Knitting Takes the Lead

Once again I've gotten to the point in the sewing cycle when I have enough for the current season, and absolutely no motivation to sew for the season to come. It's OK, it happens -- I'll machine knit instead.

I started a cardigan last winter and then decided it wasn't what I wanted. Instead of unraveling right then and there and starting something different, I put it aside. That's normally the kiss of death for any of my projects, but I came across it this year and decided I liked the yarn too much to let it just sit. So I headed over to Knit It Now  and created a simple raglan pullover by putting in my gauge to a pattern template called Flirt. It's a nice benefit of membership -- there are many patterns which can be tailored to your size and gauge. I changed the pattern very slightly by ignoring the waist shaping, since I was after a boxier silhouette. And here it is:

The yarn is "Northfield" by Valley Yarns, 70%merino/20%baby alpaca/10%silk.

I used my plastic bed mid-gauge LK-150 for the knitting. The machine has no ribber, so the sleeve and hem ribbing was formed by re-latching stitches, and the neckband was knit by hand. People often ask "how long did it take?", and although I will probably never be organized enough to actually time myself, I can say I usually knit one piece of the garment per day and spend (at least) one day on sewing up and other finishing details. So, 5 days for this simple sweater. Not too bad -- it's an easy, no-stress pace, and for sure I couldn't hand knit it in that amount of time.

And here's a close up look at the neckline:

I also got a few pairs of socks done for Mr. Minglingyarn.  I use the Erlbacher Gearhart "Speedster" circular sock knitting machine for those. Although there is a ribbing attachment and various ribber dials available for this machine I use a simple hung hem for the top edge of the socks. When I first ordered the machine I thought I would first get proficient using it without the ribber and then invest in the additional pieces. That never happened as we discovered that hemmed socks work just fine for us. Made the correct size for the calf they stay up nicely. Since I don't knit them for sale I decided why not save that money spent on a ribber for yarn?  Works for me! 

He ended up with four pairs, but here's what one pair looks like:

And hand knitting was in the mix too. I finished up a previously shown Hitchhiker Beyond, and knocked out a Peu de Pluie Neckwarmer knit from yak hair.  No way I was getting a good photo of dark yarn on a dark, snowy day, but here's my attempt: 

I wanted a deeper neck than the amount of yarn I had would have allowed using the smaller size. So I fudged around with number of repeats for the various sections. My apologies to the designer, Anne Hanson, but needs must.

So, all in all a productive time. And perhaps in a few days I'll feel like doing some Spring sewing. I may have bought a few yards of fabric for just that very thing. 😀

Homeschooling - Machine Knitting Edition

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Martin Luther King, Jr.


While still resting in place, it seemed a good time to brush up on machine knitting skills (or lack thereof). Knit It Now (which I have a subscription to) was offering a lesson on shawl shaping, so I decided to try it out.  I have some yarn in quantities of small shawl/large scarf amounts so why not use some?

I decided on the "quick 'n easy" variation (there are three others) and quickly got to work. The yarn I used was from deep stash - a now discontinued Elann Limited Edition blend of 60% wool/25% cashmere/15% acrylic called Kashair. No idea on how long I've had it, but it was from the days before Elann sold out to Amazon -- so, old. Despite being predominately wool/cashmere it was not a pleasant feeling yarn to hand knit, which is why it was so long in stash, despite its pleasant color. Some comments on Ravelry mentioned it was nicer after washing, so it was a good candidate for machine knitting. 

I used my mid-gauge LK 150 to knit it. This is a plastic bed, very basic machine that requires hand manipulation for anything other than stockinette stitch. Nonetheless, it is very easy to use and fun to work with and my shawl body would be entirely stockinette, so the choice of machine was easy.

I cast on 144 needles (as you might guess, the machine has a total of 150) which was as many needles as I felt comfortable working. The simple pattern was, in fact, "quick 'n easy" and after about a half an hour I had a plain stockinette triangle. In order to finish it off, I worked a crochet edging around the two side edges. The (warning - math word ahead)  hypotenuse of the triangle, which would drape around the neck and shoulders, was left plain. It has a very slight roll - as you would expect from plain stockinette fabric - but because it was a bias edge (I suspect) it was just enough to look pleasant when worn.

I chose a simple pattern for the edging - from Around the Corner Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman (pattern 69). There are 150 different designs in the book, charted and written instructions, and best of all -- the corner shaping is worked out for you.  Excellent resource for anyone who likes to do crocheted edgings.

All in all, I was happy with how it turned out, and look forward to trying a different variation. Because this one is done - in effect - sideways, I was scratching my head as to how to add some patterning if I made another with this technique. 

My next attempted lesson - learning to use a garter bar - did not proceed as smoothly, but that is a story for another day.

Plain Vanilla

Nothing fancy, nothing complicated, just a plain vanilla cowl necked pullover. 

Stats:  Yarn:  Louet Sales Natural Cotton Boucle, 100% cotton, Aran weight, 150 yards per 100 g. skein.  Purchased many moons ago -- possibly from Elann??  Pattern for sweater body generated by Sweater Wizard (raglan sleeves, no waist shaping, round neckline).  I hadn't used this program (for me) for quite a while, and I had forgotten that I find the armhole depth to be too long for my taste.  I think (hope?) that I can get away with it here in this heavier yarn, but NOTE TO SELF:  shorten those armholes next time!

The ribbing (Twin Rib, Barbara Walker, Second Treasury) is hand knit.  This yarn languished in the stash for years because I just couldn't think of an interesting pattern to use it for.  It was swatched five ways from Sunday, but in the end -- simple is best.  My hands refuse to hand knit cotton yarn for larger projects, so the body of this was done on the LK-150 -- a great little hobby machine which handled this heavier-than-I-should-have-attempted-on-a-mid-gauge like the champion it is, although I know it would have preferred a DK weight wool -- next time sweetie, I promise!

A "Quick" Knit

One good thing about moving, you never know when some forgotten project bobs back up to the surface.  I had two pieces of this sweater completed (except for ribbing) when it got shoved into a project bag and ... nothing, totally ignored for months.

Time to get this one done, and into the finished column.  This was a machine knit project, and naturally I had neglected to label my nice big swatch with the machine settings I used to achieve the gauge of the original pieces.  Amazingly though I did have the Sweater Wizard generated pattern I was working from -- small victories.  At any rate, taking a guess (and crossing my fingers) I went with my best estimate.  Whew, must be a good guesser, as it worked out to be a matching gauge.

Specs:  Machine Knit (Silver Reed LK-150) drop shouldered pullover worked in Silk City Fibers Stretch Cotton, color Blue Jeans.  Waist, sleeve and neckline ribbing handknit in a K2, P2 rib.

Sizing cotton sweaters tends to be a real headache for me -- make it exactly  the finished dimensions you require then watch it sag and grow.  I'm hopeful the little bit of Lycra in this yarn will help with that -- we'll see. 

I was working with two cones of this yarn, and still have a good bit left -- wonder if Mr. Monty would like a hoodie to match?