Not a Helix

A friend said my helix sweaters would be better if the stripes were vertical. Anyone who knits helix knows it works because it’s knit in a spiral. The bottom of the sweater in vertical stripes can’t be a helix. Doing the entire bottom of a sweater in intarsia is just not gonna happen. Doing the amount in Better Banner was plenty! Admittedly, it’s one of the prettiest, most elegant sweaters I’ve knit so far but still . . . not happening.

I thought I’d try knitting up a piece with horizontal stripes, turning it 90° and kitchenering it on. Eh, worth a try . . . but no.

The base of the vneck came out particularly lovely which always pleases me and the striped bit was interesting to knit but I wouldn’t want to do a ton of it. Picking up edge stitches wasn’t an issue but the color bars that show up where the picked up stitches are doesn’t please me at all. Ugh. To fix it I’d have to do intarsia in the base color before picking up edge stitches. Doable but the second and less obvious problem is the dimension of the stitches. On this particular knit using a US4, the SPI is 6.8333, the RPI is 9.

In joining the horizontal to the vertical means the vertical stands out proud instead of laying flat and smooth due to the mismatch in row/stitch gauge.
There are two solutions to this problem. I either need to use a smaller yarn/smaller needle to get row gauge on the bottom to match stitch gauge on the top or I need to use a smaller needle (2 sizes at least) with the existing yarn to get the current yarn’s adjusted row gauge to match the upper’s stitch gauge.
I am not going to knit BP on a US2. Not happening. I’m also not going to reknit the already perfectly lovely top. Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. Time for a rethink.

I have LOTS of short lengths of Rainbow Bamboo from frogging the two test collars for Better Banner. I have LOTS of short length of Bamboo Pop from all sorts of projects. I could do short horizontal stripes of one or two stitch intarsia stripes. I like this plan a lot. I still get my vertical stripes, I get to use up a lot of short lengths of yarn and it would be pretty without being a repeat of better banner. I could also do vertical intarsia stripes of different widths including some with variegated yarn. I could do a vertical repeat of Relationships matching a color in the variegated to the bordering colors. I have options! I never know quite what I’m going to do until I dive in.

 

Better Banner Update

The finished cuff!

I’ve been working semi-diligently on Better Banner. I went through a spate of problems with my neck while working the intarsia on the first sleeve which shunted me off to less physically stressful projects but . . . I’m back! One cuff is done (and lovely) and the second is in the works. I’m working on it a bit every day and expect to be done some time in the next two weeks.

Helix reworked

FrontI’m liking this . . . a lot. I keep wanting to pet it which is a really good sign. Having the back and sleeve caps being different than the yoke is really pleasing.

From here success is what I do next. I’m going to try swapping out one of the variegateds I’m using for the yoke with BP Frosty Morning. It may not work but I won’t know until I try. It *might* be the perfect transition.

I’ve started a mosaic cloud on the back. I still don’t know if that’s going to work. So far I’m okay with it. I need to stop the Shoreline (gray) before it starts to get stripy. Once that happens I may split the Shoreline in half and use it just for the sleeves. Stripes would work there.

Back

New Helix Top

New startI’m trying something different for the top of helix. I’m still doing a sunset but . . . different. I’m not a fan of repeating stuff. I don’t learn new stuff that way other than been there, done that.
The edging is a mostly pink orange, like a pale sherbet. It blends pretty well with the yarns I’m using for the shoulder. The start of the shoulder is two rows of Bamboo Pop Blueberry Swirl and two rows of BP Khaki Girl. Instead of breaking the yarn I’m trapping them with the front edging yarn.
I don’t intend for this to go too far . . . to the end of the sleeve cap shaping, I think. I think I want to use a different (solid?) yarn for the sleeves. I haven’t tried this before so it should be interesting. Maybe a dark navy. BP Anchor maybe though I’ll have to get more. Or one of the grays I used for the body helix.

It’s another NO

AnotherNoYeah, this is not working. The helix bottom is brilliant and deserves a much better top than this. I realized that (or finally accepted that) when I got the helix bit done and couldn’t figure out what to do with the sleeves. So, time to innovate!

Rather than frog the whole thing I’ll separate it at the start of the helix or at the underarm (probably there as it gives me the most flexibility) and frog the top. I can use some of the Shoreline, maybe a bit of the dark blue, add more color, change out the gray I used for the edging and pattern the top after a shrug I made for my sister. Then it’s just Kitchener the two parts together and I’ve got a totally different sweater.

I thought about just separating them at the helix but I’m not happy enough with the top to try add a different bottom to it. And yes, I’ve Kitchenered a sweater together before. It’s only ever scary the first time.Sunset shrug

Sunset on the farm mosaic

Helix, the reknit

I frogged my first attempt all the way back. The test fit SUCKED. Totally. The shoulders were too pointy.

In the first round of knitting I got the neckline totally done and realized it would look SO much better if I used a solid color for the back neck and front facings. I sorted colors and picked the closest blue and the closest gray and started reknitting. I got about four rows into adding Shoreline and realized I was making a mistake. I should save the Shoreline so I can knit seamlessly from it into the helix . . . or as close as I can get. So, gray caston, blue shoulders transitioning into Shoreline as soon as the shoulders were built.

The reknitI’m questioning some of my yarn choices, one of which is the yarn I used for the neck facing but not to the point I’m willing to frog this. All in all I’m fairly happy. I’m using only short repeat variegateds for the scrappy line of the helix and I’m really liking the effect. I think I have enough variety to finish a shorty without repeating a variegated or using a solid. I think I have enough of the neck edging color for sleeve and body hems. One of the variegateds is the very very very last bit of BP On Parade, now discontinued. I wish I could find more of it. It’s SO useful.

The shoulder is conti-rag with a 12 stitch separation from the shoulder line and a 17 stitch drop for the front. Numbers-wise I’m extremely pleased. All the bits ended relatively together. The vee ends really close to the Point C horizontal line. I think the bust dart line is a little high but it doesn’t stand out much. It gives me the extra volume in front which is really all I need. Plus the difference between “I’m wearing a bra” versus au natural is ridiculous so it’s moot point.
If you’re wondering why there are beads at the center back I have a good reason. if I have to dress in the dark I can tell by feel which bit of the sweater is the back. All the sweaters I make for me have short row of beads,

Things I learned . . . the stitch pick up for the front facing has a new easy and intuitive technique. The other thing is just too complicated to explain outside a video.
I’ve been contemplating entering our local fair for the LAP award. I’m thinking something like this would be a worthy contender. I also have sweater’s worth of Great Barrier Reef’s Wine Bay, a really long repeat variegated (a blue based red version of Shoreline) and this is giving me ideas on how to use it without knitting a whole sweater out of it.

Uh, this is NOT working

Ugh, just ughWell, this devolved fast. It went from pretty to dull due to wrong followup yarn choices.
It’s so blah I’m going to frog it back to the end of the Shoreline and go a different direction.
I’m going to dig into my bin again and see if I can something different for the light and pull one of my Rainbow Bamboo bright blues for the dark. This is so blah I’m in a continual wince.

Chaos Inspiration

Helix from ChaosIn knitting Chaos I did a three yarn helix sleeve incorporating two of the grays in the body and my bag of scrap yarn, a result I found truly fascinating. This is something I want to run with . . . and so it begins.

I’ve got some leftover Great Barrier Reef Shoreline(?, questioning the name not the brand), about half a cake, that would make a lovely start, so gray for one helix yarn, blue for another and my scrap bag bits for the third. (Before I start the helix bit I think I need to organize my scrappies and know the sequence ahead of time so the scrappy choices truly transition into each other.)

The seedSo here’s the plan. Start with Shoreline (off white, gray, blue). Once I’m working in the round, start the helix using with light gray, scrappy, light blue. Next transition switch to slightly darker gray and slightly darker blue, continue the scrappy. Repeat two more times, should be at hem of sweater. That’s the plan.

The progress

This is where I am (back of the sweater). If you can’t tell at a glance it’s conti-rag with sleeve cap short rows. See how the short rows level out the sleeve stripes! It’s so pretty I couldn’t resist sharing. I need to get to the bottom of the vee neck before starting the helix (working in the round) and I’m about 12 rows from there . . . uh . . . maybe. I’m out of the Great Barrier Reef Shoreline(?) and will have to switch to a starter blue or a starter gray (lightest colors) to push on into the round. I may do a series of three row stripe of light blue/light gray to finish up the yoke and transition into the helix, a pure knit-from-the-hip decision.
Regardless, I love this yarn and I’m delighted to be using up the last bit of the sweater lot of Shoreline I purchased.

Better Banner Reknit

Better Banner ReknitI’ve got the conti-rag shoulder finished and the banner reknit. It’s got two major errors but I can live with them. I’m moderately happy. At first I though the lack of sleeve cap short rows was an oops but since starting another conti-rag sweater I think this was a lucky miss. It causes a bit of a kink in the banner which isn’t ideal but adding short rows to the sleeve cap makes the shoulders too pointy. All in all though, color me happy. I’ve worked in all the ends.

The sleeve cuffs and sweater hem will both have the same pattern as the collar. It’s going to be a pretty sweater.

Better Banner Update

Bamboo Pop Better BannerAll the reknitting is done and I’m past the sleeve separation. All in all I’m really pleased. The photo reads gray and the brights are subdued. The actual sweater is a gorgeous ink navy. Once I get a sunny day I’ll get a better pic.

The intarsia is ~2/3 done. I’ve separated the sleeves. Since taking the progress pic I’ve done the underarm caston. Next is test fit.

Once past the test fit I’ll work in the ends of the finished bits which will tidy things up before continuing to knit.

Frogged!

Better Banner’s been frogged back to the collar. Tomorrow I’ll start the reconstruction using conti-raglan instead of conti-something. I’ve got a couple balls of the frogged yarn that need to be unkinked as well as all the short pieces of brights used for the banner. I’ll spritz and bag them tonight. They’ll have a chance to relax sitting on a rack by the wood stove when Wadly starts a fire in the morning.

The period of chaos has ended

Est finiIt’s done, I’m happy. There are a few things I would do differently if I did a repeat.

  • Move the decrease line for the sleeve wedge two stitches farther away from the colored bit.
  • Decrease the body wedge width to one third of the current width.
  • Start the sleeve wedge sooner.
  • Change the straight line of the sleeve wedge to match the decrease line of the sleeve.

Overall I’m really happy with the stuff I learned.

The streamlined conti-something shoulder came out really nicely. I’ve embraced Åsa Tricosa’s Ziggurat philosophy and am no longer breaking my yarn between elements. I’ve also eliminated the closing row which tightens up my conti-something shoulder.

The helixed sleeve rocks. Two solids (dark and light gray) and a variety of solid and variegated scraps makes a really interesting sleeve. Each of the scraps circles the sleeve three times. It’s a striped sleeve without screaming “STRIPED SLEEVE”. I’m really tempted to use this technique with some ombre yarn I’ve had hanging around for quite a while.

The sleeve wedge took ~9 starts before I had something I was happy with. I cycled between messy and ugly before it finally settled out. I’m going to use this single stitch color column technique for a different banner sweater idea. Someday. Maybe.

From Palette Cleanser to Chaos

With Better Banner awaiting a significant frog, I needed a break. With lots of left over bits, balls and skeins it was time for something scrappy. I love from the hip scrappy. It’s my favorite style of sweater to knit. I can grab yarn and do whatever feels happy.

This project is exceeding expectations. For a scrappy palette cleanser it’s come out better than I ever imagined it would. I love projects where I learn something. On this one, so far, the count is at two with (hopefully) another to follow. One, I made a significant improvement to my conti-something shoulder and two, the three-yarn helix will now forever be the base I use for gradients.

I started this project with no plan. I had a sweater’s worth of partial balls in various shades of gray (Hobbii’s Rainbow Bamboo) and a gallon ziplock full of DK weight bamboo/cotton thumb skeins from a variety of manufacturers.

At this point I have one sleeve left to knit. I’m planning a wedge to match the side wedge starting from the elbow in vertical stripes (intarsia) in a twisted echo of the first sleeve. Joy!

Knitting Haitus

I’m five days into a sprained forefinger on my left hand. It’s a slowly healing ouch and I am SO missing my knitting. I’m about 1/5th through the palette cleanser. I’ll frog Better Banner while I’m waiting for things to improve to the point I can knit again.

I’m all prepped and ready to start my bra logic video. I’ve got my original patterns, hardware and all the example bras collected up. I’m ready!

I’d love to do it today but I need one more day to finish up the quilt blocks for a scrappy top before I can dive in.

Wadly gets his new garden tractor with mower tomorrow. Over the next couple days I am sure he’ll be out mowing and playing with it. Maybe then.

Clearing the decks

Heart StringsHeartstrings. Bamboo Pop in Denim and Pink Joy

I gave away Heartstrings this weekend. Our son brought an old girlfriend to visit. She has one of my sweaters (now two) which she loves and wears. That takes me down to . . . seven? Maybe six? The more I can find homes for the more room I have to make more for me. I’ve been knitting shorties to wear over sleeveless dresses (my normal wear) when the mornings are cool. I like shorties. I don’t have to get up to get them off as they don’t go below my waist. All my other sweaters are long enough to get caught under my hips when sitting. Plus . . . more chances to do freelance design.

Better Banner

Bamboo Pop Banner

I made an awesome sweater I couldn’t wear. It broke my lil ole heart. I have a neck issue. Nothing touches the neck. This sweater broke that rule. The weight of the beads on the front of the sweater tipped the balance and caused the weight of the front of the sweater to pull the sweater toward the front causing the back neck to touch the part of my neck that’s damaged. Ugh. So I gifted it to my niece who loves it.

Sinfonia Better Banner

I still want a banner sweater so as time passed I did a reboot. Using Omega Sinfonia (mercerized cotton) I knit an awesome intarsia collar, worked a conti-rag shoulder and started a new banner. It had an irreparable error AND the yarn proved to be heavier than I could comfortably wear, something closer to worsted than light DK. Still, it’s GORGEOUS . . . just not workable/wearable because of the error and due to the weight of the yarn.

Collar test knits

Using Bamboo Pop Anchor (an incredible color) and a variety of brights in Bamboo Pop and Hobbii Rainbow Bamboo I reknit the collar . . . six (?) times. Yup, not kidding. Too big, too small, too big, too small . . . I even had a conversation with a friend on the issues I was having getting the right collar for the project. Ugh times six. Then I shared the repeat issue. With a repeat of 20 stitches (five colors with five separating background colors) I had a choice of 100 stitches (too small) or 120 stitches (too big). Don’t ask me why I kept repeating the knit big, knit small thing. I love intarsia and I just kept repeating the same things to no avail.
BP Conti-something

At some point I got a clue and realized I needed to change the repeat. I’m pleading FIH at this point. It was a rough week!

I did the math for six (no, just no), seven (ugh), eight (yeah, not gonna work) and finally did the math for nine. GOLDEN! 108 stitches. Perfect! I dug through my stash and picked additional brights and I was off and running.

You can see where this is going right? Yup.

And then I hit the next snag. I’ve been fighting the spring-off from a standing crew-shaped collar to my conti-something shoulder for YEARS. Not religiously, mind you, just occasional attempts whenever the wild hare came racing through. This time I nailed it. I’m in absolutely in alt. After reknitting until I got a result I was happy with (for posterity, the solution was add a stitch between each background color column to get me closer to a workable starting stitch count adding a total of 9×3 then knit the restraining row of herringbone stitch and work k2tog/gsrt for the drop stitches [if this totally baffles you let me know and I’ll explain]) I then hit the shoulder issue. Mind you, I hadn’t frogged the Sinfonia start. I *could* have looked at it to see what had gone before. Did I? Oh hell no.

Conti-something detail

I LOVE my conti-something shoulder so in total mindless bliss that’s what I knit from the collar out. Uh . . . yeah. Not gonna work. The conti-something technique requires adding a stitch every other row to increase the width of the sleeve and that breaks the integrity of the 2-stitch intarsia columsn. <crying> Yeah, totally ruins the plot.

This unforced error resulted in two choices, (1) frog back the start of the banner and delay it to where it starts passed the sleeve increases (a totally workable solution) or (2) frog the beautiful and flawless conti-something shoulder and restart using the modified conti-rag.

Because everything up to this point on the sweater is literally flawless, I’m going with door number 2.

New tank top

I had to develop a new tank top design and because I can’t do anything simple I decided to add some intarsia. I like the result. I’ll get a finished pic when it’s been washed. Interestingly enough, the variegated yarn for the blocks seems to have something (fixer or dye?) that’s causing pin blisters on my forefinger. I’m hoping washing it is the necessary fix.

Ziggerat shoulder

I bought the Ziggerat sweater workshop on Knit Stars and have watched it through to the end. Åsa Söderman is a lovely person and her videos are fun to watch. As with anything there are a few things she does differently but that’s okay. Knitting is a product, not a method.

I’m going to knit up a sweater using her shoulder to see how it feels when worn. Fun times!

Shattered Plaid

I’m been working on Shattered Plaid, a vneck shortie sweater. Overall I love how it’s looking, it just needs a couple tweaks. I’m going to frog back the plaid bit and restart the graphic. I’ve hit the three mistakes thing. I’m going to switch to intarsia in the round with the change of direction in the background color under the arm. I’m not going to carry the background color behind the red. I’ll add an additional ball of yarn. I’ve made enough mistakes and I’ve learned enough new stuff to make the next attempt go more smoothly. I think I’m also going to either double the two thinner yarns or swap them out for thicker yarns of the same color to even out the impact. Letting the thumb skeins dangle was messing with the color tension so I’m pinning them to the work with dpns. It’s a nifty solution to the problem. Overall I love how it’s looking, it just needs a couple tweaks in how it’s done.

Working through my stash

My current “this makes me happy” project is a long sleeved shortie sweater I can wear over my day-wear in the morning when it’s too cool to go without sleeves. I like shorties for a couple of reasons . . .

  • They knit up quickly
  • They’re a wonderful canvas for whatever idea is currently tickling my mind
  • They’re perfect stash busters
  • They’re perfect for using up bits of yarn, mismatched yarn, yarn from different manufacturers

This latest shortie is currently on hold. I ran out of yarn 5″ from completion of the last sleeve. Yup, total fail at yarn chicken. I’m taking the gamble and have ordered another ball of the necessary color despite something close to a zero chance for a dye lot match. If it’s close and will blend in using Helix I’ll frog back 3″ of the WIP sleeve and helix the rest. If the dye lot is too far off I’ll replicate the existing body hem in miniature making the sweater just that bit more couture.

A quick note about the accent yarn. I got this linen blend yarn off ebay about a decade ago. I love the colors but had a problem figuring out what to do with it. It wasn’t really sport and it wasn’t quite DK. However much I love Bamboo Pop, when it took a $3 jump in price I totally balked at restocking it. I switched to Hobbii’s Rainbow Bamboo (on sale), a comparable weight and composition for fewer dollars and much more reasonable (and faster) shipping. One of the colors that enchanted me was Deep Teal. It just so happens it’s a perfect match for the teal in the variegated linen blend. Score!

Intarsia in the round on crack

I’ve started a new project, a sweater with vertical stripes. I’ve been pondering this project for a while and just happened to hit a sweet spot in yarn for the project.

I’ve had some chained bamboo with colors I love (instead of strands of thread spun into a yarn, it’s a strand of thread chained into yarn) . . . a solid and a variegated that has been in my stash forever, but I couldn’t figure out what to do with it. I had one cake of each, not enough to do anything truly productive but way too nice to dump. It sat in my stash occasionally played with but never a star.

Then I started knitting with Hobbii’s Rainbow Bamboo (a lovely cotton/bamboo yarn). I bought sweater quantities of colors I really like, a graphite, a navy and a dark teal that perfectly matched the teal in the variegated chained bamboo. Trust me, this was not a deliberate choice but . . . score! Then I had some left over Universal Yarn’s Bamboo Pop “Sand” from another project (a shortie fade to wear over my day dress in the morning when it’s chilly). Like I said, kismet. The stars had aligned.

From there it was just a matter of figuring out what pattern would work with the quantities of yarn I had available. I’ve finally got a plan and it’s in the works. Woot! 16 stitches of background color (teal), four stitches of BP Sand, six stitches of the chained bamboo variegated, six stitches of the chained bamboo tan, repeat x 10).

I posted a brief sketch of my project on FB and alarmed/impressed/confused/wowed a bunch of knitters. Apparently this way of doing is a weird thing. I love sharing new stuff so it’s all good. Embrace the weird.

 

Refining the fit

First pairI’ve made one pair of socks and they’re comfortable but a bit loose with wrinkles over the top of my instep. So . . . adjustments.

Because they’re a bit too big around I decreased the number of rows knitted before starting the short rows. From the original calculation of 18 rows I dropped to 17 which reduced the total rows by at least two, possibly as many as four. Fewer rows means fewer stitches which means fewer short row turns which means fewer total rows (SRTs + original rows). The original pattern doesn’t have short rows so if you’re embarking on this project and don’t understand what I did with short rows to level the ankle and toe opening, message me and I’ll draw you a picture.

Second pair topBecause the finished sock had wrinkles across the instep I stopped doing increases for the instep wedge at the start of the short rows. This was marvelously successful. It produced a shorter (from ankle to toe) instep which resulted in a better fit.

Second pair sideThe result of fewer rows produced fewer short rows which produced fewer ankle and toe stitches and shorter instep run giving a better fit.

Bra Logic

I’ve been knitting bras working toward the perfect design for me, something that provides a modicum of support while being comfortable. I’ve gotten a really good start with two of three that are relatively no fuss comfortable. Each iteration I learn a little more and make adjustments. All the techniques I’ve been accummulating have come in handy letting me turn my visions into garments.

I posted my project in knitting groups on Facebook and the comments were wild. I had no idea so many women have my problem. Commercial bras are not comfortable. At all. A percentage of the commenters have given up on commercial bras altogether, wearing a camisole instead. Wow. Who knew?