Because of a new scarf idea, I’ve been scouring the internet and what books I have for old lace patterns. I should be more specific and say that I’ve been searching for garter stitch lace edging stitch patterns. During my search I’ve realized that I don’t have nearly enough old publications about knitting. The little taste I got from the library book sale isn’t enough, and some of the internet sources I’ve found have really inspired me. Some were new to me, and others I’ve gone back to many times before.

I’ve looked through old knitting patterns, and pictures of “vintage” style patterns but the vast majority of them really don’t excite me. Anything post-1930s is just too recent, and the styles of the clothing really don’t suit me. Who am I kidding, the style of any non-contemporary knitwear generally doesn’t appeal to me. What really gets me interested are the stitch patterns, knitted household items, clothing accessories, and the very way in which they write the patterns to begin with. If you browse through some old knitting publications you’ll see how far we’ve come in standardizing how we describe these stitches we work. Even today there’s a small learning curve (although sometimes not so small!) to reading a pattern. Imagine the learning curve in days past! Old patterns have no gauge and sometimes have a yarn specification such as “Berlin, or any other soft wool”, refer to “make one” which can sometimes be a yarn over and sometimes a closed increase and the pattern will not explain which it is. Fortunately some people have helped interpreting some of these old patterns and put them online.

• Knitting-and.com’s Free Patterns

• Antique Pattern Library - Scanned public domain full publications!

• The KnitWiki

• The Art of Knitting 1897 - Rewritten and swatched by Cindy

• And a bunch more

I’m not going to go into too many details about this project I’m working on, because I kind of want it to be a surprise. I’m going to make a couple of different versions. The first version I’ve already started knitting away, but I still need to figure out what lace edging I want to use for the second. When I’m done I’ll write up a little pattern for them and post lots of nice pictures. It’s funny because this pattern idea really goes back to something I tend to do time and time again: stuff that you can do with any yarn, and any sized needles.

The more I knit on this scarf and the more I look at it, the more I just love the textured simplicity.

I am really proud of myself. I have only done colorwork in knitting two times, and you’re looking at one of them.

I’ve been wanting to knit a Christmas stocking for a while, and got the motivation to swatch out my ideas last week. I sketched out a few potential charts and liked this one enough to try it. It’s quite simple, but the colors and the contrast really bring it out. While I was knitting I was a bit worried about my tension because stranded knitting is so different and awkward. I struggled with whether to hold my two colors in two hands, or in one and in the end it was much easier to use one hand with them separated a bit.

A few of the stitches are either too loose or too tight, but for the most part I got a pretty even tension. It’s amazing what blocking will do to remove puckering too. I’m excited now to soon start the stocking, and I don’t care that Christmas is ten months away. I think I’ll start at the toe and go up as I don’t know how big I can get it with the yarn I have. Now I’m all excited to start sketching out charts for other colorwork ideas!

I’ve got lots of things to say today so let’s see if I can’t get them out in a clear and concise way. First, my new toy…

I have been wanting one of these Turkish spindles for a long time. It’s from Jenkins Woodworking who did an amazing job on this handcrafted work of art. One of the draws to this type of spindle (aside from it’s stylish look) is that by winding your yarn between the cross arms you get a center-pull ball instead of a cop. They are designed so that you can slide the arms (and yarn) up the shaft and pull the arms apart while your ball remains in tact. However, I have found out a few more things about spinning with this type of spindle.

1) It’s not a space saver when in use. Of course while you don’t have yarn in progress going it flattens quite nicely. When it’s assembled for use the cross arms seem to take up about 4 inches in diameter, and can make it difficult when I sit and spin. 2) It tends to spin slowly despite what it says on the Jenkins woodworking page. It’s a hell of a long spinner, but it takes a good bit of force to get it going. Perhaps there’s a technique that I’m unaware of, but for now I have to be content with what I have. I’m having to spin counter-clockwise (unlike normal) because it’s easier for my fingers to put more spin into it that way. 3) It’s so fun to watch it spin!

I started off spinning the Turkish with this little bit of corriedale sent in the packaging. This is the first time I’ve ever spun this type of wool, and it really is beautiful stuff. It’s soft and fluffy, and I have a finished skein of navajo 3-ply hanging in my bathroom to attest to it. The fiber I’m currently spinning on it isn’t nearly as cooperative or nice to spin though.

It turns out that I just don’t have the knack for spinning alpaca. This fiber is a beautiful natural brown, and really quite soft. I have a bunch of it that was given to me as a Christmas gift, and I had almost given it up for good. However, I got some great advice from some over in the Ravelry Spindlers group that has helped me a bit. Some of the things I’ve learned lead me to start this alpaca on the Turkish spindle.

1) Alpaca becomes really wiry with too much twist, and the window between too much and too little twist is very small. This means that I have spindle droppage quite often, and for a fairly intermediate spinner this is frustrating. Using the slower (but long spinning) Turkish spindle makes it hard for me to put too much twist. 2) After dropping my spindle and the yarn breaking, I find it very very difficult to join the already spun yarn to the fiber. I have absolutely no problems doing this with wool, but for some reason the efforts with alpaca often elude me. I hate that it takes so much more time. 3) Some have recommended spinning from the fold. I haven’t been doing so for this yarn because I find it much more difficult to draft that way. However this yarn is turning out to be very directional, and fuzzes a ton when I slide my hands up it.  That may be why. Aside from these few difficulties, so far so good as you can see.

Sometimes I just get the desire to spin away into the night.

I’ve got a lot of progress on the hat I swatched for a few days ago, but it’s in the corner right now. I’ll write about it later when I’m not sick of it. I’ve got more fun things to show you today.

I’ve been wanting to knit the Knitty pattern Square Cake for some time now, and even started it a while back in this same handspun yarn. I decided the large was too big, and I didn’t like all the purling in the original pattern. Yesterday I finally decided to retry it with a few modifications that I’m really excited about. You can see the beads that I’m putting in the vertical stripe every 4 rows, and I get to use one of the cutest little crochet hooks I’ve ever seen to put them on. Unfortunately what you can’t see is the beautiful cabled braid on a stockinette ground. I love this technique of cable; it creates such a soft texture.

I tried to do the braid with one of my new cable needles, but unfortunately the smallest is a little too big…

I couldn’t resist these two little purchases, even though both of them will probably not be much use to me. The crochet hook fits in my notions tin, but I use my needles to pick up dropped stitches. The cable needles are stained a beautiful dark color, but the smallest is too big for most of the knitting I do. However, I don’t regret buying them for one second!

Hopefully when I’ve got more done (and there’s more sun out for better pictures) I can get a picture where you can see the cable better. I love this pattern, and the way one of the straps can slip over the other as a closure. I think more little bags like this are in my future.

OK so it’s totally wierd showing a picture of my ass on the internet, but it’s totally covered and it’s for a purpose. That secret newly completed project I mentioned in a previous post is indeed the Mon Petit Chou from Knitty. I spent all day Sunday finishing it, finally got some elastic and ribbon for the finishing touches so I could get some photos. This was the best way to show off the lace (otherwise it looks like a lump of yarn) without showing off my ass.

Some of this was a bit of a pain to knit, like the short-rows on the back piece. For some reason I didn’t get the right alignment of stitches on each side, had to rip out and fudge it a little. I didn’t bother going back to see if it was the pattern or me, but if you knit this and find difficulties there don’t say I didn’t warn you. This yarn was a bit difficult to get used to at first due to the stretch, but I kind of like how it knits up. It’s also nice and soft too.

All in all a fun knit, and I’m glad I did this just to say I could.

It really is quite boring, and mostly stockinette, but with a point. I’ve had a couple balls of Misti Alpaca for a bit that I bought with the intention of making a hat. I rethought the idea for a bit, then decide for it again, then thought slippers would be good…See I’ve had this problem with hats in that I’ve never actually successfully made one. I think I’ve mentioned this before, and using common knit lexicon I think it’s into the realm of a curse. It’s a Hat Curse.

Sooo, tonight I finally got up the nerve and decided to do a full on real swatch. OK, not exactly full on with the garter edges and pinned-outness, but I plan to wash it! That’s a rarity for me. I’ve decided on the hat again for good and sure, and I think this yarn is perfect for it. This stuff is amazingly soft and hopefully warm.

However, that’s not the real reason I’m going on about this swatch. While I was making this swatch I was thinking (and talking to the wonderful husband who loves to listen…really!) about my design aspirations. I want to spend more time and effort on designing things, and being more original and creative with my knitting. I’d like to sell patterns some day, and try to write some about my craft. It was then that I realized that I would have to make a real commitment to what up ’till now I’ve considered (subconsciously) waste knitting. Swatches.

I know, it’s terrible but I’m not the only one for sure. When I swatch it’s with the intention of getting a quick gauge and ripping out to start the project. I have so little money for yarn that I want to have plenty for my project (and maybe a little more!). Despite all this, I have decided that the key to getting a start on more designing is swatching more. So, for here on out I’ve promised myself to commit to taking time specifically for swatching just to try new things and see what I come up with. I’ve got a good bit of not-so-special yarn in my stash, plus some handspun in colors I’d never wear. I’ve just got to be disciplined now. Ha!

A few nights ago I finished the yarn spun with the exchange spindle by plying it together until about 1 or 2 am. For some reason I have a hard time starting to ply and picking it back up later. I feel this strong need to finish it in one sitting so I can wash and set the yarn to more quickly see what it looks like finished. This time I was not disappointed.

This is probably the finest yarn I’ve ever made (fine in thickness). It’s a merino 2-ply at about 16 wpi, and I’ve just got to finish another skein about half the size and I want to dye it all together. I’ve no clue what color I will dye it, but I’m thinking something vibrant. This is very similar to the merino I’m spinning on my golding, yet it’s a bit finer and the fiber feels just slightly different. Both white, and both will be dyed. I can’t wait!

I’ve got another finished project, but I need to find a creative way of photographing it before I post about it. It’s a project that has been a long time in hibernation, and just needs some ribbon and elastic string.

Over at the Spindlers group in Ravelry a few weeks ago we did a handmade spindle exchange. I forgot to take a picture of the one I sent, but today I finally got a picture of the one I received. It’s a donut bead, that I’m assuming is glass,  with some very pretty sparkly colors. I love the shaft and how it tapers, and the only unfortunate thing about it is the lack of notch for this top whorl is a bit difficult. What I love about it is that I can comfortably thigh spin it for a nice highly twisted fine single. I can’t easily do that on any of my others.

I’ve been spinning up some wool that Emily my sender put in the package, which reminds me I should ask her what type it is! At least, I’m assuming it’s wool by the way it feels. I’m trying to make myself wait until I spin up a lot of it so I can ply one big bunch together. I’ll split splice the multiple spindle-fulls before winding each new one on. It’ll be hard to hold myself back, because I think this will look great once plied and soaked.

Quote Beth..

“So how did it come out?! :)”

I am incredibly happy with this sweater, despite its slight unfortunate bits. I lengthened it by a few inches, which is almost a required for large chested women. Short shirts make my top look even wider, and many people designing clothing don’t take into consideration when designing for the larger chest that our shirts tend to lift up. The sleeves are just barely the right length, and I wouldn’t object to them being a half inch longer. The cables came out beautifully, the buttons were per-fect, the fit is amazing, and overall it’s a beautiful sweater if I do say so myself. When I was deciding which size to go with, I had a bust measure of around 40″, and debated with myself about whether or not I should go with the 38″ or the larger. The larger size would have definitely been too big for me because I like a nice fitted look.

There are only two things that I could complain about, and one of them could be considered more of a quirk than a problem. This sweater is knit flat from the bottom up to the underarm. Then you knit the sleeves, and attach the sleeves to the body before knitting up the yoke and shoulder decreases. Somehow when I attached the sleeves, one of them ended up turned a quarter of the way around so the seam is more on the side of my arm than underneath. It doesn’t really affect the fit, and it’s not easy to spot so that’s why I call it more a quirk.

The other issue with the sweater is more of a problem, on the other hand. Although you could call this a problem with button down shirts for large chested women in general. I am referring to The Gap, which occurs between two buttons right across the bust. Unless you’re wearing something a size or two bigger than you, you’ll get this gap. I spent roughly 10 hours Sunday night trying to prevent The Gap in my sweater by sewing on a ribbon to the button band. I’d gotten this idea from looking at several Ravelers’ sweaters, and was fortunate enough to find a ribbon exactly the right width and a good color match too. Ten hours I spent, and it’s all gone to shit. Pardon my language, but I think you can understand my irritation, especially if you’ve experienced The Gap yourself. Safety pins to the rescue!