Adventures in Knitting – Page 6 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Knitting Disaster Averted

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

My disasterous Cables and Lace Capelet is fixed.

Just like that! I ripped off the oversized collar and reknit it on smaller needles and made it shorter. Suddenly, I have a beautiful capelet that makes me think of something Claire should be wearing on the Outlander TV show.

The combination of cables and lace is simply beautiful. Norah Gaughan is a genius pattern writer. The capelet was wonderfully fun to knit and fast too, even with my problem-solving exercise at the end.

The side and back views are as beautiful as the front.

This pattern is fantastic. I can't wait to knit one of Norah's sweaters, most likely Ropewalk, although every pattern she writes is gorgeous.

At the end of the day, Problem solved. I hope this experience will encourage others to be fearless about ripping and recreating. I tend to be rather nervous about doing this type of thing but it was powerful to rip back an entire ball of yarn and lunge straight on in to make it better. One of my favorite things about knitting is that it encourages us to be our best selves and reminds us we don't have to settle for something we aren't happy with. For 2015, I resolve to be more fearless in my knitting!

Marguerite’s Knitted Hats

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

Hands down, the best Christmas presents we received this year were handknit hats from our dear friend Marguerite, a fun, intelligent woman, whose idea of a casual knit is a detailed Kaffe Fassett sweater. She is an inspiration.

For Christmas Eve, she knit hats for everyone. Seriously, everyone. Hats for seven in my family and three in our close friends' family. And she followed that up Christmas morning with hats for her daughter, my dear friend and colleague's, family of four, and I suspect the rest of her children and grandchildren as well.

Marguerite is an epic knitter. I'm on the far right in the photo above in a colorwork hat with a kitty cat motif around the brim. My Mom, below, has a similar motif on her hat.

Ellie has a hat and mitts.

And the gentlemen got stripes, like this.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee once wrote, "“When confronted with a birthday in a week I will remember that a book can be a really good present, too.” Obviously, Marguerite laughs in the face of such kind, gentle advice and managed to knit a swarm of hats for this one Christmas. What a wonderful way to make people feel the love in your heart. I'm going to remember that for next Christmas.

My Cables & Lace Capelet: Not A Success Story, At Least, Not Yet

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

Cables and Lace Capelet was a pattern I wanted to knit as soon as I saw it. It had this Outlander/Scottish Highlands vibe and looked like it would be great to throw on as I walked out the door for yoga or coffee with friends. The pattern photo looked great.

(c) Berroco

I walked into this one with my eyes wide open. There were a couple of red flags: The pattern was an older freebie and of the 15 finished projects besides the sample, virtually everyone commented on size problems, as in the finished project was way too small. One commenter said it fit her 10-year old.

When my gauge swatch, properly blocked and all, revealed that I was going to have an extra 10" or so around, I figured that would make the fit just right. And, of course, I was wrong.

It looked good finished and blocking. (Blocking tip: I no longer weave and clip my loose ends before blocking, they will stay in place more firmly and look neater if you wait until after you block. So you can see my tails hanging in various places).

I was still a bit worried about the length, but I was delighted by how the lacework opened up and how good the stitch definition on the cables was. The biggest worry, though, was the collars. I had carefully knit them to pattern legnth, but upon wet blocking, the weight of the yarn seemed to urge them onward into expansion. They looked huge. I carefully patted them back into shape, but they insisted upon growing, no matter what I did.

As it turns out, they're at least twice as long as they should be. And the shoulders too are overlarge. As you can see below, they slip off, instead of giving a nice snug fit.

And I mentioned that the collar had grown ridiculously long, right? It's a horror show.

Despite these flaws, I love the capelet and I love the yarn (Madeline Tosh). And, I'm incredibly glad I didn't do the finishing work on the collar before blocking so that I can try to fix it.

My dilemna is choosing among the two potential solutions I see. The yarn is superwash, so I could just pop it in the dryer and hope for the best. I've never done this before, but I know that it works in theory. My biggest concern doing this is that I'll lose length, which is perfect right now, as opposed to circumference, which is the problem. And, really, does anyone think that donkey ear collar is going to shrink enough? I should have known that a yarn this bulky would expand beyond what the swatch predicted.

My Second option is ripping back to before the start of the collar, faking another lace repeat with reduced stitch count to give me a better fit in the shoulders, and then knitting a collar that is about half what the pattern calls for, knowing it will block out. This is probably the safer option and I'm leaning that direction.

So what would you do, gentle knitters? Any advice about superwash yarns and the folly of knitters who don't trust the pattern and listen to what their gauge is telling them? At least future knitters for this pattern will know that in my case, the pattern was written perfectly and the proper gauge, properly blocked in the small size would have produced a perfect fit for my size medium body.

Knitting The Cables And Lace Capelet

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I finished up my Cashmere Gadabout last night. It's blocking and there will be photos later on this week. Once it was drying, I picked back up with my Cables and Lace Capelet, which has been languishing for weeks while Christmas knitting got finished. And I'm so glad that I did! This project has a lot of virtues.

First is the yarn. I love Madeline Tosh. Sometimes, I cherish her skeins so much I become hesitant to knit with them while waiting to find the perfect pattern. But this yarn, her Super Bulky ASAP in the Weathered Frame colorway, was ordered just for this pattern and went straight onto my needles when it arrived.

The second virtue of this pattern is that the yarn knits up fast and pretty in the super bulky weight. I'm not a huge fan of knitting on large needles, and the size 11s are at the outer edge of comfortable knitting for me, but still within it. And overall, they are worth dealing with because it is so stinking fun to watch this pattern take shape, so quickly.

The third virtue is that it is making me feel very accomplished. If you've looked at this pattern before you know that you knit the bottom band and then, after grafting the ends together, pick up stitches to knit the body of the capelet. I'm notorious for avoiding picking up stitches, but have been gently encouraging myself to do so over my last few projects. I'm happy I've been doing that, as last night, I picked up the 133 stitches around the edges of the band without a hitch and went onto the lace. Success!

My gauge is good, even in the round. But I'm aware of pattern notes that say this project comes out too small for an adult, even though the sample project is beautiful and clearly adult sized. It's difficult to get a sense with it all bunched up on the needles, but I'll likely take it off on some waste yarn once I get a foot into the body to get a sense of whether I need to make some adjustment. Hopefully once finished, my notes on sizing will help anyone who wants to knit this down the road to get a sense of how it fits. It's such a beautiful project and this is an ideal yarn.

Knitting with Plucky: The Olivia Wrap

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm really excited to be knitting with yarn from the Plucky Knitter this week, casting on my Olivia Wrap. (This was supposed to be my first project with Plucky Yarn, but I snuck in a Nevermind Hat last week, and I'm so glad I did!)

I'm in love with Olivia and I'm in love with this color — Holloway — with is the perfect teal. I decided to do some swatching, even though it's not technically essential for a wrap, and I'm glad that I did. In fact, it had several benefits.

In addition to helping with size, as you can tell from the three swatches above, one of my skeins is darker than the others. The skeins looked pretty well matched, and I might have been tempted to skip alternating skeins had I not seen them knitted up. I'll make sure to alternate in this project!

The pattern gauge for Olivia is 12 stitches over 4 inches. I'm not concerned with row gauge here, since I plan to sling this around my shoulders over my coat, and that won't be criticial. But I do want it to be big enough to wrap all the way around.

The pattern suggests using size 9 needles, so I started there. I got 15.5 stitches. Obviously, the more stitches in your project, the more the effects of having "bad gauge" throw off the work. Here, with 189 stitches, I would transform the 63" wingspan of Olivia into a mere 48.77". This seems odd, given that I'm a very loose knitter, so my problem is typically in the opposite direction. And, although I'm using a different Plucky yarn than the pattern yarn, it's the same weight — they are both arans — so I would not expect a result like this.

Going up to size 10.5 needles didn't help much. Here, my gauge was still 14.5 stitches. My Olivia would be up to 52.13". Theoretically I could continue to increase the needle size to try to bring my gauge into alignment. When I first knit on the 10.5 needles, though, I thought the fabric was becoming too loose and drapey and had I not blocked my swatch, I would possibly have set the project aside. But after blocking, the fabric was even and beautiful and perfect for the project. It even looks as though I could go up another needle size. Still, I'm not sure I can manage it — I'll see what a swatch on size 13 needles looks like, but I'm not optimistic. More on that and one other possibility in a minute.

Because this is gauge week, I decided to round out my experiment by knitting another swatch on size 7 needles. And, as expected, I got more stitches per inch, this time, 17.5 stitches in 4 inches. This would give me a miniscule Olivia, of only 43.2 inches. I have to confess that I'm rather partial to this fabric. I like a yarn that is knit up tightly. But the Plucky Primo Aran yarn looks wonderful on all three sizes of needles. It's a fabulous, beautiful yarn, even if it is frustrating me a bit at the moment.

You'll notice this swatch is a bit different than the others. A friend pointed out to me that this swatch is supposed to be over garter stitch (note to self: read the d@mn pattern). So I swatched in both stockinette and garter on the 7's, but unlink most knitters, I tend to get the same result in both stitches and that held true here. Still, I think it's worth trying a swatch on the size 11 needles in garter to see if that gives me a bit to play with. Since I did both of these swatches together, I may have pulled the sizing off. Fingers crossed that a garter swatch gives me a better result.

Then there is this to consider: Olivia is written for an average size woman and I am only 5'1". So a slightly shorter version may be okay in my case. I'm also going to pull out some of my favorite wraps and measure them for length before deciding what to do.

If you've been reading along this week, you've probably noticed that, A) I'm not very good at getting gauge and B) The process of swatching seems to lead to more swatching and lots of indecision. But I see all of this as progress towards getting finished objects that fit the way I want them to (and even, perhaps, some that actually fit my body when I'm knitting for myself). Although the math makes my head hurt, it's worth knitting a few extra swatches and seeing the examples that make sense of the rules.

I'm going to knit Olivia. I may have to do a few more swatches, measure some old favorites, and seek advice from some good friends, but I'm on it!

Knitting and Gauge: Swatching for my Lace and Cables Capelet

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm one of those rare math challenged knitters and I struggle with gauge. I'm determined to move past my annual sweater-sizing debacles in 2015 and I'm starting by swatching, which can be sort of fun when you get down to it.

This week, I'm going to cast on for this absolutely fabulous project, Norah Gaughan's Lace and Cables Capelet. The yarn I'm using is Madeline Tosh A.S.A.P. in the Weathered Frame Colorway.

The pattern calls for a stitch gauge of 12 stitches to 4 inches and for this project, and equally important row gauge of 16 rows to 4 inches. After reading the project notes, I saw that a number of other knitters felt the project was too short, if not too small around, so I realized row gauge would be important here.

I knit a nice big swatch on size 11 needles. I've knit a number of projects on similar bulky yarns and size 11 seemed to have worked in the past. When I swatch, I like to have room to measure, so in addition to the 12 stitches I was hoping to have in my 4 inch measure, I added an additional 4 stitches. I also added 4 more stitches, for a total of 20 in my swatch, so I could have a 2 stitch/2 row garter border all the way around my swatch — garter stitch doesn't roll like stockinette does, and this makes the swatch a bit easier to measure. I swatched and cast off without cutting my yarn off of the ball. I blocked using my handheld steamer, slowly and carefully saturating the fabric with steam on first the front, then the back and finally the front side again, before aggressively blocking the square. (Above).

Here is my swatch after blocking. Once unpinned, it's clear it has grown in size. You can see that I've put pins in — the red pins are to measure stitch gauge, and the green ones, which are difficult to see in this picture will measure row gauge. I've used a small ruler to put those pins in four inches apart, and now all that is left is for me to count.

Stitch gauge is going to be a problem. I've got 10 stitches over 4 inches, instead of the 12 that I need. It might not sound like a lot, but since I had planned to cast on 133 stitches for the body of the cape the pattern would result in a circumference of 44.33 inches, but my cape would be 53.2 inches.

This is the lesson from Monday's post: if you get fewer stitches to the inch than your patterns calls for, your finished item will be bigger than it should be.

My stitch gauge is dead on, coming in at that required 16 rows.

I have a couple of options here. I'm a loose knitter, so I can stick with the size 11 needles, but tighten up enough to get the extra two stitches per inch. That would require conscious effort but is possibly doable. I can also change my needle size, using a smaller need to get more stitches per inch, although I'll have to watch row gauge carefully.

As I noted at the outset, a number of other knitters have noted this pattern fits very small. Do I want to risk it and stick with my gauge and see what happens? I'm a fairly small person and one knitter noted the finished project was to small for her and only fit her 10-year old. And, the swatch is over stockinette, per the pattern, but I'll tighten up a good bit knitting lace and cables, which may help with gauge.

It's a slightly risky strategy, albeit based on a clear assessment of my gauge on this yarn and what other knitters have said about the pattern. Any thoughts about what I should do? I'm leaning towards tightening up and sticking with these needles, given the size comments from others, but I haven't made up my mind entirely yet.

How Your Gauge Impacts Your Success As A Knitter

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

If you are knitting a scarf you probably don't care about what your gauge is. You'll take the finished item, wrap it around your neck as many times as it will go, and move forward in life feeling warm and happy.

But for just about any other item you might make, you care. Trust me. You really should care.

Yes it's a hassle to swatch. And even more so, to block and measure your swatch. For the math challenged among us, deciding what to do when your gauge is not identical to the pattern gauge can be a problem.

Here are a few principles and thoughts to make your life with gauge a little bit easier:

Let's envision you're going to make a garment and the pattern calls for you to Cast on 150 stitches. You swatch, block, and measure:

if your gauge is 3 stitches to the inch, your finished item will measure 50 inches

if your gauge is 5 stitches to the inch, your finished item will measure 30 inches

if your gauge is 10 stitches to the inch your finished item will measure 15 inches

*If you get more stitches to the inch than your pattern calls for, your finished item will be smaller that it should be

*if you get fewer stitches to the inch than your patterns calls for, your finished item will be bigger than it should be

How do you fix gauge problems? One solution is to switch your needle size to get a different gauge:

If you switch to larger needles, you will get fewer stitches per inch and a bigger garment

If you switch to smaller needles, you will get more stitches per inch and a smaller garment

There are some variables here — you have to make sure you like how the fabric looks and hangs when knit on the new needle size and that it produces a fabric that will work for the item you are knitting. And, if you are like me, your gauge may not change a lot when you move just one or even two needle sizes. You may ultimately have to conclude that you are not going to be able to use your treasured yarn for the project you have in mind.

Some knitters have great success by deciding to knit a different pattern size. If they are persistently getting more stitches per inch than the pattern calls for, the move up a size or two on the pattern to correct. You can make this work if you are rigorous about doing the math.

More on gauge, with some swatched examples later this week. I'm hoping that if I write it all down I can refer back to it over time, and do better. I hope this helps some of you all as well! Please chime in with comments about gauge and any knifty knitter mathfu tricks you have to share.