holey moley...

Brittany is a very fine 3/14, 2 ply cotton – Yeoman’s website lists it as 400g
cone/3380m, but it was on 350g cones at one time with 66 colours! Oh, the good old days! I don’t think I’ve ever used it single stranded – it’s way too thin for the standard gauge machine – even to use a tuck stitch at T2 – what could you make other than a baby’s something? Oh wait, I DID a couple of double bed things single stranded – a set of his and hers cardigans in double bed jacquard (Knitwords #34)  and, what do you know?, a little boy’s golf shirt in a tuck stitch at T2! That was Tiger in Training in #41.

Mostly I used it double stranded, for a washed gauge similar to a 4-ply yarn, but it is much softer and drapier by comparison. For example, Yeomans’ Cannelé is a 4-ply mercerised cotton (won’t have the same shrinkage factor) and you can get the same gauge using the same stitch size but the swatch from Cannelé will be stiffer and not as fluid, so not always a good substitute for each other especially if softness and drape are factors in the design. I like mercerised cottons for a crisp, more tailored project.

To double the yarn, thread each strand into separate tension discs ad join in the yarn feeder. Otherwise, two strands together in the same side of the tension mast will cling together and ‘climb’ up, feeding unevenly, possibly causing loops and bumps in the knitting.

For my Holey Moley hoodie, I swatched at T5 (26 sts and 45 rows; washed 29 sts and 50 rows) and T6 (25 sts and 40 rows; washed, 28 sts and 45 rows).  Note, I’m using the Silver Reed which has a separate lace carriage that knits and transfers and the tension/stitch size is different than the main knit carriage – I would knit this double stranded yarn in stockinette at T7 and my lace carriage is about two numbers lower for a similar gauge – on a brother machine, I’d go with T7 and T8 for the same thing. I hadn’t used Brittany for lace, and I wanted a comparison. After the swatch was washed and dried, I liked the size of the holes (slightly larger) in the T6 part. In the charcoal wool hoodie, using the same stitch pattern, the holes closed up a lot for a more textured effect and I was hoping the cotton one would remain airy, without having to press it out every washing.

Unwashed

The main difference between knitting lace with wool and soft cotton: initially the cotton seemed to require more weight (on some transfers, only one of the strands transferred properly) which I added. The Back knit beautifully. The first half Front, not so much - there were a few random dropped stitches which I was able to spot and repair without having to rip back. I set up for the second Front, and briefly, it crossed my mind to think about the sponge bar but as usual, in a hurry, excited to get things done, I continued. It seemed fine. I took a day off and went back to knit a sleeve. Halfway up, after like 16 repairs, I admitted defeat and aborted it. Pulled out the needle retainer and sure enough, flat as a crepe!

https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2016/02/mental-note.html

Note to self, READ MA’s blogs on lace knitting before attempting a new lace project!