Proudly Presenting: Celtica

Very proudly presenting Celtica today! Or should this post be called “Surprised about the merits of Negative Ease”? There is a lot to be said about finally finishing this intricate project. Let me not rant on and on, I put it in bullet points for you:

• There was the issue of gauge, since I used a different yarn to what was specified in the pattern, this had to be accurate and I re-knitted the skirt (fronts and back in one piece) twice when I found that my version was too small
• There was the issue of cable placement as I re-knitted this jacket and realized that it would look horrible with 2 half cables from armhole upwards, so I redesigned the cables and added the slim one at the centre front.
• I knitted the sleeves top down, picking up stitches around the armhole and shaping the fitted sleeve with short rows. I knitted the first sleeve head 5 times, modifying the short row technique, and then I gave up – it is what it is. I love the shape, but since the sleeves use the purl side of the stocking stitch as the right side, there was no neater way to do short rows and knitting stitches together than what I came up with.
• Buttons: I raided my extensive collection of buttons and found real treasures, but never 7 of one kind! I did not have time to go to the amazing button shop, and part of me resented that idea – having the said button treasure in my shed… so I tried to make buttons… decided none of them were working… and settled for a mixture of suitable buttons – I think it works.
• The shawl collar is knitted in, as is the button stand – and I finished it all off by knitting a 3 sts i-cord around the entire jacket. Looks smart.
• Finally – when I did put the jacket on – it was gaping about 2″ at the front. Shock, Horror! This is too small! But no, it’s Negative ease in action. This jacket fits like a glove, caresses me ceaselessly on cold mornings and is made for me.

Here is the button thought experiment in pictures: all sorts of lovely stuff… could I mix and match?

Here is a Dorset Button (right: made at the Knitters Guild some months ago) and one I made following a tutorial on Kate Davis’ blog (left) some time ago:

Then three samples trying to make it work for this particular jacket. But I decided that buttons in the same color would look drab. I did not have any other color that would look good… by this time I realized that any hand made button ought to be in a satin or silk finish.

And voila – a dog thinking I was setting up a photo shoot to show off his new, radical hair cut: “This is a nice and sunny spot for it, Mum!”

“And thanks for using your new jacket for it!”

“Even if you are finished now, I might just continue napping, ok?”

And what else? New ideas are overflowing my brain… a new project has been cast on. Not sure what it will end up being, so I will post something, once I have survived this experimental phase.

Life is certainly good. There is so much going on with 4 kids – it’s great. We all love the dynamics! I must make a photo of what happens in our kitchen in the mornings – lunch box assembly, breakfast orders, sock and school uniform hunts and last minute notes to be signed.

The evenings are no less busy. 4 kids in the study in various stages of doing homework, discussing maths, drama, parliament or history – playing music of any kind. Patrick coming and going to and from band rehearsals of any kind, me forever disappearing to Tai Chi/ Yoga or other classes or P&C meetings. In between countless lot’s of laundry processed (primarily by the children), afternoon teas being produced, consumed and the debris left in the kitchen, dinners produced and washing up piled in the kitchen sink. And whenever I think that now I have a moment peace to do some work or play – another trip to the shops to buy more food!

Patrick has put the window frames into the downstairs room and today the bloke is coming to put the glass in! So that is still ticking along. I have chosen curtain fabric and ought to go and look at it and purchase and sew.

Happy Days.

 

 

 

 

Proudly Presenting: Japanese Lace Top

I have never really written about this project – hinted at it and made the odd grand announcement that I was about to write about it… and now stage one is miraculously finished!

Voila! The actual color is not as warm as this (see below) – I just enjoyed playing around with the newly discovered facilities on iPhoto.

This top is an amazing fit, and the wool is so very soft – I am just not used to wearing such figure hugging outfits, so it feels a bit odd. I am just not sure if I have done the pattern and the wool any justice… I think the pattern would have actually stood out better knitted up in (a) cotton and (b) in a lighter color and the wool would have just come into its own much better knitted up in a plain stocking stitch. Anyway, it is what it is, stocking stitch in this thin yarn would have been utterly boring…

Isn’t the lace just stunning… And I love the neck detail, how the different lace just grows out of the body.

There is a lot on the web you can find to help you using Japanese knitting patterns, so I will not spend much time re-inventing the wheel here, but these are my thoughts:

•  a lot of the Japanese patterns I have found are very sophisticated (more so than the average stuff in Western patterns) – so they are really worth knitting up
• unfortunately all of the patterns I have found come in one size only (size AU 10), so unless you happen to be that size, you have a bit of a job re-charting… which is tricky since these patterns are very well balanced and thought out, adding an inch here and there where your size might need it could potentially be really tough
• Japanese patterns are concise and written in a very economic style – a short blurb which I don’t understand and then two pages of schematics and graphs which I found more or less straightforward to work out (see example below)
• great care is taken with the garments shape – Japanese patterns seem to use increases/ decreases as well as different needle sizes to achieve this
• Japanese knitting projects are not of the kind that you can knit up while watching a great movie or having an exiting conversation… they do require a lot of attention, following the graph/ charts closely – and in this top for instance the lace pattern required yos and decreases in every row…
• if you want to embark on a Japanese project, find some resources that translate the basic knitting terms, explain the basic charting style, explain the notation for decreases/ increases, … make a photocopy of the pattern and write your ‘translation’ on it

So, I hope nobody gets their knickers in a twist about copyright if I put this first of two pages up to explain how I approached this project…

The first bullet point tells you what yarn and how much is used for this pattern, really irrelevant for me, since I never stick to the recommended yarn, but a good guide. Below that, it lists the required needle sizes (again, you find heaps of info on the web for converting those sizes into US or metric); size 3, 4 and 5 are 3mm, 3.25mm and 3.5mm. Then there is the guide for the size of he finished garment; I am not a genius and my maths is limited – but adding up the figures in the chart made me work out that the bust measurement is 92cm, the finished length would be 55.5cm and from armhole to hem would be 36cm. The gauge is 27st and 33 rows for 10 cm knitted in pattern A and B. So, then there is a whole paragraph that I couldn’t (and probably didn’t need to) figure out, my guess it is a short description of how to go about constructing the top.

Let’s just run through how I approached the back: at the very bottom the figure 121 MUST indicate the number of stitches to cast on, and voila – there you have the symbol for ‘stitch’! Of course I ignored that – I knitted front and back together in the round up to the armhole – I could not find any reason why not… and having to work the pattern in both rows (knit and purl/ right and wrong side), it seemed infinitely easier to just work it in the round to get the decreases (slanting to the right and left) right. Capital letters A, B, C refer to the pattern charts used, the number next to it refers to the needle size used. The arrows up and down indicate the knitting direction (!). I ignored that, I couldn’t see why I wouldn’t just knit in the one direction, starting with 2 rows of garter stitch (which the photo seemed to indicate). Now the fun notation for decreases/ increases: 2 – 4 – 1 means: every 2 rows – decr/incr 4 st – 1 time. Whether it is decr or incr you figure from the chart – the same notation is used for both, I gather. Framing the schematics for the back are a lot of numbers, and having worked out the symbol for ‘stitch’, and assuming that everything followed by ‘c’ refers to cm, I gather that other numbers would refer to ‘row’… and when you consult the carts, you can cross- reference that that is correct. I have cast on the little jacket that goes with it…

Yarn – the yarn is amazing, it’s Smooshy sock weight sumptuously splendid hand dyed yarn in shade Vino Veritas. This top took less than 2 x 100gr skeins. I have got 400 gr left for the wee jacket (also in lace). 

And the pattern – it’s from ‘Let’s Knit’ series, Vol #17.

Emergency Knits

We have been happily living through the school holidays and all of a sudden I have come to the realization that ‘the little one’ is going on a two night school excursion to Canberra in a few days time! Uh, that came ’round fast! Quick, cast on some fingerless gloves!!!

I used some ‘hand me down, leftover yarns’ inherited from Sue. One glove was cast on before the little one had a general anesthetic to get her tooth removed on Friday afternoon, and by the time she came round I was nearly ready to cast off. The other glove was cast on before her soccer game on Sunday, and as the whistle blew at the end of the match only the thumb was left to be knit.

So, these gloves are great gifts for special people – and why not make a pair for yourself? This is how to do it:
This free pattern is for medium sized fingerless gloves, so that is an average ladies’ size.

You need 5mm dpn and 60 gr of 8ply yarn.
My gauge worked out to be 17st to 10cm worked in stocking stitch (knitted tightly!)

Cuff:
Cast on 28st on 5mm dpns
work 20 rows in a 1:1 rib
work 4 rows in stocking stitch
Thumb gusset:
continue to work stocking stitch for another 17 rows:
M1 in row 1, M1 either side of that new stitch in row 4 and continue to M1 either side on the new stitches every 3rd row (row 7, 10, 13, 16) until the gusset has got 11 stitches. Put stitches on hold after row 17.
Palm:
Knit 10 rows in stocking stitch.
Knit 5 rows in 1:1 rib.
Cast off all stitches (I sewed the stitches off, June Hemmons Hiatt calls it “garter stitch cast off”, but you can use any old method…)
Thumb:
Pick up the 11 thumb stitches and pick up 3 new stitches: insert needle in the stitches one row below where the gusset begins/ ends and M1 between the gusset stitches.
Row 1: decrease 2 st of the 3 new st: slip1, knit 2 tog, pass slipped stitch over
Knit a total of 5 rows in stocking stitch, 3 rows of 1:1 rib.
Finish:
Weave in your yarn ends!

Ready for the Nippy Mornings!

I am ready for those nippy April mornings… we are getting the woolly socks out and I am casting on a beanie and … there are just not enough hours in the day to put all ideas into action, so bit by bit I am clicking away.

I know, it’s sunny now, when my resident photographer took these shots, but mornings and evenings are really another story! I am really pleased with Heidi Kirrmaier’s Shellseeker! It fits like a glove and is very warm. The proportions are wonderful and I am pleased with my alterations on the pattern (see details one or two posts ago).

What else is on the needles now? Dare I say… I am not sticking to the 3 project rule (that there are only ever 3 projects on the go at any time…)! This is what is going on:

1. The Japanese Story (A)
2. The Japanese Story (B)
3. beanie for Patrick
4. finish stripy baby jumpsuit – baby is now 2 weeks old, get a move on!!!
5. green/ multicolor lace scarf (I hope you have all forgotten about that, started last year)
6. finish last few rows of Guild jumper (started 2 years ago…)

Here is the beginning of the Japanese Story (A) – will dedicate an entire post to this project, but this is the beginning:

and this is what it is going to be part of (the underneath bit).

The top, The Japanese Story (B), so I have decided, will have to be plain stocking stitch. It’s just too busy otherwise. First I thought I work lace sleeves into a plain stocking stitch jacket… well, I can still change my mind about that. I thought I could try to knit the jacket From the Top, all in one hit, a la Barbara Walker, which is an entire re-write of the pattern. If I go for that, lace sleeves would be tricky: getting my head around the new technique as well as knitting a complicated lace upside down – no, it doesn’t seem to be relaxing at all.

Proudly Presenting: My Red Rag

Before presenting (proudly presenting… ) my new design, I must give a thanks to every blogger who has shared their designs and ideas on the www. Many thanks!
Not that I don’t want to share my stuff – I didn’t even realize that I had lot’s to share… until I randomly checked my stats the other day and saw people had searched for ‘free intarsia chart for Chicago Bull’ or ‘point of knitted V-neck’ and the like! Oh no, I am so sorry!!! Usually I intend to put details of what I have done up in the post… just as I intend to write up every pattern I knit… and grade it… and make it available in different gauges… but I always run out of time or get stuck into the next project. So, how about you tell me if you want to know something – I’ll reply asap!

And now … ta ta tat taaaaaaa… The Red Rag:

This has taken me some time – not the actual knitting of the Red Rag – allowing myself to finish this (stopping myself from unraveling it over and over, in the search of perfection). The sleeve heads were knitted probably 5 times, the collar at least twice… all new territory for me, a steep learning curve.
Here are the technical bits:
pattern source: Textileshed!
size 38″
yarn: 550gr Bendigo Woollen Mills “Duet” (30% Mohair, 70% Wool), shade 149 “Wildberry”
gauge: 20st/ 26 rows on 3.5mm
method: The body was knitted bottom up, casting on first the entire hem and knitting 6 rows in garter st, then using short rows, I shaped the scalloped hem. The waist and bust are shaped by decreasing/ increasing stitches at the side seam, as well as within the front and back piece. The sleeves are set in, knitted from the top. The front edges and the collar stand are knitted in garter stitch (I had 3 circular needles in operation at the same time to do this, thus I achieved mitered corners where collar stand and front edges converge); the buttonholes on the right front are worked plainly as yo; kn2tog. The collar has got very sharp points – see details below.

Knitty Gritty Bits:
Collar: Here are some close-ups for the collar. I started by knitting a collar stand (6 rows in garter st) as I knitted the front edges. You cannot see the collar stand here in the finished garment at all, but you can see it in the picture with the knitting needles in it.

The collar’s right side is the body’s wrong side, as the collar is folded on itself! The photo above illustrates the existence of the collar stand fairly well, eh? Here are approximate instructions:

1. Knit 6 rows in garter st (collar stand) as you knit the front edges
2. cast off 3 st of the collar stand (as you cast off the front edges)
3. put the next 4 st on hold to be picked up as you knit the edge of the collar in garter st later.
4. increase 11 stitches for the collar (after finishing the collar stand), 5 st at the back neck, and 3 st at each front neck in order to make it big enough to fold nicely on itself
5. knit 15 rows of garter st, increasing 1st each side – after the first and  before the last st (row 3, 7, 11, 15)
6.  pick up 12 st alongside both short edges of the collar with dp needles and knit 6 rows in garter st along all three edges of the collar. In these 6 rows you need to (1) incorporate the 4 st on each side that were put on hold and (2) work the mitre/ point of the collar.
   (1) In rows 2, 3, 5, and in the cast off row one st of the ones on hold are pulled over the first and last st of the row before working that first/ last stitch.
   (2) Collar point: chose one st at corner to be knitted in stocking st, to form a clear ‘mitre’, either side of that stitch increase one st in row 1, 2, 3, 5, 6.

Sleeve heads: knitted from the top down. I picked up as many stitches as were required for the size of the armhole, then decreased enough stitches so I got the amount needed for the top of the sleeve in row 2, knitted row 3 plain and then knitted the sleeve head with short rows. But actually – this is not too bad…
I am not going to give instructions here… since I think there is room for improvement to how I have ended up knitting them on the Red Rag… but this is what I have learned: There are 3 successful ways of knitting fitted sleeves from the top down.

1. Pick up stitches around the armhole before you shape the sleeve head with short rows. You have to pick up the amount of st that you will need at the widest part of the sleeve, so think carefully about the sleeve width, the armhole depth and the sleeve head height. (This is an entire blog post…!) This is brilliantly explained on http://www.basixknitting.com/, and may I also add, Sue took the time to give me an incredibly detailed explanation when I contacted her with my queries. Unfortunately, I had knitted the sleeve heads ‘my way’ one time too many… and decided to leave it all. But next time, I will follow her advice to the dot!
2. Pick up stitches as you knit your sleeve heads with short rows – personally I would advise against this, unless you clearly mark at what point you pick up the st as you go…
3. knit your sleeve heads as you knit your front and back pieces top down… that means you start on your shoulders (front and back), then as you work further down and work your neckline, you also add sts as required to shape the sleeve head – this was ‘invented’/ published by Barbara Walker and I have ordered her book on Amazon – this would be the most sophisticated way ever… and I really want to learn this.