BareNeedle

new sweater plans

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:39:12 -0500

I am winding down in teaching at my retreats for this spring, and my mind is opening up to all sorts of new possibilities. Once the Rip Van Winkle Sock Spinning Retreat is over in mid May, I am free to work on new projects.

I am so ready.

My hopeless addiction to stranded knitting continues, but the Peace Fleece solid colored sweaters for this year's Reversible Retreats have been totally enjoyable to design and knit. It's such great yarn from such a great company. I will be working on a new STRANDED mitten pattern with Peace Fleece this Fall for the Twelve Knits Of Christmas Retreat in December.

In the meantime, my mind is wandering towards cables again. Rich, thick, warm cables. The thermostat will be lower next winter and I plan to have a complete wardrobe of cabled things to keep warm in. So, I will start now.

First on deck is a cabled, or maybe even Gansey patterned, tunic. 1/2 or 3/4 sleeves. Maybe a button front (or a psedo button placket!). I am a turtleneck/leggings wearer, and it is SO SIMPLE to throw a tunic over the first layer to get a great (and warm) look. I have a couple of near-miss garments that I live in on cold days that need tweaking and streamlining, so I think 2008 is the year for this work. I think I will start with my Meandering Cable Vest shape as I like the crew neck/side slits, and go from there.

Stay tuned. As I find the right looks, I'll post the inspiration. I am hosting a CIRCULAR SWEATER WORKSHOP on 2nd Thursday evenings at Countrywool starting June 12, and I think this will be MY project for the class.

Reversible Percentage Sweaters

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 06:26:02 -0500

Knitting reversible stitch patterns was a revelation to me back in the 1980's when I came across Jackie Fee's SWEATER WORKSHOP. But, it is an idea that has stayed with me as I designed my way through a number of items, mostly hooded scarves and shawls. Jackie's Harris Tweed pattern stitch has enchanted me for that long.

So, I've dedicated the past year to playing with it.

The Kid's Reversible Sweater (pictured above) is the ultimate in practicality for moms and kids. When your tot dribbles tomato sauce down the front and you still have places to go, just turn it inside out and you're all set.

So, that pattern was born.

Then came the adult version:

and then, of course, my trademark gauge hat pattern:

These three patterns, along with 6 others, are stage front and center for three knitting retreats this year. We will spend a lot of time discussing sizing for these sweaters, and finishing for a perfect look. Circular knitting lends itself beautifully to these designs and to their subsequent flawless appearance when turned inside out. (Try entering one of these beauties at a county fair and watch the judge's eyes open wide).

The first retreats happen late this month & early next month at Cape Ann on the north shore of Massachusetts. The last one takes place in Round Top, NY, on the eastern slopes of the Catskill Mountains of NY the first weekend in November.

(The website should be up and registrations accepted in late April).

Now that I have been knitting these reversible patterns, my mind is busy constructing some cardigans, for which reversibility is the ultimate in practicality. Stay tuned for more patterns!

Baby knitting

Fri, 7 Mar 2008 07:00:53 -0500

So, as a little person has appeared in my life, I am quite entranced with Baby Knitting. Autumn Sky Krisniski is my first grandchild, and making her new things to wear will be one of the pleasures I allow myself.

I learned to design patterns just after my fourth child was born. Those easy sweaters were on all my kids within a year, but my focus was mainly sweaters for years. Now I am finding all the other things that keep babies warm and comfortable quite charming to knit.

Such as Baby Leggings on baby Autumn's little 1 week old legs above.

To go along with the leggings, this sweet young thing is wearing only cloth diapers, and her mom is using Wool Soakers to keep them on, and provide a dampness barrier:

These baby pants have been TERRIFIC fun to design and knit, as the top is completely done with short rows. I started with some web resources, and some printed patterns from WW1 and have tweaked the fit to allow for a full set of two (or three) diapers, while keeping the legs firm enough to prevent "overflow". Autumn is wearing her fourth pair right now, as she grew out of the newborn size in 2 weeks.

The patterns are both available for sale here.

Miss Gertrude Wright's Shoulderette

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:40:19 -0500

Sometimes, the simple knitted projects are the ones that give the most pleasure. This shrug walked into my shop two weeks ago and I fell in love. The simple 6 row lace pattern and practical wearing style sold me.

It came from a handed-down pattern, courtesy of one one of my customers and her lab technician, that left out some details. So, I took it upon myself to add them in, and an alternate wearing variation.

Here's a picture of a similar one from the front:

The pattern will be hosted, eventually, on the Knitlist Holiday Pattern Gift List. For now, you can get it here.

I am not a fine lace knitter, but I LOVE it knit BIG:

Enjoy!

Sock marathon knitting....

Fri, 7 Sep 2007 08:15:13 -0500

It's that time of year again. Three consecutive cool mornings had me reaching for socks and wool clogs. Granted, they were cotton socks, but I KNOW what lies ahead.

I had this irresistible urge to own new charcoal handknit socks. I auditioned a few yarns, but Cascade 220 won hands down for its softness and spring. Since the heels in this stuff do wear out, I added silk/wool fingering yarn to the heels, where I generally wear thin and open a few holes by year two. I wear wool clogs all winter, so the thicker yarn works well and is warmer on snowy mornings.

So, now I'm good for 3 years, at least, with this pair.

I have this thing about nylon in socks. I hate wearing socks made with nylon reinforced yarn as they cause my feet to sweat. But nylon DOES help sock yarns wear longer. I also don't enjoy wearing yarns that have been superwash treated, as they simply aren't as warm as the untreated ones. (This is actually a bonus for wearing wool indoors in our heated environments!) So, I have scoured the yarn world for a sock reinforcing yarn to add to untreated natural fiber yarns for my socks. The answer (and there are two):

100% adult mohair spun LACE WEIGHT thin. This is only available as handspun as far as I have been able to find.
50silk/50wool laceweight yarn. YES! This I have been able to find and now am stocking in a few colors for those as driven as I am about this issue.

So, I add this stuff to heels and enjoy many years of wear before I have to repair them.

I thought I was done for a while, but THEN, on a yarn browsing trip with Marie and Char, I happened across Ultra Alpaca Light and fell in love with the stuff. "SOCKS!" they screamed at me. And I listened. The heather colors are gorgeous, the yarn is inexpensive, and here, at last, is a sport weight version of a good no-nylon sock yarn. Alpaca is WAY warmer than wool, and the combo seems perfect. (I own 100% alpaca socks and adore them, but they are on the thick side like the Cascade 220 socks, and although I adore their silky texture and warmth, they do stretch out from lack of elasticity.)

So, I got in touch with my suppliers and made the plunge. Into the shop yesterday arrived a HUGE box with the first 7 colors. On my needles, the first sock is almost done:

I will post a better picture when they are both finished, but I couldn't resist showing the gorgeous purple heather color next to fall oranges and greens. I am totally enjoying myself with this yarn. I am knitting on US #2's and #3's and getting 6 sts=1". I would love a finely knit sweater in this yarn. My head is full of plans!

Cabled Braids Hat

Sun, 2 Sep 2007 10:21:48 -0500

The pattern editing for this great hat is almost done. The applied I-cord edging was WAY COOL, and I opted to keep the braid ends flatter by tacking them together, instead of tying, as was done in the first hat. Many heads have tried this on, and we are finding that the bigger this hat is, the better it looks, so one of the sizes is 26" finished.

It became a religious experience to get all three braid ends to emerge seamlessly from the applied edging on the INSIDE. I have spared the pattern followers this in the pattern, but would be glad to chat at length about this issue in any correspondence.

As mentioned before, this pattern will be available in September's COUNTRYWOOL NEWS free of charge, so be sure to sign up at countrywool.

Sweater Construction: Short Row Necks

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 05:41:00 -0500

This morning on the KNITLIST, this subject came up, and once again, I thought it timely to post instructions to budding pattern designers.

Let me preface the directions by saying that this uniquely worked neck was first illustrated for me in Elizabeth Zimmermann's KNITTING WITHOUT TEARS . This book opened up a door for me in sweater design, and once going through I have never looked back.

Well fitting necks are lower in the front and higher in the back. Working circularly knit sweaters has always been a challenge, as the easy way to finish off, or start, a circular sweater generally results in a neck that crowds the chin. Necks are commonly 2-4 inches higher in the back for most adult sweaters....1-2 inches for kids. If you know your row gauge (work a swatch to find it!) you can figure out for yourself how many short rows to add to any sweater pattern for the perfect fit. Where to put them is knitter's choice, but generally they look best if the TURNS are straddling the shoulders, so they are not always exactly where you see them in the diagram. The TURNS need to be staggered in an even manner, so that you create a CRESCENT MOON shape of added fabric. Short row wrap turns are executed thusly:

short row wrap =
slip next st, bring working yarn through needles to opposite side of work,
slip st back to left hand needle, put working yarn back to where it started.
Turn work, preparing to work back in the opposite direction, as in flat, back-and-forth knitting.

Here is a common spacing of shaping short row turns:
Row 1: outside: work in pattern to 2 sts before last wrapped st, SRW, turn
Row 2: inside: work in pattern to 2 sts before last wrapped st, SRW, turn.

There are a few ways to create a short row neck in the round. This first illustration is a hugely exaggerated depiction of inner to outer. The black oval illustrates the bind off row of the neck. Depending on whether you are working the neck bottom up (Zimmermann style) or top down (Walker style), your short rows are the ENDING of the neck shaping or the BEGINNING and may not be connected at first. Zimmermann style has you starting with the ORANGE line and working to the RED, and Walker style is the reverse, which is what the words below walk you through (pun intended).

Starting at the innermost red line on the left, work across, in pattern, to the innermost red line at the right, execute a short row wrap, TURN. Short row necks are worked in back-and-forth knitting ad NOT in the round, with the short row wrapped stitches marking the turning points. Work across past the initial red-line point, to the next red line on the left , execute a short row wrap, TURN.
Work in pattern to the first blue line on the right, execute a short row wrap, TURN, work across past the initial red/blue line point, to the next blue/green line on the left , execute a short row wrap, TURN.
Work in pattern to the first green line on the right, execute a short row wrap, TURN, work across past the initial blue/green line point, to the next orange/green line on the left, execute a short row wrap, TURN.

Connecting Round: Work around the ENTIRE neck, in the round. Short row back-and-forth knitting is now abandoned. The extra short rows you have worked back and forth will cause the back of the neck to be longer than the front, allowing the neck to sit properly on your shoulders.

Knitting creativity in the heat of summer

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 06:38:44 -0500

The Neighborhood Knitters, who have met not once, but TWICE a week this summer, have been knitting up a storm. Despite my intention to take a knitting break, I have been Sucked In.

What did it?

This hat in an ad on the back of a magazine in June:

Lisbet had tried and tried to research the booklet this pattern was sold in to no avail. She had her mother (in Denmark) search online for DAYS about what the other designs in the book looked like before she plunked down her money to order it sight unseen. No luck.

Lisbet has the most incredible whine, EXCELLENT attention to knitting detail, and a short attention span, so in June we decided to attempt recreating this hat.

It has been a journey. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, though the backtracking has been legendary.

It's a really great hat. We are knitting it with 2 skeins silk/wool chunky VENEZIA. The I-cord edging/braids is way cool. I haven't had this much fun knitting in a LONG time. Ours' has short row ear shapings and blipless I-cord. (Be still my beating heart).

Mine is lime and hers' is red. More pictures to follow in the next week.

Summer Knitting

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 06:45:03 -0500

What is it about baby sweaters in the summer? I love to knit for Wee Ones (projects get finished!) and working with summer colors is always fun.

This Seed Stitch sweater pattern is one I have made since my kids were small. It is worked from the top down in one piece, with the sleeves worked in-the-round. No seams. I just resized/published it for FIXATION, which is the ONLY cotton yarn I will work with. Love the s-t-r-e-t-c-h in the stuff, which makes it PERFECT when dressing babies and kids.

I also added a pair of booties in the same color, made from a free pattern on SAARTJE KNITS.

(If you are interested in the sweater yarn and pattern, go here.)

Cotton, silk, bamboo yarns?

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 06:54:09 -0500

The question of the month around here....what yarns are good for summer knitting and wearing? The only cotton yarn I sell at Countrywool and knit with is Fixation. I absolutely adore it. But, I am feeling the need to find another cotton or bamboo or soy one that knits finer and has some silk in it. I have stocked cotton/wool, cotton/alpaca, cotton/angora, cotton/mohair yarns in the past, and they simply radiate too much warmth.

One reason I adore Fixation is that it comes in 84 colors, and I stock 46 of them. I want to find a really good finer yarn that will be as versatile for my customers. So, it has to come in at least 30 colors. I am looking for a weight similar to dk or sport: 50 grams and 110-130 yards.

Bamboo has the reputation of being unbelievably soft, but there is something about it being fragile while wet. And silk has an issue all its own...it can have an odor that repels some knitters. Linen can be harsh to the hand. Viscose from wood pulp is a GREAT natural fiber addition for summer, so I am thinking a cotton/viscose yarn would be a way to go.

Yarns I am considering:

Classic Elite PREMIERE

Shulana SOJABAMA

Dale SVALE

Cascade PIMA TENCEL

There are lots of yarns on the market, and If anyone reading this blog has an opinion on what I can look at, please drop me a note. Better yet...be the FIRST to send me an 8"x8" square of the yarn you like all knitted up and washed, along with the label, so I can see for myself. I'll be happy to ship you 2 balls of FIXATION and a sock pattern in return for your trouble.

send to:
Countrywool

59 Spring Road

Hudson NY 12534