I suspect that we hold needles very differently. And yeah, I've heard the "broomsticks" appelation before. Makes me chuckle. If you grip needles as tightly as I'm guessing, that could explain why the very notion of knitting with pencil-diameter or larger needles, is one you're less than thrilled by.
The sweater for Maggie looks adorable (as does she!). If you've knit it top-down (which is what it looks like), the beauty of that is that as long as she doesn't grow out of the body-width, you can add length to the sleeves or torso very easily. I was just discussing that very subject with a lady at one of the local knit shops the other evening, and she said that the top-down strategy is what her mother used when she was growing up. She also gave me some ideas about how to replicate the bottom-up Icelandic-style sweater that was a shop sample, which she'd knit for her son, based on nothing more than measurements, gauge, and a sketch of the yoke design he wanted.
Pondfilk - is *always* a blast. I don't know when you might have a chance to venture out to the Pacific North-wet, but if'n you ever do, please let me know!
Felting - I've found it easy, but then as we've just noted, I knit loose. Given what you've told me about how tightly you tend to knit, I'd recommend using at least 13's or 15's (9mm or 10mm). Part of what makes felting possible is having something knit loosely enough *to* felt. I've done more than a dozen items in my front-loading washer. I follow a simple formula: put knit item into large pot, and pour boiling water over it. Carry pot, water, and item to washer and dump water and item into washer. Add a small amount of ordinary laundry soap (e.g. Tide, Cheer - anything *except* Woolite or special wool-wash soaps that don't open up the scale). Add two pairs stiff jeans. Set washer to "heavy wash" cycle, hot water, and let fill. When filling is done, change temp settings to warm/warm, so that the rinse will be warm *not* cold, which would arrest the felting process. Let cycle run to completion. If felted item is still too large, add a bit more soap and put through another cycle, filling with hot and rinsing with warm as noted above. When item has shrunk to appropriate size, remove from washer, block to shape, and let air-dry.
Pattern - what I'd dearly love to find, and haven't yet, is a pattern for a top-down circular yoke sweater, sort of Icelandic-style, with short rows in the back. I'm thinking about trying to adapt the raglan-sleeve sweater pattern (which is top down and uses short rows) from Knitting Pure and Simple, but am not even gonna try to think about that until I get the first sweater I'm constructing from that pattern, completely knit up. I had about 20" done but ended up unravelling it due to color-placement problems.
Good socks are all about a firm fabric with a tight gauge.
Yes, they most definitely are! Totally agree with you about this.
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Date: 2005-11-03 12:09 am (UTC)I suspect that we hold needles very differently. And yeah, I've heard the "broomsticks" appelation before. Makes me chuckle. If you grip needles as tightly as I'm guessing, that could explain why the very notion of knitting with pencil-diameter or larger needles, is one you're less than thrilled by.
The sweater for Maggie looks adorable (as does she!). If you've knit it top-down (which is what it looks like), the beauty of that is that as long as she doesn't grow out of the body-width, you can add length to the sleeves or torso very easily. I was just discussing that very subject with a lady at one of the local knit shops the other evening, and she said that the top-down strategy is what her mother used when she was growing up. She also gave me some ideas about how to replicate the bottom-up Icelandic-style sweater that was a shop sample, which she'd knit for her son, based on nothing more than measurements, gauge, and a sketch of the yoke design he wanted.
Pondfilk - is *always* a blast. I don't know when you might have a chance to venture out to the Pacific North-wet, but if'n you ever do, please let me know!
Felting - I've found it easy, but then as we've just noted, I knit loose. Given what you've told me about how tightly you tend to knit, I'd recommend using at least 13's or 15's (9mm or 10mm). Part of what makes felting possible is having something knit loosely enough *to* felt. I've done more than a dozen items in my front-loading washer. I follow a simple formula: put knit item into large pot, and pour boiling water over it. Carry pot, water, and item to washer and dump water and item into washer. Add a small amount of ordinary laundry soap (e.g. Tide, Cheer - anything *except* Woolite or special wool-wash soaps that don't open up the scale). Add two pairs stiff jeans. Set washer to "heavy wash" cycle, hot water, and let fill. When filling is done, change temp settings to warm/warm, so that the rinse will be warm *not* cold, which would arrest the felting process. Let cycle run to completion. If felted item is still too large, add a bit more soap and put through another cycle, filling with hot and rinsing with warm as noted above. When item has shrunk to appropriate size, remove from washer, block to shape, and let air-dry.
Pattern - what I'd dearly love to find, and haven't yet, is a pattern for a top-down circular yoke sweater, sort of Icelandic-style, with short rows in the back. I'm thinking about trying to adapt the raglan-sleeve sweater pattern (which is top down and uses short rows) from Knitting Pure and Simple, but am not even gonna try to think about that until I get the first sweater I'm constructing from that pattern, completely knit up. I had about 20" done but ended up unravelling it due to color-placement problems.
Good socks are all about a firm fabric with a tight gauge.
Yes, they most definitely are! Totally agree with you about this.