Yesterday I mended the blue sweater cuff. It took about two and a half hours, including the knitting time. Why did I wait so long? I’ve had the yarn for close to three years! Other things kept getting in the way. And I would rather knit than mend! Wouldn’t you?
I am working on changing that attitude within myself.
This sweater was knit in the round. Bottom up for the body, but top down for the sleeves.
At the time, I knew my yardage was limited and I wanted to make sure that each sleeve was the same and that the yardage went as far as possible. Top-down knitting is the best way to make that happen. It worked well for this project. I finished the sweater with only a little of the main shade of blue to spare.
The original yarn was a dk, so I decided to work the cuff with a set of 3.5mm US #4 dpn’s.
Top-down knitting also makes it easier to mend/replace the bits that wear out, like the sleeve cuffs. Had I knit the sleeves from the cuff up I would have had to cut the knitting at the join of the cuff and very carefully retrieve my live stitches above the cuff. That will be a demonstration for another day and a different sweater!
When working with an older sweater, the stitches will not usually run down the knitting in the same way as a garment that you are working. After a certain amount of time the yarn itself has been almost pressed into shape with folds and bends. You can see in the unraveled yarn and stitches at the end of the cuff (4th picture in the sequence) that the shape is set and unwilling to move. A bonus, one that makes the work you are trying to achieve a little easier.
The wrist is frayed right at the beginning/end of the round. Which makes it slightly more complicated to pull back as the end has been woven in down towards the cuff.Scissors will be needed to cut the yarn every time it hits the woven in tail, Once the end of the knitting is found the knitting will pull back easily, except where the tail yarn has been woven into the fabric. Scissors were used to cut the knotted area and the wrist kept on unravelling.The end is gone and the unravelling speeds along.Once the knitting is pulled back to the sleeve, pull the next round out carefully, As you pull catch each stitch revealed with a dpn. Continue to pull back the last round, switching dpn’s as they are filled. Use 3 or 4 dpn’s to hold the stitches depending upon your comfort level with dpn use.Once all of the stitches have been picked up, cut off the old yarn leaving an 8 inch tail. Weave in the tail as you knit the first round of the new ribbed cuff.I had 68 sts on the needles but the cuff had been 48 sts. The sleeve had been reduced by 20 sts in the cuff. So I worked an extra round, reducing as I knit, to match the 48 sts, before starting the ribbing.
I am very happy with the results. The new blue cuff is not perfect, but perfect enough for a sweater that was knit in 1990, 34 years ago. The neck may be the next piece that needs replacing, I noticed some wear along the back, but that is a problem for another day!
Really it is still Summer, but the evenings have a little chill and it gets dark just that much earlier, letting us know that Summer is on the way out! So I am working on stuff for the Fall, both personally and professionally!
Part of my job description is teaching. I teach people how to knit, how to knit better, how to execute specific skills that you, the student, may want to add to your repertoire. It is one of the more challenging aspects of my job. Just figuring out what to teach and how to present the goals.
Professional Projects
This fall has started with a successful Thrumming class and a not successful cables class. Perhaps the project wasn’t interesting enough or perhaps those who wanted to learn were looking for something more traditionally shaped. I will still write up the pattern later in the fall as I really do like it a lot! The thrumming headband will be out later this week.
This one didn’t work.
Right now I am working on a 3 part series on finishing for knits. This is loosely based on a Fear of Finishing Workshop that we at Mad About Ewe Fine Yarns ran for years. It was our most popular workshop – Tons of information presented in a six hour workshop. Everyone went home dazed and confused. So this time, it is three, four hour workshops, with time in between so there is time for everything to sink in!
Part 1 – Button Holes and Button Bands. This will be an in depth look at how to pick-up stitches to create button bands. We will look at ratios and gauge, at button holes large and small, how to sew on buttons, and we will start to look at I-cord. This class is already more than half full and I think that the new format is going to work really well.
Part 2 – Seams – I think that says it all. We will look at ratios – ratios are very important to all aspects of finishing. There will be 8 seams built off of the swatches. Seams will include; grafting, 3 styles of mattress stitch, 2 styles of 3-needle bind-off. One unique seam and I am still looking for the last option. There may be some finishing techniques as well.
Part 3 – Everything Else! You know, how to lengthen or shorten our knits. How to add anything after your knitting is finished. Ie Heels to tubes, afterthought pockets. Maybe some dimensional embellishments. Things to consider before we start knitting as well. Swatches, how to make and use them before we start knitting. The best place to work shaping. How to work a short-rows. All of those extra things. Which really aren’t that extra.
Every workshop will include homework beforehand of some kind. Mostly some swatches, something to practice all of the new techniques on!
Personal Projects
Yesterday I cut out a blouse and a pair of pants for myself. Though apparently I made the blouse for my daughter. I missed a couple of key measures. I am really thrilled with the finishing. French seams and fine finishing on a napped wool flannel fabric. My daughter is thrilled.
I hope that the pants turn out a little better as I know I am the only one who will want to wear them!
Italian wool woven fabric. I am planning pleats in the front and maybe a button fly instead of a zipper. Those colours!
When I was much younger I collected coins. Old Canadian and English pennies and coins from when we went to Malaysia. When I was a teenager my father gave me his coin collection. I
As a collection it was very informal. It consisted of an old plastic tub of coins most of them from Panama and Peru. Most from the late 1950’s, from when he was in the Navy and his ship cruised those waters. I had put away my coin collection by then and wasn’t actively collecting, so I put the tub with my collection and proceeded to spend the next 50 years carrying the collection around with me.
A few months after my father passed away I hauled out that old tub and looked again at those coins. In the collection were about 30 old silver coins, all the same size and all from the Republic De Panama. I started to think of what those coins could become. I wanted to use them as embellishments on a shawl, So, I took the coins to my Silversmith friend Joan and left it with her.
I think that this will be an interesting way of creating a unique piece of knitting while honouring my memories of my father.
Remember this one? Well it was put on hold while I waited for the book and then it arrived and needed to be examined for new ideas. Which I really couldn’t find. I was in an odd headspace I think. I was looking at my knitting, on the 1.75mm US #00 needles, and thinking it was too loose. I had to get my head around that. So, yesterday I also ripped out my little bit of knitting and put away the the 1.75mm needles and pulled out the 1.0mm US #00000 needles and cringed. I have never, ever, knit with anything that small. So sometime in the next week I will be casting on a new project.
Still trying to get my head around that as well. Do I order more yarn, or do I design a smaller project. Still thinking on it!
This one has been on hiatus for a while, but I am planning on picking it up at the end of the month. I am not far off the waist and I am hoping to reach the shoulders around Christmas.
There are other projects in the background and more classes to share, but that can be for another day!
