« January 2006 | Main | March 2006 »
February 28, 2006
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
So here I am knitting along on Olympia, swatching my red socks [yeah I know I said after jays but did you really believe me?], and knitting a bit on the scarf. Busy knitting. Tomorrow Project Spectrum begins with the Colors Red & Pink. Last month, after signing up for Project Spectrum, I took all my WW and heavier yarns upstairs and arranged them in cubbies. This is some sorta desperate attempt to eat into my stash. I figure if it takes a cubby's worth of Aran weight yarn to knit a sweater in oh 4-6 weeks VS a piddly 100gm hank of laceweight for a shawl that takes oh 4-6 months then knitting the Aran weight would mean that room would appear more quickly. Makes sense eh. Anyway this laughable ploy, and I know you are laughing at me, will last a NY Minute. Maybe less considering that the item I am swatching is socks in fingering weight yarn. I did however take a picture of the 2 cubbies housing Reds and Pinks. Which brings us to today's title~ you know how you can read a zillion color theory books and just not get it? Or maybe it's just me. Put two reds together; one true red or maybe a wee bit blue red and the other a very dark blue red bordering on purple and the true red sucks all the red out of the dark red and voila: red and purple. Don't believe me? Proof:
The contents of these two cubbies are: 20 balls of Jaeger Shetland Aran in Burgandy[that's the seemingly purple stuff]& 20 balls of a novelty called Toscana[oooh it feels sooooooo soft] for sweaters, 3 balls of Kid Classic for a scarf[the much maligned Cluster Stitched Daisy scarf], Morehouse 3-ply Merino for mittens, Finullgarn for the socks, and various oddballs of red and pink yarns~ up to 4 of any particular one~ destined for who knows what. I think that's it.
yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 09:07 PM | Comments (1)
An Edit
This is not today's post but an addition to yesterday's post...
The sweaters are available at Noorsetrui and I would Never, Ever, Ever duplicate a sweater for sale as a pattern for sale. Or free for that matter. The top two pictures are from Davina's collection and the bottom 3 are from Oda's collection if you feel like shopping....
Posted by Elka at 10:09 AM | Comments (1)
February 27, 2006
Hi Ho It's Off to Work We Go....
I am wondering how long do you knit a day. Just an avg. Not the marathon weekend hours but say 30 mins M-F and 2 hrs S&S so 6.5hrs/7= ummm whatever.... 45 mins? Something like that. Drop me a line please just for fun.
So I am working on my sweater. Yes the Olympia design. The design is done done but the knitting is not. To give you a clue to how short I was gonna be on yarn I am on my 6th hank out of 10 and still on the back. I am guessing 7 for the back 7 for the front and 2 for each sleeve for a total of 18 balls needed. Guessing. Either way I am glad I didn't knock myself out trying to finish this sweater since it woulda been impossible anyways. Tho I did easily knit a hank/day before I realized I was out o luck. I am also not going to show you a picture.
I am getting a wee bit annoyed cause I was reading a blog this past month and left a comment about the nifty link to yarns [I think it was icelandic] and now cannot figure out who the blogger was. Even tho she kindly sent me a reply to my comment. And no I don't expect all seeing blog readers to figure it out for me. Just annoyed. BUT while trolling through every likely sounding link in my 3 weeks old history folder I came accross these beauts:
AND from the same company:
Another company did these three pics the third of which shows several pieces:
In the first one I particularly like the asymetrical front openings and want somebody to explain to me how its done. Well I know how it is done but I want somebody to send me the pattern or direct me to where I can buy the pattern cause I am a lazy slob. I never do the math unless I have to. If nobody can find the pattern then I will. Do the math that is. Cause I am telling you right now~ that sweater rocks!
OK yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 08:59 PM | Comments (10)
February 26, 2006
Sunday Socks
I may need to change Sunday Sock feature to Saturday Sock feature. I have been going to a knitting group every Saturday and socks are pretty much the most portable thing around. Yah I know I say they are not good travel knitting but lets face it~ at a table full of women you can only take so much room before the evil eye is cast. This last Saturday I only stayed a couple of hours. And I ate lunch the first part of that so I got near nothing done. Still I did get my sock CO and ribbing started and have now done an inch or two of leg.... not measuring. Progress Pic:
I have also restarted a scarf I am knitting for work. I have been so frazzled lately that I was about a third way done before I looked at either my knitting or the chart. Whaddya Know~ there is a mistake in the chart which is so obvious it hurts. Seriously.
Olympia? Forgettaboutit.
Maimu Mitten #2 on hold
Cutie Red Socks also on hold until the second Jay is done.
That's All Folks~ yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 11:25 PM | Comments (2)
February 23, 2006
From the Sublime to the Lowly
We start with Color Blind Elka working with Black Cherry, Bright Red, Dull Red, Rose, and Burgandy yarn. I don't see these colors but that is what the designer calls them. The yarn company assigned them numbers so obviously Nancy B sees colors differently than Elka. No matter~ the pattern has been on my to do list for almost a decade and the yarns were ordered during the buying frenzy of last month. We then Cast On using needles called for and reach the unsurpassed beauty of color blending:
Then we knit onward through the heel shaping. A heel type called 'common' I believe*. One that has always looked rather inelegant, nay downright ooglie, to me. But in Nancy we trust and so we continue with utmost faith that this heel will fit extreemly well as per blurb and look less icky in 3D instead of laid out flat for photography's sake. Oh how our trust was mislaid. Looksie...
From The Side:
From the Side not smootched out by table:
Damn my nail is dirty....
From the Side Close up of ooglie bloopiness:
From the bottom showing the near obscene mushroom cloud of a heel:
From the oh I didn't take any more pictures hmmmmmmmm. It's ooglie. Heck it's downright Fooglie~ that's fuglier than ooglie or ooglier than fuglie depending upon how you want to see it. And those decreases along bottom which are then grafted together, necessitating the breaking of yarn and weaving in of yarns at heel let that sink in the heel folks!, cause a bloopiness beyond mushroom cloud right there at the heel. The heel! Imagine the wings of fabric one gets upon grafting. Comon you know what I am talking about~ that little elfin cap point at the end of grafted row~ at the heel. I cannot get over the extra fabric and woven threads at the heel. Common indeed.
yarny days and knitterly evenings
* I am using common not in it's most often aka common meaning of frequent but rather for it's derogatory meaning:Lacking taste or refinement; vulgar
Posted by Elka at 08:50 PM | Comments (3)
February 22, 2006
A woman of a certain age
I could easily call this entry On Color Part 2 but that's not quite as catchy. Remember when I spoke about the recent facination with creams and browns? A fellow blogger mentioned that our color tastes change around menopause. No I am not getting too personal cause I don't think I am menopausal yet. But it got me to thinking about how certain colors grab us at certain phases in our lives. Kinda like how chocolate and icecream become the only food groups that matter once a month. Unless your a freak of nature and get into celery and carrots~ don't even talk to me if thats the case with you. This kinda ties into the color influencing designs bit. When you're a kidlet you might like bright bubble gum pink and lime green. You probably even looked cute in the combo as a rugrat. Of course if you were a young adult during the 80's you might even believe that is a steller color combo for a 20 something but the rest of the world figures it works til you hit your teens max. A lady I worked for many years ago was discussing color with me.... basically I spoke of my deap love of purple. I recall asking her if it was one of the more popular colors right up there with blue and she admitted that it was for a woman of a certain age. Hmmmmm I was of a certain age whatever that means. She mentioned it is often times followed by a deap love of red. Now normally I associate reds with certain conservative first ladies and not with me but lately I have been entranced with red. Good thing its the first color of Project Spectrum eh? So much so that last night I cast on a red project. Fickle me has cast aside the olympian project for which I need more yarn anyways and is ignoring the scarf I need to knit for work. I am a bad sample garment knitter. I am trucking along on the red project. And even if I weren't this has been weighing on my mind... the red following the purple phase. Cause my last living room set was purpley and this one is red. But I won't show you a picture quite yet. Look for redness tomorrow...
yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 09:26 PM | Comments (3)
February 21, 2006
I'm Too Sexy
So sexy it hurts:
.....what do you think about that
yarny days and knitterly evenings ;^>
Posted by Elka at 10:26 PM | Comments (6)
February 20, 2006
Sunday Socks
Ah the return of Sunday's Socks feature! I finished the first of the Jays and comment left for Amie. I'm actually pleased I joined both sock counting groups cause I feel doubly productive. Each sock gets sent to Amie and each pair gets sent to the Purling P's. Or each pair gets counted 4 times woo hoo! Make that quadruply productive. And when it comes to socks I need all the pats on my back I can muster.... Anyway here is the sock in all her glory:
Yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 10:39 PM | Comments (3)
February 16, 2006
Daisy
Okay I have the stomach flue. I am so not knitting on Olympia. Bad enough cleaning up after 3 little girls and spoiling a sick hubby while trying to knit. Forget doing so when I am sick myself. Well I am playing with yarn of course but doing so aimlessly. And my latest irk? Remember when I grinched about not being able to figure out a stitch for a scarf I wanted to knit from latest Rowan mag. Hmmm issue #38 so probably not the latest anymore but oh well. I tried again and have decided it is not me but totally nonsensical instructions. The pattern is #19 on pg 107 should you have the mag if not read very very carefully:
Cluster 5={slip next st knitwise dropping extra loops on previous row you purled 5 sts wrapping yarn thrice round needle for each}5 times, now slip these 5 sts back onto left needle I am OK so far as far as I can tell, working all 5 sts tog and wrapping yarn 3 times round needle for each st, work [K1, P1, K1, P1, K1] into these 5 sts.
Hubba Waaaaa? work all 5 sts tog as in k5tog wrapping yarn 3 times for each stitch so 15 wraps? Or k1, p1, k1, p1, k1 into 5 sts tog as in K5tog wrapping 3 times don't drop loops, P5tog wrapping 3 times don't drop loops etc? Or K first stitch of those 5 wrapping 3 times, purl 2nd st of the 5 wrapping 3 times etc? Either way its a freaking mess and shame shame shame on Rowan cause I know what a cluster stitch is and its is nothing at all like that. Its wrapping the yarn around a set of sts to have strands running along base FYI. So of course the first time I worked the pattern I clustered the 5 sts and then worked k1, p1, k1, p1, k1 into them which didn't give me the required extra sts for dropping extra loops on next row which I haven't gone into at all. Second time I clustered AND worked k1 wrapping yarn 3 times blah blah blah but it looked terrible. Third time I didn't cluster but did option 1 given above then fourth time as option 2. I haven't done option 3 but bleh.... Somebody clever and, you know, not sick explain this honking stitch for me
PS I was swatching for Project Spectrum BTW ~click on button on left column to find out more cause I am not looking up the link and oh yeah~ have a yarny day and knitterly evening. And yes I signed off without remembering my usual tag! gah Bloglines subscribers may now hate me forever more
Posted by Elka at 03:53 PM | Comments (6)
February 14, 2006
olympia
Ah I am falling more and more behind. Reason? I am entranced with the sports. Comon a min or two for a run and I am supposed to be watching my knitting? Is anybody else too attentive to what's going on on screen to knit? I had no problems during that sureal opening ceremonies but now.... we will see
Posted by Elka at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2006
Intermission
Ah I read with horror Beth's too small socks woes so have been working on my Jays today. Yes I know there is Olympic knitting to be done but feh. Horror must be abated. Here are the socks:
Next to them you see a little mitten I knit almost a decade ago. I mentioned them recently in my color dominance entry~ these are the mitts I took to knitting camp and garnered comments from Meg. Sure it shows some serious wear after 3 kidlets wearing them and the mate is lost but I still am fond of it. The pattern was in Robin Hansons mitten book~ forget which one but may be reprinted in her newest compilation of Maine Mittens. Here is a close up:
In other news I have a picture sent to me by Nancy~ she saw the pattern for Isabella and promptly ordered the yarn in pink and knit up a sweater for her DD. And a lovely job she did too if I have to say so myself... I am totally tickled pink somebody knit one of my designs and if you do knit one and care to share it would so make my day. Here is Nancy's beautiful knitting:
As for Olympia~ I have ordered more yarn since I think I might need more. And guess what? Cascade is out of the yarn in their warehouse. Sheesh did you alls order the yarn in anticipation of the design or what?
Happy knitting ~ super yarny days and knitterly evenings to all
Posted by Elka at 08:54 PM | Comments (4)
February 11, 2006
Olympia Day 2
Gonna back track a bit~ it all started with a phone call. 'We are gonna send you some pink cotton yarn to work with OK?' Of course I am gonna work when I can so I ignored the olympic challenge, the four sweater kits on their way, the mountain of yarn that makes up le stash. Now what happened when I opened the box was an ugh I am colorblind moment:
Its violet OK not pink. Now when you walk into a yarn store what is the first thing you notice? I mean if you aren't looking for X yarn in Y color to knit Z. Color, irregardless of how I feel about color skills, often times determines what we pick up at the LYS and sometimes what we knit with a given yarn. The pink yarn called to mind something feminine and flirty maybe a little dressy. This color called to mind something youthful and fun and casual. Of course I know the knitter is going to knit a sweater in yarn color of choice but if you design a business suit in day glo orange chances are the color and pattern are so disparate that a knitter might overlook your work. At least I know there are things in magazines and books that I was just ho hum over and then I saw a picture or real live item in a different color and was all ooo la la. So after looking at the color and thinking will look good with a tan~ maybe a oversized pullover to throw on at beach? Ok not too sloppy but not dressy either... comfy enough for beach in shape but a little texture so that it could be worn out. I know the beach is out but you know what I mean So I started swatching thinking casual comfy pullover but not plain st st with a border~ something interesting but not too difficult. I mean if you wanted to knit this sweater in this yarn in this color you wanted to be done before the color became totally yesterday My swatch proved, as mentioned yesterday, that the st st part looked a bit corded and the reverse st st side showed texture well. Good to go. Armed with 8 different st pattern books I CO a pattern that I thought would look good during the st st swatching bit. Ewwwwwwww horrible. Why was it horrible? Too complicated~ pattern lost in yarn so I needed something simpler. Another pattern chosen. Ewwwwwwww no way. Why? Boring. And on it went. I would like to show you pictures of my swatches because normally I make huge swatches 8-12" wide and at least 6" high and hang them up on a board so that I can see them from various angles. While swatching I actually keep going until one has me going yes yes yes but I still hang it up there and oogle. This time, since I have challenged myself to getting it done quickly and efficiently, I found a pattern that spoke to me, measured, and promptly CO. It's neither too simple~ I have to keep track of my rows and have actually made mistakes both during swatching and in garment~ nor too difficult being a small pattern repeat. It should hold enough interest for a garment without being so challenging that months are required for the knitting. From a really bad angle:
I've actually taken 4 pictures of the fabric and am cursing my photography skills cause it looks nicer than in photo. Way nicer. Will try again tomorrow under non florescent lights.... OK thats it for today. Yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 11:26 PM | Comments (1)
February 10, 2006
Olympia Day 1
Pictures tomorrow dear readers. Today was pretty busy since I was hosting a opening ceremonies party. All day picking up and shopping for foodie stuff. I didn't CO til almost 6 tho I did swatch several thingies yesterday that got nixed early on. Today I happened upon a pattern that pleased me and after about 8" already a vision of the finished garment was in my mind. Thats pretty fast for me. Usually I knit several swatches until one gets me all excited and then I hang if up on a board and look at it from this angle and that angle in this light and that light until I am sure its what I really want. To not waste a week oogling my swatch of choice I put pencil to paper and did a wee bit of math~ just enough to figure out how many sts to CO for finished width and away I went. 1/2" down 21 1/2 to go....
Posted by Elka at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)
February 09, 2006
tired
I haven't knit in days. It's not just the compulsive reading of long neglected books but exhaustion. Last night I tried to go to bed early. After all I am having a wee party Friday and I need to clean. But Zoe, poor darling, was sick. There I am drifting off into dreamland and I hear a door open and a bathroom run. Darned kids~ why can't they just go before bed instead of an hour after? And then I heard it. The wretching. Poor dear. No fever and no allergies [which make her mucasy which she invariably swallows which means she will have to throw up] This went on til 3:49am. My normal bedtime I guess. So I kept her at home and couldn't sneak in a nap.
To make up for the appalling lack of knit show offdom you have endured this past week I am gonna send you to a friend's site. Now if you have never followed a link I sent you to before please do so now. Really. You know yarn porn right? The close up shot of loverly yarn that makes you drool all over your keyboard causing it to short out and necessitating the stockpile of backup keyboards. My friend~ and ok in reality we have never met she is just a bloggy person I email every once in a while which kinda ties into the whole clique-ishness of blogs and faux internet relationships that has been topic on several blogs of late~ has gone beyond yarn porn. She is doing knit porn. For the past 4 days I keep going back compulsively to see what is next and I am starting to feel like some dirty old man entranced by some young thing slowly removing her elbow length glove. Just saying go get your knit on.
yarny days and knitterly evening
Posted by Elka at 08:10 PM | Comments (0)
February 08, 2006
Olympic Project Finalized and WIP status
After weeks and weeks of swatching the choice is out of my hands~ I received some yarn with which to design a sweater. So thats gonna be my challenge: design and knit the sample for a new sweater. Lorraine had a post today about designing and I found it very interesting because she works with color whereas I work with texture. I like to call myself color blind but really its more a matter of not being very confident in mixing colors. I once knit a baby sweater in blue and picked out a purple for trim. My fave LYS happens to have a former painter on the staff and she informed me that the colors did not go together so whatever little experiments I was willing to make were kinda thwarted. And I still think they look ok together but no I am not gonna show you. Anyway my process is to first knit a st st swatch. I do this to determine what needle gives me the drape I want and to see how the fabric shows knits vs purls. Stitch definition for lack of better terms. If its all fuzzy wuzzy then I am going with a st st based fabric and if everything is crisp then I consider a more complex knit/purl combo. Then the weight and drape effect how take in-ish I am willing to have the knit/purl combos. A heavy yarn, and by this I mean yardage per weight in relation to suitable gauge, can't be further weighted down IMO by a lot of take in. Ugh clear as mud but say you are dealing with a loosely spun or hollow cored WW wool vs a cabled WW cotton~ the wool is good for cables or ribs but the cotton might have a little textural interest but not allover. Anyway I haven't gotten to that point yet and am still swatching for drape right now~ working only in st st to decide what size needle gives me the feel I want before even swatching any stitch patterns. Of course my mind is thinking hmmmm maybe a cabley pattern or maybe a real in your face 3D pattern. Thats where I am leaning but I certainly have not even looked at my pattern books and started drafting. Are you excited about watching me struggle through the design process? yah I know its not as exciting as doing a norgie in 16 days but I have knit half a sweater and then decided I was ever so confoozled and restarted so there might be drama!
I have worked the heel on my Jaywalker socks. Not turned the heel but the heel flap alone. I keep telling myself its Sunday Socks so I needn't stress but I am a bit concerned about the growing pile of WIPS and the incoming ordered projects which I am so jazzed to do mainly cause they are color stuff which I adore but am too chicken to design on own. I also am just a wee bit under the mitten top shaping on Maimu. Nothing to show with either of those yet IMO but progress is being made.
OK toodles and don't forget~ yarny days and knitterly eveings to all ;^>
Posted by Elka at 09:05 PM | Comments (2)
February 07, 2006
steeks part 2
Now that I took my chill pill~ really no rant~ I am gonna approach this topic again. Insomniac me, the one with a bee in bonnet, spent some time flipping through books on Scandinavian knitwear. Not pattern books but historical ones. Sheila McGregor proposes that jumpers were made ala gansey construction: with gusset, steek, and sleeves picked up at armholes. The steek stitches became the facing at sleeve/body juncture. I thought that maybe that was due to her English Isles upbringing and knit construction prejudices but then I spied in Britt-Marie Christoffersson's swedish Sweaters several photos of old, and I mean old, sweaters with gussets. Here are zoom ins of some photos:
You don't want to see all 17 pictures I took do you? I'm getting tired of uploading them and some people are stil on dial up. Anyway then I started thinking about fit. These sweaters were short, and skin tight, and short. Did I mention short? One sweater is fully charted out and it only 8" long from neckline to hem assuming the typical close to stitch gauge stranded knitting on diagonals have on row gauge. 40sts/4" so 80 rows makes @ 8" . I honestly think these sweaters were fulled slightly. I am aware that knit sleeves that were sewn onto the boiled wool jackets were fulled then cut to fit into armscye. Maybe its because I can't wrap my head around knitting an Elka sized sweater at 10spi. One was measured at 50sts/4" but 40 seems avg. So we have the gansey construction with gusset and sleeves picked up at armhole which means one wouldn't have to worry about stitch and row gauge matching a written pattern. One author gave modern adaptions which were worked flat in pieces. Interestingly enough Annemor Sundbo states that @1850 there were knitting machines available but that they were only wide enough to work the pieces flat. Do we only assume sweaters were worked in the round? She does say " Several of the old preserved old lice patterned sweaters from Setesdal are machine knitted." pg77 BTW of Setesdal Sweaters. Factor in the fulling, which one could assume was due to numerous washes over a century instead of a Elka proposed purposeful fulling, at teensy tiny gauge one might not be able to tell if something from behind glass was knit in pieces or not... Not being a knitting historian with the handy dandy access to sweaters I of course can only speculate. To further support the fulling prior to cutting theory there is one more picture~ I had forgotten!~ of a sweater in Sundbo's book [pg 138] that was found in the ragpile and it looks as if the bands were cut off to keep clasps or some such. OK peek at the amazingly not strait cutting and lack of running:
Somebody left a comment on Wendy's blog about the sweaters just being cut without any treatment at all[at least that is how I read the comment I could be wrong] and I think it is possible that a modern knitter would cut a sweater without any sewing if she had added on say 4 steek sts and planned on picking up the sts and then stabalizing with a facing. And facings were often used in older sweaters both inside and out. I refuse to take more pictures but there was often cloth inside "for added warmth accross shoulders" and we are well familiar with the woven bands at wrists, neckline, plackets, and cardigan fronts. Could these be a throwaway to a time when cutting sans machine was a necessity? A form becoming fashion thing.... OK gonna mull over my latest theory and let me know what your thoughts are. And yes I understand most of us only have access to the same written words but isn't it fun to think about how things were done?
Posted by Elka at 02:36 PM | Comments (3)
February 06, 2006
On steeks~Quote Heavy
Wendy did a post on Steeks today. Now I normally do not read her blog but somebody directed me to it since I had recently posted on a list that Norgies do not have steeks and Wendy contradicts me. Huzzah! Since I am feeling particularly crabby due to lost messages let me reply to Wendy's post with my arguements against her definition of steeks....
I will start with Wendy's article first where she states "A steek is nothing more than extra stitches used where you are going to cut the garment -- for armholes and/or down the front for a cardigan." Yep she said it herself extra stitches however in her knitty article[to which she links] and in her descriptions of how to work a steek there are no extra stitches! How can she claim no extra sts are steeks when she she defines them as extra stitches? She is confusing cutting with steeks....
Elka's reply is that one can cut a garment anytime, and having kids I assure you things do get cut, and they do not have steeks. Maybe she is confusing machine stitching down where one wants to cut as a steek but the experts contradict her on that definition.
Lets start with Elizabeth Zimmermann who does not call anything a steek. But Elizabeth did write in her Knitting Workshop pg137: after armhole shaping put two stitches at center-front on a safety-pin, and CAST ON[those pesky extra stitches aka steek] 3 or 4 stitches instead..... Armholes have been shaped in a similar fashion with more stitches on a thread to start with....
What!?! EZ isn't enough of an authority for you? How about Meg Swansen in Sweaters From Camp pgs 22-24:.... a steek consists of a group of extra stitches cast on .... to enable knitters to work the entire sweater in the round. The extra stitches are not part of the measurement of the garment, but simply a field for future cutting....
Oh sure I can hear you now~'' they are related so of course they are perpetuating the same misinformation'
Let's turn to the Fair Isle experts. Alice Starmore defines steeks on pgs 87&88 of AS Book of Fair Isle Knitting as: a series of unknitted lengths of yarn or extra knitted stitches that allow the knitting to proceed in the round. pgs 100-102 describe several ways to work a steek which guess what? involves either casting on extra stitches or wrappping the yarn around the needle several times over to create a long float that will be cut. Since Dame Alice's book is oop you may refer to Ann Feitelson's The Art of Fair Isle Knitting pgs 61-63 where OK she doesn't call them steeks but instead can you believe it "EXTRA STITCHES" Yes the entire section on steeks is called "EXTRA STITCHES" with her capitalizing it. How handy.
Sure Wendy differentiates between her steeks and Fair Isle steeks but general knitters do not. June Hiatt in her Principles of Knitting states on pg 113 " ..... cast on a minimum of the same number of stitches and continue to work the garment up to the shoulders. These extra stitches are called the Steek" Since Hiatt is OOP look at pgs86-87 of Pricilla Gibson-Roberts Knitting in the Old Way under Plan 3: Steeked Jersey: " To steek loosely translates as to close, and that is what the steek does: it closes a gap so you can continue circular knitting..... bridge the gap by adding stitches...... cut the steek. Yes, cut the steek!" This is BTW over 3 paragraphs but you will note that she clearly differentiates between cutting and steeks since you are instucted to cut the steek which she defines as a bridge created by adding [extra] stitches.
But, but, but what of Norgies? One cuts them and they don't have extra stitches... Au contraire dear knitter. Some designers put a steek into Norgies. Really! Lise Kolstad and Tone Takle in their Sweater, More Sweater, and Kids Sweaters use steeks. Since I happen to have the More Sweaters book in front of me lets look at pg 134 under Methods: On the next round, cast on 3 new stitches over the cast-off stitches. Then purl all the new stitches, working them in a double strand[main plus contrast color]. This strengthens for cutting and machine stitching.
Notice that they added extra stitches aka a steek that will be stabalized via machine stitching and cut for opening. There was a nice article several years ago in Knitters introducing the crocheted steek to modern knitters. The author surmised that, in the past[I do not have the article in front of me sorry], when knitters did not want to switch from circular to back and forth knitting at armholes they CO a minimum of 3 extra stitches which they would stabalize with crochet[no sewing machines I guess] and cut. I realize Dale of Norway does not utilize steeks but I am can only surmise that prior to sewing machines being a common household item the self same patterns would have been written with a crocheted steek. Especially in light that Takle and Kolstad use 3 extra stitches and are Norwegian gals. Not having lived way back when I have make an educated guess based upon every knitting authority other than Wendy.
OK crabby patty needs to get back to her knitting so she has something to show you laters. This was so not what I intended my entry to be today *sigh*
OH I looked at a Dale pattern namely Jubileum which is a cardigan and it instructs one to" CO 4 new sts[these are cutting sts: work in MC on all rnds and exclude from st counts]" so I guess Dale does use steeks for cardigan fronts but choses not to for armholes. Probably because some knitters do not achieve both row and stitch gauge and that way one can be off but the armhole will not be too deap or too shallow. I stand so corrected on Dale's usage of steeks. And Wendy is now even more wrong to use the word 'steek' for 'cut' on Norgies
Posted by Elka at 03:02 PM | Comments (2)
peeved
One of the first things I do in the morning is check my blog for comments. Comments get automatically junked[even mine!] so I need to approve them and I try to reply to each and every one I receive. So this morning, a morning I woke up abnormally early, not only are there no new comments but there are less! MT decided to lose Saturday and Sunday's posts. I can't find them anywhere so here is a recap:
friday a knitting gathering at my joint to kick off the Olympic knitalong tho you don't need to be participating so email me at elka_knits AT hotmail DOT com for address and directions
urban knitter meeting was muy fun so wicked glad I went
swatch of OKAL sweater choice #1 pretty much done and tho I didn't get gauge I am going with what I got and yes I ripped my swatch[which was pictured]
MKAL picture consisted of totally frogged yarn~ oooooooh curly :^>
OK I will do a real blog entry tonight but keep in mind I am peeved and I did do my daily blogging.
Oh almost forgot~ a pattern I designed was put up on Cascade's free pattern page. A direct link[since they don't give credit under thumbnails] is here. I designed Maude months before Isabella and I hope you like it.
Posted by Elka at 07:53 AM | Comments (3)
February 03, 2006
Olympic Swatchiness
OK blog readers I have a Q for you alls. First I have to state, in clear and uncertain terms, that I do not have too much yarn. That is Cassie's problem. And in fact I got more yarn today... ordered this past weekend in some weird unexplained shopping frenzy. So I start swatching for the OKAL in yummy yarn and.... well its a circular sweater. Knit at 28sts/4" and 53" round. You do the math. And its stranded colorwork. Despite the snafu with the MKAL gauge morphing I rarely have such things happen. Why? I am not afraid of ripping. I CO socks, mittens, hats etc and knit 6" past edge treatment then measure gauge. With sweaters I normally start with the sleeve and measure after 6" past edge treatment. I didn't with MKAL cause its icky intarsia and I didn't feel up to increasing and intarsia-ing at same time. Back to the OKAL sweater~ so I CO for sleeve, following instructions for my size, work hem and then start cuff and OK its been 7 hrs already and I haven't reached measurable point yet. Since the sleeves normally act as a swatch for me am I cheating? Steph did say swatching was not cheating but since my swatch involves actually CO and beginning the sweater do I have to rip out the 6" past cuff [the hem and cuff are both worked on smaller needles] that I end up knitting to ensure gauge? Never mind that I will probably have to knit the sleeve 2 or 3 times before getting correct gauge I am just wondering if I am wrong in thinking I can, on the 10th, pick up my sleeve bit and work from there. Tell me what you think....
I did email Steph and ask but I realize she is swamped beyond belief with this KAL so unless she replies I will honor the polls results. And looksie~ I joined another KAL... the spectrum thingie run by Miss Lolly. You may recall that Miss Lolly was my poor victem for SP. #3 I think it was. I still think she is totally adorable and I arranged my cubbies for Project Spectrum. With WW+ yarns and a few thinner stuff cause I think my hands will hurt if I have to knit with honking huge needles for a full 5 or 6 months. In fact this sweater I am swatching is supposed to be done on 3mm needles and I keep inserting those dpns into needle gauge thingie cause they seem absurdly thick.
Anyway yarny days and knitterly evenings to all
Edited to add: Ugh seems there are tons of porn ads around my poll results thingie please vote but don't check results and if you know how to prevent such ickiness let me know for next time kay?
Posted by Elka at 07:46 PM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2006
Overheard at The Watering Hole....
Exasperated Sheep{ES}: Did you hear that she lost a ball of yarn?
Religious Sheep{RS}: Why yes she tore apart the house looking for it and even whined a bit
ES: She used it as an excuse to buy some handspun on Ebay
RS: Isn't she on some stashalong?
ES: Well she's not a real participant and anyway handspun isn't real yarn...
RS: whaaaaaaaaaa?
ES: No really its like if you have every bit of your walls covered with posters and decide not to buy another and then come accross a lovely sketch at some craft show~ art vs mass produced.
RS: I get that.
Amused Sheep{AS}: Give an inch...
RS: hmmmmmmm?
AS: Well she was rather upset over the month of gauge issues and has this Olympic Knit~along coming up
ES: she didn't?
AS: Yesssss she did. Bought more yarn for OKAL
ES: She's crazy
RS: Preaching to the choir here
ES: How much?
AS: Well she ordered a kit from Allegro yarns but one of the colors is backordered so she figured you know she might not get it in time and even if she did she might not get gauge....
ES: No, NO!, No don't tell me
AS: So she ordered another sweater kit from another place but didn't get a order confirmation within 24 hrs so.....
ES: I said don't tell me~ what a freaking train wreck that girl is
RS: Choir
AS:... Bea Ellis is having a sale on Heilo and what could be more perfect for a OKAL than a norgie...
ES: crazy, simply crazy
RS: Word
AS:... so she picked up another 2 sweater kits
RS: she is not a small woman
Shy Sheep{SS}: she sat on me once
ES: 4 sweater kits huh
AS: yes and she noticed Bea asks for 14 days which won't be in time for OKAL so.....
ES: puh~lease don't tell me
AS: She's glad she ordered 3 other kits for small stuff cause 'you know since I'm ordering anyway might as well'
ES: insane
RS: Dude! Choir
SS: She sat on me once
Loving Llama{LL}: well its her parent's fault I mean the gal wore second hand stuff til she was a teenager. Not hand me downs since she was the oldest but you know garage sale stuff.
ES, RS, AS in unison: ugh stop with the excuses
LL: well she did... and they threw away all her stuff when she was 6....and again when she was 10 cause of moving.... just saying deap seated deprivation issues that lead to hoarding instincts.
ES: she's 41 in a few months she needs to get over it
AS: anyway so she started thinking that maybe, just maybe, it would be harder to find the lost yarn if she had you know even more yarn burying it.
ES: true, true
LL: she pulled out all her yarn looking for the missing handspun and piled it onto couch...
AS: she remembered Cookie's post on knitting mindless sweaters instead of socks to pare down the stash and figured WW+ projects instead of lace projects would work the same wonders.
RS: good thinking and her husband wants to move cubby land so its real nice of her to empty it...
LL:... and chairs
SS: I was hanging out on a chair one day...
ES: yes good idea as if she would ever actually follow through on anything...
LL... and floor
RS: her husband thinks cubby land should be used to house us not yarn...
SS: her husband saved my life after she sat on me
ES: her husband isn't that nice.
AS: really? What did he do?
ES: So late last night she is thinking about the missing handspun and realizes another hank is missing.
RS: She didn't? Not after that buying frenzy..
ES: No but she figured all her handspun was in a seperate box.
AS: Didnt she look through all her boxes and bags and such?
LL: Of course she did. She put all her yarn in one room out of any containers.
ES: yes she did but she spots a box on her husband's work area overflowing with saws, and wires, and doodads...
AS: that guy has no nice things.
RS: Really. He doesn't even use that stuff for building her a blocking frame.
ES: So on a whim she takes out all the stuff and...
Finds her handspun.
Posted by Elka at 11:54 AM | Comments (4)
February 01, 2006
For a Good Time....
I haven't knit all day~ super tired and busy, busy, busy moving yarn. A few weeks ago I was kinda upset over the gauge issues and decided to knit with some special yarn. Oh sure all yarn is special but this stuff was handspun purchased via Ebay argh 7 years ago or so. Every time I fondled it I thought 'too nice' But I was down so figured what the heck~ knit a big ol square and rip it. I deserve too nice yarn yes? Well I couldn't find it. Anywhere. I have spent the past 2 weeks looking for this yarn which I saw just a few months ago so I know its in the house along with Siberian Winter grrrrrrrr. Anyway I picked up some other inferior ebay handspun which I totally do not like. I am not gonna trash the seller but it was marketed as super soft sock yarn and is at least worsted weight. And not soft. And full of VM. Very icky. I figured dulaan it at least but I couldn't subject some poor child to the knitted fabric. Really it was horrible. I spent a week looking and gauging and getting more and more frustrated til last Sunday evening I CO a kitlet for some mittens. All I got to say is:
For a good time call 888-487-9665
yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 09:04 PM | Comments (4)