew.

My mom is an excellent seamstress and she was thrilled to have a willing pupil. My older sister wanted no part of it, so she really loved teaching me the details that make all the difference -- how a little tuck here or a gentle curve there makes all the difference.

You know how we knitters struggle with sewing in our first set-in sleeve? Seamstresses do too. I couldn't properly sew a set-in sleeve until the eighth grade. Until then, my mom had to do all my sleeves for me. I think the time I finally got it all on my own was bittersweet for her -- I had progressed, but it also meant I didn't need her quite as much. Mom, I have news for you...I still need you and I'm 34!

You might be wondering why I'm sharing all of this with you. Well, it gets to the essence of why I knit, how my knitting has evolved, and where I want to go with it.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how knitting patterns are created, the lines they have, and the technical details that make them work. All those years of sewing have helped me understand things like what a sleeve should look like, or how to use short rows to get that perfect fit.

And what this is leading up to is this. I've decided to take the plunge and design a few patterns.

Am I nervous? You bet. But if I don't try this I'll always wonder what I might have been able to do. Worst case, I'll have myself a few really well-fitting tops.

So here's my first design. She's yet unnamed.

Drape is important for this design in order to get a nice fluid line from the empire waist. And, with its wide neck and short sleeves, it's definitely for the warm weather. So, I'm using Euroflax Linen.

The swatch has gone through one round of washing and drying. The "yarn" starts out feeling like string. Twine, even. But after it gets washed it softens and blooms and makes a lightweight, drapey fabric.

The 2 strands on the right show the difference -- the top is before-washing and the bottom is after. The after shot shows you just what happens. It gets fluffier, develops a bit of a white halo, and the plies come together to make a single strand of yarn.

Knitting with this yarn takes a leap of faith. Fitting for my first design, no?

Thank you all for the wonderful comments on Somewhat Cowl!

Several people left comments asking for more details on the short rows that I inserted in the shoulders. I'll share with you what I did, and what I think you'll need to do for yourself.

The point I want to stress is that you must do this by trying it on your own body. Shoulder width, drape and stretch of yarn and armhole depth will all play a part in how many short rows you need.

Here's an updated version of the illustration I presented in my last post.

This illustration shows you how SC's shoulders fit me after doing the yoke. The end of the yoke came out at a soft angle rather than a harsh 90 degrees.

After looking at SC on my body in the mirror, I decided I need about 1.5 inches total length added in the center of the sleeve, tapering out to nothing at the edges.

So, here's what I did, starting with the first row of the sleeve after knitting the yoke (let's assume a gauge of 6 spi):

Row 1: Pickup and knit stitches at armhole, and then around the sleeve until 15% of the sleeve stitches from the center top of the sleeve are knit. So, if the sleeve had a total of 100 stitches, knit 15 stitches past the center top of the sleeve. Wrap and turn.
Row 2: Purl 29, wrap and turn.
Row 3: Knit 35, wrap and turn (picking up and knitting wrap when you come to it).
Row 4: Purl 41, wrap and turn (picking up and knitting wrap when you come to it).

Keep following the above, going an extra 6 stitches (1 inch) past the last row's short row until a total of 1.5 inches of short rows have been knit.

Once they've been knit, start knitting all sleeve stitches in the round. For short sleeves on SC, this means knit an inch of sleeve in stockinette before switching to 2x2 rib.

added later: grumperina left a comment that she also has written up some details on short row shoulders. you can read hers here.

Let me know if this makes sense, or if you think I've left something out. Like so many things in knitting (or just because I'm Italian and like talking with my hands) it would be a lot easier to demonstrate in person than try to get it down on paper.

Can I tell you guys how much I LOVE this sweater! The yarn, the fit, the fact that it got done in 2 weeks. Two Weeks!

Specs

Pattern Somewhat Cowl by Wendy Bernard
Yarn Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed in a fabulous sage with bits of kelly green and roasted pumpkin
Mods Lots!

• Silky Tweed's gauge is 5.5 spi, and the pattern was written for 6 spi. This was an easy mod, I just used cast on numbers for a smaller size. I think the yarn would have knit up at 6 spi as well but with the wool and silk content I didn't want to knit it tighter for fear I'd roast in the thing. With short sleeves I wanted it to breathe.
• I did a much shorter raglan depth (I think it was 9.5 inches measured along the diagonal increase line). If I did it again I'd go even a half inch less. I'm short and I like fitted armholes.
• I started the cowl much earlier because I'm busty and I didn't want to need to wear a tank underneath it.
• I added short rows at the bust. I started them 1/4 of the way in on each side, spaced them an inch apart, and did 6 short rows on each side. This added about an inch of length and made the sweater fall evenly across my bust.
• I added waist shaping. Just an inch in on all sides.
• I lengthened the body ribbing to 4 inches so the body would end exactly where I wanted it to end. Gotta love top-down for that.
• I short rowed the sleeves a bit. A classic problem with raglans is that the sleeves come out from the body at a sharp angle, while your shoulders actually curve in a much more graceful way. So, I added a few short rows at the tops of each sleeve. I think it did the trick because there isn't any bunching along the shoulders.

  
  

  
  
  


• For the cowl, I reduced all purl 2's to purl 1's at the bottom of the cowl and at each point where the cowl meets the sleeves. I did this by following the directions as written for 1.5 inches, then decreasing in the places I mentioned, and knitting for another 1.5 inches. Then I increased all the purl 1's back up to purl 2's. This encourages the cowl to fold.


• I decided I liked the cowl better folded out. No change to the pattern, it's just more comfortable to me. After wearing it for a day I've decided to sew the cowl down at the bottom of the U. My seatbelt kept catching it and it started to pucker up (you can see it in the pic above).

Thoughts on the Yarn

I love this yarn. After having worn it for a whole day I can tell you that while it does have wool and silk in it that it really lets you breathe too. Two non-knitters complimented me on the sweater (without knowing it was handknit) and they both commented on how cool the coloring was. The yarn has a lot of depth.

The one "feature" this yarn has is that the ribs flatten out. It's probably to low amount of wool in proportion to the cotton and silk. It works well for this design, but I wouldn't use it for something that requires cinched ribbing. I suspect a heavily cabled design would also be wider in this yarn than in a 100% wool. I don't think it would poof up like a wool.

Still, I love this yarn and I will definitely be making more things out of it. The color selection is great and the gauge is versatile.

So yeah, it's still all Saffy all the time.

cardigan fronts always look so tiny to me!

Yarn Thoughts

I've now knit a full ball of yarn (just over 100 yards). They're not kidding when they warn you about the dye coming off on your hands. Look! After I realized how much dye was on my hands I stuck the yarn in a ziploc bag and was careful to watch what it touched. So far so good.

I've heard that denim yarn can be hard on your hands. I haven't experienced any of this yet, but I don't often get wrist or arm pain while knitting. So I'm not sure I'm a great barometer for those kinds of issues.

I was tempted to go with Elann's Den-M-Nit because the price was so good. But since this is my first denim project I thought I'd try Rowan's version first. I got mine on eBay from Jannette's Rare Yarns. At $4 a ball I thought it was worth giving it a try. Even though Jannette's is in the UK it only took a week to arrive (I've ordered from her before and had the same experience). She ships as fast as you pay.

I know this won't be my last Denim experience though. Denim People has so many nice patterns!

Cargo	Delta	Ticking

I've always liked Delta, but Rowan got lazy and only did the pattern in one size. I know why they did it--they didn't want to bother calculating out how to knit those two triangles to meet up properly for multiple sizes. But seriously Rowan...isn't that why I buy a pattern to begin with?

I have 6 unwound hanks plus 4/5ths of a hank that's wound (I only used a little bit to finish the second sleeve).

I love the yarn but I'm done with the green. So, I'll either sell it for $38 including shipping ($34 plus $4 for shipping) if you're in the US, or if you want to trade for another color of Silky Tweed I'd be game for that too. The post that showed the color best for my monitor is this post.

Retail price is $8 a hank, so even with shipping it's still 30% off of retail price.

Email me at savannahchik AT yahoo.com if you're interested.

No, you're not seeing things. I started a new project. And you know what that means, right? Yup, Somewhat Cowl is done. It fits really well and I'll post pics once I get some good shots.

For now, meet Saffy from Rowan Denim People in Nashville--their darkest shade.

I never noticed Saffy until I came across it at Bestitched. Hers is gorgeous and couldn't fit her better. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to make it. The yarn arrived on Friday but I was a good girl and waited until I finished Somewhat Cowl before I even opened up the yarn.

After finishing Somewhat Cowl in two weeks I'm wondering how long it would take to knit Saffy if I gave her the same kind of commitment. Truth be told I doubt it will happen though. While I think the results of monogamous knitting are great, I just don't think I can do it all the time!

Yup, the cowl's done. All I have is a few hours worth of sleeve knitting and this will be totally done!

If all goes well I'll be able to wear it out to dinner tomorrow night.

I never thought that'd be possible two weeks ago when I cast on. Imagine how much I could get done if I was this focused all the time!

I've finished the body ribbing. I ended up doing closer to 4 inches of ribbing just so the body would end exactly where I wanted it to end.

Sunday night I picked up stitches around the cowl -- 208 (yay! divisible by four!) -- and promptly went to bed. That's more stitches than what was on the body.

I now have a couple of inches of cowl ribbing done, and I've made another notable mod. I decreased the ribbing along the back neck as well as the center portion (where you cast on extra stitches to join the two fronts). I decreased approximately 10 stitches in each area, and I did it by changing a purl 2 to a purl 1 in all those places. Click on the left pic below--see how the ribs look like they're getting closer together? That's because they are.

Why did I do this? Well, I've seen a few of the SCs out there that have looked a little floppy, and I was concerned that mine might do that too. So, decreasing the cowl and then increasing it back will give it more support and help the under layer to stay close to my body.

See that pic on the right? That's to show you what a 9.5 inch raglan depth looks like on me. There's still plenty of room. I did cast on about 8 stitches at each underarm to merge the front with the back, but still -- that length is plenty long.

Now, I'm only 5'2" so I'm sure some of you will need longer. My point in showing you this is to realize you don't need that long of a raglan. In fact, raglans that are too long are ill-fitting because they restrict your arm movement (and pull up your sweater more as you raise your arm), and bunch up under your arm when your arm is down because there's extra fabric where you don't need it.

So, if you're doing a raglan try it on often! This is one of the easiest shapes to fit to your own body--just give it a try.

Just as I had hoped, this is a quick knit. Another inch of ribbing and I'll be able to bind off the body.

Next up is the cowl, which has almost as many stitches as the body, but--lucky me--is six inches long instead of three.

Did you notice? This is still the only thing I've worked on since starting it last week. I've been tempted a few times, but there's a meeting this week that I'd love to wear it to--six inches of ribbing to go and all.

I started a new project! Surprised? Of course you're not.

Here's something that will probably surprise you. This is the only project I've worked on since I started it on Friday.

It's the Somewhat Cowl in Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed.

I'm calling it the Somewhat Somewhat Cowl because I've already made a few changes (but you knew I would right?)

I'm getting 5.5 instead of 6 stitches per inch. That was an easy alteration. I just used the cast on numbers for a size smaller and it worked out fine.

I've also shortened the depth of the raglan. For my size it said 11.5 or 12 inches, but that would have been too long. So mine is around 9.5 and it's giving me a much more snug fit.

I also started the cowl only an inch below the armholes because otherwise I'd have no choice but to wear it with a tank underneath and I didn't want to be stuck wearing it that way all the time.

And finally, instead of casting on all the central stitches for the cowl at once, I did it over 6 rows. I don't think this change is going to really do much. If I had thought about it sooner I would have started maybe 2 or even 3 inches above but I didn't. I had wanted to create more of a V look but it didn't happen. I think it will be fine because once the cowl is folded over it will do some of that V anyway.

I don't want to jinx myself but the fit is fabulous so far! Because it's a closer fit I am going to do some short rowing, and that should happen tonight. After that, I may or may not add in waist shaping (not sure if I'll need it since this isn't a loose top anyway). The great thing about top-down is you can make the decision as you knit.

One thing (and I'm writing it here to remind myself as much as to share it with you all) that I did this time was to join the front and back a little before I felt like I should. Meaning, it seemed like it would be a little tight if I joined it when I did, but I did it anyway. I was matching it up against another top I have and the measurements said it was the right time. Still, when I put it on I was afraid it was going to bind under the arms. I trusted the measurements and I'm really happy I did. Lesson learned -- knitting stretches a lot. Yes, I knew that (and I'm sure you all did too) but if you're like me you're so fearful of something being too small that you err on the side of making it too big. This time I decided it'll only be an hour or so of knitting before I'd be able to tell for sure, and that seemed like a reasonable amount of time to give up for a better fitting top.

This pattern has really made the blog rounds, and it's clear why. The repeat is easy to remember, you can make it any size you want, and the scallop-y edging is beautiful.

this one shows the shape best

this one shows the color best

I don't remember hearing much about the bindoff on the shawl, but it works really well. Those scallops need lots of stretch and the bindoff does just that. I may just try it on my next pair of socks, although I'm not sure how it would look against a rib.

Specs (do you really need specs on this one?)

Pattern Leaf Lace Shawl by Evelyn Clark -- distributed by Fiber Trends
Yarn Twinkletoes Sock Yarn. This is not the world's softest yarn. After the first soak the water turned a bright pink, but after rinse the second soak barely turned a color at all. I put in a healthy dose of deep conditioner and that seems to have helped. I'm not particularly sensitive so I don't anticipate it bothering me. Plus, Deb contacted the dyer and she's changing the yarn she's using! This is really good news because she's a great dyer!
Needles Addi Natura 3.75mm (US 5)
Measurements, etc. It's 48 inches wide by 21 inches high in the center. I did 9 repeats (I think). I made it to wear under my coats so I didn't want it any larger. And that was good, because I was ready to cast off by the time I did the last repeat!

MagKnits April is up.

I am very taken by the cabled tank -- Calla. There's an inch of negative in built in, and I quite like the garter stitch straps.

It's got to be one of the nicest non-accessory patterns I've seen in MagKnits.

I just wish they could really get their publishing together. There are several 404 (page not found) errors (including the link to Slick Silk), off-site links that aren't coded properly so they don't work, and mailto links that don't work. These errors would easily be found if someone went through the whole site before launching (and before sending out an announcement email). It would take less than 5 minutes.

I love their model of free publishing, but I think that the haphazardness of their publication damages their credibility.