Bella Knitting

It's Ease-y

Sarah

As you may have gathered, I was not terribly happy with the accuracy of the swatch I knit for my dad's gansey. I cast on enough stitches -- I thought -- to get a chest measurement of about 42 inches, I ended up with a sweater that was a shade under 40. I was worried. Luckily, my parents came up to visit this weekend, so I was able to have my dad try on the sweater body. You know what? It fit pretty well. I was going for zero ease, but the sweater looked fine with a slight amount of negative ease.

It was unfortunate that I had to ruin the surprise and show my dad the sweater in progress, but at least I know that he likes the color, and I was able to confer with him about the exact length he wanted. I'm still unhappy that my swatch lied, but at least I didn't have to start over or repurpose the sweater. Over the weekend, I was even able to get the patterned front half (knit flat) done, and I'm about a third of the way through the back. Next, I'll be joining the shoulders and picking up for the sleeves -- I'm interested to see how the underarm gusset thingies work out, since I've never knit a sweater with those before.

The Stretch Armstrong Bind-Off

Sarah

Okay, so technically this bind-off is usually referred to as the sewn bind-off, but I think that name fails to communicate just how awesomely stretchy this method is. (Do you remember Stretch Armstrong? I remember seeing the commercials as a kid and wondering exactly how long it would take to get tired of a toy whose only feature was stretchable arms and legs. Not long, I thought.)

But enough about 80s memorabilia. On to the tutorial!

The sewn bind-off is perfect for toe-up socks. You'll need to leave a tail of yarn at least 2 feet long when you're ready to bind off, which you then thread onto a tapestry needle.

Insert the tapestry needle through the first two stitches on the left-hand needle as if to purl (from right to left.)

Swing your needle around and insert it through that first stitch as if to knit (left to right.)

Slide that stitch off the needle. You've now bound off the first stitch -- hooray!

To continue, insert the tapestry needle through the next two stitches, and keep repeating the steps as outlined above.

Keep going, and the bound off edge should look something like this.

See why I call this the Stretch Armstrong bind-off? It's pretty darn stretchy, and stretchy is good.

Open Letter to a Swatch

Sarah

Dear Swatch,

It's been said that good relationships are built on trust. By that measure, our relationship is woefully dysfunctional. I've given you chance after chance, and again and again, you've let me down. You claim I've been avoiding you, and I admit, that's true. Why should I spend my time with you, when I can hang out with a sleeve or a cardigan front, and actually get some work done?

This may be the last straw. You knew the gansey was important to me. You knew that I needed you to tell the truth. If you'd told me to change needle sizes, I wouldn't have been angry -- I have plenty of needles. So why did you feel the need to lie? I have to tell you, I'm very concerned. At this point, it's starting to look like you have a pathological aversion to honesty. Maybe you should seek counseling.

When you've got your act together, give me a call. I could use you around, but only if you're willing to be honest with me. That's the only thing that will win back my trust.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Friend

Gansey

Sarah

I've had a lot of un-bloggable knitting going on lately, so of course I had to cast on for something new. I know I could probably crank out the last bit of my Minimalist Cardigan (one sleeve and I'm done) in a couple of days, but that's something I'm knitting for myself -- I figured I should probably spend my limited knitting time working on more Christmas gifts.

This is a special gift -- a sweater for my dad. I've knit him a couple before, but the first one was my first-ever sweater, and...well, it looks like a first sweater (worse yet, I kind of made up the pattern as I went along). The second just wasn't as good as it should be -- I think my dad deserves a really perfect sweater. Since he and my mom are planning a trip to Ireland, I think it would be nice for him to have a soft, tweedy gansey to bring along. The yarn is Rowan Soft Tweed, which is one of those Rowan yarns which debuts at an exorbitant price, then a year later is deeply discounted or on clearance everywhere. (Luckily, I picked this up on the discount side of things.) I like how it feels knitted up, especially at the slightly tighter-than-recommended gauge I'm knitting it at, but I don't really love knitting with it. It's not bad, but it's not one of those yarns your fingers will instantly fall in love with.

I'll be knitting the body of the sweater in stockinette, with a single column of purl stitches on each side mimicking a seam. The chest will have some sort of patterning, though I haven't decided what -- I've been looking through Alice Starmore's Fisherman's Sweaters book, and my Barbara Walker treasuries, for inspiration. Since this is such a chunky yarn, I want to keep things simple, and classic. I also want to actually finish this one in time to give it to my dad on Christmas morning. I think the last sweater I knit for my dad was supposed to be a birthday present...which I think it ended up being, the following year!

Ravelry Rocks

Sarah

Even though it has a way of vacuuming up huge chunks of time I need for homework, housework, and knitting, I love Ravelry. I've come across tons of projects to add to my (already overburdened) queue, I have fun in the forums, and I love checking out other people's project lists, stashes, and queues. It's voyeurism, but in a totally nice way. We knitters are friendly folk, after all.

One of the coolest things about Ravelry is that, as a designer, I get to see other people actually knitting my patterns. If someone mentions they've had a problem in their "notes" section, I love that I can comment or PM them and help out. And, of course, I love seeing happy FOs! Megan sent me this adorable Baby Brunhilde shot for the customer gallery, and I just had to share. Too cute!

Suspended Bind-off Tutorial

Sarah

Sorry I don't have any exciting knitting to show you -- I've been pretty busy with school and haven't had a chance to work on anything I can blog about, so Laura (smart lady) suggested I post a tutorial on the suspended bind-off. It's a great method: almost as easy as a regular bind-off, but much more elastic. If you're one of those knitters who usually has to run and find a larger needle every time you bind off, I think you'll find this useful!

Step 1: Knit the first two stitches to be bound off.

Step 2: Slip the first stitch you knit -- let's call this stitch "Fred" -- over the second stitch you knit, and onto the left-hand needle.

Step 3: Bring the right-hand needle around and insert it into the next stitch on the left-hand needle. You aren't doing anything to Fred, he's just sitting there while you work the stitch next to him.

Step 4: Now that you've knit into the stitch next to Fred, you've got two stitches on the right-hand needle again, and you can allow Fred to slide off the left-hand needle.

Step 5: The first stitch has been bound off. Repeat steps 2 through 4 to continue binding off.

Step 6: When you've reached the end of the row, only two stitches will be left.

Step 7: Slip the right-hand stitch over the other stitch and off the needle. Now cut your yarn, leaving a long enough end to weave in, and bring it through the remaining loop and pull tight to close. You're done binding off!

This is what the bound-off edge should look like. It's nice and elastic, so if you tend to bind off too tightly, I think you'll really like this method.

Provisional Cast-On Tutorial

Sarah

As promised, here's a tutorial on the crochet provisional cast-on method. This is a really useful technique, applicable to any number of project types: making a bottom-up sweater, but you don't know what type of edging you want? Use a provisional cast-on and you can easily pick up your stitches and work the bottom edge when you've finished the rest of the knitting. Want to knit toe-up socks? Use this method and work a short-row toe. Interested in knitting a shawl? Many, like the Flower Basket, ask you to start with this cast-on to create a tidy top edge. I could go on, if I didn't have a nasty cold making my brain not work good. Anyway, I hope you find this useful!

Steps 1 & 2: Make a crochet chain using waste yarn -- preferably, something smooth and in color which is readily visible against your working yarn, in approximatley the same weight. To make your chain, just grab the strand of yarn with your hook...

...and bring it through the loop. Always make the chain several chains longer than the number of stitches you need to pick up, so you have some room for error.

Step 3: When you're done making the chain as long as you need it to be (plus a few extra) cut the yarn, bring it through the last loop, tug gently to close (gently! You're going to have to undo that later) and tie a knot in that end, to remind yourself that this is the end you'll be "unzipping" from later on. Now flip your chain over and take a gander at the bumps -- they kinda look like purl bumps, right? -- on the back side (assuming the front side is the "v's" you see as you are working the chain.) You are going to pick up stitches through these bumps.

Step 4: Start picking up stitches through the bumps. I "pick" at stitches to pick them up, wrapping each one around the needle...

Step 5: ...and bringing it through. (Leave a long tail so you can weave that end in later.)

Step 6: Hooray! You have picked up your stitches. Now you can do whatever the heck you want to do -- work a short row toe, knit your sweater front, whatever.

Step 7: I was boring and just knit a few rows of stockinette and bound off.

Step 8: Remember how I mentioned in Step 3 that you should make a little knot so you will know from which end to unzip your cast on? Don't you feel smart for doing that? Pat yourself on the back, and maybe go pour yourself a glass of wine to prepare yourself for the next steps, which involve stitches being all naked and loosey-goosey.

Step 9: Take the end with the knot in it and bring it back out through the loop you drew it through to close your chain -- thus re-opening your chain. Now give that end a tug (a gentle tug, just in case there was some snaggage when you picked up your stitches.)

Step 10: I told you there would be naked stitches.

Step 11: You might want to put them on a needle, for decency's sake.

Step 12:  Yay! All done. You now have a whole whack of live stitches, ready to do your bidding!

Return to Sleeve Island

Sarah

When last I posted, I'd left Sleeve Island for the Land o' Lace -- and friends, I had a great trip. The Flower Basket Shawl (from the Fall 2004 Interweave) was a nice little vacation from miles of stockinette, using less than 300 yards of Noro Cashmel. Even though it's 100% cashmere, the Cashmel isn't quite as soft as I expect from such a loosely spun yarn, but Noro has never been known for making buttery-soft yarns. Laura stocks both Karabella Margrite and Boise for Bella, and I think either of those would work really well for this shawl -- if I make it again, I may have to get a couple balls of one of those.

Uh-oh, gotta go -- I hear ominous noises from the direction of Measure's diaper. Stay tuned, though: I'm working on a crochet-chain provisional cast-on tutorial which I think will be really cool!

ETA: So yeah, I'm back on Sleeve Island, but I'm just going to keep at it. I've got a couple other garter and stockinette projects on the needles (secret projects, sorry) so I really needed the break...but I'm also going to cast on for another lace shawl, because variety is the spice of life.

Escape from Sleeve Island

Sarah

Yesterday I was plugging away on the Minimalist Cardigan, pretending I might be the kind of knitter who is capable of project monogamy (nothing else on the needles was in the same room -- who's going to tell?) when I began to feel a twinge, then a sharp tug, then a complete feeling of being whacked in the head with a half-brick swung in a sock: a half-brick made of boredom. I was a castaway on the dull, dull shores of Sleeve Island, without even an anthropomorphized volleyball to keep me entertained. When all you're knitting is row after row of plain stockinette, Sleeve Island can be a very desolate place.

"What would Survivorman do?" I asked myself. I've been watching a lot of Survivorman on the Discovery Channel lately, in which Les Stroud (the Survivorman of the show's title) spends a week alone in deserts, on mountaintops, or in forests, surviving with a minimum of technology aside from the 60 pounds of camera gear he totes along to document everything. I don't think he's ever spent a week on Sleeve Island, but maybe they're working their way up to that. He often mentions that when you are in a survival situation, it is very important to keep your mind occupied. He usually says this as he is setting traps for scorpions (yes, to eat), weaving himself a bed out of grass, or fashioning himself a little desalinization plant out of a Dixie cup and a piece of plastic.

Immediately, my course of action was clear.

I cast on for the Flower Basket shawl. I'm using the Noro Cashmel cashmere I got for my birthday, and I've already finished it except for the last repeat and the edging. It's taking the edge off of my craving for a lace project, and I'm using stash. Don't judge me -- it was a survival situation. I did what I had to do.

Stash Addition

Sarah

So, um, I may have done a little shopping while I was visiting my in-laws in the North Bay. Some of the shopping may have occured in yarn stores. I suspect you are not shocked.

One of the yarn stores my MIL and I visited, Marin Fiber Arts, was having an anniversary sale. Could I resist? No. I picked up three skeins of this gorgeous Cashmere Silk by Jade Sapphire. It's a beautiful colorway called "Oceana." Despite the challenges inherent to the process of knitting lace charts while simultaneously holding a squiggly baby, I've had lace on the brain. I do plan on finishing my Mystery Stole, and I'd like to try my hand (well, hands...it would be kind of hard to knit with just one) at designing a triangular lace shawl. To that end, I also picked up a copy of Victorian Lace Today...it's got an interesting-looking section on lace design.

The other lace purchase I made was at the Knitterie in Novato: two balls of Lacey Lamb, also from Jade Sapphire. It's a really pretty deep marooney color. Each ball has over 800 yards, so I should have plenty no matter what I do with it, whenever I get around to it -- in the meantime, I'm just having fun petting the pretty yarn.

Oh yeah, and I did get some actual knitting done in the past week -- I finished the back of my Minimalist Cardigan, and started on the first sleeve! I don't understand why so many knitting patterns for cardigans (or sweaters) start with the back. I always start with the sleeves or cardigan fronts, which I treat as a large gauge swatch (regular swatches are lying little weasels, in my experience) and which gives me some momentum going into the project. Makes sense to me!