Knitting – Page 18 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Knitting in Progress: Cables and Lace Capelet

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

My Cables and Lace Capelet, in Madeline Tosh's ASAP yarn, is coming along. The construction is unusual. The strip I'm knitting, in the photo, will be the bottom edge of the Capelet when it's finished. If you look carefully, you will see the contrast yarn used for the provisional cast on at the bottom edge. When the strip measures about 50", I'll graft the live stitches on the needles to the live stitches in the provisional cast on, and then pick up stitches along the top to knit up into the body ofthe capelet. It's such a clever construction and because the yarn is bulky it goes quickly.

This was one of those patterns I had to knit the minute I saw it. And I'm enjoying the cables, which are interesting enough to hold attention but easy enough to knit through football or tv viewing. I hope to make progress on the band this week so I can get to the body next weekend.

New Pictures of Old Knitting

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I wanted to share some better pictures of a couple of recently knitted items, as well as one much older project, in hopes that they will motivate or help someone else with their knitting.

First, this is the Nevermind hat, with a much more attractive model and a better idea of what it looks like. Note: I used two skeins of The Plucky Knitter Snug to knit this hat, but I believe I would have scaled back the pattern and done one less repeat and perhaps even knit the smaller size to accomodate the expansion on this yarn when blocked. I love this pattern and will definitely knit it again.

Here is a better view of the cables, with a somewhat less accommodating model.

Next, a better photo of the recent Outlander-inspired Claire cowl (the pattern I used is called The Gathering) that I knit in very bulky yarn from Blue Sky Alpaca. This cowl is getting a lot of wear — everyone seems to reach for it as the cowl of choice in colder weather, and I know I'll be knitting at least a few more like this for Christmas presents because they are such quick and easy knits.

And finally, this Tiny Tea Leaves sweater that I knit for Ellie, circa 2011. Somehow, I never took a finished picture, but it is such a great sweater! Ellie has outgrown it, so I'm going to give it a good soak and some new buttons so that my Mom, who is tiny like her granddaughter, can wear it. It's going to look great with her coloring and I'm hoping she'll be delighted with it.

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.

Nevermind. My First Project With The Plucky Knitter’s Yarn.

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

This is the start of my Nevermind hat, which took all of two days to knit. In addition to being a delightful pattern, this is my first finished object using yarn from The Plucky Knitter. The yarn is called Snug. It is a bulky blend of merino, cashmere, and alpaca. And it is heaven.

The finished hat is warm and cozy. The yarn is so soft — it seems to bring out the best of each fiber and produce a dense knit that seems unlikely to pill. Make sure you block this yarn to bring out its fabulous drape.

I've put in my order for more Snug to make sure I have the pleasure of knitting with it all winter. In one quick hat, it became my new favorite yarn.

Outlander Knitting and The Polar Vortex

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

With rumors of another polar vortex-like episode of cold weather headed for the deep south, I decided I needed a quick, but densely warm cowl, to get me through the next few weeks. I've knit several cowls that mimic the look of Claire's beautiful Sassenach cowl, as she works her way through the Scottish Highlands in the Outlander series, and I decided a modified version would be just right.

This pattern is so easy that I knit it during a drive yesterday (I was obviously a rider, not the driver), and had it ready to wear by evening. The yarn is Bulky Blue Sky Alpaca and I held it double-stranded. I used three skeins of yarn for this cowl, dividing the last skein into two even parts. The pattern is very simple: Using size 35 needles, Cast on 16 stitches using your favorite provisional cast on (I like Lucy Neatby's, using a crochet hook, which you can see here). Knit in garter stitch, i.e. knit every row, until you are almost out of yarn. You will finish the scarf with Kitchener stitch, for a seamless join. To do this, you need one length of yarn (no double stranding for this part), that is three times the width of your work. Even if you don't like to Kitchener, you can manage it for 16 stitches, and the result will be well-worth it.

For the larger cowl worn by claire — one that is long enough to twist around your neck a couple of times or spread out along your shoulders, you will want a longer cowl than this one. The modification is simple — this cowl is very bulky because of the double stranding, but using the same quantity of yarn, held single, you can produce a longer cowl that is easily wrapped around your neck.

Finally, a word about the yarn. Recently, I overdyed a sport weight Blue Sky yarn in this same pink colorway for a friend, and got a lusterous result. That yarn had silk in it, and I thought that might be responsible for the sheen of the yarn. I was curious as to whether I could replicate the result in a yarn that lacked the silk content. I tried it with this bulky yarn that is 50% Alpaca and 50% wool and you can see the result in the picture at the top — it's a deep, shimmering blue. I'm as pleased with the cowl as I am with the yarn, and look forward to staying warm through out the coming weather event.