The Knitting Fiend

Celtic Flourish shall be the central panel for Jim’s next sweater!

To simplify determining the gauge, I added vertical ribbing to the sides, then knit one repeat up in Plymouth Galway. It measures about 5″ or 5.5″ across. (Yes, I admit it, those who are familiar with this pattern will recognize I made a mistake when I began the motif. . . ¹)

A chart for this cable can be found in Barbara Walker’s Charted Knitting: Third Treasury Of Knitting Stitches.

I didn’t like the suggested method for creating 5 stitches out of one at the bottom of that loopy part because I found it difficult to work. So, I “unvented” a method which I found easier to do. I don’t quite like the appearance of my method; it has a sort of “gap” at the bottom that doesn’t match the appearance at the top.

I will continue to fiddle.

Anyway, tiny gap or no tiny gap, I love the cable. It’s going to appear on Jim’s sweater.

I’ll finish with a yarn & LYS plug. This swatch is knit Plymouth Galway which normally works up at 5 st/inch in stockinette. It’s 100% wool, and comes in 100 gram balls. I purchased one ball on Saturday at Zora’s Yarn in Naperville. Knitche in Downer’s Grove also carries Plymouth Galway, but they were out of this color on Friday when I visited.²

I’d say the cables are popping nicely, and the yarn has a pleasant feel. However, this yarn doesn’t have the “true Aran” feel you find in tightly knit, authentic fisherman sweaters. (It feels nicer. Authentic fisherman sweaters are knit very densely out of hardwearing yarn with lots of lanolin. They are terrific, but not “comfy”. Jim who is not planning to fish in the North Atlantic, or the Irish Sea, and will not be ice fishing with his brothers next winter, prefers the cozier feel of this yarn! )

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1. I twisted the very first cable after 4 rows instead of 6. That’s why it’s stumpy.
2. I have no affiliation with Plymouth, Knitche or Zora’s. I’m just a satisfied customer.

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Filed in Aran Knitting Stitches.

Remove those darn Weather Pixies. Just take them off. Now!

“But I like my Weather Pixie,” you say.

“Oh, yeah?” Say I. “Have you noticed it’s broken? All of them, on everyone’s page is broken. The Weather Pixie site seems to be down for the count.

I’ve been surfing a lot because I want to compile my various aggregators, checking out the side bars looking for evidence of “cat blogging” or “political buttons” etc. I couldn’t help noticing all those broken, yet somehow space hogging weather pixies.

Broken pixies are bad because they are large and hog space, they delay your page load while the browser wastes time trying to connect to the missing weather pixie site, and the big blank rectangle looks bad. So, off, off, say I!

As to my aggregators, I edited the link on my header so people can find the page listing the knit blog aggregators.¹ Right now, the list includes 4 aggregators and also asks people to suggest other categories. It says:

• Lucia’s Favorite Knitting Blogs..
• Knitting and Cats.
• Machine Knitting Blogs.
• Left Wing and Right Wing Knit bloggers.
• You suggest a category!

You’ll notice I did go ahead and collect some left and right wing blogs, which I found by searching for “Knitters against Bush” and “Knitters for Bush” buttons, or similar features. Mostly, once I thought of the idea, I was curious to compare the two groups. If you visit those blogs, you’ll that, at least currently, most only discuss knitting. I don’t find this surprising since there are no congressional elections coming up this fall. I assume this could change . . .

It also seems to me both groups seem to knit the same types of things.

I’m going to do “dogs” and “humorous” next. I know how to find the knitting and dog blogs pretty efficiently. If people are aware of hilariously funny knitting blogs, let me know. I’d like to get that list together.

Oh… I did some coding to solve something that could lead to unusual slow loading that can occur as the aggregator collects feeds. (I basically now collect feed and refresh the “cache” as a chron job. So any slowness should be “normal” slowness.) So now I can make the pages fairly big.

If you’d like your blog to appear on one of my aggregators, let me know.

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Credits:
1. I use MagpieRSS to create my aggregation pages.

Susanne, a knitter writing to the knitlist, presented a problem, and proposed a shocking, shameful solution. Knitters with weak stomachs are cautioned to read no further. I will quote her in enterity so those with stronger stomachs can witness the horrifying suggestion:

OK. I finished both the fronts and the back of this jacket. Somehow I blew it when figuring out the size or gauge, or the pattern is off. The thing is SO wide I would need to gain about 20 pounds to wear it, which I certainly DON’t want to do. It is made out of Lion bulky chenille in a seed stitch.

I have this weird idea so that I won’t have to rip it all out. Is it possible to use fabric stabilizer on the seams and then machine sew them using a double or even triple row of slightly zigzagged stitching, and then CUT (yes, you pure knitters out there – I’m discussing sewing and cutting my fabric!) the extra seam edging off?

I would then have to reconfigure the sleeve instructions to fit the new pieces.

What do you think? I’m willing to try an experiment.

Susanne

Dear Susanne,
I am schocked, schocked that you would be willing experiment on your own and cut and sew a hand knit garment knit from Lion Brand bulky chenille. Worse yet, to solve a fitting problem this way. For shame!

Knitting purists know that beginning hand knitters who use inexpensive yarn are forbidden cut and sew. Knitting instructors are morally obligated to teach beginners that the popular “cut and sew” is “shameful” and only done by lazy uncaring machine knitters who create “el cheapo” looking machine knit garments.

After all, who will the Knitting Knazi’s look down on if beginning hand knitters start imitating some machine knitters?

Now, as is often the case, the full truth is only revealed to true devotees who have advanced enough to appreciate and understand it. Those who will use the technique wisely. Hand knitters who take special classes, learn the secret hand shake and obtain advanced degrees in knitting may enter the the inner sanctum of “real knitters”. There, if sufficiently graced by the knitting authorities, a card carrying member of “the knitteratti” may learn the holy secret techniques.

One of these is called steeking.

Advanced knitters are also taught the technique is becomes non-shameful when planned in advance and applied to sweaters knit in the round using high quality, preferably exhorbitantly expensive yarn. To avoid any taint of shame the knitter should knit this garment in some very complicated stitch pattern that can only be worked by the truly accomplished knitter.

When cut and sew is applied to very complicated patterns knit in expensive yarns, it proves you are a brave, bold knitter willing to experiment and try new things, not just some beginner who screwed up, used her own brains and thought up a solution.

I think it is also understood this secret, venerated technique should only be learned under the guidance of a certified knitting instructor who you pay!

In contrast, using this technique to fix a sweater you knit using Lion Brand yarn, or any yarn purchase at a big box store is shameful. It is even more shameful to think you are intelligent enough to dream up an advanced technique yourself and experiment! You, a mere beginner or intermediate who has not entered the inner sanctum, and experienced a gauge problem, has the temerity to suggest you have a brain and can learn things yourself?

Shameful, I say!!!

So, in answer to your question, “What do you think?” I say, “Do not teach yourself how to cut and sew by doing the following:

• Knit a swatch using any inexpensive left over yarn you have at home.
• If you feel like it, steam block the piece flat. (If this is acrylic be careful not to over heat and kill the fabric. Don’t let the iron touch the fabric, just hold it close and hit the steam jets.)
• Mark seam lines on the fabric.
• With ordinary thread and a plain ol’ sewing machine set to stitch straight, carefully 1/2 to 1 stitch away from the seam line, in the area that will be your selvage. Sew another parallel line further inside the selvedge.
• Now, when you sew your garment together, just sew along the seam line and do something to make those cut edges look sort of nice.

Remember, should you even consider doing this this to fix a mistake, as you propose to do, it is shameful! And I swear that I did not do this 20 years ago when I goofed up and forgot to start shaping the underarm on a pink mohair vest. I would never, ever, ever do such a thing. And if I had done it, I would have done a better job.