Persistent Knitter

Congrats to Dorothy P. for winning the Sockotta & Jenny K. for winning the purple fixation.

Happy knitting to you both!

Don’t forget to send me email or leave a comment here if you’d like to win some free sock yarn!  I’ll do the drawing tomorrow.

My friend,Marta, is also running a contest http://www.martaschmarta.blogspot.com/ but you have to write a beatnik poem for her.  Hmm… I’m still considering my entry. The prize for her contest is a copy of her new book!  Which is totally worth writing a silly poem for.  I have it on good authority that she’ll also be doing a book signing at Borders soon…. keep your eyes open!

We all hear about it, we all know we should do it – but knitting a gauge swatch is such a pain!  Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense. I don’t like doing a flat gauge swatch when I’ll be knitting in the round. I don’t do gauge swatches on socks because they are pretty small and it doesn’t usually matter what specific gauge I get as long as the sock fits. It’s easy to try the cuff on when you’ve just started for a sanity check; and if you have to rip, it’s not a huge investment in time.

So what’s the big deal with gauge anyway?

Well, here’s an exapmle of the same pattern, same number of stitches knit with different needles:

Note that there are the same number of repeats of the heart (5) in each sock. 

Sock on the left was knit with 2.75mm needles and has a much looser fabric and is much looser on my leg. You can also see it’s about 1" longer than the sock on the right where the heart ends. (The heel on this one is also done, but ignore that part for sake of this discussion) Gauge here was 6.25 st/inch in the pattern area.

The sock on the right was knit with 2.0mm needles and it’s gauge is 7st/inch in the pattern area. The fabric is much firmer and will definately last longer as a sock.  The fit is much more snug on my leg.

It’s obvious looking at this example that bigger needles = a bigger finished item when using the same pattern, same number of stitches and the same yarn. What is sometimes difficult to grasp is that the gauge on the larger item has a smaller number of stitches per inch.

It really makes sense when you do the math:
60 sts ÷ 6.25 st/inch = 9.6 inches around
60 sts ÷ 7 st/inch = 8.57 inches around

The second sock is a whole inch smaller than the first.  Either sock would fit me, and I can adjust the foot of the sock to be on less stitches (or go down a needle size) for the bigger sock.   With a sweater, you’ll have hundreds of stitches so the impact becomes much greater:
200 sts ÷ 6.25 st/inch = 32.0 inches around
200 sts ÷ 7 st/inch =  28.6 inches around

I left the gauge numbers the same just for example purposes. (you wouldn’t knit a sweater at that tight of a gauge even in this yarn)  The size of our garment is now almost 3.5 inches different! That’s the difference between a nicely shaped sweater fitting just right or being too tight.

The more stitches you cast on, the bigger impact the gauge will have on your finished item.  If you don’t like to do gauge swatches (ahem. Like me!), just keep this in mind and know that it’s better to rip out when you’re only a few inches in than have a sweater that’s too small or too large.  The effort you put into making it right will definately be worth it. In the meantime, just consider that you’re really getting your money’s worth out of the yarn that you end up re-knitting a few times.  :)

Tim asked for my recommendations on the best way to learn to knit. I would strongly suggest you get a friend who knows how to knit to show you the basics, or take a learn-to-knit class at a local yarn shop.  Some books that are great to have on hand no matter your knitting skills:

Knitter’s Handbook : A Comprehensive Guide to the Principles and Techniques of Handknitting

A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker (there are four of this. link is for the first)

Having a knowledgeable friend is invaluable when learning to knit or working on something new.  As for websites (which is really what he asked about). I honestly don’t know. There are plenty of sites out there that have little video clips on how to do particular stitches, but I don’t know of one that would be good for walking a beginner through the steps.  Maybe one of my readers can give some suggestions?

I have used the basic garter stitch dishcloth as a first project for one of my friends when showing them the basics. It’s a useful item, gauge doesn’t matter, and gets done fairly quickly and covers increasing, decreasing, casting on, binding off.  The only thing it doesn’t do is include the purl stitch. The yarn it uses is inexpensive, and I always have a few balls of it in my stash either for myself to use or to pass on to another person.

Whenever someone tells me, ‘Oh I could never do that’ or ‘I tried it once but it just didn’t work’, I remind them that it’s going to be extremely awkward at begin with.  They will feel like they have at least five thumbs and none of them are doing what they should be. They will also knit very very tightly at first.  As they become more confident with the motions, the stitches will loosen up.  All of these things are normal, and if they are willing to give it more than 10 minutes of their time, they might find it’s enjoyable!

Think of all the hours people spend playing Golf! Going to the driving range, playing 9 or 18 holes with their buddies.  I can’t imagine the first time they did it they were very good at it.

I love knitting because it’s a very down-to-earth hobby; compared to my day job (working on computers where an electrical fritz can erase my entire life’s work in a moment) it’s tactile, it’s at my own pace and I produce something tangible.  I also love it because it’s portable; I’m a cross stitcher, quilter, weaver and most recently a spinner.  None of these have quite the portability of knitting.   (Before you spinners get all up in arms about drop spindles, I know .. I know, but I’m just not that good at it yet)

Best of all is when I tell my daughter to go get shoes and socks and she gets the socks I handknit for her.  Talk about warm fuzzy happy feeling!  And with that, back to my knitting :)

I organized (some of) my in progress projects today.  At least the ones I knew about and could get to :)  I have more than I really would admit to myself.   I organized out those projects that I know I’ll get to and will finish in the next 6 months.  Stuff that has been sitting around for more than a year or so, I want to get rid of. I’m tired of looking at them, for whatever reason I don’t want to finish them, and that’s OK.

So I’m proposing a giveaway. You’ll get the yarn and you can do whatever you want to. Finish the sock, rip it out and do something else with it – I don’t really care. :)  Just please help me give this yarn to a good home!

I have two items up for grabs.  First, Enough Sockotta yarn to make a pair of socks.  Both socks are started, and one is at the gusset decreases:

The colors in the pic are pretty true, orangy, reddish with a tiny smattering of green and yellow. The yarn is 50% cotton and 50% wool.  The pattern started is from The Sock Calendar
Pattern is NOT included on this one.  The 2nd sock has the heel flap done (in Eye of Partridge, but doesn’t show up well in this yarn).

The second item up for grabs:

Partial Purple Fixation socks!  The pattern used is Pretty Comfy Socks.  Needles NOT included :) I’ll put the stitches on holders before sending you your fabulous prize. The color in the picture looks more blue than purple, but it’s definately royal purple color.   For those not familiar with Fixation, it’s a cotton yarn with some elastic in it.  Two balls make a pair of socks.

All you need to do to enter is leave a comment with your email address in it and a preference of which one you’d like.  If you definately don’t want one, I won’t put your name in for that drawing, but am hoping that everyone wants free yarn! :)   I’ll pay shipping to you (or hand it to you if you’re part of my local knitting group.

Deadline for entering is midnight MST, Friday  January  28th.

To celebrate not being laid off today – I spent my LYS gift certificate I received for Christmas. (plus a little more)

Yes, I know. A NEEDLE.  And a very practical book. But the Alice Starmore book was very NOT practical. And there are a few designs I might make – most of which are textured patterns, not colourwork patterns.  I would actually like to use some of my yarn stash to do one of these sweaters, but need to spend some time pawing through my stash to see what would work.  Plus the book needs to age in my bookshelf properly first.

A long time ago, I learned to spin yarn.  I learned how, bought a beautiful spinning wheel (the Schacht double treadle). It even has a small lightening bolt on the very front of it. 

The only thing I’ve ever knit from my own handspun was a hat.  I wore it for about a year (only occasionally as it’s super bulky weight yarn and it doesn’t get that cold here that often).  I was never completely pleased with how the top of it looked.  A few weeks ago, I decided that I just had to rip it out and start over. Well, not quite completely start over.  I didn’t rip all the way down to the cast on. I did make the ribbing on it shorter, and wanted to redo the decreases at the top.

I redid them, almost the same way I did the first time.  Gee, big suprise – I wasn’t pleased with it!  So I ripped it out again (not quite as far), and then set it aside for a bit. Not totally aside, as it was out on my kitchen counter without needles in it for a day or five. 

I just finished the hat, for the third time, and VOILA! I love it!

The ribbing is about half what it was before.  I’m still not totally happy that it doesn’t turn where I want it to.  Does anyone have a good way of forcing a turning row when moving from ribbing to stockinette?

But the best part of the hat now is the top:

BEUUUUUUUUUUUUTIFUL!

I’m so pleased.

What did I do different?

The first two times through, I sort of followed the pattern in The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns.  It has you basically knit a tube until it’s long enough and then do a lot of decreases really really fast.  This looked horrible in the big yarn. 

The third (and successful time) through, I started my decreases much sooner. I was doing k6 k2tog around, then a plain row, k5 k2tog around, plain row,  and so on. Until I got to k1 k2 tog. I then switched to smaller needles**, and did k2tog around.  Once I had like 6 stitches or so left, I took the first two stitches and put one over the other (without knitting any) like a decrease, and the same with the next two stitches. Then I had three stitches left (don’t check my math, I’m guestimating) and ran the yarn through all three, securing the tail on the underside of the hat.

** Since I know Joann will ask, when I first made the hat, YES I had to buy needles.  This time around, I didn’t :)

Socks! I have been test knitting a sock pattern for my friend Rebecca.  It was slow going at first because I’ve been getting no sleep and everyone around here has been sick.  This view shows the back side of the sock, and the bottom V is in the heel. It’s a short row heel, and I’m not quite done with the first half of it yet.

Can you see the hearts?

And Shrek 2 is a great movie to knit to. It has an awesome soundtrack. I’ve watched/listened to it at least 30 times and can still dance to the music without loathing it.  There is one amusing part where the King knocks on Shrek and Fiona’s door – it makes our dogs bark almost every time. Whoever did that sound effect did a great job!

I just have to say I looooooove doing the splicing thing to join in new yarn. I won’t call it spit splicing because I try as hard as I can to find water to do the splicing instead of spit.  I know that takes all the fun out of it, but hey – it’s a bit gross the other way.

I was working on TNS yesterday and a friend was present when I found I had to cut out a knot in the yarn (for $10/ball you’d think there would be NO knots in it). I gasped in annoyance, and got out the scissors, cut away. My friend asked "now what do you do?". I said "this!", worked the splice magic, and voila seamless yarn. 

He seemed kind of impressed and asked how it works. I got to pull out my sheepy-knowledge and explained how wool fibers has little scales on it, and the friction + water makes it felt and stick to itself. It really is cool, and is almost enough to make me want to work with non superwash yarn more.  But not this particular stuff, it’s too hard to knit with.

Progress?

I did get past inserting the pockets last night. Now I have to do some more calculations to figure out where the neckline decreases need to fall before getting too much further.  I’m probably about 1/3 of the way done with the fronts though.

No exciting progress, but I have started the fronts of the sweater. I’m doing them two at a time to make sure they come out the same size. I experiemented a bit with where I took the picture, and what the background was. I decided that against my (ugly, dirty) carpeting was the best.  Here’s the latest progress:

I was hoping to have added the pocket linings already, but haven’t had as much time to knit lately as I want. My youngest child, who is already 8 months old, has decided teething and staying up a lot of the night is fun.  Nevermind that mommy wants to sleep!

I’m alternating my knitting time between TNS and the pair of socks I’m test knitting. The socks seem to go much faster, and the yarn is much easier to knit with, even though it’s on size 2.75mm needles!