Tag: Design

  • New Shawl Design

    I bought some lovely yarn from Lion Brand, called \”Amazing.\”  The colorway is Regatta, which is a subtle rainbow of overdyed colors.  I decided to make a triangle shawl with it, using a couple different lace patterns and center diamonds from Barbara Walker\’s Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

    In designing, I first tried a swatch of stockinette stitch.  Somehow, I misread the ball band and thought it wanted Size 6 U.S. and made the swatch with those needles.  It didn\’t look the way I wanted, especially the honeycomb slipped stitch design.

    Then I read the ball band.  Size 9 U.S.

    Oh.

    Trying it with Size 9 produced better results, but still too dense of a pattern when I knitted a simple moss stitch.  I took that out and played with Vertical Lace Trellis, also by Barbara Walker but this time in her A Treasury of Knitting Patterns.  I added an increase stitch on either side of every even row.  Due to the nature of the pattern, I simply didn\’t use a decrease on the one side, but added a make 1 to the other.  While this allowed me to get the correct stitch count, it pulled the design out of shape.

    I\’m going to pull this swatch out, and try it again with simple make ones, while banding the lace with a simple garter stitch edge.  That will let me center the triangle in the middle, keeping the edges straight.  We\’ll see how that works from here.

  • Fabric As Inspiration

    In working with the Artist\’s Way, one of the things we focus on is baby steps.  I am finding that my baby steps are much smaller than I assume they \”should\” be.  As a friend reminds me, \”shoulds\” are poison.

    It\’s frustrating, though, that there are so many relative to sewing.  Putting that aside is difficult.  I went to an amazing fabric store with a friend, the Textile Discount Outlet.  It\’s overwhelming and fun at the same time.  They have a whole wall of fabric that\’s under $4 a yard, where I found a lovely, satiny black fabric with blue detailing that looks Asian.

    The left side of the picture above is the \”right\” side of the fabric, with the black detailing.  On the right, it\’s the dark part with blue detailing.

    I love the way the light falls with the fabric drape.  It had different colors depending on where the light hits it.

    Here\’s a detail of the images on the fabric.  Trees and structures are all over it.  I\’d like to make a long vest or jacket with it, so that it can take advantage of the flow of the fabric.

    Here\’s the reverse; I like it just as much as the other side.

    I find it interesting how my inner Critic wants to fight with my decision, though.  I look at the fabric and doubts surface.  I can see that it\’s my Critic and not something realistic, but it\’s painful regardless.

    What do you do to conquer your own Critic?

  • Update from the Itinerant Knitter

    Our writing group, the Writers Retreat, had a mini-retreat March 4th through the 6th in Indianapolis, Indiana. Authors A. Catherine Noon, Nicole Gordon, Darla M. Sands, and the Pack Rat met for a weekend of touring and hanging out and, of course, writing.
    Since I went along, we of course had to do a side-trip to the LYS (Local Yarn Shop). We visited:

    Mass. Ave. Knit Shop
    Susan Brennan, Proprietor
    862 Virginia Avenue
    Indianapolis, Indiana 46203
    Main tel: (317) 638-1833
    Website

    It’s a very large store with a big sale room. I found some neat stuff on sale:

    di.ve brand, from Biella – Itally, a ribbon yarn that’s full of luscious fall colors and a startlingly bright silver splash. It’s the Luxus line, which is 91% Polyamid and 9% Polyester; I bought color 29204, lot 1496.

    I first swatched with garter stitch on size 10 needles. It yielded a very dense fabric, springy and stiff. I didn’t like it, and since garter uses up so much yarn and I only bought three balls, I decided to try something else.

    I swatched a pattern from Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns called “Vertical Lace Trellis.”

    Vertical Lace Trellis
    Odd # sts.
    R1 & 3 (WS): P
    R2: K1 *YO, K2T
    R4 *SSK, YO, REP *, END K1

    Since it’s only 4 rows, and only 2 of those rows are the pattern row and the rest is purl stitches, it’s a very easy pattern to follow. I’ve done another scarf in this pattern, but need to post some pictures of it. In the meantime, here’s what I’m trying with the Luxus:

    CO 3
    YO after first and before last stitch, all even-numbered rows; do pattern in the middle on the odd-numbered stitches.

    This will create a triangle shawl.

    I think I’ll add a bead at the point of the triangle for weight, or maybe some tassels. We’ll see.

  • Mochi Progress

    I\’ve been working away… well, playing away, really… with my shawl.  Here are a couple quick updates.

    I\’m on row 14 of a 16 stitch sample of rippled rib.  I may extend it past this current spot because I like how it\’s shaping up and one repeat of the pattern is a little too little to see.
    I\’m learning to read charts now, which is getting easier the more I play with them.  I\’m using post-its to track the row I\’m on and I numbered the stitches on the post-it, which helped me to keep track of them.  I found that to be a lot more helpful than trying to count in the middle of the row.  As long as I kept count of what stitch I\’m on in the knitting itself, then I know what stitch I\’m on in the diagram.

    The stitch in the middle is the cross-stitch pattern that I mentioned in my previous article on this project.  It has less give than other patterns, and would be good for a jacket or something that needs to hold its shape.  I love the look of it, but it\’s less loose than I would like for a shawl.  I may continue with it for this project anyway, simply for the practice.

    The wavy ribs that I\’m working now are at the top of the photograph and in the detail below; I like them in the book but less so on this project so far because it\’s only one pattern repeat.  That\’s why I think I might continue the pattern through several more repeats in order for it to establish itself on the piece.

    This shows the lace in the pattern, but it\’s hard to see the rows of wavy ribs that go up vertically along it.  I\’d love to try it with a worsted-weight or heavy yarn in a scarf with a couple of repeats width will allow the pattern to really shine.  (This yarn is a lace weight, maybe a DK, but very light.  Worsted-weight is more traditional, what Americans think of when they think \’skein of yarn\’ in the store.)

  • Box Loff – The Extended Cut

    I found some more pictures.  (Can you tell I\’m finally cleaning out my photo folders?)

    I finished the stitching on the pieces, and have actually sewn the bottom of the box.  I need to get going on finishing it so I can move on to the next project, but here\’s some more pictures of the process:


    Here are the four pieces for the sides.

    I varied the green, rather than the blue or the brown, in order to get the width I wanted.  I\’m using the green to sew up the box, in order to provide contrast and give the design \’pop.\’

    Detail of one of the side pieces.  I doubled up on the brown yarn, since it was more of a DK weight than the other two, which were worsted weight (the green, even, seemed a little on the bulky side).

    Here are all ten pieces.  The set on the left is for the top, and the right is for the bottom.  The box top will sit down over the entire part of the bottom.

    I\’m making the box to hold my essential oils from Jeanne Rose, because my cat, Boria, likes to toss them all over the table when I have them all nice and organized.  (Necessity is the mother of invention?  Whoever said that never had a cat!  Defense of one\’s things is the mother of invention!)

    Here is a close-up of the top of the box:

    It\’s got quite a bit of loft from the yarn.  Since I\’m doing a standard needlepoint stitch, it\’s as thick on the bottom as it is on the top.  It gives it a lot of padding.  The plastic mesh, though, isn\’t very strong, so it wouldn\’t be a good candidate for a box to be carried in a purse.  I\’d like to see if there are materials (metal screen, maybe?) that would be good for that.

    This is the bottom of the box.  You can clearly see the extra row around the edge where the top of the box, once it\’s sewn, will sit down over the bottom.  The outer edge of the bottom will just have a satin stitch around the edge.

    Here are both pieces side-by-side; they are 3\” square.

    This is the in-process view of the sides for the top of the box.  I did the brown design first because I wanted to see how it would look in the finished product; the reason we used brown was to match the table that it will be sitting on and I wanted to see if that worked.  It does.  I don\’t yet have a picture of the box on that table, but will get one once the box is completed.

    It\’s a little out of focus, but here is a detail of the brown yarn.  It\’s held double, whereas the green and blue are just single.

    Here is a little better shot of the same detail where you can get a good look at the plastic mesh. 

    Here is a detail of all three colors interacting together.  It\’s not an arrangement I would have thought of just off the cuff, but I\’m glad we decided to put them all together.  I think the finished design is pleasing and it matches the table, so it\’s a success all around.

  • Box Loff Revisited

    As you know, last year I experimented with needlepoint boxes.  When Rachel visited in July, I showed her the box in my office. Later on, we got to talking and came up with a design for another one.

    I have several images that I\’m tardy in posting, but here are a few.

    This first one actually has nothing to do with the box itself, exactly; it\’s one of two shots from the impromptu artist date I took the morning I had my perio cleaning.  I was very upset about having to do it, scared and sad, and I decided to go to the park to sit and try to relax and ground.  This was one of the views from my chair:

    This is part of the Forest Preserve of Cook County, a huge green space that rings the city of Chicago.  It\’s quite beautiful.  We\’re lucky to be surrounded by such green; and in fact, the motto of the city is Urbs in Horto, or City in a Garden.

    The camera on my telephone doesn\’t do a very good color balance with the sun, but the view this direction went into a little shaded grotto-like space I could imagine all sorts of little fairy-like creatures inhabiting.

    My chair and the calligraphy set that I bought myself as a present.  It\’s not actually a very good set of pens, but I did at least support my art.

    Inside the famous knitting bag.  It\’s getting very ratty now, and is going to need some surgery on the handle, but I still like it.  (My mother, who died in July of 2000, made it.)

    This is the top and bottom of the box, and the side I\’m holding is the back-side of the bottom to show the stitches.  The brown matches the brown on my table at home, and the blue is a Brede\’s Knot, a symbol of the Goddess, Brede.

    Here are the two pieces side by side, to get an idea of the pattern.  We drew it out on paper first, coloring in the boxes, and had a couple different drafts before settling on this one.

  • Mochi Update – Tunisian Redux

    I decided to change the project I used the Mochi Mini yarn for.  Originally, I wanted to do a Tunisian scarf, but it kept not working out the way I wanted.  I blogged about it here.

    Using a design by Cheryl Oberle as a starting point, I am doing a triangular shawl.  I\’m using a stitch from Barbara Walker\’s stitch dictionary, the second volume, for the middle panel.  In the original pattern, it\’s a 35 row repeat of garter; instead, I\’m doing a 36 row repeat of the texture stitch.

    The funny part is that when I started it, I thought the top was where the triangle was supposed to form.  There is a four-stitch increase every other row, two of which are in the center; which means it\’s a mitered corner.

    Uh, duh.

    You can see I sort of pulled the center out of shape and will have to block aggressively when I finish it.  I think I\’ll also add a picot row along that top since in the center there\’s only the two yarn-overs to hold the edge, which will be subjected to quite a bit of stress.

    This next image shows the mitering and the center yarn-over increases.  I like the striping effect of this yarn.  One thing I don\’t care for, though, is the way it knots with itself.  The filament has quite a bit of fuzz that develops pills, and then the yarn knots on itself.  I\’ve already had several severe tangles in just this first yarn ball and, despite the appearance, won\’t work with this yarn again because of that.  It\’s just not worth the time to untangle everything.

    This shot shows the four row texture repeat from Barbara Walker\’s guide.  I like this stitch a lot and think I might make a regular scarf in a rectangle to show it off.  It\’s got an interesting slip stitch pass over that makes the horizontal bars; it reminds me a little of Tunisian because of the square shape.  In a worsted weight yarn, I think the texture would show up even more.

  • Update on Design

    My bag is coming along. I’ve finished the main body, and put in a round of purl stitches for a fold. Then the lining is stockinette.

    The unit is 12\” wide, 9\” deep, and 0.75\” thick. This view shows the 12\” width. I\’ll need to block the outside, the 9\” part, to make sure it fits. I\’ll pick up stitches at the top and add an envelope closure, and probably make a button.

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    This view shows the lining inside the bag. I couldn\’t get it down inside deeply because of the needles; while I could slip the stitches off to a string as a holder, I don\’t really need to see how it works since I can size it by putting the unit itself inside to ensure it fits.

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    This shows the ridge of the purl row separating the pattern fabric from the lining. You can even see in this shot how the lining leans away from the body. That will make the lining sit down inside without tacking.

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    I\’ll update soon with more.

  • What Am I Designing Now!

    I have an AlphaSmart 2000 portable keyboard that I use to write while I\’m on the train or the bus. I got to thinking, it needs a cover! I knit!

    These two things taste great together!

    So. Here\’s what I did:
    I knit a gauge swatch on size 7 dpn (double point needles, the kind used for making socks). I got a good gauge from them, but realized when I started to cast on that 100 stitches wouldn\’t fit on them.

    I knit a gauge swatch on size 9 circulars, 24\”, without really thinking about the length of the circular part. I realized, though, that if my circumference wasn\’t 24\”, I was toasted when I wanted to cast on since I wanted to knit in the round.

    The third time\’s the charm. I found my size 7 circulars with I think 8\” or 12\”, and knit a gauge swatch. Then I figured, 9\” x 2, plus 1.5\” is 19.5. Make it an even 20.

    Just a smidge too small to make it around the circular part. The unit is 12\” wide, though, and even though I originally wanted the stitches to face the other way, 12\” x 2 + 1.5\” works on circulars that are the length I have, but only just barely.

    I did a knitted cast on and realized two things: I should have cast on one needle size up, since it\’s a pretty tight cast on, and that the knitted cast on curls just like stockinette fabric does, even if you use a straight weave for the fabric itself. This isn\’t a bad thing, exactly, it\’s just a thing – but I got to thinking: next, I want to try a ribbed knit cast on, and see if purl stitches work as well as knit stitches, to eliminate the curl.

    I have about 4.5\” on the needles now, and today decided to make sure it \”fit.\” That\’s what this picture is:

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    I like the fit quite well, actually. I think I\’ll do two rows of reverse stockinette, then another 9\” of plain stockinette, for a lining; finished with a 3 needle bind off. The closure will be picked up and knitted into a triangle, with a button closure. I need some sort of window cover for privacy, but I haven\’t worked out yet how I want to do that.

    The stitch for the body is a garter rib stitch: 1 row of rib, 1 row of knit. That gives a purl bump in the rib columns that\’s pretty but retains the elasticity of a true rib.

  • Camera Bag

    So, I sez to my friend, Friend, what kind of a bag would you like? And she sez to me, she sez, Well, I’d like a camera bag.

    In camo.

    …

    Have I mentioned before that I HATE camo?

    I must have mentioned this.

    In fact, my friend, she started giggling because we had talked, at length, on just this very topic the day before while hiking. I sez to my friend, Friend, do you have a hat I could borrow for this here desert hiking in the sun? And she sez to me, she sez, sure! Here you go!

    It’s camo.

    …

    Have I mentioned before that I HATE camo?

    So this bag. Well, it’s a camera bag, for a wee little bitty camera of a thing. So I knitted a swatch, and I knitted a sock, and I closed the sock with the three needle bind off, and I picked up the gusset for the lid, and I knitted the lid.

    I even did some lace, but you can’t really see. The end is sort of diagonal, which I don’t like much, so I think I’ll do another one. And I want to add a strap. But I finished the bag. Poof!

    In camo.

    …

    Have I mentioned before that I HATE camo?

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    It\’s quite roomy inside. I showed this picture to my friend, and she said it looks like a little mouth. Which of course makes me want to make a version of the bag with ears and teeth…

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    This is the inside of the cover. There\’s actually a small lace pattern in the triangle that forms the flap, but you can\’t see it since the yarn is so dark.

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    This is with the flap closed. The line of the flap at the point of the triangle is angled down and to the right, which I don\’t like; I want it to be square. What I think I\’ll do is start the next bag from this point, rather than end here, and then cast on the extra stitches for the body and go from there.

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    Even with white in the background, you can\’t see the lace. It\’s a pity, but a good lesson: on dark yarn, use a textural pattern and not lace to see it – or use bigger needles (or block the heck out of it).

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    This is how it looks when I hold it straight, but I\’m still not really happy with the closure. I do want to find a cool wooden button to use for the clasp, and I may make a prototype with a button since it will be used in the field on the fly.

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    And here is the back in all its glory. I did the top part in a garter rib pattern that actually looks quite nice in this yarn; I may do the whole thing next time in that stitch for added padding against the camera body.

    Another thought I have is to do a lining, so that there\’s extra padding to protect the camera – I just don\’t want the bag to be too bulky. We shall see.

  • Spring Bag

    I’m on a kick to make more gift bags. I found a cool overdye at Michael’s, and I like the colors. I think it looks like Spring or Ostara.

    I did the top as straight knitting, but I used a knitted cast on instead of long tail. I like the way it comes out, since you can’t really see the edge and it looks very neat and clean. It’s looser than long tail, too, which is nice; although when working that first row off the cast on row it sometimes is tight.

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    I used a slip-stitch pattern from Barbara Walker’s stitch dictionary, A First Treasury of Knitting Patterns which has been re-released by Schoolhouse Press. I actually didn’t like the way it looked with this yarn, which surprised me. I have found it to be pretty on some overdyes, whereas on others it looks flat and muddy – which I thought it did, here.

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    I switched back to plain knitting for the next segment, and then experimented with a Garter Rib. I tried doing the plain rows by switching between knit and purl by row for the first segment, then doing purl every straight row for the final segment.

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    It wasn’t until I finished and turned the bag inside out to seam it that I realized my error – I did the stitch inside-out!

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    I like the way it turned out, but for the next bag with this yarn I’ll do the garter rib for the whole thing and see how that looks. I used the three needle bind of for the end and made a 3-stitch i-cord for the cord. On the whole, I like how it looked.

    The yarn is worsted-weight, and I used a size 7 needle, which is much smaller than I’d usually use for this yarn thickness. The resultant fabric is quite dense, which I like for the purpose of the gift bag.

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  • Update on Opera Gloves – Design Challenges

    In designing my opera gloves, I am using a couple resources. The first is the stitch dictionary by Barbara Walker, A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

    Additionally, I did a web search for a few different opera glove designs, but found nothing exactly to my liking. What I want is a glove pattern that goes up the forearm and over the elbow, ending in a ruffle. The fingers will be partial, so it will be a ‘fingerless’ glove, but I do want actual fingers rather than a flat line across the knuckles.

    I found it a lot harder to do the swatch with the two lace patterns I’d picked out. I wanted to use one panel that’s a lace rib stitch, two lines, and one as a center panel that’s sixteen rows. It turned out to be too easy to drop stitches on the larger lace pattern, when trying to track both it and the circular knitting. I fiddled and struggled for a while and then realized, if I was having this much trouble on the swatch, I’d hate doing the gloves. I switched to the simpler two row repeat and voila!

    One thing I did change, in the pattern, is that it’s a K1 * yo… etc. Well, at first, I did the K1 at the beginning of the round, but not each new needle (I’m knitting on three needles). That was pulling too wide at the joins between the needles, so I decided heck with it, I’d add a K1 on each needle change and it made the pattern much neater. Also, since the pattern is written for flat knitting, I had to reverse row 2 (which is the wrong side row), but luckily it’s just either K or P stitches, no complicated stitchcraft. It’s run to work.

    I don’t have pictures yet, but when I finish the swatch I’ll post another update.