tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42508435697769858102024-03-12T17:39:47.189-07:00Rigatoni KnitsAimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-16079519468974676652017-07-07T14:25:00.000-07:002017-07-07T20:37:13.684-07:00K1P1 Ribbing Quest: The Big Knit Stitch QuestionMy quest continues! If you are just joining me, this post is number three in a series about k1p1 ribbing-- the investigation <a href="https://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-great-k1p1-ribbing-quest.html" target="_blank">started with a comparison of attractive (and elusive) k1p1 ribbing and ugly k1p1 ribbing</a> (which seems to be the only kind I can produce). In <a href="https://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-what-and-why-of-ribbing.html" target="_blank">my second post</a> I looked closely at the characteristics of knitted fabric and how it behaves, and I left off with this picture:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe1oio4xB6h7AhS0FduLv66Xiol3BUIqsww0l36y54u3M0gr2f1JpelzR-I6d130VCRZr28uL7yNwEdYTI4rIPUB9uKPjGjKtfcbf8LkXF1BrSEiGFLwn-qdj4FMVPWzfmU9KD0T_yneo/s1600/K1P1+%2526+stockinette--+close-up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="497" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe1oio4xB6h7AhS0FduLv66Xiol3BUIqsww0l36y54u3M0gr2f1JpelzR-I6d130VCRZr28uL7yNwEdYTI4rIPUB9uKPjGjKtfcbf8LkXF1BrSEiGFLwn-qdj4FMVPWzfmU9KD0T_yneo/s640/K1P1+%2526+stockinette--+close-up.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
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And a question: why are the knit stitches in k1p1 ribbing so much bigger and more untidy than those in stockinette, keeping yarn, knitting technique, and needle size the same? When the knits and purls alternate with each row, or when they alternate both vertically and horizontally as in seed stitch, the stitches remain neat and orderly. But line the knits up vertically between two columns of purl stitches and all hell breaks loose. Why?<br />
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My first thought looking at the two swatches side by side is that surely there must me more yarn in those bigger stitches-- seems logical, right? This is easy to test. I knit each swatch with the same number of stitches and rows, I even carefully clipped the yarn tails to equal lengths, so if one swatch used more yarn, it should <b>weigh</b> more. Well I threw each one on my digital scale and they weigh exactly the same. Meaning that there is the SAME amount of yarn in each swatch! So much for that idea.<br />
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If there isn't more yarn in those bigger stitches, what accounts for the size difference? What's going on in the fabric? While I was thinking about this I held each swatch up in a sunny window so that I could better see the spaces in and around the stitches. I immediately observed something very striking-- take a look at each swatch in silhouette:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCZHWn3Vy2mRmJGNUdstxj6Nwiwl4mPE9SwdiYp_hhyphenhyphentLOcAizILlt6NEns8XZMhNyDEyqSf7igM_an81r9OJB-sP1LFMx7hE1QRa5Op3Bc15iAd-jT8WTjXfo2Ub7FOR0tDJ49REvc4/s1600/Stockinette+size+5+silhouette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="750" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCZHWn3Vy2mRmJGNUdstxj6Nwiwl4mPE9SwdiYp_hhyphenhyphentLOcAizILlt6NEns8XZMhNyDEyqSf7igM_an81r9OJB-sP1LFMx7hE1QRa5Op3Bc15iAd-jT8WTjXfo2Ub7FOR0tDJ49REvc4/s400/Stockinette+size+5+silhouette.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYolmz1f1Mbchtf9s1If8KvYVK_HEX9_-YqQTaJfMQaqEO-UzByMDiNrZSiRz_7y1gkJJAKAutReVXrr6IqBASq6hkxqL1NWGk740gop-J5FVuUhMvBFvSRFS86UHAsVS55uUFapkYtcs/s1600/K1P1+size+5+silhouette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="750" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYolmz1f1Mbchtf9s1If8KvYVK_HEX9_-YqQTaJfMQaqEO-UzByMDiNrZSiRz_7y1gkJJAKAutReVXrr6IqBASq6hkxqL1NWGk740gop-J5FVuUhMvBFvSRFS86UHAsVS55uUFapkYtcs/s400/K1P1+size+5+silhouette.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Notice the difference? The spaces between and inside the stitches of the ribbed fabric are much bigger than those in the stockinette fabric. Not only that but the yarn plies in the ribbing stitches look looser and airier-- the ribbed swatch is overall less opaque. The same effect happens in stockinette when I use a MUCH larger needle-- I have been using a size US 5/3.75mm, here's the same yarn knit on a size US 10/6.0mm:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt9sTV6RkXSt86h0c5pysx_jXFWzPTnn5dFBpBzdu76R4SNdZsYQ7pHUXY84ECfYYN0DgBH909NWm9x5KxCdX2zt6_F63tjmIc3Y_4lw7f27XvaKmp_jyGeHEtqfjPjoJiJ5LRBWQfNws/s1600/Stockinette+size+10+silhouette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="750" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt9sTV6RkXSt86h0c5pysx_jXFWzPTnn5dFBpBzdu76R4SNdZsYQ7pHUXY84ECfYYN0DgBH909NWm9x5KxCdX2zt6_F63tjmIc3Y_4lw7f27XvaKmp_jyGeHEtqfjPjoJiJ5LRBWQfNws/s400/Stockinette+size+10+silhouette.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiorcwN4CFzM_0Ty_3Nx62dAfqLhkuDq3OiI3T1Z7YR57u1LaK3sc2AyKlHgi_kT7sueqseKtLurjwORJBOo6rbJfE5fP3Fl79pyP2LSs-8BopnCfNhlCLiHizNmNd-xk_V9U_bHs9YwQo/s1600/Large+stockinette+swatch+closeup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="750" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiorcwN4CFzM_0Ty_3Nx62dAfqLhkuDq3OiI3T1Z7YR57u1LaK3sc2AyKlHgi_kT7sueqseKtLurjwORJBOo6rbJfE5fP3Fl79pyP2LSs-8BopnCfNhlCLiHizNmNd-xk_V9U_bHs9YwQo/s400/Large+stockinette+swatch+closeup.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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So much more air space! And see how the plies look more open in the bigger stitches? The same thing is happening in the knit stitches of the ribbing sample-- there is more space for the yarn to expand and for the plies to separate in the stitches. There isn't more yarn in those big stitches-- there's more air! But why?<br />
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I have sort of a hypothesis-- otherwise I probably wouldn't be wasting my time and yours with this business! Stockinette fabric has less air because the stitches hold each other together better. It has more structural integrity. Each stitch supports the others next to it, the plies of the yarn are held together more firmly and the stitches sit closer to their neighbors. Stockinette can be made to look airier and looser when knit on very large needles, but when knit at a normal gauge it is much denser than ribbing. Garter stitch and seed stitch are also denser, so there can be some alternation of knits and purls without compromising the integrity of the fabric-- it is only when the knits and purls are lined up vertically into columns that the fabric starts to become unstable. Ribbed fabric has more elasticity, but it lacks the structure and cohesiveness to hold the stitches tightly, so the stitches appear larger and looser though they have same amount of yarn per stitch as stockinette.<br />
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What causes this instability? Bear with me here because it's about to get even nerdier. This problem of enlarged stitches happens in other ribbed fabrics-- many knitters find that the <b>left</b> knit column in any type of ribbing turns out loose and uneven. You can see it here in k2p2 ribbing:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR6PHzzkgZhcBOMPD-xfKRKMgMoLM1NQSznNlcYyvBHRaNhWtJz_-SDY8EMOIsywdk24ecAf11vEB4xWiyPraNd6p3PbcgyDgeF78ClG3_VuO-5Ehg-_vD4nk_OzWBr00SsOtlAjRumss/s1600/K2P2+swatch+stretched.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="750" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR6PHzzkgZhcBOMPD-xfKRKMgMoLM1NQSznNlcYyvBHRaNhWtJz_-SDY8EMOIsywdk24ecAf11vEB4xWiyPraNd6p3PbcgyDgeF78ClG3_VuO-5Ehg-_vD4nk_OzWBr00SsOtlAjRumss/s400/K2P2+swatch+stretched.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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It is the same on both sides of the fabric-- so both the second knit stitch and the first purl stitch in a k2p2 sequence are loose. Here's what's going on between the stitches:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgSugBqck8k7bW5Oucgi-pK9omlBOA5er_x05_1ODMUj69kFO6IGS8AK5mQsxT-uURxJ6JcL8GFkUd5w_gYkulbv4QmzAhPM9cmEx9CxhA0WwuXunRMW4p-m2sIAkSY-JSDm3zDHsfAv8/s1600/K2P2+silhouette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="750" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgSugBqck8k7bW5Oucgi-pK9omlBOA5er_x05_1ODMUj69kFO6IGS8AK5mQsxT-uURxJ6JcL8GFkUd5w_gYkulbv4QmzAhPM9cmEx9CxhA0WwuXunRMW4p-m2sIAkSY-JSDm3zDHsfAv8/s400/K2P2+silhouette.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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There are two columns of large holes and two columns of small ones-- the first knit and the second purl in the k2p2 sequence behave just like stitches in stockinette fabric! These stitches are held tightly while the others are loose and airy. It doesn't seem to matter if a stitch is knitted or purled but the <b>transition</b> between them does. The enlarged stitches are on either side of a <b>knit-to-purl transition</b>. The stitches on either side of the purl-to-knit transition are "normal." Why?<br />
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While I was pondering this I thought about mirror knitting, where a knitter moves stitches from the right needle to the left as they works across the row-- many left-handed knitters find it more natural to work this way than the more common left-to-right stitching direction. Thus mirror knitters approach the knit-to-purl transition in k2p2 ribbing from the right, rather than the left. If it is in fact the knit-to-purl transition that is destabilizing the fabric in ribbing, mirror knitters might have a different problem-- enlarged <b>right</b> knit columns. I had a friend who knit this way, and I wish she was still around to ask-- in the spirit of dauntless scientific inquiry (which I think she would appreciate) I resorted to stalking the project pages of other mirror knitters on Ravelry, looking for k2p2 ribbing (creepy, right?). Sure enough, some of these knitters have enlarged <b>right</b> knit columns in their k2p2 ribbing!<br />
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To bring it all back home: the transition from knit to purl-- no matter which direction you are working-- seems to lead to enlarged stitches on either side of it. And in k1p1 this transition is happening every other stitch! Why does this transition alter the stability of the fabric? And can anything be done about it? At this point in the inquiry I'm not sure but I will take a stab at it in my next post!<br />
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I hope if you are reading and enjoying this series you will leave me a comment-- What do you think about my hypothesis so far? Have you tried to improve your ribbing? What has worked for you?<br />
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Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-18283449468584332302017-06-26T15:44:00.000-07:002017-06-26T15:44:06.687-07:00New content coming soon!I'm just popping my head up to say that I am alive and well and still planning to write more posts! I have been distracted lately by: 1) a sample knitting job, 2) my fifteen year college reunion, and 3) a full blown obsession with curly hair care.<br />
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I'm not remotely joking when I say that #3 is threatening to suck up all of my free time. For many years I tamed my thick, heavy, wavy/curly hair with a pixie cut, which was adorable and very low maintenance. But then I started longing for hair again and after a lengthy awkward growing-out phase, I got my wish-- and the natural texture is reasserting its control over my life. Fortunately (for my hair and self-esteem, not my knitting or blog productivity) there is a wealth of information and advice available now that I SO wish I'd had access to as a frizzy-haired teen and twenty-something.<br />
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Anyway. This blog is a fulfilling but not compulsory activity and it tends to get neglected when other things catch my interest-- but new content is on its way! I also finally took the time to update <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-what-and-why-of-ribbing.html" target="_blank">my second K1P1 quest post</a> with new and much improved pictures, which I hope provide better illustration to my talking points! More soon!Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-17697487579065068032017-05-06T11:45:00.000-07:002017-05-06T11:45:46.190-07:00The Goldilocks SweaterI finally finished my green Bartlett sweater a few weeks ago. It's perfect. Before I talk more about it, I have a confession to make. I have been putting off this post because I wanted to get some pictures of ME... wearing the sweater. And I hate taking pictures of myself, even for the purposes of showing off something awesome that I made and love wearing. Maybe I am vain and hate seeing pictures of myself-- maybe I just hate trying to be a model-- maybe I'm just shy. It's probably a bit of all three and who knows what else. I have always hated having my picture taken! I know I'm not alone in this. I should try to get over it. But I couldn't wait to talk about this sweater long enough for me to get over it!<br />
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So here it is:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZEFXRx-XMESNfTW3Ci6jq-wxuYQFkB1wd-MXRNoUlDYlDr1WtLcMHc5rg9jlUHDipWuN80qHCTB2lvM89RNm_g7xBfKwr6WMp0C3RSaAEY7SEIOQANCwy0B861vKEky98qSHBoBlYUx8/s1600/Green+Bartlett+Sweater--+finished.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZEFXRx-XMESNfTW3Ci6jq-wxuYQFkB1wd-MXRNoUlDYlDr1WtLcMHc5rg9jlUHDipWuN80qHCTB2lvM89RNm_g7xBfKwr6WMp0C3RSaAEY7SEIOQANCwy0B861vKEky98qSHBoBlYUx8/s400/Green+Bartlett+Sweater--+finished.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I started knitting this in September 2016! It took me so long but it is perfect-- exactly what I wanted without knowing exactly how I was going to get there. From analyzing <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/06/sweater-baggage.html" target="_blank">my sweater failures</a> I knew I wanted a basic raglan pullover with long sleeves and a crew neck. Also I knew what I wanted in the finishes and details: a fold-over k1p1 ribbed collar, wide borders, tubular edges. I wanted to use the same style of increases I used on my improvised orange raglan sweater of long ago:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3sLONVFU1woF4w9esPM1wY_mjFvIC0jmnq3Q-Aam7TgTMHadSooxAIEBny-PZP9IcH-0bWDxoIBjHq92va3X6tJ-kf_CAxsK9H63X2xBqW5g3L6nu26vDE5lQAAEMLvRpI-Z7o1-efH8/s1600/Orange+raglan+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3sLONVFU1woF4w9esPM1wY_mjFvIC0jmnq3Q-Aam7TgTMHadSooxAIEBny-PZP9IcH-0bWDxoIBjHq92va3X6tJ-kf_CAxsK9H63X2xBqW5g3L6nu26vDE5lQAAEMLvRpI-Z7o1-efH8/s400/Orange+raglan+detail.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYTlG6gAVyLRMQFJN47lMUkzsfB_C2MU471-OO43bgtlYlkkGqFNpF72VZ7NFqhTiIlVIyLSf_07q0hO2-faM0q0KWDm2q3WKU8_smT1gmJJSrldPTOP2_9AoXCHn9c-vKXe6Agc5p78c/s1600/Green+Bartlett+Sweater--+raglan+increases.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYTlG6gAVyLRMQFJN47lMUkzsfB_C2MU471-OO43bgtlYlkkGqFNpF72VZ7NFqhTiIlVIyLSf_07q0hO2-faM0q0KWDm2q3WKU8_smT1gmJJSrldPTOP2_9AoXCHn9c-vKXe6Agc5p78c/s400/Green+Bartlett+Sweater--+raglan+increases.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And I wanted it to fit <i>perfectly</i>: comfortable but not sloppy, with a silhouette somewhere between boyish and boyfriend-ish. But I didn't know what this meant in terms of measurements!<br />
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Fit is a tricky thing-- I spent a couple of years answering email questions for a knitting designer, and the most frequent question was "Which size should I make?" I always told knitters to measure a sweater they already owned-- and loved-- to help them decide. The trouble for me is that I don't own a lot of clothes that I really like! I didn't have a model to follow!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfCUtc7lyrFfBjJIVS0S13bfVUeyUjF92JtVkkevJX1jwynDDKdGrwyq5XFsGbJE8Ji5nPePcxn6vgX_M4OvIPFWhk6nWK2ekBq5Kv3KaBtHUxSET68dC0399b_rKuxiKFk7rDADClaIE/s1600/Green+Bartlett+Sweater--+finished+hem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfCUtc7lyrFfBjJIVS0S13bfVUeyUjF92JtVkkevJX1jwynDDKdGrwyq5XFsGbJE8Ji5nPePcxn6vgX_M4OvIPFWhk6nWK2ekBq5Kv3KaBtHUxSET68dC0399b_rKuxiKFk7rDADClaIE/s400/Green+Bartlett+Sweater--+finished+hem.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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So from the beginning I decided to think of this sweater as an experiment and that was tremendously freeing. I wasn't knitting a sweater-- I was knitting a prototype! I gave myself permission to start over as many times as I wanted to and to figure out what I liked-- and I gave myself no deadlines. Surely I would have blown them all.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhInLAcdHktZNfyWYbuvUq_LYeIw9iZAxfZ7JqkNCYOLVFFix-jcdblw1U_NC7caXTxI_SHcrSHmlm7AVTGCd6sUjTSLsWYg2hlaYqI8XUZuGVob2GH-3u-r5EdqIklBbI40oltt-FVD2k/s1600/Green+Bartlett+Sweater--+finished+neckband.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhInLAcdHktZNfyWYbuvUq_LYeIw9iZAxfZ7JqkNCYOLVFFix-jcdblw1U_NC7caXTxI_SHcrSHmlm7AVTGCd6sUjTSLsWYg2hlaYqI8XUZuGVob2GH-3u-r5EdqIklBbI40oltt-FVD2k/s400/Green+Bartlett+Sweater--+finished+neckband.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I started my experiment with the back-neck and yoke depth measurements of a factory-knit raglan I owned, guessing that those would work pretty well for the sweater I wanted-- I decided what bust and upper arm circumference I was going to aim for, how many stitches I needed to end up with, and then reverse calculated how many stitches I needed to cast on. And of course how to space the increases. Whew!<br />
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Since I had enough yarn and no deadline, I ended up <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/11/sweaters-multiply.html" target="_blank">starting a new version</a> when my first try seemed like it <i>might</i> fit closer than I wanted. Then I started <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2017/01/and-then-there-were-three.html" target="_blank">a third version</a> when I realized the second version's neckline was smaller than the first. I found all this knitting quite enjoyable and (mostly) didn't get impatient with myself to make a decision between the closer and the roomier version. I just waited-- and I reknit the collar about a hundred times <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-great-k1p1-ribbing-quest.html" target="_blank">trying to perfect my k1p1 ribbing</a>. Eventually the qualities of the yarn helped decide it. Bartlett is thick, sheepy, and rustic and I felt that the thickness of the fabric demanded a bit more ease in the fit. I ended up going with version 3, which has about two inches of positive ease at my full bust. The fit is slouchy-- I love how the extra material drapes in the back-- but not oversized. It fits neatly at my neck and shoulders and around my arms. I can layer under it and over it without any uncomfortable bunching. It has the perfect amount of detail and texture-- not too little, not too much. Just right, as Goldilocks would say.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPx8F1S24LX2rytjWGKYgvDo9SbrmmByjoMTFBZgTLoILyNfuJiXYYgcfuSycsPaKgmelnZT4JOEyAHNRFlcqN93X0VbqZf2Y83hagxNMKkiAijGliwmQ5vYazzZn2WdRV2EPO5vDWavU/s1600/Green+Bartlett+Sweater--+finished+borders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPx8F1S24LX2rytjWGKYgvDo9SbrmmByjoMTFBZgTLoILyNfuJiXYYgcfuSycsPaKgmelnZT4JOEyAHNRFlcqN93X0VbqZf2Y83hagxNMKkiAijGliwmQ5vYazzZn2WdRV2EPO5vDWavU/s400/Green+Bartlett+Sweater--+finished+borders.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I love it. It's still pretty damn cold here in Maine-- funny I was saying the same thing <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/05/me-made.html" target="_blank">just about a year ago</a>-- and I have worn it about a dozen times so far. I may actually wear it out before I stop loving it, and then I will mend it! Sweater success at last.<br />
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<br />Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-23917274235653793302017-04-15T14:51:00.000-07:002017-04-15T14:51:12.921-07:00Mending by the seaThe weather has been sunny and a bit blustery and I spent part of yesterday outdoors by the sea, doing a bit of mending:<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzWTL2mcenzOeNZJKJsihFjjNvT98ny1A7oMhgDv9kxdpRmUo4UJre21hlC_d-fLhuvxMZeTkTABLg3W1CY9y8KxPGMiTmq4BBchyxgXVQI046zGGZCj1PXSBFd2QRcXAdscRQyLw2Vs/s1600/Mending+on+the+Prom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzWTL2mcenzOeNZJKJsihFjjNvT98ny1A7oMhgDv9kxdpRmUo4UJre21hlC_d-fLhuvxMZeTkTABLg3W1CY9y8KxPGMiTmq4BBchyxgXVQI046zGGZCj1PXSBFd2QRcXAdscRQyLw2Vs/s400/Mending+on+the+Prom.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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That is the sweater I knit for my husband shortly after we got married in 2009. He has worn it 100+ times per year since then and it has taken some serious abuse-- this is the fourth or fifth time I've repaired it! I recently re-knit the collar, which was looking very bedraggled, and I noticed then that the sleeve near one of the cuffs had worn very thin, almost translucent, probably from dragging across his desk as he uses his mouse at work. I warned him not to wear it until I had a chance to reinforce the area, but he didn't listen, hence the hole. I'm now duplicate-stitching-- also known as Swiss darning-- over the entire area and I have built a small scaffolding of cotton twine to support the stitches I will make over the hole. This is slow, methodical work and I'm quite pleased by the results so far!</div>
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I'm also doing a bit of repair work to my last post-- I was not entirely pleased with my swatch photos and I did a re-shoot today with the help of my afore-mentioned husband! The things we do for love. This was also slow and methodical work, and I managed to learn a lot in the process in spite of my best efforts to ignore my husband's instruction. Anyway, I think these new photos will more clearly illustrate the differences between swatches as I make further progress in my Great K1P1 Quest-- more on that front soon!</div>
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P.S. Here's a great tutorial on <a href="http://www.twistcollective.com/collection/107-articles/1673-darn-it-all" target="_blank">different methods for mending knits</a>!</div>
Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-66539754954506651182017-04-08T12:10:00.000-07:002017-06-26T15:27:09.428-07:00The what and why of ribbing<a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-great-k1p1-ribbing-quest.html" target="_blank">Back in January</a> I promised more posts on k1p1 ribbing and I'm finally getting around to it! Yay! This started as a side quest/distraction from my green sweater odyssey-- to recap: I became obsessed with getting the folded neckband of my sweater to look just right, and after about eight attempts I decided there must be something special/diabolical about k1p1 ribbing. So the side quest became a kind of exorcism! 😈 I have been knitting <b>many</b> swatches and learning <b>a ton</b> and finding new little threads of inquiry to follow all the time. I'm not sure it's possible to tie this all "research" together into a neat package, but I want to share what I have so far!<br />
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The first question I want to tackle: what is ribbing and why is it... what it is? I really never thought about this until I started trying to make my k1p1 ribbing LOOK better-- when I learned to knit, I just made stitches, and then began following patterns. Knitted fabric wasn't really a mystery to me until I started asking questions about it!<br />
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Down to basics: all knitted fabric starts with knit and purl stitches, of course, and when you look closely you see that knits and purls are just different faces of the same stitch! (Do you remember the moment when you first realized this? Mind blowing.) I am enthralled by the variety that arises from just this one stitch, by a loop pulled through another loop. The fundamental knitting choice is the direction the loop is pulled from-- back to front for a knit, front to back for a purl-- and from there we build an almost infinite number of stitch patterns with different characteristics and behavior!<br />
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Take, for example these four swatches:<br />
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They all have the same number of stitches, and three out of the four were made with the same number of knits and purls. But they all act very differently!<br />
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So what makes ribbing ribbing?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZn115HpWuCLzrp9c1woJO16bLfrJpC4T2M4QwSTW1rr00E2wdSrgcYYXoe9iRlnBomptpqz_Ms8Xi13LPQ-3xpcbP-anX0wiyWF51CnPYaJc12qOZFUxURZcnKn2uYe5Tv6tQGsJsmEc/s1600/K1P1+swatch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="525" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZn115HpWuCLzrp9c1woJO16bLfrJpC4T2M4QwSTW1rr00E2wdSrgcYYXoe9iRlnBomptpqz_Ms8Xi13LPQ-3xpcbP-anX0wiyWF51CnPYaJc12qOZFUxURZcnKn2uYe5Tv6tQGsJsmEc/s640/K1P1+swatch.jpg" width="448" /></a></div>
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It is composed of knits and purls alternating horizontally but stratified vertically. I'm mainly interested in k1p1 fabric, but ribbing can have any multiple of knits and purls in these vertical columns as long as they are strictly separated-- k2p2, k3p2, k1p3 and so on... Any intrusion of knits into the purl columns or vice versa changes the fabric's nature, which is elastic-- like any knitted fabric in can stretch, but ribbing can grip and cling and gather. This is because it actually contracts in the horizontal dimension when it is relaxed. You can see that it is much narrower than the stockinette swatch with the same number of stitches:</div>
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But what makes ribbing elastic? Different knitted fabrics behave in characteristic ways, but why? When you stretch a piece of ribbed fabric horizontally, it will snap back when released (how readily it does this varies depending on other factors, but that is another thread of inquiry!) There seems to be <b>energy</b> in the fabric-- maybe from the twist in the fibers making up the yarn? maybe from the path the yarn takes as it moves through the stitches across the row? maybe both?-- and the placement of the knits and purls in relation to each other determines how this energy will make the fabric look and act.<br />
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If you align all the knits on one side of the fabric and all the purls on the other side, you get stockinette fabric, which (famously, maddeningly) curls vertically toward the purl side and horizontally toward the knit side:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofmHN2gc6YaAjBe3CMRn3bAH9LbPLB2dtMNj_kbViTXYTJ_9HuE4pGmcce_cDnwtqg7-sbjcTn5-4mykEd6oiwJ-TG3SVz03dcOCSXtNGDSwnWFjv_sMDEnnQJe5PVty6jzdLUm8r5_8/s1600/Stockinette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="750" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofmHN2gc6YaAjBe3CMRn3bAH9LbPLB2dtMNj_kbViTXYTJ_9HuE4pGmcce_cDnwtqg7-sbjcTn5-4mykEd6oiwJ-TG3SVz03dcOCSXtNGDSwnWFjv_sMDEnnQJe5PVty6jzdLUm8r5_8/s400/Stockinette.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The energy in the fabric is unbalanced somehow, hence the curling. Other fabrics lay flat-- think of garter stitch, which is generally made by knitting all the stitches back and forth.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM0ZVbuzAcX6vzmWFm9pvSRtU8S07lxzr9w4hkIuuMDLtgwobd9eBB6_cdcNOR4COKPfDhU8hbnT8pfZgoVMqdDT9rqClSrlSB3e_afb54tpeSbHRD4Jqwh7jfYVvmdM0n2PtGBmZbubE/s1600/Garter+swatch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="750" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM0ZVbuzAcX6vzmWFm9pvSRtU8S07lxzr9w4hkIuuMDLtgwobd9eBB6_cdcNOR4COKPfDhU8hbnT8pfZgoVMqdDT9rqClSrlSB3e_afb54tpeSbHRD4Jqwh7jfYVvmdM0n2PtGBmZbubE/s400/Garter+swatch.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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When viewed from one face of the fabric garter stitch alternates one row of knit stitches with one row of purl stitches-- this can be hard to see until you stretch the fabric vertically:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Ea1H6O-B9MhIOmfXvhmj5s1eHslOz9jGoits3MTvYakzj32bDSb5mvFybikNOhYLYBVw4kQC7LsKNopuyx00NvW90RUCN7_4_sTV3ufPZqoIBRK2RRkiKSw6mVchuGEOb_8w5aYHM5s/s1600/Garter+stretched.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="750" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Ea1H6O-B9MhIOmfXvhmj5s1eHslOz9jGoits3MTvYakzj32bDSb5mvFybikNOhYLYBVw4kQC7LsKNopuyx00NvW90RUCN7_4_sTV3ufPZqoIBRK2RRkiKSw6mVchuGEOb_8w5aYHM5s/s400/Garter+stretched.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The same number of rows of stockinette stitch makes a much longer fabric:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbTVeIS-OCKHRu8j3Jxb0-4mzws0AaWP8ietnB5RyloYTDiUcRlh3mzSrvW_gPKqXyYH2fg8EkFbhw-pyCl9YfauHkGLqTGO-tqEvjJh3eYhxL_Vkx9fcyzS-uSSJbYx-wl_o1x0HHD1o/s1600/Garter+%2526+Stockinette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="750" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbTVeIS-OCKHRu8j3Jxb0-4mzws0AaWP8ietnB5RyloYTDiUcRlh3mzSrvW_gPKqXyYH2fg8EkFbhw-pyCl9YfauHkGLqTGO-tqEvjJh3eYhxL_Vkx9fcyzS-uSSJbYx-wl_o1x0HHD1o/s400/Garter+%2526+Stockinette.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Yet garter stitch is wider-- I wonder why?</span></div>
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Garter stitch lays flat but contracts vertically-- the purl bumps come forward and the knits recede. This also happens when you make a single row of purl across the knit face of a stockinette fabric-- the fabric makes a kind of horizontal fold at the line of the purl stitches. But the opposite of happens when you make a vertical column of purl stitches in stockinette-- the purls recede into the fabric rather than coming forward. Weird!<br />
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In seed stitch and its variations (moss stitch, double moss stitch, etc), the knits and purls alternate both horizontally and vertically, and the fabric is both flat and relatively expansive-- it has more rows per inch than stockinette, but fewer than garter stitch.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNGLSULPPxByBCsSQaSMrlc7qEPxGUwffAyXpKpnsT7YUrHaKg5Ls76sdgHV8uNdUuvB_R9ADRROHc_EKViu_1UPnCs24Ebi4jEaOgTiD8MjJ9liPZ2oZ_sEMudIyZkYOYoxQ8indcMeQ/s1600/Stockinette%252C+Seed+Stitch%252C+Garter+stitch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="750" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNGLSULPPxByBCsSQaSMrlc7qEPxGUwffAyXpKpnsT7YUrHaKg5Ls76sdgHV8uNdUuvB_R9ADRROHc_EKViu_1UPnCs24Ebi4jEaOgTiD8MjJ9liPZ2oZ_sEMudIyZkYOYoxQ8indcMeQ/s400/Stockinette%252C+Seed+Stitch%252C+Garter+stitch.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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These stitch patterns are more efficient in terms of fabric dimension than garter stitch or ribbing and more balanced than stockinette-- but they don't have as much elasticity as ribbing or garter stitch.<br />
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In ribbing, the knits and purls line up in columns. Ribbed fabric lies flat but contracts horizontally. Just as garter stitch forms horizontal folds where the purl bumps come forward, k1p1 ribbing forms vertical folds where the purl columns recede between the knit columns, like the bellows of an accordion. And just as garter stitch can be stretched vertically to reveal the knit stitches, ribbing can be stretched horizontally to reveal the purls, and the energy of the fabric causes it to return to its contracted state. Elasticity!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEialiOcSjnKjHZUv9XbaD0xJhd8dh5Wu37INIa1CgexF4Fkv8unF7-isxbUmmEYnR3mzcRlf-WQq_veiRFEdUeAXdR93TXRlnyem1u3Oie3UfmVZgNYGcS_3Iqz8JaFiKyxcbE9mY164Ms/s1600/K1P1+stretched.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="497" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEialiOcSjnKjHZUv9XbaD0xJhd8dh5Wu37INIa1CgexF4Fkv8unF7-isxbUmmEYnR3mzcRlf-WQq_veiRFEdUeAXdR93TXRlnyem1u3Oie3UfmVZgNYGcS_3Iqz8JaFiKyxcbE9mY164Ms/s640/K1P1+stretched.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
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We take advantage of this property of ribbing to make our garments more fitted and resilient at their borders-- but something becomes very obvious about ribbing when it is right next to stockinette stitch:<br />
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The knit stitches in the k1p1 ribbing are MUCH bigger than the knit stitches in stockinette-- both of these swatches were made on the same size needle. The knits also look very different-- loose but also flattened and squarish:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJzhdA3k0tDG04-IYFomIRa9F6I3Ptayz-XmA2kX0JYpqraetM1yw_LBXKVcLvnD8ak-rXm0YPnIU6LrlvtP_CHBQiSR_OsZIqP_2zprpXzvJGs0CSTy3l9vvcDC8Te5f31wwAdwXCIg/s1600/K1P1+swatch+closeup+corner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="527" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJzhdA3k0tDG04-IYFomIRa9F6I3Ptayz-XmA2kX0JYpqraetM1yw_LBXKVcLvnD8ak-rXm0YPnIU6LrlvtP_CHBQiSR_OsZIqP_2zprpXzvJGs0CSTy3l9vvcDC8Te5f31wwAdwXCIg/s640/K1P1+swatch+closeup+corner.jpg" width="448" /></a></div>
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Why is that? Are these two phenomena-- the larger stitch size and the unsightly, ladder-y stitch appearance-- related? More on this and other questions soon!<br />
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Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-84877393661826557982017-03-31T14:25:00.000-07:002017-03-31T14:25:20.982-07:00I heart mattress stitchMarch is going out with a bang, aka another winter storm bearing down on Southern Maine. As luck would have it, I'm prepared to spend some quality time indoors with one of my favorite things: several feet of mattress stitch 😍<br />
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That's right! I am just about finished with my <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2017/03/nearly-done.html" target="_blank">green sweater</a>! I have been anticipating this glorious moment for a LONG time, and I intend to savor it. I don't know why I love seaming so much-- it is supposed to be such terrible drudgery, to be avoided at all costs. It just pleases me to bring two pieces of knitting together so neatly and discreetly.<br />
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It helps to build in selvedge stitches-- for me this almost always means one column of plain stockinette at each edge-- and to place shaping at least two stitches away from edges. Planning ahead in this way makes for more enjoyable joinery!<br />
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This time I also built in faux seams-- one column of purl stitches, seen here from the wrong side-- at each side of the body of my sweater. I will stitch over these as well. This is meant to add more structure to sweaters knit in the round... but it is also a excellent way to sneak in more mattress stitch. 😊<br />
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I am also working away on the <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-great-k1p1-ribbing-quest.html" target="_blank">Great K1P1 Ribbing Quest</a>-- I have a few more swatches to knit and I should have the next installment finished sometime next week!</div>
Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-80739265874516114632017-03-14T17:43:00.003-07:002017-03-19T10:02:56.861-07:00Nearly done!When I last <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2017/01/and-then-there-were-three.html" target="_blank">checked in</a>, I was on my third version of the green sweater, splitting hairs over neckline fit. Well I'm pleased to announce that a front-runner (sweater #3!) emerged (somehow!) from the pack, and I am now nearing the finish line:<br />
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It has sleeves! Given all the other waffling and indecisiveness that has characterized this project, I was amazed by how quickly I settled on sleeve shaping. The sleeves are knitted flat from the top down, per <a href="https://fringeassociation.com/2016/03/16/how-to-knit-top-down-sleeves-flat/" target="_blank">Karen's suggestion</a> and my own intuition that this would be much easier to knit. I also happen to enjoy mattress stitch!<br />
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I am still playing with the body length. I originally planned for a high-hip end point, but now I want to see if I like it better a bit longer-- I think this will have more wardrobe versatility. It has come down to my last bit of un-knitted yarn and I broke out my scale to see exactly how many more rows I can afford to add before I need to start unravelling sweaters #1 & #2.<br />
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I'm happy I took the time to work out <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-great-k1p1-ribbing-quest.html" target="_blank">my technical/aesthetic issues with k1p1 ribbing</a>-- the cuffs and body ribbing are looking mighty fine. Which reminds me that I need to start in on that series I promised! I opted for a grafted bind-off on the cuffs to complement the folded neckband. The knitting appears to wrap around the edge and disappear-- kinda spooky.<br />
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It's time-consuming to work and difficult to undo, though. I think I will do a more conventional bind-off on the body stitches, at least until I have worn the sweater a few times and feel confident about the length.<br />
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I'm really looking forward to wearing this! I wet-blocked it when I had the body and one sleeve finished and the fabric is everything I could wish for. Pre-blocking it was a bit stiff and crunchy-- now it still has a hearty texture but is much softer and more yielding. I love the surface density of woolen-spun yarns as well as their surprising lightness, and the way the resulting garment envelopes one in a pocket of warmth without weight. I think this may be the beginning of a long-term relationship with Bartlett!<br />
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Like much of the North East, we are experiencing (what I hope is) the last blast of winter-- sure wish this was finished. I can envision wearing it cool spring days and maybe cool summer nights, but it would be ever so cozy right now.Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-52115638146459778202017-03-06T12:54:00.002-08:002017-03-06T12:54:29.355-08:00OnwardThe Women's March was over a month ago and I still haven't figured out what to say about it. The day was intense and extreme-- so many people, so much catharsis-- but also fairly tame, apart from a few scary minutes in a crush of people pushing and chanting "March! March!" My emotions were extreme: panic-level anxiety, elation, exhaustion. As I turn over the sights and sounds and feelings of that day in my mind, trying to find a way to hold all the contradictions together, I keep returning to look at the aerial pictures of all the Marches. Were those huge crowds the message of the day, the astonishing undeniable mobilization of the resistance? Being there in the streets in D.C. felt like being an ant or a bee, just a body in motion and a voice raised to join with other bodies and voices for the purpose of showing our numbers, our energy, our solidarity. This depersonalization was unsettling-- truly, I have not settled down and I don't know if I can or even want to. My priorities have been reorganized. I have been rallying, protesting, calling Congress, attending meetings and hearings. And <b>reading</b> with urgency. There are so many (embarrassing, inexcusable) gaps in my knowledge of feminism, intersectionality, systemic racism, and white supremacy-- not to mention basic civics and organizing and activism. I still feel like an ant or a bee in the wider resistance hive/hill, showing up wherever and whenever I can, letting the momentum of the March carry me forward until I find my bearings, my specific place in all this. That's why I haven't popped up to say hello until now.<br />
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And what became of the Pussyhat I was knitting <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2017/01/my-march.html" target="_blank">last time I checked in</a>? I finished it on the way to D.C. and wore it in the streets that day, but as soon as I got back to the bus that night I took it off and I haven't worn it since. Maybe that was my first act of trying to return to myself-- I will probably unravel it and use the yarn in another project. I have always felt a bit wary of "craftivism" (and collective/viral activities in general) and I have been tuning in with interest to the various critiques of the Pussyhats, some of them <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-womens-march-needs-passion-and-purpose-not-pink-pussycat-hats/2017/01/11/6d7e75be-d842-11e6-9a36-1d296534b31e_story.html?utm_term=.f2d2cd8ad07d" target="_blank">condescending and dismissive</a>, some more <a href="https://bitchmedia.org/article/pink-flag-what-message-do-pussy-hats-really-send" target="_blank">incisive and illuminating</a>. That said, I don't want to conflate my own uneasiness with moral condemnation. I was prepared for the Pussyhats to be visible, but I was blown away by their abundance. The success of the project, I think, was in demonstrating to the wider world the persistence of hand crafts as a mass medium of expression-- which as a knitter and textile fiend I find tremendously validating!<br />
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I continue to work away on personal projects, usually while listening to current-events podcasts, watching documentaries, or gabbing with new friends/allies. Knitting is an excellent companion to these activities, but I am also trying to reclaim space for knitting and sewing and spinning and mending as purposeful creative pursuits, worthy of my time in their own right. I will continue to build my handmade wardrobe and to share what I learn in the process-- this has new (or renewed) meaning and urgency for me now. This moment clarifies the ethical purpose of making: it is an act of resistance to the life-denying, community-shredding forces of global capitalism. The pleasure of working with fibers and yarn and fabric is also a sort of refuge from the fuckery of the world. This is the energy I want to channel into my hands as I work, this is how textiles fit into my upside-down life right now.Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-13377736074257582822017-01-20T07:07:00.000-08:002017-01-20T13:17:05.953-08:00My MarchTonight I'm getting on a bus to D.C. for the <a href="https://www.womensmarch.com/" target="_blank">Women's March</a>. I've never done anything like this-- I'm going with one of my best and oldest friends who has also never done anything like this. But when she asked me to go with her a week after the election I had no hesitation saying yes. Preparing for this has given me much needed focus the past two-and-a-half months. Now that the day has arrived I'm feeling lost and overwhelmed-- excited, terrified. I don't know what to expect.<br />
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My instinct in situations of great uncertainty and fear is to retreat-- I know that's probably true for a lot of people. Get it the bunker, ride it out-- if you can. I am feeling the pull of that right now and trying to fight it. In many ways it's a privilege to hide, and my fears are mostly hypothetical and projected. It's also a privilege to march, to feel safe expressing your dissent. I am trying to remember the women (and men) to whom this incoming president poses a more existential threat. I want to stand with them. Still I feel profoundly disoriented.<br />
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It has helped, is helping, that preparing for the March connects to my fiber pursuits-- I know I<a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-big-e.html" target="_blank"> said I would probably not bring up politics again here</a>, but for this reason I have allowed, required myself to do it, even though it's uncomfortable and I feel unqualified as a writer to talk about it. Anyway. Pink is emphatically NOT my favorite color but when I heard about the <a href="https://www.pussyhatproject.com/" target="_blank">Pussyhat Project</a> I had no hesitation saying yes. I decided to go all in and spin the yarn-- I scooped up pink wool top in cotton candy, neon, magenta. I spun in a kind of fugue, swift and possessed, until my shoulders ached. Pink wool became big, thick, loud, proud pink yarn:<br />
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Which has-- so far-- become two pointy-eared hats:<br />
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One of those is for my friend's daughter, who will be marching in Boston. The other I plan to give to a marcher in D.C. A third hat is in progress:<br />
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Yes, this obnoxious neon pink/blaze orange/Pepto Bismol concoction is what I hope to be wearing tomorrow. I have a ton nervous energy to expend over the course of the day so I'm feeling optimistic it will be done-- and it's good to feel optimistic about something.<br />
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I'm delighted but not surprised that so many knitters have taken up this project <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/whats-up-pussy-hat-knitting-activists-cause-shortages-of-pink-yarn-20170110" target="_blank">we're creating a shortage of pink yarn</a>. I am surprised (and delighted) that so many non-knitters know about the Pussyhats and what they stand for, are asking for them and wearing them and celebrating them. Now that the day has come I'm feeling the power of this connection, alongside all the fear and worry. I'm not sure what the March will "accomplish"-- how I hate hearing those sneering, cynical, defensive words "But it's not going to <i>accomplish</i> anything! It's not going to change anything!" whether spoken by others <i>or</i> in my own internal voice. I have to believe in the power of being present, that there is a kind of magic in so many women (and men) showing up for justice.<br />
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My instinct is to fend for myself, to stay hidden and isolated. This no longer seems possible. If nothing else, I want to be there tomorrow to change myself.Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-40420104975113133202017-01-14T13:39:00.001-08:002017-01-14T13:39:37.798-08:00The great K1P1 ribbing questFor my <a href="https://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_2017590937"></span>green sweater<span id="goog_2017590938"></span></a>, I decided I wanted a folded-over k1p1 rib neckband-- it's a neat, cozy sort of edge that looks good to my eye right now. Trouble is I am never happy with the look of MY k1p1 ribbing, to the point that I usually avoid the stitch altogether because it's just demoralizing. Other knitters seem to produce crisp, even ribbing-- I <i>have</i> produced it, in fact my very first knitting project (circa 1999!) was a scarf done entirely in k1p1 ribbing and it looks great:<br />
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Compare that to my first neckband attempt on the green sweater:<br />
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I am mystified by my inability to reproduce as an expert knitter what my own naive, beginner hands once made without thinking about it! But I am also stubborn and unwilling to admit defeat-- and tinkering with my neckband has given me an excuse to <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2017/01/and-then-there-were-three.html" target="_blank">procrastinate further on fit decisions</a>. I have knitted, ripped, and re-knitted the neckband of the sweater... quite a few times. Five I think. I am closer to the look I want but I have also committed to what feels like a bigger quest of sorts: to find some answers-- through research & swatching-- to this problem of k1p1 ribbing. I don't think I'm alone in my struggles, so for the <b>Greater Good</b> of knitters, this is going to be the first in a series of posts about k1p1 ribbing. Get excited!<br />
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First I should define what "good" k1p1 ribbing should look like and how my k1p1 ribbing deviates from that ideal. That first scarf is the only sample I have on hand of what I would call "good" k1p1 ribbing, so let's take a closer look:<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Stretched</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Relaxed</span></div>
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The knit columns are tight, fairly even and very well defined-- they stand up prominently like the ridges of corrugated cardboard. I think of those knit and purl stitches like partners in a contra dance, linking arms alternately in perfect balanced opposition-- the energy of that opposition is felt in the springy, sprightly elasticity of the fabric. It stretches easily but snaps back with spirit, and when the fabric is relaxed, the purl stitches vanish. A sliver of vertical shadow between the knit columns and a slightly rounded appearance to the knit stitches shows that it is not stockinette, but it is nearly as neat and cohesive. I notice a very slight back-and-forth wobble to the knits, as if they are being pulled to the left or right, but it is subtle and regular enough that it seems like a characteristic of the fabric rather than a mistake. That is good k1p1 ribbing-- or at least the best I have ever made.<br />
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The neckband of my green sweater shows what my present-day k1p1 ribbing typically looks like-- quite a contrast! The knit columns are wide and look stretched out-- like ladders, but in the middle of the stitches rather than between them. The fabric has little elasticity-- the purl stitches are still clearly visible in the relaxed state. I would describe it as both stiff and lethargic. Yet it has this twisting energy, as if the knit stitches are being yanked upwards by their left arms-- this is more visible in profile, but in the picture above you can see that the left sides of the knit columns appear slightly higher and more prominent. As a result the whole neckband seems to bias to the left. Maybe if I didn't have that first scarf for comparison I wouldn't be so aware of the flaws in my present-day k1p1 ribbing-- or maybe I would just think that k1p1 ribbing was an ugly-ass stitch that I never, never want to use in my knitting. What I do know is I can't accept it as-is.<br />
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There are some big differences between these two samples in terms of construction, yarn, knitting technique-- what I want to know is <i>which</i> factors exactly lead to the huge differences I see in the appearance of the fabric. Are there fundamental characteristics of the k1p1 fabric that lead to the problems I'm seeing? And how do I go about correcting these problems? What role does technique and tension play in this? What about construction and yarn? These and other questions I hope to explore in my upcoming posts on this topic-- with lots of swatches to illustrate! I will say that what I've learned so far in my quest has led to noticeable improvements in the look of my sweater neckband-- here is the most recent version:<br />
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Much better right? More about how and why soon!Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-88024068430287755092017-01-07T09:46:00.001-08:002017-01-07T09:46:42.854-08:00And then there were three...<a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-sweater-update-and-something-gorgeous.html" target="_blank">Last time I checked in on my green sweater</a> it had become two green sweaters. If you paid attention to the title of the post (or read <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2017/01/finishedunfinished.html" target="_blank">my last one</a>), you probably know where I'm going with this.<br />
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Yep. A third sweater. My knitting group is worried about me. I am just amazed that I two skeins of still-untouched yarn-- way to go, Bartlett yardage! So I don't see the multiple sweaters-in-progress as a problem... yet.<br />
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How I got to this point is mildly interesting if you're a top-down raglan sweater fan. The first sweater I had knitted to about waist length when I started to doubt if I was going to like the fit. When I started the second sweater, I wanted to keep the same yoke depth, neck shaping, and sleeve circumference but end up with more body stitches-- to do this I cast on fewer stitches for the sleeves and changed my rate of increasing for the body and sleeves. I failed to account for how this would change the fit of the neckline, and I didn't figure it out until I had re-knitted the neck ribbing on the second sweater for the fifth (or sixth, I lost count) time. I was trying to get my 1x1 ribbing to look better-- and in this pursuit I fell down a knitting rabbit-hole that I will probably have to write more about in a future post-- and when I finally got something close to what I wanted it still didn't fit the same because I had fewer stitches around the neck than I did for the first sweater.<br />
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Still following? God bless/help you. At this point I could have unravelled that second yoke and started over with the same number of neck stitches as the first, with different rates of increasing for the sleeves and body. BUT-- I wasn't <b>sure</b> that I wanted extra room in the neck, and I had enough yarn, AND I was already in an empirical mindset. A third yoke with the EXACT same neckline as the first, but with the same number of body stitches as the second, was inevitable. Sometimes I have to let the "what if?" part of my brain take the rest of me along for the ride.<br />
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Now I can choose between neckline #2 or neckline #3 (which is the same as #1) and then decide whether I want more or less room in the chest. Given my decision-making track record I <b>might</b> have this one done in time for next winter!<br />
<br />Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-38695081526891656482017-01-03T18:06:00.000-08:002017-01-03T18:06:48.618-08:00Finished/UnfinishedI had this slightly mad-- completely bonkers, actually-- idea that I would get all of my unfinished projects done by midnight December 31st. Isn't there something alluring about a clean slate for the New Year? Then I remembered I started two-- TWO-- new textile pursuits in 2016 (sewing and spinning on the wheel), leading to exponential growth in UFO potential. This is good-- exciting! I'm not planning to give up any of my creative obsessions any time soon so why should it be somehow auspicious to start the new year with nothing in progress? But I am not entirely of the belief that "New Year" is a meaningless construct and I like to observe it in some ways-- drinking champagne, passing out on the couch before midnight, and taking down the Christmas tree are my usual rituals. And I thought instead of finishing all my projects-- which was not ever going to happen-- it would be good to start the year with a recap of the finished and unfinished of 2016.<br />
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<b>Knitting-- Finished</b><br />
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Baby sweater trifecta:<br />
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I got my colorwork on and made good use of some hand-me-down yarn for these wee delights-- more <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/09/knitting-baby-sweaters.html" target="_blank">here</a> on # 2 & 3. I finished the first one before I dove back into blogging so I don't have any close-up shots-- you probably can't see but the buttons are tiny purple elephants!<br />
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<a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/05/me-made.html" target="_blank">Hermione's Everyday Socks</a>:<br />
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Which would be MY everyday socks if I thought they could endure more abuse than they already take. These are comfortable and perfect and just the right amount of fancy.<br />
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Ribbed Hat:<br />
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My current go-to started as <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/09/desperation-knitting.html" target="_blank">emergency knitting</a> and got me over the fear of knitting with my handspun. I love the interaction of the chunky, irregular yarn and the organized structure of the ribbing, and the shape of the hat is a tiny bit pointy which makes me feel like a tasteful elf who digs earth tones. My husband steals this from me whenever I'm not looking, I should probably make him one of his own-- next time I'm in need of emergency knitting!<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/quaker-yarn-stretcher-boomerang" target="_blank">Quaker Yarn Stretcher Boomerang</a>:<br />
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My absolute favorite project of the year! The yarn deserves a shout-out too:<br />
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I started with hand-dyed Polwarth top from <a href="http://madcolorfiberarts.com/" target="_blank">Mad Color Fiber Arts</a> and I spun a fractal-- I split the whole braid in half lengthwise, spun one half end to end for one single and the other half I stripped down into three lengthwise sections which I spun sequentially for the second single. I plied them together for a two-ply self-striping yarn with blended color transitions! I chose a pattern that would use up every last little bit of it and I loved every minute of knitting it. It belongs to someone special now, though I was very much tempted to keep it for myself!<br />
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I find it a little bit hard to believe that I only finished seven knitting projects in 2016-- I feel like I must me missing something? Probably all the time I spent frogging and re-knitting, because I knit almost every day!<br />
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<b>Spinning-- Finished</b><br />
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Look at all that gorgeous yarn!! From left to right: hand-dyed BFL (spun on my drop spindle ages ago-- I used it to practice chain-plying on the wheel), hand-dyed Polwarth from <a href="http://portfiber.com/" target="_blank">PortFiber</a>, undyed BFL, hand-dyed BFL/silk, and commercially dyed Romney. I ended 2016 with empty bobbins, which I promptly filled and emptied again on January 1st. I am so in love with spinning right now! I'm starting to be able to control my spinning to get the yarn I want and that allows me to think about what kind of yarn I want for a particular project. Knitting with my handspun and planning out projects from the fiber stage is so satisfying-- but I am also in love with the process and with the yarn.<br />
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<b>Sewing-- Finished</b><br />
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Many months after officially starting, I still only have one finished sewing project under my belt-- the <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/06/sewing-straight-line.html" target="_blank">hemmed rectangles</a>:<br />
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<b>Sewing-- Unfinished</b><br />
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BUT, my kimono/robe is <i>pretty</i> close to the finish line:<br />
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Hanging it up to take pictures gave me a little burst of pride which I hope will translate into a big burst of <b>finishing it, for God's sake!</b> I definitely want to do more sewing this year-- I have started sketching out ideas and plans for my fabric stash... yeah, I have one of those already.<br />
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<b>Knitting-- Unfinished</b><br />
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There's this thing, which is supposed to be a cowl:<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">and one of these days I'm going to whip it, and the pattern I am writing (!) into shape</span></div>
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And my <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/09/handmade-wardrobe-inspiration-sweater.html" target="_blank">Bartlett top-down raglan pullover</a>:<br />
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Which <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-sweater-update-and-something-gorgeous.html" target="_blank">sprouted a second version</a>:<br />
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And now a <i>third</i>:<br />
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The perpetual indecision follies continue-- some things never change I guess. I'll post more on this one soon!<br />
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This is the first time in a while that I've taken a good look back at a year of making, and I like what I see-- my creative, restless mind and hands continually at work, maybe with not as many finished things to show for my efforts as in years past, but my process has become slower, more thoughtful and engaged, more open-ended. I am excited about my unfinished projects-- making is a continuous thread woven through my life, not something with a beginning and end, and I don't think I will ever be done with it, not as long as there is so much left to explore.<br />
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Here's to another year!Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-19133145620799434842016-12-02T14:26:00.001-08:002016-12-02T14:26:47.309-08:00The Big "E"The weekend before the election, I went with a group of friends to the Fiber Festival of New England, otherwise known as the Big "E", in Springfield, MA. That seems like a lifetime ago now-- the results of the election have left me reeling, grieving. Maybe that sounds melodramatic, but this is three weeks later and those words-- reeling, grieving-- seem completely appropriate even though the initial shock has worn off. Looking at my pictures from the Big "E" feels like sifting through artifacts from a lost civilization:<br />
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And what about this?<br />
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I am still blundering towards a way forward-- I'm not wallowing in despair, I have quite enough to occupy my days between work, family and general life maintenance for that. I am speaking of a bigger way, a moral path-- something to be done against the breathtaking dread that rises up, renewed, each day since November 9th. That plaque seems impossibly precious in both senses of the word-- rare and valuable as well as a bit quaint and naive. Kindness-- in this newly re-ordered world-- seems both necessary and insufficient. I will cling to it but right now I'm feeling like I'm going to have to dig in and find some other things to lean on. I'll let you know if I find any.<br />
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Still I keep looking and looking at these pictures, maybe with a selfish little wish that I could go back to that island of peace and civility and glorious human variety-- of identities, talents, passions, stories. It's easy to imagine, inside a bubble of happiness, that everyone wants the same things from the world-- and perhaps we do, mostly, but we seem to be so (hopelessly?) divided on how to get them.<br />
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This might be the only thing I have to say here on the subject of the election and its aftermath, I'm not sure yet, but I needed to say something before I resume my regularly scheduled programming of knitting, spinning, sewing and other things that keep me sane.Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-10337069604538458362016-11-04T07:25:00.001-07:002016-11-04T07:25:43.260-07:00Sweaters multiplyWhilst I have been yammering on about Slow Fashion I have been knitting away on my <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/09/handmade-wardrobe-inspiration-sweater.html" target="_blank">green sweater</a>-- <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-sweater-update-and-something-gorgeous.html" target="_blank">last time I checked in</a> I had knit to just beyond the yoke increases when I had to reassure myself about gauge. Sometime last week I reached the end of a skein and decided it was time for a try-on. It's hard to judge what the final fit of the sweater will be because I know it will grow about an inch with blocking, but I'm pretty sure that that inch it not going to get me the fit I want. The trouble is I'm not 100% sure and I want to be!<br />
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I wish there was an easy way to compare size and fit with handknits-- how great would it be to have two sweaters that were almost exactly the same except for the chest circumference, so I could try them both on and do a side-by-side fit comparison?<br />
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Well, because I am that kind of knitter, I decided that I had to do it-- I had to knit a second sweater that is almost exactly the same as the first except the chest circumference is two inches bigger. My future (warm, cozy, stylin') self will thank present-day self someday, I just know it.<br />
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Really it's not so outlandish a thing to do-- I have enough yarn, enough time (though it is beginning to feel distinctly winterish these days and I would like another warm sweater!), and sufficient math skills to work out the changes in the stitch counts and increase rates and so on. I wanted to keep the sleeve circumference and the yoke depth essentially the same, so I had to start the sleeves with fewer stitches-- and that meant more increases at the front neck to keep the same front neck drop as version one. The added chest stitches will come from a combination of another increase round and extra stitches cast on at the sleeve divide. Ah, the satisfying puzzle that is the top-down raglan sweater!</div>
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I am also taking the time to try to get the neck ribbing just right. The key word being try-- I have kind of an inferiority complex about my k1p1 ribbing. The knit columns always look too wide and stretched out to my eye, even when I go down 3-4 needle sizes:<br />
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So version 2 is going to be my testing ground for better-looking neck ribbing. I have tried six sizes down, and now I am trying six sizes down with Eastern-wrapped purls. I <i>think</i> the stitches are getting smaller, but I may be reaching the limit of how small they can get before I actually need to increase stitches so the neck will fit over my head!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Looking better, maybe?</span></div>
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I don't feel any hurry to finish-- once I choose an overall size I still have to figure out length and sleeves and I am fully prepared to rip back as many times as it takes. Funny, I have always beat myself up for my indecisiveness in apparel, especially handmade apparel. Maybe I just haven't given myself enough time to decide, and maybe <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/06/sweater-baggage.html" target="_blank">my failures</a> have been the result of rushing my decision-making process? Maybe once I re-establish some confidence in my choices the decisions will get easier? Hard to say, but this feels different and I love it!<br />
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Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-88174959323858147262016-10-30T19:01:00.000-07:002016-10-31T17:53:41.085-07:00Negotiating Ethics-- Slow Fashion October Week 4<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This month has felt very slow indeed as I have taken more time than ever before to think and write about what I wear, what I make, and why it matters. These posts have not come easily, but through patience and sometimes force of will I have managed to write my way into a kind of understanding of where I stand with my wardrobe-- and I have been getting dressed slowly and thoughtfully, and I feel less hurried to add new things. But still so many more thoughts remain and questions that have no easy answers. <a href="https://fringeassociation.com/" target="_blank">Karen's</a> prompt for this week is <a href="https://fringeassociation.com/2016/10/24/how-much-can-we-know-about-where-clothes-come-from/" target="_blank">Known Sources</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3d47; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Good (especially good and affordable) sources of yarn and fabric with traceable origins. And for the things we buy, favorite sources: from small-batch designer-producers to fashion companies trying to do the right thing in a transparent way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">I have been having a harder time with this topic than any of the others. Maybe it's that fatigue has set in a bit, or maybe it just feels like there is way too much to say when we bring up ethics, about doing the right thing. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">I have written about failures and guilt, overbuying and under-wearing my clothes, because it feels honest and transparent to me at this moment, and I do want to make better choices, ones that I can feel good about. But I keep stumbling over this notion of "feeling good." My</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> mind has been occupied in particular by <a href="https://madtownmamaknits.blogspot.com/2016/10/slow-fashion-october-introduction.html" target="_blank">this post</a> by <a href="https://madtownmamaknits.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Suze</a>, and <a href="https://www.templeofknit.com/slow-fashion-and-longevity/" target="_blank">this one</a> by <a href="https://www.templeofknit.com/" target="_blank">Simone</a>, as well as this essay with its cheerful title: <a href="https://aeon.co/ideas/being-moral-means-you-can-never-do-enough" target="_blank">Being moral means you can never do enough</a>. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">Does feeling good-- or less guilty-- about our personal choices mean that we have done "enough"? </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">What if we never can do enough with good intentions-- and enough money to opt out of buying cheap clothes? What then? </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">The ability to buy your way out of an ethical dilemma is a privilege that few have. If we're going to talk about transparency and ethics, I think we need to address this. And please understand that I am speaking as someone with the means to spend a bit more on my clothes-- I include myself in my own scrutiny, in fact I'm usually first in line. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">A lot of what I read about Slow Fashion is tinged with nostalgia for the way things were-- before Fast Fashion, before the garment industry relocated to low-income countries without labor or environmental regulations. Clothes cost more and for that reason most people had fewer of them. Having a closet full of nice things was a sign of wealth and privilege-- still is, for that matter-- or else a lifetime of smart shopping, but I suspect that most people made do with what they could afford and made those things last <i>because they had to</i>, not because they were necessarily satisfied with what they had. Now many of us can afford closets that are stuffed full, clothes can be worn or not worn, kept or discarded, based on our preferences rather than need-- and I think that many people are satisfied with this. Before, we were accidentally, or incidentally, ethical in our clothing habits, for the most part-- I would rather not complicate things further by bringing up the realities of garment work and the lax environmental protections of the good old days. Today, the default mode of garment manufacturing and consumption is an unqualified human rights and environmental disaster (see <a href="http://truecostmovie.com/" target="_blank">The True Cost</a> or read <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Overdressed-Shockingly-High-Cheap-Fashion/dp/1591846544" target="_blank">Overdressed</a>) and making ethical choices is so much harder than being accidentally ethical <i>because</i> we can have what the majority of us wanted all along-- cheap, abundant, stylish (or at least trendy) clothes. It's soothing to imagine an idealized past when getting dressed, when <i>just buying underwear for Heaven's sake</i> didn't feel like such a moral quagmire, but do we really want to trade places with our great-grandmothers who had one dress for everyday and one for Sunday best? Maybe feeling good about our choices is what we sacrifice to have so many of them?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times, times new roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">When I wrote my <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-joyful-path-slow-fashion-october-week.html" target="_blank">first post</a> on this topic, I thought of Slow Fashion as a way to reconcile my desire to dress well with my ideals and ethics. Now I'm not sure that those things can be reconciled, especially if leading a moral life really is a never-ending journey-- and I think it probably is. Negotiation might be a better way to describe it-- making small sacrifices of desire and promising to do better. That is why I have trouble recommending sources based on transparency and ethics, because "better" choices are inevitably a compromise-- one that not everyone can afford to make, at that. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">I like </span><a href="https://www.everlane.com/" style="line-height: 22px;" target="_blank">Everlane</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">, their clothes are simple and easy to wear in a lot of different ways and the price-to-quality ratio is high. They claim to work with </span><a href="https://www.everlane.com/factories" style="line-height: 22px;" target="_blank">factories that have high standards for human rights</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> and </span><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-everlane-ethical-fashion/" style="line-height: 22px;" target="_blank">they have plans to push this further in their supply chain as they grow</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> and have more clout. I love </span><a href="http://diepparestrepo.com/" style="line-height: 22px;" target="_blank">Dieppa Restrepo</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> shoes for their quality and comfort and the way they effortlessly work with almost everything I wear-- I have one pair that I have worn at least three times a week for almost two years and I hope to make them last a long, long time. They are also pricy and hard to find-- and I can't find much info about their sourcing, other than that the shoes are hand-made in Mexico. I can imagine saving my pennies and buying a few things from </span><a href="https://elizabethsuzann.com/" style="line-height: 22px;" target="_blank">Elizabeth Suzann</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">-- I could wear the heck out of </span><a href="https://elizabethsuzann.com/collections/bottoms/products/clyde-work-pant-cotton-twill?variant=15823575046" style="line-height: 22px;" target="_blank">these pants</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> or </span><a href="https://elizabethsuzann.com/collections/dresses/products/astral-crossover-dress-raw-silk-broadcloth?variant=29861939724" style="line-height: 22px;" target="_blank">this dress</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">. But I need to make it clear that these are all things I <b>like</b>-- I'm not making any huge sacrifice in choosing them and I don't need a pat on the back. And having a smaller, more functional wardrobe is also not a sacrifice-- it's actually easier and more rewarding, or so I've heard. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times, times new roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">These questions have me tied in so many knots I can't even figure out what I'm arguing anymore. Sometimes I try to account for every possible point of view on an issue and I lose track of where I stand. Morality and ethics are not easy or comfortable, that's why so few of us actually live up to the standards we claim to have. But that isn't a reason to stop trying-- buying fewer clothes, wearing them longer, choosing handmade, second-hand, and responsible brands, mending and refashioning, even though it might not be enough to save the world. Maybe I just want to acknowledge that it might not be enough, that I'm not sure what "enough" looks like. Maybe I want to make sure that I'm not putting too positive a spin on my choices, because I continue to see this as a negotiation between desire and ethics. I will continue to make compromises because there is a certain baseline of enjoying my clothes and enjoying style that I am not ready to give up. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times, times new roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">Then again, I don't think I have to-- I keep finding, to my surprise, more enjoyment in having less. Maybe someday I will have two dresses and that will be amazing. </span></span></span>Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-60122850745588184732016-10-21T13:02:00.000-07:002016-10-22T04:39:30.801-07:00Knitting and unknitting and knitting again-- Slow Fashion October Week 3<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's week three of <a href="https://fringeassociation.com/2016/09/14/slow-fashion-october-2016/" target="_blank">Slow Fashion October</a>! After getting out my thoughts <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/10/not-so-long-worn-slow-fashion-october.html" target="_blank">last week</a>-- about buying too much and choosing more carefully in the future-- I felt relieved and somehow lighter. Getting dressed for work this week I noticed that I really do have enough things-- things I love!-- to wear. This is Karen's prompt for <a href="https://fringeassociation.com/2016/10/17/why-i-make-my-own-clothes/" target="_blank">week three</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3d47; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">How do you understand your style, choose projects well, advance your skills, get the right fit, and keep things interesting and long-lasting at the same time. What are your go-to patterns and most successful garments. How do you avoid mindless acquisition of yarn and fabric, or making “too much.” How do you make time and space for making — and why?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">First of all, wow. There is a lot to address and I don't think I can possibly cover all of it! These topics have stretched my writing-- and thinking-- abilities so much and I have felt both exhilarated and exhausted trying to keep up. I'm going to confine myself to talking about knitting since it is still my craft drug-of-choice after all these years, for a number of reasons.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I knit because I find pleasure in working with my hands. I crave the action of the needles and yarn, the familiar motions repeated to the point of perfect automaticity of the muscles but also until there is something more than that-- intelligence <b>in</b> my hands. This feels deeply human, somehow. And it is soothing. My brain is always going at warp speed and knitting is one of the few things I've found that slows down my thoughts a bit-- while I have been writing this I have had some knitting at my side for when I need to stop and think, which has been often. Knitting has gotten me through some incredibly difficult times and I keep projects on tap for when I need to escape from the world (or myself) for a few hours. When I have finished a project there is satisfaction in a job well done and then an almost instant sense of bereavement-- the knitting is over! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Naturally there is tension between the desire-- the need!-- to knit for its own sake and the hazard of making "too much." About five years ago I spent a year knitting hats-- one per week!-- <a href="http://52weeks52hats.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">and writing about it</a>. I learned so many new skills and was able to try out a ton of different kinds of yarn while satisfying the urge to always be knitting something. It was a challenge and I'm glad I did it-- I got a little misty-eyed just now looking at my former blog-- it wasn't in any way mindless, but of course I made "too much"! I remember having some misgivings about that while I was knitting. The finished objects were sort of beside the point of the challenge-- many of the hats were unsolicited gifts and the ones I made for myself I have mostly stopped wearing or given away. Before <b>52 Hats</b> I made very little and it felt like a big, important level-up to make A LOT. My knitting has a much less frenetic pace these days, but I still like to keep a more-or-less continuous flow of it in my life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is also tension between this desire and my desire for a more handmade wardrobe. In case I didn't make it clear in my <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-joyful-path-slow-fashion-october-week.html" target="_blank">first</a> and <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/10/not-so-long-worn-slow-fashion-october.html" target="_blank">second</a> posts on this topic, I'm what they call finicky about what I wear. Making things for myself is risky-- <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/06/sweater-baggage.html" target="_blank">I have a small pile of handknit sweaters I rarely or never wear</a>. My most successful garments are probably <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/05/me-made.html" target="_blank">socks</a>! Thinking about slow fashion this month has re-oriented my thinking a bit here-- I realized a long time ago that I will never knit all the sweaters I think I need, but I am further questioning these perceived needs and the assumptions and hidden costs underlying those perceptions. I don't <b>need</b> as many sweaters as I <b>want</b> to knit. I still want to make clothes for myself-- for the challenge, for the thrill and satisfaction of wearing something I made myself, to know <i>exactly</i> where my clothes are coming from-- but I am accepting more and more that this <b>should be</b> a slow process!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And there are lot of ways I slow down my knitting-- intentionally or unintentionally! The result is the same: I get to extend my enjoyment of the process, and I force myself to think more carefully about the finished object and its place in my life. Frogging is probably the primary way I slow myself down-- I think I unknit at least as much as I knit. Silly as it sounds, it was once a great revelation to me that if I didn't like the way a project was going or how it had turned out, I could just unravel it and start over. This completely changed my approach to knitting-- I started experimenting more and I make discoveries all the time because I'm not so afraid of making a mistake. If I have any qualms about ripping back, I remind myself that I will be <i>gaining</i> knitting rather than losing it! And I extend the time between yarn purchases by recycling:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Another way I slow down is by starting with fiber-- spinning and plying calm me just as much as knitting, and making my own yarn not only adds steps to the making process but also adds more transparency of known origins. As soon as I finish writing, I am going to sign up for a fleece preparation workshop-- and then I'm probably going to work on this:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Finally, documenting and analyzing my projects here slows down my knitting a lot. I sometimes have to force myself to stop and take pictures at crucial moments, or to write about my progress, because I just want to </span><b style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">keep knitting</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, particularly if I am watching something good on Netflix! But I never regret these pauses-- I love to be able to look back and time travel a bit through my knitting history, and writing is another craft worthy of a chunk of my free time. And the possibility of a connection with other knitters and makers keeps me coming back to keeping this blog, even after a three year hiatus, even though I know I write mostly into a great void. Reflection and community are a vital part of the movement toward sustainable fashion, sustainable crafting, </span><b style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">resilience</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> in general, and I'm so grateful to </span><a href="https://fringeassociation.com/" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;" target="_blank">Karen</a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for providing a forum to talk about these big, meaty topics! Now to dive in to this week's discussion...</span>Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-40844104983478377382016-10-18T18:47:00.002-07:002016-10-18T18:47:39.911-07:00A sweater update-- and something gorgeous!I am so very excited to have a sweater back on my knitting needles*-- it feels like everything is right with the world and I can do no wrong! I finished my planned yoke increases last week and decided to do a fit/gauge check:<br />
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The yoke depth is good, and I'm very happy with how the increases and neckline look... but I am missing about an inch of my chest circumference! My gauge swatch tells me I should have 15sts/4" and I have 16sts/4"-- but of course the swatch is blocked because I am a good little knitter. I thought about measuring the swatches unblocked <b>just</b> as I was tossing them into a sinkful of water. And my next thought, as they were sinking into their bath, was, "What could go wrong?" Apparently something did. After a pause and a ponder I decided what I needed was more swatches-- big ones, two of 'em, one knitted flat and one in the round, because I am a good little knitter and I don't like surprises:<br />
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This represents about an evening's worth of uncomplicated knitting-- really I don't understand why I sometimes see swatching as such a chore, why I am in such a hurry to get it over with, when it is in fact MORE KNITTING. This time I measured before <i>and</i> after blocking and found the missing information I need to continue-- the fabric definitely grows with blocking! So I am back on track but with fresh uncertainty because I won't be able to get an accurate sense of the fit until the sweater is blocked. We'll see if I can handle that.<br />
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While I was waiting for my swatches to dry a funny thing happened-- I remembered I that I have a spinning wheel and some singles hanging around, waiting patiently for me to finish plying them. Spinning and plying take me to the same mental space that simple knitting does, so it was an excellent substitute for the sweater I was longing for. And now I have a little something gorgeous to play with-- take a look:<br />
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This is my second skein since learning to spin on the wheel earlier this year. The base is Polworth, dyed by Casey at <a href="http://portfiber.com/" target="_blank">PortFiber</a>. I liked the boldness of the contrasting colors and I'm happy that is preserved in the finished yarn. I can't stop looking at it, squeezing it, opening up the skein, draping it over things:<br />
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The fibers have passed through my hands twice already, now they will again on their way to becoming... something! I'm not sure yet. Starting with fiber draws out the pleasure of making, the imagining and planning does too-- and the swatching, for that matter. As long as I'm not in too much of a hurry to enjoy it.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*I wrote about starting this one-- and my handmade wardrobe ambitions-- <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/09/handmade-wardrobe-inspiration-sweater.html" target="_blank">here</a>. </span>Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-83983659385250689072016-10-16T16:25:00.000-07:002016-10-16T16:25:15.610-07:00(Not So) Long Worn-- Slow Fashion October Week TwoIt's week two of <a href="https://fringeassociation.com/2016/09/14/slow-fashion-october-2016/" target="_blank">Slow Fashion October</a> and I am feeling pleasantly overwhelmed by the excellent, deep, rich, thought-provoking conversation I have been following. It has been such a welcome respite from brink-of-doom election anxiety. Also it's lovely to know that a group of adults--on the internet!-- can have a sane, thoughtful, civil conversation about a complex and challenging topic. Well done all around! This week's prompt is Long Worn:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3d47; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">How can we make the most of the clothes already on the planet — from taking care of and mending and wearing things longer, to thrifting, swapping, heirlooms, hand-me-downs, alterations and refashioning.</span><br />
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Ugh, this is such a tough topic for me-- I definitely do not wear my clothes as much or for as long as I should and I feel ashamed. It's like I have a split personality when it comes to clothing. There are things that I love wearing that get a ton of use, and I take very good care of them. It feels good-- in the sense of virtue, yes, but also pleasure-- to treasure things, use them well, and make them last. But then there's the other side-- the perpetual shopper, always dissatisfied with what I have and anticipating the next purchase. This has gotten much better since I <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-joyful-path-slow-fashion-october-week.html" target="_blank">Kon-Mari-ed my closet</a>-- keeping only the things I love-- but my shopper side is still beating my care-taker side far too often. When I set out to write my post for this week, I thought I would have some good stories to share about my most-cherished clothes, things I have mended and kept for years. But when I started mentally, and then physically, pulling them out of my closet I couldn't help noticing how many barely-worn things I have accumulated since I did my big clean-out. I have even been secretly promising myself another closet clean-out, looking forward to it, in fact. This feels like failure on so many levels. I feel bad looking at this pile:<br />
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That contains a lot of mistakes, wishful thinking, purchases made out of insecurity or anxiety, cheap things that overrode my normal inhibitions, items bought in multiples or on sale. It's hard evidence that despite my best intentions I am susceptible to every sales and marketing tactic-- as well as my own muddled thinking. Here's some examples of things that didn't work out:<br />
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<ul>
<li>J. Crew Chelsea boots-- I bought the black pair because I liked the idea of Chelsea boots and I felt it was an urgent enough need that I settled for these ones, even though they are an awkward height, not very comfortable, and the quality of the leather is not great for the price I paid. And even though I wore them grudgingly and secretly planned to replace them with a better pair, I then got the idea that if I had a second pair in a different color it would add "versatility" to my wardrobe. So I bought the brown ones-- on sale-- I think I have worn them twice. </li>
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<ul>
<li>Light blue and dusty rose tops-- these colors keep sneaking into my closet because I have the idea that I should like them and that they are "flattering". I mostly prefer to wear darker colors and neutrals but I worry that maybe I don't look my "best" in them, probably because of some <i>Color Me Beautiful</i>-esque nonsense about we could all be so pretty if we just stopped wearing what we actually like. I can't believe I fall for that shit. I would like to have more color in my wardrobe because I love color, but I clearly do not love <i>these</i> colors. </li>
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<ul>
<li>Racerback tops-- three of them. These are straight-up unwearable because I don't own a racerback bra. After all these years of having them, my breasts still sometimes make me feel as awkward as they did when I first grew them and I tend to wish them away even though they are in many ways quite nice. I go through spells of buying tops that don't work with my normal bras and it is always, always a mistake.</li>
<li>Not pictured: multiple <a href="https://www.everlane.com/" target="_blank">Everlane</a> t-shirts that don't fit well-- I have a few other Everlane items that I love, but these I bought because I was excited about the company. Everlane has a decent social responsibility record and I think that made me overly optimistic in my initial purchases-- they also do a lot to create urgency and FOMO around their products and I need to be more mindful of that.</li>
</ul>
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<li>Navy blue wool shift dress from <a href="https://www.toa.st/uk/" target="_blank">TOAST</a>. TOAST packages its (admittedly lovely, high-quality, and responsibly sourced) clothes in an attractive cloud of fantasy marketing that I find so hard to resist-- this dress would be just the thing for an eccentric art teacher or architect living in the wild Welsh countryside. Not my life but I sure wish it were. I bought it on sale (surprise!), the sleeves do unflattering things to my arms and I just don't have anywhere plausible to wear it. </li>
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Clearly there is not a lot to be proud of here, but I also think it's important to let go of the guilt and negative feelings in order to move forward. I am becoming aware that there is this cycle of transgression (overbuying) and repentance ("editing") and it is perpetuated by guilt. My goal is to get better at choosing things that I will wear for a long time and there is so much to learn from my mistakes-- if I am willing to own them and analyze them. I recently wrote about <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/06/sweater-baggage.html" target="_blank">my handknit sweater failures</a> and it helped me see where I was going wrong and to make a game plan for future sweater knitting. So far these are some plans I have for future buying-- or not buying, actually:</div>
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<ol>
<li>Be true to myself and the life I have now. That means letting go of fantasy clothes and ideas of what I should like.</li>
<li>Be more mindful of marketing tactics and other factors that lower my shopping inhibitions-- namely sales, discounts, and low prices, but also special collections and limited editions (Uniqlo designer collaborations, I'm looking at you!). I plan to unsubscribe from a bunch of email lists. </li>
<li>Make a plan for filling my wardrobe gaps, one that reflects my needs and style. I think this is really the key and a big reason I've never had a fully functional wardrobe-- I've always just bought things that called to me whether or not they fit in with what I already had. </li>
<li>Try to limit my sources to second-hand, handmade, and companies that have a track record of social responsibility. Not only does this align with my conscience, but with the overwhelming number of choices out there it is good to have some principle by which to narrow them down and prevent overbuying.</li>
<li>Identify and deal with feelings like boredom, anxiety, and insecurity in more productive ways-- mindfulness again! </li>
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I plan to find good homes for all the items in that pile-- some will go to friends, others to a consignment shop. There is another, smaller pile of things I don't wear, but that I hope to give a second chance to through refashioning:<br />
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Thinking about Slow Fashion and making has started me imagining breezy summer tops-- wardrobe gap!-- made from a couple of other tops and a skirt, and alterations to a pair of jeans and a skirt that will make them wearable again. Maybe by next October I will be able to report back on my progress-- now I can't wait to dive back in to the conversation!Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-32078523077576680932016-10-07T18:54:00.000-07:002016-10-07T18:54:32.310-07:00A joyful path-- Slow Fashion October week 1<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3d47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 22px;">This month I'm going to try-- deep breath!-- to post on the weekly <a href="https://fringeassociation.com/2016/09/14/slow-fashion-october-2016/" target="_blank">Slow Fashion October topics</a> from <a href="https://fringeassociation.com/" target="_blank">Fringe Association</a>. This subject is so rich and interesting and seemingly inexhaustible! It takes me a bit out of my comfort zone as a writer and blogger-- I love to delve into big ideas but I don't always trust in my ability to write about them coherently, which is why I usually stick pretty close to my current projects for fodder. I think it will be good for me to take some time to reflect on what I wear, and what I make, and, most of all, why. This is the first week's prompt:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3d47; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 22px;">Who are you, and what does slow fashion mean to you. What got you started thinking about it — people, books, films, etc. Are your concerns environmental, humanitarian, financial? Most important: How does your thinking factor into your life and closet. Also, any special plans or projects for Slotober, and what are you hoping to get out of it?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3d47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 22px;">About me: I have always-- I mean always-- had strong feelings about what I want to wear. Ask my mom, who had to launder the same rainbow-appliquéd t-shirt and brown corduroy skirt </span><i style="color: #3c3d47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 22px;">every night </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3d47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 22px;">during my preschool days because I refused to wear anything else. To this day, I feel something akin to an allergic reaction combined with a minor spiritual crisis when I have on something that isn't </span><i style="color: #3c3d47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 22px;">right</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3d47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 22px;"> for me. At the same time I have a deep streak of ethical frugality in my character that abhors waste, cruelty, mindlessness in all forms. My closet has always been something of a battleground between these two forces-- the aesthetic (and visceral) desire to dress well and the moral imperative for my life choices to align with my conscience. I see slow fashion-- making my own clothes, specifically-- as a way to reconcile and unite them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3d47; line-height: 22px;">Like so many other people who consider themselves part of this movement, the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster had a huge, permanent effect on my clothing choices. Slow</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3d47; line-height: 22px;"> fashion for me is definitely about a different set of choices-- buying secondhand and traceable clothes, handmade, creative reuse and mending-- where ethics and sustainability come first. But it is also part of a bigger conversation I have been having with myself for a long, long time-- what do I really need to be happy? It's not only about what stuff and how much of it, but all the other things that go or don't go into a happy life. These questions are woven through so many of my readings and thoughts on so many different topics, including fashion and making-- the conversation pings off into a thousand directions but at the heart it is about finding a righteous and joyful path through our very complicated world. To that end, the book that has probably helped me the most in recent years is <i>The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up</i>-- reading that book and then choosing what things to keep <i>entirely</i> based on what makes me happy had a profound positive effect in almost all areas of my life, my closet included. Since I tidied my clothes I find that I am much closer to the smaller, better quality, more thoughtful wardrobe that I pursued for so long, through so many cycles of buying and "editing"-- I have added less to my closet and gotten more use and enjoyment out of it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3d47; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I know now that cleaning out my closet was just the first step. I know that <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/09/old-clothes-fashion-waste-crisis-494824.html" target="_blank">no one wants my old clothes</a>-- and that the world's charity shops and landfills are now even more awash with discarded items thanks to Marie Kondo's book and method. I don't have an answer for this-- textile waste is a huge problem and I would like to stop contributing to it. But I think KonMari works as a catalyst to behavior change-- ultimately to more mindful consumer behavior-- because it focuses on joy, on respecting and treasuring the things you love, and I don't think the movement for more ethical and sustainable clothing can survive without joy. For me this is the heart of simplicity and slow fashion-- knowing what you love and need for a happy life and cheerfully leaving the rest alone. I am definitely not all the way there yet-- but I feel that I have found the path. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3d47; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't have any specific slow fashion projects for the month-- I want to join in the conversation and the community, to get ideas and inspiration. The onset of fall and winter weather is typically a time of wardrobe distress for me, one that in the past has triggered a flurry of clothing purchases. I think this year it will be very blissful to instead focus on appreciating what I already have!</span></span>Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-22320329432540914262016-09-30T19:35:00.000-07:002016-09-30T19:35:05.629-07:00Handmade wardrobe inspiration & a sweater breakthrough<a href="https://fringeassociation.com/" target="_blank">Karen at Fringe Association</a> had an inspiring post recently on <a href="https://fringeassociation.com/2016/09/08/wardrobe-planning-the-new-normal/" target="_blank">wardrobe building</a> and I have been thinking about it ever since. I loved seeing her collection of clothes, seeing the color and shape vocabulary she has so exquisitely put together and made herself. I am enchanted by the idea of a functioning, mostly-handmade wardrobe of my own, of course. To see hers gives me hope that it can happen! Then yesterday I read this <a href="http://www.themakerandmendersstyleposium.com/home/slow-style-with-sarah-kate-beaumont" target="_blank">interview</a> with another handmade wardrobe hero, <a href="http://www.verysweetlife.com/" target="_blank">Sarah Kate Beaumont of very sweet life</a>-- so much great stuff!<br />
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This inspiration is exactly what I needed, I think, to have a sweater breakthrough. That and some really good yarn:<br />
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<a href="http://www.bartlettyarns.com/" target="_blank">Bartlett</a> 2-ply, woolen-spun goodness from Harmony, ME-- a third-hand windfall from my knitting circle. By the time yarn reaches its third owner it might just be doomed, but I pounced when it was offered up and have been hoarding it for just the right project. I have loved Bartlett from afar and up close for years now, the texture, the smell, the colors... lovely stuff. It just sings to me of Maine winters and the hardy, practical, industrious people who can endure them-- they even make it in blaze orange! I know it makes for gorgeous texture stitches and cables-- I have searched and searched without success for the perfect pattern to showcase those qualities AND yield a sweater that I really, really want on my body. What I finally realized is that I want something more straightforward and plain-spoken-- here's what I have so far:<br />
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Just your basic, garden variety, top-down crewneck raglan sweater-- uncomplicated knitting at its best. Once I figured out what measurements I wanted to start with for the back neck, neck drop, yoke depth, and chest & arm circumference, the rest is arithmetic and trying on, and I am at ease with letting it be an experiment. What I have here is my third attempt-- I started first with the wrong needle size (I should have labeled my swatches more carefully!), then started again with too many front neck stitches. I'm doing yarn-over increases, twisting them toward the raglan lines from either direction when I knit into them on the next row. To my eye this looks good-- kind of like the full-fashioned increases on a machine-knit sweater-- it's also easy to knit and gives me something to do every round. And just like that I'm exactly where I want to be with my knitting!<br />
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When I analyzed my history of <a href="http://rigatoniknits.blogspot.com/2016/06/sweater-baggage.html" target="_blank">sweater failures</a>, I made a few guidelines for future attempts and this sweater-- so far-- sticks to them: a high neckline, perfect for layering and warmth, just enough texture from the wooly yarn but no gilding the lily. I think this could be the first time I've started knitting a sweater based on what I want to <b>wear</b>, rather than what I would most like to knit, either for the fun of it or because I coveted the finished <b>object</b>. It's a fine distinction, perhaps, but a meaningful one. Unworn garments, whether they are store bought or handmade, are a waste of time and resources-- sure, they may find another owner and home, but that still furthers a cycle of unhealthy consumption that I would very much like to step back from. When I imagine my ideal wardrobe, it contains only things I love to wear, just enough that I don't need to add anything unless I really love it or need it, and it fits my life and style well enough that I'm not always panicking when the seasons change, when I go on a trip, or to an event. I imagine, also, that this would free up some mental space for other things, not necessarily more important, just different! Because I feel like my wardrobe takes up more than its fair share of my thinking and making time.<br />
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This sweater gives me hope that I'm moving in the right direction. I know I need to do some more work on wardrobe planning if I'm going to get there, I think it's a good time-- before my fabric and yarn stash engulf all my available workspace-- to reflect more on what I need, what suits my life and style, and what I can accomplish with knitting and sewing towards a more sustainable closet. Since this happens to mesh nicely with the <a href="https://fringeassociation.com/2016/09/14/slow-fashion-october-2016/" target="_blank">Slow Fashion October</a> framework over at Fringe Association, I'm going to try to follow along each week with a post here. I look forward to joining the conversation!Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-16160680433070913792016-09-12T17:36:00.000-07:002016-09-12T17:36:11.397-07:00Desperation knittingMy latest knitting project started as a total desperation move-- I was nearly finished my baby sweaters and was about to run out of knitting! I have become so hesitant and indecisive with my knitting that this is now a regular occurrence, but this time I decided to take preemptive action. I turned to my Ravelry favorites with two assumptions: 1) Recently favorited items are more likely to be what I want to knit RIGHT NOW! 2) The longer I spent looking for a project the more likely I would be to end up in decision-making paralysis-- and without knitting. So I forced myself to choose a pattern from the first page of my favorites and vowed come-hell-or-high-water I would cast on within 24 hours, using whatever stash yarn was a reasonable approximation of the pattern yarn weight. Which was this:<br />
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My first wheel-spun yarn! It was actually started during my first wheel-spinning lesson and I am still shocked by how well it turned out. The fiber is undyed BFL top and it was pure joy to spin. I am in love with looking at and touching the skeins and probably would have hoarded them forever were it not for desperate times calling for desperate measures.<br />
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It turns out to be pure joy to knit with-- much more so than yarn from my drop spindle. This is good news because repeated shoulder injuries have made the spindle a thing of the past for me. I am knitting a hat, <a href="http://52weeks52hats.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">of all things</a>. Now that it's in progress I realize I have been hankering for a simple ribbed hat in a rustic, tweedy yarn. Desperation, meet serendipity!<br />
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The fabric looks rough but I assure you it is <b>very</b> soft and squishy. I am set for knitting for at least a few more days...Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-80558135390566427702016-09-05T13:13:00.001-07:002016-09-05T13:15:37.613-07:00Knitting: baby sweatersI have been a bit of a stranger to my knitting needles lately. The summer has flown by with lots of hiking trips and quite a bit of sewing (which also deserves a post... soon) but I did get a tiny bit of knitting done. Literally, I have been knitting two tiny things:<br />
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When all other knitting inspiration fails me I usually find myself in need of a baby shower gift or two-- human reproduction is reliable that way. My thought process for these started with a color palette-- I inherited some yarn from a friend* who has decided she is <b>done</b> knitting.* What I got is a selection of cool blues and purples-- I wanted to flex my color design muscles and use up this windfall.<br />
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For the first sweater I chose a deep plum and dusty light purple-- and my go-to baby gift pattern <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/beyond-puerperium" target="_blank">Beyond Puerperium</a>. I tried stripes and I tried a contrast band but neither looked good to me. Here's what ended up happening:</div>
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The embroidery took a long time because: a) I had to figure out how to make the stitches on knitted fabric-- there was a lot of starting over! b) Once I had the hang of it I kept stopping to admire the effect, kind of like a photo negative or sun print I think. I did not document my many attempts to stitch leaves for those flower stems-- suffice it to say they didn't look right and they aren't needed.<br />
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The second sweater started with two medium blues-- to my eye without much value or hue contrast between them, so I didn't have high hopes for the combination. I played around with stripe width and landed on a ratio that I find very pleasing:<br />
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The <i>slightly</i> lighter blue has more contrast with the <i>slightly</i> darker one when there is more of the lighter color-- I wish I could say confidently that this is color theory at work, but my eye at least tells me it is true.<br />
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Baby sweaters are a snack-sized amount of knitting with a feast of finishing, usually by the time I have one sleeve done I begin to wonder why I always end up making them.<br />
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<span style="font-family: times;">It's probably because they are adorable-- and another perfect small canvas for playing with color and pattern.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Hi Vickie!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Which I find sad, but that didn't stop me from snatching up her yarn before she could change her mind! </span></div>
Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-17001835368417108062016-08-27T17:58:00.000-07:002016-08-27T18:01:34.759-07:00Just for funSo... I needed a portable project to take on a hiking trip in Vermont, I don't need yet another pair of socks AND I have a small stash of embroidery floss-- the trip is over now but I'm still having a ton of fun making these:<br />
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I remember making friendship bracelets <i>way</i> back in the day, but my memory of HOW to make them was fuzzy. <a href="http://honestlywtf.com/diy/diy-friendship-bracelet/" target="_blank">This</a> helped me re-learn. Getting the knot tension right took a little practice, and then I had to figure out how to join the ends for wearing. I don't really need to prove undying loyalty to myself-- that's the point of friendship bracelets, right?-- so I wanted an adjustable closure. Here is what I came up with:<br />
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I'm rather pleased with the result-- instructions for the macrame sliding knot are <a href="http://www.artbeads.com/how-to-make-a-sliding-macrame-knot.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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These remind me that I make things because it's fun-- maybe not <i>just</i> for fun, but joy and play are essential! I think I lose track of that when I become too product-focused. These bracelets are the perfect little canvas to have FUN with color and pattern. I have a limited selection of colors but I keep finding new ways to combine them:<br />
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Pretty soon I'll have an armload-- or perhaps I'll share with my BFFs?<br />
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<br />Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-32407328399699416982016-07-28T20:10:00.000-07:002016-07-28T20:10:18.343-07:00A bit of mendingJuly 2nd I had an encounter with a sparkler that left a trail of carnage on a favorite skirt:<br />
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I was wearing the skirt at the time of the incident, and there is a perfectly matched trail of carnage on my epidermis-- second degree burns, in fact. Fortunately they are healing well with minimal assistance.<br />
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The skirt -- actually it is more of a sarong or pareo, but I refuse to confine it to beach wear!-- is quite badly damaged. It wasn't the most precious garment to begin with. I received it as a cast-off from a friend's wardrobe purge, I thought I might reuse the fabric-- lightweight printed rayon, not the highest quality-- for sewing practice. But then I started wearing it and grew to love it, which makes it worth saving in my book.<br />
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I have done some darning on knits before and I'm using pretty much the same process for the burn holes using a single strand of embroidery floss and a sharp darning needle. I start by outlining the area I'm going to darn over with a running stitch:<br />
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Then I fill in the shape with "warp" threads running across the hole and anchored behind the outline stitches. Finally I weave under and over the warp threads using more floss and a longer needle-- here's the first patch in progress:<br />
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This part is engrossing and very fiddly, and I'm enjoying it immensely. I learned to use the side of my darning needle to push against the previous rows as I weave a new one, it kind of snugs up the weave and keeps it flat and even. I am very happy with the results so far:<br />
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The color doesn't quite match and that doesn't bother me. Really I should have used silver metallic thread as a kind of visual memento of the sparkler incident, and I may find some and do a little embellishing later on. I don't think I will soon forget catching on fire*, but long after the wounds heal the darned patches will help me remember how to line up the skirt with my body when I put it on! I can't wait to start wearing my skirt again, good as new if not better.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*I actually had to stop, drop, and roll</span>Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4250843569776985810.post-56599965825685295362016-07-15T14:11:00.000-07:002016-07-15T14:11:21.333-07:00Sewing ProgressIn fits and starts, I am making myself a kimono. I didn't expect to be sewing a garment for my second official sewing project, but the idea sort of fell into my lap-- from a 1990s-era sewing book I picked up at the library on a whim:<br />
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The other garments in the book are a bit dated, but the final chapter is a long tutorial on sewing a kimono. A pretty nice looking one:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWZJuP9EgwtsYNtwttMuiW5PTRD01tofV9Ng_UHWYcxCpNE25Fd5Z3x5SG3Sw_o_ufeTbP4NlPtFIHgIYR51uUiVFnpWKVbYf26FQkwjj3C2tQi4C02GUg12CQv_H0D47r_l1hUZnsGrw/s1600/Kimono+book+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWZJuP9EgwtsYNtwttMuiW5PTRD01tofV9Ng_UHWYcxCpNE25Fd5Z3x5SG3Sw_o_ufeTbP4NlPtFIHgIYR51uUiVFnpWKVbYf26FQkwjj3C2tQi4C02GUg12CQv_H0D47r_l1hUZnsGrw/s400/Kimono+book+image.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I liked the idea of following a kind of lesson plan for my first garment, and I was able to scoop up an uncut copy of the circa-1985 pattern:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkGqeVGUXSO9Lty4745l7C5dwnCEYeYSapHry6yHu4CNNBwAZn_uAUj6PoNCPaoXLWVJ3KRUJy0n64XfXUpcDVLYrtT0HNM4K_p82Sj_vGeuMD0cQnu9iGYKRQ36MUR21jJn2EB5pCuU/s1600/1985+Kimono+pattern.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkGqeVGUXSO9Lty4745l7C5dwnCEYeYSapHry6yHu4CNNBwAZn_uAUj6PoNCPaoXLWVJ3KRUJy0n64XfXUpcDVLYrtT0HNM4K_p82Sj_vGeuMD0cQnu9iGYKRQ36MUR21jJn2EB5pCuU/s400/1985+Kimono+pattern.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">And also discovered at the same time a very charming way to waste hours and hours--</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> hunting for vintage sewing patterns!</span></div>
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I could use a kimono for sure-- my lounging-around-the house clothing consists of a decades-old pair of hospital scrub pants and a small collection of ratty t-shirts. Even a slightly wonky kimono will be an improvement on the current state of affairs.<br />
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My planning process slowed to a crawl while I spent hours online browsing for fabric-- and then a quiet weekday afternoon fondling quilting cottons in the Marden's fabric department. I found something suitably soft and lightweight in a --frankly-- fabulous print:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmaKmedSTdloJPM1ACVihEi0ZBB6zOBvGoyzXhIaMK6_1xHv8Deh-NG2BaSRkjy_1dVkDuU_1C-G_6g2z-9jJ5azI0no-4QWXLk8KPX82GOpT9bGaXg2shYtPZ3KxvkWjeXfzzZZPnn_0/s1600/Fabulous+print.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmaKmedSTdloJPM1ACVihEi0ZBB6zOBvGoyzXhIaMK6_1xHv8Deh-NG2BaSRkjy_1dVkDuU_1C-G_6g2z-9jJ5azI0no-4QWXLk8KPX82GOpT9bGaXg2shYtPZ3KxvkWjeXfzzZZPnn_0/s400/Fabulous+print.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I had and still have major worries about using quilting cotton for a garment, but I also wanted something easy to cut and sew. I hope it works out! The material feels almost like fine percale bed linen-- crisp but not too stiff. Three weeks after cutting, this is where I am stalled:<br />
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Three seams sewn and finished-- I should say two seams because I am planning to rip out one of the shoulder seams because the edges don't quite line up and I imagine this will cause downstream problems. I already ripped out and re-did both shoulder seams once because I didn't like my first attempt at seam finishing:<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Clean finished = nice looking but too much bulk for this fabric</span></div>
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If I zoom in on my progress a bit, the list of basic things I've done that I had never done before is SO LONG! Cutting out a paper pattern! Squaring my fabric! Pinning and cutting my pattern pieces! Tailor's tacks! I spent several hours playing with my thread tension and stitch length, first with straight stitch, then again with zig-zag stitch. I have learned so much already-- but I do think it's time to step on the gas a bit, and that is just what I plan to do after submitting this progress report!<br />
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<br />Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536505470774675845noreply@blogger.com0