The Chest of Knitting Horrors^TM is now safely packed away into a public warehouse storage cubby, along with my entire yarn stash, (except for the Suede T still in progress) and I'm feeling at odds with myself over not having had time to knit in the past couple of days.  

Will I survive putting this place up for sale?  Will I manage to get everything clean and uncluttered by 4/12? Will finding termites, disconnected plumbing, and bare wire/knob style wiring in the new place crush our desire to shell out for it?  Will I spiral downwards into terminal knitting-withdrawal before I can reclaim my goodies from storage?  Will the Suede T ever be finished?

Who can say?  However I don't believe I will ever stop smelling Pine Sol...

O.K.  Enough blather.  Back to actual knitting...

Progress continues to be made on my Berroco Suede Shapely T.  I'm now up to the armhole decreases on the back (this shot shows the front folded in half, and the back still on the needles.  The entire front is here):

It's been slow going however - and not because of the pattern (which is great), or the yarn (which is annoying but I've gotten used to it.)  I'm afraid life has intruded into my knitting time.  We've made an offer on a new house, and I'm now in the middle of a cleaning and de-cluttering frenzy, getting ready to put our current place up for sale.  Here's a snap of the new place:

Knitting relevance?  This 1912 bungalow has a striking well-preserved Craftsman-style interior and a large dining room.  While I don't have a dining room table yet, I will finally have somewhere to display my now estivating Kinzel Tudor Rose tablecloth.  So I better retrieve it from the Chest of Knitting Horrors^TM and finally finish it off.   Plus, although you can't see the house's interior, I think there's scope here for some knitted lace curtains as well. 

So laugh if you will, I'm off to pack up my closet-dwelling stash, and The Chest of Knitting Horrors^TM

A couple of people have written to me saying they also have problems with yarn labels.  Here in the US, they're not very standardized - especially compared to labels made for the European market.  Here are some examples. 

First, here's a label for Harlekin, a yarn imported from Germany:

You can see not only a recommended needle size, but also a rough consumption guide for how much yarn it might take to make several different garments for average size men, women and children.  Note the little square shape with numbers above, below and aside it - that's the gauge square, and shows how many stitches and rows the maker recommends for this yarn.   It also has complete care instructions.  This is pretty much the Cadillac standard of yarn labels in terms of the amount of information on it.

By contrast, here's a label for a US yarn, made by a small producer (to be fair, it's an old label, and current ones from the same maker might have more info on them):

You'll see that this label has yardage, but no gauge info; and wash directions are rudimentary at best.

Most yarns fall somwhere between these two.  Here's one that's typical:

No little gauge square, but the info is there in prose.  Good care information.  Yardage and skein weight are also there. 

There is a move afoot led by the Craft Yarn Council (mostly made up of mass-market yarn distributors and makers, plus some magazine publishers) to standardize on a new set of yarn descriptors for weight, and for those descriptors to appear on future yarn labels.

You might see markings like these:

While there is considerable weight behind implementaton of these symbols, frankly I think they are not worth the paper they're printed on.  The effort is a laudable one - to simplify the system of yarn designations, removing confusion from terms like worsted, DK, sport and the rest.  But what they do is substitute a set of imprecise descriptors for the admittedly arcane but specific existing terms.

Here's the chart of what each symbol means:

	Gr. 1	Gr. 2	Gr. 3	Gr. 4	Gr. 5	Gr. 6
Type of Yarns in Category	Sock, Fingering, Baby	Sport, Baby	DK, Light Worsted	Worsted, Afghan, Aran	Chunky, Craft, Rug	Bulky, Roving
Knit Gauge Range* in Stockinette Stitch to 4 inches	27�?32 sts	23�?26 sts	21�?24 st	16�?20 sts	12�?15 sts	6�?11 sts
Recommended Needle in Metric Size Range	2.25�? 3.25 mm	3.25�? 3.75 mm	3.75�? 4.5 mm	4.5�? 5.5 mm	5.5�? 8 mm	8 mm and larger
Recommended Needle U.S. Size Range	1 to 3	3 to 5	5 to 7	7 to 9	9 to 11	11 and larger
Crochet Gauge Ranges in Single Crochet to 4 inch	21�?32 sts	16�?20 sts	12�?17 sts	11�?14 sts	8�?11 sts	5�?9 sts
Recommended Hook in Metric Size Range	2.25�? 3.5 mm	3.5�? 4.5 mm	4.5�? 5.5 mm	5.5�? 6.5 mm	6.5�? 9 mm	9 mm and larger
Recommended Hook U.S. Size Range	B�?1 to E�?4	E�?4 to 7	7 to I�?9	I�?9 to K�?10 1⁄2	K�?10 1⁄2 to M�?13	M�?13 and larger

^{(source:  Craft Yarn Council's http://www.yarnstandards.com/weight.html)}

For example, you'll note that the old standard of DK - a pretty precise designation meaning 5.5 stitches per inch is now lumped into a broader guideline that covers everything from 21-24 spi.  That's a TREMENDOUS difference, as true sport weight yarns cannot be successfully substituted for the heavier DKs.  But magazines are printing patterns as being made from a Group 3 yarn.  The way this symbol is so prominently featured leads beginners to believe that ANY Group 3 yarn can be used. 

"Oh" you say, "they can't be that naiive."  Well they are.  I'm not a yarn shop owner, but just in my visits to my LYS I've seen a good half dozen projects ruined by exactly this error.   My heart really goes out to the folks who buy yarns sight-unseen on line, or people who shop in crafts stores for their knitting supplies.  Neither venue offers hands-on help or the sanity check of dealing with another knitter face to face.  Who knows how many people are abandoning projects (and knitting) in disgust because they picked out yarn with only the symbols for guidance and have been disappointed.

My advice?  If you're a designer or yarn maker, try resist the pressure to use this ill-conceived system.  If you're a knitter - ignore it.  Look at the gauge listed (provided there is a gauge listed) NOT the yarn group.  If you're doing substitutions, plan on swatching.  Lots.  Start with the maker's recommended gauge.  Some yarns may perform well over a range of gauges, but not every yarn is guaranteed to achieve the full range of gauges listed in its newly assigned group. 

I promised I'd post pix of some of my Horrors^TM.  Here's the first:  North Truro - my bulletproof cotton counterpane.

I'm fascinated by the way pieced quilting is composed.  In it, the geometric shapes build increasingly more visually complex units by the way they interact either in color, texture or line.  Knitted counterpanes by contrast rarely offer that sort of interplay.  Usually they're made up of all one shape.  Sometimes two, but rarely more.  I wanted to build something that used several units, and in which the design built upon itself unit by unit.  In this case, I've combined a hex, a patterned square, a patterned triangle, and a plain triangle to make a larger repeat.  All of these units are my own design (I've highlighted the units so you can spot them):

I really like the way the squares and triangles extend the hex, making larger compass roses.  I like the way the lines of eyelets draw the eye from rose to rose.  Interestingly enough, this layout isn't the only one possible.  The swirl hexes can be used alone, and the compass rose unit can be arranged in one of several ways (the last one is layout shown above):

The name?  North Truro, Cape Cod, Massachusetts is where we vacation each summer, and is one of my all-time favorite places.  This piece was composed and knit on the beach.  Also the compass rose design resonates with that town's seafaring heritage.

Sadly this project languishes only because of Bad Yarn Choice.  The DK-weight yarn I used is too heavy.  The central swirl-star hex measures 9 inches across.  The compass rose unit measures about 16 inches across.  When I do this again I'll do it up in sport or lighter (on smaller needles of course).   Eventually I'll invent a companion half-hex and border.  I do however have all the units pictured above graphed up already, and do have enough done to illustrate the concept.  If people are interested, I'll consider posting what I've got so far to the free patterns page at wiseNeedle.  Unless of course some well-heeled pattern publisher wishes to offer me oodles of cash to finish it up.  Since the chance of that happening is slightly less than zero, you can count of seeing it on wiseNeedle sometime soon.

This may well belong under a Chest of Knitting Horrors^TM entry, but I'm sorely disappointed with something I made for myself last year. 

I knit up Berroco's Tatania pattern.  I didn't use the recommended Berroco Sensuwool, instead I used an oddly labeled but beautiful wool that knit to the same gauge.  After long and hard study (and after finally seeing other yarns by the same maker), I've decided that this stuff was Filtes King Australian Merinos Collection Irrestringible - a 100% Merino wool of about sport gauge.  It was hard to tell exactly who made this yarn because the label also lists "Rosina Filati" and "Filtes Genoa", and placement of the name was confusing.  I've listed it in the yarn review collection as Rosina King Australian Merinos, but I plan on correcting that the next time I do a database edit.

Knitting up this pullover was mostly pleasant.  The wool is soft and forgiving to use, although it is a splitter.  The pattern however has a serious error in it.  The unusual neckline shaping should be formed by increases rather than decreases as written.  Once I subbed "inc" for every "dec" on the neck part, everything came out o.k.

The (minor) tragedy of this piece has happened since.  The yarn is a soft cabled multi-ply multi-color.  I've been told it looks like Missoni Stampato, with two plies of deep blue, and two plies of variegated jewel color loosely twisted together.  Sadly even though those plies are nicely twisted, and I found no imperfections or knots in the balls themselves the yarn has chosen to break in several spots.  I now have a nifty sweater sitting in my darning basket waiting for me to Kitchener up at least three holes. 

What caused this?  I don't know.  I've got no moths, and didn't notice any fiber weakness while knitting.  I only wore it twice before I noticed the breaks, and spray blocked it instead of dunking it; so it hasn't even undergone washing yet.  

What am I doing about it? For now, letting it sit in the "to be mended" pile until my enthusiasm grows and/or I can figure out how to prevent more holes.   I guess it really should be included with the rest of the Horrors^TM.

Beats me...

They were just here, but seem to have hidden themselves.  They're not gone though.  I can see them all on my admin page.  To help people find info, I've added sidebar links to most of them. 

With luck blog-city will get itself into gear, or someone will be able to tell me what I might have done to cause this mess.  In the mean time, help yourself to the (side)bar.

Progress continues to be made.  I have now finished the front (complete with darts), and am starting the back.  The Berroco Suede yarn continues to be annoying to knit, but produces a quite pleasing fabric.  An additional note though - it's HEAVY, even compared to a similar gauge cotton.  This will end up being quite a weighty T-shirt.  Jury is still out on the warmth factor, but the thing being 100% nylon, it probably be on the toasty side. 

I'm planning to finish the border around the neck with an abbreviated strip of the same edge design I used earlier.  I'm also especially pleased by the dart shaping.  Being far from planar myself, flat cut Ts never quite fit me correctly.  I'm looking forward to seeing how the Shapely T fits.

TRIVIAL QUESTION

A couple of people have written after noticing the origin of this blog's name.  They've asked if hobbits knit.  I'm not a gushing "look what they've done in the movies" follower, nor am I a line-by-line memorizer of JRRT's canon, but I'm pretty familiar with the books. 

 I can safely say there is absolutely no specific textual reference in Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit for knitting. 

Hobbits do wear mufflers (though obviously, never socks) but how those are made isn't detailed.  This however didn't bind the imagination of the movie makers.  There is considerable debate among the fan-boy/fan-gal set that does costume replication as to whether or not Pippins' scarf in the recent films was knit or woven.   Although most of the other specialty textiles in the series were woven, I think the scarf was knit, using lozenges of purl welting in a contrasting color broken up by slipped knit stitches:

The same texture/color pattern  is found in this Schaefer cardigan.   Still, I'm not going to run out and make one myself.  I'll leave that for the true fan-boys/gals.

Well, here it is.  Nine months in the making - my Forest Path stole is finally finished.  (Pattern from Summer 2003 Interweave Knits).  Biggest Lesson Learned:  There's a reason why most people knit lace in white or light colors.  I encourage anyone wanting to do this (or any piece) in black to have their head and eyes examined.  Not necessarily in that order.

We start with a clean sheet on the carpet, a sodden mass, eight three-foot long lengths of 1/16th inch brass tubing, and assorted straight pins:

Threading the tubing through the edge stitches was a bit tedious.  It would have gone faster had the tubing nice knitting needle style points.  The ends though didn't snag very much, they were quite smooth.  The only difficulty was that the adhesive used to attach the price labels in the hardware store was difficult to get off.  Rubbing alcohol didn't do it.  I needed to resort to nail polish remover.

I have to admit, I'm pretty pleased with this one.  I like the Suri Alpaca.  For the record, I used two full skeins, and managed to eke out 21 tiers of motifs.  I had only a tiny bit left over.  My stole ended up being 29" x 75" (73.6cm x 190.5cm).  Now with the Spider Queen and the Forest Path under my belt - both gifts for others - I'm looking around for killer lace shawl or stole to make for myself.   What to do next?  Possibly Hazel Carter's Alcazar (no affiliation, just gloming pix), or one of the many spectacular Niebling designs worked at shawl-let rather than doily scale  (pix of many can be found off of Yarn Over, Nurhanne's knitted lace website.)  But there remains one problem: I am not  the lace-wearing type... 

I thought readers here might like something interesting to look at while they were waiting for me to post a picture of my Forest Path stole in mid-block.

Knitting isn't my only needlework pursuit.  I also embroider  A while back I pulled together a book of historical counted thread embroidery patterns.  It proved as popular as the publisher proved to be untrustworthy.  Both are now hard to find.  The publisher appears to have disappeared, and the book is out of print.  Be that as it may, I still enjoy counted thread embroidery - especially blackwork.  Here's a piece I've been working on for quite a while.  (In fact, were it knitting it would qualify for inclusion in my Chest of Knitting Horrors^TM just for the amount of time it's taking to finish.) 

It's going to be a blackwork coif.  That's a small, flat bonnet-shaped hat.  The design is partly original, and partly adapted from 17th century sources.  I'm doing it in black Krenik silk on 50-count linen.  he working method of doing first rows of cross stitch, which are later entirely oversewn by a raised outline stitch (in this case, chain stitch) is something I'm toying with after seeing a similar approach in a photo of a half-done piece in a book of sources (excuse small images, something screwy is going on at PicServer.  I'll put the big ones back when they become available again). 

And a detail shot:

Progress continues to be made on my two current projects.  I'm just below the armholes on the front of my Shapely T in Suede, that places me smack in the midst of the short rows that provide extra fullness in the bust (and that make the piece live up to its name).  I'm looking forward to seeing how this topography overlies my own.  In the mean time, I can report on my quest for blocking wires.

Having read so much about the effectiveness of threading stiff wires through the edges of lace pieces undergoing blocking, and having struggled with pin blocking my Spider Queen shawl last year, I decided to treat myself to blocking wires.  Here's the Spider Queen all finished, laid out on my living room floor:

And a detail of it mid-block.  I was fortunate enough to come across a pair of flat checked bedsheets in an odd lot discount store a couple of years ago.  The two-inch squares are VERY convenient if you need to lay something out evenly.  You can see how the pins worked o.k. with this piece, which has lots of dagged points along the edges.  The Forest Path stole however is straight-edged, without points.  I was afraid that using pins would distort the edges.

Since no local knitshops sell the wires packaged up for this use, I went to several local hardware stores instead.  I was looking for long straight lengths of non-corroding wire, preferably stainless steel.   I didn't find them.  Instead I settled for brass.  I had two choices in brass - 1/16-inch rods and 1/16th-inch tubes.  Both came in 3-foot lengths.  I opted for the tubes because they were more flexible than the rods.  I bought eight at $1.65 each.  They were slightly oily and sticky, so I washed and dried them thoroughly.  Tomorrow I plan on washing my Forest Path stole and blocking it with my new wires.  Pix will ensue...