Here's another review of a knitting book that time forgot.  This one is The Teenage Knitting Book by Betty Cornell.  New York: Prentice Hall, 1953.

Intro to knitting books weren't invented with Yarn Girl's Guide to Simple Knits or any of the other ten thousand beginner books that have recently flooded the market  Nor is the retargeting of knitting at a younger group of knitters something new.  Yes, books are better illustrated now, yarns are heavier, and the level of knitting skill expected from beginners has decreased somewhat; but the basic idea - writing trendy patterns in a chirpy style to encourage new knitters and enable them to learn new skills - hasn't changed.

This book is a case in point.  It's by a woman whose other credits include a large number of girl's grooming and fashion books.  My mother says that her name would have been recognized at the time.  She touts all the familiar stuff:  knitting is wonderfully relaxing, it's great to fill up time and/or keep your fingers busy, it presents a grand sense of accomplishment, it fills tactile needs, and it's fun to get together and knit in groups.  As one would expect it also asks "why not make that ultra-trendy stole in the exact color you want instead of buying what's available at the store" just like its recent descendents. 

After a brief intro, the book is off and running presenting several dozen patterns for blouses, sweaters, stoles, socks, hats, and dresses.  Patterns range from dead simple (a dropped stitch stole flat out identical in concept to the "magic scarf" pattern floating around the Web right now); to several pullovers that sport some nice shaping and tailored details.  Yarns are small.  Most pieces are knit in fingering or sport weight yarns.  Sizes are also small.  Although they're labeled as being sizes 14-18, those sizes are pegged to finished sizes ranging from 34-36 inches finished chest measurement for the 14 to 36-38 inches finished chest measurement for the 18, depending on how tightly they fit.  Remember - this was the sweater girl era, and fit is generally quite sleek, so I'd estimate these as being the equivalent of modern size 8-10-12.  In spite of that, there are several pieces in the book that are very interesting. Here's one of the more unusual:

If you get past the strange yearbook pose and black and white presentation, you'll see a piece with complex waist shaping, an interesting neckline, and set-in cap sleeves.  It could be worn today.  Not necessarily with pearls and a Pepsodent smile, but could be quite interesting and depending on the yarn choice -  could compliment anything from jeans to velvet.

Here's another - a classic cable sweater.  This one has shoulder pads inside and the model is probably wearing a girdle to create extra waist shaping. 

Not a boxy rendition of the standard cable, but a tailored piece featuring two different stitch patterns.  Note the push-up sleeves.  You don't get that kind of fit  from a bulky yarn.  I especially like the way the cables flow down without interruption to the ribbing at the cuff.  This piece is knit in fingering weight. Wearable now as a classic?  You bet. 

There are several cardigan patterns, ranging from little cropped length pearl-button cap sleeve ones to longer styles paired with knit skirts.  Very retro, yet again - wearable today.  There are some men's patterns.  The one I like best is a seaman-style sweater with a very long ribbed sections at waist and cuffs - both meant to be worn folded up.  It looks like something to be worn in a remake of On the Waterfront:  

 

I think that QueerJoe would look killer in this simple piece.

There are also patterns for golf club covers (woefully small for today's oversized drivers) and a couple of easy to make afghans.  A bonus in all knitting books of this vintage, there are sock, hat, glove and mitten patterns, including a very nice plain anklet, and the hot, hot must-have item of the day - the argyle:

The patterns are more completely written up than most patterns of similar vintage.  Colorwork is charted, but except for that all instructions are offered in prose.  They don't use the arcane shorthand common to most late 1940s/early 1950s patterns, instead directions are are presented in complete sentences.  There are some major assumptions made - like the entire direction on shaping the waist frill in the top photo reads "Block peplum, then face with taffeta leaving approximately 2 inches free at each side seam to allow stretch and tacking top loosely."  It may be a beginner knitting book, but some sewing skills here are clearly expected from the knitter.  

The book finishes up with an 8-page how to knit and crochet section, illustrated with line drawings.  Unlike most American-made books of its time, it shows Continental style instead of throwing.  It's prose-heavy compared to modern how to books, but the info it offers is succinct and well-written, covering all of the basics needed for the preceding pattern sections.

So like many of the knitting books time forgot, this one is interesting and deserves a second look in spite of its dated black and white pix, aged and plain library binding, and 1953 copyright date.  Many local public libraries have vintage books that you may have skipped past in your search for newer stuff.  Go back and revisit the older volumes.  Not only are they knitting history, they're an excellent source of inspiration for knitters today.  Besides, if they sit on the shelf idle too long the library staff might cull them from the collection, and we'll lose valuable info that can be supplanted, but can never be replaced.

Now with Dragon put to bed, I can turn to my daughter's blue lacy poncho.  Over the weekend we went paging through pattern books and looking at old projects.  She lit upon a couple of lacy looking stitches that she liked. 

The first is the mock cable I used as the edging for Justin's Blanket on wiseNeedle.  The thing didn't photograph well there, and the instructions for that counterpane are in prose, so here's a wider version of the same idea.  (Apologies for the lousy quality of these charts.  For some reason my standard Visio to Fireworks graphics prep cycle is spitting out oddly non-uniform results today.)

The second is a lacy panel adapted from a wider pattern appearing in B. Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns.  The original isn't graphed, starts in a different place of the repeat, and is set up for multiple iterations of the ribbon.  I pared it down to just one repeat to make a self-contained panel:

Both are lace knitting patterns in that they have something happening on every row.  If one is knitting in the flat (back and forth on two needles) you can see that maneuvering to do a P2tog tbl (purl two together through the back of the loop) on a wrong-side row might be awkward.   Whichever panel is chosen, it will probably alternate between sections of K2 P2 or K3 P3 rib. 

As far as swatching goes, I've been playing with my de-plyed Paternayan.  Thinking that the 2-ply result of my pains was rather thicker than sport, but thinner than DK, and that I wanted a lacy effect, I started swatching on US #9s (5.5mm), and worked my way up through needle sizes to #13s (9mm).  I'm wavering between #11s (8mm) and the #13s.  More swatching is in order, especially swatching to see if the 11 or 13 looks best with the plain old ribbed part, and to make a nice, even piece to determine gauge over both textures.

In the mean time, I've decided to run the color stripes on the vertical rather than the horizontal.  That means I'll figure out how wide the rectangles will need to be for this poncho, figure out some pleasing alternation/panel widths for the chosen lacy part and ribbed sections, then decide which panels need to be in which of my three available colors (blue variegated, plus wedgewood and slate blue).  Once that's decided it's cast-on time, working the color stripes with Intarsia joins between them - each from its own ball. 

Did I mention "Figure out if I've got enough yarn?"  Gotta do that to, especially because seven skeins (3 variegated blue, 2 each of my two blues) de-plyed into 10.5 skeins (4.5 variegated, 3 of each blue) equals 1,764 yards   That's 756 yards of variegated blue, plus 504 yards each of the two blues.  In total it should be enough, but I may need to get very clever with color placements to make sure I don't run out of anything. 

The dragon blocked, finished and mounted.  From the outside:

and inside:

Close up from inside, showing the brass rods running through the top and bottom double-wide meshes:

Signature (KBS, '04)

As you can see I was a tad overly aggressive in blocking north-south.  I noted that it had shrunk a bit in the wash (yes, I machine washed it), and stretched it severely.  I needn't have because the stretcher bars that are used to mount the thing would have taken care of that.  I could instead have stretched it more east-west so that the edges don't draw in so much.  The next time I wash and block my dragon panel, I'll do just that.

Am I happy with it?  You bet!

A lousy picture, to be sure:

  But I'm finally finished.  Dragon has been washed and is now laid out with my blocking wires.  Trapezoidal distortion is an artifact of standing at one end and photographing at an angle, then presenting the photo rotated 90-degrees. 

Once my panel is dry I'll darn in the ends, embroider my initials and a date in the corner, and hang the thing on the door.  Why am I waiting to darn in the ends until after the initial blocking?  Mostly because I knew that blocking would stretch the thing out considerably.  I was afraid that if I darned them in before that stretch I'd risk having a puckered area where elasticity was hampered.  I do have a little bit of a ripple along the edge of my original cast-on row, (along the tree behind the knight)  but I'm hoping that it will settle in over time.

I promise one last picture of Filet of Dragon once it's hanging up on the door.

Blue Poncho

The unplying continues.  And continues...  I can report progress though.  I've almost got enough to begin swatching, and the Target Daughter has picked out a couple of stitch patterns that she likes from other things I've knit and from my library.  Leading candidates include "Lace Ribbon Stitch" from Walker II (p. 284); K3, P3 rib; and a mock cable.  Both are true lace stitches in that they have YOs, and decreases on every row, with no intervening plain rows.  I've also got three colors of blue to play with.  I'm thinking of running them side-by-side Intarsia style, with the colors corresponding to the lace or ribbing panels used.  It may be just another poncho, but who says knitting it has to be boring. 

More on this tomorrow, too as I get more of the initial swatching and drafting done.

I've noticed a spate of questions from newer knitters of late - via eMail, on wiseNeedle, in the mailing lists and in Live Journal forums - all asking about how to wind balls, or start skeins, or asking about the different yarn put-ups.  I thought I'd help.

Part I - Shapes of the Beast

Knitting yarn is sold in many different configurations.  Here are a few of the more common.

1.  Large amorphous glob.  Actually this is a hank or skein, similar to #6 and #7, but it's massive and rather shop-worn.  Like all hanks or skeins, it has to be rolled up into one or more balls before knitting can begin.  Examples:  Rainbow Mills Pebbles (shown); Schaefer Elaine and Miss Priss.

2.  A spool-like ball, with the yarn rolled around an inner form.  In this case, there's a large cardboard tube inside.  I've also seen yarns rolled around spongy centers and plastic foam cylinders.  I would not recommend long-term storage of yarn wound on cardboard for long periods (read 7+ years) because cardboard is acidic, and the yarn in the center might discolor or become brittle over time.  Spooled yarn can be knit as-is, without rewinding by finding the end and just starting.  The spools will skitter around a bit, so keeping them in a bag while you're working can be a good idea.  Some of the ribbon yarns sold on spools benefit from being unreeled toilet-paper-roll style instead of being pulled off the top while the spool sits on its flat end.  Doing so can minimize the number of twists as you work.   I sometimes use an improvised axle type arrangement for unreeling (more on this in another post).  Example:  Plymouth Colorlash (shown); Berroco Suede

3.  Cones.  The thinner machine knitting yarns are often sold on cones.  Sometimes you can find heavier yarns on cones, too - especially from mill-end shops.  Coned yarn can be a great buy because the maker didn't need to pay for the machines or labor to wind it off into balls or skeins.  Coned yarn can be knit as-is, although just pulling it off the top of the cone can also introduce twisting.  Some people prefer to unreel coned yarn using an axle set-up, or to wind the  yarn into balls.  While coned yarn also has a cardboard core, the high yardage on a cone means that relatively little of it is in direct contact with the yarn compared to the short yardage spool style balls.   If I thought a coned yarn (especially a white or light color yarn) might languish in my stash for a decade or more I might be tempted to wind it off into balls.  Example:  Classic Elite Believe - bought at the CE outlet in Lowell, MA (shown)

4.  Mushroom style puffballs, usually speared in the center by an arrow-ended tag.  I hate these.  They're always 50g, short yardage, and they appear to be among the most favored put-ups used by high end makers of expensive yarns.  They behave especially poorly on the shelf or in the stash, losing their tags and falling into floppy messes at the drop of a hat.  They can however be knit directly from the ball without rewinding.  Sometimes if your fingers are clever they can fish the tail end out of the center, and they can be used either as center-pull balls or from both ends at once.  Example:  Grignasco Top Print (shown): Debbie Bliss yarns; On Line Linie 157 - Tessa.

5. Log-style wound skeins.  These come in many sizes and price ranges.  The giant format here is most common among lower cost mass-market yarns.  The same format (but much smaller) is often found for more expensive yarns - notably European import cottons.  These log skeins do not need any preparation.  Most have both ends accessible on the outside, and can be knit from either end.  Examples:  Red Heart Super Saver (shown); Marks and Kattens Indigo Jeansgarn; Southmaid Cotton 8

6. and 7.  These are standard issue hank style skeins.  They are the most economical put-up for makers to use, and the most common among small producers and hand-dyers, although they exist across the entire spectrum of yarns.  Typically they're made from yarn that's been wound into a large diameter circle, then twisted a bit with one end inserted into the other.  It's easy to reduce them back to a single big circle.  While some people claim they can untie the little strands holding a hank together,  place it on the floor and knit directly from it - I wouldn't recommend the practice.  It sounds like an excellent opportunity to make a tangled mess.  Save your sanity.  Wind hanked yarn into balls before knitting from it.  [More on this in another post].  Examples:  Bartlett 2-Ply Worsted, Rowan Rowanspun 4-Ply (both shown)

8.  Wound cheeses without center cores.  Some yarn shops take coned or hanked yarn and wind it into these machine-assisted balls before selling it, often marketing the result as an in-store house brand.  If you buy an inexpensive ball winder you can make these, too.  Cheeses can be knit from either end and do not require rewinding before use.  Example:  Ball I made myself from Paternayan 3-ply

9.  Small logs.  These skeins are cousins of #5.  They can be used as-is from the outside end.  Very clever fingers can feel around the inside and pull out a glob to retrieve the inside end.  That way these logs can be used as center pull balls, too.  Example:  Lana Grossa Melienweit Fantasy; Schoeller/Stahl Socka/Fortissima

There are other put-ups out there, this is not the full roster of what's out there, but it's pretty representative. 

Why are there so many forms?  Why isn't everything sold knit-ready?  Mostly it boils down to economics.  Industry pals tell me that the machinery to make nice, neat ready-to-knit balls is expensive and hard to find.  It just isn't being made any more.  For example, I've heard tell that Classic Elite uses some winding machines that are upwards of 75 years old.  If one of those machines breaks beyond repair,  it can't be replaced.  They've had to reformat several of their yarns because of this problem. 

On top of the machinery issue, winding is labor-intensive.  Again, older machines require constant attention by operators, and using them is a multi-step process.  For the most part, the industry just doesn't have the volume of say a soda bottling plant.  Except for the very largest producers (Caron, Coats & Clark), all knitting yarn makers/distributors rely on a level of labor that's uncommon today.   Labor is expensive.  In an effort to minimize these costs, some makers have turned to less labor intensive put-ups, most notably selling in skein rather than in ball. 

The sticker shock factor is another force contributing to the multitude of different forms - especially the prevalence of 50g sales units.  Yarn is expensive.  I've seen people shy away from larger 4 ounce skeins with hefty price tags, yet buy the equivalent dollar amount of yarn marked at $5.50 per 50g ball.  That lower per-ball price is a very seductive thing, even if the same total purchase price was expended.  People also hate having to buy extra.  If yarn came in 200g skeins and the typical project required 275g, a knitter would end up having to buy 400g to complete it.  That's 125g more yarn than needed.  If the yarn came in 50g balls he or she would only have to buy 300 g - only 25g more than necessary.  That overage translates to added cost and decreases the chance that the purchase will be made.

Does form factor influence purchase choices in general?  I'd have to say yes.  It does influence some people.  I know several knitters who flat out refuse to wind hanks.  They won't buy any yarn that's not ready to knit.  On the other hand, I also know several that won't touch a balled yarn, preferring to knit from yarns that come in hanks (I think there's a snob factor here - they believe that all hanked yarn is superior to all balled yarn, although we all know that blanket statement "alls" are rarely true). 

I can also point to one yarn that's a business-case poster child for the psychology of put-up influencing yarn purchase.  That's Classic Elite Wings.  Although there are no reviews yet, it's a nice yarn - a classic finish alpaca/silk/wool blend that's soft and comes in attractive colors.  It's relatively pricey, but no more so than other soft alpaca blends of similar weight.  I saw it on the shelf at my LYS but noticed that people would pick it up yet buy other yarns instead.  So I asked why.  It turns out that the new format CE was trying out - sort of a hank folded in thirds and wrapped around the middle with a paper ball band -looked floppy and small compared to other yarns of the same weight/fiber/yardage.  Those yarns came in happy little fat balls.  They may have been the same 50g and within a yard or two of the Wings, but that wasn't evident from the put-up.  The balls plain old LOOKED bigger, even though they weren't.  Buyers were choosing the other yarn not because of color or price, but because they thought the balls were better buys.

Does form factor influence my own purchases?  Generally not.  I detest the mushroom ball, but if the yarn is attractive enough and priced right, I'll buy it and use it.  I do admit non-rationality in that  I always feel rooked when a big, beautiful, squishy ball ends up being a thin veneer of yarn on a big, fat, sponge center, even if I've studied the per-ball yardage and know exactly how much I'm getting.  I don't mind winding hanks into balls.  I figure that having to do so myself is saving me around 75 cents per skein; or is part of the entrance price for getting to use a custom-dyed or artisanal yarn. 

I can now safely agree with everyone who has ever told me that I wasn't in my right mind.  The proof is in the venture I embarked on with my daughter's blue poncho.

There's no ponco yet. There's not even a gauge swatch.  What there is is this:

This is one skein of three-ply construction Paternayan RN1685 Wool, after it has been de-plyed into a two-strand and a one-strand ball.  While this stuff is most often sold in short lengths used for needlepoint and embroidery, it is occasionally sold in larger hanks for knitters and weavers.  Time expended?  Just under three hours.  Sanity factor, considering this is just one of seven hanks?  Nil.

Still, a promise is a promise and sad-child puppy eyes brook no delay.  I'm midway through the second skein.  Once I get one of each three colors, I'll begin swatching.  With luck by that time ponchos will still be in style.

Dragon Thread

People In Other Countries have asked for more description of the #30 crochet cotton I'm using for the dragon panel.  Here's the scoop straight from the label:

J.P. Coats Royale Extra Fine Size #30  Crochet Thread.  100% Mercerized Cotton.  Article #160; Color #226 (Ecru).  500 yards per ball.  Weight unmarked but registering around 100g on my Kitchen Scale of Dubious Accuracy. 

Recommended crochet hook - .75mm/#12.  Machine wash delicate cycle, 40-deg C/104-deg F.  No bleach, ho dryer, may be ironed on hot.  Blocking recommended. 

Made in Hungary.  Distributed in the US by  Coats & Clark, P.O. Box 12229 Greenville, SC 29612; Distributed in Canada by Coats & Clark Canada; Mississaugua, ON Canada L5T 2T5.

While the Coats and Clark website is also listed on the label:  http://www.coatsandclark.com, don't bother looking for Royale there.  It's not listed.  Royale is definately shinier and silkier than Coats Big Ball Size 30.  I've never seen Coats Opera thread, so I can't say how it compares to the Royale.  I bought mine at evil big box craft store Michaels.  Their own listing says that the stuff is exclusive to their stores.

I don't know when this will make it live.  Blog City is doing some maintenance today, and public posting may be delayed a bit.

Back from a fragmented long weekend full of family, and finger-healing I present what progress I've made to date:

It's getting tough to photograph this puppy because it has grown so large.  Maybe by the end of this weekend it will finally be done.  To calculate how long I've been working on my dragon curtain - I started experimenting back at the end of June, and began working on the piece over my July 4th week vacation.  That's over four months and about four balls of size 30 crochet cotton.  Given the low per-ball price, I'd say (aside from time) this was the most economical major project I've ever undertaken.  Costs were something like $2.95 per ball, plus $1.50 for the crochet hook. 

On where I was and what I was doing this weekend past - we had a wedding in my extended family.  My cousin married a really nice guy from Finland.  The wed locally, and my weekend was filled with family and festiviites.   Many of the groom's family made the trip over for the occasion.   I regret that time and a language barrier made communication with the new Finnish family difficult, because late in the weekend I found out that the groom's aunt is an avid knitter.  Since (believe it or not) one of the largest sources of hits for wiseNeedle's knitting glossary is Finland, I would have loved to have discussed knitting with her. 

In any case, if word filters back through family channels (some of them are String readers) - feel free to pass the word along.  Is there a general renaissance and new generation of younger knitters there, too? What are people making over there - are trends towards the traditional shapes, motifs and garments, or are they leaning towards reinterpretations?  I get to chat (or read along) with knitters from many other parts of Europe, but Finnish is a barrier that's hard to penetrate.

Still not enough progress on Dragon to make an interesting photo, so I'll answer questions from my inbox instead:

What yarn did you use for the Spring Lightning scarf?

I used Greenwood Hill Farm 2-Ply Lace Weight Merino.  Greenwood Hill is a small sheep to skein outfit based in western Massachusetts.  The yarn is a light, airy handspun that's much loftier than Skacel's Merino Lace or the Suri Alpaca laceweight I used for the Forest Path stole.  It's more like an etherial and soft fingering, with some thick and thin bits.  I got this stuff at Greenwood Hill's booth at the annual Sheepshearing Festival at Gore Place, and  hand-selected the most uniform of the skeins available for this project.  They also maintain a website.

Come on.  The disappearing sock thing.  Did it really happen?

Yes.  I've got several suspects in mind for who is responsible for the anonymous return, but I'd rather leave the thing a mystery.  It's a better story that way.  And in a corrolary - even though socks and a Massachusetts house built in the teens are involved, I think it's stretching it to say that my mystery has any talismanic significance for a Red Sox victory.

Does the Flame Tamer work?

To a limited extent, yes.  It does allow for a slower boil than does cooking over an unbated burner.  Can I get to a true barely bubbling simmer?  Not quite.  Thick beans and stews need careful watching, and are better off cooking in a covered iron pot placed in a very slow oven.  Reheating though is less of an iffy proposition using my new gizmo.

Would I like to trade photocopies of the IK magazines for photocopies of some other pattern/mag?

Not on your life.  My offer is to trade the original magazines, not some pirated duplicates. 

This is an issue about which I feel most strongly.  Pattern and magazine sharing have killed publishing and innovation in several popular needlecrafts.  So far on-line knitters as a group have taken the high road and have established a culture that discourages piracy.  Crocheters and especially cross stitchers, needlepointers and people who do plastic canvas work have not been spared the effects of unauthorized copying.  Witness the comparative dearth of new stuff published in each of those crafts.  One would think that with knitting in the ascendency, crochet wouldn't be that far behind, but I believe the lag time is in part a response to the vast amount of stolen material available on the web.  Publishers just don't believe they can make money in that market, so they've been slow to return to it.

Upshot of it all.  I don't steal and I have absolutely no respect for those who do. 

I created this logo for a group of concerned people headed by Linn Skinner.  She (and the committee) went to extraordinary lengths to bring this issue to the attention of the needlework publishing industry early on.  Unfortunately lack of resources industry-wide coupled with with burdgeoning technologies and the immense size of the problem have hampered prosecutions.  But that's "hampered" not "eliminated."  I for one report any serial/habitual infringers I find to the copyright owners.  And I don't always travel under my familiar on-line identities.  Beware.