A Bluestocking Knits

Thoughts on some Scandinavian Mitts

Laura looked at the first of these mitts when I was trying it on, and said, "That's really nice, mom.  Norwegian?"

I impulsively decided to make a pair of mitts a few months ago while riffing on some Scandinavian patterns, but was about two-thirds of the way through the first one and either got distracted or wasn't completely satisfied, I can't even remember.  But I sat down with them in a bit of a trance, I guess, the other day, and whoosh! they are done.

The yarns are both Regia sock yarns, less than half of a skein of Cotton in black, and 4 grams of 4-fädig in grey left over from my Spey Valley socks, because they were both in my sock-yarn drawer at the same time, and they looked good together.  (I said it was impulsive!)  I can't fully recommend the Cotton as a component of two-color knitting, as it's a bit splitty and I had a hard time with it in places.  It is also slightly larger in gauge than the 4-fädig, so I was concerned that it would be a bit overwhelming, but actually now that I look at the finished pieces, the wobbly bits are entirely mine.  But as an experiment, it all comes off, I think.

I was not entirely pleased with the thumb either time -- would possibly space the gusset increases farther apart, to make it a bit longer (taller, as it were), as it's a bit snug.  I did learn that while carrying floats behind a 2x2 rib (here across the base of the thumb), you need to attach them between two knit stitches, otherwise it pulls the rib out of shape rather unattractively.  I had assumed that as you do on the pattern sections, you don't want to "stack" the floats -- that is, have them twisted in at the same spot on two consecutive rows -- because it tends to pull at that spot and show from the right side.  It actually doesn't show much at all on the second thumb -- only when it's either stretched mercilessly or folded, neither of which it is when worn, so that's all right.

The shape of the mitt is based on Ann Budd's generic mitten in The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, and the star is adapted from my Dale cardigan with little diamonds and arrows improvised at the compass points. I had originally thought I wanted something quite subtle on the back of the hand, and tried an all-over sort of argyle-ish pattern from Sheila McGregor's book, but it was in fact far too subtle, and I'm thoroughly delighted with the star.

Just in time for our ice-skating party next week!

Thoughts on the Garter Rib Knee Socks

Inspiration, as so often happens, comes from many sources, the Araucania mittens being the first.  Looking at the stocking stitch, I realized that the wool would make a lovely, thick sock.  I had also been pondering the garter rib in Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks for some time, and Googling "araucania nature wool socks" led me to the discovery that since the Nature Wool felts so readily, socks made from it would felt and conform to the wearer's feet -- a fascinating idea.  I'm glad I didn't see these,

Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton's Taltutten socks from her "Transitions" Nature Wool Collection, until after I'd finished writing up my own pattern.  I'm not the only one thinking about knee socks these days -- see Gabriella Chiarenza's gorgeous Clessidra knee socks in the Spring '07 Knitty, too!

The Nature Wool is lovely to work with, thick and wooly but still soft with a pleasant rusticness.  I love the way that the kettle-dyed colors shift here and there, sometimes markedly but very subtly here, in this dyelot.

There are a fairly endless number of ways for incorporating leg shaping into a pattern.  They don't always turn out they way they look on paper, though -- this, for example,

turned out like this,

which is okay, but not what I had in mind.  In the end, I opted for a simple V-shaped gusset,

which is easily adaptable to different calf sizes.  You don't really realize how long your legs are until you knit yourself a pair of knee socks -- I ended up adding two full inches more because of the horizontal stretch of the fabric once it was on my leg!

And it's a bonus that they look really good with my new shoes!

Thoughts on Dad's Favorite Slipover

My dear husband, who has an internal thermostat roughly equivalent to the Sahara Desert, was puttering out in the garage one late night last winter when he came in slapping his arms and saying, "Honey, I need a sweater!"  This took me so much by surprise that it was some time before I could actually pick up some needles, but here it is at last.  It was meant to be a Christmas gift, although the bronchitis that we all came down with after Thanksgiving delayed the finishing by a couple of weeks -- it wasn't so much that I didn't feel like knitting (although there was that at times), it was that David was sick too, and therefore home and underfoot, and it was meant to be something of a surprise.

He wanted something warm, but not as warm as a full sweater; his only requests last winter were that it be "plain" and "blue".  Regretfully, I had to set aside my dreams of cables or even relatively sober Fair Isles, but these I hope to carefully insinuate into his wardrobe in time, and I was still happy to spend some hours poring over vintage British patterns, delighted by their equally vintage captions.

"Trim and smart because of its extreme simplicity."

"For golfing, gardening or just 'pottering around.'"

As Yorkshire Tweed is, alas, discontinued, Rowan recommends Rowanspun 4-Ply or Scottish/Harris Tweed 4-Ply as substitutions.  Rowanspun 4-Ply, Yorkshire Tweed's previous incarnation, can still be found in some quantities.

"Every man needs a slipover!"

The shaping of this slipover is based on the vest chart given in Ann Budd's extraordinarily useful Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns and on a number of vintage patterns.  Dad's Favorite Slipover, which will shortly be available in the Original Patterns album in the sidebar, is a men's V-neck sleeveless slipover with traditional shaping, sized to fit a 37 (42, 46, 51) in. / 94 (106.5, 117, 129.5) cm chest.

Thoughts on the Fancy Socks

Some time ago, I promised Laura a pair of knitted socks, and when I saw this purple Supersock from Cherry Tree Hill, it was Fate.

I originally wanted to make socks with a ruffle around the cuff, and set my heart on the one from a Jaeger book a few years ago, which in small doses in the Supersock looked lovely, but in a long-enough length to fit around even Laura's slender ankle drooped most unbecomingly.  I fiddled, tried a few other edgings, and then thought of this one from an old Debbie Bliss sailor jacket, turning it sideways.  Picking up the stitches in the middle of the edging is in fact an dodge to head off that droopiness that comes with an unsupported edging, but after a while I got interested in the sideways-ness as a design element in itself.

Afterwards, Laura confessed that she actually liked this sock better than the ruffled one, anyway.

The pattern, which is available in the Original Patterns album in the sidebar, is sized to fit girl's small, medium, and large, or approximately 5 1/2 in. /14 cm (6 1/2 in. /16.5 cm, 7 1/2 in. /19 cm) foot circumference.  If you use Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, I would recommend not drying these socks by machine, as the slight haze that will result would obscure the lace of the cuff.

Fun Fur Cha Cha

Made these pillows for the girls this week --

 

I used Lion Brand Fun Fur "Tropical" for the one on the right, and Patons Cha Cha "Vegas" for the other.  (I wanted to have a similar colorway for the two, but different enough so that the girls could tell them apart.)  The sherbet-osity of the colors is pretty poolside, all right.

My covers were worked in double knitting (K1, sl 1 p-wise) over 50 sts, coming out to be about 7 inches wide by 17 inches long.  This looks improbable on the needles, but it's very stretchy sideways.  I transferred the stitches to two needles, separating the two sides, stuffed the pillow in, then cast off very loosely with the 3-needle method.  They could be made flat, of course, and sewn together around the edges, but I'm lazy and this way avoided any seams at all.  I also get a kick out of double knitting.  It's not rocket science, but you do have to pay attention, because if you accidentally purl a stitch instead of slipping it purlwise, the fabric won't open in the middle for you to slip the pillow inside.

(Thanks for the idea, Meriel!)

Designing

I came to the conclusion a few weeks ago, that as much as I love the Clapotis, and as much as I love this color of Silk Garden, together it just didn't speak to me.  I pinned it into the Union Square Shawl shape, and couldn't raise my arms past about a 45° angle.  Not being of the suffering-for-fashion school, I can't picture wearing it like this.  (Making it longer to allow more ease would make the neck even larger than it already is.  I did think of that.)  I'd like to do another Clapotis, but in a different kind of wool, perhaps the Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb of the original, or a merino/cotton blend.  What else could I do with the Silk Garden?  Klaralund, perhaps?  Very tempting....  But on the other hand, Juno's disappointment with the pattern gave me pause, as I am certainly no stick like the model in the photo, and anything that draws emphasis to the bustline (seams??) rarely works for me.  I was also put off by so many comments by bloggers about the amount of sewing-up involved, so I started wondering about working it in the round -- different balls for front and back, so that the depth of each color stripe would remain constant between body and sleeves -- maybe even picking up stitches so that the sleeves could be knitted to the body as they progressed -- this all going so far that I would have to call the thing "Klaralundy" or "Klaralundish" from rewriting the pattern so thoroughly.  I am also not really sure that I would have much opportunity to wear a sweater that looks really warm -- so perhaps a cardigan would be better, something easier to take off and put on as desired....

So what came to mind, ever so slowly, was a kimono-shaped jacket.  The cross-over front is flattering, the basic shape is uncomplicated, the colors would work.  The trickiest part would be the angle of the two front edges.

I probably could find a kimono jacket pattern somewhere, and I might even have one already, but as I am without my knitting library for the next few months, I'll try my hand at designing one.  I'll think "on paper," as we used to say BB (before blogs).  I often get frustrated with things that don't turn out the way I expect or want them too, but since I am experimenting, I am going to let myself enjoy the process, and not get annoyed about the setbacks.  I'm also not going to rip out a swatch immediately, as is my usual procedure, but put them side-by-side and compare the differences.

Swatch One, then, on the left, is worked on 4mm needles over 40 stitches, with a 10-row seed stitch hem and 8-stitch seed border up the side.  The rate of decrease is 1 K2tog every 6th row.  I started by putting the K2tog at the inner edge of the seed stitch border, but it was kind of blurry there, so I moved it to the first stitch of the stockinette, where it looks much tidier.  The little curve along the corner is rather appealing.

Swatch Two, on the right, is worked on 4mm needles over 30 stitches, working a folded hem, then casting on another 8 sts for the seed stitch border.  This gives it a look more like the collar/placket of the fabric version of a kimono.  The rate of decrease is higher in this swatch, being 1 K2tog every 4th row, so that the crossover would be more pronounced.

I like the folded hem -- it looks neater, cleaner -- but I think the dec every 6th row, as in the first swatch, will be better.  Less bulk at the front.

(Kyoto, by the way, is similar to what I have in mind, but to me looks perfectly beautiful in the cotton.  I would like to make this later the way it is written....)

For this sleeve swatch, I cast on 63 sts, worked seed st in the round for 3 inches (24 rounds) then worked it plain until the end of the ball.  That bulge in the cuff bothers me.  The gauge is just a little too tight, as well, now that I can feel the larger swatch.

("This is compicated," observed Julia.)

This one is worked on US6 needles, casting on 55 sts, working 3 inches of seed st, increasing 4 sts evenly around, then stockinette.  It looks much nicer -- I like the smoother line.

More later....