The Knitting Fiend

I swatched Taiga Deluxe Wool Yarn Cherry testing both a chevron design and stockinette.

I don’t think I mentioned it before, but when I took my Taiga skeins to knit club, this skein almost didn’t make it home. Stephanie kept petting it and petting it, and begged to swatch it. But, I was firm and said “No, I’m going to swatch it!” So there!

The yarn knits up into a smooth soft, delicate fabric which would be suitable for feminine tops or fine men’s vests. I’d like it for baby things and socks, except it’s hand wash only and I personally think 95% of baby items should be machine washable. (I make exceptions for christening gowns and other special items the baby is only going to wear once.)

I knit this on US size 3 needles and got 27 st = rows = 35 rows = 4″. I like this gauge for vests and sweaters knit in stockinette or eyelet patterns. I would knit it at a firmer gauge if I were knitting cables.

Ok, looking around, I’m seeing eyebrows raised. I know what you suspicious people are all wondering: “We’ve never heard of these yarns. We know you never heard of these yarns. So, how do we know they are really wool?”

So, having seen the raised eyebrows, I decided to do the “Bleach test”. I’ve often read that you can test for wool by dunking it in chlorine bleach. Evidently 100% wool will dissolve 100%; 80% wool will dissolve 80% etc. So, if it’s pure wool, you should be able to dissolve it.

I figured: “What the heck, why not check?”

I grabbed my camera and a snip or wool and trotted down to the “wool testing laboratory”. There, I found the wool verification fluid (aka Clorox bleach), a test vessel (aka plastic cup) and a level surface (aka top of washing machine.) I poured some wool verification fluid into the test vessel, and dropped a snip of the Taiga Deluxe wool into the cup.

I waited about 30 seconds and the yarn didn’t seem to be degrading instantly. Naturally I thought “Yikes! It’s not wool! Consumer fraud! I have a major breaking story!” Also, having just knit a sweater with the less expensive “pure wool” I was eager to test that out too. So, I dashed upstairs and got a snip of the the Taiga pure wool, and dashed downstairs.

Naturally, as when I returned to “the test lab”, I glanced into the first “test vessel” and then took a photo. See above center. I thought: “Hhmm.. That strand is looking bad. And see the bits of foam around the yarn? Maybe it takes more than 30 seconds to dissolve.”

Still, I had the snip of the pure wool. So, why not check that out too? I poured Clorox into another cup and dunked the Taiga pure wool I’d used for my Olympic sweater in the bleach and went up to have some coffee.

I returned downstairs and took a picture of the contents of both test vessels. Diagnosis: Pure wool, just as the label states.

I should probably pretend I edited myself out to let readers focus on the sweater instead of the wearer. That might sound good. Or maybe I did it to save bandwidth and down load time? Of to be artsy?

Of course, none of those are the reason. The reason is vanity.

I made Jim take 4 pictures. In some, I had red eye. In others, messy hair, shiny over exposed skin and all sorts of other flaws. In others, I just looked goofy. I could have begged Jim to take picture after picture after picture. But it was pretty obvious Jim, who is preparing a presentation to give in Puerto Rico, does not want to take photos endlessly until I find one that’s acceptable to me. (Hey, he thought the first one was just fine and finding one I like could take all night.)

What to do? I think I found the perfect solution. Edit out the model! The result: The perfect photo to illustrate the sweater on the pattern directions.

I normally don’t agonize over picking my projects. But, I collected a whole bunch of sock links and the decisions are just agonizing!

Should I knit Elann’s Chevron socks on the left? These have a nice small chevron pattern which will be lacy because the increase is achieved using a yarnover. It uses short row heels, which are easy to knit.

Hmm… I didn’t read the details of the pattern, and it looks suspiciously like a peasant heel. Either way, I could change the heel or toes to knit however I like. Still, with the yarn overs, I think the sock might look nice both in self patterning and plain yarn. It might look summery too.

Maybe I should knit the Sock it To Me Chevron Socks on the right? That chevron sock, published at the “Sock It To Me” blog in May of 2005, uses a k2tog and ssk for the double decrease and a “kfb” for the paired increases. So, it won’t have the lacy effect. It also has a heel flap, which might let me adjust the fit better than short row heels.

Or should I knit the popular Jaywalkerin the center, which appeared in the Sept. 2005 issue of Magknits? This pattern is knit in finer yarn than the Sock It To Me Chevron Socks. Like the Sock It To Me version, it uses kfb for increases and also has a heel flap.

So, which to knit?

Oh well, you know whatever I do, I’ll write a sockulator to recalculate for whatever the heck yarn thickness I want to use and slap on some toe or heel I’ve never knit before. There are all sorts of weird toes “out there”.

But, out of curiosity, are there yet more variations on this Chevron sock pattern? I’d much prefer to write a sockulator that differs from the existing patterns somehow. That way, knitters will have more choices.

I really need a small take along project to knit because I’m going to be traveling soon. I can tell you, if I don’t want holes, I’m going to use Lift1’s for the increases. I like that better than kfb’s. But, I don’t think anyone looking at the sock would notice the difference.

But, maybe I can get around agonizing over these slight details and just knit myself a sock using a version of feather and fan. That might be pretty too. Decisions, decisions…