rostitchery

a stitch by any other name is still just a loop

 

a few days ago a question was posted on the gettin' it pegged! loom knitters clique facebook page that got my mind whirling:

“Do you prefer the true Knit Stitch, the U-Knit Stitch, the Flat Stitch or the E-Wrap (Single) Stitch? I think I prefer the U-Stitch.”

it is often said in needle knitting that there are only two stitches:  knits and purls.  everything else is a variation on these two stitches.  i contend something a little different:  that there aren't actually two different stitches at all, but two variations on the same stitch:  a loop.

 

further it is my opinion that the terms "knit" and "purl" are actually verbs, not nouns.  i hope i can explain.

the only difference between a knitted stitch and a purled stitch is what it looks like on the front of the work.  whether the head of the loop appears on the front or the back of the work determines whether or not it is called a knitted or purled stitch. 

you can demonstrate this to yourself easily.  when working in the round, if you knit every other round and purl the rounds in between, you end up with only purl bumps on each side of the work.  you know you made knitted stitches at least half the time, but the surface is not flat, it is bumpy.

the product when knitting flat panels depends on whether you are knitting with needles, machine, or loom.  when working on a flat panel on needles, if you knit every row, back and forth, the final product will be two sides with purl bumps on them.  you didn't purl at all, yet you have only purl bumps showing.

when knitting back and forth on a loom or a flat-bed machine to make a flat panel, you will end up with one side of the work that is smooth, showing the knitted V's, and the opposite being bumpy, having only purl bumps.  if using a loom, it doesn't matter if you make knitted stitches back and forth or purled stitches back and forth, you will always have one side flat and one side bumpy.  (flat bed machines don't make purl stitches, but that is for a different post).

now to put this to a more strenuous test:  knit 2 purl 2.  when knitting this on a flat panel you have to purl 2 knit 2 on the back side in order to maintain the pattern.  that's because when looking at the back you are presented with the purl bumps on the stitches you knitted and the knit V's on the stitches you purled.  but the final result on the front will still be K2P2.

i bring this up because in my opinion all the talk about different knit stitches in the loom world is really not useful, and i'm hoping eventually the loom field will standardize the terminology so as to be less confusing.  the method you use to create a stitch is really not critical except as it pertains to achieving the look you want.  needle knitting patterns do not state "make this kind of knit stitch", they tell you to knit, and you then knit according to your preferred method—continental (this is the method i use), or english, or eastern/combined, or backward, or one-handed, or whatever.  same with purling--a pattern doesn't tell you to form a purl stitch, it tells you to purl--verb, not noun.

rightly the term “stitches” should apply to the fabric created by knitting, such as stockinette stitch or basketweave, or cabled stitch.

the stitch most commonly used in loom knitting is referred to as the e-wrap stitch, but to needle knitters it is just a twisted knit stitch or KTBL (Knit Thru the Back Loop).  the stitch that loomers call the flat stitch is just a plain knitted stitch as in all other forms of knitting.  whether or not you create this stitch by flat wrapping, or U-wrapping, or some other wrapping method, what you end up with is a knitted stitch.

it is important for loomers to start taking charge of their knitting.  i hope that patternmakers for looms will begin using the standard that needle patterns use, which will make patterns more concise and will also eliminate a lot of the confuse loom knitters seem to have about which "stitches" to use for their projects.  the point of a pattern is not simply to dictate how things are made but to give a blueprint for creating a finished product.

thoughts?

 

*pretty much everything you could want to know about the technical aspects of knitting can be found at techknitting and its companion site, techknitter.  loom knitters and beginning machine knitters might find the article about why some knitting curls and other knitting doesn’t.

i love being santa

for several years now my “playgroup” of mama friends has had a secret santa swap.  it is so much fun that usually sometime before halloween, someone asks when we’re going to get the ball rolling again.  and every year, the mamas come up with some truly stunning gifts to give each other.

our rules are simple:  the gift must be handmade, and you can’t spend more than $20.00.  “handmade” is interpreted loosely—some mamas purchase items handmade by others, or they make things like cakes or candy, or they burn a CD, etc.  we don’t reveal what we got until all the presents have been delivered—that way you can’t use the process of elimination to guess who your own secret santa is.

we each spend a lot of time trying to find out information about our recipients without them knowing.  coming up with conversation starters on our private bulletin board without letting on why we’re asking is part of the game.  many of us like to drop our gifts on the front porch and wait for the recipient to find it—it makes the fun last even longer!

this year i used only things i had or could find to make the gifts for my recipient.  so the only thing i “spent” on my package was my time, but i am pleased with everything i made and i believe my recipient was too.

the main present was a pair of slippers like the ones ella and i have.  to make them a little more special i added some embroidery (this was the project i wanted to needle felt).  i also added some puff paint on the soles, in the shapes of the designs i embroidered, to make them non-slip.

 

i also made a wreath for her, using honeysuckle vines from our back fence, a cinnamon angel ornament that ella made, and a big red bow i saved from a package last christmas.  (hint:  get the ingredients for the ornaments at the dollar-tree-i-love-that-place.  for $2.00 you can make enough ornaments for the whole neighborhood).

 

i made an ornament out of some red tulle, some metallic confetti, and a little free-motion embroidery.

 

i gave her a jar of basil jelly that i had specifically canned in the pretty jar and set aside just for this swap.

 

and for her little boy, i made a little coin jar and gave him a roll of pennies.

 

the children of this group also do a secret santa swap, and as soon as i get word that ella’s recipient has opened her gift, i’ll post (that child’s sister has not yet received her package so the mom is waiting until they can both open—otherwise, you know, it could get a little dicey).

oh, lest i forget:  the SRC!  for the slippers i’ll take the same number of points i took for my own, 350, because although the embroidery was sub-optimum, the slippers are still very cute.  for the wreath, i’ll take 100 points for coming up with the idea of harvesting that stuff in the first place, but i’m giving those points to ella because of the cinnamon ornament.  the tulle ornament i started it over 8 years ago, and it was special to me, made at a special time.  so i’m taking 1000 points for it.

i’m a little proud to say that canning supplies and canned goods do amount to a stash here, but i’m always glad to share them so i forfeit any points on those.

so that makes it 1350 points, i’ve over the top and now i no longer have to feel guilty about remaining stash this year!  woohoo! 

 

*ella and i like doing these secret “drop-and-run” presents so much that we are thinking of jingling our neighbors.  although now that i’ve actually said it, it sounds a little kinky, especially doing it with a seven-year-old.  we might need to come up with an alternate name for it.  suggestions?

little duffers

ella liked my new slippers so much that she wanted a pair of her own.

the duffers pattern is written for adult sizes so i had to fiddle with it to get something that would fit her.  the fact that they are felted really helped.  i subtracted 4 stitches from the cast on of the smallest size, and reduced the center front section by 2 stitches.  so a total of 6 stitches less than the smallest cast on number from the pattern.

the pattern as adjusted to fit her almost size 2 piggies is as follows:

cast on 50.  if you are knitting the two color slippers, cast on with the color you want the bottom of the slipper to be.

Row 1: Knit

Row 2 and all even rows: Knit

Row 3: K1, M1, K23, M1, K2, M1, K23, M1, K1     (54 stitches)

Row 5: K1, M1, K25, M1, K2, M1, K25, M1, K1     (58 stitches)

Row 7: K1, M1, K27, M1, K2, M1, K27, M1, K1     (62 stitches)

Row 9: K1, M1, K29, M1, K2, M1, K29, M1, K1     (66 stitches)

that completes the sole of your slipper . if you are knitting the two color slippers, change to your upper color here and leave a long tail of the bottom yarn to sew up the sole with.

 

Row 10: Knit

Row 11: Purl

Row 12: K27, K3 tog, K6, SSSK, K27         (62 stitches)

Row 13: P26, SSP, P6, P2 tog, P26           (60 stitches)

Row 14: K24, K3 tog, K6, SSSK, K24         (56 stitches)

Row 15: P23, SSP, P6, P2 tog, P23          (54 stitches)

Row 16: K21, K3 tog, K6, SSSK, K21         (50 stitches)

Row 17: P1, SSP, P17, SSP, P6, P2 tog, P177, P2 tog, P1      (46 stitches)

Row 18: K1 K2 tog, K14, K3 tog, K8, SSSK, K14, SSK, K1      (40 stitches)

Row 19: P1, SSP, P12, SSP, P8, P2 tog, P12, P2 tog, P1    (36 stitches)

cast off, leaving a small yarn tail for the two-color slippers, or one long tail for the one-color slippers.

to form the slipper, fold it in half so that the cast on edge meets.  that is the center bottom of the slipper.  sew together along the heel and sole.  i used a whip stitch for both heel and sole, bringing the edges together so they just meet but not tightly, so there would not be a ridge when the slippers were felted.

i felted mine in a front loading machine, using a hot wash cycle and cold rinse.  you can of course felt yours in a top loader if that is what you have.  when they are the right size, take them out, shape them by hand and let them dry.

for the SRC:  these used even less yarn than mine did—probably about 40 yards of black and maybe 75 yards of the red and pink.  but i did have to spend a LOT of time with the calculator so i’m giving myself 400 points for eventually getting the math right.

 

*i have not tested these to smaller sizes so i don’t know if the above formula would work on little feet.  i might give it a try later this winter.  in the meantime, if you do try it, come back and comment to let us all know how it went!

duffers

 

my new slippers.

i love them, they were quick to knit, took very little yarn, and turned out exactly as the picture in the pattern. 

 

i'm thinking i'll do a little embroidery and maybe i’ll needle felt a flower or something, just to give them a little personality.

there's not much more to say about them, i guess, except that i think that with christmas coming, these should be on every knitter’s gift giving list.

for the SRC:  these take so little yarn that i’ll have to make up for the points on the back end.  thus: 

• 50 yards of black yarn that i’d had in my stash for less than a year:  5 points. 
• 100 yards each of pink and red yarns that i’d had in my stash for three years:  300 points.  :)

 

*i’m still working on christmas gifts—what are you working on?

it's beginning to look a little like christmas

there is a lot of crafting going on around here these days.  mostly because as much as i want to honor my true, authentic commitment to the christmas craft revolt, this year i really need to honor my true, authentic commitment to my family budget, and my true, authentic commitment to my kick out the clutter project.

so i’m making some presents, but i’m doing it now, so that we can still enjoy a little fun during december.

and in honor of my kick out the clutter project i am declaring a new stash reduction contest, 2010 christmas edition.  there's nothing like a little competition to get me up motivated.  i’m aiming for 1000 points by the first week of december.  definitely not over-ambitious. 

so i’m making another sushi scarf (5 yarns that have been in stash for 2 years—i’ll take 10 points):

 

and another hallowig (1 ball of yarn that has been in stash for 1 year—but on a pattern that is far above my level of competency—give me 50 points please):

 

i’ve already made several more loom-knit market bags (1 HUGE skein of yarn that i’ve had for at least 3 years—let’s make it an even 20 points):

 

and two more pairs of loom-knit mittens (four balls of yarn that i’ve had in stash for 1 year, but i had to buy another ball of yarn because i ran short, but i had already knit the cuffs last winter, and i finished the second pair on a day when it was almost 80 degrees, so let’s just say 12 points):

 

and i’m thinking i might even make just a few more dishcloths, to tide me over during the busy holiday season (ok, i have to come clean:  i bought another ball of yarn.  so 1 point, right?):

 

 

for a grand total of 93 points.  so far, so good.

i am also working on some double-secret, extra-pinky-swear, no-can-tell-you projects for a secret santa swap.  the only thing i can say right now is this:  the reveal date for the swap is saturday, 4 december. 

dreaming of a white christmas

 

nashvillians are funny about the weather.  if it so much as threatens to snow, there is much gnashing of teeth and hoarding of bread.  if we have an actual snowfall--if we're lucky it is a full 2"--the entire city comes to a halt.  for one day, everybody goes on about how pretty it is when the city is "covered in snow", and children are out trying to sled on what amounts to frosty grass, and adults are all trying to figure out how long the eggs and milk will hold out.  but the very next day those same adults will begin complaining--bitterly--about how long this dreadful winter is going to last and how the kids are driving them crazy and if they don't get out of the house RIGHT NOW they are going to go snow-bound insane.

the kids are not crazy--they know it is a big deal, even when it is only 2" high--and they will scoop up tiny, mushy handfuls of snow and throw it at each other, and they will build tiny, mushy snowmen in the shadiest part of the yard so they will last longer, and on the second day they will scoop up what little remains of the snow and mash it as best they can into a snowball shape and then they will stash it in the freezer so they can look at it in july and remember how much fun it was.

personally, i LOVE the snow, and if we got 2 feet of it i'd be giddy with delight.  alas, that kind of snow hasn't happened here since the early 80's.  thank you, global warming.

it is the middle of summer now, which in nashville means "hotter than the hinges of hell".  (my mother says this a lot--it only started making sense to me about a week ago).  and it seems that everyone that was complaining about "all the snow" is now complaining about how the heat and the stifling humidity (they have a point about the humidity) is sucking the life out of their tomato plants and how unpleasant it is to grill when the sidewalk is as hot as burning coals.

in the middle of summer, nashville sits inside and drinks too-too sweet cold tea, and turns on every fan in town, and compares notes on how to keep the mosquitoes at bay.

meanwhile, i am working on christmas.

 

one pattern per month, knitted on the 25th of the month, and by december i will have an entirely new set of christmas dishcloths.  i'm a month behind this year so i'll knit a second one this week, because it is hotter than the hinges of hell and i need some winter to cool me off.

*what are you doing now to prepare for the holidays?

cabled hat on the knifty knitter

 

this is the second piece of the cabled set i made for my friend and then made for myself.  this is a really fast knit--about two hours total!  for the brim i made the very same cabled section that i made for the mittens, this time measuring around my head as i went and stopping when it was just barely long enough--you don't want it fully long enough or it won't fit snugly on your head.  then i put it on the green loom exactly the same way as for the mittens--by picking up stitches all around--and then i knit 19 rows.  sure i could have knit 20 rows but i like the number 19.  :)  i took it off the loom by the gathering method, then the only thing left to do was seam the cabled brim.

now, if you're thinking of making this for a child, you will be tempted to make the cabled section shorter--if you are using round looms to knit your hat, this won't work, you need to make it long enough to go all the way around the loom.  and if you are thinking of using the red loom for a child, i strongly advise you to reconsider--children's heads are not that much smaller than adult heads--my head measures 21.75 inches, ella's measures 21.50!

the only way you can make the hat truly smaller without resorting to the red round loom, is to use one of the long looms and the loom clips to make a custom size.  but in fact i have always made ella's hats on the green loom, since the first time i got looms when she was just barely two years old.

on the other hand, if making this hat for a man you might be tempted to make the cabled section much longer--again, you either need to use the length that fits the green round loom or you need to make a custom loom with the long looms and clips.  i actually did use a long loom for rudi but again, even though he is seemingly a lot bigger than i am, his head only measures 1" more around--so i used 40 pegs which is just four pegs more than the green loom.  

the last piece of this set is a scarf which uses a "new" method for making ribbing!  i'll show you that one next time in a future post.

mittens for me

 

for three years i've wanted to knit myself some mittens.  every year, i knit a new pair for ella but never get around to any for me.  this year i also knit a pair for my friend tough mama, and i liked them so much that i decided that THIS YEAR would be my year--i have finally knit myself some mittens.  

these are so quick that i've made several pairs in the past week.  

the design is a hybrid of two patterns i found online.  the cuff comes from the cabled mitts pattern from loom knit.  i love the way this cuff looks, but knitting cables on a loom is a tedious process--not hard--anyone who has knit a hat or scarf on the loom can easily learn to do it--but it is time consuming and labourious and generally just a too slow for someone like myself who likes instant gratification.  so after the first pair, i have been knitting the cuffs on needles, thusly:

cast on 8 stitches

row 1:  P2, K4, P2

row 2:  K2, P4, K2

row 3:  P2, Cable 4L, P2

row 4:  K2, P4, K2

i prefer to knit cables without a cable needle, by just slipping the stitches off and rearranging them in the order to be knit.

then for the actual mitten i use a modified version of the one loom mitten by looming with love.  i found that this pattern as written makes a mitten WAY TOO BIG for my hand so instead i use the long pink loom and one loom clip to create an 18 peg round (in this picture it is set up for a 16 peg round--different project).  

 

to start the mitten i pick up 15 stitches on the cuff as for the cable mitts pattern, starting at peg 1 on the end of the loom but in the center of the cuff rather than an end.  this puts half the cuff on each side of the loom.  this way, the join of the cuff is at the outside of the arm where i feel it is less noticable.  i e-wrap the three empty pegs at the end opposite the starting peg when i get to them and continue picking up stitches till i get back to the starting peg. then i knit 11 rounds using the e-wrap stitch.  you could knit more or fewer rounds, according to the length you wish from the cuff to the base of the thumb.

for the right hand thumb, i knit pegs 1 thru 4, back and forth with no turning peg, for 30 rows.  you might need more or fewer rows, more or fewer pegs, depending on the size you need--you can test as you go.  you will end up with a loop of knitting which will become the thumb.

for the left hand thumb i knit pegs 1, 18, 17, 16--in other words, the first peg and the last three of the round.  again, adjust according to your own needs.

after that i knit 22 rows--again this has to be judged based on your own hand, you can slip your hand inside the loom to test.  i take the mitten off the loom using the gathering method.

then it is just a matter of sewing up the sides of the thumb--i do this the same as for needle knitting, by lacing up the sides thru the little bumps on the ends of the rows, AKA mattress stitch.  i close the cuff the same way.

ta-da!  each mitten takes me about 45 minutes to complete, so i can easily finish a pair in an evening of TV with my family. 

for the pair i'm knitting rudi i am using the blue round loom, worsted weight yarn holding two strands as one, and knitting the one loom mitten pattern as written.  for ella, i'm using the pink long loom, 12 pegs, worsted weight yarn holding two strands as one.  for both i knit the exact same cuff, but to their wrist size--rudi's took 9.5 cables, ella's took 6.5 cables (mine took 7).  the exact number needed will depend on not just the size of the wrist but also how tight or loose you knit and how tight or loose the wearer prefers the cuff.

these mittens are actually part of a set--next time i'll show you the hat.

nursery rhyme teacher gifts

 

it is totally illogical, but ella is in kindergarten and preschool.  :D  in tennessee, children are eligible to start kindergarten when they reach age 5, but are not required to attend until age 6.  since we are homeschooling, we went ahead and started kindergarten this year, but we kept her in her preschool three mornings a week because she is also still eligible to stay there until she is 6.  (and we LOVE her preschool--seriously love it, will grieve when she has to leave it).

this year the theme for ella's preschool has been nursery rhymes.  last friday night was the school's spring art show and program in which the kids performed a selection of nursery rhymes for their adoring (and rightly so) parents and family members. 

to thank the teachers for their work in getting the kids ready, i made each of them a humpty dumpty dishcloth--i'm so glad i "found" this pattern!--and ella made them each a little soap.  then she drew a picture of humpty dumpty for each teacher, i reduced the pictures on the computer and made wrappers for the cloths.

 

 

"humpty dumpty sat on a cloth".  this cracks ella up, she thinks it is her own personal pun.

on the back each one says "with love to <teacher's name> from" and ella signed her name.  she calls it her inscription.

and check out the font--it is ella's handwriting!  i found an online font generator that lets you print out a template, fill it in with your own handwriting, then you scan and upload it and it turns it into a truetype font you can use on your computer.  i originally used this to work on another project (can't tell you yet!  it is ella's secret) and it has come in handy on so many occasions, like in the header of my ELLA echo blog.

the teachers loved their gifts!  i posted pictures to facebook the day of the program so some of the other teachers at the school saw them before the recipients did, and they were all waiting to see them in person when we got there.  ella was so proud to give out her handmade presents, and it was a joy to see how much pleasure she got from her teachers' genuine appreciation for her handiwork.  that is certainly a nice way to go thru life because, in case you haven't heard, she's a maker.

humpty dumpty dishcloth

it is quite possible, based on my own casual observations, that i am the last person in north america to knit a ballband dishcloth.  i actually avoided knitting one for a long, long time--i can't even tell you why--i just refused to follow the herd (no offense to herd followers intended).  and then, last week, as i finished a ball of peaches and creme cotton yarn, the band came apart and there in all its rich tradition and glory were the instructions for a ballband dishcloth.  and i guess it was the combination of sleep deprivation and the presentation of the thing in it's place, but for some reason i was overcome and so i started a ballband dishcloth that very day.

since one of my life goals this year is to reduce my worldly possessions by 50%, i pulled out two balls of yarn from my stash that were chosen for the obvious reason that they were right next to each other in the bin.  and in no time i had finished the first two courses of what looked like bricks and mortar.

when i showed it to ella, she said it looked like humpty dumpty should climb up on it.  and that is how the humpty dumpty dishcloth was born.

i am totally smitten with this pattern and will be making more.  i wish i hadn't resisted so long.

there are variations of this pattern all over the net, but if you want to kick it old school, go to the source:  peaches and creme ballband dishcloth pattern.  or, if you want to kick it even older school, go even closer to the source:  go get a ball of peaches and creme cotton yarn (i get mine at wal-mart, i hope the wal-marts close to you still have a craft section) and open the ball band.  you'll feel so radical and pioneerish.  ok, maybe that was just me, but you won't know if you will unless you try it.

*the book is volume 1, "nursery favorites old and new" of the bookshelf for boys and girls (the blue series).  my parents bought this collection for us kids when i was little, and over the so-far 40+ years i have read every volume cover to cover more than once.  this collection is what i consider required reading for any well-educated child.  but enough about me.  :)

zen and the art of hair color

when i was a little girl, i wanted yellow hair.  i drew a lot of pictures of myself with yellow hair--with a groovy "that girl" flip on the bottom--but at some point i must have realized that i'd never have yellow hair, at least not naturally yellow hair, and eventually that dream disappeared.

   

then one teenage day, i decided i would have black hair.  pitch black, as black as coal, and i could get it right out of a bottle.  i felt so grown up and sophisticated, like i was becoming someone else, and when i rinsed that first hit of clairol out of my hair, i was hooked. 

it turns out that clairol is a gateway drug.  eventually, pitch black was not enough.  eventually, i wanted it more than just black.  i wanted it blue-black.  and there it was, on the top row of the shelf at the 5-and-dime:  clairol #124, natural blue black.  an hour later, i was exotic.

but it was only a matter of time before natural blue black just wasn't enough, and that left only one option--unnatural blue black, which at first made me feel daring and adventurous, but which eventually made me feel inadequate and unloved, because even lady clairol wouldn't go out on that limb for me and i was left with nothing but unreliable street colors, cut with a big dose of peroxide, to get me by. 

the detox was not pretty.  it involved a combination of awkward hair-growing out and a short period of my life spent hiding in my apartment.  i got thru it, and i'm clean now--well, ok, my hair is still blue black but nothing stronger than lady c. for me--yet i still occasionally flirt with the idea of revisiting my blue hair, although age dictates that soon i won't need the peroxide in order to make my hair white enough to dye blue.

these days, someone i love is having hair issues far greater than mine, so i did what anybody would do--i made her some hair.  and since hair you make can be any color you want, i chose to make hair exactly as i want it:  blue. 

elizabeth, this "hair" is on it's way to you, i'm sorry it took so long but it turns out i am much faster at making my hair blue than i am at making blue hair.  i love you, friend.  go be punky!