it's tea time...

Or so I thought! Let me backtrack a bit. When I made the first swatch and saw the shading that was going on because of different dye lots, especially on the stockinette swatch, I flashbacked to my very early years and recalled when I used to use steeped tea to dye my white bra to a nude/skin tone (I’m talking fifty years ago - you may have been able to buy nude tone bras at the time, but maybe not where I lived or maybe I didn’t have the extra cash to buy both a white and a nude bra) and it was pre-Martha Stewart! Anyway, now I had in the back of my mind that I could use tea to colour the two white shades to an ecru shade that would still give me the benefit of a non-colour that would go with anything. 

I did try it out on the original swatch (which was the same as the Back) and it looked very promising - even the acrylic yarn took the tea shade well, so I jumped in, let’s do this! Made my tea, 4 tea bags (orange pekoe black tea) in 4  cups hot water and let it steep for  an hour or so. Dumped that into my large soup pot and added enough warm water to more than enough to cover the garment. Swished it around several times, every ten minutes, let it sit for a couple of hours. Dumped it out, wrung the garment and put it in the washer with a bit of detergent, let it finish and tossed it in the dryer. Yikes! How could I go so wrong? I couldn’t even take a picture - it was all mottled, ugly and the Back was still distinctly much lighter than the other parts!

And I thought, oh freaking heck! I can’t show that to anyone! What the aich am I going to do? Next thing, here I am, madly googling, how to remove tea stains? Baking soda! Huh! Well, of course, I dreamt about it all night! Omg! May be I could just not say anything more and get into a new project…but I felt like that would be lying. 

Tried the baking soda, didn’t really do much but it is a little more even-looking, not quite as patchy. I’m going to live with it over the next few months and weigh my options. I could try that painting technique that I used for the tiger stripe thing https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2011/01/tiger-in-my-sweater.html ,  here’s the link to the finished product https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2011/01/minor-alterations-only.html   from way back or see how another go at the Woodstock thing https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2010/06/woodstock.html   painting would go…here’s the finished thing: https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2010/09/september-update.html

note to self…

Darn in every end before the laundering! I left the tails on the stockinette facing for the neckline slash opening- I was thinking the tails could be used for stitching the facing in place and I wanted to preshrink it before that. Wrong! The tails will wrap around anything and get entangled… nothing good happens here! I should have known this because it’s happened before but I thought if I told you, maybe I’d remember for next time. Anyway, I sorted it out and it's good.

So happy with how this turned out! The fit is perfect. I know I made out like this was an old-school drop shoulder but I did say with modifications!

Maybe I should clarify what I mean by old-school drop shoulder - that shapeless rectangle with 4 inch ease! Here’s what I did. Instead of that big rectangle with the neckline cut out, I sloped the side seam line to make it slightly wider at the hemline which I wanted to be mid thigh; the width at bust is bust measurement, no extra; sloped the shoulder line by 5 cm; and added a little 5 cm triangle to the top of the sleeve. It fits nicely at the bust, without that extra bulk at the underarm, the sleeve is just right, not too oversized and I love it!

The Back is still stark white though...

not the ‘c’ word…

That’s crochet, in case you were wondering! I'm crochet-impaired but I’ve got plenty of crochet-look trims, totally done on the machine, at my fingertips so, for me, a trim done on the machine is what I’m looking for. 

By my definition, a trim/edging, here, is to finish off the open stitches, make sure it doesn’t roll back or up  when you don’t want it to and for it to look good!

On the sleeve/ cuff edge, I chose one of my all-time favs, ‘XOXO, #33’ from my booklet,  ‘Band Practise’. It uses every-other-needle manual tuck, with  an RTR (remove, turn, rehang) to make a wider than stockinette band that doesn’t restrict the width of the cuff - I usually end up pushing up my sleeves to elbow-length and the extra width allows for that here.

For the bottom hems, I went with that new-ish one, #154, 'Me-Cozy Variation' that I put on the pink one-row-tuck hoodie https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2023/05/pinkie.html 

I had almost forgot about it! ;)

My seaming, uses my Franky seaming method https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2021/04/deja-vu.html

picture-perfect…

I’ve just been picking away at this, nothing too strenuous, a little bit here, a little bit there and remembering to switch out my sponge bars each time I start a new piece. Got the Front done and both sleeves, attached them as I went so the four basic pieces are knitted and together. Now, it is glaringly obvious, the back is white-white and the rest of the pieces are winter white. Sigh! 

So I can only wear it at night or a dull, cloudy day! But I sort of knew that was going to happen. In the original swatches, looking closely, in a certain light, I could see patchy spots. For the back, I used the two cones that were different dye lots, same as I used for the swatching. Then on the front, I used the two smaller cones that had the same dye lot. It was distinctly yellowish compared to the back. I made both sleeves in the same as the front figuring that I wouldn’t be looking at the back when it was on me so who cares ;). The pockets, which I plan to sew on with the sewing machine, like patch pockets, are done same as the front and I managed to get the hood out of that same dye lot…

I’m down to the trims...we’ll see what happens…

I’m not gloating, but would you look at that hood? Shortrowing in lace 4 times and not a stitch out of place!

old-school…

Laundered that swatch and got right into it. My vision changed slightly (overall diamonds of lace instead of the mesh-look) but I still liked the idea of that drop shoulder. With a few modifications! ;)

Drew up my schematic, used the gauge from the washed swatch and did my calculations to get stitch and row numbers on my paper pattern. Also drew the schematic on the Mylar for the knit radar - I always like to have two methods of figuring the numbers just in case! 

Making the Back first - it’s the biggest piece and if something is going to go wrong, might as well be right off the get-go - I’m leaving the decision on edgings/trim for later, so my cast-on, after the waste yarn, is just two plain rows of stockinette and then the lace. And what do you know? I forgot to release the pattern! Fu-u-dge! I was about to drop it all off the machine and maybe go pout.

I caught myself! Hey, no need to go through the cast-on and all that again - just knit a few rows waste, add another ravel cord and get back to it. 

Zip, zap, zoom, the Back is done, perfectly, and I didn’t even miss a beat when it came to shortrowing the shoulder slope - here’s a link to a tutorial for shortrowing in lace, using the ravel cord method, no annoying ads! - (https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2017/01/life-lessons.html 

Got the second shoulder done, it’s off the machine and I feel like a rockstar! If only I had a guitar to smash!

trial and errors...

I’ll admit, it was a few weeks before I had a chance to get down to business and there was a lot of pondering going on. I had settled on the mesh lace stitch (the tuck lace mesh from the shopping bag closes up too much unless something is stretching it out and I didn't want it to be me!;)) and settled on Montana 2 ply yarn doubled  (https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2021/05/brittany-is-very-fine-314-2-ply-cotton.html ).

To be honest, it was the only white cotton I had, 4 partial cones adding up to almost 950g which would be more than enough and even with the differing dye lots, they all looked the same, colour wise.

If I was knitting stockinette or tuck, there is the option of plating to make sure there wasn’t a patchy colour distribution from running two dyelots, but this was lace on the silver reed and because of the separate lace carriage, no plating allowed but my backup plan was to overdye to a light ecru shade. I’d make swatches and see what happened…

Starting with a stockinette swatch, I then programmed in the mesh lace - It wasn’t really promising…dropped stitches everywhere! Yes, I had changed the sponge bar! https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-elephant-in-room.html 

Left that on pause and went to this blog and searched lace carriage knitting - ohmigosh, a lot of reading! I was sure I had fully covered this topic but couldn’t find what I wanted - what to do if your lace carriage knitting isn’t working…

1. Check the needles. If the stitch is dropping in the same place, over and over, change the needle. In lace, it’s difficult to tell which needle, the transferee or the receiver - change both of them.
   
   
   
2. Still happening, look at the sinker posts/gate pegs - a bent one can interfere with the transfer.
3. Maybe the tension/stitch size isn’t right. Too tight and stitches drop instead of transferring.. Too loose and the transferred stitch may end up over a sinker post.
4. Even weighting - makes a big difference, too much weight and stitches don’t transfer. Not enough weight, same thing. (https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2008/11/i-just-have-to-tell-you-i-finally.html)
   
   
   
   
5. Change the yarn and see if that stitch pattern knits with a smooth acrylic. If it does, likely the first yarn isn’t suitable for that particular pattern - try another one, stitch pattern, I mean.

This was supposed to be a fun, easy project, not an endurance test. If you can’t make a perfect swatch, it isn’t likely to get better making larger pieces! I moved on to #5 and set up for that ‘Me  Cozy’ lace https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2021/04/deja-vu.html

 that I still love so much. It worked flawlessly with the doubled cotton - it has more than enough holes to be loose and airy-looking!

motivation…

Did you think I was done? You’d never hear from me again? Ha! I’m like a bad penny, always turning up! Persistent, my middle name!

I’ve been machine knitting for 35 years. It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to come up with something to knit - what could be new, what do I need/want now? What would be fun and, most important,  what do I have the yarn for?

A couple of weeks ago, it hit! 

The inspiration, I mean! On our afternoon talk show, 

‘The Social’, Elvira Kurt was guest-hosting, and when she came out in this mesh, oversized sweater, I was, like, what is that? It was white, quite loose and airy looking and I thought, that’s perfect for a throw-on coverup! 

Oh sure, I have lots of cardigans that work with different things and occasions, but they usually mean getting redressed from the ground up. White, loose-fitting, cool and airy would go over anything and you’re out the door! I got all fired up and excited! 

I had that show on my PVR so I could rerun it and snap a few pictures to get a better look. Elvira is a cute, diminutive comedian and she mugged for the cameras, so I do apologize if she looks a little goofy, and the over-size on her is much larger than it will be on me but you’ll get the idea…

I do have 4 part-cones of white Montana, 2 ply cotton, 3 different dye lots, I’m thinking that mesh-lace stitch, https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2022/01/its-2022.html 

from the red Bonita hoodie…maybe I'll tell you what I planned and what I did...

now it's a bread bag...

I made a few more bags, using up leftovers and found a new use! I make gluten-free bread for my son and sometimes he comes to get it before it's totally cool and I never seem to have a clean paper bag large enough! Here's my revised pattern - hope you use it whether you're a beginner or not! I'm using it to get back into the practise of knitting! 

Shopping Bag - Japanese Machine Version  by Mary  Anne Oger

4,5mm flat bed machine, no ribber required

Yeoman Yarns Cannele, mercerized cotton.

Gauge, not really important, but T7, mesh, 28 sts and 40 row to10 cm. Finished weight, 185g, finished flat size, 40 cm wide X 38 cm high.

Notes: Bag is knit from top of one side to bottom and back up other side with handles attached at each top side as you go. Then side edge is rehung to make neat sides. Knit side is used as right side throughout. Every other needle birdseye tuck is single bed knit. Stitch pattern used is the 1X1 birdseye pattern double width. This means that with every other needle in work, the tuck is alternating every other needle on every other row and it is not necessary to worry about proper needle selection.

Punchcard machines, make card as shown. Electronics, program as shown. Set to tuck.

HANDLES: 8-0-8 ns. Cast on WY and ravel cord. Leaving long tails at each end of MC, knit stockinette, T5, K160R. WY, K16R. MC, K160R. Remove on WY.

BAG: 60-0-61 ns. Cast on WY and ravel cord. MC, T6, K10R. (If desired, transfer to EON for Picot - Transfer 2nd and every other stitch to next left needle for picot, empty ns in WP). T9, K1R. T6, K10R. RC021. Pick up sts from first row of MC to make hem. Remove WY. Take one end of handle, purl side facing, hang starting on 30th needle from end, toward centre. Repeat at other side with other end of same strap.T7, K10R. 

MESH: Transfer to EON, empty ns out of work. Hang weights for tuck knitting. Set up stitch pattern and use next row to read/select if necessary. T4, K1R (Note, this tighter row makes a smaller hole, going into the tuck on every other needle!). RC000. Program for tuck, T7, K116R.     BOTTOM OF BAG: Bring all ns to work. RC000. T6, K20R. T9, K1R. T6, K20R. SECOND MESH SIDE: Transfer to EON, empty ns out of work. T4, K1R, using this row to program. Set to tuck. T7, K116R. Bring all ns to work. T4, K1R. 

SECOND TOP HEM: RC000. T6, K10R, ending at right. This next row is a marker row for the top hem. T10, K1R. T6, K10R. (If desired make picot row as above.) T9, K1R. T6, K10R. Hang sinker loops of marked row. Take the other handle, knit side facing, hang from 30th needle  from each end as first side. Manually knit very loose row and chain off.

Side Panels. 75-0-75 ns. Wrong side facing, pick up side of bag, hanging half

outside edge stitch, from bottom of stockinette top on each end with centre fold line of bottom at 0. Bring needles out and close latches.  CAR, MC, T8, K1R. T6, K11R, ending CAR. Take MC out of feeder - do not cut. Put right side in hold. Knit waste yarn on left side, about 1 inch. Drop from ns. Place carriage back at right, rethread MC. Cancel hold. K1R to return ns to work. Rip out last row, leaving sts in hooks of ns in B position. Fold left side over to correspond and hang these sts on top of right side. Manually knit very loose row and chain off.

Sew the handles up on to top edge of band. Darn in ends. Press well.

Have fun and make several! 

shopping bag retrospective…

I’m here and I’ve committed myself to making one of those ‘Take an Old Bag Shopping’  thingys, for a hostess gift - the pattern was in Knitwords No 44, back in 2007. https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-every-brother-knitter-should-know.html

A Passap knitter had sent me a bag and the pattern, done on a  Passap machine and you know, I can be honest now, enough time has passed! When it first came in, I remember thinking, what the heck? Who wants to make a shopping bag? They give you plastic bags at the grocery store!  Was I worried about my carbon footprint? Get a life! Remember, it was almost 15 years ago and did I care? Honestly, not really! But seriously, the reality was, I had 48 pages of magazine to fill with knitting stuff! I couldn’t afford to go around being snooty.

Anyway, I did end up translating and writing the pattern for Japanese machines and, back in the day, I made that bag so many times, virtually every one I knew got at least one, probably made it at least twenty times. It is a great hostess gift! But, here I am today, it’s been a while and I’ve read my notes and all the old blogposts about it, gearing myself up for this - there’s not a lot of time for dillydallying- I need to have it ready to go within five days. 

Pulled out my old ‘cheat sheet’ pattern - still have my original bag, looked it over, familiarizing myself with the various details. Went to my machine (Silver electronic standard gauge) and put in a new sponge bar - haven’t knit anything since the end of April and even my aging brain remembers to do this -  https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-elephant-in-room.html

Loaded in the stitch pattern and did some ‘air knitting’ 

to check the pattern and felt I was ready to jump in. 

Now, at the top of my cheat sheet, it says, in block caps, under Handles, LEAVE LONG TAILS…did I do that? No, of course not. The long tails are for sewing up the edges of the handles onto the top hem. Next part is the top hem of the first side - the original pattern calls for a picot hem - did I do that? Hell, no! For some reason that isn’t on my cheat sheet! This is a freakin’ shopping bag! Who needs a picot hem? This will be a ‘boy bag’! Kept going, got ‘er done and it was only when I was attempting to sew up the handles, I noticed the second one was botched - put on backwards! Ah, no one will ever notice! It's a freakin' shopping bag!

Oh my, even with the mistakes, this was fun! Much better than watching the news!

done and dusted...

 every thing's finished up! Looks good to me!

prewash

final!

second chance…

Yay! Completed the sleeve, no problem, at least 5gs left! So happy, I jumped right in to get that neckband done! My memory is not quite what it used to be but even though I think I know what I’m doing, it has been a few weeks since I made all those swatches. I did what I thought was going to work with the English rib happening on the rib bed and, almost holding my breath, hung the neckline. I’ll admit, even though I’m usually telling you to get rid of the waste yarn once you’ve got every thing hung, I left it on the neckline, just in case! Ha! Didn’t need it! Looks good! Can hardly wait to get this all finished up, and washed and dried, to show you!

In case you're really following along (I can only hope), here's what I did:

1. 75-0-75 ns. Swing P5. Arrange for 1X1 rib. Manual wrap cast on.

2. RC000.T5/5, K1R. Hang comb and weights. Bring ns out to make sure that all is well.

3. T4/4. K8R. T7/7, K1R (fold row). T4/4. K8R.

4. CAR. Set for English rib, tuck on RB. K2R.

5. Swung English rib: Rack to P7, K2R, rack to P5, K2R for 8 rows. You should be back at P5.

6. On MB, bring empty ns to work. Transfer all to MB.

7. Hang neck edge sts from WY with RIGHT side facing you. There will be 2 sets of sts on needles.

8. Stockinette, garment tension, K3R. Remove on WY. Join other shoulder and seam neckband. Backstitch the 3 rows of plain knitting to front of garment, stitching through open loops of last row of main yarn.

9. Fold cast-on edge to inside and handstitch with running stitch, loosely to last row of 1X1 above racking.

r.o.y.a...

That’s running-out-of-yarn-anxiety! 

Just to recap, I had a small cone of 70g and an almost full cone, 490g, both ‘surf’ but turns out they’re different dye lots! They look the same on the cone but we’ve all been there - that line when you add the next one in tells the tale! What I’m doing to disguise it is using the small cone for the ribbed bands - 10 rows of 1X1 on the body, just enough to hem it and hold it down, and, 30 rows of 2X2(2X1) industrial rib for the cuff, giving it a little more oomph and body for a man-cuff -  the line created by the variance in the stitches between the rib and the 1RT will be enough to hide the dye lot differences. 

Back is done, it weighs 160g; Front, 158g. First sleeve done and there’s 74g left on the larger cone. Do the math and the first sleeve took 74g…oh, man that’s gonna be close! Normally, after the back and front, I’d join one shoulder and do the neckband especially after all those practises but I don’t dare, even though I’m using a different yarn for the neckband…gotta make sure to get the second sleeve before putting it all together, just in case!

revision…

After the second neckband swatch, added to the opposite side of the tension swatch, I noticed there was something weird happening after the RTR (remove, turn, rehang).  Maybe it wasn’t a mistake - possibly it just showed up more in the cotton because there’s better stitch definition than the wool used in the NBT sample. And then I thought, what the heck! Why am I doing that RTR? 

Actually it’s because for this neckband technique to work properly, you need to have the wrong side of the neckband facing you when the right side of the neckline is hung on top. But I meant, why? If I switch the tucks of the English rib to the bottom bed, making the side facing the wrong side, there won’t be any need for that RTR! Why didn’t I think of that before? 

After the third swatch which didn’t really work - I forgot that for the swung English rib to form properly you needed to rack after the tucks and, when that was sorted, on the 5th neckband swatch I decided maybe it would be nice to double under the 1X1 rib because, in the cannele cotton, which is slightly thinner than the Bonita cotton, the 1X1 rib cast-on was looking a bit wimpy…would the wash and dry sort that out? 

Omigosh! And I thought making a pullover would be quick and easy!