New Favorites: Under wraps

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New Favorites: Under wraps

I really wish I had the attention span to knit an enormous rectangle — it’s one of the most appealing objects I can think of, and there have been some truly beautiful patterns released lately:

TOP: Duoro* by Norah Gaughan is a dramatic splendor of shifting brioche (wrap me up like this, please)

LOWER LEFT: Wallace* by Julie Hoover is a striking composition of knits and purls

LOWER RIGHT: Carrick by Emily Dormier is pure cable mesmerization

BELOW: Niende by Emily Greene is simple brioche perfection

New Favorites: Under wraps

*These patterns have been sent to me by the publisher

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Turtleneck season

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The Details: Sleeve length

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The Details: Sleeve length

Being a persnickety sort, I’ve written before about converting seamless-bottom-up sleeves to top-down and stopping to block top-down sleeves before finishing them off (among other sleeve-obsessive posts), all in the service of knitting a sleeve to hit exactly where I/you want it. The challenge with sleeves — no matter what you’re making or how you’re making it — is that no two sweaters fit or sit exactly the same way. It’s not enough to think you prefer an 18″ sleeve (and to know how to re/calculate the shaping for yourself), because an 18″ sleeve attached to an 8″ armhole will be an inch shorter than an 18″ sleeve attached to a 9″ armhole. And even then, depending on the density of the garment, the drape, the way it sits at the neck (what kind of neck), even two sleeves of the same length will hang differently. So I’m fanatical about studying a schematic (or plotting out my own course), doing the math — hopefully making sure I’m calculating rows, not measuring unblocked knitting — and so on. I take time to get things just where I want them, and I know how to do that. But then along comes a sweater like this grey Cline of mine, which presents a whole new conundrum.

It seems simple enough: The Cline pattern is designed for 3/4 sleeves, which is not my thing, plus I have long arms and compact row gauge. So if I knitted it as written, they would be more like elbow sleeves (as learned in my try-on). So I needed to add some length, but figuring out how much in this case is not straightforward. Cline has a very unusual sleeve shape — it reminds me of a stingray — and no normal spot from which to calculate measurements. Working from a simple shoulder-to-wrist measurement isn’t an option because the sleeve doesn’t start right at the tip of the shoulder (especially on me). But nor is it a regular raglan yoke-depth situation, where you can add yoke depth and sleeve length for the desired total. It’s something of a hybrid. So once again, the only way to get it exactly how I wanted it was to knit the lower part of the sleeves last. To do this, I did the following:

1.) Cast on the allotted number of sleeve stitches in hot pink waste yarn, as seen in the photo up top, and knitted into them, working in stockinette upwards. (In other words, skipping the cuff ribbing and starting the pattern on the next row.)

2.) Added 8 rows into the start of the sleeve, simply by knitting a couple of extra rows before each of the first few increases.

3.) Knitted the remainder of the sleeves as written, plus the front and back of the sweater.

4.) Blocked everything and seamed the sleeves into position, as well as sewing up the side seams, leaving only the unfinished sleeves unseamed at this point.

5.) Picked up the neckband stitches and knitted the ribbing, so the neck’s affect on the sweater’s hang would be taken into account — especially as I was deliberately cinching up the neck a bit.

6.) Clipped together the unseamed edges of the sleeves and tried it on, and at this point determined how much more stockinette I needed to knit downwards before starting the 2″ cuff ribbing (23 add’l rows, in my case).

7.) Removed the waste yarn and put those live stitches onto the needle to complete knitting the lower arm and cuff.

8.) Used the long-tail tubular bind-off, the world’s best BO, which I find faster and less fiddly than the equivalent version of the tubular cast-on. Same effect with less fuss!

The only thing I didn’t do, and should have, was take a moment to check what the cast-on circumference would amount to. It could actually stand to be 3 or 4 stitches bigger through the forearm (I do have slight Popeye arms) but I’ll see if I can do anything with that the next time I block it. And meanwhile, it’s totally fine!

If you missed it yesterday, here’s the full rundown on this fabulous sweater.

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PREVIOUSLY in The Details: Grafted patch pockets

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2017 FO 19 : Junegrass Cline sweater

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2017 FO 19 : Junegrass Cline sweater

There was something so lovely about spending the last day of the year with this sweater in my lap, seaming the last of the seams, weaving in the final ends. Starting off a new year with a sweater I’ve wanted and needed for such a long time. When I think about how many grey sweaters I used to own (B.K., before knitting) and how long it took for me to make myself just one simple grey pullover … well, all I can think is I put too much pressure on the decision. Changed my mind too many times. Spent too long arguing with myself about what exactly the one perfect grey sweater would be, as if I’ll never be allowed another one. Thankfully I got over it and cast on this little gem in my treasured Junegrass, because baby it’s cold outside and this thing is A) cozy and B) versatile enough to wear every day if I want. And I do.

You’ll recall from when I tried on Christine’s that the sleeves were much too short for me and I didn’t love how the wide neck looked on my frame, so those are the only changes I made. To bring the neck in a little, all I did was pick up fewer stitches; and instead of doing the folded neckband as written (from live stitches), I finished it with my beloved folded neckband join. I’ll do a Details post tomorrow about what all I did with the sleeves. But other than that, this is straight off Julie’s fantastic pattern.

2017 FO 19 : Junegrass Cline sweater

I had seen a number of comments from people who’ve knitted this about how the raglans are seamed and that it’s worth it to do it as written. And I 100% agree. I was dubious about the backstitch at first (and could not make that look good on the shoulder seams, so did a standard head-to-head graft there) but once I got started on those long backstitched raglan seams, I didn’t want it to end. Not only does it look good, it was really pleasant to do!

As I was knitting this sweater, I kept thinking “I better love this garment, because the fabric is a dream come true.” As in, the sweater better be worthy of the yarn. Thankfully, in the end, they’re a match made in heaven.

Pattern: Cline by Julie Hoover
Yarn: Junegrass Batch One from Fancy Tiger Crafts (no longer available, see Batch Two)
Pictured with: black silk gauze shell and natural wool pants

Leather tool pouch and army Porter Bin from Fringe Supply Co. You can see all of my posts on this sweater here, Instagram posts here, and please like it at Ravelry if you do!

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PREVIOUSLY in FOs: Wool muscle tee

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How to crochet Log Cabin

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How to crochet Log Cabin

There have been a couple of questions about how to apply log cabin to crochet, which I honestly hadn’t anticipated! I think that’s because, to me, log cabin seems like knitting emulating crochet. I grew up making granny squares, where you pick up stitches in your previous work, work your way around and around, change colors, add on as much as you like, until it’s however big you want it to be! So crochet feels inherently modular and freeform and adaptive to me, and log cabin seems like you’d just be filling in the strips/shapes with crochet stitches instead of knit stitches. But since I am not a seasoned crocheter (much less log cabin-er), and the questions got me wondering whether there’s more to consider than I realize, I put it to the official crocheter on our Log Cabin Make-along panel, Cal Patch:

. . .

Log Cabin — in its strictest form — is about creating strips of color one after another. You knit a square, then knit another square, then knit a strip alongside them the same length and width as the two squares together. Then continue adding strips (laying logs) around and around and around, each one the width of the edge you’re working off of and always the same height. In knitting, it’s typically done in garter stitch because (as Ann pointed out to me the other day) stitch and row gauge even out in garter — 10 stitches wide will equal 10 ridges tall, or 7×7 or 30×30 or whatever scale you want to work with. So you can make a square 10 sts by 10 ridges, for instance, then another 10×10, then each strip is a multiple of 10 sts wide and always 10 ridges tall. How does that correspond in crochet as far as how to calculate how many stitches and rows to work along each edge. Is it important to stick with single crochet?

Well, my immediate thought is that I never assumed the height of the logs needed to be consistent! I should note that I’ve never read or learned any actual official guidelines of Log Cabin-ing; my main influences would be the Gee’s Bend school of improv quilting (example here or here) and Denyse Schmidt (example), who is also an improv quilter. That said, whether one wants their logs to be of consistent height is a separate decision from the stitch to be used, and its dimensions. I’m actually using Half Double Crochet for my project, which isn’t square at all, but it’s true that Single Crochet would be closer to square, though not exact. I tend to not concern myself with the actual number of stitches or rows, but rather work to a measurement. My rectangles will need to finish at certain dimensions to fit together properly.

Of course, there’s no reason you have to stick to those 1×1 dimensions, either — you can make narrower or wider strips or blocks, get all creative or improvisational with it, which starts to make sense once you’re doing it. True for knitting and quilting alike — and for crochet, yeah?

YES!!! That’s what I’m talkin’ about! I have always seen log cabin as a very loose, scrappy, improvisational technique. Clearly I’m not an architect! Did I mention that Wonky is my middle name?

Is there anything else you think people need to know before they try their hand at a crochet log cabin block? Or any particular resources you would recommend?

I would just dive in and play, at least to make a swatch, and then it will make much more sense (if it’s not already). The basic principles of log cabin knitting will apply to crochet as well, with the exception of actual stitch counts. Many knit patterns could probably be translated stitch for stitch into single crochet. One can definitely sketch and plan in advance, and map it all out, if that’s what makes one’s heart sing. But having taken a class with Denyse Schmidt in which you have to blindly grab your next strip out of a bag and use it whether you love or hate it, I prefer a more serendipitous approach (aka “winging it”).

One idea for actually fitting your crocheted squares/rectangles into something like a sweater, vest, hat or other type of project is to look at patterns designed for granny squares, since they are also blocks! That might get those wheels turning. (Examples here and here)

. . .

Thanks, Cal! I’m sure there will be others with additional or differing opinions, so please do leave your thoughts below!

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PREVIOUSLY in Log Cabin Make-along: Highlights, timeline and prize news

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Logalong highlights, timeline and prize news

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Logalong highlights, timeline and prize news

There are already more than 200 posts on the #fringeandfriendslogalong feed and I’m giddy with all the variety and eager for what’s still to come! Speaking of what’s still to come, here’s are those details I promised you—

Upcoming blog posts will include varying perspectives on how to handle your ends as well as guidance for crocheters, and I don’t think it will be very long before we start having panelist FOs to talk about! (And hopefully my little mitts pattern even sooner.) But let me know if there’s anything else in particular you’d like us to address as a panel.

TIMELINE

I don’t usually set an end date on knitalongs (blog content will come to a close around the end of Feb, but you’re always welcome to keep going) and I’m especially reluctant to do so with the Logalong since the range of projects underway is so broad. I mean, some of those blankets could take awhile! (Unless you’re Ann, a knitter possessed.) So there’s no firm end date, but we do need to set a date as far as …

PRIZES

I always say I’m conflicted about prizes because your finished object is your prize! — not to mention all the fun and learning and camaraderie along the way — but then I go and make up a whole bunch of extra prizes like I did with Summer of Basics because, let’s face it, prizes are fun. So I’m declaring the following prizes which will be drawn from all posts on the #fringeandfriendslogalong feed on February 28th and announced the following Friday here on the blog. Your project does not have to be complete at that time; I’ll simply be choosing from all contributions made to the feed between now and then.

One winner for each category will receive a $100 gift certificate* to Fringe Supply Co.:
• Best Laid Plans — for the most inspired or creative concept
• House Proud — for best photos/documentation
• Square and True — for best traditional use of log cabin
• Thinking Outside the Block — for best non-traditional use of log cabin
• Like Cabin (aka Mock Cabin) — for best adaptation/variation on modular knitting

Plus: I’ll do a random drawing of 5 posts from within the feed and those posters will each win a Field Bag in the color of their choice.*

As Jeff Probst would say, “Worth playing for?”

Bonus: Ann and Kay are giving away a Ninepatch Blanket Kit — details on how to enter that drawing are on MDK today.

EARLY HIGHLIGHTS

The photos above are a few of the many standouts from this week’s posts on the hashtag. I didn’t intend them to be color-coordinated, but the feed has a definite palette to it so far! Click through to each one to read and see more—

TOP: @sari_n_’s amazing improvisation

MIDDLE LEFT: @phoebe.lle’s fascinating sock-fixing plan (note to Phoebe: can I have this?)

MIDDLE RIGHT: @dottidee’s persistence

BOTTOM: @knit_frog_repeat’s lovely little schematics

And of course, there’s so much more goodness to be found on the full feed, so I encourage you to check it out even if you’re not playing along.

Happy weekend, everyone!

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*Note that your posts must be visible in the feed to be eligible, so post them using a public Instagram account and the hashtag #fringeandfriendslogalong. Contest is open to participants worldwide but all winners will be responsible for their own shipping fees.

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PREVIOUSLY in Log Cabin Make-along: Meet the panel!

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New Favorites: Turtleneck season

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New Favorites: Turtleneck season

It’s funny how a few days (and a lengthy forecast) of sub-freezing temps and sub-zero windchills can make one’s too-warm-for-the-South sweater collection suddenly seem, hm, almost inadequate. Which is to say, my turtleneck longing has kicked into high gear. I’m still in love with Michele’s Charles and Kate’s Carrowkeel and that bronze-y sketch/swatch of mine, and looking again at Norah’s Riptide, but then there are also these two recent gems:

ABOVE: High Neck Pullover by Tomoko Noguchi is just so cool. I love the mix of the textures and the overall look of it is so much I don’t even mind the drop-shoulder action.

BELOW: Bernadette by my pal Kate Gagnon Osborn (from the launch of Andorra, on my Yarns in Waiting list!) is one of those light-as-air yet oh-so-cozy garments. She was working on it while we were at Rhinebeck and I’ve been dreaming of slipping it on ever since.

New Favorites: Turtleneck season

PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Favorite New Favorites of 2017

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New Year’s Resolutions: Stash-busting and skill-building

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New Year's Resolutions: Stash-busting and skill-building

I’m a devout goal setter in life, but rarely make resolutions. Is that weird? To me, goals are very specific and measurable and resolutions are nebulous, but maybe they’re really the same and I’ve just been doing it wrong! Regardless, after a few years of my broad “resolution” being to choose projects wisely and make better things for myself (successfully!), this year I’m making some more specific resolutions about my knitting and sewing—

1a. Knit from stash
I’m not a big stasher. Sometime over the past few years, I developed a policy of not acquiring yarn unless I had a specific plan for it and intent to cast on — or unless it was truly very special and would not survive a waiting period. (E.g. the Junegrass Batch One I’ve just been knitting with: I knew I wanted a sweater in it, just not precisely which sweater or when. But had I waited, the limited batch would have been long gone. These purchases are rare.) It hasn’t been hard — I don’t knit that many things in a year, mostly all sweaters, so I get the yarn when I’m ready to cast on, plain and simple. The only other yarn that finds its way in are the odd special balls here and there, which mostly get cataloged in Yarns in Waiting. Nevertheless, I have four plastic bins, a narrow shelf and a large basket, all full of yarn waiting to be used. Holdovers from when I used to buy yarn without a purpose. It is nice yarn, good yarn, yarn I love. And I want to knit with it. So I’ll be focusing more attention this year on small projects and other stashbusters — like log cabin! — that make use of lesser yardage. I’m not in a hurry to plow through my stash, mind you, but I do want to bring it out into the daylight and into service, one or two balls at a time.

1b. Sew from stash
My fabric stash is sort of the opposite — good fabric is hard to come by, so when I have a chance, I cave. Especially when that chance takes the form of an Elizabeth Suzann garage sale and I can buy good quality fabric for $2/pound (as it was at the most recent one, last summer, my haul from which is pictured above). I have much more fabric than I have shelf space for at this point, and essentially no excuse to buy any more. I have linen, wool, jersey, you name it. So whereas I’m not committing to knitting only from stash — just saying I want to dip into it more — I am kinda sorta vowing to only sew from stash. At least, trying really hard to do that.

2. Try new things
This is my overarching MO — always be learning, stretching, failing, improving — but there are specific knitting skills or techniques I talk about often and still have yet to try. So this year I will knit something mosaic and I will steek.

All totally doable! How about you — any resolutions for 2018?

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PREVIOUSLY: 2017 Knitting year in review and Sewing year in review

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