Design Inspiration: Eulalia Shawl

My grandmother Eulalia was always a warm, comforting presence in my life. She taught me that tea and toast make you feel better when you're sick and to never, ever stop having adventures.



Last April, we were planning a trip to Oklahoma to see her. She had been fighting heart disease for a while, and that spring, took a turn for the worse. We hoped to get to see her one last time.

We weren't as lucky as we wanted to be, and that trip turned out to be for her funeral. We packed our bags, I brought my knitting, and our family came together to say goodbye to a very sweet, strong woman.

With purple yarn that reminded me of her, I wanted to create some comfort for myself and as a testament to her. I cast on. I decided to use a little stockinette at the beginning and end of the shawl. The rolling inner and outer edges symbolized the lives that touched my grandmother and the lives that she touched. I think we are never truly finished with our life’s work but we wouldn’t have a place to begin, if it weren’t for those who came before us.

I had several false starts. I would knit for a while, then find that I had added too many stitches to one side of the shawl. The next time, I had too few. Then, I would accidentally knit all of the edge stitches instead of working them the correct way.

"This is a simple knit," I told myself. "It's seriously only four rows, for most of it. What's wrong with you?"

I guess sometimes you're just too upset to manage. If all I mess up is my knitting in those moments, I guess that's ok. Frustrated, I gave up and knit a sock - that turned out to be 4 stitches narrower than the one that was supposed to be its mate. I didn't notice the mistake until I started the toe decreases.

Back at home, I put down my knitting and cleaned out the basement. I felt like I was expressing my grandmother's very German need for order and peace.

When that was finished, I sat down and knit this shawl in two days. That's pretty fast for me. It IS really easy. I just wasn't ready to let go for a little while.

Nerd note on her rather unusual name: Her Germany-born parents heard the word (among other things, it is a type of grass), and liked it so much they used it as her name.

Casting On and a False Start

This is from the second try.

I churned through the first mock-up of the pattern pretty quickly. I was really eager to get this little sweater on the needles!

I like to have a rough draft of the pattern that is as complete as possible as I knit the sample. It's easier for me to take notes and make changes from that than to write out what I'm doing as I go.

I was working along, loving the yarn, and little questions kept nagging me, at the back of my mind. Had I accounted for the front band stitches? Was I really sure that the increase rows would work out well for every size? Did I have too many stitches on the back? Why were the smallest and 6-month sizes so close together in stitch count? There really did seem to be too many stitches being cast on all at once for the second tier of the neck for it to look right. 

I've learned not to ignore those questions for too long. A poetry teacher once told me to take anything you write and put it away, where you can't see it, for at least a day. A week is better. When you look at it again, all of the mistakes will leap out at you. 

I took a second look at the spreadsheet. I had forgotten to note where I was ignoring and where I was including the front band stitches. I needed some of them (but not all, because they overlap) for figuring out things like the real, final chest measurement of the resulting sweater. I didn't need any of them for figuring out if the 4x + 1 stitch pattern repeat right before the sleeves and body were divided would fit. 

Worst of all, I hadn't thought of it as a 4x + 1 stitch pattern repeat. I'd noted it as a 4x + 3 repeat. Two stitches may not sound like a big deal, but it mattered a lot, in this case. 

I struggled with it a little bit. This stage of design seems straightforward, but there are moments where it can feel like trying to make a bed with a blanket that's too small. I get it all good on one corner only to find that another corner is bare. I even went on Twitter and complained a little bit about it - and felt much better when other designers chimed in, saying that designing raglan-style sweaters is way harder than it looks.

I finally took out a pencil and paper and scribbled around a bit, writing down every decision I made about the math and why. That clarified things. I can get locked into the spreadsheet too much and lose sight of what I'm actually trying to accomplish.

I went through the pattern notes and inserted the new numbers, which now made more sense. I reprinted the pattern and started again, still madly in love with the yarn.

Swatches and Thanks

My bare-bones pattern is mostly a series of headings and questions to myself. This one started out like this:

Sizes To fit 3 [6, 12] months, although babies vary greatly. When in doubt, knit the larger size! Our adorable model is wearing the six-month size. (Does the family want the full name, first name, or just Adorable Model here?)

Finished dimensions Chest: 18 [19, 20] inches; Length: 9.74 [10.5, 11.75] inches.

Yarn Dream in Color, Perfectly Posh Sport, sport weight, 70% wool, 10% mohair, 10% silk, 10% cashmere. 320 yards/293 meters in 100 grams. Color A: Amber Glass; (HOW MUCH?); Color B: Heavenly: (HOW MUCH?). 

Needles #5 (3.75 mm) needles, or size needed to produce gauge. (CHECK THIS) Any kind of needle can be used, but you will also need two #5 double-pointed needles to make i-cord. 

Gauge 24 stitches = 4 inches in both one and two-color stockinette stitch. (CHECK THIS)

As it turned out, I was half correct about the gauge. 6 sts/inch was totally cool with #5 needles on the single-color portion of the swatch. The two-color portion, not so much.

I should stop here and say a big THANK YOU to Laura Ricketts, who became my instant friend in May when she drove up to see me on a personal mission to make me give up my fear of color-stranded knitting and intarsia. Her knitting is awesome and wonderful and almost as nice as she is in person.

Anyway, when I saw that the two-color portion of the swatch didn't succumb to my screaming at it and trying to block it wider (I don't know why that doesn't work), I did a second swatch with larger needles. That portion of the pattern changed to:

#5 (3.75 mm) needles, or size needed to produce gauge. (I needed to use #5 for one-color stockinette stitch and #6 for two-color stockinette stitch.) Any kind of needle can be used, but you will also need two #5 double-pointed needles to make i-cord. 

Swatches complete, I emailed a tech editor (Stephannie Tallent) to get on her schedule, messaged a friend who has an adorable baby about modeling for photos, and got to work putting together a spreadsheet to get actual stitch counts before casting on for the sample sweater.

Answering the Call

Magazine (and book) knitting projects usually have to be kept top-secret until they are published. For the last few months, I've been responding to more calls for designs from yarn companies. They can lead to really positive relationships for both parties. (As the designer, you really need to read what is wanted from you/what is being offered and decide if that will work for you. There are as many ways to do this as there are yarn companies!)

In this case, I sent a submission in to Dream in Color for their Perfectly Posh Sport yarn line. They offered to provide yarn support and some cross-promotion in exchange for running a knit-a-long of the design. 

I went to Paris in May on vacation and now I just can't shut up about it. Um, I mean I took a ton of photos and am turning to them for inspiration a lot, which probably bothers at least a few of my knitting-group friends. 

One was this little wood building on the grounds of the palace at Versailles, near where you can rent boats for the Grand Canal. 

I have no idea what it is. Guard warming house? Just cute? Anyway, I loved it. Looking at it a few months later with a knitter's eye, I thought it would be a cute baby sweater. I sketched a basic shape, figured out what sizes I wanted, and started writing a very rough draft of the pattern. In homage to the little building, I called the design Keys to the Castle.

This is the first page of the pdf I sent to Dream in color. 

They accepted my idea and suggested an alternative goldish-colored yarn to the one I picked off the website. I always bow to whoever has actually seen the yarn. Choosing colors from a computer screen can be a tricky proposition, at best. 

Tune in tomorrow for what happened when the yarn hit the needles...

Good Editing = Good Writing

Kate, who is just so adorable.

Years ago, one of my favorite teachers told me, "Good writing can't happen without good editing."

He was doubly correct when it comes to writing knitting patterns.

You can have a lovely knit sample and gorgeous photography for a pattern, but nothing can make up for unclear, ambiguous writing or mathematical errors.

If there's anything I've learned from working as a journalist, it's that no one, no matter how talented, experienced or careful, can be trusted to truly edit his or her own writing. At the absolute minimum, I firmly believe that every pattern should be printed out and read by at least one person who is not the original author. If nothing else, they might catch a grammar or spelling error.

Why does a grammar or spelling error matter to a knitter? Consider the relationship between a photographer and her subject. Some people are so nervous about having their picture taken that the slightest hesitation or misstep on the photographer's part blows apart their confidence entirely. They bail. They cut and run, at least emotionally. They challenge and criticize. Good photography might happen under those conditions, but great photography will be almost impossible.

A spelling error in a knitting pattern, even in the preamble that a lot of people don't take seriously, shakes the knitter's confidence. They may have paid good money for this pattern that looks like a rough draft.

Worse, and hiding in a thicket of k1 and p2, is a Math Error. This is often enough to destroy the knitter's confidence in the pattern, the designer, and even his or her self as a knitter. It's horrible.

Fortunately for all of us, there are people who have trained in the art and science of avoiding both. They're called Technical Editors, but they really should be called Pattern Guardian Angels.

I was really lucky and landed a great one with Knitty, Kate Atherley. She was prompt, gentle and kind. It takes a special kind of person to point out that you made a big, honking mistake without making you feel like an idiot.

Even better, when my pattern used a technique that she hadn't used before, she picked up yarn and needles and TRIED IT. (And, whew, said it worked.) That, ladies and gentlemen, is super awesome.

So, raise your needles (or hook, or spindle, or shuttle) in salute to the humble technical editor, who doesn't even always get credit for his or her work. Without them, we would all be sending each other many less-than-happy messages on Ravelry.

Design Inspiration: Tootsie Socks

My Tootsie socks were published in the Spring + Summer 2012 edition of Knitty. Appearing in Knitty was way too exciting for words!

In December of 2011, I had just written a review of The Knitter's Book of Socks and was returning the copy I used to the library. (I now have one of my own - a Christmas gift from my sweetie.)

I turned the book around to put it into the return slot and looked at the orange/brown sock on the cover from the side. I thought, "Why not knit a round heel that ends on the back of the heel?"

I had already experimented with one or two afterthought heels, and had a few notes jotted down about making an afterthought heel that included a gusset. So, I sat down with needles and yarn that weekend and worked out how the decreases would have to work to get the shape I wanted. I showed the result to my friend, Allison, the owner of Simply Socks Yarn Company, and she told me I should send the idea in to Knitty.

I worked up a pair of grey-and-white socks, using the heel and a simple twist-stitch rib pattern that I had swatched a few times, but hadn't found the right project before. I photographed them in a very awkward way using myself and a mirror as the model, and sent it off.

When I heard that they wanted the design, I literally did a dance for joy. The color change was suggested and I knit up a pair in Tangerine and Chocolate.

Then, a wonderful turn of luck landed my twin sister in town on the weekend that I really needed to photograph the final socks. Allison let us use a little space in the shop and we had a great photo shoot. It is still the most fun I have ever had taking photos of handknits.

Restarting

I'm still going to keep the podcast at the Journal Gazette site and I blog frequently there, too, but I want to restart this blog as a way to talk about my design process for non-secret projects.

I've been working on a book about sock knitting, and that's taken a lot of my energy, but I also learned to weave, which is still very exciting.

So, I want to chat here about what I'm doing, my hopes, dreams, etc. I hope you want to come along.

Transition

We had a few bumps with iTunes, but it seems to be working well now. So, if you have been disappointed in the last few weeks with the feed, I invite you to try again. Thanks for listening! I will have a big, big show this Sunday, featuring an interview with a Big Deal Knitter.

Moving Day

I have moved to http://www.journalgazette.net/craftyliving and, barring major catastrophe, will be putting out a new show every Sunday! Come visit the blog in-between shows to see what else is going on in the crafty universe and in our neck of the woods.

Watch This Space...Or That Space, anyway

I'm going to be relaunching Math4Knitters as Math4Knitters: Crafty Living to go with the Crafty Living blog and column at the Journal Gazette and http://www.journalgazette.net/ in January of 2010. I will probably do another post with the exact link to the blog when it starts, but I'm told that the link will be http://www.journalgazette.net/craftyliving.

I will be aiming for a weekly schedule and the content will loosely match up with the content of the Crafty Living blog/Sunday column. Hopefully, there will be a new podcast up every Sunday. There will be an RSS feed from the blog/podcast, but I don't know how long it will take me to get it on iTunes.

As always, any questions or comments are appreciated! You can still find me on Ravelry as math4knitters, and I may cross-post major updates for the podcast to this site. Old shows will still be available for download as long as I remember to pay the bill for the hosting...

Settling In

Once again, I have NOT podfaded, but life has a way of laughing at my plans to podcast. I moved for a new job and am very excited about everything here. That means that my computers/microphone/etc. are still scattered around my apartment. So, bear with me. I promise I will have something coming up, just in time to be too late for Christmas (just like everything else I am doing this year).

Alternative to Knitted Objects for Presents:

-1 big ol' mug, ideally from thrift store, maybe with ironic or cute design
-packet of dry "mix" from recipe below - just mix the flour, sugar and cocoa together
-5-Minute Mug Cake Recipe

4 Tablespoons flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 Egg
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons oil
splash of vanilla extract
3 Tablespoons chocolate chips

Instructions:

Mix flour, sugar and cocoa, or dump in contents of packet, if using mix.

Add egg, stir well.

Pour in milk, oil and vanilla, mix well.

Add chocolate chips.

Cook in microwave for 3 minutes on high. (The cake may rise above the mug, but don't worry.)

Allow to cool a little, tip out onto a plate, and enjoy!

Episode 44: A Mix

On today's show I talk about getting paid in yarn, sock toes, designing for short and round people, and substituting yarn/changing gauge/WIP HIM. I also annoy everyone by having to stop and google for Annie Modesitt's site. I mentioned Modesitt and White Lies Designs as being especially good for girls with curves and Big Girl Knits and its sequel, More Big Girl Knits.

Download Episode 44.

Episode 43: Measuring, Weighing and Super-Easy Square

Just to start, here is the fabulous site on The Brioche Stitch.

In this show, I cover listener questions and theorize about a square you could start with a gauge swatch and finish up whatever size you like (assuming it is larger than the original swatch).

Here are some design ideas for two colors with this method. The different patterns are all made from the same type of square, rotated.

Download Episode 43.

I'm Shameless

I made a cute little Flash animation for a Valentine's Day present. Feel free to send a link to your sweetie! For $5, I'll change the message to whatever you want and email you the file. :)

Episode 42: Sizing and Squares

In this episode, I talk about resizing sleeves, resizing in general and making squares (or diamonds) with and without a gauge swatch.


Download Episode 42.

(Photo to come)

Episode 41

In this show I rehash things that I have already covered on the blog, for those of you who don't check in here as much.
-Remainder post links are here.
-My hat recipe is here.
-How many stitches are in a sweater. Please, please, don't do this!

Download Episode 41.

Shameless Shill

I started a small shop on Etsy today. I'm open to suggestions!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6428333

Hat Recipe and A Plea

I typed up a recipe for a simple hat and put it here.

If you, say, married into a LARGE family and suddenly have to double your holiday knitting list, a hat is hard to beat for a quick, fun knit. You can always plan to add a matching scarf next year, when you are more used to your new obligation level.

Someone asked me how to tell how many stitches are in a sweater. She wanted to figure that out and then figure out how many stitches you need to knit per day to get finished for gift-giving. I would like to have it on record that I do not recommend this. If you really knew how many stitches you would need to make, I doubt any of us would really start any sweater.

But, you could, and it would be pretty easy to get a good estimate. Conventionally, the "top" of a sweater (from the neck to the underarm) is about 1/3 of the knitting. The sleeves, together, are another 1/3. Then, the body, that is the underarm to the bottom of the sweater, is about 1/3. You could take the number of stitches around the body (ignore waist shaping) and multiply by the number of rows or rounds in between the underarm and the bottom hem of the sweater. Then, multiply this number by 3. You will undoubtedly run in fear and, I hope, burn the offending document.

Episode 40: Graft

Download Episode 40.

Ok. Here is a quick run-down on my method of grafting. I used to follow written instructions that had me obsessed with knit-wise and purl-wise. I would face my work that looked like this:


I'm not going to lie. I would usually panic a little. Then, I become braver or more desperate and I took the work off the needles.



When I did this, the stitches turned to face me and it was all a lot easier.
















This is the back, when finished:


The trick, as always, is not to panic, and to remember that you can do it over, if you need it. It is very, very important not to pull the darning yarn too tight. If you have a lot of stitches to graft, remember that you can use more than on length of yarn - otherwise you can get tangled up. If you need a little more security, or are using s slippery yarn, you can always run a length of dental floss through your live stitches.

The sock book I mention on the show is here.

Yet Another Way to Look At It

You could also see the original math problem turning up 6.5 as a solution, not a problem.

If you think of it as not 1 stitch being increased among 6.5, but 2 stitches increased among 13, you could do this:

x x x x x x x x x x x x O x O x x x x x x x x x x x x O x O...

By grouping your increases (or decreases) into groups of two, you allow the math to come out and I think it would look pretty nice, too.

I think this idea can scale, but you will need to figure out a few things:
1) How big do I want to make my groups?
2) How many stitches will go between groups?

If you want to keep 1-stitch divisions between increases (or decreases), you need to take the number of increases (or decreases) in your group (let's call this g) and subtract one. You can see the reason for this by holding out one of your hands. If you have five fingers, you will have 4 spaces in-between your fingers.

Revisiting the questions:
Multiply your increase factor (your original # / the # you want to increase by) by whole, prime numbers until your result equals a whole number (which I will call n). A good list of primes is here. The number you have to multiply by is the number of increases or decreases in your group (g). N is the number of stitches you have, total, in a given set of stitches for your increases or decreases. In the first example, above, n = 13 and the prime needed is 2. That makes g = 2.

To find out what you really need to do to make it work, you have one more step. To find out how many stitches should go in-between your groups of increases or decreases, take n - (g - 1). In the first example, that would be 13 - (2 - 1) = 12.

This seems complex and wordy, although it's really not, so I might make a worksheet for it. What do you think?