May all your finished objects be received with this kind of joy:

In terms of knitting experience, the Classic Elite Star worked up very quickly. It is a bit hard to knit because of its elastic component. I ended up stretching it as I went along. My stitch gauge was pretty close to target, but my row gauge was off, with more rows per inch than I thought I'd get. The crinkly finished look mostly obscures stitch texture. There's no point using this for anything much more complex than stockinette or garter stitch. Intarsia type colorwork would work although it would look best with large, clean shapes rather than anything fussy. Stranded colorwork would probably be problematic, because of the uneven appearance of individual stitches, and the gauge complexity of using an elastic yarn evenly in stranding. Still, the yarn was enjoyable to work with. I'd use it again.

I have had very little knitting time over the past two weeks, but 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, I did manage to finish the sleeves of Smaller Daughter's Squeaky sweater. It's urchin-baggy, just the way she wanted it, and I had **just** enough yarn to finish. I've got a half skein of a couple of the colors left over, but I used every scrap of dark blue, yellow, dark green and light green - which is why that last light green stripe on the shoulders is only half-height. Not only was I out of light green, but the color itself may have been discontinued. It was flat out unavailable from any of my usual sources, so I made do. The sleeves are just long enough. I may have to go back add length to them in future years as target child grows. Or not if this piece ends up being loved to death before it gets outgrown.

I will not be posting this pattern here. After the last post about it I was directed to KnitNet, where this month a similar looking toddler dress is being featured. Since my sweater looks a little bit like it, I'll avoid stepping their toes. Besides, no one reported being interested anyway.

Larger Daughter is now clamoring for something. Her tastes run more to camo, black, and khaki - far more aggressive than the happy-unicorn-rainbow suite favored by Smaller Daughter. She has combed through my stash, and come up with this:

The Saba is an old Tahki yarn, probably from the late 1990s. It's a thick/thin single-ply in construction, 100% wool 89 yards per skein. Recommended gauge is 4 stitches per inch on size 9 US. It's very soft, and if I had to guess (not being sheepy myself), I'd guess that it has a high Merino content, though the type of wool is not marked. I got this lot for free via the local town on-line discussion list. Someone posted that they were putting it out on the curb, available to the first taker. Being just down the street, I zipped over and rescued the bag of 12 skeins steps ahead of the trash truck. 12 skeins is about 1,068 yards total.

The buttons were part of this year's holiday haul. I ordered two 95-cent lots of assorted shank style military buttons from American Science & Surplus. Between the two lots, I got enough of three different button types/sizes to furnish four sweaters. This particular group of four bears Air Cadets Canada markings and insignia. The others I received had Soviet stars. My guess is that they'll eventually end up on other sweaters for this same daughter.

What to make with this yarn? A vest has been requested. Something a bit on the long side, with waist shaping, a deep V-neck and (obviously) four buttons. Maybe with a simple cable running up both sides of the button band, and a hem facing on the bottom rather than ribbing at the bottom edge. Final decision on those last details has not been made. Since this yarn is relatively soft and a single, I am expecting it to pill somewhat. I haven't swatched it yet to determine optimal gauge, but I wouldn't be surprised to see that it looks better knit a bit tighter than the label directs. I'd hate to totally obscure the thick/thin texture though.

Open invitation: Style pointers for this project from those of tastes and ages similar to Older Daughter would be greatly appreciated, in part because anything I suggest has Mom-Taint attached. She's far more likely to entertain suggestions from other sources than from me. The constraints are the limited quantity of this yarn, a rather shapely size 14 target currently in high school, four military buttons, and the basic concept of "buttoned vest with a deep V neck."

Since my broken-field run through the deadline swarm at work is not lessening, I don't anticipate quick progress on this project. But I'll try to document some of the interesting bits and decision points as I go along.

Technorati : knitting

Deadlines. Evil deadlines have eaten my life.

Some knitting is happening in the small bits of time in between the deadlines. Not much though. The Squeaky Sweater is inching toward completion, although what should have taken just a couple of days has stretched into two weeks; the gray leaf sweater sits in a pile, waiting for final finishing; and the blue Klein bottle hat languishes, waiting for time to do the final grafting.

I long for May, when this spate of chaos abates somewhat. In the mean time, web presence and blogging in general will be sporadic at best, although I'll try to keep up with answering private mail.

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The striped pullover in Classic Elite Star progresses. Karen however warns that in her experience Star can bleed in the wash. I'll take that into consideration and treat it as a hand-washable.

I've completed the body and the collar, and am now starting on the sleeves.

I don't have any more of the navy blue, so I've started the cuffs in the darker of the two greens. They'd make an incomprehensible and boring photo right now, all muddled up on a very springy circ, so I'll spare you that image. The color progression on them will be (more or less) the same, but because they are three inches shorter, they will probably end with the deep green at the top, too. And yes - I did calculate the stripe widths so that the turquoise one that spans the top of the shoulders and that is seamed up the center is the same width as the other stripes after assembly.

The reason I have only one or two skeins of each color is that this mixed bag lot of Star was a thank-you gift from a friend who works at Classic Elite. A couple of summers ago I pitched in to help her complete several sweaters in their fall line when their scheduled finishers couldn't make the photo shoot deadline. It's been stash-aging a while. This sweater will probably end up almost all of what I have - 1 skein of yellow, navy, and light green, two skeins each of all the rest. It's a good thing I started it now rather than wait any longer. Too much longer and the target child would have outgrown the available coverage.

If anyone is interested when I'm done and can incorporate any notes from production, I'll post the pattern in this one size.

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We here at String or Nothing are getting hammered by spam trackback requests. We are turning off the trackback feature in its entirety until this wave of annoyance has passed. Since we get almost no legitimate trackbacks, this shouldn't be much of an inconvenience to the few readers here. Apologies if it is.

Technorati : knitting

Back to a series started long ago, I present more summaries of out of print knitting-related books. But instead of exhuming these from my local library system, I found the full text of these works on-line via a Google Book Search.

Directions for Knitting Socks and Stockings. Revised, Enlarged and Specially Adapted for use in Elementary Schools, by Mrs. Lewis, printed in London in 1883 is a pamphlet written in response to a bit of British educational legislation, mandating that all girls be required to learn to knit. Aside from pedagogical pedantry in service of this goal, it does provide some interesting bits, although there are no illustrations. Pages 12-14 contain a comprehensive "sock recipe" chart, listing numerical sizes and the numbers of stitches to be cast on, and the number of rows or stitches that compose other sock and stocking features (rib depth, length to heel, heel stitches, length of foot, etc.). This chart however does not present gauge or finished measurements. From the measurements however, it's pretty clear that gauge is quite small by modern standards, with the smallest boy's sock size starting off on a 49 stitch circumference, and the largest man's sock size starting off with a 121 stitch cuff.

Prose directions to accompany the charts begin on page 15. They describe socks with Dutch style heels. I would not recommend this booklet for a modern knitter starting off on his or her first pair of socks because the description style used in the directions is obtuse by today's standards, although for the time - the instructions are pretty clear. But if you have done a Dutch heel before and are familiar with it's components and features, you will be able to follow along.

The leaflet goes on to present directions for Muffatees with Thumbs (page 24) - fingerless mittens, but knit flat rather than in the round, and are worked sideways rather than parallel to the bottom edge of the cuff and seamed up the center of the palm. Wrist ribbing is constructed from knit/purl welting. This pattern is a little bit more accessible, although the description of picking up and knitting the thumb is a bit of a stretch. (I'm thinking of quickly trying this pattern out and posting the redaction here if anyone is interested). There's also a beginner's scarf knit in the flat, featuring a simple fagoting detail running its length. The booklet finishes with a description of various historical yarns. Names and in-skein weights are given, but aside from an estimate that a certain weight should be ample to produce a pair of socks - no yardage is described.

The Lady's Assistant for Executing Useful and Fancy Designs in Knitting, Netting and Crochet Work, by Mrs. Gaugain, London, 1847 is one of those Ur books that informed later generations of stitch pattern reference works. I've seen it mentioned in bibliographies, and was excited to find it on Google. Sadly, I was very disappointed. Although it is listed as containing over 220 pages, the scan cuts off around page 70 or so, and of the initial 70, quite a few are skewed, truncated, or flat out missing. None of the netting or crochet sections are included in the on-line version. Given the difficult notation and lack of illustrations, I'd need more patience and perseverance than I have to spare tonight to make much headway with the contents.

The Young Ladies' Journal Complete Guide to the Work-Table: Containing Instruction for Berlin Work, Crochet, Drawn-Thread Work, Embroidery, Knitting, Knotting or Macrame, Lace, Netting, Poonah Painting and Tatting, London 1885. This one is a bit more promising, more along the lines of Weldons Encyclopedia volumes or the illustrated needlework sections of Godey's Ladies' Book. The crochet section includes some nicely done illustrations of basic techniques, including a basket pattern I've not seen before (p. 12); and excellent illustrated beginners' guides to Guipre style darned netting. The knitting section is relatively advanced, with descriptions of gauge and its importance. There are a few texture patterns shown - nothing that hasn't made its way to modern sources; plus counterpane edgings and motifs, stockings, knee-caps, baby shirts and other items. On page 52 theres an interesting shawl, knit using two weights of yarn to produce a honeycomb line effect with lacy infilling. There's also an unusual welted insertion pattern similar to the pattern shown on the cover of Lewis Knitting Counterpanes, except that in this case there's no bundling of stitches using wraps ( p. 61).

I also liked the point lace (needle lace) section. The first style shown would be familiar to most people today through the Battenberg lace style, it is rarely illustrated in contemporary works on stitching and needle lace. This book shows various infilling needle lace patterns for use inside of the outlines formed by the loops of purchased woven tape. Other forms of point lace are also shown,

Poonah painting apears to be some sort of stencil work done with enamels and varnishes, applied to both hard surfaces and textiles. I have to admit I wasn't that interested. More interesting was the macrame and tatting section. This is macrame as in fancy finework fringes - not heavy cording tied into owls or plant hangers. I have used some of the simpler style fringe tying patterns on scarves and knit blankets. They add another layer of complexity to the designs, and look much more finished than do fringes attached and left otherwise untied.

The book finishes up with brief sections on drawn and withdrawn thread embroidery styles and on some of the fancier forms of knotted netting.

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Yesterday I mentioned that I was working up two new projects. The second is still on the drawing board. While The Resident Male likes his crazed llama herder hat, he's mentioned that it can be itchy, especially when wet. It's also a bit tight on him. He'd like another that's slightly larger, knit from softer wool than the first, but he still really likes the style and shape.

So I was thinking about what I could put on a hat for him, and what colors of sport and fingering I had on hand. I've got some small quantity leftovers from the rainbow scarf set. Not much, but enough for accents. Plus I really like the Camelia sport I've been using, which is about the same gauge but at my LYS is only available in very staid colors. So I began thinking about what would be mostly background with flashes of bright colors, yet would be guy-wearable. Then I saw the latest issue of Knitty. If someone can put Space Invader graphics on a sock, why not highly colorful Galaga spaceships on a hat?

For those of you born during or after Bush-the-Elder's administration, Galaga was a very popular coin operated console video game of the Galaxian type - vintage 1981. You can play it here. It has been brought out for X-Box and some hand-helds (even phones!) but it's not the same. It was also one of The Resident Male's absolute favorites. (I preferred Tempest, but those vector based graphics wouldn't chart up well for repro in knitting.)

So I set about graphing out the Galaga galaxy of sprites from screen shots preserved hither and yon. There are three enemies, each shown in two animation phases. One of the enemies repeats in a different color scheme. There's also a separate sprite for the player's ship, and a toggle that shows how many more player lives are available. Here's one of the lower level enemies:

I'm not quite sure how I'll fit these onto the hat, but I note that in my original, I buried all the decreases in the plain rounds in between the step-type pattern repeats. I had 10 decrease points per decrease round, and that the pattern repeats themselves were based on 10 stitch x 10 row units. Each decrease zone between bandings removed one entire repeat. That's why I was able to repeat the pattern seamlessly as the hat narrowed.

I changed the rate of decrease as I moved along, narrowing the hat more steeply in the upper area not by increasing the number of decrease points, but by shortening the interval between them. You can see that the lower courses of the design are three pattern units tall, but the uppermost ones are only one unit tall. After that last unit was completed I didn't have room to continue full design iterations, so I ended off with a solid color top.

My Galaga sprites are nine, thirteen and fifteen units wide, without background framing left and right. So I'm still on the drawing board for this one. Plus I can't actually begin knitting until I finish my second Klein Bottle hat. Still, I'm armed and ready to begin.

Technorati : knitting

As I finish up the gray leaf pullover, and wander through the midpoint of a second Klein Bottle hat (solid navy, difficult to photograph), I plan my next set of two projects.

The first of these I've already begun. It's a quick pullover for Smaller Daughter who has now outgrown the Regia Crazy Stripes raglan I made her two summers ago. I've mentioned her fascination with her favorite toy before.

Squeaky is still with us, but he's aged somewhat. His original colors are only a dim memory. The strings on his head were surgically reattached after a regrettable incident featuring scissors. His music box long ago gave up trying to play Born Free (a welcome change); and the retractable leg that triggered the play no longer draws back into the body. His shiny black nose was chipped back to its pink undercoat after being inadvertently slammed by in a closing car door. He's going bald all over. More suspicious stains than I care to remember have added to his decoration. But he still is a source of comfort and inspiration.

Smaller daughter wants yet another striped Squeaky sweater. I had some Classic Elite Star stashed away, a skein or two in each of a bunch of crayon colors. It's a cotton bound with lycra. Although the recommended gauge and fiber percentages are a bit different, it's visually similar to the old Silk City Softball - a nubbly and cozy machine washable cotton boucle that knits up into a soft and interesting texture. In a departure for something I find buried in stash, Star is still in the current CE line. Armed with Sweater Wizard, I've noodled up a quick roll neck pullover, knit in the round, sized for a tall 8-year old who wants something with a generous, boxy fit. As you can see, I'm off to a quick start.

Orange, yellow and light green are next (I have no purple on hand). Stars being a lycra-enabled cotton is not necessarily a quick knit though. Care must be taken to always knit it with the same amount of stretch, or gauge can be affected. Also, it's texture makes counting rows very difficult - something pointed out by the person who posted the Star yarn review. Since my stripes are each 20 rows deep, and it's a pain to keep track on a separate piece of paper, I'm relying on a little trick to stay on track.

Every five rows (an easily grasped smaller unit), I flip a yarn color change tail to the front or back of the work.

These big "basting stitches" make counting simple - four groups of five and I'm ready to grab the next color. Later when I finish this piece it will be equally simple to tease these ends out to their points of origin and end them off inside.

One caution - this isn't a yarn that crocks (sheds color on hands and needles). Were it so, I would not use the dangling tails for this purpose. Instead I might use a length of plain white smooth cotton string. That would give me something easy to remove later that would not run the risk of leaving contrasting color marks on the lighter areas.

And Squeaky himself? In a bit of art-imitating-life-imitating-art, the toy that inspired the Regia Crazy Color sweater for the child has his own Regia Crazy Color sweater.

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I'd like to announce some small improvements at wiseNeedle. We've added to the search capability in response to user requests.

First, we've added a simplified search page to the on-line yarn review collection in addition to the previously existing search capability (which I'll refer to from now on as the advanced search page). Apparently many people were confused by the number of fields, and tried entering data in all of them every time they searched. This led to a large number of false negative results and some complaints that the page was too difficult to use.

The yarn search link (available in several places on the site) will now take you to this form:

You can type in as much or as little info as you like - yarn name, the first few letters of the maker's name, some keywords (this searches the fiber and comments fields). You can still get to the old search page by clicking on the "advanced" link in the corner of the new search page.

In addition, should you wish to shortcut the entire process, we've added a Google site search box to every page of wiseNeedle, including the front. It appears in the gray bar just under the top banner. Typing a yarn name into that box will bring up every mention of it anywhere on the site - in its original review, in comments tagged to another yarn, on the question/answer board, or even in the commentary here on String.

The simple search page will be most useful to people who want to quickly look up stats or reviews of a known yarn by entering its name or maker; or who are looking for some info likely to be contained in previous comments. The Advanced search page will be of more use to people who are looking for substitutes, or who wish to search on fiber type, yarn weight, an approximate date of the review, or any of the value, suitability, or quality aggregate scores.

We've also activated an additional link on the Recently Entered Yarns and Recently Entered Reviews pages. Previously you could retrieve the detail page for each yarn by clicking on the yarn names listed on them. You can now also click on the maker/distributor field to call up all yarns under the listed label. (For the record, the label with the most entries in the collection is Katia, with 142 different yarns.)

In my own knitting, I am finishing up the dropped leaf pullover. I've ended collar, using a tubular cast-off. I tried the standard issue one shown on My Fashionable Life, but I didn't like doing it. Instead I followed June Oshiro's method, described at TwoSheep. By slipping the available stitches of the ribbing onto two needles (one holding just the knits, and the other just the purls), the cast-off can be treated like any other exercise in simple grafting. The two needle method let me make short work of finishing my collar. I'm now up to sewing the dropped shoulder sleeves onto the body, prior ending off the interior ends and doing the last two finishing seams from bottom hem to cuff.

Technorati : knitting