10 March 26
Swatching for a Cardigan
Trying to decide what knitting to take on a trip is always a challenge: it should be portable, it shouldn’t be too challenging technically, but it should be interesting enough to be entertaining.
I’ve had Jennifer Beale’s Fort Amherst cardigan in my queue for a while now and this might actually fit the bill, despite the fact that it’s a sweater and lugging a sweater around while I’m knitting it doesn’t seem so smart. But it has an incredibly unusual construction: The long vertical cables are knit first, on their own, an 8-stitch pattern that goes on for 25 inches or so; then side cables are attached to them and knit down; then the fair isle strips are attached to the cables and worked in the round and steeked. All of this seems fairly straightforward and might just work. But because you’re attaching vertically knit pieces to horizontal ones, the row gauge as well as the stitch gauge is going to need to work in order to avoid some very complex math, certainly beyond my capabilities.
Which is where swatching comes in: I’m swatching double moss-stitch, the single cable ropes, and the stranded colorwork separately. I measure the swatches before blocking then soak the swatch, allowing it to dry flat after being gently rolled in a towel, and measure again, noticing the difference.
My lilac moss stitch swatch is going to have to be redone on a larger size needle; the cable is perfect as is, and I’m not sure yet about the stranded colorwork…
26 February 26
Wear your Melt the Ice Red Hats Today
I have recounted my knitting several (by now six) red Melt the Ice Hats. Today commemorates the 1942 banning of red hats in occupied Norway by the Nazis. Seems apt.
My sister had a wretched time of it in the bank this morning. At least she was wearing her red hat!
19 January 26
Resistance Through Knitting
Numenius drew my attention this morning to a thread on Blue Sky about the Melt the Ice Hat, a knitting pattern released a few days ago to emulate a hat worn (and subsequently banned) in Norway to protest the Nazi occupation. The pattern notes contain this narrative:
In the 1940’s, Norwegians made and wore red pointed hats with a tassel as a form of visual protest against Nazi occupation of their country. Within two years, the Nazis made these protest hats illegal and punishable by law to wear, make, or distribute. As purveyors of traditional craft, we felt it appropriate to revisit this design.
Norwegians are ingenious people and this story gives an account of how the resistance moved to creating Christmas cards that echoed the sentiment as a way of getting around the ban.
I have no red yarn in my stash, at least yarn that isn’t particularly scratchy, so I ordered some online today. I already have requests for four hats, and I’m going to knit them two at a time — not like the double-knit socks in War and Peace, which is really a party trick, but using the magic loop method.
The outrages of ICE in Minneapolis are being well documented. We have GOT to stand up to this thuggery.
26 December 25
Barbara Walker: In Memoriam
Having been deeply involved in the knitting renaissance since about 2008, I have come to know about the Knitterati who were there all along, through the bad ol’ acrylic 70s, still knitting with wool, still curiously curating the craft that their grandmothers had known, knitting socks in WWI. Elizabeth Zimmermann was one of these. Barbara Walker was another. I have three of her books, stitch dictionaries that involved massive amounts of research in the pre-internet days. But she was much, much more than this. Her son has made a modest website outlining her various far-flung achievements, some of which were not known to me (for example, her humanism; I did know a bit about her feminism and tarot work, though not so much.)
He has also written a diary of her last few weeks and days. Having been through something like this recently myself, my heart aches for him, especially since his mother was in considerable pain from her cancer and was on painkillers sufficient to dull it but that also made communication difficult.
Sleep soundly, dear Barbara. You were so generous with your knowledge, your mind, your self. May your cable always twist in the direction you want, may your mosaics be rich and always a surprise, and may your ssk’s lie flat and even. We’ll miss you.
24 December 25
A Jacket, Almost Finished
I finished knitting this jacket today. I want to line it, one of the armhole seams needs grafting, and the pattern is calling for an i-cord edging on the sleeves, which I’m very close to ignoring. But I probably won’t ignore it, because this is a magnificently written pattern and I want to give the designer, Kate Harvie, as much credit as I possibly can. The garter stitch saddle shoulders are brilliant.
The problem is this: two strands of aran weight yarn held double make for an especially dense fabric, and with this atmospheric river we’re in, it has basically zero chance of drying for four or five days. I want to block it before I line it and before I sew the buttons on, but jeez.
Was hoping to wear this on Saturday, but it might be a while.
I remember stressful Christmas knitting in the dim and distant past and am glad I don’t have any deadline more pressing than wanting to wear this on Saturday…
14 December 25
Sweetie Jar
I’m knitting a very heavy cardigan-jacket which is a lot of fun. The pattern is Sweetie Jar from Knitty magazine. I’m using two strands of aran weight yarn held together.
Yesterday I joined the sleeves to the body which always looks a bit weird at first.
28 November 25
Selfish Knitting
I’m knitting a jacket with two strands of aran-weight yarn held together to make a chunky, a weight I almost never use (laceweight or fingering is more my style). I picked up some habutai silk to line it with from Stonemountain & Daughter.
This is a time of year when a lot of people are doing stressful knitting, intended to be given as gifts. I’m glad not to be doing that at the moment… This will be a nice warm cropped jacket for me.
21 July 25
When Things Go Awry...
… sometimes it’s just easier to rip the knitting back down to the lifeline, which I eventually did, but not before attempting complex string surgery…
19 July 25
A Complex Lace Knitting Project
I know I’m supposed to be spinning: it’s the Tour de France/Fleece, after all. But I’ve been sitting on my hands for a long time, itching to get back into a complicated lace project. I have some beautiful laceweight silk I’ve had for longer than I can remember where I bought it, and since the Diamas shawl calls for exactly this kind of yarn, I stopped fighting the urge.
All knitting is basically looping successive rows of string together. When you mirror the stitches on the back you get the familiar smooth front and bubbly back most people are familiar with. You can cross these stitches (cables) or you can insert pairs of yarnovers with decreases to make openwork lace. This particular pattern also features nupps, an Estonian-style bobble in which seven knit stitches are inserted into a single stitch in the row below and then gathered together at the top, making for a textured highlight.
I have some travel coming up and a good lace project to get my teeth stuck into will be great. But I’ll insert a second lifeline when I get to the end of the current chart (there are three), in case I mess up. I finally broke down and paid for a subscription to KnitCompanion because this is a complex enough pattern that I can use the extra help keeping my place. Ripping back to where you made a dumb mistake is never fun….
5 June 25
Knitting Socks for Summer
My knitworthy sister is the happy recipient of handknit winter socks for her birthday which falls in November: she lives in a cold place and nothing is better for keeping your feet cosy than wool socks. Our feet look very different than they did when we were in our 20s, and I’ve been able to modify her socks to fit perfectly without constricting the toes but also without bagging.
On a recent trip she informed me that she had plenty of wool socks, but was wondering if I could knit some cotton lace ones for summer like we used to buy in Spain? I found a bamboo/cotton blend yarn and have been working on a prototype for her. I’m going to send this single sock to her. If it fits I’l just match the second one; if it doesn’t, more work’s required.
I’ve never published a pattern before but if this is successful I might offer it to others.
Details: picot turned cuff, openwork lace, slip stitch short-row heel, slip stitch instep, roomy toe.