moving on...

Forget patterning altogether! I’m going to knit plain! Haven’t made a hoodie for myself yet this year! My inspiration? My newest ‘vogs! I’ve noticed some striped garments lately that remind me of a twinset I did for Lindsay way back in Knitwords #41, called Juxta-pose! Always liked the mix of narrow stripes and then wider stripes. This is new Cotton Tale 8 I’m using – the navy is part of that 6 pack of blues I got (and didn’t like) and the tan is actually called ‘vanilla’ – what’s that all about? I have only one cone of the navy so it will be my predominant colour, I think and with two cones of the tan, hopefully I’ll have enough leftover for a whole garment of that. Notice, I did make a swatch!
The sleeves are going to be the narrow stripe, 4 rows of each colour so I’m using the single bed yarn changer for that. You know how I like to shortrow the sleeve cap so need to use the ravel cord method here because holding position doesn’t work with the yarn changer arm on.

end of shortrowed sleeve cap

At the top, I wanted to end with navy, so stopped at row 3, brought the left side back to work, knit the partial row, brought the right side back to work and knit it.

pull out ravel cord one side at a time

Then did an RTR (remove, turn, rehang) and knit a full row. This way I have a nice navy border across the sleeve cap as well as that garter stitch ridge which will look nice for the outside seam, same as on the Manfriend/Girlfriend Hoodie. The stripes for the back and fronts are going to be much wider so they won’t match anyway but I think the navy border between will look good.

Tested out my edging (#33, XOXO Trim from Band Practise) - thought I could just add it to the bottom and I could but don't like the way the tan colour peeps through when you pick up the stitches with the right side facing - that is rehung from the cast-on waste yarn and the edging is knit down and cast off. On the second sleeve, I rehung the bottom of the first navy stripe and then unravelled the tan - easy to do for 4 rows but not much more!

 

couldn't help it...

I was going to take this to MSP, basically in pieces and use it for some of my demos, of seaming and doing that second pocket but as I got closer to the end, I just couldn’t stop. Rationalizing, my thought was that it would look so much nicer finished up, washed and dried and I could model it – you know how I love to show off! And let’s face it, a unshrunk cotton garment can be pretty scary…I’ll just make a couple extra swatches for the demos.

For the hood, I used the method and schematic for KW#40, Lacy in Red because the shape was suitable and I wanted the face to be framed with the rib and not have a seam on the top of the head, so the rib and lace look nice when the hood is down which will be 99.9% of the time.
Dropped by the fabric store the other day  to check out buttons and gosh-darn there was next to nothing. Had decided I wanted a one inch/25 mm button or even 1 1/8 inch/28 mm would do but slim pickings! I did find a card of 28 mm that was almost ok – I figured I could doctor the colour with nail polish or paint – there were 2 per card at $3.80 and I need five or six  buttons – I was about to purchase - did the math and came to my senses - figured I’d better check my at-home button stash! Yup, I actually had better choices already, but only 5 of the one I liked colourwise. Usually I don’t pick shiny buttons but I’ll be ok with these, I’m sure. To make a swatch of the buttonhole prior to the actual band - the rib is a 4-stitch repeat; on the main bed, three needles in work, 1 out all across, with Swing P and on the rib bed, only every fourth needle in work, opposite the needle out of work from the main bed and this stitch is tucking every other row – I did that so the single stitch on the rib bed wouldn’t disappear in the fold and the tuck adds a bit of width to the whole thing.
Back to the buttonhole, my experience tells me that I need to cast off about 5 stitches for the size of the chosen button (25mm) so the big question is where to best position the buttonhole in the rib for it to look and perform the best. Make two and then decide.
Here’s the needle arrangement:
l l . l l l . l l l . l l l . l l
. . l . . . l . . . l . . . l . . .
I made one with the rib stitches at each end and one with the rib stitch in the centre and it looked the best – the one at the top, the first one opened too wide and just looked like a big hole whereas the centred rib stitch seemed to control the depth better so I went with that one – they were both 5 stitches wide.

Got the bands made and attached; put most every thing together and darned in most ends – didn’t attach the hood in case the front bands weren’t right – not that I didn’t have confidence, just that, as you can see, the unshrunk cotton garment can be deceiving – a horizontal band is going to shrink the opposite way to the vertical length of the garment and if necessary, it will be easier to remove and replace the bands without having to take the hood off as well.
Wash and dry and whew! looks great, must have planned that! Final photos later!
Calling this one Milky Way.

moving on...

Got DAK7 going with old desktop computer; bought new battery and PE1 is working; received new shipment of CT8 – ordered two cones each of ecru, vanilla and pearl – the colour names don’t help but I’m going to make my long lace cardi hoodie in ecru (should be called cream) – looks exactly the same as pearl, so check your dyelots ( and FYI, vanilla should be named  tan or putty, IMO anyway!).
I told you what I was looking for – textured stripes of lace. For the horizontal stripes I did a couple of variations of eyelets – every other needle on every third row so the eyelets were transferred in opposite directions; every other needle on every fourth row (saw a upright diagonal here and possible biasing); every other needle on every fifth row (meaning sts were transferred in alternate directions, no bias but the lines were too far apart); and every third needle on every third row (didn’t give horizontal lines). Settled on the very first one but it doesn’t hurt to explore all options.
For the vertical lines, I was going for one of my favourites, that faggotting lace stitch (KW#45, Mazatlan) but with a few more plain stitches between the upright stripes – on one, the transfers were going the wrong way, too close together; 4 plain stitches between correct lace faggots and then 3 plain stitches – this one works for me.
On the ribbed  bands, I chose 3X1 rib with tuck every other row on the single stitch on the rib bed for the deep hems and front bands but I beefed up the cast-on by doubling the yarn for the manual wrap only, with success – good to go, so I then made an actual swatch for measuring, cheating a little bit. Instead of making three 60 row swatches, one for each technique, I just did 30 rows of each stitch and then used the green gauge to measure each section twice to add up to what the 60 rows would be – hope you get what I mean. In the end, after washing and drying, the ribbed row gauge is 50 rows to 10 cm; the horizontal eyelet is 45 rows and the vertical line is 40 rows. What I will do is figure out how deep I want each hem/band and multiply it by the 5 rows to 1 cm. For the body parts, average out the two gauges (45 + 40 = 85 divided by 2 = 42.5 to 10 cm) and use 4.25/cm. Stitch gauge is 2.7 st/cm for all three.
Here’s me, making a sleeve…:-)

the verdict...

 Have you ever had a cotton knit sweater that seemed to get heavier and heavier as you wear it and it is actually stretching and lengthening, growing in size? Well, that never happened!
I told you I was taking Lipstick & Smoke with me to Ireland. I did and I was so glad to have it. I wore it on the plane for several reasons. I was trying to pack light and it wouldn’t fit in my suitcase and I knew it would be nice and cozy for the flight. When I travel, I always take a longer cardigan that I can use as a dressing gown and, if there were cooler evenings, I knew I could wear it as a coat. I wore it so much over the three weeks, my sister was probably sick of looking at it but she never said! I kept waiting for it to stretch out but it never did. Even coming back to Toronto where it can be dreadfully hot, it still didn’t and with all that wear and not being washed for so long, it still looked great! AND, not a pillball in sight!
Impressed is what I am with Cotton Tale 8 and I’ve already placed another order for my next project – I’ve asked for 6 shades of blue – even with the printed-out shade card it’s hard to know what exactly you’re going to get and I want two or three shades that go together for my next long cardigan and I know I’ll use the other colours for something! I made a couple of trial swatches yesterday – I’m looking for textured stripes, maybe alternating knit side and purl side. The bands will be rib-look, with 3 knit stitches alternating with a tuck rib that will widen it out to match the width  of the lace stitches…

next...

After the dust settled on Lipstick and Smoke, the remaining yarn tally of my Cotton Tale 8 was charcoal, 194g; silver, 292g; black, 350g; white, 400g. The garment weight of L&S is 750g. As I was finishing up, I was pondering my next project. White is the largest single amount and you know I love lace. I still did not have a really perfect white summer cardi. I want to take my raglan shape, add the extra wide full-fashioned decreases from Rich Raglan (Serial Stuff 2), use the lace stitch pattern of Sampler Lace from KW#12 and the variable here will be the bands. I am picturing a nice, half sleeve raglan cardi in a mixed-up version of the lace sampler with white or possibly black or red bands all round. My pattern for Rich Raglan is based on the fact you may not have enough of the main colour for the bands so they are all added after in case you need to switch colour.
I made a quick swatch of the lace at T7 with the lace carriage – just to be clear, this yarn is so nice, I really do love it – it is about the same weight as Bonita (I have used extensively with lace carriage!) which is a mercerised cotton but this washes up very soft and seems a little thicker than  Bonita, so in comparison, Bonita was at T6 with my Silver Reed lace carriage and I’ve decided to try T7 with Cottontale 8 (Bonita in stockinette at T8 and CT8 at T9). Got the quick swatch made with little issue and got right into making the first sleeve. You’d think I was a beginner! oh man! I laboured over that sleeve. Stitches were dropping, hanging up, not knitting and the air was blue! Got it done in three hours. Should have been maybe one hour with a coffee break in there! I didn’t know what was wrong. I was ignoring that voice in my head that always says if you’re having trouble, stop and figure out why…

Next morning, I felt like a brand-new baby duckling, fresh into the world, no knowledge or experience and repeated the same thing again! At the end of the second sleeve, I was worn out and I thought that maybe Cotton Tale 8 was not for lace. Suddenly it dawned on me – what would MAO tell someone else who listed all those issues with lace – she would immediately say, ‘how’s your sponge bar?’ OMFGG!

Replaced the sponge bar – it was pretty flat – oh and by the way, I always keep a somewhat used sponge bar to put in for lace – if you put a brand new, super firm one you’re just asking for more trouble – it will hold the needles too tight and close and you’ll have almost the same experience as the well used, almost flat sponge! Got the remaining pieces done in record time! Bonus, there is 90g white yarn left – just enough for narrow 1X1 tuck hems (#32 Band Practise) and stockinette bands for neck and fronts. Here’s me, super happy! I’ll be placing an order for more CT8 soon – Charlene sent me a printed shade card – thanks!

P.S. I’m giving you a rest from my knitting for a while – I’m off to Ireland with sister Janet for a hiking tour – back here on June 21!

Join us on our trip at travelwithmysis.blogspot.com for travel, food, fun and hiking stories and tips.

 

error correction 101...

oh man! how did this happen? I’ve been power knitting, I’ll admit – when I get excited about a project, it’s hard to slow down - I can’t wait to see the final thing! Two sleeves, one back and two fronts knit – did I forget to mention this was random, nothing matching? Pinned them together, tried on and was happy with the result.
Took the pins out and began the seaming. I always seam the bands/hems by hand and then hang the long seams on the machine or the linker. Did that for the sleeves, excellent result. Did the right front to the back. Good to go and then brought the left front hem to the back, butting them together and OMG! The front hem is slightly narrower than the back! I must have fudged the row counter – for this double bed hem, after knitting the waste yarn and circular ravel cord, I place the carriages at the left and knit the first row of main yarn, zigzag from left to right. Then, set to circular, and turn the row counter to 000…whatever, the front hem is only 18 rows as opposed to the other 20 rows! Arr-g-g-h! Two options come to mind…re-knit the entire right front? Go for the save by re-making the hem and grafting it onto the bottom first row of stockinette? There is really no contest here, I have to go with the graft.
The first step is to remake the hem correctly and transfer it up to the main bed. Knit one row in red to close the hem as usual and then remove it on waste yarn. Next, get the hem off the front – I am going to pull the last red row thread that joined the hem, leaving the loops of the first row of charcoal. Carefully rehang those charcoal loops on the machine on the same number of needles as hem was. Carefully unknit that row, from the side with the tail of yarn – it takes a bit of picking and undoing but it can be done. The yarn of that row is what I’m going to use to graft the two sets of stitches back together and the row of grafting replaces or duplicates the first row so you won’t be able to tell there ever was a problem. Knit this piece off on waste yarn, make sure you have a good inch on each piece. Now, sit somewhere comfy with good light and from the purl side, perform the graft.
BTW, so totally impressed with this yarn – it knits beautifully with a minimum of weights and no knots!!

random stripes...

Here I am with five colours that need to be used together somehow…why did I choose these? A couple of weeks ago, a girlfriend had on a hoodie – it was Tommy H – I should have known! and it was a couple of grey colours with a red stripe and some white or ivory I think and that’s been stuck in my brain and when I saw two shades of grey, I went all in. I wanted five cones – I thought that would give me a fair shot at determining the quality of this yarn, so I’ll admit, it was an easy pick. It was hard to choose from the website as the colours don’t always look like what you’ll get so adding in the black was last minute and I figured it would go will all the shades no matter what – same reason I chose white over ivory (although I’m totally excited they have ecru, vanilla, and pearl) I may have to order one of every colour! I did find a page on their KKS Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/pg/knitknackshop/photos/?tab=album&album_id=390848707620182] that has all the cones together but no names on them – I guess you can’t have everything but it’s easier to compare when they are all together.
I have been wearing Ozark every time I go out of the house lately and I’m enjoying it – it’s wool and one of these days, it’s bound to get warmer, so I thought I’d do a cotton version. I’m still hooked on that ‘sailor’ collar – I’ve been re-watching Downton Abbey and I never noticed it before, but those ladies did rock the sailor collar over and over! Going to stick with the A-line shape for the body instead of cutting it in to the waist as I did in O – going to try out more random stripes and colour blocking – this may be a bit out of my comfort zone, but, really five colours is, so why not? My basic plan is that it will be outlined in red – I’m going to use the same circular hems but instead of the longstitch facings, make tubular bands in red going up the centre fronts, added later, and I’m thinking that way, I can use the knit side as the outside of the collar – it works in my mind right now anyway! As usual, I start with the sleeves…
Don’t be too shocked! BTW, if you are one of those multiple brand machine owners, the Silver Reed/Studio is the best choice for a project like this – the jam release gives a super-quick free pass for those odd number rows of stripes, or to move to the opposite side for the next colour so you don’t have two ends to darn in at the same place. Also, the fact there is no need to be closing/opening the gate each time the yarn is changed makes for quick progress. If Silver Reed is your only brand, bask in the glory!

not your grandma's cotttontale8...

I told you I was in Peru, Indiana a couple of weeks ago.  Charlene Shafer and her family, the Knit Knack Shop, are the US distributors for TAMM  yarns and Cotton Tale 8. It’s always so busy for me when at a show like that, I never get a chance to check out what anyone else is doing or selling. I heard they had revamped Cotton Tale 8 – my only experience with CT8 was like 15 years ago from the old Bonnie Triola Yarns days – never liked it, harsh feel, too many knots and lots of thick and thin spots. When I got home I checked the KKS website – wow, nice colour range and great price, $22 for a one pound cone. I also noted that it is close to the same yardage as Bonita cotton which I have used extensively and is now discontinued. I ordered white, black, red, silver and charcoal, thinking I could make a striped manfriend hoodie (not) or new girlfriend hoodie ;-)!
Got  my parcel on Saturday afternoon and whipped off a couple of swatches before dinner. I made the striped one at T8 (unwashed gauge, 30 sts and 38 rows to 10 cm/4 in – after machine wash and dry, 30 sts and 46 rows) and stockinette charcoal at T9 (unwashed, 28 sts and 36 rows – washed 29 sts and 43 rows). Anxious to give it a good trial, I put both swatches in a sink of hot water and dish soap and swished them around – definitely colour safe! Rinsed them and rolled in a towel. Tossed them in the dryer on cotton/hot setting with a load of tea towels and tablecloths. WOW! I am so impressed. This is soft, silky, smooth and lovely, no pilling! I may have found my new favourite cotton! I can hardly wait for you to see what I’m making!