How EZ Always Brings Me to My Senses!

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been knitting up samples and beginning the pattern writing for a new collection, then I got stuck with one design.  

Three pattern reps (of 2 cable stitch patterns) worked well enough at a larger gauge, but then I wanted a 2nd sample in a thinner yarn and spent a couple days fighting with it.  I tried 4 reps with this thinner yarn.  Of course, it works, but the resultant size would be too large for the intended purpose, and 3 reps would be too small.  I then substituted a different cable for one that I used in the first sample, but I didn’t like the look of it.

No matter how much I wanted to use this particular yarn with these particular stitch patterns, it would not work.

Finally, I remembered an anecdote by Elizabeth Zimmermann, in her Spun Out #11 “Fisherman’s Guernseys”, where she talks about how she admired Mrs. Laidlaw’s guernsey pattern in Gladys Thompson’s book, “Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys, & Arans”, except whatever yarn Gladys had used allowed her to get 10 sts/1” in pattern.  Elizabeth picked up size 0 ndls and Homespun wool, and, naturally, couldn’t get any tighter than 6 sts/1”.   Gladys must have been using fingering wt. wool, not worsted wt.

LOL, this reminded me that yarn can not always do what we want it to do, just because we wish it to do so!   Of course, after 3 decades knitting and designing, I do know this, but even seasoned knitters can fall into the trap of fruitlessly trying to make a yarn fit the bill.

In the end, I acknowledged that if I wish to make a 2nd design sample with 4 reps in that particular pair of stitch patterns, I will need to use a sport wt. or, possibly, a DK wt yarn.  

I put that design temporarily on hold and CO another color work design, which always soothes me and flies off the ndls!

Which reminds me of another of Elizabeth’s anecdotes about being in a boat knitting, whilst her Gaffer fished, making the first ever Aran sweater, for Vogue, if I remember correctly, and how it felt to her like her hands had done it before, long ago, in another life, on another shore.  I know that feeling well.  I feel it when I weave, spin, and when I knit, especially color patterns.  The hands remember, even if we don’t.

May your yarn always give the correct gauge, and suit its desired purpose!
Dawn

Christmas in August

I always need a Plan.  Not a Deadline, mind you, just a plan.  At this point in life, ‘deadline’ is a dirty word. Who needs the stress?

I do, however, need my mind and my environment to be organized, or I feel overwhelmed and flounder in indecision and a lack of motivation.  It’s logical, as being motivated intimates a state of action, or near action, but if one doesn’t know what to take action upon, the action is stymied.  Energy flow is blocked.  It’s bad feng shui, for both the mind and the body!

So, as I’m back to feeling well enough to cook, clean, and climb stairs to do laundry, my natural inclination is to get back to work - knitting patterns, spinning, and weaving, as well as planning some home projects – sewing, organizing, getting in a few much needed things, and getting rid of the old tat and broken electronics and appliances.  

There’s a lot that needs doing!  And although I am feeling well enough, though still on the mend, I’ve learned (finally) not to over do.  Being organized and having a Plan of Action is crucial.  Hence, Christmas in August.  I’ve begun the knitting for the grandkids’ Christmas gifts now, instead of putting it off until November.

I don’t really have time right now to design things from scratch, as heaven knows, there’s a pile of half-finished designs and patterns sitting here waiting for me the past 2 years.  

So, I pulled out the kids’ pattern books that I have hoping to, just once, be able to follow someone else’s pattern, as EZ used to say, as a Blind Follower.  At least, that was the plan.  And we all know how the Universe laughs at plans!

I have 2 Minnowknits books, this one and this one, also Takle and Kolstad’s “Small Sweaters”, 3 Debbie Bliss books, and VK’s Kids issue from 2001. Not a lot of books, but enough to inspire.

I also pulled out my binder of sizing info – data I had collected over many years of designing.  Looking through all this data, however, made my head begin to swim.  It all wasn’t organized enough to be a quick reference.  

So, a Detour.  Spent an entire day (and will need to continue it another day) organizing all this info into charts – body measurement info, but also ease and sizing info, which is affected by yarn weight and stitch patterns.  This short detour is a necessary refreshing of the memory, as I’ve not been knitting for children often, just once a year.

But of course, all the patterns I like will need some (or a lot of!) reconfiguring. It’s always the way – I’ll like a particular stitch pattern or color chart being used, but don’t have the pattern’s given weight and style of yarn, or the pattern isn’t in the size I need.  I’m sure a lot of knitters are faced with this same scenario.  Most of the time, it is all easily enough remedied, so long as one doesn’t mind some math.

I’ve begun with this hat, for my granddaughter, who turns 3 in January. The hat was originally designed in a DK wt. yarn, and I’m using Lamb’s Pride Worsted which leans toward a heavy worsted weight, so I had to reconfigure the stitch counts and the stitch patterns, as well as the ear flap shaping.  The ear flaps took the most time and I’m still not sure about them.

The edges of the earflaps, front and back edges are also left plain in the pattern, which I don’t like, so I’ll be adding an edging.  And a hat needs matching mittens, so I’ll need to design them.

I’m still not sure I want to continue knitting this pattern in the yarn I have, so I ordered 16” and 24” Basix circulars in sizes 4, 5 and 6, in case I decide to rework it (or start something else) in a DK wt. yarn, likely Nature Spun Worsted, which, despite the name, really wants to be knit at a DK wt. gauge. 

I have plenty of circulars, but in larger sizes, and, as is usual, the price of my beloved Addi Turbos have risen quite a bit since I bought my circulars 25 ish years ago!  I don’t mind investing in tools, as I LOVE tools, but am not eager to spend $90 for 5 sets of circulars!

So, while the hat is on hold, I decided to knit this aran sweater for grandson, who turns 5 in December.  

In both of Jil Eaton’s Minnowknits books, there is the same cream-colored aran sweater, in a chunky gauge. I have more than enough Lanaloft Worsted in Manor Grey and Ash, and I decided on the grey. Again, despite the name, the LLW really wants to be knit at a heavy worsted wt, gauge.

Naturally, my gauge is a smidge snugger than the pattern’s, so more reconfiguring was needed.  But that was just the beginning of the needed adjustments. As I knit sweaters in the round, never pieced like in this pattern, this too had to be addressed.  The next thing to change was the direction of the cables on the left front and the left back, so that the cables face each other (mirror image), instead of all crossing in the same direction. I really like things to be balanced, which shows an attention to detail when creating a pattern, that enough thought and planning has gone into the design.

The last change I’m making is how often the 2/2 and 3/3 cables are crossed. The pattern has them both crossed every 8th row, which is rather loose for my taste, so I’m crossing the 2/2 cables on every 4th rnd and the 3/3 cables on every 6th rnd.

I could have just designed this sweater from scratch, for all the changes I’m needing to make, but it will be all the better for it!  

Grandson is said to be fussy about what he will wear, so I knit this aran pullover more in hope, than expectation, that he will like it enough to wear it!

Onward,
Dawn