Category: Knitting

F.O.

I’ve been knitting in between playing with three different – no, four different – cameras.  I’ve got some mitts I’m working on for Josh, a shawl out of Noro, and I just finished the Flip Flop Socks in Paton’s Socks in the City booklet.

These toe socks were not really hard to do, but I think that the instructions were rather peculiar.  The yarn colors are also odd, making me think of the colors of rayon dresses of the 30s and 40s, but these odd colors I find quite appealing.  Out of all the stripes that Paton’s has in this series of sock yarn, I really like this one the best.  It is called “Summer Moss Jacquard” and about 2/3 of two balls are used altogether.

One of the criticisms I have about the pattern is that they measure the foot length from where the heel is turned, and where the gusset joins.  I just measured my usual 7.5 inches before beginning the toe.  Another criticism is that the little toes are only an inch long – if I were to have followed those instructions, I would not be happy.  They should say something to the effect of “knit until 1/4 inch shy of length of second toe, then begin decreases.”  Something like that.  And the big toe needs to be custom fit as well.  There are other oddities in the pattern as well, which I ignored, and met with success anyhow.

This yarn seems to want to pill a bit, but it could just be that I need to wash them so that any little fuzzies can go bye-bye.  I’ve never had any complaints about Kroy sock yarn – it is a workhorse of a yarn and very reasonably priced.  These days it seems that solid colors are hard to come by, whereas about ten years ago, patterned yarn was far more of a challenge.  Obviously, fads come and go.

Self-striping yarn is always fun to work with – it keeps me visually entertained during plain knitting.  What will the next round bring?  However, self-striping yarn is not something to use with cables or lace, unless you want to get specific effects.  For instance, Mini Mochi is a self-striping yarn, but the stripes are miles apart, so lace or cables can be seen, and not lost in the pattern of the color.  If you use narrower striped yarn, patterns which create ripples can be fun, as then the lines of color undulate.

These socks, despite pattern issues, were really a lot of fun, and an easy, quick knit.  Below are my own socks!  Not as elegantly photographed, but still pretty good . . .

Lampshades and Buttonholes

What do these have in common?  Both are useful, both are usually ugly.

Given this, these past few days I have been on the quest for a good buttonhole.  I’ve found that the classic eyelet buttonhole is by far the easiest, and attractive.  Unfortunately it is not going to gracefully accommodate a large button if you are using fine yarn.

I have tried a number of them, and none have pleased me, though some have intrigued me.  The best one, beyond the eyelet, is the “Two Lip” or “Tulip” buttonhole by TechKnitter, a genius in the ranks of the knitting world.  It is a bit of work, but I think I can get it.  It was featured in the Summer 2010 issue of Interweave Knits, and it is presented here by Eunny Jang.

In trying out a number of buttonholes, it becomes pretty obvious what their major failing is:  to complete the buttonhole, you turn your work, creating one extra row of new stitches, over which you then work another row.  The result is lumps and holes, and uneven stitches.  Very, very ugly.

This does not occur with the eyelet, nor the Tulips buttonhole.  The eyelet is straightforward – k2tog, yo – and continue on your merry way.  The Tulips buttonhole requires some wraps, unwraps, fiddling with a crochet hook and a double-pointed needle, but it works.  The upper part of the buttonhole is continued in the same direction as you are originally knitting, adding the stitches by doing a yarn over and making a loop with the crochet hook.  Kind of messy to do initially, but it will get graceful later on.

In sewing, I hated buttonholes so much I would make loops for everything.  I have only made eyelets for sweaters because everything else was so dreadful.  As I am designing a sweater for Josh, an eyelet buttonhole will not accommodate a button an inch in diameter.  Necessity forced me into the search – I’ve ripped the sweater out twice now! – and I hope that I will get it down.  Meanwhile, I plan to practice, practice, practice!

Lucette

. . . has arrived!

This is a hat I named after the lucet, which is a tool used to make cords, as well as after one of my favorite designers, Lucy of A Black Pepper (click the link at the right to go visit her), who does beautiful designs with cables and bobbles.

This hat is begun with the Estonian cast on, which is really easy to do, but nearly impossible to describe in words.   You can find Nancy Bush’s video of it on YouTube, or on the August 8, 2010, entry here.  This cast on is incredibly stretchy, as well as neat and tidy.  If you look at the bottom two pictures, you can see how much the hat will stretch out to accommodate a head!