Knit Stitches Next to Purls

I am horrified that it has been 2 months since my last post.  My main excuse is shown under the section Current Projects.  More about that later but TNNA and Cast On haven't helped.

I haven't had a photo of George since my sweet Petipa has been gone.  He is doing very well.  In fact, he is a different cat.  I guess he was meant to be an only child.  I always thought he was food motivated.  No, he was motivated to make Petipa miserable.  He has lost a ton of weight and it isn't from grief.  He is very self-satisfied.

I've spent the past couple of weeks putting in 12-18 hour days on the Fall issue of Cast On.  Sharon, the tech editor and I are the only staff and it is a lot of work.  The photo shoot was two weeks ago and as soon as I get them, the magazine will go live.  If you are a member, you will get an email when that happens.  I used the time to put together indices for some of the regular features, primarily for those going through the Masters Program. 

If you are a member and if you are signed in these links will take you to the indices.  There is a lot of good educational material there.

Knitting 911 and Finishing with Confidence  
Fashion Framework and Stitch Anatomy
On Your Way to the Masters

Knitting 911 is a series by Binka Schwan that has instructions for fixing common mistakes.  Finishing with Confidence is a series by me that covers all major topics in Finishing.  The Fashion Framework and Stitch Anatomy series which began in 2009 discusses specific types of garments and individual stitch patterns.  The On Your Way series is applicable to those doing the Masters Program or really anyone interested in improving their work.

Student News

It has been VERY slow.  Knitting has definitely taken a back seat to everything else!  Things tend to pick up in the fall...not surprising!

Tip of the Week

Something I see in lots of lessons have the same cause.  Ribbing, cables, seed stitch type of patterns all can be improved by a very simple thing.  The next time you are working on a stitch pattern where you have knit and purl stitches together, look closely when you bring the yarn forward to make the purl.  I think you will see that you don't bring the yarn completely forward. This excess yarn generally does one of two things...it works its way back into the previous knit stitch making it oversize or it leaves a ladder between the knit and purl.  This causes K2P2 ribbing to look very sloppy where one column of stitches larger than the column to the right.  It causes K1P1 ribbing to be overlarge (compare the size of the knit stitches in the ribbing to knit stitches above the ribbing and you will see what I mean.  It causes ladders to the left of cables and seed stitch to look lacy rather than dense.  

In the photo below the ribbing isn't stretched.  The arrow points to a column where the stitches are distorted due to the excess yarn.

In the photo below the ribbing is stretched.  The arrow at the bottom shows where the yarn was not brought completely forward.  Notice the ladders on the right side of the purl column and that there are no ladders on the left side of the purl.  It is easier to bring the yarn to the back when going from a purl to a knit.  The arrow at the top shows two rows where the yarn was brought completely forward.  No ladders.

Here is a caveat.  I was teaching and a student told me this did not work and demonstrated for me what she was doing.  She was not bringing the yarn forward.  She was yanking it forward and then giving another really hard pull. This just pulls the yarn from the previous stitches and causes an even bigger tension issue.

In a lot of ways I am a lazy knitter.  I hate having to change needles sizes because chances are I will forget to change back and I wind up having to rip out a few rows.  I rarely drop down a size or two or ribbing.  I get bring the yarn forward to eliminate the ladders.  Guess what?  Dropping down needle sizes doesn't get rid of ladders.  It just makes them slightly shorted.

Here is a video of this technique:  Knit Stitch to Purl Stitch

Knitting Salon

I'm not sure I will be having Salon this weekend.  I hope to be putting the finishing touches on the Fall issue.

Current Projects

This sweater called Bird Lover totally took over my Summer.  The gauge for 4" is 44 stitches.  That was doable but ripping out 10" didn't help either.  I did finish it two days before the photo shoot.  The birds can be hard to see but they are there.

They are easier to see in this closeup.

Of course I used RedFish Dyework yarns and as soon as I have uploaded the photographs to the magazine the sweater will go to them for the shows they will be doing.  (I will be getting it back.  I just let these sweaters visit Elff and Sandy since they put together kits for the sweaters.)  What these photos can't show is how soft and wonderful the drape of this stranded sweater.  They are heavenly to wear.  I did finish up the Big Boy sweater to match the baby one I did back in May.  They turned out quite nice.