This page hosts posts beginning July 13, 2010
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AUGUST 26--a song from the road
As you know, the roads of Illinois get a little bit monotonous. We passed the time by writing another silly traveling song. Here I am at the St. Louis Bread Co. having lunch and using the wifi to bring it to you. Sing this one to the tune of Leaving on a Jet Plane by Peter, Paul and Mary chorus: We're leaving for a seminar We'll get there though it may be far You know we love to go! Verses: My machine is packed and in the truck, My samples stowed all nip and tuck, I'm going down the checklist one last time. The cats are watered, the dogs are fed, They've all been petted, we're going ahead. I think that we can hit the road on time. The sitter knows the things to do. We have coffee, snacks, the atlas, too. All that's left is to arrive on time. Now it's day two, we're having fun. The first day was a pretty run. We really love the vistas and the view. With four states down and one to go We'll turn right at St. Louis, MO Tell Ileen we should be there on time. Final chorus: We'll see you all in Hannibal You know it'll be enjoyable. Dear Knitters see you there... AUGUST 17--choosing elastic for a nice skirt Typical instructions are to make elastic waistbands 2-6 tighter than your waist. On everyone but sleek and hard athletic bodies, this creates a bump. Yuck! If you select premium elastic and you have a waistline that nips in from your hips even a little, you don't have to do this. Premium waistband elastic is often called non-roll elastic. It has ribs that run across the 1 or so of width. These ribs stiffen the elastic and prevent it from rolling and twisting. This kind of elastic is also very stable and sturdy. Therefore, you can fit it to your exact waist size without fear of the skirt sliding off. Since it is not pinching, it won't create a bump which automatically makes everyone look slimmer and sleeker. AUGUST 16--*!$#!**&%!!! GRRR! I got my skirt all finished. It is just BEAUTIFUL, finished with a shaped waistline the bulk reducing waistband I describe in "Knitting and Sew On" and it fits perfectly. I did not notice until all this was done and I was photographing it that on one occasion on the front and one on the back, I got the striping out of sequence. I have tried to convince myself that if it took me that long to notice it can't be very important but now that I have seen it I can't look away. SIGH. I will have to either re-knit the skirt or shorten it. I do tend to make my skirts long. This is not because I have bad legs but rather because I am not good at remembering to sit in a lady-like fashion. If the skirt is long, I need not worry. So there probably IS enough length to make a shorter skirt that is still respectable if I can give up my hoydenish ways. I'll have to think and decide. Aug 13--A cut and sew waistline that adjusts the drape of the skirt If you have anything other than a perfectly smooth figure, you may find that skirts hang unevenly on you. They may hike up where you have curves or they may bunch or crease below a curved area, creating a less-than-lovely look. It is easy to fix by knitting a long stockinette top on each skirt panel, then scrapping off. Seam the sides of the skirt. Sew a piece of elastic to the correct size for a waistband. Put on the skirt and put the elastic on outside so it holds the unfinished skirt up. Now pull and tweak the fabric so that it hangs evenly all the way around. Different areas will have different amounts of the stockinette section above the elastic band. When the drape is perfect, mark the top edge of the elastic on the fabric with pins or chalk. A helper is nice, here but not essential. Remove the skirt. Use the marked line as a fold line. But the fabric 1.5 beyond that fold and serge or zig-zag the cut edge. Sew the casing stitching 1.25 away from the fold. Insert elastic. You will be amazed at the improvement in fit that this simple step makes. |
posts before july 13 are no longer available
AUGUST 29--all the downloads ordered at Ileen's have been delivered. But we all know that neither the internet nor the answer lady is perfect. So if you have not received something that you should have, please, please, let me know. E-mailing me at kdoubrley at hotmail dot com [fix it to be normal naturally] is the best way. AUGUST 29--saying goodbye to Hannibal We've had a great time with an enthusiastic and friendly bunch of knitters and it's time to pack up. We plan to head down to the historic district one more time on our way out of town. Did some walking last night to enjoy the architecture and discovered an overlook that should give us a great view of the river. Then it's on the road again...Goodbye to Hannibal and thanks to Ileen and her loyal band of helpers. We hope to see them all again in the future. AUGUST 28--having a ball in Hannibal We could not ask for a nicer location, yummier food, or better weather. We are all having fun and learning a lot together. While setting up my machine, it suffered a mishap that resulted in damaged thumb screws and a cracked plastic carriage cover. :( Happily, it still worked and I demonstrated all day without incident except the occasional operator error. Even more happily, Linda Williams [my editor/publisher at News and Views] advised me where to find replacements for the damaged parts and I already have them on order. They should be there soon after I arrive home. :) Hannibal is a lovely spot, too. Full of historic interest and interesting architecture but small enough to be easy to navigate. AUGUST 24--a silly song in honor of my trip to Ileen's seminar. Sing this to the tune of the real "On the Road Again" by Willie Nelson On the road again - Just can't wait to get on the road again. The life I love is knitting samples with my friends And I can't wait to get on the road again. On the road again Goin' places that I've never been. Knitting things that I may never knit again And I can't wait to get on the road again. On the road again Our truck is packed with knitting tools galore We're the best of friends. Insisting that we stop at every yarn store And our way is on the road again. See you soon in Missouri! AUGUST 18--my hats are packed at last & I have made friends with my skirt. They turned out to be a great excuse to buy a new set of cookware. The box was super sturdy and just about the right size so what could I do? As it happened, I had to get my husband to use the skills he learned as a professional furniture packer and mover in our younger days. I would never have gotten all the hats in on my own. I will have to tell Linda to stand back when she cuts the tape. Hats may fly everywhere. But tomorrow, they'll be in the mail. It's a good feeling. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, scroll down to July 29 where the whole hat business is explained. My skirt is going to stay the way it is. My unusually fashion-wise husband and my very kind friends on the Country Knitting of Maine discussion group at Yahoo have convinced me that the variation in striping is a pleasant design feature, not a disaster. So on their advice, I am going to wear the skirt and be happy. Now, on to the jacket! AUGUST 16--shaping the waistline without cut and sew A bit more about the waistline adjustment posted on August 13: I realize that many knitters prefer to shape on the machine rather than cut and sew. The same adjustment may be achieved by short rowing. It IS best to do at least 2 skirts using the cut and sew method. Before completing them, make good notes about how much the waistline that works for you varies above or below a straight line across the skirt and where it does so. For example: I can leave the back and sides alone but must pull up the center front 1.5, then taper gradually to nothing at the side seams. Knowing this, I can knit the back of any skirt normally and knit the waistband on in any way I choose. I then knit the front normally up to 1.5 below the level of the back. It's easy to figure where to stop by multiplying row gauge times 1.5. So if I get 10 rows per inch and the back was knitted to row 200: 10 rows per inch X1.5=15 rows. 200-15=stop at row count 185. I would now place the center third of the needles in hold and the left third also in hold and short-row row 15 rows on the right, gradually decreasing the number of needles in work. When the right is finished, I'd place the left third back in work and repeat the short-rowing on the left side. Now I can return all the needles to work and knit the same kind of waistband as I used on the back. The side seams will match because all edges are 200 rows long. If you have trouble visualizing where to short-row, draw a diagram of what the flattened skirt top looked like once you perfected it. You can even lay your diagram on a true-to-size stitch graph like the ones we developed below for intarsia which will really help you see where to hold stitches and where to knit them. A perfect waist shape is a bit of extra work but SO worth it. And after you have done a few, it becomes a minor matter. The payoff in good looks is enormous. All of your skirts will be favorites once you learn to do this. AUGUST 12--designing the skirt. Here's how you can make your own. I have decided to make my outfit a skirt and blouse with a jacket rather than a dress and jacket. The reason is that the blouse portion needs washing and replacing so much more frequently than the skirt does. Dividing the suit into 3 pieces can make it last a lot longer. It also gives me the option of wearing a fine gauge cotton shell next to the sensitive skin of the neck and torso. I look for nice quality black Ts and shells for this purpose and wear them with many outfits. The tuck fabric is wider than stockinette and the upper and lower edges roll towards the knit side. Therefore, we can make a very easy hem that will stabilize the fabric simply by knitting a few rows of stockinette at the lower edge of the skirt. The will curl naturally to the underside of the skirt. You can stitch them down or not as you prefer. Changing to stockinette again at the top of the skirt will automatically create a bit of hip to waist shaping. After about 4 of stockinette, transferring every other stitch to its neighbor and leaving the empties out of work will create a less bulky waistband. About 20 rows of EON knitting is enough for the waistband. We can now lift the first row of EON knitting, hang it on the needles and bind off OR simply bind off loosely, then fold the casing and stitch it down. It is simple to size a skirt like this. Because tuck stitch gets wide, there is rarely a problem fitting larger sizes. Find your stitch and row gauges. Know your desired hip circumference. I think that knit skirts look best with hip ease just as woven skirts do. Yes, knitted skirts will stretch but do you really want everyone to get a good look at what is outlined when the skirt stretches over it? SOME lovely young things may say yes but most of us certainly do not. The stretchy fabric exaggerates everything, I promise you. So let's just say that your genuine non-fibbing-known-only-to-you hip measurement is 42. Add 1 for seaming and 4 for ease=47 of total knitted width that we want. We'll knit it in 2 panels so 47 divided by 2=23.5 is the desirable width for each panel. Suppose your stitch gauge is 6 stitches per inch. 6X23.5=141 stitches to cast on. Multiply your desired length by the row gauge. If you use a stockinette area at the top of the skirt, you'll work with 2 row gauges. For example: to get a skirt 28 long with 4 of stockinette at the top, when the stockinette gauge is 10 rows/inch and the tuck gauge is 16 rows/inch, we are going to knit 24 of tuck [24X16=384 rows] and 4 of stockinette [4X10=40]. |
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AUGUST 11--the fabric for the project described on Aug 3. Why not try some yourself? I got a little bit adventurous with color and came up with this sample. It is Tamm diamante in these colors: Colors 1941 cranberry, 1934 breen, 1961 purple. The fabric is knitted in stripes of 4 rows each color moving from breen to cranberry to purple over and over. The inset shows the punchcard design. This is a basic card in many packs. I set it for L on the Studio to double the length. Other brands also have ways of doubling length. The white squares are needles tucking. Since the length is doubled, they are tucking for the entire 4 rows of the stripe. Those needles that are tucking begin to knit when the next color is added. I case you want to swatch some of this fabric for yourself, I liked the results at stitch size 6.1. At this stitch size, the gauge before washing was 6.2 stitches/16 rows per inch. Diamante does not change much with washing but to be sure, I have washed the swatch. It is drying now. Both sides of the fabric are nice. I think I'll use the one shown which is the purl side but am not positive yet. |
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AUGUST 3--my next effort In July I attended a Bible study convention. I promise that MOST of the time my mind was where it belonged. But with 10,000 people in one place, it's a great opportunity to observe fashion trends and get ideas, too. I spotted the woman at the left and went tearing across the convention center to beg for a photo of her outfit. I explained what I do and she was a wonderful sport. Permitted me to take her photo for inspiration. Of course, all I had to use was my phone so it's not the greatest photo in the world. but it shows what I need to remember. What I love is the classic shapes with special little touches. I'm pretty sure that the dress is was tuck striping because in person it has a tweedier look than the photo reveals. The blue of the jacket IS in the dress though again, the photo doesn't make that obvious and the jacket is trimmed with 2 contrasting colors that are also in the dress. SO now I am searching my stash for appropriate yarns to use for something with this basic outline and flavor. I'm thinking that Tamm Estilo would be good for the dress to make sure that it is not too heavy. The jacket can be diamante which comes in most of the same colors. This is an outfit that seems to me to call for smooth dress yarns, not fuzzy ones. I'm mulling over colors and will soon be swatching. I'll probably go for a somewhat more conservative color scheme and make it a little looser [there are some things nobody else needs to know about me] but keep the details and 3/4 sleeves. Your ideas are welcome... |
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JULY 29--the year of 100 hats!
As most of you know, I write patterns for Country Knitting of Maine News and Views magazine. The publisher/editor Linda Williams, sponsors a hat contest each year. The hats are given to schools and other places in Maine where a need for hats is identified. Each year, I contribute hats for the charity but don't enter the contest--that is for the readers. This year, I decided to step things up a little by challenging myself to knit 100 hats for the project. I have used my hats to practice new techniques and yarns, learn some new things, use up odds and ends, try out unusual designs...and here they are with me buried in the pile! Don't get the idea that each hat is a masterpiece of perfection. Not so. but each is wearable by somebody. I challenged the News and Views reading community to join me in knitting 100 hats. You can read more about the details of the contest and the challenge here: You can read about the contest and my challenge here. To my joy, several other knitters are making good progress on 100 hats. Imagine wintering in Maine without proper protection. It's a chilling thought. We can't fix it for everyone but we do what we can. It's not too late to join in the contest or the challenge. Click the link above to read the rules, deadlines and details. As soon as I find a big enough box, these are off to Linda. |
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JULY 22--intarsia with my graph paper
A young friend of mine is heading for college this fall so I made her a pillow with her school's mascot on it. What you are looking at is a very cranky yellow jacket clenching his fists in challenge to the other team[or so I hope]. This one was a pretty challenging chart because it involved a lot of detail to get the facial features to be recognizable, something I did not realize at first. I finished with quite a bit of embroidery to clarify the character. A simpler design is strongly recommended for a first try. The good part of the experience was discovering how easy intarsia is on my Studio 150. I also have a Brother 260 bulky but don't have the intarsia carriage and was feeling sorry for myself when I discovered that the Studio has a built in intarsia setting. I probably knew this at some point in the past but had forgotten. It was wonderful! In spite of all the great things about the Brother 260, I keep the old 150 around and use it as one would a hobby machine. Without a ribber, it is easy to hand manipulate on this machine. The settings are simple and intuitive and it is a workhorse. Some of these oldies are treasures! |
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JULY 21--a correction to the graph paper instructions below
In the July 18 notes, I found a typo telling you to create cells of .67" where it should have read .17". It is now corrected. The info is also correct and presented in much more detail in the instruction sheet available through a link on the
Cheap Tricks page
JULY 20--more graph paper & more ways to use it I have added 7 stitch/10 row and 4 stitch/6 row per inch graph papers as pdf files. These should print perfectly as long as you make sure that the printer dialog box is set for "no page scaling" or 100%. Many printers and Adobe Acrobat have built in default margins. If you don't over-ride the default they will alter the size of your document or break up the page to comply with the default setting. The simplest way to get what you want is to make sure the settings are as above. There will be plenty of margin on the graph paper for complete printing. These papers have been added to the same file that holds the others & everything there is completely free. The link that reaches them is on the "Cheap Tricks" page. Also added to the graph paper file is an article describing how to make graph papers with software you already own. I knew how to make it with the "table" function in Word, Open Office and Works. Fellow knitter Patrice Taylor helped me learn how to do it using Excel. I found that her method also works in Open Office Calc and Works spreadsheets. So just about EVERYONE has a way to make custom papers. Another use for graph paper is to design a motif for intarsia or fairisle using a printed picture. For example, if I have a friend who is nuts about cats and would I'd like to knit her something with a cat on it, I could search for a nice simple cat picture, save it as a jpg and resize it to the actual size I'd like the motif to knit. Then I could print out a piece of graph paper, return the same paper to the printer and print the picture right onto it. I'd need to clean up the edges a bit but it will make a chart that is possible to follow. Be aware that such some motifs such as team logos and cartoon characters are strongly protected by copyright. To the best of my knowledge, it is permissible to do what was just described for yourself only but absolutely illegal to sell any part of it from your chart to a knitted item unless you apply for a license to use the logo. So be careful what you chart. But it's a fun and simple method for making great picture knitting. |
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JULY 18--designing your own sweater using this charting method
Begin by printing a few sheets of graph paper in which each cell is the same dimension as a single stitch. This can be done with the table function in Microsoft Word or Open Office. To do it: create a table with 28 columns and 52 rows. Now edit the cells so that each one is .25" wide and .17" tall. This is done through a menu that drops down from the Table tab. The resulting grid is 4 stitch/6row per inch graph paper. To make other gauges you would need to figure what part of an inch a stitch is in each dimension and use those values when editing the table. OR you can download my one of my free graph papers from the "Cheap Tricks" page. Now make paper pattern pieces the exact size and shape of each garment piece. This is quite easy to do with basic design shapes. I normally use several sheets of construction paper taped together to make my pattern pieces. Lay each piece on the big graph. You can draw around it our just observe how it covers the graph. How many stitches does it cover? Count the graph cells to find out and cast on that many. How many rows are represented before the armhole begins? Knit that many. How many stitches should be decreased at the armhole? You can tell by looking at the pattern piece on the graph. Each change in shape is easily represented in this way. You can even place a motif on the sweater by use of the graph. I usually lay a piece on the graph and make notes of all of the above right on the pattern piece, then move the first piece and place the next. In this way, the graph may be re-used for all of the garment pieces and even for future garments. |
Thanks to my friend Patti who suggested this project to me. I would not have thought of doing this on my own and I am very pleased with the jacket. It's good to get some outside inspiration from time to time!
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JULY 19--diagonal sweater completed
Here is the finished product. If you want to make your own, there are two ways to do it. One is to wait for the pattern. I will write it and offer it first to News and Views. But if you don't want to wait, you can design your own using the method described at left. I rotated the sweater front 45 degrees clockwise to get the striping to appear diagonally on the sweater front. To get the stripes to slant downward rather than upward on the fronts, rotate counter-clockwise on the graph instead. Make notes as you increase and decrease, following the outline of the pattern piece on the graph paper. To make the 2nd front, repeat your noted instructions but swap the left and right shaping. My stripes are 12 row stripes. The sweater back could be knitted on the bias also. If so, it would be best to do it in halves, reversing the shaping of the second half as you did on the front and making a center back seam. I did not knit my back on the bias. It is knitted straight in plain black with a tan hem. You can use the graph to determine stitch count and shaping of straight knitting, too. Lay the sleeve pattern on the graph with one underarm slant aligning with the horizontal axis of the grid. Shape by following the graph as before, note what you do and knit the 2nd sleeve as a mirror image. The front bands and hems are made by hanging the edge, knitting 2", knitting 1 turning row, knitting 2" more, hanging the same edge again and binding off. The front and hem bands are mitered. I'll give instructions for mitering in a future post. The sleeve cuffs are the same kind of band but 3" instead of 2". The neckline is 3" of gradually tightening rib bound off in the contrasting color. I embellished my cuffs with stockinette button tabs. |
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JULY 17--the graph paper project
many of those who tried out my paper got perfect prints without effort. Some have gotten perfect prints by adjusting the printer to ignore its margin settings and print full size. Others are getting something else entirely. It seems to be successful enough to share so this is what I have done: I have created another file in Open Office and a third as a jpg image. If you come up with tips to make any of them print well though they did not do so at first please share and I will publish your tips for others to benefit from. If you have other sizes of graph or methods of printing graph paper to share, I'd welcome those, too. Everything will go into a free file that is accessible from the
Cheap Tricks
page. There is a mini-article on that page about using graph paper. We can add to that, too. Credit will be published with your contribution if you like or you may remain anonymous. Let me know what you prefer. Graph paper is not as quick or slick as knitting software but it is cheap, understandable and never fails so it's definitely worth having around. Here's a question for software experts: My normal practice is to share files as .pdf because the print the same for everyone. For some reason, though, the pdf file is not saving to the same size as the original. Know any way to fix this? |
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JULY 16--Diagonal progress & graph paper.
I tried the mitered front band and like that better so I'll repeat it on the second side. Experimented with ways to make the sleeve stripes set in to match those on the torso. This is a success, too so the next sleeve can be made in the same manner. Each sleeve will have a wide black cuff and maybe a tan button tab. Still ruminating on that. I thought of wearing these stripes zigzagging all the way around my body and decided against that look so my back is solid black with the tan hem extending around from the front to draw the look together. Others may feel differently so when I write the pattern I'll include both options. A wide neckband is still to come but I am out of tan yarn! Off to town tomorrow for some more. By now it is obvious that my jacket is not a copy of the Annie's Attic sweater in any sense. That is usually the case. An idea seen somehwhere will iinspire the imagination to run with that concept. One COULD make an exact copy but I find that I rarely want to. I need some volunteers to try out my graph paper. I have made some that will reliably print for me to 4 stitches/6rows per inch. I'd like to offer it as a free download on my site to those who would like to experiment with charting in the way described in an earlier post. It's good for intarsia chart, too. However, I need to know that the file will reliably print to size for others because printers and other variables can alter the appearance sometimes. If you'd like to try it, e-mail me your request. I'll send it to you as an attachment. Print it and let me know if it prints true for you. If it works for most people, I can post it as a download. |
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JULY 14 LATER---progress and pictures.
The text describing the project's progress is found below the photo of the 2 jacket fronts.
 The fronts knitted up exactly as planned so I went on to experiment with the bands. First try [left] the band came out too tight and is drawing in the fabric. It's supposed to stabilize it but not gather it. That front is salvageable but the band must be re-knitted. 2nd try came out just right. However I'm thinking it should be re-done, too so as to allow mitering with the bottom band. Also have to decide whether to make the back diagonals, too or to make it solid. Brain is tired. Like Scarlett O'Hara 'll think about that tomorrow. Anyone with ideas on this feel free to help me decide. The dishcloth is pictured below.  |
JULY 14--A bias dishcloth
To practice for the diagonal jacket I'm working on [described below], I decided to make a cotton dishcloth using the bias increasing and decreasing technique. It worked really well! I made mine on the bulky with worsted weight yarn but the approach should work on any machine with appropriate yarn because stockinette stitches have about the same proportions on all machines though their sizes are different. Here's how to try it: Cast on 2 stitches and hang a claw weight on them. *Knit 4 rows increasing 1 stitch on the carriage side each row. Knit a 5th row and increase on both sides. On the side away from the carriage, use a full fashioned increase.* Repeat the 5 row pattern that is shown between asterisks until the cloth is the size you want it to be. What you are seeing on the machine is a corner to corner measurement [the way TV and computer screens are measured]. After achieving the max width, knit 2 rows and begin decreasing in the same rhythm. Finally, bind off the last 2 stitches. This cloth looks nice in variegated yarn because it makes diagonal stripes which is a fun change from usual. The edges are not lovely and differ noticeably between increased and decreased areas so you'll need to add an edging. Crocheting is nice. So is knitted on bias trim. to make knitted on bias trim Hang a section of edge on 3 needles. Knit 2 rows. #Add a bit of edge on the needle to the left of the 3 that are working. Decrease 1 stitch at the right. Knit 2 rows.# Repeat between the # symbols around the cloth. At the corners, knit 4 rows rather than 2 before hanging the next edge bit. When hanging, hang every other row. Look for knots and bars to guide you but remember that in some places the extra increase on the 5th row can mislead your eyes. The decreased areas are easy to hang neatly. The increased areas have longer bars at the edges so hang these by pushing the tool into the nearest whole stitch in the fabric and hang that along with the bars so that the trim knits snugly to the edge. Using this trim, an experienced knitter can complete several cloths in an hour and a novice can most likely finish a dishcloth in half an hour. July 13--diagonal knitting A friend pointed out this pattern to me: Annie's Attic Dynamic Diagonals She has challenged me to make something similar on the knitting machine. I have puzzled over it for a bit and decided to try knitting it on the bias so that neither intarsia nor short-rowing is necessary. The hope is that the bias fabric will drape nicely. I plan to hang the front and lower edges after completed and knit hung hems in the hope that these will stabilized the softness of bias knitting just the right amount. None of my software will generate a bias shape so I am using the following plotting technique. Some of you might like to experiment with it, too. This is sort of a poor woman's charting device. It is especially useful with bulky knits. These are easier simply because producing and reading the necessary graph paper is easier. Make several sheets of graph paper with the size and proportion of the stitch gauge. For example, worsted yarn will often require 4 stitches/6 rows per inch so we'll make graph paper with that size of rectangles and tape several sheets together. Now draw the shape of a pattern piece exactly on heavy paper and cut it out. Simple shapes obviously work best. Lay the pattern piece on the graph paper, rotated about 45 degrees from upright. Draw around the pattern piece. The resulting outline will show you how to knit. I have charted this way in the past but never to produce bias knitting so we'll see how it goes. If you don't want to jump in at the jacket stage, you could certainly try a pillow front. |