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The Wonderful Invisible (Provisional) Cast-On

January 8, 2011 in Knitting techniques, New designs/ classes, Yarns | 6 comments

I just put up a tutorial on You Tube on the Invisible Provisional Cast-on and it occurred to me that I could show the perfect application of this on my blog.  Too bad I had already sent the hat off to the publisher or I could have incorporated it into the video.

The purpose of a provisional cast-on is to knit in one direction on a piece, and then knit in the other direction.  Making a lined brim of a hat is the perfect example. I made this lining to increase the warmth around the ears and to hide the long floats on the brim.  (I chose to avoid weaving when I knit this hat but that issue is for another day…) I also made linings like these for the mitten cuffs in the set…see prior blog entry.

There are many types of provisional cast-ons.  I happen to like this one although at the cast-on edge, every other stitch is twisted and you have to re-orient them all to sit on the needle in the same way, so you don’t get twisted stitches.  In my case, that means I want the right side of the stitch to be in front of the needle.

In the case of my Sunnhordaland Hat, I cast-on in yellow and red, being the waste yarn, and knitted for a few inches, made a picot edge to turn the fabric, and joined colors to knit the patterning.  Once the patterning of the brim was done, I was ready to join the yellow facing to the brim.  (One could also sew the live stitches of the hem to the live stitches of the brim, but knitting them together is way cooler and more knitterly.)

Putting the stitches on the needle

Most of the stitches are now on needles

 

All the cast-on stitches are on the needles and ready to be knitted together with their corresponding brim stitches

One needle full of joined stitches

 

Here is the wrong side of the completed needle, above: very neat!

All done!

Very satisfying.  I have seen this method worked in designs in different books, but one thing never seems to be taken into account.  That is, the lining will get bunchy inside if it has the same number of stitches as the brim  The two fabrics won’t lay together nicely.  The lining should have a smaller circumference than the outside brim.  So I cast on 10% fewer stitches for my linings than I will need for the outside fabric, increasing that 10% later on.  That means that when knitting the two fabrics together, every so many stitches (around every 10th stitch), an outside stitch will be worked without an accompanying lining stitch.

Here’s a short clip of the Invisible Cast-On from my tutorial:

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Obsession

January 3, 2011 in Knitting techniques, New designs/ classes, Thoughts, Yarns | 12 comments

I finally got the go-ahead to show my hat and mittens I knitted for  Voyageur Press.  The title of this design anthology hasn’t been decided upon yet, but I can say my design will be “published in a book by Voyageur Press in Fall 2012″.  Despite the deadlines imposed on designers and knitters (I had to have it done by 12/1/2010), things seem to move at a glacial rate in the publishing industry.  I know that’s because there is so much behind-the-scenes work I am totally unaware of.  Anyway, here it is, my obsessive project at 54 stitches/ 4 inches (13.5 sts per inch).

Sunnhordaland Hat

Sunnhordaland Mittens

The inspiration of these is a sweater I saw in Suzanne Pagoldh’s book Nordic Knitting.  (Going for $90, but on that link I saw some used ones for $21!)  The sweater that used these motifs (on page 45) was knitted in red, black, white, and green.  The photo shows a garment that is kinda pink, because the red dye ran.  It is still a breathless garment, I think.  If I ever get to Bergen, I will look this sweater up!

In my version, both the hat brim and the mitten cuffs are lined with solid yellow knitting for warmth, stability, and to hide the floats.  I did not weave once in all the knitting, because I knew it would show and create distortion.  Each time I tried the mittens on, there was no problem with snagging.  The wool component of the yarn had already created cohesion.  I used a lace-weight yarn from Redfish Dyeworks that is 50% silk, 50% merino in four colors on #000 dpns and a #000 HiyaHiya circular needle from Lacis.

There were a few rounds in the cuff where there are four colors in a round, and sometimes in the main pattern, there are three colors in the round.  I sure wish my photos could better capture the pieces.  I think the hat and mittens look much more dynamic in real life.  My poor lighting flattens them out, but you get the idea…

I knitted two mittens before I got it right.  The whole process of designing and knitting spanned from August to December 8 when I packed it all off in the mail.  I listened to more than four books on tape just to knit the hat alone.  It was truly a marathon.  I am glad the race is done.  And I won’t see them again until Fall 2012.  Sigh.

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Lovely Vermont Summer

October 23, 2010 in Events, Knitting techniques, Vermont Life, Workshops, Yarns | 3 comments

As I flew home from London, I looked forward to being in my beloved Vermont mountains again.  As much as I love Europe, there’s no place like home!

I was also anticipating another wonderful workshop with Margaret Klein Wilson of Mostly Merino and a slew of students, many of whom were returning from previous sessions.  This event has become a permanent part of many of the knitters’ summers.  Over the years, our friendships have deepened, while new faces are always welcomed and made a part of the family immediately.

The Farmhouse

I was not disappointed.  Kelly cooked up a delicious storm for us and the farmhouse where many stayed was as warm and inviting as ever!

The view from the house was even more spectacular than this photo shows:

The view from the Farmhouse

I taught the Norwegian Setesdal Lusekofte–a workshop I don’t teach often, as sewing is a major part of the sweater construction. In these next few movies, I would recommend playing them twice. The first time gets everything loaded up so that the second time the delivery is smoother. (Or maybe my old computer just doesn’t do as good a job of displaying the movie.)

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Maryann was working on my Featherweight machine in the above clip.

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This video shows many of the busy knitters assembling their little Lusekofter.  Josie is modeling my full sized Lusekofte, while Arlene, Judy, Kathy, and Jane are working.  Josie cooked that incredible flan for us again this year!  YUM!

Here’s the crew at the end of the workshop with their beautiful work displayed.  Even Kip, Margaret’s border collie,  wanted to be in the photo! (Actually I think he felt he had done a good job of herding us to one spot!)

My wonderful class and their awesome work!

Next year was planned by the participants and there are only a few slots left in either of the two sessions:

August 12th – 14th, 2011
Norwegian Mittens & Latvian Fingerless Mitts

August 18th – 21st, 2011
Top Down Aran Cardigans & Celtic Dreams

In addition, Margaret and I are looking into the possibility of a weekend workshop in March and possibly one in June.

You can register by emailing Margaret or call for more information: 802.254.7436

We were all lucky to have the opportunity to see Margaret Klein Wilson’s wonderful work.  She hand dyes the most lovely color range of yummy wool yarns.  Here are just a few colors:

Yummy Yarn

In addition to selling skeins individually, Margaret also kits up her yarns for some spectacular designs:

Gorgeous Sweaters

She has recently broken her ankle but will resume dyeing in late November and is taking orders. Her yarn makes lovely gifts, even in skein form!

Many thanks to Alan Riga for his photographs and thanks to all of you who came to the workshop.  You made it so fun!!!

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Repairing Knits

March 31, 2010 in Knitting techniques | 4 comments

One of my long-time students emailed me to ask if I would write about repairing knits, and I thought that would make a great subject for this month’s blog.  (Thanks Frances!)

We invest our time, money and effort into creating special clothing, garments with meaning.  These clothes are worth the effort necessary to prolong wearing life.  In repairing our handwork, lovingly worn and lovingly worn out, we build stronger connections to those in times past who repaired their work without a second thought.  It was all in a day’s work.

DARNING

Darning is a skill that was taken for granted not so very long ago.  It was one of the assumed chores of any housewife to repair those precious socks she had knitted for her family.  With store-bought socks now the norm rather than the exception, knowledge of darning has fallen by the wayside.  With some simple tools and a little practice, though, darning can be added back in to the body of knowledge any knitter possesses.  Darning is fun (especially if you don’t HAVE to darn all the time) and the only thing more satisfying than repairing a sock is perhaps making the sock in the first place!  It’s helpful to keep a collection of yarns of every project you make so that when the time comes to repair, you have the perfect match!

Darning is actually a weaving technique.  Essentially, a patch of woven fabric is created over the hole.  The main drawback to this technique is that woven material has little give compared to knitted fabric.  So the repaired area will be more rigid and may in fact contribute to further holes elsewhere by causing some stress to the garment.  Also, the darned area can be bulky, so a choice must be made between splitting the plies of the yarn to darn with (which will be less bulky, but also less strong), working with the yarn as it is (strong, but bulky), or working with a different material which is thinner, but sound (the darn will then be very obvious).  Use as fine a yarn as is possible when repairing socks.  Bulky repairs are uncomfortable.

There are three steps in darning a hole in a sock, or any knitted garment, for that matter.  They are:  creating the foundation, making a warp, and weaving the weft.  A darning egg is quite helpful for darning socks.  This tool provides a solid, rounded surface on which to work, by inserting the egg (or a light bulb) into the sock and positioning it under the hole to be repaired.  Don’t stretch the sock too much over the egg, or annoying, uncomfortable wrinkles will develop around the darned area once the sock is relaxed.  The bottom part of the egg, the handle, is useful in repairing fingers of gloves.  If you are repairing an area which has no contour to it, such as the leg or heel flap, or a sweater, insert something small and flat in the sock so you’ll have a hard surface to work against.  Some darners have such a flat surface on one side of the egg.  Or, use foam core to pin the area down for stability, so you can work more easily.

Darning Eggs

Create the foundation

Assess the hole in your knitting.  Try to envision it squared off.  Using a tapestry needle (preferably one that has a sharp point), sew a rectangle around the hole.  You must pierce at least one half of each st that borders the hole.  Piercing the yarns will ensure that no further unraveling occurs.  If you enlarge your rectangle far enough away from the hole, you can safely go under each half st with your needle, rather than pierce it.  But, I recommend piercing the yarns.  Many people (and directions) skip this step, and create perfectly acceptable repair jobs despite the omission.  But the foundation row will enable the repair to last longer by reinforcing the stable edge stitches and giving a solid base to the darning.  Two foundation rows can be worked 1/8″ apart all the way around the hole for a truly solid base.  This would be preferable for knitting that is of a very fine gauge.

Make a warp

Now, sew your yarn back and forth across two sides of the rectangle, making certain that your warp travels around (under, then over) the foundation yarn.  I work across the sides which are stitches at either end and save the sides of the hole which are rows for the weft.  It is possible to make too many warp threads for the darn, yielding a hard, uncomfortable patch.  Try to go under each stitch in the foundation row once.  I find a blunt tapestry needle helps from this point on.  It is easier to avoid splitting the yarns with a blunt needle, and very tricky to pack down your darning if there are split yarns.

Weave the weft

Now, turn your work 90 degrees, and move your blunt tapestry needle over and under the warp yarns, going around the foundation yarn, then turning back and weaving over and under in the opposite direction.  Be sure that you go under yarns that were gone over in the last pass, and vice versa.

With the first few rows of weaving back and forth, you’ll find it’s difficult to pack down the weft, especially if you are using a soft yarn, rather than a highly twisted, harder yarn.  Every few rows, use the tapestry needle to push down the rows of weft.  Don’t pack it too hard, or your darned area will feel like a board.

Sew in your ends on the wrong side.  You’re done!

Darned Toe

REKNITTING

This technique uses the stable stitches around the hole as a foundation for the repair.  Square up the hole as much as possible.  To do this, you may have to rip out and make the hole bigger, but that’s OK.  These stitches are picked up on a double pointed needle at least two sizes smaller than what the garment was knitted on.  Rows are worked for the length of the hole, then grafted back into the garment fabric.

The “side seams” can then be sewn down.  If you are really intent on as much invisibility as possible for your repair, join a new yarn at the beg of each row, leaving  4 to 6 inch tails of yarn at either side of the hole.  These will be sewn in on the wrong side of the work after the knitting is completed.  Sew them in, following the path of the stitches on the wrong side of the work.

The beauty of this technique is that you can attempt to duplicate color or textural patterning to make the repair even less obvious.  Count rows and sts carefully to be sure the work corresponds to the surrounding patterning.  Duplicate stitch (also known as “Swiss Darning”) can be used if repairing with two colors at once seems too much to handle.

•    Ravel back around the hole to square it up.

•    Pick up sts at the base of the rectangle, extending past the edges of the hole by at least one stitch, if not two.  (If you are working in a color or texture pattern, be sure you are reknitting in the same direction as the original knitting.)

•    Work back and forth duplicating the fabric of the garment for the number of rows necessary to hide the hole.  Count the rows in the undamaged area to assess how long you must knit.  Work one row less than the adjacent area, because the subsequent grafting will take up one row.  You can either work with one continuous yarn or break it off after every row, leaving long enough tails to weave in later.

•    Graft the sts on the needle to the first stable row of knitting above the hole, keeping the tails clear of the grafting. (See below.)

•    Poke the tails through to the right side of the work, readjust the tension of the edge stitches.  Then one by one, thread the tails onto a tapestry needle, poking them through to the back of the work.

•    Weave in the ends on the wrong side, or sew the sides down with a whip stitch.

Grafting

Grafting is a technique which joins two pieces of knitted fabric together (which have been knitted in the same direction) by duplicating the path which the yarn would normally take in a row.  This is easiest to visualize and to work if both sets of sts to be joined are off the needle.  If that is uncomfortable for you, put the sts on a piece of thin, slick crochet thread so they won’t unravel as you work.

Grafting may be the only answer for a garment too damaged in one area to salvage, such as the cuff of a sweater, knitted from the bottom up.  Just make a new cuff (provided you have enough of the original yarn left) and graft it on.  This is easiest with Stockinette Stitch, but is possible to do in many textural and color patterns.  For garments knitted from the top down, merely ravel back to the point where there is no damage, slip the sts on needles, and knit down.  (One type of grafting is known as Kitchener stitch.  This is a method of sewing together two pieces of knitting of opposing direction by duplicating the appearance and structure of the stitches.)

PATCHING

Here is an alternative to darning.  By knitting a patch, and sewing it over the hole, a garment can be repaired and still maintain some of the elasticity of knitted fabric, owing to the knitted patch.  First a few sts must be cast on, and a square or circle knitted, depending on the shape of the hole to be repaired.  Leave a long tail of yarn at the beginning and end of your patch to use for sewing it on.

Square (for a square-ish hole):  Cast on the number of sts that the hole is wide plus 4 more.  Work as many rows as is necessary to cover the hole plus 2 or 3 more rows.  Bind off.  Block the patch so it will be easier to sew down.

Circle (for a round hole):  Cast on enough stitches to cover the base of the hole plus a few extra.  Increase one st to each side of the patch until the desired width is achieved.  Work even until the dimension of the hole begins to taper in again.  Begin decreasing, one stitch to each side until the desired top width is met.  Bind off.  Block the patch so it will be easier to sew down.

An example circular patch:

Cast on 4 sts.

Odd numbered rows: Purl

Row 2: K1, inc 1, k2, inc 1, k1.

Row 4: K1, inc 1, k4, inc 1, k1.

Rows 6 and 8: Knit.

Row 10: Ssk, k4, k2 tog.

Row 12: Ssk, k2, k2 tog.

Row 13: Bind off in purl.

Sewing the patch on:  Whip stitch the patch down to the right side of the garment, or use a combination of whip stitch and grafting.

From top, clockwise: darning, patching, reknitting

SWISS DARNING

For repairing garments where the integrity of the fabric is still intact, but worn, Swiss darning is the ideal technique.  By following the path of the knitted yarn (as above for grafting) with a blunt tapestry needle, threaded with yarn, the fabric is reinforced invisibly.  Using a blunt needle enables you to move in and out of the stitches more easily.

An Old and Time Honored Way of Repair

Many different cultures, from Mennonites to Norwegians and Swedes, would cut the worn foot off of a good sock and knit a new foot from the remaining loops!  I have seen many examples in museums where the color and the thickness of the repair yarn had nothing in common with the original yarn!  But tucked inside a boot, no one but the wearer would be the wiser.


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Yarn Dominance

March 2, 2010 in Knitting techniques, Thoughts | 8 comments

We each have a soap box upon which we expound, and this is mine.  Yarn Dominance occurs when one knits with two or more yarns in a round or row.  One yarn will show up more than the other and appear dominant in relation to the stitches made of the other yarn. It doesn’t matter if you are left-handed or right-handed, if you knit English or Continental or with one yarn in each hand.  It also doesn’t have to do with which yarn is used the most in that particular round.  The determining factor is which yarn strands on the bottom, below the other yarn.

I must admit that when I first read of this effect in Ann Feitelson’s book The Art of Fair Isle Knitting by Interweave Press, I was not convinced.  But a seed was planted in my brain and I started seeing my knitting in a new light.

Yarn Dominance appears more strongly in small geometric motifs of highly contrasting colors. In Fair Isle work, where the motifs and colors are changing with each new band of patterning, the effect is noticeable but not as jarring as in a two-color Scandinavian sweater, or my Norwegian Mittens below, for example.

On the left, the green yarn was held in the dominant position; on the right, the gold yarn was held in the dominant position.

Dominance on the Right Side/Wrong Side of the Work

This effect is most easily seen if you work a swatch of at least 2 sts of each color, such as k2 red, k2 white.  The effect is not clear if you work one stitch of each color.  I encourage you to look at your knitting on the wrong side to see how the yarns are stranding in relation to each other–don’t take my word for it!  Here are some general rules, but be aware that small deviations in knitting and purling style can alter the dominance.

When holding both yarns in the right hand: If you are working on the Right Side knitting, the far yarn is dominant.  If you are working on the Right Side purling, the far yarn is dominant.

If you are working on the Wrong Side knitting, the near yarn is dominant.  If you are working on the Wrong Side purling, the near yarn is dominant.

When holding a yarn in each hand: If you are working on the Right Side knitting, the left yarn in dominant.  If you are working on the Right Side purling, the left yarn is dominant.

If you are working on the Wrong Side knitting, the left yarn is dominant. If you are working on the Wrong Side purling, the right yarn is dominant if you hold your left yarn above the right needle as you purl.  The left yarn is dominant if you hold your left yarn below the right needle as you purl.

When holding both yarns in the left hand: If you are working on the Right Side knitting, the near yarn is dominant.  If you are working on the Right Side purling, the near yarn is dominant.

If you are working on the Wrong Side knitting, the far yarn is dominant.  If you are working on the Wrong Side purling, the near yarn is dominant, unless you are using the Norwegian Purl.  In that case the far yarn is dominant.

Hierarchies of Dominance What if you want to work with more than two yarns?  Well, dominance still plays a role.  In fact, I liken it to a fan-shape. If you want to get fancy, we could call it an arc of dominance. (Yes, I loved math at one time… How fortunate that I cornered Sandi Rosner while at Stitches West and conned her into drawing this picture for me, as I still haven’t figured out Illustrator!)

Here is an arc.  The “X” is the knitter.  The possible numbers of yarns radiating out from the knitter’s work is infinite and they are represented by lines originating at the knitter.  In this instance we have four yarns.  The further to the right the yarns are held, the less dominant they are.  The further to the left the yarns are held, the more dominant they are.  So, the dominance of the yarns, from highest to least, is green, yellow, blue, red.

It is up to you to decide how you want the dominance to play out by holding your yarns in the way that will achieve your goals.

Dominance in Corrugated Ribbing Whenever you work corrugated ribbing (the purls are one color and the knits are another), be certain to hold the yarn for the knits in the dominant position or the purls will bulge out unattractively.

There’s lots more to be said about Dominance.  I’ll address it more in depth in a later blog.

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S and Z

February 1, 2010 in Knitting techniques | 6 comments

I am intrigued by yarn structure.  Until I started spinning I never gave it a thought that yarn is made from many choices of fibers (animal, vegetable, and mineral) but only two choices of twist (S or Z).  The twists are so named because of their resemblance to the middle part of the two letters.  Most yarns are spun Z and plied S.  Twined knitting yarns, and a few others, are spun S and plied Z.  This difference in twined knitting yarns compensates for the constant twisting of the yarns in that technique.

S plied and Z plied yarns

What many knitters don’t know is that the act of knitting adds twist to the yarn: S twist for conventional Western knitting, Z twist for Eastern knitting, where the yarn is thrown under the needle rather than over it.  You can check this out for yourself by using a tape measure and holding it firmly (don’t let go), wrap it around a knitting needle several times as if you were knitting.  Now unwrap it and throw the “yarn” the other way.  You are looking for the angle of the twist that develops near your hand holding the “yarn”.

Well, it turns out that is not the end of the story.  I have seen my students struggle, as I do, trying to make the SSK (a left leaning decrease) as neat as the K2tog (a right leaning decrease).  And plenty of knitters in my Aran classes have mentioned how their traveling stitches that go to the right are neat and consistent while those that travel to the left look stair-steppy.  I also noticed that when I work a Herringbone Braid (AKA Latvian Braid), the part that leans to the left sits up more and looks fuller than the part that leans to the right.  It got me thinking that just maybe, the culprit is the twist of the yarn and not knitter error.  I meant to investigate!

I finally got started one day by visiting the Green Mountain Spinnery right here in Putney, Vermont!  (If you haven’t seen the Spinnery’s new book 99 Yarns and Counting, run right out and check it out!)  I was talking to one of the owners of the cooperative, about twist and she produced a hank and a cone of some yarns they had created as an experiment in overspun–or energized–yarns.  The hank was a typical 2-ply, Z spun and S plied.  The cone had the same type and size of wool, but it was a singles yarn, spun S.  I was elated!  I took them home and plied up the cone (Z-wise) so it would be the exact opposite of the S plied hank.  It felt good to be on my spinning wheel again.  It is usually very, very lonely these days.

Then I washed the yarns, spun them in my washing machine to get rid of most of the water, and put them onto my yarn blocker from my swift.  They dried in a day and I balled them up.

Rinsing my yarn

Drying on the yarn blocker

Yarn: Ready to go!

Now to check my thesis.  I knitted up swatches of SSK and K2tog in both S plied and Z plied yarns.  (The swatches are worked with the K2tog on the right side of the center stitch and SSK on the left side.)  This is what I found:

S-plied yarn used in top swatch, Z-plied yarn used in bottom swatch

 

The effect was much more pronounced before I blocked the swatches, so now I am kicking  myself for not having taken before and after shots!   Still, to my naked eye, there was some improvement with the Z-plied yarn in the SSK lying flat.

Next, I wanted to work with some traveling stitches to see if I could make the left leaning twists look better using a Z plied yarn.  Looking at the diamonds below, the left leaning twists are on the left in the bottom halves, while they are on the right in the top halves.  Note: To make a right-leaning traveling stitch, I knit in the second stitch on the left needle, then the first stitch.  To make a left-leaning traveling stitch, I reached to the wrong side of the work, knit into the back of the second stitch, then into the front of the first stitch.

Z-plied yarn on the left, S-plied yarn on the right

In my opinion, the Z-plied yarn DID make the left-leaning traveling stitches sit more neatly, though still not as perfectly as the right leaning stitches did.

So what do these results mean for knitting these techniques?  We can’t use S and Z plied yarns in the same piece just so our decreases or traveling stitches will look good.  Definitely not!   I think the point is to recognize that small irregularities in our knitting are not necessarily our doing.  Instead of feeling annoyed or embarrassed by such minute details, we can know that this is a function of the yarn we are using and thereby get ourselves off the hook!

Still, I wanted to try one more thing…  I did one last swatch in a traveling stitch diamond pattern using a technique to compensate for the uneven tension.  This idea is inspired by Cat Bordhi who showed how to slip a stitch in the previous row of a SSK to keep the tension of the resulting stitch under control.  Could a variation of that work for traveling twists?

Slipped stitches of the traveling stitch

In this swatch I used the S-plied yarn.  In the bottom half of the diamond, I slipped the first stitch of the eventual twist on the wrong side rows.  This resulted in half the number of rows and enlarged traveling stitches.  Yes, I think they have a continuous flow, a smoother line, but they look much different from the right-leaning twists on the right side.

I was really pleased with the top half of the swatch.  Here I slipped the second stitch of the eventual traveling twist on the wrong side rows.  The left-leaning line still sits up a bit more than the right-leaning line of twists, but it is smooth and consistent looking.  The reason slipping the stitch works to minimize the looseness is that the one stitch is much tighter, having not been worked, and so it keeps its shape  even when stretched into a traveling stitch.  But it must be the second stitch of the twist, the one that lies below in the twist, that has to be slipped to tighten up the stitches.

So take what you want from this, knowing that the tension discrepancy is inherent in the yarn twist.  You can fiddle with it by slipping stitches, and at the very least, block carefully and thoroughly, but some days I just don’t want to work that hard.

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Knittin’ Mittens

January 23, 2010 in Knitting techniques | 5 comments

This month I wrote my newsletter before my blog and discussed the rotation of the thumb in mittens. I got several thoughtful comments and decided I would like to elaborate on the subject of making mittens fit.  (To sign up for my free sometimes-monthly newsletter, go to http://www.knittingtraditions.com/contact.htm )

Centering Mitten Motifs

While recently designing some fingerless mitts, I dealt again with the issue of centering the motif on the back of the hand.  When designing a mitten or glove that is made only of Stockinette stitch in one color, one never has to consider the challenges of centering.  But if you make a design that is clearly for the top of the mitten or glove, you must make allowances for the rotation that will occur when you put your thumb in.  This causes the  top of the hand garment to turn toward the thumb, and if there is no allowance made for that, the motif (and any top-of-the-mitten shaping) will be off-kilter.  I have found that by moving my thumb gusset or thumb hole over ½” from the side of the mitten towards the palm, the motif on top and the tip shaping will stay centered.  And the mitten will feel like it fits better…um, because it does!

Photos: Lying the mitt flat, the front motif seems a bit off-center, but when put on, it centers due to the pull of the thumb.  Below, you can more easily see the extra ½” I have added to the side of these Norwegian Mittens which shifts the thumb gusset and thumb hole from the exact side of the mitten to the palm.

Now hopefully, any pattern you buy should have all these issues resolved, so that all you have to do is read the instructions and knit.

Mitten Gender

OK.  I just made that term up.  Several issues are at hand here (tee hee) to create Mitten Gender.  You can knit a Left Mitten, a Right Mitten, and even an Ambidextrous Mitten that goes both ways (Bi-dextual?).   The patterning, the tip shaping, and the thumb all contribute to the gender of the mitten! I will focus on The Palm, or gussetless, Thumb for now and hope to add to this Mitten Discussion in other months.

The Palm Thumb

Mittens without gussets are the easiest to knit. The Latvians know all about this one!  They can put their energy into knitting the amazing patterning without being too concerned about working around the thumbs! This thumb is also called an afterthought thumb or waste yarn thumb.  The purpose of this thumb is to make a beautiful mitten, unfettered by the interruption of a thumb gusset.  The mitten must be designed with roominess in mind, as there is no increasing to accommodate the wider span of the hand.  The wrist area tends to be somewhat loose.

A Traditional Latvian Mitten

The thumb of a classic Latvian mitten is barely discernible as the patterning of the thumb mirrors the patterning of the hand beneath.  These thumbs make a left and a right mitten, unless the patterning is all-over and Round Tip Shaping is used. In Latvia, pointed tip shaping is common which further defines the Mitten Gender.  Interestingly, I noted that the Latvian mittens in my collection don’t exhibit thumb rotation and the thumb is situated right on the fold of the mitten. After counting lots of stitches, I realized that the thumbs are so roomy, there is enough space to counteract the torque–no ½” allowance is needed.

This beautiful traditional Latvian mitten, knitted by a Latvian, is comprised of 72 sts. One-fourth of that is 18 stitches.  The stitches allocated for the thumb numbered 17!  (Can you see the thumb there?)  It doesn’t look like one-fourth of the stitches are used for the thumb, but they are!  Generic (non-Latvian) mittens that are constructed this way utilize around 1/5 to 1/6 of the total stitches for the thumb.  It looks nice, it fits OK albeit a little snug, but the mitten will rotate once it’s put on, unless the thumb hole is moved in ½” from the side.  (No, I don’t have the pattern to this beauty.  Sorry!)

In this Fingerless Mitt, the patterning is the same all the way around and there’s no tip shaping, being fingerless, so there is no need to worry about  thumb rotation.  It has 1/6 of the stitches allocated for the thumb hole and I have moved the hole over a few stitches out of habit, thought I didn’t really need to.

Here I am taking the waste yarn out of the afterthought thumb hole so I can pick up the stitches to knit the thumb.  Since this is not a mitten, but a fingerless mitt, my thumb is not a full ¼ of the total stitches.  Because the top is open and won’t show any torque I can get away with fewer thumb stitches so the open thumb will fit snugly.

To create a Palm Thumb, knit the mitten until the length reaches the point where the thumb begins to branch off from the hand. If you are working with your stitches evenly divided on four needles, you can create the thumb hole from the stitches of the second needle for a left hand mitten, and the stitches of the third needle for a right hand mitten.

There are three ways to create the thumb hole.  One: A hole could be inserted by cutting one stitch after the mitten is knitted, raveling to the desired width, and picking up the resulting stitches (not for the faint of heart). Two: At the point where the hole is desired, slip the desired number of stitches onto a piece of yarn to hold for later.  New stitches are then cast on.  (Use Longtail utilizing all the attached yarns so they don’t have to strand across the hole.)

Three: (this is how I worked the fingerless mitt above) Knit with waste yarn for the desired number of stitches of the hole, slip those stitches back to the left needle and reknit them with the mitten yarn in pattern.  The bulkiness of the cast-on and pickup edge is avoided, and there is more flexibility in the knitting around the thumb.

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October

October 20, 2008 in Knitting techniques, New designs/ classes, Thoughts, Vermont Life | 5 comments

Ah, the tinkling sound of a jar of applesauce sealing! I love that sound. Anyone who has never canned can’t appreciate the glow of satisfaction with every “tink” as the cooling jars suck their lids into place. It makes up for all the picking, washing, peeling, cooking, stirring, scalding and filling of jars. Once I am at the water bath stage, though, I enjoy the moist heat rising from my stove which warms up the house on crisp Autumn days. My kids helped out with the peeling this time, so as a reward, I held out some of the apples and made an Apple Cake. I got promises of future help as they heaped their plates. What a deal!

October has indeed been a busy time, as I am getting back into freezing and canning food and baking bread regularly. The neighbors just got chickens and I had to visit to see those lovely happy free-roaming hens, crooning and pecking in the yard. Life in Vermont! It’s the best! The trees have been spectacular this year, probably because of all the rain we had this summer, but the peak is over, at least on my hill. The next best thing is walking down the dirt road swishing the leaves with your feet. Another wonderful sound of the season.  Since I was a little girl, I could swear the sky is a different, richer kind of blue in October, and I still think so!

On the Knitting Front, I have been focusing on my Latvian Mitten workshop, reworking the sampler to include motifs which have three colors in one round. Most knitters gasp in dismay and avoid such an ordeal. But the more I work with three colors, especially in smaller sized motifs, the more I enjoy it. The key is being comfortable working with a yarn in each hand, plus being comfortable working two yarns in either the left or the right hand. Once you have those skills, three or four yarns in a round don’t seem quite as intimidating. Here is my new sampler for my Latvian Mitten class:

I made a discovery when I was working the thumb. It is tricky to get good tension of the two (or more) colors on the thumb. At first I was stranding the yarns, and I found the base of the thumb restrictive. Then I lapsed into twined knitting, which makes 3 color knitting even easier, and the thumb loosened up, and actually is warmer now because of the twining. You can even see how the thumb expands at the point where I switched methods. I plan to work all my thumbs in twined knitting from now on.

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Another pattern done! Another on its way.

August 18, 2008 in Knitting techniques, New designs/ classes, Thoughts | 4 comments

Now don’t faint– I know I just blogged last week and this has never happened before–two blogs in two weeks. But when the mood strikes I gotta go with it!

I am so happy with how my newest design turned out. This is the Classic Gansey Cardigan worked in heavy worsted/ Aran weight yarn. This particular garment was knitted in Blackwater Abbey yarn by Debbie Stephens-Sutton of Denver and my neighbor Adrienne modeled it for me. And of course my dear friend Karen Frisa tech edited it, as she does most of my patterns. (Many thanks to all of you!) The pattern is already up on Patternfish as a PDF and is available in hard copy from Blackwater Abbey Yarns. Shortly it will also be available from Knitters Treat too. Ruth carries all of my patterns too, if you prefer having the hard copy booklet.

Here’s Adrienne next to this awesome stone wall in her yard….

And here is a detail shot

In addition to finishing that, I am still tweaking the Aran Winter Set that I posted about oh, so long ago. I am still not sure if I will include the hat, but I am trying to make it work. This is one of those long-term projects–ripping more than knitting. Finally I got tired of ripping, got the cable I wanted partway through the brim, and decided to cut instead of starting over. I picked up half a stitch all along the row with my stitch holder to stabilize the knitting.

Here is where I started to cut. I only clipped one piece of yarn and gently pulled that row out, stitch by stitch, putting the stitches on my double pointed needle. Note that the cable above is tighter and more compact, being cabled every 10 rows. The cable below, which I had started with, was cabled every 14 rows–too lazy and long for me! The Stockinette stitch area will be a facing that gives weight to the cabled brim. And maybe you can see where I slipped a stitch near the upper cable for awhile, hoping that would help in turning the facing. I decided it didn’t help, actually looking sloppy, and later dropped the stitch down and picked it back up utilizing every row of yarn, instead of the “every other row” that a slipped stitch gets. Mmm…better.

Taa-daa! Now I have live stitches to work the Three Needle Bind-off with the other end, making the circular brim. The rest of the hat will be picked up around the edge of the brim, hopefully sooner rather than later…

Designing for me is hard work. I try a bunch of different things, most of which don’t work. I do A LOT of swatching. I envy the designers that can whip out 5 or 6 designs per month. I spend a minimum of 2 months, and usually way more than that, on one project. I am very slow–but it’s not a race. I have learned that no piece of knitting is a total disaster–it can always be salvaged in some way. Knowing how to cut my knitting freed me up in many ways. And, having some experience in sewing as a teenager has given me some idea as to how garments are put together. Later!

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A Frank Discussion on Gap-osis

August 9, 2008 in Knitting techniques, Thoughts | 6 comments

Well, there it is. I love cardigans and button-down tops. I am hereby admitting that I have struggled with Gap-osis for all of my adult life; well actually since puberty. In fact this has been such a problem that for many years I would not buy or make buttoned tops. I know many of you more “fully-fashioned” women out there know what I’m talking about. Now I love my girls, but … everyone can tell when you put a safety pin on the wrong side to hold the fronts together. It makes that little pucker that is as annoying as gap-osis itself.

I have saved my buttoned tops for wearing during times when I know I will teach at Stitches or another venue where they give me a REALLY BIG NAME TAG. My awful secret is then hidden from view–or at least *I* think it is.

So, I was in denial when I came across this cute little cotton top [with buttons] and determined I would make it. (For fun. Not my own design.) After three years of not working on it, I finally finished it and I was so happy…except for the front opening. I knew what would happen. So, I devised A Plan. I picked up and knitted a buttonband and a buttonhole band. I bought cute buttons. I sewed the buttons on– and sewed the buttonband to the edge where I had picked up for the buttonhole band. Voila! A pullover top that looks like a buttoned top. And I can always take out that seam and convert the sweater to a cardi. But not very likely.

Here is the top in question:

As a cardigan:

But really a pullover:

Now I can at least wear this cute top around the house without blushing. The only other problem is that it is sleeveless and that is an issue in and of itself… I am not sure what I was thinking when I chose to make this, but it is cute and I enjoyed it!

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