I'm here but I'm not. Cut off from Real Communications, I've stored a couple of advance-dated posts. If you see this it's because I'm running on autopilot, and have not had time to revisit these pages and do a proper write-up. In the mean time, here's entertainment.

Filet of Dragon

This one is munching along, too. I've done some gauge squares with Size 30 cotton, and crochet hooks of various sizes that I could obtain locally and quickly. The two smallest are:

• Marked "Susan Bates US #10/1.15mm
• Marked "Boye US #11/1.10mm

Now the Bates needle, though marked as being larger has a shaft and hook that is noticeably smaller than the Boye. I'm using that one, and with #30 cotton am now getting about 10 meshes across the row = 2.25", 10 rows = 2.1". The stuff still looks leggy to me, but I doubt I'll be able to find a smaller hook before I head out on vacation (did I mention that mid-move complication?)

Here's my swatch, taken over no particular pattern of voided and filled meshes. I was practicing technique, deciding how I want to work into the stitches of the rows below, and whether or not I liked the look of crocheting into the open mesh instead of into the chain for filled meshes that appear on top of voided ones.

The lower, leggier, looser?part was worked on the Boye faux #11; the upper?tighter part?on the Bates #10. My working method was the same, I made no effort to work more or less loosely, and the difference is VERY evident. Go figure...

I'm here but I'm not. Cut off from Real Communications, I've stored a couple of advance-dated posts. If you see this it's because I'm running on autopilot, and have not had time to revisit these pages and do a proper write-up. In the mean time, here's entertainment.

Crazy Raglan

That's proceeding apace, too. I've now done about eleven inches of both the front and back. It's hard to see because of the stockinette curl, but each is about 15 inches wide, making a total garment circumference of 30 inches, give or take. I like the wide stripes and the sort of strange seam down the front. Not for me, mind you, but for a six-year old it's playful and fun:

Now, here's something to which I wasn't paying attention. When I do my Intarsia twist where the two yarn strands meet at the center front, I must be twisting in opposite directions on the knit and purl side. Instead of a little "barber pole" twist down the center, I've produced what looks like a column of purls, seen sideways:

My "seam" looks good from the front, and isn't spreading or distending oddly when stretched, but it is definately different. Not less satisfactory or wrong - just different. Anyone have any feedback/experience with this?non-standard Intarsia join??

As I noted before, life around here is about to get REALLY interesting. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to post much over the next two weeks. Complications have arisen in the house rehab/move cycle and in our family schedule. We have to take down our main machines tonight or tomorrow, so I'll be relying on an unreliable laptop for the near future. Plus once we head over to the new house it's not entirely clear that we'll have electricity and/or connectivity right away; and once we do there's the minor problem of getting everything hooked back up again. Although things seem to be taking forever, progress is being made on many fronts. I hope...

In the mean time, I'll report on some TANGIBLE knitting progress:

Fulled Pillow

It's done!? All shrunken, stuffed, and sewn. I had put it on temporary hold until I could retrieve the pillow form I knew was lurking in the storage cubby (it's the one that used to stuff The Smallest One's crib pillow, the target child for this effort). Form retrieved, pillow done. I'm even pleased with the from-memory color match to her comforter and sheets.

Taaa daah:

It's not much, but there's not much time to work on anything, so please bear with me.

Where are the reports on the other projects?? I decided to use the deadman switch option. I've broken them up into a couple of separate entries, and posted them with future dates. That way something will appear in this space over the next week or so. If I get lucky and can regain control of the helm here at String Central ahead of the date I anticipate I'll?intercept and rewrite?those forward-stored posts. In the mean time at least this space won't become a total dead zone until mid-July.

A short post today on a time-stressed weekend day. 

Buzzing in on the hopping heels of last week's bunny, here's another small graph from my embroidery book.  This super-simple one is original. One dragonfly can be spot-placed, or they can be done in series using stranding.  A strip of dragonflies can be aligned either katywumpus as I show here, or all facing the in same direction.  In knitting, I think that these would be particularly fun to accent with shiny beads or duplicate stitching on the body or wings.  They'd also be a killer trim if done in bead knitting. 

Other uses for simple graphs include filet crochet (Mary Thomas' Knitting Book describes filet knitting, too); all types of cross stitching; needlepoint; and lacis or pattern darning.  I've even heard from people using TNCM patterns for wood marquetry and tile mosaics!

I mentioned my experience with this project before.  Tatania is a pattern by Berroco, written for now discontinued SensuWool.  Berroco probably won't like to hear this, but I used a different yarn - the confusingly named King Australian Merinos/Rosina Stampata.   That was the yarn with the ambiguous label I wrote about in March.

Tatania has had two visits in the Chest of Knitting Horrors^TM.  The first happened while I was knitting.  The Berroco pattern has a glaring error in it.  The piece has a neckline of unusual shape, although it's hard to see here:

It's sort of a squared off reverse Vee.  It's a neckline found in late Renaissance gowns, and one that looks quite good on me, so I bit and made the thing.  But if you read through the pattern, you'll discover that the directions say to DECREASE during neckline shaping.  That leaves too few stitches on the needles to make the shoulder join, and inverts the shaping of the neckline.  Here's an excerpt from letter I wrote about it to Berroco:

Dear Berroco,

Thank you for making your website so complete, informative, entertaining
and easy to use. I especially like the way you have associated your
patterns and yarns.

I am in the middle of working up your Tatania pattern. I am
enjoying it immensely and am looking forward to wearing the final product.
I did however find what I believe to be a rather serious typo in the
version available at this URL:

http://www.berroco.com/188/188_tatania.html

The problem is in the front, at the point just after the bodice stitches
are bound off across the front of the squared neckline, as you are
beginning to work the sides of the neck opening.

Here is the problem statement:

DEC ROW (RS): Work in ribbing to 2 sts before marker (dec 1, k2,
p3). Working in ribbing as established, dec 1 st before marker every 4th
row 4 times, then every other row 8 times...

I did this, and ended up with far too few stitches to mate the front and
back shoulders properly. Plus, the piece I ended up with reversed the
angles of shaping for the neckline - with the two shoulder parts sloping
outwards instead of inwards.

When I did the computation of stitch count by gauge it became obvious that
I should have INCREASED instead of DECREASING each time "dec" is specified
in the pattern.

I am now proceeding to finish my Tatania, using increases in place of the
decreases in the pattern.

I thought you might like to know about this problem so you can correct your
on-line pattern. The design is striking and it shows off the yarn to good
effect. It would be a shame for knitters to get so far into the thing only
to face frustration. I am sure you would not want that frustration to attach
itself to your sterling reputation.

I'm afraid I never heard back from Berroco, and the pattern is still uncorrected on their website.  (I've since learned that the hard copy edition in Book #188 - Holiday also sports the same error.)

As you can see, I did muddle on through and produce the final piece.  As expected, the welted center panel does draw up a bit in the center.  That's probably why the model was posed with her hands covering that spot.  Even so, it's a striking, form-fitting and very flattering piece. 

O.K. So why did it go back to the Chest of Knitting Horrors^TM? 

The yarn I used is junk.  The color is beautiful -  a combo of deep blue with a ragg-type strand of brights twisted in.  It's wear-against-the skin soft and luxurious.  But since knitting it has begun disintegrating.  Without provocation (no moths, no mold, no laundry stress, no rough handling, no careless storage, and after only two wearings), spots here and there have broken.  I've got a half-dozen safety pins in the piece right now, holding stitches to prevent them from laddering down.  I need to find my leftovers and do some aggressive duplicate-stitch style darning, in effect Kitchener grafting the broken bits together.  I'm especially annoyed because I had no clue this would happen as I was knitting.   Grrrr. 

More on Yarn Names

In response to yesterday's rant about yarn names I got one note that pointed out something I didn't know.  It was from someone who works for a yarn manufacturer.  That person pointed out that there are very few ways for a committee thinking up yarn names to check to be sure that the name they pick hasn't been used recently.  One way is to look in the index of Valuable Knitting Information, a twice-yearly spiral bound volume listing yarns going back about a decade or so (the recent 40th edition goes back all 20 years).  VKI although large does not list all yarn manufacturers, and does not associate yarns with any sort of date, so it's tough to see how old an entry might be unless one checks through back issues to spot when it appears. 

Another way they've been using lately is to look up the name on wiseNeedle.  Although our list is smaller and dates aren't precise, they do exist and can give a clue as to whether or not the name under investigation might still be on the shelves.  Interesting!  This is a use for wiseNeedle I didn't consider.  The note went on to say that the maker the author works for does check the yarn reviews for their products and greatly appreciates both positive AND negative comments. 

I've been  to keep the trivia of life from occluding my flow of knit-related entries, or from letting daily happenings stomp all over my posts.  That's about to get somewhat more difficult. 

Please don't be surprised if I miss the odd day (or week) between now and August.  For example, in the next six weeks we close on a new house, I am marshalling an army of contractors to rewire, repair the plumbing, and do the floors and (possibly) roof.  I personally have to remove all of the old fiberglass insulation improperly installed in the attic, rip down several massive ivy vines invading the stucco and pack all our stuff, supervise the move to the new place, clean the old place, and unpack.  During this period the kids end school, the little one begins day camp, the big one gets hauled to horse camp.  Also during this period we take our annual week out in North Truro on Cape Cod. 

Why a vacation in the midst of the chaos?  It's paid for (we have to reserve it in January); and it's at a place that gives 'dibs' on next year's rooms to this year's occupants.  I first stayed there when I was a teen, and have been going back ever since we relocated to this area.  It's on a quiet, (mostly) unchanged part of the Outer Cape just south of Provincetown, right on a bay side beach.  About all that's different in this particular place since the '70s is that the curtains of the efficiency were replaced sometime between '74 and '95.  No phones, no computers.  Just books, sandy children, knitting, and paella cooked on the grill. We may come back early, or I may zip home a couple of times if my presence is needed, but we ARE going. 

Which place is it?  I won't tell you.  I want it to remain undiscovered, but if you know that area if I say we're about a quarter mile from Day's Cottages in a hotel that straddles Rt. 6A, you'll have a very good idea of where I'll be.

(We are NOT staying in Day's Cottages.)

KNITTING PROGRESS - LACY SCARF, PILLOW, ENTRE DEUX LACS TEE, CRAZY RAGLAN

Good news on the Lacy Scarf!  After a minor failure of the on-line ordering system (graciously rectified by the owner after a phone call) I finally got the skein of the Greenwood Hill Farm 2-ply laceweight I need to finish the scarf.  I spent last night ripping back about a quarter of the finished edging and the last diamond panel of the center.  My plan is to extend the center section by about six inches, reknit the diamond panel, then finish the edging all the way around.  This should take a couple nights of work.  I am not sure whether or not the thing will require blocking.  We'll see.

The fulled pillow is stalled.  I just haven't had a moment either to make a pillow insert to the exact dimension needed, or to run to the crafts store to see if I can improvise a solution with off-the-shelf stuff.  It sits here on my desk, buttons in a baggie, just waiting.

Entre Deux Lacs Tee is moving along.  I've finished two of the ten strips needed, and am about a third of the way through the next one.  The bowling ball sized lump of yarn seems barely diminished, which is a good thing.

I haven't mentioned the Crazy Raglan yet.  I did end up going back to the clearance sale at Wild & Woolly in Lexington after the weekend.  I came home with a bag of Regia 6-ply Crazy Color.  It's a DK-weight machine washable wool, in a somewhat self-striping combo of red, blue, yellow, white and turquoise.  I'll use it to make a top-down raglan style pullover for the small one, probably worked at sport gauge because I like this yarn better knit slightly tighter.  The pattern is something I whipped up using Sweater Wizard, customized a bit after the original output.  I'll be casting on for this one prior to heading off on vacation.  A plain stockinette small piece in washable yarn sounds like relaxing vacation knitting to me, as I'm not at all sure I'd like to get my entrelac project's boucle hand-dyed wool full of sunblock and sand.

A NAME GENERATOR MORE TO MY LIKING

I see tons of people posting name games, quizzes and other web toys on their blogs.   Some are cute.  This one isn't.  (I miss Brunching Shuttlecocks.)

Aldmort's comment on my calling a color "run-in-the-rain-racoon" got me thinking about a favorite silly topic:  the names picked by marketing for yarns or colors.

Now I'll happily put up with all sorts of nonsense, but it seems that ever so often those involved in the naming lose touch with reality.  My favorite Bad Idea of 2004 so far is the Lana Grossa yarn, Brillo.  It's actually a rather soft and shiny fiber blend - but you'd never know that from the name.  (Non-North Americans might not know that "Brillo" is a trade name for one of the most widespread brands of steel wool/soap pads.)  Alamo is another bad yarn name.  Am I supposed to associate that with a desperate and bloody battle, or the car rental outfit? 

I realize that yarn names are at best, the product of intense focus on behalf of a marketing group, or at worst - the brainstormed bastard child of a bunch of people sitting around donuts and coffee after midnight.  The most effective names evoke a mood or tickle the mind about a property of the yarn.  They don't have to be literal.  After all, if everyone sold yarn called "Fuzzy Wool Worsted," we'd also go nuts. 

I like names that communicate something about the yarn.  I think that Waterspun is a good name for a partially felted yarn.  Elastico tells me the stuff stretches.  Techno Fur says fuzzy synthetic and Lazer FX says shiny light and mirrors. 

Neutral names abound. Most of the place names and a few of the person-names applied to yarns fall into this group.  Some do evoke an image.  I wouldn't expect a yarn called "Florida" to be a polar-weight wool (the three Floridas in the yarn review collection are all cotton or cotton blends).  I wouldn't expect a yarn called "Alaska" to be something worn in the summer (also three, all wool or bulky winter-type yarns). 

I detest names like Anna (two in the yarn review collection).  A yarn named "Anna" might be anything.  Isadora would be a better "people name" for a yarn.  It makes me think of the famous (and famously reckless) ballerina Isadora Duncan.  I think unconventionality, luxury, silk, sheerness, and fluttery - all associations with her dance style, the classical costumes she affected and the veil or scarf that killed her.  Of course you might be turned off by the same associations.  That's what the marketing people are supposed to figure out.   Names like "Mousse" are also problematic.  There are four in the yarn review collection, ranging from K1C2's Aran weight mohair blend, to Katia's nylon worsted and Artfiber's novelty yarn.  All very different and none exhibiting what I'd think of as mousse-like qualities.

Color names are even worse.

I can deal with things like "moorit."  That's a traditional designation for one of several undyed colors right off the sheep's back.  But what the heck are these?

• Lichen
• Hero
• Bramble
• Swarm
• Hansel

And if you think I'm picking on Rowan exclusively, what about these?

• Depths
• Tingle
• Firefly
• Gelato
• Thursday
• Honesty

Don't get me wrong - I like color names.  A yarn with a color name is easier to remember than a yarn with a number.  But I want the names to tell me something.  Carnation, Blush, Powder, Azalea and Antique Rose are all perfectly good names for pinks - each giving me a rough idea of what hue is meant.  Even Ballerina dredges up a color association and image.  Honesty may be a good policy for labeling, but as a color name it tells me nothing. 

A couple of weeks ago when I wrote about charting knitted texture patterns, a couple of people were curious about Aran Paint, one of the lesser-known programs I mentioned.  Here's an example of what it does.

I'm starting with a twisted stitch texture pattern in Baulerches Stricken 1 by Lisa Fanderl.  This is the first volume in a set of three German language knitting books that present traditional knitting patterns gathered from various regions of the country.  This series is certainly interesting, but as with many stitch treasuries, presents the patterns using its own rather ideosyncratic notation and symbol set.  In this case, the pattern is shown using plain old typeset characters, some linked with bars to indicate the direction of the twisted or cabled stitches.  I've played with some of the textured and lacy patterns from this series, but to work with a minimum of fuss, I usually had to re-graph them first. 

This particular pattern is shown on p. 129  It's a simple 10-stitch wide panel, and features some twisted knit stitch ribbing manipulated to look like a series of bells connected by chain links.  I'm afraid I don't have my swatch or a knitted sample, but this did look quite nice run as panels up the front of a baby sweater, close together in the upper bodice area, and set progressively further apart by an increasing number of stockinette stitches towards the lower edge.

Here are the results of graphing with Aran Paint:

Screen shot of mock-up

Final Graph

The program also produced this set of prose instructions as a text file (it also outputs the same material in HTML):

AranPaint-BS1-129a.ara    (10 Stitches  x  26 Rows)
Repeat these 26 rows for the length required.
Row 1: K1, T2F, P1, K2, P1, T2B, K1.
Row 2: P1, K1, P1, K1, P2, K1, P1, K1, P1.
Row 3: K1, P1, T2F, K2, T2B, P1, K1.
Row 4: P1, K2, P4, K2, P1.
Row 5: K1, P2, K4, P2, K1.
Row 6: P1, K2, P4, K2, P1.
Row 7: K1, P2, K4, P2, K1.
Row 8: P1, K2, P4, K2, P1.
Row 9: K1, P2, K4, P2, K1.
Row 10: P1, K2, P4, K2, P1.
Row 11: K1, P2, K4, P2, K1.
Row 12: P1, K2, P4, K2, P1.
Row 13: K1, P2, T2F, T2B, P2, K1.
Row 14: P1, K3, P2, K3, P1.
Row 15: K1, P3, C2F, P3, K1.
Row 16: P1, K3, P2, K3, P1.
Row 17: K1, P2, T2B, T2F, P2, K1.
Row 18: P1, K2, P1, K2, P1, K2, P1.
Row 19: K1, P2, K1, P2, K1, P2, K1.
Row 20: P1, K2, P1, K2, P1, K2, P1.
Row 21: K1, P2, K1, P2, K1, P2, K1.
Row 22: P1, K2, P1, K2, P1, K2, P1.
Row 23: K1, P2, T2F, T2B, P2, K1.
Row 24: P1, K3, P2, K3, P1.
Row 25: K1, P3, C2F, P3, K1.

You can see that the thing is certainly useful, but that it has its limitations.

• The program doesn't include twisted stitches (like knit one through back of the loop).  All of the original pattern's knits are twisted, but I couldn't show that on my version.  YOs and eccentric cable crossings also aren't included.
• AranPaint includes its own "artificial intelligence" that prevents one from graphing only every other row, or from placing a cable unit such that it commences on an even numbered row.  For example, if you're working in the round and want to move one stitch over on two succeeding rounds without a plain round between them, you can't graph it in AranPaint.
• Symbol keys or glossaries don't print at the same time as the pattern.  While that's not a big deal, and you can retrieve the keys from the publisher's website, doing so is a pain and means an extra trip through cut-and-paste land.
• You can't easily get output for the mock-up I show at left above.  To do this, I had to open AranPaint, take a screen capture, edit the capture down for size in Visio, save it as a *.jpg, then use Macromedia Fireworks to trim the resulting *.jpg down to something that is web-manageable.
• There's no undo function beyond "remove last stitch."
• Moving elements can be a pain, as there is no drag and drop.

All of these limitations being said, the program is still quite handy.  Although I usually use my Visio template system for most "hard core" graphing, I do enjoy doodling with AranPaint, then having the resulting piece turned into an editable texture pattern.  Here's one of my doodles:

and the prose version:

AranPaint-doodle.ara    (9 Stitches  x  36 Rows)
Repeat these 36 rows for the length required.
Row 1: P2, C5R, P2.
Row 2: K2, P5, K2.
Row 3: P2, K1, C3B, K1, P2.
Row 4: K2, P5, K2.
Row 5: P2, K1, C3B, K1, P2.
Row 6: K2, P5, K2.
Row 7: P2, C5R, P2.
Row 8: K2, P5, K2.
Row 9: P1, T2B, K3, T2F, P1.
Row 10: K1, P1, K1, P3, K1, P1, K1.
Row 11: T2B, P1, C3R, P1, T2F.
Row 12: P1, K2, P3, K2, P1.
Row 13: T2F, T2B, K1, T2F, T2B.
Row 14: K1, P2, K1, P1, K1, P2, K1.
Row 15: P1, C2B, P1, K1, P1, C2F, P1.
Row 16: K1, P2, K1, P1, K1, P2, K1.
Row 17: P1, T3F, K1, T3B, P1.
Row 18: K2, P5, K2.
Row 19: P2, C5R, P2.
Row 20: K2, P5, K2.
Row 21: P2, K1, C3B, K1, P2.
Row 22: K2, P5, K2.
Row 23: P2, K1, C3B, K1, P2.
Row 24: K2, P5, K2.
Row 25: P2, C5R, P2.
Row 26: K2, P5, K2.
Row 27: P1, T2B, K3, T2F, P1.
Row 28: K1, P1, K1, P3, K1, P1, K1.
Row 29: T2B, P1, C3R, P1, T2F.
Row 30: P1, K2, P3, K2, P1.
Row 31: T2F, T2B, K1, T2F, T2B.
Row 32: K1, P2, K1, P1, K1, P2, K1.
Row 33: P1, C2B, P1, K1, P1, C2F, P1.
Row 34: K1, P2, K1, P1, K1, P2, K1.
Row 35: P1, T3F, K1, T3B, P1.
Row 36: K2, P5, K2.

Before you write and ask, remember - symbols and abbreviation sets used in AranPaint write-ups and graphs can be found here.

I was doing some more pre-move packing, and I came upon my Manos del Uruguay coat:

I made it in '96, as a reward for landing a good job after moving from Maryland to Boston.  But the project started ten years earlier when I bought some rosewood buttons at a crafts fair in Virginia.  It took a long time before I found the right yarn/project to sit behind them.   

I started with a pattern in the Manos Book #10, but made quite a few changes along the way:

Aside from the trivial change of color (brick/topaz/black/cherry to canyon/topaz/olive/black), I  did some redrafting.  As you can see from this thumbnail, the original was  a cropped jacket, reaching to the bottom of the beltline.  Being tall and curved rather than linear,  I wanted something longer.  

To add length though posed two problems.  The first was that the body of the piece isn't done in plain old stockinette.  It's worked in a very large non-repeating design of freeform swirls and elongated paisley spots, done in knit/purl texture.  The second was that the proportions of the sleeves and edgings would look out of place on a larger piece.

My solution was to draw up an extension of the pattern's swirly texture.  I did that on graph paper, replicating the last ten or so rows of the chart in the leaflet, then going on to add another 75 or so rows.  I also redrafted the sleeves and armholes, adding a bit more depth.  Finally I extended the slip-stitch motif bands at the button band, lower hem and cuff by adding a few more plain rows of garter stitch between the Greek key design panels, also to help keep the piece in proportion. 

I learned a few lessons along the way, the least of which is that wool in quantity is heavy.  The original cropped jacket isn't anywhere near as massive as my coat.  In spite of my broad shoulders, I needed to add shoulder pads to make my coat hang properly.  The second was about sleeve shape, and it didn't become evident until a few years had passed.  The deep sleeves were more current at the time the piece was knit, and as time goes on are making the fit of the thing look more and more dated.  Had I done narrower sleeves I might have avoided this. 

I also learned about hand-dyed yarns and skein-to-skein variation.  Manos is beautiful stuff.  Each skein is one of a kind.  This is especially true of the multicolors, like the canyon color I used for the bulk of this piece.  The canyon available at that point ranged from paprika through cocoa, with side trips to ecru and run-in-the-rain raccoon.  Some skeins were heavy on the lighter colors, some on the darker ones.  Before I began knitting, I laid out all my skeins and placed them where I thought the colors would balance.  That means I paid the most attention to the right and left cardigan fronts, choosing skeins for each that had roughly equivalent amounts of each color.  Then I picked complementing sleeve skeins.  The remainder became the back.

Knitting purists will note that the swirly pattern I mentioned above isn't visible in the photo because the yarn I chose for those areas is so variegated.  I argue that while it isn't immediately discernable, it is visible, as the patterning  of the purl and knit stitches presents an interesting way to maximize the variations in the yarn.  Yes, it's not immediately evident that what I have there are swirls, but up close and personal, you can see that the piece is textured and the texture accentuates the colors.

While I'm pleased in general with this piece, I'm not 100% satisfied with it.  Manos was not the best choice for a long coat.  In addition to the weight/warmth issue, it does pill.  I planned this cardigan as something to wear indoors at work, but I neglected to think about the abrasion a heavy jacket takes from the rough upholstery of most office chairs.  The back of my coat is a mass of pills.  (You can even see pills on the front and sleeves on the photo).  Very disappointing, but entirely my fault.

I've still got some Manos left over from my jacket.  I'm thinking of using to to make a fulled bag.  But that project will have to wait until we're settled in the new house and I've reclaimed my stash.