Do you have some worsted weight or other yarn you aren’t crazy about, or don’t want to use for projects at that yarn weight? You can convert it to a bulky or super bulky yarn with a bit of elbow grease. Combine colors along the full length or create colorways as you go along, or just make one color, and the yarn will have new characteristics for unique projects.

While fiddling around with yarn I needed some matching cord for a knitted/fulled/felted sporran I was making for my kilt so I took some of the same fishermans yarn by Lion Brand and crocheted up about five feet of chain in this yarn, then went to work felting it in a sink full of hot soapy water, just rubbing it all in a ball and every half minute or so pulling it all apart so the strand didn’t felt onto itself. After about five minutes the squishiness of the yarn mass pretty much disappeared, indicating the felting/fulling had pretty much completed.

So I rinsed it all out in warm water, then quenched it in cold water and wrung it out. After drying it was perfect for my needs and matched the felted-fulled sporran perfectly.

Before you do a big batch I recommend you do a few yards worth of chain first to see if you like the resulting felted yarn and then knit a swatch to see how the fabric turns out.

You could do this with much longer lengths of yarn and I bet putting it in the washer would work for felting but I haven’t tried that. Use a small load setting and put in several pairs of jeans to fill up the tub. I would also put the yarn chain in a mesh bag so it has more contact with itself. You will want to check it every few minutes.

Of course you may get a big tangle, so one thing I know works is you can do it by hand in sections. Gather up a good handful of the crocheted chain and work it in the sink or tub – maybe this would be a good bath time project? – and massage the yarn into felted/fulled goodness. Stop whenever you think it is felted enough. You could even just felt it part way so the fibers are about half matted and you can still see the chains, but everything is firmly unified for knitting purposes.

Like I said, as you are crocheting the chain you can combine colors for a striping effect, especially if you are using thinner yarn, where you can crochet two strands at once.

Let me know if this lights up your life. I’d like to hear what results you get. I haven’t made the time to do a bigger project with this, so can’t show you anything at this point.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere I’m working on a Glengarry hat for my kilt wearing times, so here is the results of my second test knit with pattern changes. The pattern was inspired by the one in Folk Hats by Vicki Square, and I’ve made a bunch of changes, so I may publish the pattern in then next month or so.

One thing I did was make it shorter in the back, as that is what I see in some “authentic” ones on the web. I also expect to be wearing my intended black version in a New England July at the Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival in my home town of Northampton, Massachusetts, so I have worked in ventilation by putting yarnover “lace” holes in the top. There is also some texture added as I tried to put in diagonal lines with purl bumps but missed or misplaced a few, so it looks rather sloppy/rustic/whatever. This one is just a test of various pattern changes I made anyway.

Here are a bunch of pictures of this version. My black one may be made with single ply wool. I’m also considering upsizing it then felting it down again to fit to see what that does to the fabric.

I knitted this half Continental style (stockinette side) and Portuguese style when I was working with purls facing me, since purls are very easy with Portuguese style knitting. See my article on better short row methods also. It’s listed in Techniques and on the Site Map tab on the menu bar above.

And I invite your ideas and comments!

From the side.

From the back angle

Front view. I wonder if felting will help it keep a better shape.

Top view. See the ventilation? Smart! To wear it in winter I could knit a liner.

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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…

First off, the size is for a 22 inch head and starts with a cast-on of 112 stitches. My head is a seven and seven eights which is almost 24 inches, so I checked my gauge in the test piece and added another 16 stitches to bring it up to 128. This turned out to be just right.

Second issue was that the band edge was all stockinette so it curled like all get out, so in the second test, in denim colored wool by Patons (looks nice – I may do a sweater in it) I did just three rows of 2 by 2 ribbing to control that.

I also wanted to make a couple of mods. From what I could see in pics on the web of Glengarrys the prow at the front is higher than that at the back, but in the book’s pattern they are both three inches, so I modified the pattern with more short rows on the sides so the front is three inches and the back is just two. This turned out juts right and the hat looks better than the first test (which I didn’t totally finish as the curling was just too much. No, don’t tell me to steam it.)

So I worked on the hat between calls at work all last two weeks and finished at home this morning. The last task was to graft the top center seam with the Kitchener stitch, which I had never done. Reading the how to in my knitting reference I compliantly said to myself, “Hell no.” and proceeded to invent another way. I don’t know yet if this is new, but it made sense and worked great. If you know it from elsewhere, let me know.

So when you finish this hat, before grafting the top, you end up with half your stitches on each side of a circular needle. I remembered binding off and thought I would try binding off the two sides together. Here’s how:

1.    Divide your stitches evenly between your two halves of the circular needle. This means the extra cable length comes out at one end of the hat and the needles at the other. When you finish all the stitching you should be situated with the needle points at the back of the hat. The hat should be right sides together, so you will probably turn it inside out.
2.    Align the needles side by side in your left hand if you knit right handed, points to the right.
3.    Take a third needle and insert it as if to knit through the last loop on each needle and knit them together, pulling the knitted loops off the two needles.

Insert the third needle as if to knit through both of the last loops on the right needles.

4.    Put the new loop back on the needle nearest you. It doesn’t matter if it is slipped knit-wise or purl-wise.

Slip the new loop back on one of the left needles. Alternate!

5.    Insert the working third needle (which is now empty) knit wise through the last two loops (which include the new loop you just made) on the near needle and then through the last loop on the far needle and knit all three together, sliding the three off the two needles, leaving you the new loop on the right needle.

Knit through 1 plus 2 loops together until done.

6.    IMPORTANT: On the next stitch slip the new loop onto the far needle instead of the near needle and knit the three together – the new loop and the two old loops, one from each needle. Keep alternating this way, putting the new loop on the alternate needle each time so that the seam is symmetrical.
7.    Repeat from #3 until done.
8.    When done, weave in the ends.

The finished seam bind-off when done stockinette side facing stockinette side.

I was pleased with how this turned out on the hat seam. It produced a cord-like ridge in a groove on the top/right side of the fabric, which is fine for the hat as it’s supposed to have a groove there. On the inside of the hat, which is all purl, the seam is not particularly visible.

The seam bind-off from inside the hat when done as described here. It's nearly invisbile, but test it yourself.

I don’t know what the stockinette side would look like if I had done the seam wrong sides facing. Maybe I will try that on the next version of the hat, or a swatch. I want the groove, and if it’s smooth like the purl side on this one that won’t work for this project.

I’ll have another post with pics the denim wool Glengarry mentioned in this article. I will make the pattern available someday soon.

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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/