The first blue mitten is finished, and it came out nearly perfect! But! (there is always a but, isn't there?) I am now in anxiety as to whether I used more than half the skein of yarn! And if so, whether I will be able to match it in order to finish the second mitten! For some reason when I made the Maine Mittens, I had no worries about having enough yarn, and I ended up with a small ball of yarn left over. But this time I doubt myself. I wanted this one to be a smidge longer. Did I overshoot? Will I end up without enough yarn for the thumb? Or the fingertips? Oh me, oh my.
I wanted to be able to measure the first mitten carefully, and I had noticed on the previous pair that the position of the thumb determines where the mitten sits on your hand. So it is helpful to have the thumb in place before you decide where to start decreasing and end the fingertips. So I did this rather complicated maneuver--I put the body stitches on two dpns with point protectors on both ends, and then I picked out the waste yarn and knit the thumb--but I didn't want to break the yarn from the body of the mitten, si I left that attached and pulled yarn from the opposite end of the skein. It was quite a tangle, with two dpns stiffly holding the fingertips, plus two long circular needles, plus a skein of yarn attached from both ends. But it worked! I did the entire thumb at Starbucks this afternoon, and finished up the hand tonight.
So the Chicago Blues Mittens are halfway done--if only I have enough yarn left. If not, I'll have to run to Michaels and hope to God they have some left. I don't even care if it's the same dye lot. The thumb could be slightly different. Oh please God let the yarn hold out!!
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
On Knitting Mittens
I am really pleased (knock wood) with the way these mittens (well singular, so far--mitten) is working out. It turns out that on closer analysis, the decreases and the positioning of the thumb are very simple to translate into a 2-needle method. In fact, easier than all the fiddling around with 3 needles and uneven numbers of stitches. This way I have 22 stitches on each side, and make the decreases at both ends of both needles. Or at least that's how it looks. I haven't quite gotten there yet. The knitting is nice and tight, as it should be for mittens, but it's also rather slow-paced. However, with some work, I might have mitten 1 done this evening, or tomorrow at the latest. 3 days? Of fairly obsessive knitting? Per mitten? Well that still gives you a pair per week. Heck , that could be 52 pairs a year! More than enough mittens! :-) After I get this done, I will post my revised instructions.
On Sunday I went to Teresa's house for knitting instructions/gathering. Teaching people to knit is really hard, imo. It's hard to see and feel what they're doing unless you just take the needles into your own hands and try it. It's hard to explain things so that 5 or 6 people all get it at the same time. Basically it has to be one on one. That's why the old way of mother to daughter or grandmother to granddaughter is really best. Because daughter can practice for however long she needs to and turn to mother for help at whatever point help becomes necessary. In a lesson setting, you tend not to need much help while you're there, and then as soon as you get home, things fall apart and you need help just when it's not available. I was very impressed with Christine's calm and patient manner. Very soothing.
On Sunday I went to Teresa's house for knitting instructions/gathering. Teaching people to knit is really hard, imo. It's hard to see and feel what they're doing unless you just take the needles into your own hands and try it. It's hard to explain things so that 5 or 6 people all get it at the same time. Basically it has to be one on one. That's why the old way of mother to daughter or grandmother to granddaughter is really best. Because daughter can practice for however long she needs to and turn to mother for help at whatever point help becomes necessary. In a lesson setting, you tend not to need much help while you're there, and then as soon as you get home, things fall apart and you need help just when it's not available. I was very impressed with Christine's calm and patient manner. Very soothing.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Mittens it is!
I think. The mitten yarn more or less threw itself into my lap and begged to be knit up. So I started out using 5 dpns and the pattern from Knitting Pretty, which said to cast on 36 stitches with size 4. I had size 5, but that should make it a bit bigger than their predicted "average woman's hand." For 3 hours, I painstakingly worked on the first cuff, and it was working fine, but when I took a good look at its tininess, I had doubts. I put it on my wrist--hmm, barely.
Then I compared that pattern with the Lillemor's Mittens I have already completed, and saw that those used the same yarn and the same needles and had 44 stitches. (20% bigger? Something like that.) I began to doubt the wisdom of the pattern. I also had cause to doubt whether 22 rounds for the cuff and 25 rounds for the hand made any sense at all. (and why would they tell me how many rounds, thus making me count--which I wasn't doing anyhow--rather than telling me how many inches to knit, so that i could simply measure?
So I lost faith in the pattern entirely, and tore the thing out. And then I decided that this would be a good chance to try a cool new technique. Instead of knitting on 4 needles plus a working needle, why not try the two circular needle method.
http://www.az.com/~andrade/knit/twocirculars.html
So I bought $15 worth of size 5 circulars and set back to work. This time I managed to get working on the inside instead of the outside, and in trying to fix that I got the whole thing would around itself in a mess, but in the end (ie by midnight) I have 2 inches of cuff and the beginning of a stockinette hand of a reasonable size.
But pitfalls loom. I am using the Lillemor pattern, but that is intended to be knit flat in garter stitch, and I am knitting in the round in stockinette. I can make the right adjustments, can't I? I can figure out how to make the decreases come out in the right places even though it talks about the first two stitches on needle 1, the first stitch on needle 2 and the last stitch on needle 3. Right? Well, as a last resort, I can switch to dpns at the end. But this 2-circulars method, while not exactly super smooth, is I think easier than the 3 or 4 dpns. The only real problem is that there's a tangle of twisty cords all over the place (almost as bad as the porcupine of needles), and you do have to stop and re-organize yourself after every 22 stitches. (slide stitches from one end to the other, get the resting needles out of the way). Anyhow, it's intriguing. Mysterious.
But I had always pictured knitting as rather elegant and homey looking, granny rocking in her chair by the fire, two needles smoothly clicking along. And neither dpns nor circular cables fits that image at all. It looks mechanical, wiry, ugly actually. But the mitten is growing and looks lovely.
Isn't the concept mitten just intrinsically appealing? The word is charming, much nicer sounding than glove. And all the feelings of being warm and cozy in winter, snowball fights and hot cocoa afterwards, grandma or mama making loving items to keep you safe and warm--all in one word mitten. And their shape! Who could fail to be charmed by a group of small hand-knit woolen mittens in various earthy tones, or in bright cheery colors? They echo the human hand, one of our most distinctive characteristics. Also, mittens seem to have many of the plusses of hand-knitting socks, but easier. There is still shaping and overall smallness and opportunity for experimentation, but it is done in worsted yarn on size 4 or 5 needles rather than fingering yarn on size 0 or 1.
The Lion brand all-wool felting yarn is extremely pleasant--in the skein it feels a little rough, but in use it feels much smoother somehow. There's a springiness to it and the word buttery keeps coming to my mind. The color is called Ocean Blues, but they must have looked at the ocean at night, because it's much darker than anything ocean-y. It has shades of turquoise, purple, navy blue and black. It reminds me of how trees look against the blackening sky in winter in a cold climate. But what would you call that? Evening Sky Blues maybe.
So on with mittens!
Then I compared that pattern with the Lillemor's Mittens I have already completed, and saw that those used the same yarn and the same needles and had 44 stitches. (20% bigger? Something like that.) I began to doubt the wisdom of the pattern. I also had cause to doubt whether 22 rounds for the cuff and 25 rounds for the hand made any sense at all. (and why would they tell me how many rounds, thus making me count--which I wasn't doing anyhow--rather than telling me how many inches to knit, so that i could simply measure?
So I lost faith in the pattern entirely, and tore the thing out. And then I decided that this would be a good chance to try a cool new technique. Instead of knitting on 4 needles plus a working needle, why not try the two circular needle method.
http://www.az.com/~andrade/knit/twocirculars.html
So I bought $15 worth of size 5 circulars and set back to work. This time I managed to get working on the inside instead of the outside, and in trying to fix that I got the whole thing would around itself in a mess, but in the end (ie by midnight) I have 2 inches of cuff and the beginning of a stockinette hand of a reasonable size.
But pitfalls loom. I am using the Lillemor pattern, but that is intended to be knit flat in garter stitch, and I am knitting in the round in stockinette. I can make the right adjustments, can't I? I can figure out how to make the decreases come out in the right places even though it talks about the first two stitches on needle 1, the first stitch on needle 2 and the last stitch on needle 3. Right? Well, as a last resort, I can switch to dpns at the end. But this 2-circulars method, while not exactly super smooth, is I think easier than the 3 or 4 dpns. The only real problem is that there's a tangle of twisty cords all over the place (almost as bad as the porcupine of needles), and you do have to stop and re-organize yourself after every 22 stitches. (slide stitches from one end to the other, get the resting needles out of the way). Anyhow, it's intriguing. Mysterious.
But I had always pictured knitting as rather elegant and homey looking, granny rocking in her chair by the fire, two needles smoothly clicking along. And neither dpns nor circular cables fits that image at all. It looks mechanical, wiry, ugly actually. But the mitten is growing and looks lovely.
Isn't the concept mitten just intrinsically appealing? The word is charming, much nicer sounding than glove. And all the feelings of being warm and cozy in winter, snowball fights and hot cocoa afterwards, grandma or mama making loving items to keep you safe and warm--all in one word mitten. And their shape! Who could fail to be charmed by a group of small hand-knit woolen mittens in various earthy tones, or in bright cheery colors? They echo the human hand, one of our most distinctive characteristics. Also, mittens seem to have many of the plusses of hand-knitting socks, but easier. There is still shaping and overall smallness and opportunity for experimentation, but it is done in worsted yarn on size 4 or 5 needles rather than fingering yarn on size 0 or 1.
The Lion brand all-wool felting yarn is extremely pleasant--in the skein it feels a little rough, but in use it feels much smoother somehow. There's a springiness to it and the word buttery keeps coming to my mind. The color is called Ocean Blues, but they must have looked at the ocean at night, because it's much darker than anything ocean-y. It has shades of turquoise, purple, navy blue and black. It reminds me of how trees look against the blackening sky in winter in a cold climate. But what would you call that? Evening Sky Blues maybe.
So on with mittens!
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Pride goeth before....
I finished the hat! And it's not half bad. I spent basically all day yesterday knitting, and finished it before dinner. This time, I used a total of 5 dpns instead of 4, and I think it's actually easier. With 4 needles holding the stitches, you have a square instead of a triangle, and the angle between each segment is less, closer to round. And I have a bit more practice and skill, and was more aware of avoiding ladders at the joins, so it worked out ok. I do have some blurps that I need to tidy up before I send it to Karen, but it's actually kind of cute. It stays down over your ears better than the pink one I made for myself, I think.
So after that bit of triumph, I decided to give that cable pockets a whirl. I found that I have Lion Homespun all over the house, and it's not suitable for cables at all, imo. It's artificially lumpy! Made of two strands to create a fake texture. Fine for crocheting afghans, but how would it show off a lovely cable?
So I tried some Lion Jiffy fake mohair that I also had in the house leftover from an afghan project of long ago. Cast on 39 stitches, and tried to simply purl a row. Couldn't do it! Yarn split and pulling in all sorts of strange directions. Hmmm, maybe this yarn doesn't like bamboo needles. Started over on aluminum needles. Better, but still not good. After a couple of rows, I had all sorts of confusion, stitches that weren't quite stitches, things pulling tight and appearing to be on the needle backwards for no good reason, etc. A mess. Ok, so Jiffy is just bad yarn, not meant to be. So I started yet again, using the aluminum needles and a skein of plain winter-white wool. I know this yarn works because I've knit several things form it already. And I actually got as far as the cabling, almost completed one whole set of 10 rows, but by the last row, I once again had weird stitches happening. I think they were caused by switching from knit to purl or vice versa without moving the yarn to the proper side. But by then it was 11 pm, my eyes were tired, and I felt beaten down by yarn. So I tore it all out.
So now what to do? I think I'll wait a bit on the cables! It looks simple enough, but every row is complex: (k6 p2) twice, k7, (p2 k6) twice. Plenty of opportunities to misplace the yarn in all that. And the next row is the same only opposite, and so on. I will give it another try when I am wide awake and in a well-lit space! But I don't think I have the patience for that right now.
So--another pair of mittens? Or baby sweater? And if I do the mittens, should I do the purled ones again? (I know I can do it, at least, having already made 2. And I know where the potential screw-ups lie, having made all of them!) Or should I try for the more traditionally attractive stockinette pair in Knitting Pretty? But my copy hasn't arrived yet. I could go to Borders and cast on and get started using their copy of the book. And then, if it's knit in the round, would this be the place to try out the two-circular needle method? In that case, I need to buy two new circular needles. (Which cost more than a pair of mittens!) Or should I continue to work on my dpn skills?
The baby sweater has no such technical issues. It's just plain flat knitting. Which is both its beauty and its downfall.
Hmmm, challenge or relaxation, which do I want? Have yarn, but what to knit?
So after that bit of triumph, I decided to give that cable pockets a whirl. I found that I have Lion Homespun all over the house, and it's not suitable for cables at all, imo. It's artificially lumpy! Made of two strands to create a fake texture. Fine for crocheting afghans, but how would it show off a lovely cable?
So I tried some Lion Jiffy fake mohair that I also had in the house leftover from an afghan project of long ago. Cast on 39 stitches, and tried to simply purl a row. Couldn't do it! Yarn split and pulling in all sorts of strange directions. Hmmm, maybe this yarn doesn't like bamboo needles. Started over on aluminum needles. Better, but still not good. After a couple of rows, I had all sorts of confusion, stitches that weren't quite stitches, things pulling tight and appearing to be on the needle backwards for no good reason, etc. A mess. Ok, so Jiffy is just bad yarn, not meant to be. So I started yet again, using the aluminum needles and a skein of plain winter-white wool. I know this yarn works because I've knit several things form it already. And I actually got as far as the cabling, almost completed one whole set of 10 rows, but by the last row, I once again had weird stitches happening. I think they were caused by switching from knit to purl or vice versa without moving the yarn to the proper side. But by then it was 11 pm, my eyes were tired, and I felt beaten down by yarn. So I tore it all out.
So now what to do? I think I'll wait a bit on the cables! It looks simple enough, but every row is complex: (k6 p2) twice, k7, (p2 k6) twice. Plenty of opportunities to misplace the yarn in all that. And the next row is the same only opposite, and so on. I will give it another try when I am wide awake and in a well-lit space! But I don't think I have the patience for that right now.
So--another pair of mittens? Or baby sweater? And if I do the mittens, should I do the purled ones again? (I know I can do it, at least, having already made 2. And I know where the potential screw-ups lie, having made all of them!) Or should I try for the more traditionally attractive stockinette pair in Knitting Pretty? But my copy hasn't arrived yet. I could go to Borders and cast on and get started using their copy of the book. And then, if it's knit in the round, would this be the place to try out the two-circular needle method? In that case, I need to buy two new circular needles. (Which cost more than a pair of mittens!) Or should I continue to work on my dpn skills?
The baby sweater has no such technical issues. It's just plain flat knitting. Which is both its beauty and its downfall.
Hmmm, challenge or relaxation, which do I want? Have yarn, but what to knit?
Friday, January 26, 2007
Pain and Pleasure
When my knitting is going well, when the stitches are flowing nicely and lovely fabric is emerging from my needles, it is so pleasant. The feeling of contentment and accomplishment are very fulfilling.
And then I look down and find a hole! A big honking pea sized hole! 4 rows down! How the hell did that get in there? What is going on? It seems like black magic! Suddenly instead of being a source of pleasure, the knitting needles seem like cruel instruments of torture!
Last night I had the hat to the length (7") needed to begin decreasing. I tried it on and looked in the mirror and it seemed like it might actually be a cute and useful hat (though it is kind of thin. I still don't like the texture of this yarn. But it looked ok.) I sat back down ready for the challenge of decreases while watching Ugly Betty and discovered Ugly Hat in my lap! For a moment I thought there was more than one hole, but no, it was just one, but it looked huge. As if a hungry moth took a chunk out of my hat while my back was turned. I tried picking up stitches, thinking maybe I had just dropped a stitch, but that wasn't working. So I bit the bullet and started ripping.
Luckily the stitches were fairly loose, so I had a chance of getting them back on the needles. And I had the bright (I think) idea of going ahead and putting the stitches onto dpns at this point rather than getting them back on the circular needle, re-knitting 4 rows, and then switching to dpns in a few more rows. But will the dpns leave gaps (ladders?) Sigh. I don't know, I'll just have to press on. With a little persistence, I should be able to finish the hat today. Provided I don't do anything else stupid (I must have made a yarn over, creating a damn *buttonhole* in the middle of the hat!) And I think I can knit cables next? Am I delirious?
On the bright side, I created the entire Powerpoint presentation for the Korean Medical Association yesterday, after roughing the ideas out in Word. I thought I would have to get technical assistance from Kristen, but I managed to get the points to fade in smoothly all on my own! Sam looked at it and was very impressed both by the content and the technology (of course, he's probably never seen a Powerpoint presentation before, so it's not hard to impress him.) He's going to attend the presentation with me. I am feeling so relieved now that this is written and ready to go. I know I can easily talk for an hour, and I hope there's something of use to anyone who might be in the audience.
And then I look down and find a hole! A big honking pea sized hole! 4 rows down! How the hell did that get in there? What is going on? It seems like black magic! Suddenly instead of being a source of pleasure, the knitting needles seem like cruel instruments of torture!
Last night I had the hat to the length (7") needed to begin decreasing. I tried it on and looked in the mirror and it seemed like it might actually be a cute and useful hat (though it is kind of thin. I still don't like the texture of this yarn. But it looked ok.) I sat back down ready for the challenge of decreases while watching Ugly Betty and discovered Ugly Hat in my lap! For a moment I thought there was more than one hole, but no, it was just one, but it looked huge. As if a hungry moth took a chunk out of my hat while my back was turned. I tried picking up stitches, thinking maybe I had just dropped a stitch, but that wasn't working. So I bit the bullet and started ripping.
Luckily the stitches were fairly loose, so I had a chance of getting them back on the needles. And I had the bright (I think) idea of going ahead and putting the stitches onto dpns at this point rather than getting them back on the circular needle, re-knitting 4 rows, and then switching to dpns in a few more rows. But will the dpns leave gaps (ladders?) Sigh. I don't know, I'll just have to press on. With a little persistence, I should be able to finish the hat today. Provided I don't do anything else stupid (I must have made a yarn over, creating a damn *buttonhole* in the middle of the hat!) And I think I can knit cables next? Am I delirious?
On the bright side, I created the entire Powerpoint presentation for the Korean Medical Association yesterday, after roughing the ideas out in Word. I thought I would have to get technical assistance from Kristen, but I managed to get the points to fade in smoothly all on my own! Sam looked at it and was very impressed both by the content and the technology (of course, he's probably never seen a Powerpoint presentation before, so it's not hard to impress him.) He's going to attend the presentation with me. I am feeling so relieved now that this is written and ready to go. I know I can easily talk for an hour, and I hope there's something of use to anyone who might be in the audience.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Knitting Dreams
I can't stop planning my next project. I saw a pattern yesterday that looks like the perfect way to try out cable knitting, and Kristen had convinced me that cable knitting is within reach. But her project has a lot of complications--dpns, cables arising from ribbing, decreases, etc. The pattern I now have my eye on is for a shawl with pockets, and the pockets have the cables. The great thing about it is that I could do the pockets first. Then if I survive the cabling, I would just have to knit an extra large scarf and sew the pockets on the ends! And the pattern calls for Lion Brand Homespun, which is cheap and readily available and not bad looking at all. I've used it for crochet before. Plus, there is no fitting to worry about. A shawl will fit, guaranteed!
Incidently, I discovered yesterday that the very tight, hard-to-move stitches were not caused by the needles or the yarn, as I thought, but by my own excessive tension. I had originally been knitting without any wrapping of yarn or anything to create tension, but I read that it was wrong to do that, led to sloppy stitches, so I tried this and that and settled on a double wrap around my middle finger that controls the yarn. But I was pulling it much too tight. I consciously loosened up the tension and the stitches now slide easily and it's moving along more quickly.
I have a Powerpoint to create for a presentation to a Korean medical group about how to improve their English, but all I can think about is knitting! Ho-ho, better go work on the hat!
Incidently, I discovered yesterday that the very tight, hard-to-move stitches were not caused by the needles or the yarn, as I thought, but by my own excessive tension. I had originally been knitting without any wrapping of yarn or anything to create tension, but I read that it was wrong to do that, led to sloppy stitches, so I tried this and that and settled on a double wrap around my middle finger that controls the yarn. But I was pulling it much too tight. I consciously loosened up the tension and the stitches now slide easily and it's moving along more quickly.
I have a Powerpoint to create for a presentation to a Korean medical group about how to improve their English, but all I can think about is knitting! Ho-ho, better go work on the hat!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Two little tricks
This seems like a good place to store these little techniques so that I can find them again, rather than on the back of a receipt where they currently reside.
The first is for smoother joining of the first row in circular knitting. To avoid confusion, make sure the last cast on stitch is in the right hand and the first cast on stitch is in the left hand. Cast on one extra stitch, slip it on to the left hand needle, and then knit the first two stitches together (k2tog). This should make a strong join without a gap.
The second technique is to avoid or hide the jog when new colors are introduced in circular knitting (which is actually a spiral.) Join the new yarn and knit one complete round in the new color. At the start of the second round, lift the right side of the stitch below onto the left needle, then knit it together with the next stitch (again k2tog). This pulls the row below up a bit so it's more in alignment with the next row. Looks pretty good.
The first is for smoother joining of the first row in circular knitting. To avoid confusion, make sure the last cast on stitch is in the right hand and the first cast on stitch is in the left hand. Cast on one extra stitch, slip it on to the left hand needle, and then knit the first two stitches together (k2tog). This should make a strong join without a gap.
The second technique is to avoid or hide the jog when new colors are introduced in circular knitting (which is actually a spiral.) Join the new yarn and knit one complete round in the new color. At the start of the second round, lift the right side of the stitch below onto the left needle, then knit it together with the next stitch (again k2tog). This pulls the row below up a bit so it's more in alignment with the next row. Looks pretty good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)