after the fact...

The past is the past! Onward and upward! I forgot to tell you to add an extra stitch at the left on the sleeve so the pattern repeats equally on each side – not a big deal but I find it easier to have the same needle arrangement on each side when increasing - use the single prong tool and move the edge stitch out one space, filling in the empty needle from the adjacent stitch. To keep the empty needle arrangement on the increase, beside the empty needle, move the end stitch out and don’t fill in, leave the space.

The second sleeve went perfectly.

To the Back! When choosing your size, check where the empty needles are hitting – you don’t want an empty needle one or two stitches in from the edge – if it’s close, leave that needle in work – it will be at the side seam and no one’s looking there! Also, look ahead to see where the empty needle is falling at the sleeve edge and the neckline – you don’t want it to be 1 stitch in – either make the neck width fit within the needle out of work – for example, when I charted out mine, the neck should have been 21-0-21, but #20 at the left and #19 on the right would have been out of work so the neck is shaped now between 19-0-18 ns.

You might recall I was going to ponder my front neckline as I was knitting the Back. On my chart, I put the row number of the original vee neck – I don’t like vee necks anymore-I want everything covered up to the neck! I also charted the vee to start 12cm down from the top of the shoulder and in consideration of making it a high round neck, with a depth of 8 cm. As I was knitting, I placed removeable yarn marks at these spots so I can hold it up to myself in front of the mirror and decide which to use.

Of course, the underarm shaping was done with the holding position method of shortrowing. And I have 3 full skeins left!

sleevish...

I knew there was going to be a reason for me to knit the sleeves first! When I was making my swatch, and, truly, I did read the original instructions and my notes, I thought, well how dumb is that? ‘Knit 10 rows at regular tension and then 1 row at T9’ – that’s an 11-row repeat! I’m never remembering that, so, I knit 9 rows regular and then 1 row loose so that every 10^th row would be the loose row. When you’re knitting the sleeve and need to remember to do regular increases in there, it just makes more sense to have a 10-row repeat. A-a-r-r-g-g-h! Did anyone else catch that? You know, maybe if I’d knit the Back first and already had that 11-row pattern down pat, but, no, I can’t even use that as an excuse because I noticed it on the swatch…

And then I get to the sleeve cap. I’m going to be brutally honest here – I haven’t made a sleeve cap where I’ve actually cast-off stitches at the beginning of every other row for a zillion years! That makes ‘steps’ in the outside edge and makes seaming difficult. In pattern writing, especially for multiple sizes, it is easier to do the cast off at the beginning of the next 2 rows thing, but in honesty, I shortrow the decreases – it’s quicker and gives a nicer, smoother edge for the finishing. If you’ve had a bit of experience and want to step up your game, here’s what you do:

For my new sleeve, the decreases via the old method but my new size, are:

45-0-45 sts. At RC116, cast off 4 sts, K1R, 2X; 2 sts, K1R, 12X; 1 st, K1R, 24X; 2 sts, K1R, 4X to RC158. Cast off remaining 9-0-9 sts, RC160.

Regular rules of shortrowing apply, as well as about wrapping, etc. You must hold at least one stitch on every other row to continue shortrowing, so in the original pattern, the sleeve cannot be shortrowed entirely because of the K 6 (8, 10, 12) R.

To shortrow here, set to hold. At RC115, always holding at side opposite carriage, hold 4 sts, K1R. Always at carriage side, loop yarn under last needle beside working needles, and at side opposite, hold 4 sts, K1R. Remembering to keep to the pattern sequence, and to move claw weights up under the working needles

as you go, at side opposite, hold 2, loop yarn at carriage side, K1R, 12X. Hold 1 st, loop yarn, K1R, 24X; hold 2 sts, loop, K1R, 4X to RC158. CAR. Return left side to UWP, loop yarn at carriage side, K1R. Cancel hold. K1R to right – everything back in work. Bring empty ns to work. T9, handfeed yarn and knit row to get nice big sts and chain off. Done!

If the holding position shortrowing is too much for you, you could try the ravel cord method of shortrowing:

https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2017/01/life-lessons.html

And, if you’re ahead of me and you’ve already knit the sleeves, hopefully I can inspire you to make a second ‘Kicking’ Around’!

shoulder-pad free zone...

 the thing about using old patterns? What was the style back then? It was 25 years ago! At the time, I was feeling proud that we were getting away from that old drop-shoulder, no-fit,  big-is-better look and moving into more fitted look with a set-in sleeve but the shoulder pads! OMG! https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2018/03/i-had-lump-in-my-throat.html And, MSP knitters, I’m here to warn you – those sleeves, you could hide a football player’s pads in there! https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2017/01/evolution.html

I’ll tell you about the changes I’m making – basically making the same second) size again
but seriously, I am a bit bigger and I want this to fit over a shirt so I’m going with finished bust width of 108 cm instead of the 104 cm of the original. The length remain the same, 60 cm  but notice how the armscye is now started much higher and the width of it is now 8 cm instead of the old 6 cm. Opting for a much higher vee neck, moved it up too, so it starts 12 cm from top of shoulder instead of the 20 cm (I might change this to a round neck before I get to making the Front, which I can ponder whilst knitting the Back). Note, I usually knit a sleeve first, just to get the kinks out and settle into the rhythm of the pattern.

And, the sleeve! Here’s the big difference – check out the width of the sleeve at the underarm position, ‘L’ on the diagram – old-school, 23 cm for half the width, now, I’m going with 20 cm. ‘J’ was 16, now 15cm. ‘I’ was 13 cm, now 11 cm. ‘K’ was 38 cm, now 40 cm. Because the armhole was so big and oversized, the overall length was shorter with the armhole hanging so low!

I was going to apologize for the centimetres but no, get with the program! or get a two-sided tape measure…:)

the other MA...

I got an email from her a couple of weeks ago - she usually checks in, when she likes one of my blogposts or when she's worried as to why I haven't been posting - this time, asking if her group in Minneapolis could use one of my old patterns – she wrote: 

MMKC is planning to have a KAL starting in June and we would like to knit, with your permission, Knitwords issue #5 on page 16 "Kickin' Around". We are excited about the look of this sweater, the range of sizes and that the pattern is written clearly enough for all who might want to participate.

At first, I was thinking, OMG, that’s so old! It was 1998! But then it dawned on me, I’ve always thought of myself as the ‘classic’ designer and by definition, a classic is an outstanding example of a particular style, something of lasting worth or timeless in nature.  Oh man, it’s a real compliment! And, I remembered when I was in TN in March, Sharon was wearing her "Kickin' Around" - didn't ask her when she'd made it! 

I got another message from the other the other day saying they had ten excited participants and she would be updating me on their progress and promised to send photos!

I pulled out the pattern, got all excited myself and decided to give it a go too! I haven’t knit on the LK150 in quite sometime and can hardly wait to get back at it. Checking my stock – I don’t have a lot of hand knitting yarns to choose from – the original was made with Patons Rio, DK weight – it was 50% cotton, 50% acrylic, needs 5-6 100g balls – I found a bag of 7-100g balls of Kramer Yarns Tatamy Tweed, 45% cotton, 55% acrylic in cherry, with blue flecks in it! I’m even more excited! I used this yarn in a beige colourway for In the Tweeds, a mid gauge Serial Stuff pattern back in 2011. It was a sideways-knit A-line hoodie, I loved it then and still wear it! https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2011/01/stuff.html

https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2011/06/west-coast-swing.html  I vaguely recall someone gifting me these 7 balls which weren’t quite enough for that project, and ever hopeful, I saved them for this day, I think it will be perfect!

Read the pattern, checked my notes (yes, I still have them from 1998!), made my swatch – the gauge matches perfectly! I’m ready to go!

dribs and drabs...

That’s what going on here lately! After finishing up the 1RT Pinkie I jumped right into using that marsh Cannelé that was gifted to me a while ago, still wanting that long, lace, button-front hoodie. https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2022/02/my-hole-theory.html  I had made several lace swatches in Cannelé, found some of them to be too stiff and was waffling, finally settling on this one – I  had used it way back in Knitwords #32, Black Cherry, in Wool Crepe Deluxe and, after swatching with the mercerised cotton and going with a larger stitch size, T7, resulted in a gauge of 27 sts and 40 rows, which gave lovely large holes. Previously, swatching at T6, like Borderline, from Knitwords #25 https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2014/04/kinky-knitting.html  with the gauge being 30 sts and 42 rows, it gave a crispness to the fabric that I didn’t really want this time.

Deciding upon the lace pattern was one thing but I also wanted to change up the hems a bit and, like I told you, I get hung up on something and have to re-work it over and over to get it out of my system, so went with that knitted-back wrap cast-on in another way. Paired it up with my #21 50 Ways re-do http://knitwords.blogspot.com/2020/06/better-late-than-never.html   and here’s what happened!

21b.  KNITTED-BACK WRAP Cast-ON, LACE EDGE, HAND TRANSFERRED. 8 stitch repeat, side away is right side.

1.     Add extra stitch at right edge. Cast-on waste yarn, ravel cord.  RC000. CAR. Measure out MC 6X width of ns in work. Double it over on itself to have 2 strands together.

2.     Using MC double strand, place loop on left end needle. take both strands under and to the left, then back up, over 2nd needle and back into hook of first needle. Push back on needle butt to knit both strands through, making about main tension-size stitch. Repeat across row.

3.     Single strand, MT-1, knit 2 rows.

4.     #1 right is the centre of the 8-st repeat. Beginning with #2 right, transfer this stitch to #1 right, repeat across row to have 2 sts on every other needle.  Leave empty ns in work. Knit 2 rows.  RC004

5.     Using 3-prong tool, transfer as in chart, starting with#1 right as the centre with 3 stitches together. Knit 2 rows.  RC006

6.     Transfer as in chart, using 2-prong tool.  Knit 2 rows.  RC008

7.     1-prong tool transfer as in chart. K2R. RC010                                                

8.     Make a tuck stitch border as follows: set to hold. Select #1 left and then bring EON to HP.

9.     Knit 2 rows.  RC012.

10.   Cancel hold. Carefully bring all ns out, making sure not to disturb the held sts. Knit 1 row. RC013. Set to MT. Continue in desired stitch. Remove WY and allow wrapped edge to curl forward on the knit side.

It looks like a chained cast-on!

egg on my face...

You know that One-Row-Tuck thing? I’m so sorry to say, I haven’t really seen a punchcard machine for some time – not that that makes any difference but sometimes I write something and with no one proof-reading me, I do make mistakes. It’s just whether you catch me or not! No more excuses, but to make a punchcard for a one-row-tuck pattern there needs to be a lot of holes! Because, with any tuck pattern, there’s already a lot of holes because the holes represent the knitted stitch and the blanks/unpunched spaces are the actual tucks.

How many punchcard machines are out there? That’s still no excuse, and again, I’m sorry! I have been giving out this same handout for years, at least since 2013 and nobody’s caught this error or at least brought it to my attention.

Here’s the new handout, with the correction in bold:

ONE ROW TUCK

To widen the fabric, add a subtle tuck with a row of plain knitting on every other row. On the knit side, it looks similar to a garter carriage texture and adds a masculine flavour. It can be used with the purl side as right side as they both look nice, but the purl side does have a slightly more lacy, girly look to it. The carriage setting is the same as all-over tuck, because the plain rows are programmed into the design. Use end needle selection to cancel tuck stitches on end needles. If doing this manually, it is only necessary to do it on the carriage side of the tuck row.

Tuck Stitch Pattern  Stitch design is 24 sts X 48 rows. Make punchcard as shown, repeating twice to make card long enough to rotate, making holes for white squares and leaving gray squares unpunched (which makes the tuck stitch) and add two rows of holes on top and bottom to join card.

Electronics, enter as shown, use reverse needle selection.

Silver with DAK, enter as Fairisle fabric, main colour on the tucked stitch. (Use that air knitting technique from the April 1, 2023 post to make sure you’ve got it right)

Silver electronics, move the point cams in one needle from end, to cancel end needles from tucking.

Brother, use end needle selection and enter opposite – i.e. holes for blanks-black for white.

Less weight will be required than a regular multi row tuck, but some is still necessary. Use claw weights on edges and move up every 50 rows or so.

For Brother machines , using the built-in patterns for regular tuck, choose one that has double rows of tucks and when setting for tuck, push in only one tuck button. Then every other row will knit as stockinette or plain and you can achieve the same effect with the built-in patterns.  EG - 930/940, #230, 233, 227, 232, 237. 238, 243...   970 - 221-225, 228, 231, 234, 240, 242, 243, 249, 250...

For more one row tuck patterns, see KNITWORDS No 41, Tiger in Training. No 42, Big Sister,  Body Basic. No 43, The Caped Wrapper. No 28, ABC Carcoat. No 26, Fade to Favourite; No 50, several.  Serial Stuff 1 – Sophisticate; Serial Stuff 4 - Rectangles.

Margie, I’m truly sorry – I do remember what it’s like to make a punchcard and it’s not so much fun when you have a mistake!

 

pinkie...

 Finished and mailed – she loves it!

As I was completing this pink thing, especially on the darning-in-ends part, it seemed to get pinker and pinker, in my mind! I sent Janet an ‘assembled’ photo and told her I could still over-dye it to tone down the colour, maybe give it a blue rinse to alter the shade, before I sewed on the buttons. She said she was fine with it, liked the idea of having another colour in her spring wardrobe. Okay, then I’m good with it too! Before sending it off, I weighed and compared it to the other lace hoodies of the same yarn – I had mentioned that regular tuck takes 30 to 40% more yarn than the same thing in stockinette or lace. This one weighed in at 520g. The yellow one, Holey Moley,  https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2021/05/smug.html  was 468g, the natural https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2021/09/sweater-weather.html was 486g and the clover https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2021/06/you-know-i-didnt.html was 488g, all basically the same size, so the 40g +/- more for this one-row-tuck project doesn’t seem that significant, less than 10 percent! Take note that this was knit quite loose, T9 as opposed to the T6 of lace.

What I did with the hems – you know how I get stuck on a technique (;0!) and have to use it again and again with maybe little changes here and there, back to that dishrag episode  https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2023/04/slippery-slope.html  and the knitted-back double ewrap…well, I put the cast-on and cast-off together and came up with a new trim, see below!

#154 Another Me-Cozy Variation  Double strand knitted-back double wrap and double knitted-back chain cast-offs create the look of a rolled garter stitch band added on – it is all manually knit on the machine, makes a nice, firm, non-stretchy edging. Start piece with waste yarn and ravel cord, knit two plain rows before going into whatever patterning is desired.

25-0-25 sts on WY.

Add to open stitches:

1. Reduce by 10% - 22-0-22 ns.  Rehang sts from WY, knit side facing you, gathering in evenly across row as required. MT, K1R.  Bring ns out.

2. To add double-strand ewrap and knitted-back chain cast-off, measure out 14X the width of needles in work. Using the fold end of the doubled yarn, from left, place loop on end needle, take doubled strand under and around next needle to right and back into hook of first needle. Pull back on needle butt to knit stitch through, approximating slightly  larger than main tension stitch size. Take yarn under next two needles and then back into hook of second needle, knit back. Continue across in this manner. 

3. At right side, carefully bring all needles out. Still the doubled strand, from right, take the yarn to the left, under the two next needles, and back into the hook of the first – knit that back for a very large stitch (almost back to A position - you don't want this to restrict the finished width), leave it in place. Take yarn to the left under next two needles, back to the right, drawing the first held stitch back, put yarn into the hook and knit it back for a large loose stitch. Continue across in this manner to left. Break yarn and then chain off all the loose stitches right to left.

The extra weight added by the double-stranding is just what is needed!