need supersedes planning

As you would know, I have a focus list of projects to work on this month. I have planned which project I will work on and in what order.

But last Monday, my quilting teacher asked all of us who knit (I’m the most obvious one) for a favour. The neo-natal unit of the local hospital is desperate for hats for the babies, mostly premature, in the humidicribs.

As a mother and a grandmother, how could I say no to such a request? My DD was born at 2.630kg (yes I still remember) – a tiny 130g over “compulsory” humidicrib weight. Younger Grandson, even though well over that weight, spent some time in critical care and was given a hat.

The pattern called for 8ply (DK) yarn and 4.00mm (US 6) needles so I thought they’d be a quick knit: 15 rounds of k2p2 rib, 16 rounds of stocking stitch then 13 rounds of decreasing.

I had told myself that I would knit one a day during February (the month of Valentine’s Day and the month of my Older Grandson’s birthday). But they take longer than I thought. One hat takes me two hours from cast-on to completely finished!

Still, a need is a need so the target date for finishing my cardigan has been pushed back.

After I took this photo, I realised the hats are supposed to have turned-back brims! Never mind, they've been knitted in the round so it won’t make any difference!

The one on the bottom right is DD', she obviously has a looser gauge than me!

Seven down, twenty-one to go!

children's jumpers

Over the past few months I have knitted several child-size jumpers [sweaters] for charity. I have been practising and refining my knitting-in-the-round technique and designing some successes and some failures.

One of those failures, although I didn't realise it when I posted about it back in June, was a sweater-without-shoulders. Thanks C. for your honesty; you made me look at the jumper again and of course you were right. Having started from the top down I was reluctant to fix it but it was very obvious that it couldn't be worn in that state so, after some thinking time while the jumper lay in the naughty corner, I came up with a solution. I snipped one stitch just above the armhole and slowly, carefully and painstakingly took out all the stitches in that row. It took a couple of hours but I finally separated the yoke from the body. I then picked up all the stitches of the body, ripped out the yoke and proceeded to knit a new one paying carefully attention to EZ's numbers!

Here is the same jumper - version #2.


This jumper has a sister [also knitted top-down]. Here she is:


Her very plain raglan cousin in 5ply acrylic:


And her very fancy cousin:


who, of course, insists in me showing the detail!

beanies: the ultimate travelling companions!Part 1

Well, socks are pretty good too. But... I'm not a fan of magic loop - ooh! ah! did I just write that? I knit socks on dpns so there's always the danger of losing one needle when I travel by public transport. Therefore sock knitting is usually confined to the car or the house.

Beanies, on the other hand, are lovely to knit on the train. They're quick, light and short so even with my briefcase/satchel on my lap I can still knit [socks, on the hand, get too long for this limited space]. Beanies also easily stretch around my 60cm Knitpicks Options once the band is knitted. And [I'll try to redeem myself here] I do use the magic loop for the band and to complete the top of the beanie! I have dpns in limited sizes [2.25, 3.25, 3.50 = US sizes 1, 3 and 4] but using Knitpicks Options means I have all the sizes of circular needles I'm ever likely to use.

So, having no doubt lost some readers along the way - those ardent supporters of circulars and magic looping - let me show you some of my beanie output for the three months of winter.

First there was the scrap yarn beanie that I knitted in the car on the way to mum's birthday surprise [after I finished seaming the sweater].


You may recognise these yarns as being left over from this sweater and this Tomten. WM's picture is more creative than mine [why didn't I think of that?] but you can't see the dark blue band.

Then, because I was tired of all that Baby Lustre I had been knitting [that extra shiny thread can make such a harsh difference], I knitted some beanies in oh-so-soft Tencel and acrylic.

And two of these count as textured knits [I didn't actually show any of my knitting in the final round up]! The first is in a pattern I know as Broken Rib. I have heard it called Moss Stitch Rib and Interrupted Rib too.


The second is a simple K1P1 rib. [Did I mention soft and warm?!]


And the third has a simple garter band and stocking stitch cap.


While I was showing DD the beanies, my SIL asked me what Tencel was made from and I wasn't sure I had the right answer. Upon researching, I was surprised to learn that Tencel is not a petro-chemical synthetic fibre: it's made from wood-pulp. Tencel is actually a registered trade name used by Lenzing Fibres for a yarn which is more accurately called lyocell [just as Nylon is Dupont's registered trade name for polyamide]. I bought this yarn for 99c a ball at a clearance sale at Spotlight many moons ago and can get nearly two beanies from one ball - you gotta admit, that's good value! I think I've already said that the yarn is amazingly soft and warm and the perfect antidote to lustrous acrylics.

Beanies are also good for using up odds and ends of yarn - this one has six different yarns in it!


And this one used up the last of the chocolate tencel/acrylic blend.


These last two plus the two "blue" versions below are July's output. All of them use up odds and ends.



Part 2 coming to this blog real soon!

How to knit a circular yoke sweater top down

Above all, don’t think it through, just cast on and design on the needles making decisions as you go! [yeah right!] And if you must take this approach - keep a pattern library [I use Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches] and these two books within easy reach:

Knitting Without Tears Elizabeth Zimmermann [Schoolhouse Press]

Top Down for Toddlers Deb and Lynda Gemmell [Cabin Fever]

1. Using a size larger needle than you intend to knit with, cast on the number of stitches required to go over the head of a child of, say, 6 years old [in this case 96 stitches; which is actually big enough to go over my head!!]


2. Change to correct size needles to obtain gauge [I knit with a size that makes the knitted fabric feel right in my hand - not too stiff, not too drape-y for the project-in-hand]


3. Knit K2 P2 rib for required number of rows [I like to fold my neckbands and stitch them down so mine looked like a turtle neck for quite a while]


4. Do six rows of short row shaping across the back of the neck starting with half the number of neckband stitches plus 12** [1/2 of 96 is 48 + 12 is 60] then 2 less, then 2 less, etc [i.e, rows getting progressively shorter: 60, 58, 56, 54, 52, 50]
   **This is the reverse of EZ's no-seam sweater which is knitted from the bottom up


5. Find four or five ways that don't work to avoid little holes at the end of those short rows


6. Rip all the short rows out and start again, this time knitting the end of the short row with the stitch below the next stitch [see EZ "Knitting Without Tears"]


7. Knit one row then increase in next row by *K3 M1* repeat to end of round [I now had 128 stitches]


8. Determine the depth of the yoke [in my case: 20cm/8inches; I found this figure in "Top Down for Toddlers"]


9. Choose a lace pattern for knitting interest and work in the round until yoke is 1/4 of its depth


10. increase this time by *K2 M1* repeat to end [192 stitches]


11. Decide that the pattern is too fussy and doesn't sit right and modify it to suit own needs



12. continue in stocking (stockinette) stitch until yoke is 1/2 its depth


13. increase as in step 10 [288 stitches]


14. continue in whatever pattern takes your fancy until yoke has reached desired depth [a modified eyelet pattern]


15. *knit 82 stitches, slip the next 62 stitches onto waste yarn* repeat for remaining stitches [modified figures from "Top Down for Toddlers" to suit my 288 stitches]


16. cast on 8 stitches at underarm, knit across to the other underarm, cast on eight stiches


17. continue on these 180 stitches in desired pattern until work measures finish length desired minus length of bottom band [I changed to pencil point ribs of my own design]


18. decrease ten stitches evenly around the body in next row


19. knit band desired length in K2 P2 rib


20. pick up 62 stitches for one sleeve on dpns


21. pick up and knit eight stiches from cast on stitches


22. put a stitch marker where the underarm seam would be


23. knit 7 rows in stocking stitch


24. in row 8, K1, SSK, K to last three stitches, K2 tog, K1


25. continue decreasing in every eight row until 46 stitches remain ["Top Down for Toddlers" recommends never going below 45 stitches for a 6yo's sweater]


26. knit the band in K2 P2 rib for desired number of rows


27. cast off loosely


28. repeat steps 20-27 for the other sleeve


29. look at finished sweater and realise the sleeves look too long


30. measure with a tape measure - yep, too long by about 9cm! [3 1/2 inches]


31. decide that's not too bad, it’s for charity not someone specific, it would surely fit someone [a chimpanzee maybe]


32. continue the internal debate: one could live with that, one may even grow into those sleeves [and out of the body width and length]


33. struggle some more with oneself for a few minutes [maybe twenty!]


34. wait until it's past bedtime [with work paid employment the following day] to decide to frog!


35. pick up the stitches, reknit the bands to desired length


36. cast off loosely


37. Try not to be concerned that it looks out of proportion - the measurements are correct!


38. look the sweater over and make a list of all the things to do differently next time!


• since it’s acrylic and it won’t block, don’t use the first stitch pattern at the beginning of a circular yoked sweater because it will never lay flat


• find another way to do short row shaping on the back of the neck


• decrease more frequently on sleeves – decreasing every eight rows doesn’t work when starting with 70 stitches and need to get to 46 – do the maths BEFORE you start the sleeves!


39. Share with readers the trials and tribulations of trying to reinvent a top down sweater [which someone with far more experience has already done!] the design process!!

how to save a sweater

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about a sweater I was knitting as a sample for mum's sweater. While mum's sweater turned out okay [read the full story here if you haven't heard it already] the child's sweater did not.

But it has been saved! After a swim in the frogpond [where it was reduced to a body and two stumpy arms] it was kissed knitted again by a beautiful princess never-say-die blogger into this:


And just because it's my blog and I can show off if I want to to - some texture in the form of mock baby cables:

That's the end of the blue Panda "Baby Lustre" 8ply but I still have 500g of the mauve to use! Just as well it is knitting up more softly!

How not to knit a poncho

1. Don't knit harsh yarn on too small needles unless you want the poncho to stick straight out like wings front and back!



2. Don't increase eight stitches every two rounds unless you are really knitting a flamenco skirt for a very thin woman!



3. Don't even increase eight stitches every four rounds [incarnation 2] - unless you want to poncho to look like a bell tent!*

4. Don't overcompensate and increase four stitches every six rounds unless you want your poncho [incarnation 3] to fit a barrel!



5. Don't stay up till 1:30am to finish those last few rows unless you're sure the poncho will be as wonderful as you imagined! Frogging is a poor choice at that time of morning!



6. Don't put your stitch markers in the wrong place unless you want the centre line of your poncho [incarnation 4] to end up looking like this!

The yarn is Panda's Baby Lustre 8ply which I picked up in the bargain bin at Wangaratta last year for the enormous sum of $12 a kilo [or $0.60 per 50g ball]. It's certainly not a soft yarn and I wouldn't use it for anything a baby was going to wear close to its skin but for a little girl's poncho that bit of sparkle is 'just right', even if the centre line isn't; I'm hoping it won't look so bad once it's on a 3D person!!

It's completely knitted in garter stitch [despite those seemingly interminable rounds of purl - especially in the "bell tent poncho"]; only one row in four has *yo, K2 tog* to make the holes. The pattern is mine, designed on the needles from a vague idea in my mind's eye. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't! LOL

*picture of the bell tent from surplusandadventure.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Apologies to everyone whose feed readers told them I had published several times - I wish I saw all my mistakes before I hit "publish post"!

"in the round" top down sweater

While in-the-round bottom-up sweater lies in the frogpond, it's opposite number is almost completely finished [except for sewing the ends in - isn't that always the way? LOL]. You'll remember that I said last month that one of the good things about being a member of the Guild was access to the library and that I had borrowed this book:

Well, based on this book's basic sweater pattern, I've knitted this:

Don't go looking for anything like it in the book - I did what I often do, designed on the needles. And when I realised I was going to run out of yarn I added some colour work [it's really not that difficult Kate] to tie the third colour in and look like I always intended it to be there [now you know my little secret!! LOL]

The yoke is a combination of slip stitch and stranded colour work. The pattern above the ribbing is stranded colour work.
I quite like this way of knitting but I found working on the sleeves a hassle because the bulk of the sweater was already done - my dpns kept getting caught in the body of the sweater!

And, using the same idea but changing it radically [I guess that makes it my original] I have cast on for a child's poncho knitted top down.