Knit – Page 66 – Fiber Musings

“Kate” finished

On 20 Jul, 2004

We went to the Lair of the Bear last week and I managed to sit down and finally complete “Kate”. “Kate” is in quotes b/c I was too lazy and cheap to send away to Canada for the pattern. I downloaded the free tank pattern from Phildar’s french website. Never mind that I don’t read french–the schematics seemed clear enough. I picked up 4 skeins of cotton-ease from joann’s on the way home from the doctor one day and cast on.

Casting on was an adventure because I plunged right in without thinking things through. (This will be a recurring theme.) Why have side seams in the 2×2 rib?
Why not just knit in the round? So I added up the stitches for the front and back, subtracted 4 stitches (clever me!) for the seam stitches and then added 4 stitches to make a slightly roomier sweater than the sz 38.

Adding 4 stitches works for the 2×2 rib, but then I encountered trouble making the sweater ribbing at the side symmetrical. Aha! I need to add 4 stitches front and back for a total of 8 stitches. Frog the thing and cast on again.

I knitted the first ball while watching movies with my family. Knitting in semi-darkness is hazardous to your knitting. In the light of morning, the sweater looked really limp and pathetic; it screamed to be knit on smaller needles. A second visit to the frog pond.

So I went down 1 size to #5 needles for the ribbing, #6 needles for the body. Note to self, recheck the gauge and adjust the total number of stitches. But I was in a hurry, having already spend too much time fussing already with the number of stitches.

The pix and the rest of the story of woe will have to wait for another lunch break.

Magical Knitting

By Ann

On 1 Jul, 2004

In FO, Knit

I see that Cat Bordhi has put previews to her new book, A Treasury of Magical Knitting, up on the web. So, in celebration, I’m going to show off some of the stuff I made during/after my workshop with her.

Click!

Clockwise from top left:
mobius basket: made during Cat’s workshop;
arrow lace: shown on page 15 of her PDF;
pencil basket: my own design based on her techniques.

Sorry, please don’t ask for patterns. It’s in her book. I haven’t seen the book yet, but if the rest of the book is as fun as the few that I’ve worked on, it’ll be well worth the price. I can’t wait to try the cat bed. Cat is such a neat lady and has wonderful insights to share, you’ll love reading through the book. I’m sure of it. And if you ever have the opportunity to take a workshop with her, do it. You won’t regret it.

I tried my hand at dyeing the Lincoln x Corriedale fleece that I bought earlier. I put the alum directly in with the cutch bath, and let it sit in my crockpot on low for 2+ hours (after it came up to temperature). Then I left the wool to sit in the crockpot until it cooled off. I wanted a dark brown, so I used a little more cutch, as per instructions. But it’s not turning out as dark as I wanted it to be.

At first, I thought it was because I didn’t fully remove all the lanolin in the fleece. So I did the full hot water and lots of soap scour on a small handful of fleece that had already gone through the cold scour earlier. Still no joy. It turned into a light brown. As Martin puts it, the sheep is a dishwater blond. I know I can darken it with an iron dip, but I just don’t want to mess with iron right now. (So far, everything has been food grade.) Perhaps after I get back from my vacation.

I was going to comb this with the dark grey fleece to darken it anyway, so it might not matter. Stay tuned.

Linen Stitch

By Ann

On 7 Jun, 2004

In Knit

Yup. While I was swatching away, I remembered the workshop that I took with Karen Alfke at the Gig Harbor Retreat. Her enthusiasm for the linen stitch was contageous. But, for some reason, I forgot all about it when I got home. But something tickled my brain while I was swatching (I think it was my dread for using itsy bitsy needles), and I casted on with US #7 needles. Wow! I was in love again.

But there was still the issue of striping. Then, I thought, why not break up the striping with alternating rows of 2 different strands? And, voila! There is still some striping, but it’s broken up by the alternate color rows.

You’ll notice that one edge is cleaner than the other. That’s the edge where I’m carrying the yarn over 2 rows. So, while I’m trying to relax the opposite edge, I changed my gauge, and the piece got wider. Although, once I knit on an edging, that slight sloppiness will disappear into the seams and edging.

Back to the linen stitch. Despite using US #7, the fabric is firm. That’s caused by slipping every other stitch. The finished fabric is comparable to the fabric knitted with US #2 in stockinette stitch. Pretty neat, huh?

It’s fast. It’s easy. It uses “big” needles. AND, it breaks up the stripes. I can’t wait to start the vest. But I have to get some of the current works on needles out of the way first.

Random thoughts of a fiber enthusiast - mostly fiber related, sometimes coherent

Category: Knit Page 66 of 88

“Kate” finished

Magical Knitting

Linen Stitch