Prime Time Knitter

Standards of Perfection

In addition to being fussy about patterns and fit, I’m also fussy about yarn choices. I enjoy being fussy about yarn choices because I endured so many years as a knitter in which the options ranged from ordinary, often scratchy wool to Day-Glo acrylic. Also, since the introduction of Rowan yarns in the U.S. and my annual pilgrimages to Rhinebeck, I’ve accumulated a large stash. I think twice about any new yarn purchase.

I rarely buy yarn at a LYS. First, I have to drive a fair distance to get to one, and on the occasions when I do, I don’t often find what I have in mind (too few colors, not enough yarn in a dyelot). At this stage of my knitting life, I don’t need the help or advice that I could have used when I was starting to knit—so that benefit of a LYS is lost on me. Second, I was spoiled by Patternworks. It used to be in Poughkeepsie, in a big warehouse-style store, about an hour’s drive away. The metal racks in the back, where patrons could browse, had a huge selection of yarns of every color. I was weak-kneed when I first visited the store. (Only WEBS has anything close, to my knowledge, and WEBS is a very, very long drive from my home.) I’d make about two visits a year to Patternworks and stock up, especially at the after-Christmas sale. But Patternworks moved, and so my yarn-buying habits changed. With the Internet at my fingertips, I can browse and shop from home. For yarns I know I’ll use, I’ll buy color cards, making such purchases easier. And so now my purchases are either done online or at fiber fairs.

I usually don’t buy on impulse, but last week was different. I love browsing the Soho Purl site because they have such a beautiful selection, and in some cases, I just don’t see the yarns elsewhere. I’ve been on the lookout for something special for Anne Hanson’s Wing of the Moth shawl, and I had pinks on my mind—preferably light, dusty pinks. I also wanted to take Anne’s advice that I could use a fingering weight yarn because I wanted a shawl that was heavier than laceweight. Displayed among the fingering weights was intriguing yarn by The Fibre Company (a manufacturer new to me) called Canopy Sport. It is 50% alpaca, 30% merino, and 20% bamboo. Well, who can resist that? The color, rosehip, on the screen looked like a dusty pink, and the yardage was perfect for that called for (200 yards for 50 grams). So out came my credit card.

When the yarn arrived, the color was not what I imagined, although the texture and feel were perfect. It is more mauve/lilac than pink. At first I was disappointed, but I thought about fabric languishing in my stash for decades—and when I pulled it out, I realized how perfect this yarn would look with it. It is Liberty of London wool challis—very thin and drapy—and it makes beautiful, flowing skirts.

(Robin, this is the fabric that I think looks like yours, and I also have it in another colorway with dominant blues.) I probably have enough for a pleated skirt or a circular skirt, and I have a nice black top with a ballet neck. And so the imaginary outfit formed in my mind. There are projects on my list before this one, but I’ve earmarked this summer for shawls and socks (until it gets cold enough to knit another heavy sweater), and I would like to have this shawl and skirt for next spring.

For Your Listening Pleasure

I’ve learned a lot about knitting since I started reading blogs and since starting my own blog--and I also learned some things that made knitting even better. So many bloggers shared their enjoyment of audiobooks—something that never occurred to me—and suggested specific titles. Until relatively recently, I’d knit to “junk” TV. My preferred shows are crime dramas that have enough plot to keep me engaged without actually having to watch them and have insufficient artistic merit to make me want to focus on the TV screen. In fact, I named the blog “primetime” because I knit during these shows. (The more subtle reason for “primetime” is that this is the best time in my life for knitting, since I find so many enthusiastic knitters in blogs, in KALs, and on Ravelry, and because great yarns and patterns abound.)

I dipped my toe into audiobook listening by borrowing some from my local library system. This worked out pretty well, since there is a huge number to choose from. But I often have to wait for a popular book (it has been six months since I requested Pillars of the Earth) and some CDs are scratched (and the tapes are even more damaged). I’ve looked at audible.com frequently, but I don’t like knitting with earphones on because the cord gets confused with the yarn. (I can’t tap my head and rub my stomach either.) The various iPod speaker systems seem too expensive, and I have an older model iPod that is just thick enough to not fit in the standard dock. In trolling the internet for docks that might work, I discovered a very simple fix: a $16 cable that connects my iPod to an old radio (this works for any stereo).

So now my iPod connects to the auxiliary connections on an old Cambridge radio (a poor woman’s Bose wave radio). I actually hadn’t realized how much dust it gathered until this photo.

Not only does it play audiobooks, but I can listen to my favorite podcasts: Knitpicks and Sticks and String. Now I’m about to get serious and subscribe to audible.com.

And for those of you who like short stories, check those available free on iTunes from The New Yorker and from Classic Tales. The New Yorker is fabulous. Not only are the stories good, but famous authors are the narrators. I listened to Richard Ford reading a John Cheever story this weekend. B.J. Harrison of Classic Tales is terrific, and the stories are up for about a month to download for free before they go to audible, where they cost 99 cents.

And to avoid a post that only has dreary pictures of electronic equipment, I give you Addi:

She is making progress in getting finger trained. She will sit on my hand if I’m holding millet seed. (If I’m not, I just get one foot.) She had her first fly out of the cage yesterday, and we’ve discovered that in addition to millet seed, she likes lettuce (but not broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, or peas).

There has been some actual knitting this week, but not enough to show. Devonshire is moving along.

Finishing Touches

At long last, Liv is done. Although I’m not completely happy with the modeling shot, I am pleased with the sweater—and the redone sleeve length.

The design is lovely, but I wasn’t prepared for the many alterations I had to make and for the idiosyncrasies of Silky Wool. The yarn is very stretchy, particularly in the vertical direction, and it was very hard to adjust the pattern. In order to get gauge, I had to change the recommended size 6 and 4 (US) needles to 4s and 2s (and size 3 on the reknit sleeves).

The pattern is in Elsebeth Lavold’s Designer’s Choice Book 1, and the yarn was cinnamon (a discontinued color).

Having finished Liv, I can now turn to the Devonshire jacket. I basted the fronts, back, and collar so I could see where the armhole falls and how it is coming along. And I worked with Liv’s sleeve measurements to modify the sleeve pattern. I now have rewritten directions that will get me the sleeve I want, and that will be this week’s knitting.

After trying on the Devonshire jacket, I decided not to line it. The slip-stitch pattern is very tight, and the jacket holds its shape very well. It has to stretch a bit over my hips, and if I line it, it might not. Perhaps if I knit another pattern from Jean Frost’s Jackets book, I’ll make it shorter and do a lining.

I wasn’t quite sure how the collar would look until I basted it in place. It is a bit lopsided (and not yet blocked), but it will be fine. I like the idea of the fittings at this point in a sweater project, particularly because you can use the “real” gauge of big pieces to adjust for sleeves.

Sure-Footed, but Unbuttoned

My first attempt at Lucy Neatby’s buttonholes was far from successful. For firmness and to get gauge, I’m knitting the buttonband on the Calvin Klein cardigan on size 2 needles, and Cotton Fleece is very splitty with such small stitches. I’m having equivalent trouble using a yarn needle on the tubular bindoff inside the buttonholes. I also discovered that a five-stitch buttonhole is far too stretchy for my buttons. So I need to do more work before I can move on with that project. I may resort to a more standard buttonhole for this sweater, just to get it off the needles. But I won’t give up before I do more swatching. No matter what type of buttonhole I end up with, I need to make samples to see that the size works with my buttons.

In the meantime, I returned to my red socks, and I do have something to show for my efforts.

I made only modest modifications to Charlene Schurch’s four-stitch ribbing pattern socks with heel flaps. I made the sock tops a bit higher than recommended. This is the same design I used for the pink socks that I knit earlier this year, and the difference in the stitch (twist vs. a k-p combination) makes a big difference in the circumference of the sock—this is much tighter, and I do like it better. It is also thicker and makes a warmer sock. I also like this stitch a lot, and I may use it or some variation for a scarf for Ed.

Here are the specs:
Pattern: Four-stitch ribbing design from Sensational Knitted Socks, Alternating 2 x 2 Rib Pattern
Yarn: Socks That Rock, Medium, color Brick
Needles: Brittany Birch, 5-inch DPNs, size 1 (2.25mm)

For the rest of this week, I’m returning to a UFO that you haven’t heard about for a while: Liv. I just need to do the sleeve seams and set them into the body. So if the weather cooperates over the weekend and we have no rain, there may be another FO photo.

Seeing Is Believing

I’ve been intrigued by knitting DVDs. When I began to watch Knitty Gritty on DIY network, I wished that I had knitting videos available when I started to knit. And KnittingHelp.com has gotten me over several rough patches—most notably with one-row buttonholes. But knitting videos are expensive, and my knitting dollars are limited. There is a hierarchy to my spending with yarn first, tools second, and books third. When it comes to a new book, unless I’m absolutely sure that I want it sight unseen (as I would if Myrna Stahman had a new shawl book or Jean Frost had a new jacket book), I want to flip through it first before buying.

This leaves me with a problem for DVDs. I would really like to see them before buying, and that is hard to do. My library has a wonderful system for accessing books, audiobooks, music CDs, and movies. I can log on from the comfort of my computer and request items from about thirty branch libraries in my county. There are 772 knitting books. So for three weeks I can have the pleasure of browsing books I think are interesting and consider them for my own library. I’d been putting “knitting” in the subject line for DVDs and coming up blank. I’m not sure what possessed me to do this, but when I put “knitting” into “movies”, I got 28 hits. And so I borrowed some DVDs to watch.

The first was one called The Absolute Best Way to Knit by Leslye Solomon (click on the DVD link from the online catalog). I took one of Leslye’s classes at Stitches, and she was a great teacher. This is a fine DVD for someone learning to knit, or someone who wants to learn Continental knitting. Despite the hyperbolic title (I think, for example, that the “best” way to knit is combined—but that’s just one person’s opinion), the DVD is easy to follow and a fine way to learn.

I was most eager to see the Lucy Neatby DVDs because I had heard so many good things about them. I sat riveted as I watched the two my library has: Double Knitting Delight and Finesse Your Knitting 1. I’ve never done double knitting because it seemed daunting, and this DVD demystifies it. The Finesse Your Knitting was amazing. It showed many uses of the tubular bindoff, and Lucy’s foolproof way of grafting two pieces so that there is no seam (as when you’d want to attach two buttonbands at the back of the neck). She also shows a buttonhole that left my jaw dropping. Here is a photo from her website of what her buttonhole looks like:

This leaves me with a dilemma for my red sweater. I would like this to be finished quickly so I can move on to other things. But the techniques in Finesse Your Knitting would be great to try on this project. So last night, I decided to modify slightly Lucy’s buttonholes.

Notice that in Lucy’s photo (and on the DVD), she knits the buttonband so it is perpendicular to the knitting on the sweater fronts. I don’t want to do that. I want my buttonbands to go in the same direction as the knitting, mirroring the pattern of knits between the cables.

So I cast on an odd number of stitches (19) and left a column of slipstitch where the band will fold.

To start the buttonhole, you insert waste yarn (to remove later), similar to the way you might do it for the thumb on a mitten. When you’re done with the buttonband, you remove the waste yarn, fold the buttonband, and use a tubular bindoff. Lucy does this in a different color, but I want mine to be the same red as the sweater. I won’t post the details because I doubt if I could do them justice, and I don’t want to infringe on Lucy’s copyright. But if you are as obsessional about buttonholes as I am, you may want to have a look at this DVD.

Unfortunately, I only get a week for a “movie”, and the DVD is headed back to its branch library. I would really love to own this set of DVDs, so I could watch them while I tried the new techniques, and I think that I’ll start acquiring them shortly (as soon as the dentist tells me exactly how much a forthcoming root canal will cost).

I’m not sure I’ll be totally successful with the red buttonholes. I’m not skillful at tubular bindoffs, although I’m sure I would be if I could practice in front of the DVDs. But I’ll keep trying for the next several evenings. It was too late last night to attempt the bindoff on the sample buttonhole. The sleeves are done on the red Calvin Klein cardigan (but sleeve #2 needs blocking), and I have my sock to work on this week, but I can’t put out of my mind the possibility of such classy buttonholes.

Knitting by the Book: Stitch Dictionaries 3, Mon Tricot

A while ago, I started a series of posts about knitting books I really liked, and I’ve neglected to continue. I realized this as I thought about designing a sock pattern of my own. The two I knit from Sensational Knitted Socks are very nice, but the pink sock is a little baggy around the ankle and the new red ones may be a little tight.

I also love cables. And so I thought that a cable pattern might give me the perfect sock top.

And in thinking about which cables I might use, I instinctively went first to some of my oldest dictionaries, not my more modern Stitchionaries and Harmony guides. These are the various Mon Tricot books. Although out of print, these soft-cover books are often available on eBay and from used bookstores at not very elevated prices. These books contain crochet stitches, but since I’m a knitter, I’m only describing the knit portions.

The two dictionaries that I own were released in the 1970s and early 1980s. (There is another version with 1030 stitches, as well.) Although the 1500-stitch edition has many of the stitches that the 800-stitch edition does, there are some stitches not duplicated, and so eventually I’d like to have the missing 1030 edition too.

The version with 800 stitches is mostly black and white, but the instructions are clear and easy enough to read:

There are also color inserts for slip-stitch patterns (as shown here), some stranded patterns, and cables in two colors. Some of the stranded patterns are charted. The front of the book contains international knitting terms, which helped me read patterns in French and Italian magazines that I used for inspiration in the 1970s, when few U.S. publishers had any knitting books or magazines at all. There is a “knitting dictionary" section in this book that has photos of some techniques such as making corners, buttonholes, and decreases. This is a comprehensive section, but the techniques are photographed and not drawn, as in many newer books on knitting techniques. I find the drawings plus the photos, as in the Big Book of Knitting, to be more helpful in learning to do something that is new for me. But the Mon Tricot book is surprisingly thorough for a “stitch dictionary”.

The edition with 1500 stitches has more color. Some of the patterns are photographed in color, but most are taken from the 800-stitch edition and are in black and white.

The stitches in both books are arranged by stitch type (lacy stitches, cables, diagonal patterns). I don’t think I have any other book that devotes a whole section to chevron patterns, and in the 1500-stitch edition, these are all in color.

The 1500-stitch edition has a few patterns (three very nice cable-stitch sweaters—and a dress), and there are instructions for constructing a saddle shoulder on an Aran sweater. This edition also has the “knitting dictionary”. Some of the photos are different from the 800-stitch edition, and are less clear. (Probably some unhappy editor had instructions to make this shorter, and she reduced the number of diagrams. Unfortunately, I’ve had to live under that constraint for different kinds of books!)

I consider these to be among the most cherished books in my knitting library, and if you are eager to start designing projects on your own, they should be part of your collection of stitch dictionaries too.

Flights of Fancy

There’s not much knitting to show for a few reasons. First, I spent much of the weekend getting things posted on Ravelry. And if you’ve already done this, you know how time evaporates. I’m still not done. I have no stash pictures posted yet (and very few pictures of stash yarn taken), so this will take a while. And few of my WIPs are posted. But I’m getting there. You can find me as “primetimeknitter”, and I’ll post a sidebar link this weekend.

On Sunday, as I pried myself away from the computer for a drink of water, I saw myopically out of the side of my reading glasses what seemed to be a small light-blue bird land on my deck rail. When I looked more closely, I recognized a parakeet. Once some years ago, a bright green parakeet landed on my feeder, and by time I got out to see it, the bird had flown away. There are wild parakeets living in Brooklyn and Connecticut, and I am not sure if the bird was tame or feral. I was astounded at how fast and far it could fly.

This time, I approached very carefully, talking to the bird and putting my hand gently on the rail. She (it is probably a she) got on my hand, and I took her in. She acts as if she had been a pet. She spent an hour in a plastic box while I drove to PetSmart and got a cage, food, and toys. And here she is:

Ed kept calling her “Admirable Bird”, which my son thought was wonderful. (I get outvoted so easily around here.) I did not like that name at all, and it is my bird. I am calling her Addi. Once inside, she flew off my hand, and I had to pick her up gently. She did not like this. She has a rapier sharp beak—quite as sharp as the lace needles—and she drew a bit of blood. So the name will stick.

I’ll ask my neighbors if they had a pet bird that got loose, and check the bulletin board in the supermarket, but I seriously doubt that I’ll find her owner. If she had been out for more than a day, she could have covered miles. In any case, Addi is warm, fed, and safe, if a bit shaken from the experience.

I had pet parakeets as a child, and I trained several of them to sit on my hands, shoulder, and head and to do some tricks. Addi is not a baby, and so training might be harder, but if I end up as her foster mother, I’ll do my best.

It's Only Fitting

I held my breath a bit as I basted in the sleeve on the Calvin Klein cardigan. I really hoped this modification would work because I want to cross this project off my WIP list. And I was really pleased when I checked it in the mirror. Here it is in the harsh light of day (as I’m trying to instruct Ed on how to work the camera while modeling):

The sweater is very stretchy around the fronts and neck edge, and I think I’ll try swatching in sizes 2 and 3 needles to see which gives me a firmer finish before starting the front bands. The buttonholes will also be tricky because Cotton Fleece has no memory. The pattern calls for vertical buttonholes, and I’m not sure they’ll work—and so that will be the next obstacle to finishing. I’m hoping that YO buttonholes will look okay and fit my buttons because they will be the least likely to stretch out of shape over time. If I were starting this sweater now, I would have done the buttonbands differently. I certainly would have started them with the bottom ribbing to avoid a seam there. Or I would have knit the bands with the fronts. But this project is too far along to make such adjustments now. The sleeve should take me most of the week, so I have time to ponder these complexities.

Also half-done are my new socks.

If I have any spare time this coming week, I’ll try to finish sock #2. These are from the first pattern (four-stitch patterns) in Charlene Schurch’s Sensational Knitted Socks, and it is one of the alternative patterns at the end of that group of basic instructions.

Another reason for my eagerness to get to sleeve #2 and sock #2 is that my notes leave something to be desired in the way of clarity:

If I hurry up, I will remember most of what I’ve done. If these sit a while, they may return to WIP limbo.

Twisting My Arm

Despite my best planning, I modified the sleeve on the red sweater yet again as I knit it. When I held it up on my arm after finishing the 17 ½ inches I planned for the cuff-to-armhole distance, it seemed to need more than 2 inches for the cap, as I projected initially. I made these new measurements alone, and I contorted myself into some unnatural positions to balance the pieces and measure while I looked in the bathroom mirror, so it was difficult to know for certain whether changes would help. I thought a third inch and a more gradual slope to the top of the sleeve would improve the fitting of the cap of this sleeve, and I adjusted to do that. The measure along the top edge of the sleeve (the part that will attach to the armhole) is still the 19 inches that I want, even with these changes. The test of my decisions will come today, as the sleeve blocks. Cotton Fleece takes a long time to dry. The body required three days. But we’re having a preview of summer today (temperatures in the 70s F), and I’ll dry it outside, in the shade. At least there is some benefit to the heat.

I’m a little fanatical about the way cables end at the top of a piece. As I was approaching the top of the sleeve, I saw that I’d get the stretchy, fat part of the cable at the top edge. Adding the extra inch allowed me one more twist, firming up that edge and giving the sleeve top a better look.

And, unlike Liv, the knitting in Cotton Fleece seems to stretch more horizontally than vertically. I’m hoping the twist at the top edge will counteract that stretch, where I really don’t want it.

When this is blocked, I will baste it to the body for a fitting. If I don’t succumb to second-sleeve syndrome, it should be on to the pocket tops and button bands.

Electronic Spring Cleaning

When it comes to tidying up, I think I’m missing some crucial gene that most women are supposed to possess. I realized long ago that I hate housework. There are some household chores that are less odious to me than others—most of my “favorites” have to do with fabric: laundry and ironing. I don’t mind cooking, but Ed is so much better at it than I am that he does the lion’s share of all the chores required to purchase food and create meals. Dusting and vacuuming are always at the bottom of my to-do list, despite my fitful attempts to galvanize my efforts toward becoming a Martha Stewart wannabe.

So when it comes to spring cleaning, I pick one thing to do (clean out a closet—is this fabric-related?) and try to get it done and feel good about myself. This weekend I contemplated a chore that would enhance the order and cleanliness of my house, and rejected it immediately. There were other things that needed doing that didn’t require any heavy lifting. And so on Saturday, I sorted through my emails, work and otherwise, and organized them into folders that are now neatly stored on my Mac. This wasn’t a total success. When I logged on to my mail on Monday AM, I saw that I had completely neglected my work “sent messages”. Still I managed a sense of satisfaction for doing something I had been putting off for months, and months, and months.

For some time I thought my blog was kind of lackluster and barebones compared to those I visit. Typepad has obligingly come up with new designs, and I’ve been tempted by them. I’ve always been a fan of type with serifs, and so I selected the new design you now see. I hope you like it. (Now that I see how easy it is, I may do this more often.)

I also wanted to add a categories list to my sidebar, and I spent much of Sunday sifting through old posts and arranging them by topic. But in reviewing my 2007 projects, I thought that the entrelac jacket and Ed’s green sweater were far more engrossing than my current projects, and I want to get done with Liv and the Calvin Klein cardigan so I can move on to the complexities of lining the Devonshire jacket and working on the Deco sweater. I’m also thinking of an original sock design, and that will take some work because I’ve never made one two “from scratch”.

If I had spent all this time knitting the sleeves on the Calvin Klein sweater, one would be finished. Last week I knitted a very large swatch going down one needle size (5 to 4 US on the body; 3 to 2 US on the ribbing), and I thought that the new knitting matched the old. And so I’m about up to the elbow on one sleeve:

Sleeves seem rather like shawls on training wheels. When you start out at the cuff, it appears that you’re making miraculous progress and you will be done with the sleeve in no time. But then as the increases begin to, well, increase, the progress slows down. I think it will take two more nights to finish sleeve #1. This is a very easy pattern. The cable crosses occur at very large intervals—rows 9 and 19 on a 26-row repeat—so the knitting seems fast, and a trifle dull. I will block sleeve #1 just to be sure it is correct, and I'll baste it onto the blocked fronts and back for a fitting. In the days that it takes Cotton Fleece to dry, I’ll seam Liv. So this week’s work is cut out for me.