Knit for Brains dot Net

Archive for the ‘Techniques’ Category

I mentioned previously that I am working on a Glengarry hat for my kilts and I have finished the second test piece. The first one I did was in gray wool and followed the pattern exactly as found in Folk Hats by Vicki Square  so I could figure out how to do all the short rows, check the size and see if it all worked out like I want.

And I have pictures… Read the rest of this entry »

I’m working on a Glengarry hat from the book Folk Hats by Vicki Square. I want it to wear with my kilt on occasions, and I find it an interesting learning experience. It’s also my first major encounter with short rows as they are used to shape the curved top of the sides of the hat.

This is a fancy, commercially made Glengarry hat.

Short rows are stopping short in a row and turning the work to knit back in the other direction. To do this you have to anchor the working yarn or you will get a hole where you stopped. Most books teach the wrap-and-turn method, which I tried and find seriously lacking. What you do is slip the next stitch, wrap the yarn around it and slip it back, then turn and knit. Problem is that it usually pulls the loop it’s wrapped around and makes a hole anyway. And even if you work the wrapped yarn with the loop it’s wrapped around (on your way back across) it is visible as a diagonal strand of yarn. I don’t know why this method is in books.

So I got to thinking and reasoned that if I just knit or purl into the loop below the next loop after my stopping point, then slip that loop up onto the left needle so they are nested like spoons then you have a nice secure anchor. The doubled loop is not so visible, especially on a knit side, and you don’t get a hole. Once you turn the work pause to make sure the loop you just made isn’t loose. Snug it up normally, then start knitting in the other direction.

Again, what you do is, if the next stitch after your stopping point is a purl, insert your right needle from the back through the loop below that next stitch, wrap your yarn and push the loop through to the other side. Lift that new loop and put it on the tip of the left needle, turn your work, snug it and start working in the other direction.

If your next stitch shows as a knit on your side, insert your right needle through the loop below it from the front – your side – and wrap the yarn, pull a loop through. Now it’s a bit different: insert your right needle knit-wise into the last loop on the left needle (the one above the one you just pulled a loop through) and slip it off the left needle. Then back up and slide both of these loops back onto the left needle in the same orientation – don’t turn them – but with the new loop behind (to the left) of the loop you just slipped off the left needle. You’re just sneaking the new loop in between the last and second to last loops on the left needle. Both loops are now on the left needle, with your last loop nearest the tip of the needle and the new loop behind it. Turn the work, snug the new loop and start knitting in the other direction.

This is very easy and quick. I did a search after I thought of this and found that there are several methods of turning short rows. I found a slight variation on my method on http://techknitting.blogspot.com/search?q=Short+rows%3A+method.
There is a good method called yarnover shortrows explained nicely at http://www.cocoknits.com/info/tutorials/shortrows.html but you have to recognize your yarnover on the way back and work it together with the stitch beyond it to close the gap. With my method the two loops are spooning each other and you can’t miss it. Japanese short rows are supposed to be good but I haven’t tried them.

Here are a bunch of links. Enjoy!

http://sameknit.blogspot.com/2007/04/yarn-over-short-rows.html

http://www.cocoknits.com/info/tutorials/shortrows.html

http://nonaknits.typepad.com/nonaknits/2005/04/japanese_short_.html

http://www.woolywonder.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6828&page=2&highlight=unwrapped+technique

http://www.cosmicpluto.com/blog/as-promised-a-short-row-heel-tutorial/

A subscriber to this blog, a gentleman from Oregon, asked me how not to twist stitches when knitting backwards and forwards, meaning without turning the work. Without careful examination it’s easy to mess up. This article will give you an exact understanding of loops and what they do when you do things to them.

This will also help you understand what it means in any instructions when you are told to “knit into the back of the loop,” which is a rather hazy instruction if you ask me.

While knitting backwards is certainly a challenge to one’s skills I think Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve worn my share of heavy socks and found that its like walking on beads or gravel. If you are tender footed like me and need heavy socks for cold weather you know they are a bit uncomfortable, especially when you first start walking around in them. It feels like something is gnawing at your soles. Even after you get used to it the irritation is still Read the rest of this entry »

Yes,  I own some Wool-ease, which is mostly acrylic. I don’t really like it. I bought it when I was new to knitting. It will be okay for some projects, but I really prefer natural fiber, and my real preference is naturally dyed or naturally colored fiber.

So I have some yarn that I balled with my ball winder and now I’ve forgotten if it is all wool or not. I found on the web you can test a scrap by putting some of the yarn in a cup with some undiluted bleach overnight and if it is all wool there will be pretty much nothing solid left.

There is a faster burn test if you just need to knit now. Visit this link to read about it.

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I’ve been doing a little experimentation and designing for some minor pattern ideas that involved doing some i-cords, but they required a DPN of a certain size that I didn’t own. I popped in at Joann’s with one of my trusty 40% off coupons that blessedly rain from the sky these days and browsed the needle aisle. (By the way, do sign up for their email coupons at knitpicks.com)

A set of 4 Clover DPNs in the size 11 I was looking for would set me back about 12$ before the discount. That’s a lot to spend on an experiment, I thought, especially since I don’t use DPNs for anything, having nice sets of Options nickel and acrylic Zephyr circular needles. they have a nice taper at both ends…. Wait a second.

And there I realized I have all the DPNs I need. Without a cable these neat knitpicks.com circular needles sets can double for DPNs for my i-cord needs. they are a bit short for real DPN projects, but again, I don’t need them for that. So use your Options! Whether nickel plated tips, the  Zephyr acrylics or the Harmony wood needles, make use of your resources!

Saved my coupon, saved my money. End of story.

You can easily knit past the threaded holes when they are playing left needle.

Below are two videos sent to me by my penpal Larisa. She knits socks using 5 crochet hooks instead of DPNs and it’s pretty fast. Very cool idea. I hope you can pick up the idea from the videos. I bet of you could keep track you could do patterns with this method. The videos require Quicktime to be installed on your computer. The video will take a couple minutes to download.

Fast sock knitting with crochet hooks.

Hook Knitting Detail Video

(Be sure to see part 2 of this topic at this link)

Well, I made a trip to our local Savers Thrift Department store to look for decent wool sweaters from which to recycle the yarn. I thought this would be a great, economical way to obtain several skeins worth of yarn for just about $6. In general, I do believe recycling yarn can be a worthwhile endeavor, but I don’t think it’s for me. The reality of the hunt is not worth the result, which today resulted in more awareness than wool.

First thing I did was examine the 20 feet of men’s sweaters. Feeling along the edges of them for something that might be wool, as well as looking for sweaters that are mostly a solid color I discovered a few things about Read the rest of this entry »

A video posted on youtube by aephemera

“A quick little tutorial on making “plarn” -- plastic yarn made from grocery bags. You can crochet or knit with it to make environmentally responsible upcycled trashion items. Woohoo! Visit http://www.aephemera.net to check out the blog that this video is to be featured in.”

Wow! I just experimented with doing two-color, fair isle knitting with the Portuguese style and it works great! Easier than I thought. I’ve seen Andrea Wong’s sock video where she demonstrates fair isle knitting on socks, but she does the second color English style, which I don’t like and it would just slow me down. If you are good at English then that might work, but you know me…

I tried it with my Portuguese knitting pendant that I invented, but with two hooks, and it worked great. No slowdown, just as fast as if I were doing just the one strand Portuguese style, and I found it was as easy to do right side and wrong side. I had seen another video on fair isle for socks using two knitting pins, but I think it was also socks and was done wrong side only…? I was afraid the yarn would tangle or something because i was turning the work but it took care of itself and I had no problems.

Anyway, I was so excited I went and bought a web cam so I can do a video of it. I will do it this weekend and post it here via youtube, so make a note to come back!

Now I need a fair isle project. I think I’ll go for a vest of some sort.