Thank you to everyone who posted or sent notes about yesterday's blanket. I haven't kept up with Aran style crochet, but I do have two pattern leaflets about it published in the early 1980s. The first is the one I already mentioned:



It's written for worsted weight yarn yarn and sizes H, J and K hooks. It includes patterns for a stole (which turns out to be the thing I enlarged), a poncho, a pieced lap robe, a vest, a pullover and a cardigan. Styles are rather unisex (button placement on the cardigan and vest would vary, of course). Sizes range from a kid-size extra small (24-26" to a large 38"-40". The best of the lot are the stole (as lap blanket, as it's too heavy in my opinion to be worn as a wrap), and the poncho. The pullover is less lumpen looking than the other designs, but it's a strange combo of extremely heavy work and loose hole-y areas, making it too hot to wear indoors, but too ventilated for many to wear as an outdoor outer layer.

The other booklet I have is this one:



It's an American School of Needlework leaflet, listing Mary Thomas as the author. It's also written for worsted weight yarn and size G, J and K hooks. It offers up two basic designs - the bathrobe style wrap sweater and a pullover, written separately for both men and women. Of the two leaflets the designs in the book by Ough are better - worked tighter with less of that stitch out of size crochet at home look, with more stitch variety, and better fit.

In terms of technical details, the two do vary a bit. The designs in the Ough leaflet are worked vertically, with the crocheted rows running the north-south length of the pieces. The Thomas designs are worked in the more conventional east-west direction, across the pieces. I think this helps improve the drape and texture of the Ough designs. Still both share the same weaknesses - heavy, heavy, heavy final products, unstretchy imitation ribbing at cuffs and hem, and a general boxy/slightly odd fit due to the different elasticity factors of the various stitches employed.

Now I note that my familiarity with the style pretty much stalled out in the early '80s. I haven't touched it since, and have given more recent books and leaflets only a passing glance. I've seen a couple of books on "Fisherman Design Crochet" by Ann Pomeroy, but I haven't looked at them closely or worked anything from them. Other crochet books also delve into this specialty, mostly as single projects. I hope that the style has evolved somewhat. That stitches and textures are better expressed, that the "ground fabric" is more wearable, that lighter weight yarns are used, and that fit/finish has evolved, too.

It was this:



I crocheted this from the American School of Needlework pattern leaflet Original Fisherman Crochet for the Family by Anne Rabun Ough (LA #151):



Well, sort of. Actually I took the poncho pattern in this booklet, expanded it a bit in both length and width, adding extra panels of texture stitches, and edged it with a two-knot macrame fringe. (I tinkered with patterns even before I started knitting).   It ate yarn.  Crochet uses more yardage than knitting to make an equivalent sized piece.  The finished blanket weighs a ton.  Even though crochet is usually faster than knitting, it took a long time to make.  See those fake cables?  Those were done as little semi-detached bits, anchored at the tip several stitches away.  The solid parts were panels of slip stitch or single crochet.   The narrow, wandering cable was applied slip stitch worked after the piece was finished.  The bobble section took forever and a half to finish.  I can safely say that I haven't crocheted a bobble since.

I made this piece as a thank-you gift for my mother, for all that she did in handling our wedding preparations. That was roughly 27 years ago but the thing has aged well, surviving washings and daily sofa or bed-throw use for all these years without pilling, discoloring, shrinking, or snagging.  I'm not quite sure which 100% wool yarn I used, but I do remember it had an Irish-inspired name (possibly Plymouth Galway). In any case, here's yet another example of the lasting power of quality materials.

Why did it inspire me to finally learn to knit? Lots of reasons. For one, bobble exhaustion.  Plus at the time there were (and still are) comparatively few attractive, interesting, wearable crochet patterns compared to the wealth of knitting patterns out there. The crocheted faux Aran imitators were certainly interesting to make, but like the ones on the cover of the leaflet, cursed by that "loving hands at home" look. I wanted to make more than just fine lace, fancy tablecloths, and heavy blankets. I envied the style and wearability of knitting. Yes, I know that crochet can be used for far more, and that it can be wildly attractive, but especially at the time it was pretty much limited to tablecloths, blankets, baby things, odd lumpen pullovers done in yarns far to thick for comfortable wear, and granny square ponchos.

So I was primed for learning how to knit. From a book even. But that's another story.

As promised, here's a picture. I'm working it on one too-small in diameter US #5 circular needle. The fine yarn and airiness of the relatively large stitches make it easy to cram all the stitches onto the needles - hence the odd looking snood-like object below:



Not having my needle cache at my disposal, I started this piece with two #5 circs borrowed from my mother. I used them in the same manner as working socks on two circs until the piece got large enough, then transferred it to one circ. I'll probably go back and use two (or possibly four) circs later in production as it grows even bigger.

In the mean time, you can see the center of the piece, the four radiating lines of YO, K1, YO, plus some of the flower-shaped eyelet sets. You can also see the play of color in my berry-hued hand-dyed better than in the jumble produced by the same yarn used for the Birds Eye pattern:



This piece is going much quicker than Birds Eye. For starters, as a true lace texture design there's something happening on every row of that pattern. The Paisley is lacy knitting rather than lace knitting, in that every other row is worked without increases or decreases. In this case, they are done in purl to yield the garter stitch texture.

So far the Paisley has been quite easy to follow. The flower eyelet area is a repeat with only four simple rows to memorize (the other four being purls). The large size #5 needles make the work grow especially quickly. So far I've found no problems with the pattern, although I admit I started it slightly differently than described. Instead of the crochet cast-on in the directions, I used an I-cord beginning (one row of four-stitch I-cord, one row of K1, YO, one row of all knits, then plunge into the pattern from the point where it begins with 8 stitches total). I did this because my mom didn't have any crochet hooks of suitable size.  I am finding that Paisley is also more economical in terms of yarn consumption than was Birds Eye.  At the progress points shown in the photos, both shawls have consumed roughly the same amount of yarn.  The Paisley is a square approximatley 26 inches across (without stretching or blocking); the Birds Eye was a triangle measuring about 12 inches from the bottom point to the needles.  I didn't measure how wide it was though.

Because it's been such easy sailing so far (even with my variant cast-on), I'd recommend this pattern to people who are looking for a center-out lace shawl pattern - even for a first lacy project, provided they feel comfortable knitting from charts. Also because it's going so quickly, I'll probably finish this piece off before returning to Rogue.

Here I am!

The life that intruded last week was a spring break visit to Florida, featuring an official Dual Grandparent Visitation.  We left last Friday morning, spent several days in the Aventura area with my family, then zipped up to West Palm Beach to visit my in-laws; then returned south for a splendiferous Passover seder.  We flew home this morning.

Aside from making the standard "arms tired" jokes, I can say it was an enjoyable whirlwind of a week.  The kids are suitably viewed, the grandparents accordingly pleased and proud, the weather was wonderful, and we had lots of fun doing tourist-type things.  More on them later this week.

On the knitting end, I can report zero progress on Rogue.  I didn't take it.  It was too big, with too many adjunct parts (magnet board, multi-page pattern, extra yarn, pouch of vital knitting doodads).  Instead I took the Birds Eye Shawl to finish.  But it is Birds Eye no longer.  I like the gauge and needle size for the pattern.  I adore the pattern itself.  I love the yarn I used.  But not all together.  The more I got into the piece, the more I realized that the hand-dyed multicolor was fighting for attention with the graceful eyelet pattern.  So I ripped back the entire thing - roughly two feet measured from the triangle's tip.  Instead I'm working the Paisley Lace Shawl from the Spring issue of Interweave Knits.  Scroll down almost to the bottom of this page for IK's photo of the thing.

I had worked on the Birds Eye shawl on the flight down, but grew increasingly unhappy with it as I knit.  By the time I got to our destination, I was looking for an excuse to do something else.  In a classic example of good deeds coming home to roost, I'd given my mother a gift subscription to IK this past holiday season.  She pulled it out to show me a project she was contemplating, and I riffled past the Paisley.  It would work.  The pattern is mostly solid garter stitch on large (for lace) needles.  The garter stitch is worked in a square from the center out, and is pierced by little flower-like quads of eyelets.  The solid area shows off the colors of the hand-dyed quite nicely, and the eyelets provide just a hint of interest instead of major league competition.  The flower eyelet center is ringed by a band of motifs that give the piece its name.  The effect is sort of reminiscent of the pattern placement in a bandanna, but done in lace.

So far 'm almost to the end of Paisley's center section.  I've got one more repeat of the flower eyelet chart to do.  Then it's on to the namesake pattern around the edge of the piece.  I may have enough yarn in my Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace to work an additional bit of trim around the outside of the paisley section.  Lord knows, I can't just do a pattern as written - dire things might happen.

Pictures as soon as I find the digital camera.  I packed it and took it with us. 

More progress to report on Rogue. I'm well into the fronts now, about 26 rows or so into Chart B. As you can see, the hood yoke pattern is working out nicely:



My next worry will be whether or not the shoulder areas meet up properly, but I'm assuming that if not, I can wing it. I'm also assuming that I'll be able to tinker with the hood depth a bit if I need to compensate for my different gauge. I've already started the hood motif a bit later than called for in the pattern to balance out my smaller row gauge.

What's happening to String or Nothing?

My guess is that you'll be popping back a couple of times over the next week or so to see what I'm up to. But you'll find this page still current. Life is going to intrude in my life big time over the next two weeks. I will try to provide updates, but I can't guarantee them. In the mean time, feel free to browse the archives. To be immodest, here are some of the more interesting bits here:

Reference shelf - articles that contain knitting advice that I hope is useful. Of particular note under this category:

• Yarn Labels 101 - a basic round-up of what's on yarn label and how to read them.
• Yarn Labels 102 - a continuation of yarn label info deciphering
• Skeins 101- What are the common ways yarn is sold. How to prepare them for actual knitting.
• Skeins 102 - a continuation of the previous, with more on how to get started
• Gauge 101 - Basic hints on making and measuring gauge
• Why Toe-Ups? - The case for toe-up socks
• One Circ/Two Circ Sock Knitting - Using the one giant circ (aka Magic Loop) and two-circ methods for knitting in the round
• Self striping sock yarn repeats - Lengths of pattern cycle repeats for some common self-stripers
• Twisted stitches - What is stitch mounting and why does it make a difference?
• Attaching I-Cord - A couple of ways to knit the stuff onto the edge of your piece

Gadgets - tools used by knitters. Most useful posts include:

• World's cheapest magnetic board
• Making your own stitch holders
  
• Strickfingerhuts - Those twisted wire and plastic molded yarn holding gizmos used by Continental style knitters for stranding.
• Stupid Stitch Marker Tricks - They're useful for lots more besides skittering behind the sofa.
• Strickmuhles - I-cord mills - waste of money or nifty gizmos?
• Needle gauges
• WPI tool
  

Knitting Patterns - Mostly quick and easy stuff I haven't gotten around to adding to wiseNeedle yet:

• Simple fingering weight wrist warmers/fingerless mittens
• Fingerless Whatevers - fingering weight wristlet/fingerless mitten with shaped thumb gusset
  
• Lacy scarf in Berroco Zen or other medium-weight ribbony yarn
• Center-out poncho
• Teeny sock for Red Sox fans
• Paw Warmers - Ultra-easy kids' bulky yarn wristlets/fingerless mittens
• Lemonade hooded shawl with pockets schematic

Stitch or color pattern graphs:

• Interlace repeat
• Bunny from TNCM
  
• Dragonflies from TNCM
• Texture patterns - 16 stitch wide mock cable, lace panel
  
• Texture pattern - Serpentine Rib
• Texture pattern - Broken Rib Check
• Texture pattern - ultrasimple six row feather and fan variant
• Texture pattern - points
• Texture patterns - Dragon Skin and variant
• Fleur de Lys

Embroidery - My other life. This stuff is mostly show and tell.

• Forever coif - blackwork coif in progress. Still.
• Underskirt - what the coif is supposed to go with
• Blackwork sampler - doodling with the patterns from TNCM
• Counted thread dress yoke
• Heretical modern multicolor sampler, plus reverse of the yoke, above
• How to drive your roomates nuts with stitching

Food - Man and woman do not live by needlework alone:

• Cassoulet
• Latkes
• Buffalo Rum Ball Cookies
• Oysters - a chocolate hazelnut cookie
• Cinnamon nut elephant ears for the cookie-challenged
• Nadia's Yassa Chicken

There are more categories over on the side.  Happy browsing!

As predicted, in those half-sentient moments between putting down the book, taking off the glasses, turning off the light and finally falling asleep all became crystal clear. I am not really sure what my problem was with the first few rows of the hood surround, but it's fixed now. I'm busily bumbling along, about two inches into the chart. Perhaps was brain dearth brought about by lingering flu. Perhaps it was too much stress-itis. Or perhaps it was a touch of seasonal stupidity. Whatever it was, all is humming now, although I might rip back one last time because I'm not too happy with the look of some of the earliest increases. But that's another story of another disorder.

While I await enough Rogue progress to make an interesting photograph, I present an odd little chance acquisition. I've written about Balich's before. It's an artifact from another time - an old fashioned general merchandise store several blocks from my house. They stock piles of inexpensive things you didn't know you could live without, all tumbled together with minimal regard for organization. They happen to have a stock of Boye knitting needles and crochet hooks, plus Red Heart yarn, some crochet thread and vintage 1960s pattern leaflets. (Want a truly authentic '60s era crocheted poncho? This is the place to find the original instructions.)

I went in to get some keys made, and while I was there I leafed through the pile of dusty patterns. There in the middle of the stack I found one and only one of these:



What is this?

It's a 78-page yarn yardage/gauge comparison chart in purse-size format, put out by Northern Needlecraft, copyright 1980. It's divided by yarn weight, and presents info for about 1,000+ or so yarns current in (and discontinued by) 1980. While some of the more widely distributed products by still extant or recently deceased/merged/otherwise gone yarn makers are also present in Valuable Yarn Guide, many of the yarns and makers in this little booklet aren't.  Even more interesting, for some yarns it offers up multiple gauges.  Already it has come in handy, helping me decipher a vintage pattern calling for Columbia Minerva Calibar.  Which turns out to be a 100% wool bulky, knitting at 16 st = 4 inches on US #10s, 2 oz., 75 yards. 

A fantastic find!  Especially for the princely sum of $1.25.

I continue to plug away at Rogue. I haven't had much free time to knit lately, so I'm not zipping along as others might. The latest modification I've made has had to do with the smaller gauge of my chosen yarn, plus the texture pattern I'm using.

After getting to Direction #5 (split for back), it was obvious that I had more stitches than the pattern calls for. No surprise there. I cast on more than required (that gauge thing again). So I adjusted the number to be decreased. I've got more stitches than are called for even for the largest size, but my back armhole decreases are proportional to the original. I'm now in the work even for 38 or so rows. I'm upping that to 40 because it takes me to the beginning of my next repeat.

I can see that the step after this is going to be especially problematic. Rogue forms its shoulder decreases using short rows. A very clever technique. I'm not quite sure how or even if I will be able to integrate the short row shaping with my texture pattern. I may have to un-engineer that particular bit of cleverness, graphing out the shape of the decreases and moving them back to the ends of the rows.  More on this after another two or so inches of work.



You are looking at the back of the piece, folded along the nifty side cables.  You can see somewhat of the shaping made by the cables; the bound off underarm; the decreases that form the bottom of the armscye; and part of the work flat bit just before the shoulder shaping.  Things look a bit curly because I'm a lousy photographer, and didn't pin this piece out before attempting the shot.

Several people have written to ask me to go back to Webs with them.  While it might be fun, I'm afraid I'm rather short of time, plus my yarn budget and available storage space are now stretched to the max.  Please note I wasn't the instigator of this trip.  I was pulled along not-so-reluctantly by the other members of an informal (and anonymous) Tuesday knitting group.  They were kind enough to adopt me earlier this year, and I've had great fun watching their projects grow.

As I mentioned yesterday, today I was part of a Grand Road Trip to Webs, the yarn mega-store in Northampton, Massachusetts. It's pretty much at the other end of the state from where I live, but this being one of the small Eastern states (as opposed to large rectangular Western states) that translates to only a two-hour car trip each way.

I will say that the entire group had fun and spent some money, but not as much as we feared we might.  Webs is quite large, with both a front room laid out in yarn shop fashion, and a warren of warehouse aisles and side rooms full of industrial shelving and shipping boxes full of extra stock. It's easy to browse for hours, and especially if you're looking for deep discount bargains in the warehouse, it's easy to become overwhelmed by the volume of choices.

There are some hints I'd suggest to anyone planning a trip of this type either to Webs or another discount yarn venue. They all fall along the line of "be prepared."

1. Bring the tools you may need to make your purchases. Depending on the individual, these can include a calculator, pencil and paper, a PDA, and a yardage consumption card or chart. In Webs case, a small flashlight is also a good idea because in places the warehouse area is very dark.  If you're a card-carrying knitting guild member, bring your card or other proof of affiliation.  Some stores (including Webs) offer special discounts to guilds, but don't be obnoxious about it if the shop doesn't have a standing policy about extending such discounts.
   
2. Look through your patterns and decide if there's something special you wish to shop for. If so, bring either the pattern or some notation of gauge, fiber and yardage required.
   
3. Look through your stashed yarns. You may want to buy something to coordinate with, eke out, complement or knit along with a yarn you have on hand at home. If so - bring a snippet for color matching, plus notation on the quantity you have stashed away.
   
4. Familiarize yourself with the various numbering systems used to describe yarn weights. Webs (and other stores of its type) cater to both knitters and weavers. Many yarns can be used for both crafts, and cones are not always marked with yardage or suggested gauge. For example, if you're looking at a wool or mostly wool blend, something marked 2/10 is likely to be DK to worsted in weight, knitting at 5.5 to 5 stitches per inch.
   
5. Educate yourself about fibers.  You'll see yarns marked as "Shetland," "Merino," or other fiber types.  If you've done your reading you'll realize that Merino wool is softer in general than many other wools, but in certain spins and finishes can pill more than other types of wool. 
   
6. Be flexible. You will probably not be able to find the **exact** yarn your pattern calls for (although there is considerable stock of current labels) - but you can probably find a workable substitute. Look for matches in fiber type, yarn finish, and of course - gauge. If you can't find a marked gauge but the fiber composition is close to that specified in your pattern, do the math to check the yards per pound (or ounce, or gram). If that's close you'll probably be o.k., especially if you buy 10-15% extra yardage as "insurance."
   
7. Many yarns in places like Webs are significantly thinner than most hand knitters usually use. But remember, they can be doubled or tripled to bring them up to fingering, sport or heavier weights. Two strands of lace weight (2 ply in the UK ply system of yarn weight descriptors) = one strand of fingering weight (4 ply). Two strands of fingering weight (4 ply, usually 7 spi) = DK (8 ply) 5.5 spi. Two strands of gansey weight (5 ply, hard to find in the US, around 6.5-6.25 spi) = 10 ply or worsted weight (5 spi). Two strands of sport weight (6 ply, usually 6 spi) = 12-ply or Aran weight (4.5 spi). Two strands of DK (8 ply, 5.5 spi) = 16 ply or Bulky weight (3.75 spi).
8. You will have questions.  The staff is used to dealing with them, but try to make the staff's life easier.  Cluster your questions to make most efficient use of their time.  Try to remember where you found something, and make every effort to find tags or other descriptors and gather as much info as possible before grabbing a shop clerk.  You'll find a question like "This yarn is labeled at 1500 yards per pound, could please you tell me how much it weighs?" followed by some quick calculations on your part, and the follow up question "Would 1900 yards be enough for a long-sleeve cardigan in size 36," will give you a more useful answer than handing the clerk a cone of something with the question "Can I make a sweater out of this?"
9. Be considerate of other shoppers, many of whom have trekked as far as you to get to the target destination.  Don't push; put things back where you found them if you decide not to make the purchase; avoid rooting through displays and leaving them sadly pawed; have patience at the check out (especially if you're behind a large purchase of unmarked coned yarn); try not to block access to the shelves or aisles; and in general - shrieks of discovery are not a good idea.
10. Leave ample time to make decisions.  Arriving before lunch, making some choices, parking the selections and heading out to eat, then returning for a final cull and/or addition is a good plan.  (If you do go to Webs, I recommend Sylvester's for lunch.  It's a short stroll from the shop, the fresh air does wonders for the brain cells after the dusty, dark yarn warehouse room, the food was quite good and very reasonably priced.)
    

What did I buy?  Just a couple of things.  First, I finally got myself a McMorran Yarn Balance.  That will come in handy to calculate yardage for the various yarns I have on hand.  I bought a queen-size bed's quantity sport weight cotton flake, destined for my re-do of my North Truro Counterpane.  It was amazingly inexpensive, especially for the vast amount I need.  And on a whim, I bought a cone of shrieking cranberry color lace-weight silk-look rayon which will (eventually) become a Hazel Carter Alcazar shawl, or maybe something else equally as dramatic.