And a little bit ‘o knitting.. December 1, 2008

Elfin Booties

Now that my head is not quite so wrapped around Freia’s leg issues I’m able to actually get some knitting done. I’ve also come to realise that I appear to be one of those that would have “works well under pressure” on my resume, except it should be modified to say “designs well under pressure”. I’ve been producing new things at a bit of a breakneck speed lately and these are some of my best ideas yet.. I think..

Here they are in reverse order. The lastest completed design is for the Elfin Booties. Cute, eh? I released these last wednesday thinking “meh, we’ll see what happens, it’s a travel day before a giant holiday”. whoa.. I was wrong. This was the MOST successful pattern release ever of mine! I’m shocked, humbled and grateful! They are awfully fun to make, I’ve made a bunch already just in testing the pattern. One thing I learned from this.. almost the hard way, but thankfully not quite… Louet Riverstone yarn felts A LOT faster than Cascade 220. The above are in Cascade 220. Later, I made a pair for myself in the Riverstone and just caught them in time. They fit me perfectly, but 2 minutes longer in the washing machine and they would have been too small.

Bloomies!

Another project that is finished – the knitting part – I still have to write up the pattern – are the Flore Bloomers. I had these with me at Stitches East and just pulled them out of my suitcase for photography for the 2009 Catalog that I’m also working on right now. Pattern will be coming soon, I have one other thing ahead of these but they should be ready soon-ish.. In case you didn’t already figure it out, these are meant to coordinate with my Flore Petal Hat – I have a little sweater in mind too, so stay tuned..

The final project that is making some real headway again is the Ophelia Shrug. This was something I started a while back but then lost my mojo. Well I’m deeply and very much in like with this project again and I can’t wait to get it done so I can wear it! I’m using Noro Silk Garden that I got from Laurie at Greenwich Yarn in the city. I love these colors and I think they work very nicely with the stitch patterns and the design. I have one more sleeve to go and it’s taking all my will power to not work on it this afternoon but to wait until my knitting group tonight. Here’s a taste:

Ophelia close up

Ophelia - big picture

I was concerned about the sizing, it was looking a little big so I was starting to dread undoing it, but I got a little smart and instead of just beginning to unwind, I partially pulled out one needle to try it on, and phew! It was just right. This meant I had to reinsert the needle in a million (well, 250) stitches, but better than reknitting 30 rows of 200+ stitches. I also took some time yesterday and filmed a short tutorial on how to do the stitch pattern particular to this design. Once that is edited I will put it up. So.. pattern is written, I just have to finish up the knitting, double check my numbers and it’s good to go. Yay!

A Rather Serious Hat October 1, 2008

I’ve just posted a new kit colorway of the Flore Hat. A request I’ve heard many times is for a version for a boy. I pointed customers to the Peapod and Bluebell, but I think this new one, Buckeye, may fit the bill (or Bill) too.

I’ve been told the colors make it “serious looking”, hence the title of this post. Yes, I suppose knitting can be serious business after all.

Related to this I’ve added a clip to YouTube on how this hat is made. Check it out..

P.S. In the video I’m wearing the cable sweater that I wrote about in this post. I should probably write up that pattern too one of these days.

Knitting Tip #8 – Increasing and Decreasing – Bramble and Stanley September 12, 2008

OK, so by now you’ve probably figured out my other newest obsession (in addition to swimming) is my new little video cam.

This new tutorial covers the increases and decreases that we used on Bramble and Stanley. Sonya and I went around in circles on this one a bit as I preferred a less visible increase for the designs over the standard kfb that she had used throughout. She caved compromised and allowed me to make the edits to her design. Of course, I picked an invisible increase that is a little less common and it has led to a few confused emails from customers. Hopefully to ease this “pain” this new tutorial will show all the increases and decreases used throughout these two designs. Some of it most of you will already know (k2tog/ssk) but others may be new to you.

Let me know what you think!

Knitting Tip #7 – Tuck Stitch – Ripley Hat

One question I get a lot at trade shows is on how the ridges on the Ripley Hat are created. My standing response is: “I could tell you but.. ” or “Guess you’ll have to buy the pattern!”. But then I of course give a quick explanation.

Hopefully by creating this video I’m not completely shooting myself in the foot here and people will continue to buy this pattern after I post the video! I feel a bit as though I’m giving away a trade secret – although, ultimately, the tuck stitch is really nothing new.. I certainly didn’t invent or unvent it.

So, here’s the new tutorial – enjoy! (Tell me what you think by leaving a comment – or go to the video on YouTube and give me a star or two.. – if you like it!)

Knitting Tip #6 – Knitting a Braided Edge September 7, 2008

In this tutorial you will learn how to do a two-color cast on using the long-tail cast on method, followed by instructions on how to create a knitted braid – I bet it’s easier than you think!
To order the pattern or kit featured in this tutorial, visit http://www.knitwhits.com/online_store/cotton_hats/siena.php (available in 3 colorways).

Let us know what you think of our tutorial!
Happy Knitting,

Tina

Knitting Tip #5 – Working in Color July 17, 2007

I won’t claim to be an expert on color theory or coloring of fibers. I’ve not done much dyeing, other than turning my old Converse Sneakers bright pink and wearable once more, and reviving the odd pair of pants that had lost my interest in whatever shade they were orginally made.

My experience with color comes from my gut. Certain colors feel a certain way together and can create a certain mood. They say that hot blooded Aries people (of which I am one) are drawn to hot red shades, and my house certainly has probably more than it’s fair share of the color. But, I don’t go for Fire Red, I go for Brick, for faded Raspberry, for Terra Cotta. Those colors have more to say to me than a straight bold primary or secondary shade. Then I’ve thrown in smatterings of coffee, black, mustard and navajo white, along with a few other bits and pieces for balance, breathing room and good measure.

When I work on a new design, I’m pushed in one way or another sometimes by color, sometimes by fiber and texture, and often both combined. Rarely if ever do I start out by saying “I’m going to make a ………….. (fill in the blank).” I will go to the studio and stare at my shelves of yarn, piled in crooked boxes or stacked in cones, I start pulling out one yarn and another, and shortly have a sea of color on my studio table. It’s that sea of color that determines what it will become, some colors just “look” more like a scarf or a hat, and yet others a purse or mittens.

Now I’m not out buying yarn on a daily basis; I have worked with the mostly the same shades for the last few years, adding in a few new ones each season, though rarely abandoning the older. When adding in the new shades and hues, I’m seeing whole new relationships and balancing acts appear – bringing life once more to older colors in which I had previously lost interest.

This brings me to my latest project. I have fallen in love with the Louet Gems color palette. The driving force behind these beautiful colors is Trudy Van Stralen, the founder of the company. I have been working with Louet Gems yarn for a short while (it’s the newest addition to the quality yarns I use in the Knitwhits kits), using it solely as a sock yarn for my adult sock kits and my Socks For Tots range. But the palette as a whole tells a story that can’t be told (easily) in smaller items such as these socks. I felt that the palette deserved a bigger stage. Enter “Amelie” the floral crochet throw. This design requires that each motif be made up of 3 colors, 2 of the same hue, but one light, one dark, and a third, preferably unrelated color as the border and contrast. . The Louet colors have a dustyness that I think appeals to the old-fashioned style of this type of design, and a large multicolored throw is the perfect vehicle to show off a good portion of the 36 available shades.

Within the range of available shades are a few primary colors, though the majority of shades are a few steps away. For example, there is a Neptune blue, which is like a light sky, but there is also Aqua. It’s the Aqua that will work here. There is an Indigo, and also a Navy, for this throw it’s the Indigo that will fit, being so dark that it’s almost black.

As I go through these colors there are a few that just don’t quite fit in, for my purposes at least. And yet, given the size of this project – my goal is to make a Queen size coverlet – the more colors I will have to pick from the better.
Since my chosen palette is leaning to an aged, softened look, the simplest way to increase my color range is to work with some of the remaining colors (that would clash too much as they are) and tone them down. I have selected a coral, a forest green and a cherry red to start. Here I will show you the coral. As it is, it’s too intense for my purposes and will visually stand out from the rest and create discord and unbalance. A simple and quick way to age a color is to …. make a cup of tea!

I’ve started here with a loose hank of yarn, (I would recommend starting with a small swatch so you can make a mistake or two before finding your perfect shade), which I’ve placed it in a shallow bowl. In the tea strainer is some Jasmine Tea. No reason for that paricular one, other than I know it contains black tea, it smells good and I have lots of it. It also happens to be quite weak, so I can’t mess it up too quickly. I will add hot water (this is option 1 – depending on your yarn type, option 2 may be the better choice) and let it steep. What I would suggest is keeping a clip of the yarn nearby so you can compare the colors. The longer your yarn will steep, the greater the change in color. Also keep in mind, if you are starting with a lighter shade as I have done here, that it will take the color quicker, or rather, the tea will have a greater effect, more rapidly. Option 2 is to make the tea first in a separate container, let it cool and then soak your yarn. In order to ensure even absorption of the color, be sure the yarn has room to move, and that it is presoaked and wet before placing it in the brew.

I would check the yarn fairly quickly, even within a couple of minutes if all you are seeking is a slight change of hue. However if you have a dark color to begin with, you will want to leave it for longer to see any changes.

Here you can see my Coral color has become a pale salmon. Now this change was fairly rapid, occuring within about 5 minutes in the hot water. Given that the color change is coming from tea, you are effectively staining your yarn, so be careful as if you go too far, you may end up with a result you don’t like. As with knitting itself, this is where a test or swatch will really come in handy and save you a headache later on. Remember, you can always make it darker, but it will be harder to remove the color, so caution is the key.

As for my Forest Green and Cherry Red? The changes were very subtle after a good hour in the tea – I did gradutate to straight up English Breakfast tea in the end for the darker shades, from which I now have a lovely deep leaf green and a rich roasted Red, just the right intensity and hue for my giant project.

(If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the pattern for Amelie, let me know, if there is enough interest I will add it to the Knitwhits site early, I have also included in the pattern information on selecting yarns, determining yarn quantities, color placement and of course instructions for the stitch motif itself)

Knitting Tip #4 – Cabling without a cable needle February 28, 2007

So there it is, the cable sweater you have to have. But oh! all those cables.. Working cables is one of the most satisfying techniques in knitting, but if you have a lot of cables in one panel it can be also be repetitive, and not in the knitting and purling repetitive way that we all love so much about knitting. A simple way to relieve the annoyance of constantly picking up and putting down that cable needle is just to work without one! You do this by (heavens!) dropping your stitches, replacing them on the needle in the crossed position and then working them in either knits or purls as called for in your instructions.

And don’t worry, the dropping part is not as risky as it may sound! The trick is to pick them up in such a way as to minimize the risk of them being lost. In this example I will show you a cable that is worked using 3 sts. The cables are on a purl st background, and the two cable stitches are crossing over one purl stitch, heading to the right.

Step 1: Drop the stitches. Some prefer not to do this, in which case you could work into the back of the purl stitch, then bring your yarn to the front to work the knits. Personally, I find this method a bit cumbersome and sometimes confusing if you are working a variety of cables in multiple directions. As I show you here, you can also just drop all the relevant stitches off your left needle. What I need to do now, is bring the purl stitch to the back of the knits, back on to my left needle, so that I can first work into the cabled knit stitches.

Step 2: Picking them back up again. I certainly don’t want to lose my 3 little stitches here, and the sequence in which I pick them up will either make my life easier or harder. For this cable, I have found is that it works best to pick up the stitches closest to the left needle first, in this case, the two cable knit stitches. I bring forward my right needle and catch those two stitches, then I can reach down with the left needle to re-catch the purl stitch. Next, I will slide the 2 knit cable sts also back onto the left needle, which will put them ahead of the purl stitch, and in the correct position to be worked.

Step 3: Working the cable. Here the stitches are in the correct sequence, with the knit stitches crossing over the purl stitch, and I am now able to knit the first of the two knit cable stitches. (BTW – though it appears as though I’m knitting into the back of my stitch here, that is not necessary. In all likelyhood, I had accidentally twisted the stitch when I picked it up, so rather than re-dropping it, I just went ahead and knitted into the back of the stitch.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is a second example, this time cabling with four stitches. In this cable, I am crossing over again from left to right, but this time, one cable over another.

Step 1: Drop the stitches. As shown here, I have already dropped the four cable stitches and have now picked up the 2 sts closest to my right needle, these will be crossed behind the stitches that I have yet to pick up, which I will do with my right needle as shown in the next image below.
Step 2: Picking them back up again . To do this, I will bring my right needle forward and catch the two loose sts. The next step would be to slide these front stitches back onto the left needle, putting them in the correct place in front of the other cable. They will then be ready to knit.

Step 3: Working the cable. In this image, you can see that I have knitted the first two stitches and will now knit the next two, competing this front cross.

There is really no reason why this technique could not be worked with any size cable, the main thing being of course that you don’t drop your stitches. It may be a little more challenging if you were knitting at a really small gauge, but given good lighting and a bit of bravado you should be able to do this with no trouble at all. So don’t be afraid to give it a go.

These images were taken as I was working on what will be a sweater. At the size I’m making it, I have 14 repeats of four overlapping cables that will eventually form a trellis design. I’m crossing stitches in both directions, left and right, on every other row. This means if I were to use a cable needle I would have to pick it up and put it down some 56 times each cable round. As it is, working without the cable needle has made this project a lot more fun, engaging and satisfying, let alone considerably faster to do.

Knitting Tip #3 – Swatching October 2, 2006

Unless you have a particular fondness for frogging (or unknitting) your hard work, swatching is a must. When you make a swatch you determine many things: how you like the feel of the yarn, how this yarn knits up using particular needles (maybe you find you prefer metal over wood with certain yarns), the stiffness of the yarn based on gauge and how your knitting compares in tension with the manufacturer’s or pattern writer’s suggested gauge are a few reasons. When a designer writes a pattern, they will give you swatch specifications to try to match to make sure you end up with the correct results following their instructions. If your gauge is off, meaning, the you have fewer or more stitches or rows in your swatch, it will throw off all your measurements for your project and you will unhappily end up with a sweater 2 sizes too small or a hat that could fit a Yeti.

Let’s start with what a manufacturer suggests..theoretically, the figures provided for you on a yarn label are what the yarn distributor or manufacturer has determined based on what they perceive to be the “average” knitter. But here’s the rub.. the yarn shown in the picture to the left is distributed by two different companies. Company A says the yarn knits up at 5 sts/1″ on 4mm needles. Company B says the yarn knits up at 5 1/2 sts/1″ on 4mm needles. At least they agree on what needles should be used!

As part of my little swatching experiment, the swatches shown here were all done using the same yarn, and same needles, on the same day. We all cast on 25 sts and worked 20 rows in stockinette stitch. Now even at this quick glance one can already see a difference between each swatch. It should also be noted that between the four of us that made up these swatches, we have well over 100 years of combined knitting experience, so be aware that experience makes no difference in your gauge, you don’t get to a point after X number of years and suddenly your gauge is always correct!

Tess was my first victim willing participant. She came up with 11 sts and 14.5 rows over 2″. She was right in line with Company B’s gauge.

Next was Sue, she worked up the sample at 11.5 sts and 15 rows, so hers was a smidgeon tighter all around.

 

 

 

 

Then Laurie knitted up her swatch which ended up the tightest of all at 12 sts and 16 rows over 2″,

 

 

 

and I did mine last and it landed in between Sue’s and Laurie’s at 12 sts and 15 rows.

 

 

So, what is the significance of all this? Well, imagine the four of us decided to make a raglan sweater and the sizes on the pattern are S, M and L. Let’s say the smallest size has a cast on of 90 sts, the M is 95 sts and the Large 100 sts. We each decide to make the Medium. Skipping on the swatch, we each pick up our 4 mm needles and start knitting away. The medium, according to the pattern, should be 19″ wide at the given gauge of 5 sts and 7 rows/inch (or 20 sts x 28 rows over 4″). We knit away for a few hours and then take a look at what we’ve got.

• Tess measures her sweater front… 17.25 inches wide! That’s 1.75 inches too narrow on the front alone, and will be 3.5 inches too narrow around the whole sweater, and the row count? Well, she’s at 7.25 rows to the inch, a bit on the short side, she probably should have jumped up a needle size to 4.5mm to get the gauge required.
• How about Sue? – She’s getting 5.75 sts/inch, in other words her sweater is even narrower at 16.5″, way smaller than a small, and 5 inches narrower around the whole garment.
• My sweater, well that one is 15″ wide and way on the short side.. the raglan sleeves will never fit in the armholes properly
• And Laurie? Same again. Her sweater is all of 15″ wide. Not good..
• For comparison, let’s add in a fifth imaginary sweater maker who is getting a gauge of 4.5 sts to the inch, their medium sweater is turning out to be 21″ wide, 2 inches wider all around than the large should be. Short of swallowing up those extra inches in the seams, it also turns out the row count is equally loose and the sleeves are looking waaay too long to fit in the armholes on the sweater.

We’ve just learned the hard way that our knitting is not the same tension as the designer’s. That difference of 1 little stitch per inch between Tess’s swatch and Laurie’s and mine makes the difference between a medium adult sweater and a child size sweater (let alone the sleeve fitting issues).

Some things to keep in mind when swatching:

• Make sure you use the same needles you will be using for your project, if you plan to use wood needles, then swatch on wood needles, the slipperyness of the yarn on your needles will affect your tension.
• Likewise, don’t swatch on straight needles only to knit on circulars, your gauge, in general, will be tighter on circular needles.
• Don’t rely completely on the ball band for gauge information, you should also look at yardage and weight of your yarn. If using a different yarn than what is called for in a pattern, the yardage and weight will be a far more accurate comparison between different yarns, keep in mind the fiber content too, wool may shrink, and cotton may stretch.
• Don’t skimp on your swatch, a 4″ square will give you more accurate information than a 2″one, your stitches will “settle in” on a larger swatch and your work will be more even over a longer stretch of knitting.
• Likewise, don’t measure your swatch near your edges, your cast on or your cast off, find a spot where the stitches are the most even, swatches often splay out at the cast on or cast off, and edges can be bumpy and affect your count.
• If there is a stitch pattern, and the designer calls for a swatch using that stitch pattern, then do so, it’s also a great opportunity for you to test run the stitch pattern so it becomes familiar, better to make errors on a swatch than on your garment!
• Don’t swatch in the poor light, or when you are feeling tense. You may want to unwind with some knitting after a long stretch in rush hour traffic, but you are better off taking the dog for a walk first. Grumpy knitters make tight stitches!
• Different yarns behave differently, wool is springy, cotton and silk will stretch, chenille has the mysterious ability to grow overnight. To be sure of your accuracy you will probably want to block your swatch, leave it to dry, and if humidity changes much in your area, you may look at leaving your swatch overnight to see if any further changes occur in your measurements.
• It is fairly easy to adjust needle size up or down to get the stitch gauge; row gauge can often be more challenging. Sometimes it may seem impossible to achieve the magic combination of stitch and row gauge and that these numbers must have been pulled from Mars! If you can get your stitch gauge correct and your row gauge close, then look at possibly making minor pattern adjustments instead of endlessly swatching your life away. Swatching is good thing, but we’re all here for the knitting in the end!

A very special thank you to Tess, Sue and Laurie of Greenwich Yarn for knitting up the swatches for me on Saturday – I hope you enjoyed this little experiment! And Sue – thanks also for the tip on CocoaBella, what a store..

Knitting Tip #2 – Twisted Stitches September 28, 2006

The plague of the twisted stitch.

Let me start by saying there is no right or wrong way to knit, however you do, theoretically, want your stitches to look even and pretty, and you probably want knitting to be fairly easy, smooth and quick.

Stitches that are not twisted have the yarn lying in even rows, smoothly bumping up to, but not crossing over it’s neighbor stitch, or itself. The stitch presents itself to you politely on the needle and is easy to pick up and to work. In stockinette stitch shown to the right you have nice, even little V’s all in tidy rows.

Then you have the twisted stitch, it fights back, you can’t figure out where your needle goes, it’s hard to work each stitch, your knitting is not as nice as what you’ve seen around you and you start asking yourself at what point does knitting become relaxing??

Twisted stitches can happen a few different ways, and there is not one simple answer as to how they occur or how to fix them as we can all knit differently, and may knit differently one project to the next depending on the yarn, the mood, the needles or just for the heck of it. The causes and fixes are related to the following:

• You pick up your stitches through the back loop of the stitch, or
• You pick up your stitches through the front loop of the stitch
• You wrap the yarn counter (anti) clockwise, or
• You wrap the yarn clockwise.

Playing with these four basic elements, (make it eight elements when working alternating knit and purl rows) is what will create or take away the twisted stitch.

Here is an example of stitches that are twisted on every row. To create this, on my right side (knit) rows, I picked up my knit stitches through the front part of the loop and wrapped my yarn clockwise to creat the Knit stitch. With my purl stitches, I picked up again through the front of the loop and wrapped the yarn under my needle and over, also clockwise.

If you compare this to the first picture, you will see that each little V is now crossed at the bottom, instead of just touching. It’s actually not bad looking, but every stitch was a battle and this sample took me about 3 times as long to work up compared to the untwisted version.

When knitting the 1st sample of untwisted rows, I picked up my stitches in the front for both the knit and the purl rows, and wrapped my yarn counter-clockwise.

A lot of knitters, when just learning, will have twisted sts on just one row and untwisted on the following. They are still figuring out what goes where, and are feeling all thumbs, wishing they had a third arm to hold anything as it’s all so confusing.

Here in this 3rd sample is what that can look like, I’ve again picked up my yarn from the front, but on my knit rows I wrapped the yarn counter-clockwise, and for the purl rows, I wrapped it clockwise.

So, you will see that in all these samples, the only thing that has changed is whether I’ve wrapped the yarn clockwise or not.

Habits are easy to make and hard to break, and the direction the yarn is wrapped is a tough one to change for some. In that case, a way to get rid of the twist would be to pick up your stitches through the back part of the loop, instead of the front and see what happens. So on which row do you do that, the knit or the purl? Again, no real right answer, since it ultimately depends on what you are doing that is causing the twist.

If it is an alternate row twist, then the first thing to try would be to pick up the yarn in back on the row that is fighting you back, you will all of a sudden find the stitch wants to be knitted (or purled), and ta-da! in a few rows you will see the twist is gone!

If you are twisting all your stitches on every row, then it will probably be a two-step trial and error process to see what works best for you, comfortwise, to change, whether it be the direction of the wrap, or the way you pick up that stitch from your needle.

Knitting Tip #1 – Smooth Edges September 26, 2006

Smooth Edges 

To keep your edges of your knitting smooth, if the pattern allows for it, slip the first stitch of every row. This means, if you are right handed, that you would transfer the first stitch from your left needle to your right needle without knitting or purling it, and then work the remainder of your row in whatever stitch or pattern as called for in your instructions.

What this in effect does is reduce the amount of yarn used at the end stitch, keeping your work a bit tighter and tidier. Newer knitters often have difficulty with tension in their knitting until they become comfortable enough to get a good smooth rhythm going while they work, and this can often be most apparent in the edges.

The other benefit to slipping that first stitch, particularly for newer knitters, is it can make it easier if you have to go back in later on and sew two edges together, since you will have clearly demarked rows to work with. To the right is a picture of garter stitch worked with a slipped stitch at the beginning of each row. On the other hand, more experienced knitters, whose work (and tension) has become more uniform, may prefer not to slip that first stitch. When assembling a garment, such as setting in the sleeve of a sweater, you will have a nice, tight and even “ladder” to work with when joining pieces with mattress stitch.

Having said all this, if you are working on something using a fuzzy novelty multicolor yarn, no one will ever know the difference if you do or don’t slip that first stitch. However, it’s not a bad habit to learn and store away in your “knitting muscle memory”.