The Unavoidable Long Pause

It’s been on my mind to post, as I know it’s been over a month.  Time flies when you’re dealing with a lot!

I have 4 samples done for the next design series (2 hats, 1 tam, and 1 sweater), with a minimum of 6 more to knit.  I’m at that point in the design process where I need to work on the pattern notes and begin getting it all written up.  

Every designer surely has their own way of approaching the process.  I tend to swatch, make basic notes, make working charts, then begin knitting, adding to the notes as I go.  Before beginning further samples, I usually need to pause, as I like to then get much of the pattern written up, and the charts finalized.  Formatting, editing, and proofing continue for quite awhile, whilst I knit up further samples, until I feel the pattern presents all the necessary info as clearly and as organized as possible.  Then, there are the photos to take and edit, then get the whole shebang uploaded to 4 sites, then do the minimal marketing I do.

And therein lies my current situation.  I’m at that pause phase in the process, where I need to get all the details written up, but I can’t get to it right now.  Hubby’s health has thrown us yet more painful curve balls (the poor guy is falling apart at the seams), that began mid-November.  Two months later, the issues are still unresolved, so it’s been stressful, looking after him, and taking up the slack, doing his chores as well as mine, and now I also have the taxes to prep for the accountant.  He does what little he can, but his pain and unsteadiness is very limiting.

Like many, if not most, women I have a lot of responsibilities, leaving not as much calm creative time as I would definitely prefer, esp. at my age!  Although I’ll be 66 in a few months, I don’t think of myself as old and ready to retire to a rocking chair!  I take very good care of this body, as it’s the only one there is!, but this, too, takes time and mindful effort, from waking to bedtime.

All this notwithstanding, I still need to knit, especially in the evening, after dinner and my shower, whilst I de-stress.  And right now, the simpler the better.  So, I pulled out a simple garter stitch shawl with built-in I-cord that I began months ago, then tucked into a drawer whilst I knit on design samples.  

I’ve pulled out 4 stitch dictionaries to find the right edging, but the person I will be giving it to loved the bobble and sawtooth edging on the adaptation I knit of Susan Mills’ ‘Highland Fling’, so I may use it again on this shawl.

Unlike most scarves I’ve seen that begin at one skinny end, which then increases to a wider middle, then decreases down to the other skinny end, this one begins at the center bottom.  If one increases just one st at the beg of each row, it makes a deeper, less wide shawl, unless, of course, one keeps going.  If one increases one st at *both* the beg and end of every row, it creates width more quickly.

I am using 1 strand each of a DK wt. superfine merino with a fingering wt.    100% baby alpaca, on US size 10 (6mm) ndls, so that the garter stitch isn’t too dense.  A bit of drape in a shawl is a good thing!

In case you’d like to knit a similar shawl or scarf, this is how I began, inc’g just at the beg of rows:

 

Long Tail CO 3 sts, turn.
Row 1: (K1, M1) 2x, k1 = 5 sts, turn.
Row 2: (K1, M1)2x, yfwd, slip the last 3 sts purlwise = 7 sts, turn.
Row 3: K3 I-cord sts, M1, k1, yfwd, slip the last 3 sts purlwise = 8 sts, turn.
Row 4: K3 I-cord sts, M1, k2, yfwd, slip the last 3 sts purlwise = 9 sts, turn.
Row 5: K3 I-cord sts, M1, k3, yfwd, slip the last 3 sts purlwise = 10 sts, turn.

Continue until you have your desired width and depth, then BO in Attached I-cord.

If you have more foresight that I, CO with a long enough tail, so you can graft together the 2 I-cord edges at the tip.  I would do this especially if *not* adding an edging.

I plan on then CO sts for the edging and working a perpendicular join at the end of EOR.  I’ll post pics as I progress with it!

Now to go drizzle the orange icing I made onto the orange cake that I baked  today, using freshly juiced and zested oranges!  Good food at least takes his mind off his issues for a bit.

Onward!
Dawn

Applied/BO I-Cord Methods

I’ve been knitting a lot of I-cord edges and straps lately, for my new collection of cell phone/eyeglass cases, and thought I’d post on the various ways to knit applied/BO I-cord, as well as ways to deal with the dreaded color blip!

I’ve knit some samples to demonstrate each method, knit in 2 contrasting colors of Bartlettyarns Fisherman Bulky on size 11 ndls.

The way I used to knit a 3-st I-cord
With the body sts still live on either dpns or a circular ndl, CO 3 sts in the I-cord color onto a separate ndl.
K2, ssk (the last CO st and the first body st) = 3 sts rem.
Slip sts to other end of dpn.
Rep last row, until all sts are BO.

With this method, the blip shows through the center of the first *row* of I-cord sts.

I have used this method with live sts to BO, but I have also just picked up an edge st (as with a cardigan front edge) and worked it into the I-cord.  One of the blips is rather large, as that edge st was a bit looser than the others.  It also shows *between* the first and 2nd I-cord sts.

However, unless the last row or rnd of the body is the same (or close in color) as the I-cord color, this method will cause color blips, either in the center of the first *row*, or between the first and 2nd *rows* of I-cord sts.

Here's the I-cord worked in the same white yarn as the swatch – no special treatment is needed, as there's no color to show through.

The way I knit I-cord now
With the body sts still live on either dpns or a circular ndl, CO 3 sts in the I-cord color.
Knit 1 st from the body edge = 4 sts.
Slide sts to other end of dpn.
K2, k2togtbl = 3 sts.
Rep until all sts are BO. 

Even though a st is knit up in the I-cord color, before dec’g on the next row, a blip can still occur, even if less obviously.

3 ways to deal with the color blip
A color blip can occur when the color of the last row of the knitting (that the I-cord is worked onto) varies in color from the I-cord yarn color, as is clear with these red on white swatches.

This blip of color can peak through between the 1st and 2nd I-cord sts, along the front of the work, or through the center of the first I-cord sts, depending on which way the cord was attached.

Fix #1
I have seen some mention that by working the I-cord from the WS, that *row* of blips will land towards the WS of the work, instead of the RS.  I haven’t used this method, but, in swatching, the blips do indeed fall to the WS of the work, as expected.

And here's the crisp RS:

The 2 fixes I *have* used before follow.

Fix #2
The simplest fix is to knit 1 row/rnd in the color that will be the I-cord color.  As the I-cord curls around the edge, this extra row/rnd visually becomes part of the I-cord.

Fix #3
This fix is more fiddly (and time consuming), especially when working snugly.  This method was un-vented by Joyce Williams, mentioned in Schoolhouse Press’ “The Opinionated Knitter”, pg. 55, in their “Knitting Glossary” DVD, and I’m sure also in many articles.

Her method adds a yo to Elizabeth Zimmermann’s I-cord method of k2, sl 1, k1 edge st, psso.

With live (un-BO sts):
CO 3 sts in the I-cord color.
Slide sts to other end of the dpn.
K2, sl 1, yo, slip 1 body edge st, pass the yo and sl 1 over this last slipped st = 3 sts.  
Slide sts to other end of dpn. 
Rep until all sts are BO.

If the body sts aren’t live, as with a cardigan’s front edge:
CO 3 sts in the I-cord color.  
Slide sts to other end of dpn.
K2, sl 1, yo, knit up 1 st along body edge, pass the yo and sl 1 over the knit up st = 3 sts.
Slide sts to other end of dpn. 
Rep until all edge sts are incorporated into the I-cord.

 

I have also seen the yo coming before the sl 1, as follows:
K2, yo, sl 1, knit up 1 st along body edge, pass the yo and sl 1 over the knit up st = 3 sts.  
Slide sts to other end of dpn.  

BUT, I do not think this method makes the neatest looking edge.  There’s no color blip, but it messes up the appearance of the first *row* of I-cord sts.

I find the sl 1 and yo business, then passing the 2 sts over, slows down the I-cord process enough that I’d do almost anything *not* to work the I-cord this way!

If working the cord along a vertical edge, I’d still likely knit up sts along that edge in the I-cord color first, and of course, in the proper st to row ratio, before working the I-cord.

Happy Knitting!
Dawn