Detail Oriented: #64 Saone

There are so many wonderful patterns in this issue of Verena Knitting it's easy to miss some of the more subtle details of the designs. To highlight some of these potentially overlooked details I plan to write about them in this space, knitting up examples of interesting stitch patterns and treatments.

First up is #64 Saone, by Tina Hees from our "On The Street" collection of fall cardigans and jackets. It's a very versatile, wearable design in a lovely angora/silk yarn. The lines are clean and straightforward, with crisp narrow ribs adding interest. But what's easy to miss unless you really stop and examine the picture is the cabled button band, which frames the buttons and adds a feminine touch of curve to this crisp design. I knit up a swatch with button bands on either end to feature this lovely detail.




Another nice touch is the way the ribs along the bottom edge continue up into the body of the sweater, and then rejoin the ribbed edging of the collar. 




(The buttoned up photo looks like a sleeve, because I sewed the buttons on my swatch and buttoned it to show off the band in action. There are no buttons on the sleeves.)

 I couldn't get my hands on Julia, the recommended yarn for the project, but I did happen to have a skein of Valley Yarns' Deerfield in Sweet Pea, which has the same 80% angora/20% silk blend. This is a wonderful soft yarn that I really enjoyed knitting up. It has a subtle halo from the angora and a sheen from the silk. Stitch definition is excellent, I think it would make a good alternative for those in the US who don't have access to the recommended yarn.

While the pattern calls for 3mm needles, to achieve 6.25 stitches per inch, the ball band of Deerfield calls for 5-5.5 stitches on 4mm (#6 US) needles. I chose 3.25 mm needles and achieved a gauge of 8.1-7.8 stitches per inch. (As I grew more comfortable with the stitch patterns my gauge relaxed. This illustrates nicely the wisdom of knitting a large swatch. I would continue swatching and adjusting before settling on a needle to tackle the sweater with.

When it came time to bind off I decided to experiment with binding off in pattern part of the way to see what it would look like. The in-pattern bind off resulted in picot like bumps, and the flat bind off was neat and flat and more in keeping with the clean lines of the design.

Maker Faire NY! Rocket Yarnbomb!

NY Hall of Science & Unisphere.

Last Saturday I spent the afternoon teaching knitting at the TNNA Stitch Zone. For the first time ever Maker Faire came to NY, hosted at the NY Hall of Science in Queens, on the site of the 19964-65 World’s Fair. It was a great 21^st Century event with people making everything from the practical to the ridiculous. Surrounded by commemorations of the beginning of the Space Age, Maker Faire got back down to Earth, with contributions from the Madagascar Institute, Steampunk creations, a Technology Tent, a Craft Tent and sundry Makers such as a pottery wheel made out of a lawnmower and its very own Yarn Bomb.

Just outside the Craft Tent, the Stitch Zone was stocked up with yarn, knitting and crochet needles, needlepoint and cross-stitch kits and an ever shifting group of volunteers armed and ready to teach needle crafts to the uninitiated. When I arrived, there were a few people teaching, and I picked up some good pointers watching them. There was a mid-day lull, and it was a convivial bunch so for a while it felt like the first meeting of a knitting group where no one knows each other yet. Soon enough curious fairgoers, as well as makers from other areas, began wandering in, eyeing that big pile of yarn and wondering if they could play with some of it. We tried not to pounce on them, and eventually everyone got to do some teaching.

One woman was naturally inclined to hold the yarn in her left hand, so I showed her Continental knitting which gave her a better way to hold the yarn in the hand she was already using.  I’ve tried to show right handed people this way to knit, but until they’re comfortable with the needles and yarn (two needles + yarn = three hands?) many aren’t ready to consider using their left hand this way.  That’s the fun of teaching: sharing what you know and watching someone have that “Aha!” moment. Many of the volunteers that were there have taught a lot of people and I felt that I learned as much from watching other people teach as I taught to the novice knitters who came my way.

 

Lessons would continue until people felt comfortable with what they were doing and were ready to move on. They would try to surrender the yarn and needles, only to be given bags to carry them home in so they could continue practicing. Everyone left happy with their kits of needles, yarn, and information about yarn shops in the area and websites where they could find more help. Hopefully we’ve hooked a few more into the fiber arts. 

As I wandered around after my teaching stint was over I found the Burda sewing booth. I must confess I had a traumatic experience in middle school home economics and I’ve been intimidated by sewing machines ever since. Both of my incredibly skilled grandmothers, as well as my grandfather, a tailor, would turn over in their graves to know the sad neglect my sewing machine endures. So I decided that if ever there was an opportunity to face that fear, this was it. Mere feet away from where I sat at the machine, people were riding on the Jet Ponies. Suddenly, a sewing machine didn’t seem so scary.

 

I picked out some fabric and ribbon, a kind volunteer reminded me how to operate the basic controls of a sewing machine, and I made myself a little project bag! Isn’t it pretty? I feel empowered to tackle the machine I have at home, since this one didn’t yell at me or sew the seams crooked or bite my fingers. I think I’ll take another look at the Anna magazines I have and see what small projects I might start off with. 

As I continued my wanderings, I encountered my first ever Yarn Bomb in the wool! I took some pictures and went in closer to meet, finally, Robyn Love. She's a Queens-based fiber artist and Yarn Bomber that people in my community have been telling me for some time I should meet. What a wonderful way to finally connect with her! The knit and crochet squares were sewn together and placed on the Gemini-Titan missile in Rocket Park, appearing from a distance as if they were flames from the jets. Robyn was inviting passers-by to attach a “message to the universe” onto the squares which would metaphorically blast off and carry the messages into the beyond. It reminded me of the Tibetan prayer flags that carry blessings on the wind to the countryside. It was a beautiful Yarn Bomb,thanks Robyn, next time you need help with some Yarn Bomb knitting, let me know!

 

Maker Faire at New York Hall of Science

Maker Faire NY is this weekend at the NY Hall of Science in Queens, near the famous Unisphere. I'll be teaching knitting at the TNNA booth, under the GIANT KNITTING NEEDLE tomorrow, Saturday the 25th from 12-4. This promises to be a wonderful event on a beautiful day, so if you're in the NY metro area looking for something to do, check it out! There will also be volunteers teaching crochet, needlepoint, cross stitch and other needle arts, so if you're a knitter who's wanted to learn more about any of these crafts, you should stop in for a free lesson. Or just come and say hello if you're a fan of Verena. Bring the whole family, this event has something for everyone. Knitting! Robots! Food! Did I mention Knitting?

See you there!

Maker Faire NYC

Just a quick note to say that the Fall issue of Verena Knitting will be arriving in subscriber mailboxes next week. We know that many of you treasure and save your knitting magazines, so we took a little extra time to put the magazines into protective covers before mailing. The digital issue should also be available next week and newsstands and bookstores should be stocked up the following week.

For those of you who are in the New York area, I will be in the TNNA booth teaching knitting at the World Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science, on Saturday September 25th from 12-4. I'm sure no one reading this needs me to teach them knitting, but if you're going to be there do stop by and say hello! It promises to be a really fun family event all about making and doing things for yourself. I've never been to one of these so I'm really looking forward to it. If you haven't been to the Hall of Science, it's a wonderful place to visit with your kids, there's a highly acclaimed Science playground and Rocket mini-golf in addition to permanent and visiting exhibits.

Bodacious!

For those who are interested in something a little more daring, the Fall 2010 issue of Verena Knitting has this audacious design by Barry Klein for Trendsetter Yarns. Using 3 different yarns in a dramatic diagonal stripe he has created a dynamic coat of many contrasts. Employing Dune a blend of mohair, nylon and acrylic, Merino 8 Shadow 100% wool, and Othello which combines alpaca, wool, polyamide, and cotton to great effect, this coat will turn heads every time you wear it.

Also in the magazine, easy to miss under this coat is this classic crew neck top. Knit in fine gauge yarn it will be an elegant staple in your fall and winter wardrobe.

And finally, an alternate view of our cover design. This cozy hooded tunic vest, is seen in the magazine only from the right, obscuring the asymmetrical zipper placement and exterior pocket detail that add to the trendy "inside out" look.

"Pantheon" by Norah Gaughan

"Pantheon," by Norah Gaughan, sleeve detail

It's Labor Day today, which means that the hot, humid weather will be coming to an end soon and knitters will be digging out their large needles and wool and daydreaming of sweaters. I love knitting lace, and I've been having a great time knitting up the Orenburg Shawl, but I am also looking forward to more substantial projects.

Fall is the perfect time for knitted coats, and there are several beauties in our Fall issue. On my recent visit with Margery I snapped some pictures of a couple of them that deserve a closer look than you get in the magazine.

First up, is this unusual design by Norah Gaughan. Made with Berroco Blackstone Tweed on size 8 needles, and constructed of pentagons, you can start knitting the smaller shapes for the sleeves now and not find yourself knitting the larger pieces until the weather has cooled off enough to make that welcome. Before you know it, there'll be a nip in the air, you'll want a light coat and find yourself nearly done! 

Berroco Blackstone Tweed is soft and luxurious with a wonderful, lofty texture. The mohair and angora in the blend give the yarn all the visual appeal of tweed but none of the scratchiness.

The design is so subtle it's really not easy to photograph in a way the does it any kind of justice. You can see the different directions the knitting takes in the pentagonal design, but you'll have to trust me that this gem is so much better in person than pictures can convey. 

Fall Preview!

Last time I posted I promised some pictures of designs from the Fall issue. As it turned out I had to put aside the Orenburg shawl (that chart is too large for travelling) and go on the road to rendezvous with some of the samples on their way from Germany to a Trunk Show here in the US.

I joined up with Margery and the designs and we had a photo op.

First up is a soft, wonderfully drapey, dark gray stole. With all the beautiful sweaters and coats parading through the pages, you could easily miss it in the magazine. Just a stole. But what a glamorous, versatile accessory for Fall! Here's a view in silhouette:

Also in accessories, I got a closer look at this lovely cowl. It's sparkly and light and the detail of ribbons tied into the yarn is not so easy to see in the long shot from the magazine.

I could see it worn in a number of dramatic, inventive ways. It's wider than a scarf, so you could wear it like a hood, twine it like a scarf or drape it like a shawl. It will knit up quickly without a lot of technical details, the yarn will do most of the work for you and people will be very impressed when they find out you made it!








Stay tuned, the next installment will be: Coats.

Now that I'm back home, I'm reunited with the Orenburg shawl and I'm so glad I've color coded my stitch markers. The row counters tell me which row I'm on, but the design repetitions have gone out of my head. It was much easier knitting through a row to have the colors of the markers change when the lace repeat changes to remind me what I'm doing.

I've used small hair ties, they're readily available, come in a multitude of colors and one package contains enough for several projects at once. Here's how I organized them: the red one on the right and the green one on the left separate the border stitches and tell me which side is which: red for right. The orange markers mark the "pine cone" repeats around the outside of the triangle, and the blue markers the diamond shapes in the center. Not only do they tell me which motif goes where, they make it easy to find those 1-3 stitches of patterning on wrong side rows, tell where the missing yarn over is when I drop one and figure out (in case I forget to turn the row counters) where I am by counting the stitches in between motifs, since they change every other row.

Why do I need to many mnemonic devices? That's another story altogether.

Diamond Motif Corrections

A few times while knitting this shawl, I've discovered that a yarn over has slipped off the needle. It's usually clear very soon and easily repaired. This time, since I couldn't find the missing yarn over, I decided to tink back until I found a row with the correct number of stitches. It wasn't far and once I had the right number of stitches everything went smoothly.

I've now completed most of the next set of diamond motifs with the wrong side patterning. The holes of the correct design are larger, and I find that the middle of the diamond looks looser in a way I'm not so happy with. However, blocking lace works wonders on that sort of thing and exerts a much greater effect on the finished form than blocking on other types of knitting, so I'm suspending judgment.



In this close up view, it's easy to see the two correct diamonds on the top, to the right of each yellow stitch marker. The incorrect one is beneath and in between them. 

In other news, I've had a look at our wonderful Fall issue and I can't wait to share some pictures. Our annual collection of Men's sweaters is included, along with distinctive, fun and elegant styles for women and children. Watch this space!

Don't let this happen to you...

From a distance

Orenburg edition.


Well, I set myself up for it, and now it's happened.


I made an erroneous assumption (not my first, I assure you) that because the first 113 rows of Chart C were knit without patterning on the even numbered rows--which I have come, inevitably, to think of as the wrong side--that this situation would continue happily for the remaining 239 rows. Ha! Can you hear Arachne laughing?


And did I discover my mistake on row 114?

No.

I did not. It wasn't until many rows later that I noticed, purely by chance, that there were paired YOs and decreases in the even numbered rows. I thought I was seeing things. I double checked. At which point I discovered that in fact, 5 previous rows had yarn overs on the wrong side.

In fact, I had missed the rows for an entire motif.

But they're paired, so they don't affect the stitch count. I lack a lifeline, and tinking this yarn is no picnic. I looked again at the diamond where the yarn overs should have been.

After consulting the photo in the magazine I decided that the holes should certainly have been larger, but it would be possible to continue forward without further mishap and hope that the difference wasn't too noticeable in the finished shawl. If this were for someone's wedding I would certainly make a different choice. I conveniently recalled an elementary school lesson about Islamic rug weavers including deliberate mistakes, to justify not going back.

So, secure in my rationalization, I soldiered on, working the stitches the next time I encountered them. Now I find myself, as pictured above from a distance, midway through the next right side row and the stitches are not lining up correctly. Have I made another mistake or is this related to the introduction of the wrong side row shaping? I'm currently conducting an investigation. Meanwhile, I've marked the wrong side pattern rows by highlighting the YOs in red:

I would recommend, for anyone who hasn't gotten to row 114 yet that you make a note, or a mark to alert you when the time comes. Or just pay more attention than I did and never assume. 

Because everyone knows what happens when we assume, right?

Well, I put the shawl down, got distracted by fireworks and didn't get back to it for a couple of days. Checking to see where I left off my row counters greeted me with this:



It looks more complicated than it is. This is one of the points where the edge charts deviate from the same number rows, at the end/beginning of the repeats. Chart B1, represented by the black counter, is on the second row of the repeating rows 15-30 and Chart B2, represented by the blue counter, is on the penultimate row of the repeating rows18-33. Short rows will soon have the counters reading the same numbers again. I'm repeating the row numbers on the counters because I have young children in the house and the frequent interruptions they create. The knitting itself keeps track of the number of repeats I've knit, so I only really need to know where I am in the moment.

Which got me to thinking about how many things are so much harder to describe or explain than they are to actually do. I've felt that in describing the process of working through this shawl. While this is not a project for beginners, the actual knitting is very straightforward. There are no terribly complicated stitches. The entire effect is created by yarn overs and knit 2 together. There are occasional knit 3 togethers. No ssk, psso, nupps or other stitch juggling. No purls. It bears repeating: no purls. The design is economical and very elegant, and is almost supernaturally suited to the yarn. This Superior is such a dream to work with, I feel badly for calling it sticky in my last post. I didn't mean that in a bad way. The halo is unbelievable, unlike anything I've knit with before and this is a perfectly natural way for the fiber to behave. I think part of the reason Orenburg shawls have such mystique, aside from their obvious beauty, is the glorious marriage of fiber to design. They complement each other so perfectly.

The effect is quite different in a different yarn. Since I didn't really document the tricky first corner very well, I decided to go back and do it again, in a smoother yarn so the stitches would be clearer. I think there are people who'd like to knit this and start reading the pattern and get intimidated. It's well worth tackling and it would be a shame for people not to knit it because of that. So I'd like to talk about the process of getting this established on your needles. Once that is done, knitting up to the top edge is a simple matter of keeping track of where you are.

So, it begins with a provisional cast on:
Here I used a simple backwards loop. I may have done a more complicated crochet cast on where I picked up the stitches in the back of the chain for the shawl, but I think the main difference that makes is that it's harder to remove. So this time I kept it simple. Once you've cast on, you switch to your main color yarn and begin knitting Chart A.

Here is the provisional cast on with the first few rows of Chart A.

And here is Chart A completed: 
You can see already that this yarn doesn't look nearly as beautiful as the Superior. Some lace patterns look lovely knit in larger yarns, but this design is so well suited to the very fine cashmere originally spun in Orenburg that the design is far less effective in this cotton. There may be other fibers that would work, but if you've ever swatched a yarn to Rhinebeck and back trying to figure out what it was meant to be, you know how important yarn choice is to the successful execution of some patterns.


The next step is picking up stitches along the row seen here at the top, which form the stitches at the base of Chart C:

You can (sort of) see the red marker I placed to separate the stitches for the edge from the picked up stitches.

This picture shows the result of 2 steps:
I have knit the first row of Chart C, knit 1, knit 2 together, and placed a purple marker.





With the other needle I've picked up the stitches of the provisional cast on

and proceed to knit across them:
Actually I have to admit that I think there's a slight counting mistake in the pattern. The original cast on is 11 stitches, but both times I've gone back to pick up these stitches there have been 10. The first time I thought it was me, double checked that nothing was dropped, cast my fate to the adhesive qualities of this yarn and just made one to have the right amount of stitches on the needle. (Shhhh!) The second time I figured out that the 11th stitch has been absorbed into the stitches between the markers. So you will need to make one stitch to have the right number for the left edge chart.
The provisional cast on is visible below the needle to the left of the purple marker. The fabric is stretched to pull the curved edge onto the straight needle.

Now it's time to begin knitting across all 3 charts, row "b" back to the right edge. At this point the provisional cast on is removed.

The first 15-18 rows of the edge charts contain more short rows to create the corner. This is why there are so many fewer rows of Chart C shown in the zig zaggy chart above Chart A.

This shows the knitting about halfway through the first edge charts. The fabric is no longer stretched.







This last photo shows Chart A in the middle on the bottom corner, the first repeats of the edge charts and chart C to row 8 in the middle at the top between the stitch markers.

After you've knit to this point you're knitting short rows on the edges every 5th row and otherwise it's back and forth.

I'm sure the top corners will be another adventure in engineering with short rows and I'll be sure to document that more carefully the first time I knit through it.

On with Orenburg!

First a note for those of you who are new to Verena or digital subscribers who would like the print copies. We're having a sale on back issues until Thursday July 1st: Only $2.95 USD per issue plus shipping. Dozens of patterns in each issue for less than the price of a single pattern! Get em while you can, supplies are limited!

Now back to the continuing adventures of Orenburg Lace...

Once the edges and the center panel have been established things get quite a bit clearer and more straightforward. I've now knit up to the beginning of pattern repeats in Chart C, through row 35, shown to the right, defined by the V.  I'm contemplating a lifeline. So far I've been very careful, counting stitches regularly because even tinking this yarn is tricky, it's fairly sticky and I don't want to overhandle it. Doing it right the first time is vastly preferable to discovering an error several rows on. I'm more likely to just keep knitting if there's a lifeline behind me, so it might be better to forgo it and scare myself into counting. On the other hand, the stitch count in Chart C will increase dramatically and counting will become more and more time consuming when I really want to keep knitting, so...the jury is still out.

We had a question in the KAL about the short rows of the edge charts, which in the picture are to the right and left of the large V shape. The instructions for both edge charts say, inscrutably, "working the short rows cont in every 5th row." Meanwhile, the repeat of the right edge chart, B1 goes from row 15 to row 30, whereas the repeat of the left edge chart, B2 goes from row 18 to row 33. This was what inspired me to go get more row counters. In fact, the edge rows don't end up being different numbered rows all that often. This is the result of the short rows:

I hope the text I added to this picture will help to make it clear what and where one is actually knitting the short rows. For example, on the right I've made a purple dotted line for "Pattern row 17" knit from the right edge of Chart B1 to the beginning of Chart C. This is a short row, so you don't knit into Chart C, you turn and knit row 18 back to the edge. Then, turn again and knit Pattern row 19, continuing into whatever the next row of Chart C is (here randomly assigned row 29) and continuing through to knit row 33 of the left edge Chart B2.

This is the end of the pattern repeat for that edge chart, so you start again with Pattern row 18, another short row, knit to the end of the edge of Chart C and turn. Chart B2 is knit with the pattern rows on the "wrong" side or even rows, whereas the Pattern rows of the other two charts are on the odd numbered "right" side rows. So after knitting Pattern row 18 you turn and knit back to the edge, row 19. Turn again and knit Pattern row 20 of Chart B2, and then continue back across Chart C knitting whatever the next row is (here randomly assigned row 30) and Chart B1 knitting row 20. The next several rows are knit from right edge to left and back across all 3 charts, with both edge charts sharing row numbers.

Deep breath. Lifeline or no lifeline? What would you do?

Lace on the Bias

Good news! All the patterns from the "Fascinating Lace" workshop are now available at verenaknitting.com. If you are already a subscriber you'll find them all, for free, by clicking your Bonus Patterns link. They are also available for individual sale in our Pattern Shop.

I've been neglecting the Orenburg Shawl to knit up a swatch in answer to a question in our Forums. Since it relates directly to lace I've decided to share the results with everyone.

The pattern is Moody Blue from our Summer 2009 issue. It's an all over lace pattern and the decreases were causing the fabric to slant dramatically on one side:

I knit, frogged and re-knit several times, trying out different tactics for working the decreases and the result was always the same. I then decided to work the pattern without any decreases to see what that looked like and I got the smaller swatch below:

Both edges slant at almost the same angle. So even though the straight right edge of the decreased swatch seemed like a regular selvadge it was clearly different than the right edge of the un-decreased pattern. The left edge is slanted but not as dramatically as the one with the decreases in it.

Further research reveals that this is the result of all the decreases being worked in the same direction, in this case a PSSO. Seams will keep a garment knit in an all-over lace pattern that tends to bias like this from twisting around. I would be careful to pin the seams together and make sure that the pieces are properly matched up on both sides before sewing.

While we're here, some general tips for working decreases in all over lace patterns seem in order. The pattern here includes instructions for Full Fashion decreases, which can be worked more easily by keeping the first and last few stitches in stockinette and working the decreases in those. Alternatively, since the wrong side rows are knit across in purls, working the decreases on that side will prevent confusion with the yarn over/decreases of the stitch pattern itself. I tried several ways, in one case eliminating a yarn over from the stitch pattern rather than working two decreases and a yarn over right at the edge. This is a perfectly legal way to work a decrease in lace provided you can keep track of what you are doing well enough to maintain the pattern itself and make the decreases correctly.

Stay tuned for our regularly scheduled programming: More adventures in Orenburg Lace.

Enmeshed in Lace

This past weekend, subscribers to our free Newsletter were treated to a flip book of the lace patterns from our "Fascinating Lace" workshop . I know many people have been looking for these patterns and we promised to have them up on the site. Technical difficulties have delayed our putting them there, so for those of you who haven't subscribed to the Newsletter (did I mention it's free? You never know what goodies will appear in your inbox with this one!) I'm posting a link to the Flip Book, where you can see the designs. The patterns will be available shortly on our website.

If you're planning on knitting any of them, please find us in our Lace KAL on Ravelry. There's no time limits or pressure, just support and camaraderie. I'm forging ahead with the Orenburg Shawl (more on that soon...) but you're welcome to knit any of the many lace patterns in our spectacular Summer Issue. See you there!

Wow, that first step is a doozy! Important safety tip: Pay careful attention to the difference between our standard "K2Tog" symbol, a right triangle in the lower right of the square (seen here next to the circles representing yarn overs) and the design specific symbol (seen as the last stitch in the second row from the bottom.) This is also a right triangle in the lower right of the square, but it is enclosed within another square inside the block. It's easy to see at this magnification, but easy to miss in the heat of knitting!

This yarn is like knitting with a filament of cloud. Of course the color reinforces that impression, but I'm sure it would be just as heavenly in any color you can get your hands on.

Stay tuned for more adventures in Orenburg lace. I'm looking at working 3 charts simultaneously for the next several hundred rows, so I'm off to buy some more row counters.

The Summer of Lace

I can't wait to start knitting this shawl. I've always been fascinated with Orenburg lace, but never gotten up the gumption to knit anything. Finally, a perfect Lace storm seems to be brewing around me: the structure is unlike anything I've knit before, the charts are daunting, the yarn, Filatura di Crosa Superior, is exquisite. I'll be documenting my adventure with this lovely pattern in this space and sharing ongoing comments in the LACE KAL in the Verena Group on Ravelry. I hope some of you will join me in knitting this wonderful pattern, or any of the other lace patterns from Verena.

I know that many of you have been looking for the patterns featured in our Fascinating Lace Workshop. They will be available in the Subscriber Bonus area on our website by this weekend.