The Knitting Fiend

I performed a burn test to discover the fiber content of the mystery yarn I will use to knit my shrug. My theory is the mystery yarn is either cotton or silk. At first, I intended a small test. I planned to burn the mystery yarn and a piece of cotton and compare the odors. If I had any silk in my stash, I would have burned that too.

I got carried away.¹ Here’s what happened.

My first step was to prepare for the burn test. I reasoned, “Fire is dangerous; better be careful.”

I decided to perform the test on my paver patio, rather than on my carpet. I planned to burn my samples in fireproof Corning-ware lasagna dish. I equipped myself with my Oveglove, figuring I could use it to stamp out any runway fires. To be even more cautious, I filled a bucket with water which I planned to throw on any major conflagrations.

Unfortunately, I did not think about my footwear.²

I was now ready to begin tests. Naturally, I first tested the flammability of matches. I lowered my hands into the Pyrex pan and lit a match; it lit. However, even though today is one of those horribly muggy, seemly windless summer days, the match was immediately extinguished by a gust of wind. I repeated this test with a second match. I found that I could keep the match burning if I held it very near the bottom surface of the lasagna pan; otherwise, small gusts of wind extinguished it.

This result was good from a safety stand point, but inconvenient otherwise.

Having perfected my match lighting technique, I was ready to test the samples. I decided to test the cotton first for two reasons. I wanted to calibrate my sense of smell. If the mystery yarn smelled like burning cotton, I’d figure, then it’s cotton.

I also thought testing cotton first was more prudent. Knitlist lore tell us cotton is a fire-resistant compared to many synthetics. Since I don’t know what the fiber content of the mystery yarn, I thought it might burst into flames uncontrollably.

I plopped the cotton yarn in the Corning-ware container, lit a match and held the cotton in the flame. I was able to light the cotton with my first match; it sustained a flame sufficiently long to permit me to pick up the camera and take a picture. If you squint, you can see the small red flame in the photo to the left. The flame self-extinguished quickly, and I was not able to take a second photo of the flame.

I examined the residue; it looked ash-like. The odor was similar to burning paper. (For all I knew, I was smelling the matches.)

Next, I tested the mystery yarn. I used 7 matches before I was able to set the fiber on fire. It did eventually light but self extinguished fairly quickly.

The residue was ash-like, and it smelled “icky”. Acrid may be a better word. It did not smell at all like burning paper, but also didn’t smell exactly like burning hair or wool. However, it smelled more like burning wool than paper.

I suspect may be silk. (That said, I don’t have any rayon around to compare. So, for all I know, it is rayon.)

This is when I got carried away. I was having fun, so I decided to set more stuff on fire.

I plucked two hairs from my head. When I held a match to the hair, it seemed to melt rather than burn. I think the hair was probably burning, but the filaments are so thin, they just shrivel up.

Odor: Ick! Sort of acrid. Residue: Ash. Did not sustain a flame.

I was getting too into this. I ran in the house and got some wool. (more…)

Today, I’m going to describe how I’m concocting my shrug pattern directions. I’ve already decided I’m going to knit this in stockinette using white “mystery yarn”.

The next step is figuring out the basic shape of the pieces. I hunted around and found shrug patterns. (1, 2,3, 4, 5, 6and 7. ) None had schematics, but I could reverse engineer the schematic from the knitting directions given by the free patterns. In any case, if you look at the pictures a shrug is basically two “sleeves” connected together with a back. The sleeves may be shaped or unshaped, the back may be shaped or unshaped.

At their simplest, you can just make a big long rectangle and sew the sleeves shut. (Or, if you hate seaming, you knit the sleeves shut.) In that case, a shrug is simply a stole with the edges seamed.

I could just do that. After all, many people’s motto is “keep it simple”, but it’s not mine! I decided to select the shape with the more shaping. The “complicated” things about this particular schematic are 1) the sleeves are tapered. 2) one edge of the back is extended. Why do these “complicated” things? Well, I don’t like floppy cuffs, so I need to taper the cuffs. I don’t want my back to be cold; shaping the back will make a shrug that covers my back better without forcing me to make really wide sleeves!

Other than that, it’s two tubes connected by a strip. Not much to that.

Once I decide on the shape, I need to decide on the construction method. Shrugs are most commonly knit from cuff to cuff, but that means you end up having to increase stitches under one arm and decrease under the other one. Since increases and decreases look different, this doesn’t look “perfect” to the persnickety knitter. So, I’m going to cast on at a shoulder, using a cheater’s provisional cast on. I’ll knit across the back and down to a cuff. Then, I’ll pick up stitches at the cast on and knit in the other direction.

To create the shrug pattern, I’m going to need to select values for all the dimensions shown in the schematic. Afterwards, I’ll calculate the number of rows and stitches to knit up fabric shaped as much like the schematic as possible. I’ve never knit a shrug, so I’m not sure exactly what dimensions to pick. Luckily, shrugs are not precisely fit garments, but I do want it to fit fairly well.

I’m pretty much going to pick these as follows:

• Center back: I’m going to make this about 1.5″ wider than the sleeve width.
• Half Shoulder Width: I’ll measure my shoulder width to get a reference; it’s 14.5″; half that is 7.25″. I want to be able to shrug this on, so I know I need the knitted dimension to be larger than my shoulders. But, how much larger shoud this be? I consulted The Craft Council of America’s shrug; they made their Half Shoulder with 9.5″ for a size small and 10.5″ for the medium. That’s a lot larger than 7.25″

  It occurred to me that, even though I labeled the dimension the “half shoulder” width, that might not be the relevant body part to measure. I reasoned: I need to opening to fit around my neck and back. So, I did this: I took the tape measure and placed one end on the bone at the back of my neck and held it there. Then, I looped it to the front, down under one armpit, ran it behind my back, then went under the other armpit to my front and ran it behind my neck again. (I’d show a picture, but Jim is in Richland, Washington right now.) I inhaled deeply and held the tape loosely: 46″. I exhaled and held tightly: 40″. Guess what, the exhaling and held tightly measurement is pretty close to the length of the opening on the Craft Council’s shrug. So, I’m using that measurement. (Or pretty close.)

• Full sleeve length: If I wanted the shrug to reach my wrists I’d use my full sleeve length. I described how to figure this out in my article on figuring out the knitted sleeve length for a sweater. My full sleeve length happens to be 28″, which is a bit shorter than standard. I think I want the sleeves to fall between my elbow and wrist, so I’m going to subtract 3″. So, to fit me, I’m going to make this 25″.
• Sleeve width (at underarm): This needs to be at least as wide as my bicep; otherwise, my arms won’t fit in the shrug. I’m going to add 3″ to this dimension, because shrugs should be a bit loose. For me, this will be 16.5″ wide. (Adding 1.5″, I conclude the cast on edge will be 18″)
• Cuff width: Since I want the shrug cuff to hit me 3″ above the wrist, I’m going to measure arm 3″ above my wrist. I’ll add an inch to so the shrug isn’t tight at the cuff; the cuff will be 10.4″.
• I’m not going to fret too much about the “sleeve length” shown in the schematic. To calculate the sleeve reductions, I eventually need to know that value, but I don’t need to know it to design the shrug. After I make the back wide enough, I’m going to decrease 1 stitch at the edge every two rows until I’ve decreased down to the sleeve width. I can calculate the actual “sleeve length” if I know my row gauge, the number of stitches I need to reduce and the full sleeve length.

This is all the information I need! After that, it’s all arithmetic, which is best done by writing a pattern generator. (Well, that’s how I like to do it, but then, I’m excessive.)

I’ll be beavering away writing the generator next. Believe it or not, I’m going to write it as I knit — since I can cast on for the back and knit even to the armholes without necessarily knowing how many stitches I need for the cuff. And let’s face it, hand knitting is a bit slow. So, it’s going to take some time; those who want to see the generator are just going to have to wait until I’m further along on the knitting!

Richland, Washington,

Rich (with - nuclear-waste) land.

Glad I don’t live here.