Get out your handkerchiefs

I really meant get out your calculators. But I loved that movie.

Anyway, thanks for following along. I've been slow because I've been knitting. And I twisted my foot which hurt a whole lot and I felt sorry for myself, but it's better now. Just a little purple and swollen, but I can walk. OK, back to Tweedy Aran Cardigan.

One person reported trouble seeing the numbers on the schematic I posted. Sorry for the trouble. I was having photoeditting, blogger, and html trouble. Clicking on the photo in that last post will take you to flickr. Then, right above the photo you will see a mini magnifying glass and the words "all sizes". Click on that to see the schematic really big. Let's see what I can make work now though.

Ah, here's the back. Recall, this pattern comes in five bust sizes, 33.5, 38, 42.5, 47 and 51.5

So first look at the numbers of the schematic along the bottom of the back. Are they exactly one half the bust circumference? Mostly, yes, except not in the largest size. 25.25 times two is only 50.5. If that inch matters, then you will want to know if the error comes in the schematic or in the stated size.

Two issues. First, there's the math sloppiness. In order to know the true largest size, one would need to do some calculations.

Second. Where's the selvedge? I have seen way too many patterns that do not account for the selvedge stitches. Let me give an example. Suppose the gauge is 4 stitches to an inch and it is a pullover knit in two pieces. Design says finished sweater will be 36 inches at bust. So they say knit each of back and front to be 18 inches across, or 4x18 = 72 stitches. However, once you sew the two pieces together, you lose four stitches to the seam. That's a whole inch. The finished sweater really measures 35 inches. I've seen this in patterns for bulky weight as well, with the gauges of 2.5 or 3 stitches per inch. And I am not just talking freebies from random folks on ravelry, these are professional designers, both in magazines and self-published. I've browsed ravelry project pages of some of these and sure enough, for a decent percent of finished sweaters, the knitter mentions that it is smaller than anticipated. Pay attention. If you want to knit a sweater and a number of folks complain about the fit, check the numbers yourself. There's a decent chance the selvedge stitches weren't accounted for.

We do not know in this pattern whether the designer accounted for selvedge but just doesn't show us on the schematic, or if the design does not account for selvedge and thus will knit up too small. We'd have to calculate that ourselves.


Now, one of the best parts of this pattern is the waist shaping. Sadly enough, the IK stylists and editors from 2001 did not even photograph this aspect of the sweater! Fortunately we have ravelry and can browse the FOs to appreciate this detail. So, you choose a size, but how much of a waist shaping will you get?

Check out the schematic. My stars. If you make the smallest size, the waist shaping is in reverse, girth there will be bigger than at bust. The next size up, 38 inches, will give a waist decrease of two inches total, since the back indents by one inch. But then holy mother of saints! The largest size, with the 51.5 inch bust. According to the schematic, the waist shaping is NINE inches. Yup, that would mean a waist circumference of 42 inches. That is quite the hourglass figure, yes?

OK, so all this tells you is that the schematic figures are completely wrong. If you want to know how much waist shaping you will get you have to figure that out yourself.
We'll leave that for next time. Now I want to finish my sweater. See. I've knit the body as a unit and all I have left is to finish one front and then knit the collar. the second sleeve is already knit and ready to be sewn on.

Knitting question. Rant to follow shortly.

Howdy poor neglected blog! Is anyone reading? Between Facebook and Ravelry, almost all my social networking needs are met. But I am reluctant to give up on this totally. Especially when I have a rant that I want to publish and nowhere else seems apt. :)

IF anyone who knits happens to stop by, would you mind answering a question?

Do you knit sweaters or garments or anything from published designs where size might be an issue? Do you care if the design has schematics? Do you check the schematics?

Plans

A friend just asked in email what I plan to do next week, since the teen is off school. Last year at this time we went skiing in Utah, but this year nothing nearly so exciting. As I was thinking about my list of things and what to reply, I figured this was a great opportunity to say Hi to the blog. Hi, blog!

My plans:

• Nag the teen. He must
  

1. Finish Application for next year's school dream
   
2. Do homework
3. Figure out his LA Honor's project and get cracking
4. Work on two Merit Badge requirements
5. Practice the horn. Solo & Ensemble recital is just around the corner
6. Make dinner one night and do other various chores
7. Complete paperwork on service learning hours he's accomplished so far. He needs 60 to graduate, has turned in Zero, but has actually done maybe 15. Can't get credit if he doesn't fill out the forms.
   

• Prepare the budget for a volunteer board position I've held way too long. (My term is up in December 2009!) This should have been done already. It should have been done this week, but instead the computer has been busy running thorough scans and removing viruses, thanks to the teen.
• Watch eBay. That's my first edition/first printing signed copy of Twilight. Stephenie Meyer came to All For Kids on her very first tour; we were her very first audience. There were maybe a dozen girls and women present. Our buyer really liked the book, thought it would sell, but it was hardback and brand new. We had to scramble to get the dozen people to come so the room wouldn't be deserted for this novice author. My how things have changed! Last time she came to Seattle, she talked at Benaroya and tickets sold out in about a half hour. Erika is a dear and listed it for me, as I have never figured out how to sell things on eBay.
• Nag the teen. Make him show me his application essays.
• Knit! I'd kinda lost the knitting mojo, but a knit-blogger I follow started talking about her group challenging themselves to knit a dozen sweaters in 2009. Vests and short-sleeve tops count as well, as long as they are sized for adult. It was just the challenge I needed. I had some sweater quantities of yarn in stash, plus I had my eye on some new yarn. As much as I wanted to help stimulate the economy, I could not justify yarn shopping if I wasn't knitting. I have three completed (photos below) and two more in process. Details on my ravelry projects page.
  
• Nag the teen. Remind him that merit badges are earned, not gifted.
• Take the teen to his ortho appointment.
• Provide ibuprofen and soft foods for a couple days.
• Nag the teen to practice the horn even if his mouth hurts. The recital won't wait.
• Knit some more. Maybe some lace, something different than sweaters.
• Read! I have looming deadlines for two book groups. All the King's Men and Catcher in the Rye both need to be finished in two weeks and I haven't started either. (If only I had a kindle, would make knitting and reading simultaneously much easier.)
• Consider signing up to purchase a Kindle if the eBay auction is a success.
• Try to avoid reading the news. This never works though, I can't help it and end up reading all about how bad the economy is and why and what's not being done to fix it. As someone who'd been following Krugman and CalculatedRisk and other smart, logical, rational folks, I knew this all was going to happen, but it doesn't stop me from being pissed off at everyone who let it happen.
• Maybe I should also start working on the taxes. Won't that be fun!
• Get caught up in Lost. We haven't watched any of the new episodes.

Knitting for a change

I haven't blogged about knitting since June, when I started Amsterdam Cardigan.

I finished the knitting Tuesday night watching Obama's acceptance speech and finished the seaming Friday while listening to the President-Elect's first press conference. As I did so, I thought of many reasons this is an Election-08 commemorative sweater.



Color: I dyed the yarn specifically for this project. It is a range of

• Browns -- 'nuff said.
• Orange -- when my biracial niece was little, she did not get why people were called black and white; it didn't match reality. She was adamant she was orange. OK, she was three, I was fifteen and it was the Seventies. I have to admit it was fun to hear her insist she was orange. I may have asked her about it a few times.
• Olive Green -- Damn, but we need a Green president! And olives? Well, we latte-sipping volvo subaru-driving elites like olives with our arugula.

International Cooperation: This Sweater has a passport.





The Blue-Faced Leicester is from England, milled in Italy and came to me via Virginia. (Thank you, Newly-Blue Virginia!) The pattern designer lives in the Netherlands, the stitch pattern is named after a French pastry.

Unity. I was going to run out of yarn, so dyed a second lot. The second lot was pretty close to the first, but not close enough. I only need about half a skein of the second lot, and it took work, some ripping and reknitting to unify the results.

All that unity meant that I had an extraordinary number of ends to weave in. I did much of the weaving in while at my doctor's office waiting for my annual check-up, which I am very privileged to be able to afford. May we all be so privileged in the future!

Conclusion: This is super soft wool in a super warm, comfy pattern. A great sweater to wear instead of turning up the thermostat. Knitting details on my ravelry page. (In the very off chance you care about the knitting details and are not on ravelry? Drop me an email.)

Cardigan math

I have 630 grams of BFL Aran to knit my brioche rib sweater. According to the pattern, it ought to take 750 grams of yarn. However, I am not using the recommended yarn or gauge. How close will I be, and if I won't make it, how much more yarn should I dye?

I have finished the back, which weighs exactly 180 grams.


Calculating from the pattern, I can figure the relative proportions of the back, fronts and sleeves.

Back: 7281
Fronts: 9082
Sleeves: 13518

total = 29881

means that back is 24% of garment and I would need 750 grams

Now if I make sleeves more narrow, reduce cuffs, make collar more narrow, I get it down to

Back: 7281
Fronts: 7970
Sleeves: 10536

total = 25787

means that the back is 28% and I need 637 grams. Sigh, so close.

Cardigan in progress

Wool2Dye4.com sells some nice yarns, including a BFL Aran that is just wonderful. However, it is not common for indie dyers to dye and sell this yarn. When they do, it is often hand-dyed in small batches in bright variegated colors.

It's not hard to understand why. While many folks will purchase hand dyed yarn over the internet, they usually want it for a one-skein project, like socks or a hat. There's too much risk in purchasing enough for a sweater. And cost. Hand dyeing is labor intensive so the cost of a sweater's worth of hand dyed yarn would be quite dear.

Why would indie dyers create sweater sized dyelots? That's another issue. I doubt there's much of a market. There's a lot of capital invested in dyeing a large enough dye lot of Aran yarn for a sweater. Most of the BFL Aran that gets purchased from indie dyers goes into knitting wool soakers. For those not in the know, that's diaper covers. They are awfully cute and seem practical but what a use for a premium yarn!




So I figured I would dye this yarn and make a sweater.




I had in mind a brioche rib cardigan, although I really didn't know how to knit one. I just love the brioche stitch and thought the yarn would work well. I figured the internet was my friend in figuring out the How.

Well, I found the gold mind! Brioche stitch heaven. Nancy Marchant has created one of the clearest and most useful sites on the internet. And a pattern for a simple brioche cardigan as well! Frankly, given all the information she provides for free, anyone who understands sweater construction could figure out that sweater on their own, but it was only five bucks, it would save some math and damn! She deserves the money just for the information on her website!





Of course there's something I hadn't considered. Brioche takes more yarn than stockinette. I am not sure I dyed enough for the sweater. Lots of back of the pattern calculations estimating square inches to knit and square inches per gram of what I have knit --- I may be really, really close.

I did take careful notes on the dyes used, I can probably dye another skein or two close enough to work -- maybe alternating rows on the sleeves, but I'll finish the back and do more calculations before deciding if I need to do that.

Sukoshi kanko-ga shitai-desu.

We interrupt blog silence to say so long, we are off to Japan. We have passports, rail passes, hotel reservations, two cameras --- but no laptop or cables, so photos when we return --- and the list of things to do includes at least one yarn store.

I did finish the Victorian Lace Today Large Rectangle and it is large. I didn't block it to its extreme, but to the extreme of my blocking board at 32x82 inches. I could probably have gotten a couple more inches in both dimensions. I love it anyway. And as for running out of yarn, I had 300 grams and used 286 grams. The calculator on ravelry says that is 1359 yards. I am too lazy to double check or to double check my calculations from when I worried about running out. The pattern calls for 1200 yards? I used the same weight of yarn as called for, I knit on similar needle sizes, but my finished dimensions are larger. So whatever, I had enough yarn.

Here's a photo of me trying to get all arty. I am imagining being lost out on the moors in winter with nothing but the pile of shawls I grabbed as I ran away. Would Jane's have been lace?



My latest knitting is a sweater that I really want to wear in Japan. However, it's not quite finished yet. Using Forecast, from Knitty 2005, I did some modifications which I am liking. Details on my ravelry page. Body is finished, button band done, buttons sewed on, ends are woven in, but the sleeves aren't going to knit themselves, so I better keep this post short. We leave in about 36 hours.

Sweaters

I covet this:From Louisa Harding's Modern Classics.

The softness, the delicacy, the style! Hard to tell from the photo, but there are 4 different lace columns asymmetrically repeated. If I could only knit one more sweater in my entire life, this would be it.

The book has some wonderful designs and some terrible instructions. Charts where the keys don't match the symbols in the chart. Sweater sets where the outer sweater has two inches less ease than the inner one. Complex stitches -- such as p2tog tbl --- that are not described in the glossary, while pages are devoted to describing simple stitches. (Does every book need to explain knit and purl?) And the chart for this sweater is a confusing jumble that would be impossible to follow without previous lace experience. If I make this sweater, I'll use Ann Budd's book of sweater patterns for the details and use the pattern for inspiration.

Having used Ann Budd and Elizabeth Zimmerman's percentage system, I am slowly learning how *I* want a sweater to fit, which is different than either Ann or Liz. For instance, Ann tends to have the sleeve circumference at the armhole at 50% of chest measurement. EZ says to make this 33%. Well, Ann's proportions are part of my problem with Franz's Cambridge Jacket, the arms are too big. EZ's proportions, on the other hand, mean my Fibonacci Sweater's sleeves are turning out to be tighter than I would prefer. I suspect that the differences lie in how much ease one wants or expects in the chest measurement. I have not a clue how to modify a set in sleeve design for more or less ease in the arm, but EZ's percentage system for a raglan can be personalized just fine.

I am still puzzled about cardigan designs. I read over and over that the backs and fronts must match, and sure, in pullovers that's easy to accomplish. But Cardigans have button bands. Therefore, I would assume that designers would account for the width of the button band and make the fronts a wee bit narrower than 1/2 the back. That's not the case though. In almost all patterns I have read, each front gets exactly half the number of stitches cast on for the back. Why?

So far, the sweater on the left, Diamond Mesh from Knitter's Magazine, Summer 2007, is the only exception I have found. The back has six more stitches than the sum of the fronts. (I like this sweater a lot.)

Wait. One more exception. That red sweater above I covet? It has the traditional button band knit on sideways, 6 rows worth. But the fronts added together have two more stitches than the back.