Still, I think it’s interesting to show different types of “Knit-lacs” and compare how they look. After all, knitters pick projects based on how they want their item to look, so seeing the options is great.

Standard Entrelac

First , let’s look at normal entrelac. Here’s a sample of entrelac knit by Spinsters Blog.
One feature of stockinette entrelac (aka normal entrelac) is the “blocks” are taller than they are wide. Because of this, the surface ripples and bulges ever so slightly, resulting in an emphasized “up and down” woven effect. You can see this in the sample to the left.

You’ll also sometimes notice blocks can seem a bit hourglass shaped with the centers a bit narrower than the tops and bottoms. This doesn’t show much in the sample I found– but you’ll sometimes see it.

Generally, both the rippling and “hourglass” shape are more noticeable before blocking. Usually, knitters who knit entrelac want the dimensional effect, just as they want cables to have a “up-down” woven effect. Consequently, these knitters don’t block the fabric at all, or they block very lightly. Still, some do block hard, and heavily blocked entrelac can look nice too.

The down side: stockinette entrelac is not truly reversible. If you flipped this over, you would notice the opposite side is reverse stockinette. I found this example at sknitty. You get to decide if you want a scarf that flips over and looks like this. I don’t; that’s why I’m working or ribbed entrelac instead of just following the directions for the “Danica” scarf at “Knitty”.

Garterlac I

Now, let’s look at “garterlac”. Most commonly, “garterlac” seems to refer to entrelac where the knitter knits each block in garter stitch. Here’s an example from Criminy Jickets who provides directions for garterlac dishcloths at his blog.

Because each block is knit in garter-stitch, garterlac is truly reversible. I think that’s an advantage because I really don’t like having to look for the “right side” when I’m putting a scarf on. Maybe that’s just me?

Still, let’s compare garterlac to the stockinette (aka “normal”) entrelac.

To the right, you can see Spike’s garterlac afghan. Notice the individual blocks are nearly square. This is because the height of two rows of garter stitch is nearly equal to the width of 1 stitch. One result is the blocks do tend to look like true diamonds; there is never any “hourglass” type effect. Another result is the fabric lies very flat even with very little blocking; it doesn’t have the “dimensional up-down” effect. This is good if you don’t want a dimensional effect; it’s bad if you want one. (Duh! )

Even without the “up and down” effect, garterlac the garter ridges may give garterlac a very strong “woven” effect. As you can see in the dishcloths above, the woven effect is particularly strong when you use variegated yarn; it may vanish entirely in an item is knit in a single color or in random colored blocks. In that case, you can treat them more like simple blocks of color and mimic popular block quilt patterns.

So, you have options!

So, strong woven effect (or not) and reversible. A great stitch for a scarf, right? Yep!

So, why don’t I do this? Well…. I want those elongated blocks! Plus, heck, I like doing things I haven’t seen done!

Garterlac II

It turns out Sachi was suggesting that I alternate knitting the stockinette blocks so that half would appear knit side facing and half purl side facing. This would be perfectly reversible, and it may look pretty darn cool. But, you’ll notice no pictures? I couldn’t find an example! So, we’ll all need to guess what this looks like! (I may eventually try it.)

Ribbed Entrelac

Ok, this is what I’m going to do. I couldn’t find any samples on the web. (For that matter, I’ve never seen ribbed entrelac, but that doesn’t mean I’m the first to do it.)

How does it look? Well, rib stitches are “tall” like stockinette so the blocks that are tall compared to their width. Because ribbing is reversible, each block lies flat, and I’m not getting any “up and down” dimensional effect. However, I am getting a bit of an hourglass effect. The tops and bottoms stretch to the length of a block an the centers narrow a bit. (Not a lot– but a bit.)

And of course, most important, this is reversible. I do think I’m going to like this better than a pure stockinet entrelac scarf.

© lucia for The Knitting Fiend, 2007. | Permalink | 11 comments
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Boiling hot water
destroyed my hand knit sweater.
It’s horrifying!
 

Yes, our foremothers and forefathers shrank sweathers. Laundry disasters will likely be with us always!

© lucia for The Knitting Fiend, 2007. | Permalink | 8 comments
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Table of contents for Maggie Shawl

1. Maggie’s shawl (bonus generic pattern.)
2. Maggie Shawl Calculator

Remember I said I was working on another shawl shape? That was true. To give to my niece Maggie? That was also true. Remember I said it would be another pie-wedge type shawl? I lied.

I didn’t intend to lie. It’s just that I went to 4 yarns stores but I didn’t find quite the right blue-green variegated yarn for the project I envisioned in my head. On Monday, I looked at a 300 meter skein of Taiga Tender and thought: “Yum. She’ll love teal!” Unfortunately, I also thought, “Is 300 m enough yarn?” I figured it was enough for a shawlette that would just cover the shoulders — but just barely.

In principle, I could make a pie-wedge shawl. But there is a problem: with pie wedge shawls is you really, really don’t want to run out of yarn in the middle of the crucial final wedge! If you run out of yarn, you pretty much have to rip the whole thing. That means to be safe, you need to budget about 10% extra yarn. I wanted to make the biggest shawl I could with my 1 skein.

So, I decided to knit one of the classic shawl shapes that lets you knit until you run out of yarn: the double triangle shawl. I still didn’t know if 300 meters would be enough yarn, but on Monday night I said “What the heck!” and cast on.

It’s finished now. (Really!) I’ll model after blocking.

This is the basic method for this shawl which is a good “carry-along”, “mindless”, “knit while watching tv” project:

• Backward loop cast on 1 stitch.
• Row 1: Knit 1. Tighten up cast on.
• Row 2: Kfbf — 3 stitches on needle.
• Row 3: Slip 1, Kfbf, k1 — 5 stitches on needle.
• Row 4: Slip 1, kfb, k1,yo, k2 — 7 stitches on needle.
• Row 5: Slip 1, kfb, k1, k1,yo, k3 — 9 stitches on needle.
• Row 6: Slip 1, kfb, k2, k1,yo, k4 — 11 stitches on needle.
• Repeat in pattern established until the straight edge of the shawl somewhat wider than your shoulders. After that, change the “kfb” into “kfbf”. (This point is noted by the red diagonal lines on the figure above. If you want your shawl to be a perfect triangle without the “kink” or the little tails, don’t ever switch to the kfbf increases.)
• When the shawl is “long enough” or you have only enough yarn to work about two more rows, apply a picot bind off.

Note:

• kfb means knit into front and back of same stitch, it’s a single increase.
• kfbf means knit into front, then back then front of same stitch. This is a double increase– 3 stitches are worked into 1.
• When you count stitches ‘yo’ counts as a stitch.
• As you work this, you’ll notice the stitch written in blue is the center of the shawl. You won’t need stitch markers to keep track of anything because you’ll find the pattern near the center is “…., knit 1 into the yarn over from the previous row, knit into center stitch, yarn over, knit…” You’ll also notice the the rows create the lower edge of the shawl. If you knit this in stripes, you’ll create a chevron effect.

Some specifics for my shawl: I used size 8 circular needles to achieve a gauge of 16 st = 18 rows = 4″. I switched from the kfb increases to the kfbf increases when the shawl measured about 17 inches wide along the top part; it also measured 8 1/2′ along the central line between the yarn overs. The final shawl measures 16″ down the back and 21 1/2″ along the edges. I had about 12″ left over from 1 300 meter skein of Taiga Tender. (Yes, I’ll be writing a calculator so you can imitate this and also know how much yarn you need for the size shawl you want to knit!)

© lucia for The Knitting Fiend, 2006. | Permalink | One comment
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Table of contents for Dog Sweater

1. Munchkin, “The Global Climate Change Dog”.
2. Dog-u-lator Sweater Calculator

This is Munchkin, “The Global Climate Change Dog”.

I know; I know. You are wondering: How the heck did Munchkin become “The Global Climate Change Dog”? Why is he wearing a sweater? And most importantly, why is the sweater hunter orange?

Well, I’ll answer in reverse order.

Answer 1: The sweater is hunter orange because Munchkin wants to be sure the hunters in Oklahoma to know he’s not wild game.

Answer 2: Munchkin is wearing a sweater because I knit the sweater and mailed it to his home in Oklahoma.

Do I hear you saying you’d already guessed that much? You’re asking me why I knit it?

Well, besides being addicted to knitting, I knit the dog sweater because, last October, my husband Jim visited poor old Munchkin. During the visit, Jim noticed Munchkin was shivering. Munchkin is getting a bit old, and, despite the threat of global climate change, winter in Oklahoma is still cold. So, he needed a nice thick dog sweater.

Answer 3: Ok, so, why in the world is Munchkin “The Global Climate Change Dog”?!

Well, that’s a longer story. Several years ago, Munchkin, a very friendly dog, was wandering the nearly empty plains around Lemont, Oklahoma. He was unhappy, lonely and hungry when, in the distance, he spotted trailers. He could also hear people. Feeling hopeful (because he thinks people are really cool) and nervous (because his previous people had dumped him in a wheat field) he approached the trailers.

The strange new people turned out to be friendly technicians; the trailers turned out to be the central facility of the DOE ARM SGP.

Quite a series of acronyms, aint’ it? I’m not going to explain what they all mean except to say: The ARM program exists to collect data to permit scientists to test models used to predict the effects of carbon dioxide, aerosols and clouds on the earth’s climate. If you know anything about global climate change, you’ll recognize this research is done to learn more about global climate change. (Don’t let the inconspicuous trailer fool you. There really are a large number of high tech instruments scattered all over Kansas and Oklahoma. You can read more here: DOE ARM SGP. )

Anyway, getting back to why Munchkin is “The Global Climate Change Dog”: the friendly technicians gave Munchkin bits of sandwich; Munchkin stuck around. After a while, one of the technicians dug into his pocket, found some money and took Munchkin to the vet. Various other technicians brought dog food and dishes; they began to feed Munchkin regularly.

In short, Munchkin was adopted. The technicians pay for his food and his vet bills. He, in turn assists them by guarding the drafty trailer (which is why he needs the sweater) and greeting scientists (which is how he met my husband, Jim.)

Munchkin does his job guarding and greeting so well, he has earned the honorific “Global Climate Change Dog”. Now he has a “Global Climate Change Dog Sweater.” You will hear more about Munchkin and his sweater over the next month.

© lucia for The Knitting Fiend, 2006. | Permalink | 7 comments
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This year I can’t help thinking: What other pumpkin themed items could I knit? Can I find anything grander, wearable, portable or more toylike?¹ To discover the answer I decided to go on a knit-pumpkin scavenger hunt, relying on google-image search to find pumpkin patterns with pictures. Now, I’ll reveal actual patterns what I found so you won’t have to search!

Pictured below from left to right: Peter Pumpkin toy pattern available from Aussie Jean, Patrick’s pumpkin hat pattern is available by Fiber Trends and available from yarn-store.com,and a knit pumpkin treat bag from Frugal Haus. (I’d line this with woven fabric. I really think heavy candy will stretch knit fabric out way too much.)

But that’s not all!

There is also a free pattern for a knit pumpkin hat at the knitlist; it’s similar to the fibertrends hat– but doesn’t have that cute green rick-rack trim. There’s the “great knitted pumpkin” at yarniverse.com and the pattern is free! I also found a pumpkin tea cozy from the knitting fairy listed for $50 for the finished cozy and $5 for the pattern.

But that’s not all!

I found more a pumpkin hats from moorehouse merino, Knitty’s felted knit pumpkins, and the brand new Magknits felted pumpkin basket. (See below, pictured left to right.)

Last but not least, I found Berrocco’s knit pumpkin costume for doll or child. The one on the right is the child. Yes. Really.

© lucia for The Knitting Fiend, 2006. | Permalink | 4 comments
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They say the 80s are coming back. This will look great over some woman’s tight spandex leggings!

© lucia for The Knitting Fiend, 2006. | Permalink | 3 comments
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Two tennis sweaters
once met, mated and married.
Here’s their little vest.

© lucia for The Knitting Fiend, 2006. | Permalink | One comment
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