Friday, June 24, 2016

why, why, why???

I'm pretty sure I'm cured - I have both sleeves done as well as the back now. The side of my baby finger is almost raw because it sort of ends up resting/grabbing onto the top of the sinker posts as I flip that darn 7-prong tool up and over to drop off the stitches! and yes, some of the joy has gone out of the project...but I have to say, this stitch pattern is brilliant! There is just no going wrong with it and it seems like you'd have to be pretty distracted to make a mistake. That 7-prong tool measures everything out perfectly and so long as you remember there are never more than 3 needles out of work at a time, you're golden! And there are actually 6 rows where you do nothing but bring needles back to work - it's like a mini-vacay!
I will be so proud and relieved when I'm finished - but I'm warning you - if you ever see me wearing this thing you'd better be so overwhelmed at my talent, beauty and tenacity! and so complimentary of this sweater! (notice I'm calling it a sweater - I could turn it into a pullover - no hood, no front bands, no zipper...)

Friday, June 17, 2016

12 step...

Last month, I admitted that I had an addiction to that Battenburg stitch pattern (http://knitwords.blogspot.ca/2016/05/obsessive-compulsive-addictive.html ). Well, now I'm not so sure what I was addicted to. Was it the stitch pattern? Was it the yarn? Or was it my GFH? I have been wearing that natural-coloured one non-stop and although I am loving it, I feel that it didn't go far enough and I've been dreaming of making another one. I was contemplating my stash of Bonita - the pale blue (nah, it's never been my favourite shade - it actually has a dull, almost dirty cast to it and the other sweaters that I've made with it are mostly left on the shelf) or red (although I am totally partial to red, I do have a couple of good, serviceable red cardigans/hoodies at the moment) and then! I recalled that I've been hoarding 2 cones of black Bonita - I know, I never told you, sorry, but we all have our secrets!
Anyway, I thought, what better way to get this out of my system? Knit an entire GFH out of black Bonita using the Battenburg stitch pattern!! That should cure me!
I'll admit, it has taken me 4 days to complete the back and, yes, for me, that's like almost a year! But I have really tried to limit myself to no more than one full repeat (40 rows) at each sitting and I have been working on other things!
I'm really trying to break the GFH design - I'm going to use different bands! It will be more 'dressy' with all the open lace work so I thought the stockinette bands won't do it justice - I'm waffling between the shortrowed lace edging from 'Nougat', KW#49 and/or one of the 'XOXO' trims from 'Band Practice'. And I am trying to talk myself out of the hood, I promise! But I do think it would look really cool to have the casing fold line in the centre of the stitch pattern...


Saturday, June 11, 2016

One-R-T...

I'm feeling the pressure! The 15th of the month is coming and I know I gotta do that red scarf thing and I hate to disappoint - I know you're anxious with anticipation and, I'd like to get it out of the way because I have other things to put on this machine. Rhiana, my granddaughter, was over the other day and asking for her panda sweater! I was hoping to put it off until the fall - thought it might be a back-to-school thing for her but she wants it now and was giving me a gentle reminder. I also figured she wouldn't like the yarn I chose - I thought it was going to be too green, not turquoise-y enough but she loved it! It's the same colour as her soccer uniform! What was I thinking? And, I have a couple of ideas for a new dress that I want to get to for going to DFW in October - don't worry, I am working on the Church Cardi so this is just in-betweens!
One-Row-Tuck - this is such a great technique, one of my favourties! It has a nice texture, looks good from either side and with the plain longstitch bands on each side to finish the edges automatically, I think it makes a nice scarf and a great learning project if you haven't tried either of these techniques. I think I've talked about both here (one row tuck and longstitch facings) before so do a search to find more if you're intrigued.
I have included my chosen stitch pattern here - if you want the DAK file, email me at knitwords@shaw.ca - I won't hold my breath though!
So here's the Red Scarf for Aids Awareness for June! I'm calling it
 'One-R-T Scarf for June'.
End needles on RB. Use number strip on RB to select needles, and count needle spaces on RB only. MB sts are included as they occur within outside RB needles. Either side can be right side. Pattern is tucking on MB to left and knitting all sts to right.
Program as below. Set cam lever to tuck.
Punchcard 24 sts X 48 rows, make as shown, making holes for grey squares and leaving white blank, adding double row of holes top and bottom to join card.
Circular Hem. Swing H5. Arrange for full needle rib, end ns on RB. Cast on WY. Knit several rows. Set to circular. T4/6, ravel cord, K2R. Move carriages to left without knitting. Bring ns all out. This will cancel the circular setting and make a zigzag row (without having to change the settings back and forth). MC, T2/2, K1R. Hang comb and one weight. RC000. Knit circular, grading tension by increasing one full number for each row to T8/10, RC014. Swing P. Transfer sts to MB, leaving outside end sts on RB for longstitch facings as directed. Swing H. Program pattern and use next row to read/select. T9/7, K1R. RC000. Set to tuck.
Plain Longstitch. The stitch is single bed tuck on the main bed, but longstitch self-facings require a few (6-7 at each side) sts on the rib bed. Knit with RB engaged. The longstitch is created by needles on RB knitting in one direction only, when carriage is passing to left in this case. MB, set as for pattern (tuck).
RB Settings for Longstitch:
Silver, left set lever 1,  right set lever 0.
Brother, left cam lever to N, right cam lever to PR.
Yarn: Yeomans Panama - I would stockinette this at T7 but with adding tuck, wanting the scarf to be soft and making the yarn to go further, I'm knitting the main bed at T9. The longstitch facing is variable depending on your yarn - I used 7 on the rib bed because they are knitting only every other row - try it out first of course ;-) - if the facing is too tight it will be shorter at the sides than the main fabric. If too loose it will curl inward.

SCARF: Bring 25-0-25 ns to work on main bed. Set to H5 and bring ns on ribber to work so outside ns are on ribber - one more than knit bed. Cast waste yarn in zigzag, hang comb and 1 large weight. Knit several rows, ending CAR. Switch to circular for the ravel cord, K2R. Move carriages to left and make hem as above to RC014. Transfer sts as above. Download pattern (read punchcard or set up for pattern knitting as above). Knit 600 rows or desired length (150 cm/5 ft), ending CAL after the plain row. Now, this is the only hard part - we need to get everything back in work to make the circular hem. Bring the rib bed needles to work to fill in between the facings. Not really hard, I should have said just a little bit of work. Set the ribber back to Swing P so the needles are directly opposite and using the single prong tool, hang the heel stitch from the main bed stitches on the opposite rib bed needle - you could just do a zigzag row at low tension over the whole thing and hope for the best - it will work, but won't look so great - your choice! After you have all the rib needles filled in, set to circular. T8/10, K2R. Grade tension down by one number to match beginning hem. RC014. Cancel circular. Zigzag, T7/7, K1R.
With WY, T5/5, K20R circular knitting. FNR, K2R. Remove from machine. Steam WY to set stitches. Remove last two rows to open the end. Fold waste yarn out. Using latch tool, start at side opposite to yarn end and chain cast off by picking up end stitch, put behind latch. Pick up next stitch from other side of WY and pull through. Continue going back and forth across row. At end, pull yarn end through to anchor. Remove waste yarn. Darn in ends.
Analysis: This was a very quick knit! I did find that yarn spray helped eliminate/reduce the clunking at the left side on every other row when the rib bed needles were needed. No close knit bar was required. I have used these techniques on multiple garments/patterns both in KNITWORDS and in my Serial Stuff series. I hope you love it as much as I do!
Red Scarf for Aids Awareness count: 7