Archive for May, 2008

Reading the Directions

May 18, 2008 at 10:16 pm · Filed under How To, Shaping ·Tagged , , , , ,

After my last post on the ambigiuty about how large to make the yoke in my sweater, I posted a similar question in the Top Down Sweaters group on Ravelry.  Sidney quickly responded with a quote directly from the  book:

She says “Work both the back and front sections until the length of the piece at the arm edge is just one-third of the distance around the armhole, but no more.” Italics hers. Your outer edge is her arm edge, right?

I had read the page at least three times and yet somehow kept missing those key words, “arm edge”.  And so I quickly made my yoke the appropriate 6″ along the arm edge, which just happened to take me right to the bottom of my neck opening as well.

I then picked up stitches around the arm edges, and have been working in the round ever since.  I love being able to try it on as I go and know that it is going to fit, and fit well!  The sholder area seems a little boxy, but I think blocking, along with the weight of the sweater, will take care of that.  When I write up the pattern I wil l make the top of the shoulder a tad smoother just in case.

I really love the look of the sholder “seam”.  This is a little blurry, but you can see how pretty those increases are.

Now I have to start deciding if I am going to do any short rows at the bust, and what type of waist shaping I want to use.  And how long the sleeves should be, and what kind of edging for the neck….  Oh the possibilities!

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Knitting from the Top

May 15, 2008 at 8:54 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

I checked out this book from our library again, and I think I’m going to have to buy it.  I just love it, because Barbara Walker seems to love knitting in the round just as much as I do.

I was poking around the set-in sleeve chapter, and discovered that you can do a simultaneous set-in sleeve.  In the round!  Yoke and sleeves all at once, but it’s not a raglan!

So I am trying to design a t-shirt using this method, but I already am a tad confused.  I think this is going to be a multiple frogging project.  The yoke starts with short rows to shape the shoulders, and you are supposed to pick up stitches and work in the round when the piece measures 1/3 of your total needed length.  But the piece is at least two inches thicker in the middle than at the edges, where I would be picking up the stitches.  So where to I measure?  The middle or the edges?

A few people on Ravelry seem to have done this type of sweater, so I’m going to ask them what they did.  I hope I can make this work!

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Not Knitting

May 14, 2008 at 4:18 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , ,

I really have been knitting quite a lot, but most of the projects I am working on will hopefully be published some day, and so I can’t share. The $1.50 cardigan is progressing slowly at knit night. I blame the people at Namaste. Lynn had a new Laguna in, and I was spent way too much time petting it and talking myself down from buying it. I do have a birthday coming up, however….

Since I can’t show my knitting projects, I’ll show off my home improvement projects. I had intended to do this for the past two years, and finally got around to it this weekend. I dug out a 6′x6′ area to about four inches down, and dumped a bunch of sand to help level it out. BTW, sand is heavy! I had no idea.

When we bought the house I kept discovering these hexagon paving stones all over the yard. I gathered them up and started paving.

I was perfectly willing to to leave the edges rough, but the stones were remarkably easy to break. I had a lot of fun whaling on them with my hammer and a pick. And it made the area look great.

I put some special “sealing sand” in the cracks, and watered it down. It’s supposed to cure in 12 hours, but it’s still damp this morning. I’m sure a few hours of Tucson heat will take care of that. I’m going to put the gas grill out on this new patio so I can have the entire main patio for our new glass table. We should be able to eat outside now!

I wanted to reward myself after all this hard word, so out came the dark chocolate, and my new mug from Jennie the Potter. I love this mug.

And it’s great for hiding my wine!

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Knitting Charts 201

May 10, 2008 at 6:58 am · Filed under How To, Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Cables on a Chart

Cables are not always charted, but when they are it makes working the project much easier since, as I’ve said before, charts are visual. Working cables can be intimidating at first, but once you work a few you realize that all that is involved is working a few stitches out of order. The only hard part is remembering if that first set of stitches is supposed to be held to the front or to the back.

When you’re working from written directions it is typically written out exactly what to do. But on a chart you have to look at the cable symbol, then check the key, and finally work your cable. Some patterns have multiple types of twists (Trellis, for example, has six!) and it can be frustrating to go back and forth from chart to key every time you come to a cable, since of course you want to make sure you’re doing it right.

But when you learn to really look at the chart, you won’t need the key! Take a look at this cable in Keri Williams Jeanie pattern.

I’ve added the pink arrows to make it clear that the first four stitches you will come to (remember, we’re working from right to left!) need to go behind the second set of four stitches. This means that you will hold those four stitches to the back, work the next four, then work the first set of four from the cable needle.

You can see that by trusting the chart, and looking carefully at where the stitches are meant to go, you can start zipping along rather than stopping to read the written out instructions every time you come to a cable. Just one more way that the visual nature of charts makes your knitting easier and faster!

Lace Charts

Lace is probably charted more than any other type of knitting, and for good reason. Charts allow you to have a large amount of information in a small space. The variety of types of lace out there make it impossible to generalize about lace charts. There are a few good guidelines to make sure you avoid common mistakes.

First of all, read the key and make sure you know how to work the various types of increases and decreases that you will be using, and try to understand why each symbol represents each item. An open circle typically represents a yarn over, since that increase creates a small hole in your knitting. K2tog is often represented by a forward slash (/) because it is a right leaning decrease. SSK, however, leans left, and so it is often represented by a backslash (\). Understanding little tricks like this will allow you to move along in your knitting rather than checking the key every time you come upon a special stitch.

The absolute most important thing to look for when knitting lace, however, is the numbers along the side of the chart. Remember that items worked flat have numbers bouncing back and forth from right side to left side, while items worked in the round have all the rows numbered up the right side. Lace adds another wrinkle to this issue.

It is common for lace patterns to have all the “fussy” stitches done every other row, leaving the rows in between to be worked “plain”, typically just purled straight across. If this is the case, the chart only shows the rows that have increases and decreases worked. The plain rows are simply not there.

Lankakomero’s Frost Flowers Top has a chart that shows what this looks like. (Yes, this chart has other languages on it, but it has English too. It’s okay.)

Notice that the rows are only numbered up the right side. But there are only odd numbers — 1, 3, 5…. Where are rows 2, 4 and 6? They are worked plain, in this case, purled.

Every now and then you will hear of a beginning knitter who tackled her first lace project, only to end up a jumbled mess that was way too small. She didn’t work the wrong side rows plain, and so all those carefully planned increases and decreases didn’t match up, and if you skip every other row of the pattern you’re going to end up with a very short scarf!

Be sure to read the pattern, and always look at those row numbers. If some rows aren’t numbered, figure out why before you start knitting, and remember to work those rows even though they aren’t in the chart. Think of the rows worked plain as a little vacation for your brain before you have to concentrate on the chart again

“No Stitch”

It is not uncommon to see a grey box on a chart that is keyed with the text, “no stitch”. This can be quite confusing until you realize what it means.

Before I get into that, let’s tackle the myth that each box on a chart represents one stitch. That’s just not true. Let me explain why:

If your entire chart is all knits and purls with no shaping, then every box does represent a stitch. But many charts include some sort of shaping or fancy stitches. And this can mess with the stitch count on each row. Think about a simple decrease: k2tog. As you work a k2tog, you use up two stitches from the left needle and produce one stitch on the right needle. So does that count as one stitch or two? Or consider the most common increase in lace: the yarn over. This doesn’t use any stitches from the left hand needle, but it does produce one on the right hand needle. Does that count as a stitch?

Until you start designing your own charts, don’t worry about those questions. Just know that the convention is that every action that you take, be it an increase, decrease, or even a bobble, takes up one box on your chart. But since some of those actions take up or produce more than one loop on your needle, the number of stitches from row to row doesn’t always add up. This fact, along with various shaping and other issues, can result in some rows in your chart that need more boxes than other rows.

To allow for this fact, sometimes a box is inserted into the chart that has no meaning. It isn’t meant to be knit, slipped, or worked in any way. It’s not an action. The box is simply a place holder to make sure all the other boxes line up properly. So when you come to a “no stitch” box, just ignore it and move right along to the next box that does have an action for you.

I love this example: MJ’s Liesel chart tells you just what to do with those shaded in boxes. Just ignore it!

Knitting Charts 101

Knitting Charts 102

Knitting Charts 201

Knitting Charts 202

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Sleeve Cap Trouble

May 6, 2008 at 10:29 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , ,

I did manage to complete the sleeve for the $1.50 cardigan in time to block it before knit night.  I did get gauge and love the fabric.  I’m a little worried, however, about the sleeve cap.  My finished cap is just a smidge shorter than what is called for, but even the height given in the pattern seems awfully short.

There are two places in the sleeve cap where I could add another row or two and still be following the pattern, so I might be ripping back this little bit.  But first I want to make sure that just 5.5″ is enough for a sleeve cap.  If the arms are tight, I won’t wear it, and I really want to wear this!

I am working on the next post in the charts series, but having a little difficulty finding free patterns with good charts, and getting the designers to agree to let me reference the chart.  I am really surprised at how few patterns include a chart.  Maybe I should do a little bit on how to use Excel to create simple charts as well…

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Ribbit!

May 5, 2008 at 1:08 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , ,

I love frogging. It’s weird, I know, and I don’t like having to go back and re-do all that work, but I have learned to enjoy the process of frogging. And so last night I was not at all upset that I had to rip out the beginning of my sleeve for the $1.50 cardigan.

After wet blocking, I let the swatch get nearly dry then pulled the pins out. When I came back a few hours later, then sleeve had shrunk from the desired 9.75″ to 8.25″. Ouch. I was working on size 4 needles, so I decided to go up to size 5’s, and I am going to work the larger of the two sizes that I am in-between.

I’m going to try really hard to finish this sleeve before Monday, so I can give it a quick blocking and know if I’ve got the right gauge/size combo so that I can can cast on for the back at knit night and not worry the entire time if I’m going to have to rip all of that out as well.

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Knitting Charts 102

May 3, 2008 at 6:48 pm · Filed under How To, Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , , ,

Symbols on Charts

Most knitting charts will be accompanied by a key showing what each symbol or color represents. I am not going to give any general guidelines because there are so many different “normal” symbols. You must read the key for your specific chart to know what each symbol means.

This chart in Cari Luna’s Tussie Mussie pattern was created by Knitty’s tech editor Mandy Moore. This chart illustrates a common way of expressing stitches.

Notice the first two symbols: a white block means “K on RS, P on WS” and a grey block means “P on RS, K on WS”. This issue is the most confusing to many knitters working with charts for the first time. Why does a symbol have different meaning depending on the side of the work? Remember the most basic rule of knitting: Knit and Purl stitches are the reverse of each other. A knit on the front is a purl on the back.

Let’s say you wanted to chart stockinette stitch. If you are working stockinette flat, you knit all stitches on the right side, then purl all the stitches on the wrong side. If threw out the rules of charts and wanted white blocks to be knit stitches and grey blocks to be purl stitches, this is your chart:

But remember that charts are supposed to be visual. And that doesn’t look like stockinette. That looks like garter stitch! If you want to create a visual showing that you are supposed to be working stockinette, this is the chart:

Now that looks like stockinette. And if you apply the key from above, where a white block means that you knit on the right side, and that you purl on the wrong side, this chart is the correct one for stockinette.

Let’s look at some other stitch patterns. What about ribbing? When you work ribbing flat, you knit 1, purl 1, across, then on the wrong side you knit into the purl stitches and purl into the knit stitches. If you were to chart that with each symbol having only one meaning, 1×1 ribbing would look like this:

That certainly doesn’t look like ribbing. Looks like seed stitch to me. And interestingly enough, if we chart seed stitch according to “one symbol, one stitch”, it would look like:

Ribbing!

Charts are not meant to be the same as written out instructions. They express the same information in a different way. Yes, it takes a little time to read the key, look over the chart, and visualize what you are trying to create. But once you can see the pattern and relationships between the stitches, the chart lets you knit along as fast as you can, without reading instructions line by line.

Hopefully now you can see that there is a reason that each symbol has a different meaning on each “side” of the chart. Charts are visual.

A chart is designed to show you the right side of your work at all times, even though half the time you are working on the wrong side. It’s a fact of knitting, and if you check the key and pay attention to what you are trying to produce, you will be able to use chart quickly and easily.

Charts Worked in the Round vs. Charts Worked Flat

One of the absolute best times to use a knitting chart is when you are working in the round. Why? Because when you work in the round, you are always looking at the right side of the work! And so everything we just discussed about symbols having different meanings on the wrong side of the work can just be thrown out the window. Every row is a right side row!

Later in this series we will look at adapting charts to be worked in the round, but for now you should learn how to recognize a chart that is intended to be worked in the round.

The Fake Isle Hat is worked in the round, and the chart, shown below, indicates this. Notice that in every chart we have looked at so far, the row numbers bounce back and forth from the right to the left side of the chart. But in this chart, each row is numbered on the right. This is because each row starts on the right side and is worked towards the left, since every row is a right side row.

This chart is for a colorwork pattern and so all stitches are knitted. There is no reason for this chart to have to show that these stitches are “purled on the wrong side” because there is no wrong side to be worked! This is the reason that most fair-isle colorwork is done in the round.

Always look at the chart to see where those row numbers are located. If they are all on one side, the chart is intended to be worked in the round.

Repeats Within a Chart

Now for the last little lesson for today. Occasionally you will come across a chart that has a repeat within it. Typically these repeats are set apart with bold colored yarns. The gorgeous Jeanie shawl uses a repeat in the third chart, set apart by red lines. The key does indicate that these bold lines are the repeat area, and the bottom of the chart reads “Work this section 6 times”.

To work a repeat within a chart, you work the stitches within the bold lines, then go back to the beginning of the bolded area (the light blue box in this case) and work across again, and again, until you have completed the number of repeats necessary.

This is just like a repeat in written directions. In this case the instructions would read:

*K1, K1 tbl, P1, K1, P1 tbl, K1 tbl, P1, K1, P1 tbl* repeat between * * 6 times

Chart repeats are very simple once you realize what is being asked of you. Since charts are visual, I have created a visual for what this chart would look like with the repeat “spelled out” for you.

I’m sure glad I don’t have to work from that! Using repeats makes it much easier to keep track of your place in a chart, especially if you use stitch markers to set off each repeat. Rather than slogging through 54 stitches and checking the chart all the time, you are working 9 stitches, then 9 stitches, then 9 stitches….

Hopefully charts are making more sense. You now have all of the basic information you need to use nearly any chart. Next I will look at cables and lace in charts and some of the specific issues that they bring up. Please leave a comment or send me a message on Ravelry if you have any questions on charts or ideas on how to make this tutorial better!

Knitting Charts 101

Knitting Charts 102

Knitting Charts 201

Knitting Charts 202

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A New Cardigan

May 2, 2008 at 8:55 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , ,

A few weeks ago I was playing with Jameson with the Webs podcast playing in the background. I wasn’t paying too much attention, but I really perked up when Steve mentioned a new yarn that was a cotton/bamboo/linen/acrylic blend. I have been looking for something using those three plant fibers for months — it’s the perfect Tucson yarn!

I couldn’t find the yarn on their website, so I asked around on Ravelry, and we quickly found it: Elsebeth Lavold Bamboucle. I knew that my LYS carries Elsebeth Lavold yarns, so I called Lynn and she offered to order that yarn for me. I got 15 balls of the soft grey color, and it arrived within two weeks.

The yarn is an unusual texture, but it’s really growing on me. I spent Monday night at Knit Night swatching with various lace patterns, but wasn’t thrilled with any of them. Finally I realized that I was trying to design a sweater that I’d already seen before. I’ve been wanting to make the Dollar and a Half Cardigan for about a year now. I had original thought I would use CotLin, but this new yarn is just perfect.

I measured gauge on my swatch — 17 stitches on size 6 needles and 19 stitches on size 5 needles. The pattern calls for 21 stitches over 4 inches in the lace pattern, so I went down to size fours. I worked a provesional cast on so that I could start the sleeve in the lace pattern, and if it worked, add the 4 inches of ribbing later.

Last night we dropped the baby off with grandma and went to a friends house for dinner. Since Jameson was particularly fussy yesterday (reacting to his MMR shots), my husband saw to it that I was kept out of the kitchen. And so I sat and knit while sipping on a very good margarita. I checked gauge, but was way off. It was looking like I would need to go up to at least a size 6, but I knew that would make my stockinette gauge was off. I really want to avoid the “Michelin Man” effect on the sleeves, so I was very unsure what to do.

Rather than making a rash decision with that much tequila in me, I just turned the thing over and worked on the ribbing until dinner was over. I’m glad I did, since it occurred to me this morning that I need to do something I have never done before — block to size!

The lace is blocked to 9.75″, and it looks good. I’ll see how I acts when it dries. Now I have to make a decision about how to proceed. I can easily finish up the ribbing and work a sewn bind off, which will make a very nice edging, and I don’t mind doing the same thing for the other sleeve. But there is no way I want to do a sewn bind off for the body pieces. I’ll need to find a cast-on that will at least look similar to the sewn bind off.

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Knitting Charts 101

May 1, 2008 at 12:07 am · Filed under How To, Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , ,

Why Charts Exist

It may be your first knitting project, it may be your hundredth, but eventually you are going to want to make something that requires that you read a chart. Based on my own difficulties and the many threads on Ravelry asking how to use a chart, I know that many people run in to similar problems.

When you first come to them, charts seem strange. They are backwards, upside down, and can be frustrating. But every aspect of a chart is there for a reason, and once you learn the basics you will be able to tackle any type of pattern.

The most important thing to remember is that charts are visual. When you look at a chart, you can see at a glance what the pattern will look like. For example, in the pillow made by ThatOtherRedHead, the chart gives you a picture of the finished item. There is no way for written directions to show so clearly the overall design of the finished item.

How Charts Help Your Knitting

There are two reasons every knitter should learn to read charts. First, there are many patterns that simply are not written out line-by-line, and if you want to make them, you have to be able to deal with a chart. Colorwork patterns are typically given only as charts, as are many lace and cabled designs.

Of course you could simply ignore all those patterns and only knit those with written directions and still have a full knitting career. But charts also make knitting easier. For example, Suzy Q Homemaker’s Breastfeeding Advocacy Cloth is written out line by line. Here are a few lines:

Row 15: K1, P1, K7, P8, K7, P7, K to last two stitches, P1, K1
Row 17: K1, P1, K6, P8, K7, P8, K to last two stitches, P1, K1
Row 19: K1, P1, K5, P7, K4, P2, K4, P8, K to last two stitches, P1, K1
Row 21: K1, P1, K5, P6, K6, P2, K4, P6, K to last two stitches, P1, K1

That’s a lot of numbers, and it can be very easy to loose your place when looking back and forth between your knitting and the pattern.

Now look at those same rows (as well as the wrong-side rows) in chart form. For row 17, you can see that the first four sections are set back by one stitch compared to row 15, but the last bit lines up exactly with row 15. A glance at the chart tells you exactly what you need to do with no counting required!

This is just one example of how charts can help you your knitting. As you learn how to use charts, you will find more and more benefits.

How to Knit from a Basic Color Chart

I have taken the chart for the Breastfeeding Awareness Cloth and turned it into a two-color cloth to be worked in intarsia or double knitting. If you would like a larger version of this chart, please contact me and I will email you the larger copy.

To knit from color charts you must follow three rules:

  1. Start at the bottom and work your way up.
  2. Work all right-side rows (row 1, 3, 5, etc) reading the chart from right to left.
  3. Work all wrong-side rows (row, 2, 4, 6, etc) reading the chart from left to right.

The first rules makes sense to most knitters. As you create an item, you are building from the bottom up, with each new row sitting on top of the previous row. This is easy — just start at the bottom.

But rules 2 and 3 are strange. In English we are used to reading everything from left to right, but now we’re being asked to read something the other way, but only half the time!

There is an easy way to remember these two rules. Take a look at the detailed shot of the first ten rows of the chart.

Look at the numbers on the edges of the chart. Row 1 is numbered on the right side of the chart. Row 2 is numbered on the left, and so on. The arrows on rows 7 and 8 show how you will work each of those rows. You will work row 7 from left to right, then you will work row 8 from right to left.

This really throws off many knitters, but there really is a good reason for the chart to be written this way. Take a look at my sample, in the middle of knitting row 7.

(I have replaced the white border with a seed stitch border)

You can see how I have indicated the first stitch that I worked in that row, and the last stitch that I am about to work. Compare this to the chart above. I am knitting from left to right. Unless you are doing something fancy, you are always knitting from left to right. This is why, on chart, right side rows are worked from the left side of the chart to the right side of the chart. The knitting looks the same as the chart!

Now look at row 8 being worked.

I am working on the wrong side of the piece, and so all stitches are purled. Again the first and last stitches worked are marked, and again I am purling from left to right. So why must I read the chart from right to left? Let me flip that swatch over.

This is still the middle of row 8, but looking at the piece from the right side. And now look at the first and last stitches. The first stitch I worked is on the left side of the piece. The last stitch I am going to work is on the right side. And again, this looks just like the chart!

So remember the three basic rules of knitting from charts:

  1. Start at the bottom and work your way up.
  2. Work all right-side rows (row 1, 3, 5, etc) reading the chart from right to left.
  3. Work all wrong-side rows (row, 2, 4, 6, etc) reading the chart from left to right.

Now these rules only apply for charts worked flat, with all rows charted. To determine if your chart is intended to be worked this way, look for the numbers for each row. If they bounce back and forth from right side to left side, these rules apply.

In a few days will look at charts worked in the round, lace, and cables.

Knitting Charts 101

Knitting Charts 102

Knitting Charts 201

Knitting Charts 202

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