Knitting – Page 3 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

A Mitten

Stephanie Pearl McPhee’s Cloisonee mitten caught my attention the other day – oodles of bright colors on the cuff – and even though I am in the middle of a few knitting projects, I had to try them out. The cuff is what makes the mitten, and the fact you can do it in any colors you want, and as long as you want, make it a fun project. Being a magpie, I flew to it!

I did change the pattern, though. I did not have any worsted weight hanging around, but a lot of double knitting weight. I had some Heilo, some Cowboy Colors, and pushed them together until I found a pleasing arrangement. My gauge is 6 sts / inch on size 3 needles with this yarn, so I did the largest pattern. I also want to note that with an increase of 4 sts. after the cuff is done, and picking up only 1 st where the thumb stitches are, the knitter is still left with 44 sts. on the needle (unless I missed something). As a result, the final decreases, done every 5th st. will not work out. I picked up another stitch to make the final hand a multiple of 5 stitches – 45.

To Swatch or Not to Swatch

Knitting gauge is individual. Persnicketiness is too.

Admittedly, I am a sloppy knitter because I do not get myself in a tizzy over my knitting. Dropped a stitch? Oh, well. I’ll either latch it up or not with a crochet hook. Missing a stitch? I’ll look for the offender and tie it off if it is way too far down, and add another if necessary. I don’t swatch because I know how I knit. However, for the sweater for Josh, I did swatch, but not for gauge, but for the patterns. How do they look in Brava and how do they look in this color?

A sweater is a big project, and a bit of understanding of a pattern’s texture is more important to me than my gauge. The gauge takes care of itself. What do I mean by that? I mean I have been knitting long enough to know that I knit 4.5 sts / inch with worsted weight yarn on US size 7 needles. I know that massive cables will bring in a big project about 15-20%. I figure about 5% for a lot of stranded knitting. And, because I do not follow patterns except for ideas, I also know that I can change things as I go along – or rip the whole danged thing!

In writing up patterns, I always assume a gauge to be an approximation. For some patterns, it is really important, as in fancy cable work on sweaters and jackets. If you design your own, then you are the one in control. If you follow a pattern, you are also the one in control. Take the time out to see if something might work for you – or not. Everyone who knits has their own style, their own tensions, and hence, their own gauges. Comments about how hats have turned out “too large” make me wonder if the knitter is willing to analyze their own knitting style, or is caught up with following directions and assuming all will be well. I have seen knitters who do beautiful work, but fail to consider (or take responsibility for) if their knitting is going to work with a given pattern, and then blame the pattern, not themselves.

Designing anything does require a bit of forethought, as well as a bit of risk. I mentioned in one post about photography that I’d gone to a workshop where the photographer said that no work of art was unplanned. I think that is true – sure, some things are spontaneous and successful, but not all are. Experience, experimentation, frustration, imagination, intention, repetition are all the things which lead to success in any field. Even with all the best intentions, failures can occur; however, I always think that my failure may be a success in someone else’s eye.

Knitting is an activity like any other – running, kayaking, sewing, cooking, painting, writing. It requires some focus, and can give way to that pleasurable automation of the well-trained hand. A quality of “oneness” occurs that is soothing and calming – very zen! The art of knitting is very different from the act of knitting. When it becomes an art, all your knowledge comes into play, at whatever level you are doing it. Granted, the art may be highly pragmatic in results, but it is no less an art, whatever the utilitarian need being met.

So, to swatch or not to swatch? That is up to the individual. For me, I’ll leave it alone unless I need it. I’ll dive in and adapt a bit if I need to because it suits my personality far better. However, to create a pattern with texture – that is akin to painting. How do the colors respond to this or that? How shall I use this new brush? Then I swatch, because until I see the result, I will never know. Small scraps of paper, small textured swatches. Life goes on.

Knitting Day

With this being a three day weekend, I’ve actually been “chillin out” quite a bit. Yesterday, did the grocery run, and then started swatching for a sweater I will be making Josh. It turns out he is more sensitive to wool, unless it is highly processed, than we thought. The wool I planned to use was too much for him, which is unfortunate, as it is from a fleece I bought. Really soft wools are not, in my opinion, meant for an overall sweater with heavy wear, so we decided to check out KnitPicks new line in acrylic, Brava. We chose the worsted weight. The package came yesterday, and it is actually pretty nice – soft, good twist, and the color we chose is called “currant” – the shade of dark, red wine. Texture shows up well, it doesn’t feel plasticky -why do some acrylics just feel so dreadful??? – and hasn’t demonstrated any tendency to split unless I jab a needle into the ply. Because the yarn is dark, texture and fancy cables are not going to be highly noticeable. My swatch is rather large, with multiple patterns in it. I measured it before I threw it in the wash with a couple of towels and a quilt. I’ll measure it when it comes out of the dryer, check the feel of it, and how it looks.

In other knitting arenas, I have mittens to finish, a hat to write up and possibly a pair of socks, and my own pullover to finish. Admittedly, like the dogs in Up!, I get easily distracted. Photography has been taking up a lot of my time this past year, and while it is fun and enjoyable, challenging and a learning experience, there is always something to be said for old friends. Knitting is one of them. So is painting. However, often the drawback to these last two is the fact that they can be too solitary (which I enjoy) and are done indoors. The photography is great for that, and has gotten me off my tuckus and out in the fresh air.

So the plan for the day, once the bills are done, is to begin designing the sweater Josh has so patiently awaited. I know what I want to do as far as the overall design, but the final touches are the important element. I like the idea of texture, but not a lot that will be lost in a dark yarn and end up feeling like a wasted endeavor. As it is a cardigan, I want a shawl collar. Not sure about the button situation yet; my inclination is to do a crocheted edge, or an i-cord binding, with loops for buttonholes and toggles. Pockets may be patch, but I am rather drawn to slash pockets – for these I need to pull out some of my “how to” books, such as the Vogue knitting book, or Montse Stanley, or Deborah Newton. The entire pattern will be done in one piece, with raglan sleeves, and with as little sewing as possible.

And I will have some company – Jack Reacher is standing by!

A Gansey for Autumn

The summer is winding down, and my last two days off work lie ahead. I have not done much painting as my interest in the visual arts is currently on photography. On the other hand, knitting, while not prolific, has been steady. I have been working on a gansey in Rowan’s Felted Tweed for the past several weeks.

The design is sort of original, and sort of not, as it is based on a gansey pattern design by Beth Brown-Reinsel‘s book Knitting Ganseys, specifically the child’s gansey “Snakes and Ladders,” which is pictured on the cover of her book. I’ve expanded the stitch count – I’m no toddler in size! – and have decided to make it more in the EZ style, with raglan sleeves, and possibly a placket opening in the front or a boat neck, just because in California a high-necked sweater would be too hot for me.

It’s been quite a while since I have made a sweater. Admittedly, Josh’s sweater fell to the wayside – it was too, too boring. I needed a brighter color, and texture. I purchased the Rowan yarn several years ago, but had no idea what I wanted to make out of it, so of course it sat around. The color is one of my favorites, a rust color or what some might call a spiced pumpkin color, as it is not a deep rust, but more the color of autumn leaves which have not completely faded.

Designing a sweater takes a bit of work! While the design itself was essentially there in Beth’s book, I needed to expand on it. In the end, rather than a 6-stitch snake cable, I upped it to an 8-stitch cable. The bar sections (7 rnds. of stockinette with one rnd. of purl) became 10 stitches. I thought I had it all set up, and then as I was knitting realized I had not taken into account the fact that centering of a pattern section was critical for success. Duh! Once that was solved, though, the body proceeded nicely.

I have finished the body to the point where I am ready to add sleeves. I am about 2/3 done with the first sleeve, which is knitting up amazingly fast, and I am enjoying the simplicity of the overall sweater pattern quite a bit. As with the body, the sleeve took a bit of thought, but is going along quite nicely now that I have completed the increases.

It always feels good to see progress on a project – especially after frogging a major sweater elsewhere!

Too Much!

Some people learn things as they go along, living life on a daily basis and incorporating the new stuff without the disruption of everything else. Not me. When I am curious about something, I jump headlong with both feet. This has its good points and bad points, the worst being it can become obsession – luckily, it never does. The thing is, I am a collector. I collect information. I collect things. And I don’t usually get rid of stuff, either in my mind (though I will as senility approaches), in my closet, under my bed, or in the garage. Granted, when I return to that interest, costs are very insignificant!

Lately, in case you have not noticed, I have been doing a lot of photography, to the point I decided to set up a blog separate from Ink, Yarn & Beer. Here, I really want to get back into more personal things, such as the painting and knitting design, as well as just discussions or whatever I fancy. At that other blog I can focus on photography and what I am doing there, create my little encyclopedia of links, blither on about what I am doing. I’ve gotten a few hits there, mostly spam, but that blog, like this one, is for my own pleasure. And to create balance.

My artistic side finds photography rather frustrating, but I am beginning to see how it is tweaking me at the same time. Thinking about how something is made – effects, colors, process – begin to move into other areas. Looking at the petals of a rose make me wonder how I can capture them with a brush using ink or watercolor. Looking at the light shadows in an image make me consider contrast and detail in a painting and why something in a painting works, or does not. Realism does not need to be done, but the impact created by color, shadow, tone, shape gives an illusion of reality or its impression.

The fact is, any form of art is limited only by the person doing it. This can because of a lack of tools or innovation, or because one is still in the process of becoming or doing. I am limited by my interests in a lot of things – painting, knitting, reading, writing, photography, gardening, hiking, traveling – and it keeps me from doing anything well. On Outlook I have different activities scheduled weekly – creative activities – and that doesn’t help either! Regardless, the plan is to try to do a bit more of all of it, and be focused on it when I can.