what the...

Omigosh! you guys! I love all these comments on that last post especially! tells me you’re reading! 

Thanks, Tom - you’re way too nice! You didn’t see the 98 deleted photos! ;)

No, no actual pattern! I’m past that - too many issues to consider in what yarn, etc and no one is buying anyway! 

What I have been trying to do is provide you with the inspiration and resources (my books, and more specifically here, my The Handbook for Manual Machine Knitters - HMMK) to make your own design - how to use the information you already have and spin it into a great garment! 

And then, what the heck is a ‘needle bettle’? No worries, I googled it and seems it’s a knock-off of the old Silver Reed needle selector - but it did say that it brings the needles to D rather than C which is what the LS6 (which had the built-in option of being converted for use on the 9mm hobby knitter) did and you then had to use the flat side of the needle selector to put them in D position for tuck or fairisle. 

But the big thing is they all only select an 8-stitch repeat. So, it’s handy for that but considering the price as opposed to the number of patterns you could use it on…

My NP diamonds repeat was a 10-st repeat and you could redesign the diamonds to an 8-st…so, yes you can use that thingy to select the needles for an 8-st repeat lace pattern or a 4-st or a 2-st…except the needle is in D position and for me at least, to try and hook your transfer tool onto it when it's stuck way out like that, not so much!

I have had that LS6 for at least 30 years  - it retailed for $24! and I did use it a couple of times but that 8-st repeat is quite limiting and it was only available for a very short time, probably why I haven't talked about it before.

confession...

Remember that NP pullover I was making around Christmas time - on the LK150, with that tweedy Forsell - here’s the start of the story and it went on and on…http://knitwords.blogspot.com/2023/12/hand-knit-or.html 

I never did post a photo because even my plan B didn’t really work - it still looked dorky! The length was all wrong!

Buoyed by my victory of lengthening manfriend’s plain pullover, I was wondering how I could knit down on the NP sweater. Obviously, more rib, the ‘easiest’ way, wasn’t working. Could I pull off the rib, rehang it and maybe add another section of patterning and then rib again? I know stockinette works knitting down but what happens with a lace transfer? Should I try a different stitch pattern? I could play around with the tension swatch but why bother? ‘Just jump right in’ could be my middle name!

If you remember, I made the Back 
http://knitwords.blogspot.com/2023/12/could-you-tell.html

with the plain diamond pattern only,  so I figured, may as well start with that - if I mess it up, oh well, I wasn’t going to wear it anyway and the plain lace was easier. 

Omigosh! It worked! A very close, trained eye could notice the difference but not enough to bother me! Got the Front done, with the two-step transfer and again, there is a slight difference but no one would notice when the garment is on a body and the neckline and shoulders detail look so great!

One tip, when I did the ribs originally, I hung the stitches and said to leave the waste yarn in as a marker row for where to drop the stitches down to. 

No waste yarn here, so to make a marker row, bring all needles out and manually, with a smooth, good-contrast colour, like the ravel cord, weave up and down (over one and under the next) across the row.  When you knit the next row, that strand is woven across to mark the row - easily pulled out after!

knitting down…

After that outstanding success with Pebbles, I wanted to use Suva again and go with another neckline from NBT - more on that later, because I also figured I’d make it for manfriend - he hasn’t had a new sweater in some time so I went looking for one of his old ones to measure and figure out what to do. I came across one from 2012 - it was totally plain, (so plain, I never even told you about it) standard gauge stockinette, hems and all, in a really nice tweedy, burgundy/ivory Jagger Bros cotton/wool yarn that I totally recall thinking I should never have used for him - could have kept it for moi! He hasn’t worn it in forever and I wondered why. 

When he came by, turns out it’s a wee bit too short to wear comfortably. Not sure why. Was it always? did it shrink? what? who knows but, weirdly, I still had the remainder of the leftover yarn/cone, about 330g. Actually found my original schematic with stitch/row and tension details - what an incredible filing system - it was the only thing under miscellaneous! - and you know how I love a challenge. 

It was originally knit bottom to top, regular-like, beginning with a hung stockinette hem. I carefully unpicked the bottom of the side seams and to get rid of the hem, the easiest thing to do was pull the strand above the hem to take off the entire hem.  I know you’re kinda panicking and saying what the? But, knitting doesn’t unravel from the bottom - you have to work at it to lose a stitch. Rehung the stitches, easy enough, T8, knit 20 rows, transfer to 1X1 rib,  T7/7, (didn’t want the hem to pull in, just stay the same width and stop it from curling up)10 rows, ending carriage at right. Dialled up T10/10, knit a very loose row, transferred it all up and chain cast-off for a total of about 8 new  cm. Repeat for second piece, stitch the sides back up and Bob’s your uncle! 

You can’t even tell it wasn’t born that way!

Heh-heh, now he doesn’t need another new one!

undeterred...

undefeated…determined…intrepid…steadfast…relentless… All words that I think apply to me! No quitting here! 

I made a sleeve just to prove to myself that I could concentrate long enough to get that trim to work properly. Got the cuff done perfectly and made the sleeve while contemplating my options.

I recalled using that trim in a design way back in Knitwords #6, Laced With Diamonds and then remembered using a stripped-down version in KW#12,  Sampler Lace. 

I had every book out! Decided to use the abridged version for the body hems at least. 

The rib for the body piece - need 80-0-80 ns for width. Change up the centre of the triangular rib - instead of using #1 right as the centre which worked nicely for the cuff (30-0-30 ns), pull #10 right  and go from there so there will be a nicer match at the side seams. 

Oh, I still got it! even if I don’t always remember where I put it! ;)

fancy, schmancy...

Had my plan - using the 'pebble' Suva in that 1RT at T9 (for a thinner fabric) with fancy ribs ('Tuck & Triangle Rib' from The Neck's Best Thing) for the bands, using a plain, smooth yarn in a  contrast colour - 'paper bag tan' (my all-time favourite yarn-colour name!) cotton, because I figured all the fanciness of the tuck and transfers and outlines would show up so much nicer in the solid colour, with the added benefit that my main yarn would go farther and I wouldn't be concerned about running short.

Sat down with such hopes and aspirations of success, armed with the NBT instructions, began my swatch. I did cast on with waste yarn - learned my lesson on that one! Did the manual wrap cast-on and the 4 rows of tuck. I admit, I did not fully read the entire instructions ahead of time, thinking I knew it all. Got to row 7 and thought who the heck thought this up? Oh yeah, it was me! duh!

I was right, all that detail does show up well in the solid colour!

A little more concentration required!

on repeat…

Stoked with the success of the denim Tennessee Tunic - I wore it for three days straight! I’m going with those ideas to make another one. The cuddly yarn - have some Forsell Suva, a wool/cotton thick/thin, slubby blend that should do the trick.  In the tweedy Suva, I have a full cone and partial, same dyelot in ‘surf’ a cream/pale blue/gray combo, total of 550g and a single cone, 500g, ‘pebble’, a tan/ivory combo. I seem to recall this yarn goes a long way, but ya never know! 

Really like the shape of that tunic so my next attempt is the same but different.  A bit shorter and not quite as wide at the hemline, with contrast bands maybe, you know that ‘running-out-of-yarn anxiety’!

I want to knit the 1RT (one-row-tuck) loosely again to create a thinner fabric and I go back to one of my  favourite Knitwords patterns, ‘Caped Wrapper’ from #43 https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2013/01/hybrid-knitting.html  - that’s my second favourite 1RT stitch pattern!

Looking through ‘The Neck’s Best Thing’, there are some fancy ribbed combos that should work - oh, my ! This could keep me with knitting ideas for a quite bit!