Knitting – Techniques – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Yikes! Stripes! and Sumi-e

Anyone who has knitted stripes in the round knows that there are problems where the two colors meet. There are all sorts of ways written up about how to avoid that “jog” that shows the color joins. Oddly, I couldn’t find any videos on YouTube demonstrating how to do it!

Circular Stripes

Meg Swanson and Elizabeth Zimmermann wrote about how to do a jogless jog. Judy Gibson has a very good demonstration on how to accomplish it, including pictures with different colored yarns. I thought I was doing it correctly when I made the Fish Hat, but didn’t – the stripes were more than obvious.

Here, then, is my take of the Jogless Jog:

Knit one complete round of new color.
Before knitting the first stitch of the next round, use the tip of your right needle to reach into down into the stitch below the first stitch of the next round, and pull the right side of that stitch up, and place it on the left hand needle. This means (as far as I can tell) is that you pull up the stitch one row below the next stitch, and slide it onto the left hand needle. You then knit these two stitches together.

Something to note is that a diagonal will occur, according to Judy’s site. Take the time to read it in detail, and look at the pictures. It’s a very nice presentation.

Yikes! Stripes! Socks

The other day in a prep class for the CBEST, I started these socks at lunch. The yarns are KnitPicks Palette in a rather tomato-soup red and a Noro sock yarn that varies from hot pink and orange to brownish stripes. I am alternating five rows of Noro with two rows of the Palette. It is because of the stripes that I researched a bit more into how to avoid the jog.

As always, TechKnitting comes up with an excellent and detailed description of avoiding that stripey jog. Knitting-and.com has a bunch of other ways to avoid that jog. I decided to try this method for my sock:

In circular knitting: when adding a new color or stripe, prevent a jog at the joining point by lifting the right side of the stitch below onto the left needle and knit it together with the stitch.

Right now, the jog is not obvious in the color shifts, and is really badly photographed, but as the colors begin to shift, the stripe change will be more obvious, and I hope, more hidden.

Striped Sock Gusset

I am also at the gusset of my Thockies (for want of a better name). I am not pleased with the way the stripes are proceeding, and so am debating about what to do. I think what I will do is rip it out to the point of picking up the gusset stitches. I picked them up in alternating colors, but what I think I need to do is to pick them up in a solid color, even if this means making a bit of a mess with attaching and / or breaking yarn. Then, on the second round, I will begin the alternating colors for the stripes, and decrease using the same color all along the gusset. I am also considering using the Dutch heel – as I know it – so I will not need any gusset decreases whatsoever, but can simply knit in stripes without a problem.

Sumi-e

I have not had the time to do any painting at all! It really bugs me. I planned to do some during the holiday season, but unfortunately, so much got in the way! And again, my weekends are devoted to credentialling. I am soooooo tired of school and work! I’ve had to drop my Japanese class, I cannot find a time slot big enough to paint and relax, and on and on and on. No Chinese painting class, either. Well, given that, once I take the CBEST, I will PAINT and make some more videos . . .

Wah!

Laziness

I like the way cables look, I just hate knitting them. I have also hated twisted stitches for much the same reason. Just about every book tells you to use a cable needle. Yeah, sure, it’s oodles of fun to slip one stitch and hold in back, purl one stitch, then knit the one on the cable needle. And do this fifty times each round. No, thank you! All this interrupts the rhythm of knitting and makes me crazy and impatient. As far as I am concerned, no project is worth this. A cabled hat is about as far as I will go – never, ever a cabled sweater.

I’ve known for some time that the twisted stitches of my childhood do not require a cable needle for every other stitch. You can knit or purl into the second stitch, then knit or purl into the first stitch, and then remove them together. That is so easy. No cable needles! Shifting stitches back and forth is not a big deal either – it is that pesky cable needle.

I’ve developed my own ways to do cables without a needle, but none have been especially satisfactory. So, in a fit of pique, I decided to check out YouTube yet again! And here are a few videos on cabling without needles.

This first one is filmed in windy North Dakota, so the sound is not the best, but her technique is very good, and the video is very clear. Notice that Adorabubbleknits knits a few of her stitches before dropping them off and picking them up.

Here you will see Wendy (of Wendy Knits) does all the transferring before knitting her stitches.

Either way, that damned cable needle has been eliminated. I just may try a complicated cable pattern (a very small one) project this way.

Thockies, ii

Having another week off before returning to school is soooooo nice! I’ve been able to sort out yarn, focus on designing a few things, and soon enough, get some sumi-e done as well.

I was pretty sure I would make socks out of the Riihivilla yarn – and decided that is exactly what I would do. My final choice of contrasting yarn was a warm, naturally creamy white. The warmth of this white is far nicer with the colors than the stark, wintery white I first considered, and does a lot to bring out the warm reds of the cochineal and purple of the variegated yarn.

You can see from the pictures that the color differences, while subtle, are readily apparent. The hand of the wool is very pleasant and has a nice bounce to it. I’m looking forward to wearing these socks!

When you dye with natural dyes, it is very easy to make a yarn become harsh and unpleasant, partly from the handling of the wool – such as extreme temperatures – or the chemicals involved. These yarns are mordanted with alum, and obviously handled properly. Having dyed with plants myself, I know only how easy it is to mess up and ruin an otherwise nice yarn. Leena Riihelä, the owner of Riihivilla in Finland, has done a great job!

Been Busy!

Saturday afternoon it was time to get to cleaning up after all the preparations for the Christmas holiday. There were stacks of yarn all over the place, falling off shelves, jumping out of strange corners.

In a true moment of disgust, I pulled in some plastic storage boxes, rummaged through forgotten stash, and threw out some yarn I couldn’t stand, and sorted out some to give to my mother-in-law. Finally, I divided out heavier weight yarns, lighter weight yarns, and UFOs into three containers.

Mission accomplished, I found knitting accessories, needles, and all sorts of things. Organized for a little while! (Some is already escaping . . .)

And, needing some mindless knitting, I pulled out the last of the Lamb’s Pride, and voila, a beret! This will be sent along to Judy (MIL) with some sock yarn I don’t like, but she does. And for the viewing public, I present you with the

Eyelet Rib Beret

This is a very simple eyelet rib pattern, with a total of 7 stitches and 4 rows. The ribbed quality of the beret makes the hat keep its shape, despite the high number of stitches. This hat will stretch out, so if your hair is a mess and you are just knotting it up to hide it, this beret should be able to handle it.

You can find it on the Patterns page or directly here.

Three Felted Hats, Family, and the Tulip Tree at Dawn

Christmas was wonderful this year, and it was such a pleasure to see everyone together. I’m always grateful for the family I have, their warmth and love. That is the best present of all.

The Original Felt Hat

Am wore the original white felted hat to dinner. I got a photograph or two of it, and looked at its construction.

The original hat for Am is somewhere between the blue Top Down! and the teal Heads Up! It was knit of heavy white yarn, which I believe was also Lamb’s Pride. The decreases on brim and crown were staggered so that the line of decreases was not evidenced as lines, which you can see both of the Heads Up! Top Down! hats. Also, the decreases were quite abrupt – like every row, with the decreases not done on top of each other. I counted about 50 rounds of knitting altogether. The body of the hat was longer than on the blue hat, with a brim somewhere between the blue and teal hat.

The blue and teal hats were well received, and look quite nice on Am. She liked both colors, which certainly was good to hear!

I plan to re-create the white hat – personally, I like its shape better – but that may be a bit off into the future. I think that if I do Top Down! I will knit it up as follows, using another skein of Lamb’s Pride (not in blue or teal!):

Cast on 4 stitches; kfb all stitches, 8 stitches total, transfer to 3 needles, join.

Kfb each stitch; 16 stitches total.

Knit one round.

Kfb each stitch, 32 stitches total.

Knit one round.

Kfb each stitch, 64 stitches total.

*Kfb, k3* to end – 90 stitches total.

At this point, I would assess diameter of brim. Could be that 90 stitches will do fine for hat. Maybe increase about 10 more stitches. Then knit straight for about 8 inches.

Begin brim by increase of about 25% of total stitches on needles; knit straight about 1.5-2 inches. Decrease about 10% of stitches. Knit even 1-2 inches. Decrease another 10% to curl brim over and knit about 1 inch in length.

This Morning

Up at six this morning, and through the shutters saw a rosy color in the sky. Grabbed the camera and took these before they disappeared.

On to the New Year!

Tag: Knitting – Techniques