Queue the stunt rabbit!

I have successfully tinked 2 of the 4 lace rounds on my pillow. (Please insert cursing and animal noises here.) This was needful because of the error-riddled pattern which lacked corrections. Since I was the one who added it to Ravelry, obviously I cannot expect someone else to have annotated the problem there. [I did pause here and add an errata notice to the description of the pattern.] But I certainly did expect the publisher or author to have a modicum of pride and to acknowledge the mistakes.

Thank you to everyone who responded to my plea for actually useful patterns. I have collected them and added them to my projects list. (Not the queue on Ravelry, I find that too frustrating to use until I have started something.)

Since then I have started on making a stuffed rabbit starting from this: http://bunnikins.livejournal.com/47512.html . It is not a complete pattern since it references: http://geobabe.livejournal.com/227621.html for assembly instructions. I knitted half the body and then frogged it because it was going to be too large.

It looks like I will be making a new sample project for my knitting group, make a rabbit from a square. A friend shared the instructions, which basically say to baste a triangle onto a knitted square, gather it, stuff this as the head. Sew the body seam most of the way closed, stuff, and use a crochet hook to pull a tuft of stuffing for the tail. (The triangle is oriented as if there was a diamond inside the square.)

That was what inspired me to look for more rabbity rabbit patterns.

Incan Thinkin’

I attempted to Andean ply the remaining Shetland+ Mohair. 600 yards of 2-ply means I probably wouldn’t be all that interested in 20-30 yards of 3-ply with odd textures, so the Navajo plying was out. I am heartily sick of this fiber, so laboriously winding onto two bobbins and hoping to guess the halfway point did not appeal. 

I Googled for the directions (finding one site that says “If you use this site, please donate a dollar!” That is uncool! Worse yet, their tutorial sucked) and found the standard place showing line drawings of the hand. I found a blog showing how to build a fake hand so there is no risk of killing one’s middle finger from lack of blood flow. And the one describing how to hold a spoon to provide an exoskeleton for the middle finger. 

There are some real problems with this technique that none of the blogs describe. First you MUST, must, MUST wrap loosely. This is incredibly difficult to do because even the inherent tension from bobbin unspooling (not tensioned in the ‘Kate, free spinning) is enough to cause problems. Second the line tension coming off your hand when attempting to ply is enough to break the yarn off the leader cord, but if you pull excess off, it super-twists. Third any problems in pulling off the complex ball  will result in side wraps being incorporated into the twist— this causes Gordion-esque knots. 

Finally I pulled my hand out of it and that actually worked better until the catastrophic failure. I threw out a walnut size knot. But the worst of this is that the plied part is half no-twist ply (two singles wound together) and half over-plied to the point where the twist is invisible and the yarn is half the diameter of the single. I gave up and wound this onto a TP tube and figure it would make an interesting novelty yarn addition or something.

Obviously this Andean plying is harder than it looks.

techniques and understanding

My two jackets are blocking now.

It inspired me enough that I cast on for the demo sock in Cat Bordhi’s sock book. I really like that book. I admit to thinking that all sock books were the same and no one who wrote one knew anything about the underpinnings. All the sock books the library owns look like they copied from one another. No one explained anything any other way. So if you did not understand gussets and heel flaps, it really did not matter what book you read because they were all saying the same thing. What got me is that the best selling sock book, 2 years after I made my first pair without specialized help, did not have toe-up+short-row as an option. I had knitted a pair of toe-up+short-row socks already and liked that method. I was pretty convinced that there was a problem in the knitting world if I came up with a combination of techniques that was not available in the popular literature. I still think there is a problem in the knitting world—– that wooly animals are not the only sheep in the craft.

The Cat Bordhi book did a fabulous job of explaining things that I had been doing but not understanding, like which stitches were twisted, how to mark a row of knitting with scrap yarn, and went over the increases and decreases in a novel way. I am sure other people understood the increases and decreases from the previous version of the explanation (which was parroted by every knitting book out there) but I never did understand it. I love having the ability to read a different explanation of the same thing.

One thing that the knitting world really needs is a tutorial for tubular cast on in the round.
Get the base stitches on the needle either by backward loop with scrap yarn, then [k, yo]*; or by
Fluffbuff Method. The join occurs with the first stitch of the first round.  Start with one round of [k, slip_p with yarn in front)]* (←That is slip-as-if-to-purl.)  Next round, [ slip_p wyif, k]*, making sure to pull that first stitch very tight.  This has created one row of tubular k1p1 ribbing. Repeat in pairs of rows if needed. Switch to k1p1 ribbing rounds by actually purling the stitch.

If someone figures out garter stitch grafting, I would love to see that.

EZ is for paying tolls, even in knitting.

I finished writing and formatting the actual pattern for the BSJ. Not the summary version by Elizabeth Zimmermann where what needs doing is left out because any really good knitter would have thought through all the caveats on their own and anyone else is too [insert scorchingly blue language of your choice here] idiotic to make a garter stitch project. I have stopped wondering how someone who did so many great things for knitting could be so humble! If she had not been, someone else would have throttled her and the books would not be around to aggravate me.

Here is one piece of amazingly helpful advice, put a center marker in. That way any mistakes can be isolated.

Second piece of advice, you can fix whatever error on the “resting row” knitting back. Sure your increase or decrease will be off by one row, but it works fine, and works a lot better than having to rip back.

Third suggestion, count every resting row. Make a list of all the row counts, with separators for where the markers will be and check off the row. That page is a lifesaver if you are doing striped colorwork. I have a .pdf for this page if you want mine, even though it just includes the row counts and no instructions. (Leave a comment, although your email address does not show to the world, I can see it as the blog owner.)

Cat Bordhi’s suggestion about using scrap yarn to blip for row counts is probably wise if you are not doing stripes. I will be reviewing the Cat Bordhi sock book, but my preliminary impression is that she is the opposite, she spent a great deal of time describing caveats and providing work-arounds.

Going forward

The best tubular cast-on in-the-round instructions I have found so far:  http://www.math.unl.edu/~gmeisters1/papers/Knitting/techniques.html

I’m still working on my tubular cast-on in the round instructions. Everyone who has tutorials acts like this is almost impossible to do. The reality is that it is one of the most useful cast-ons for a joined-circle project because there is no seam where slack can be invisibly added.

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I am working on my very vibrant hat. It uses this tubular cast-on. I think I will do it again to get good photos though.

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I finally skimmed my way through the Wrapped In Comfort book. I am not whelmed. The Amazon review which said all the projects were the same thing is completely accurate. There is a yoke section, an increase section (which looks like rubbish in all the pictures) and a body section which generally uses a motif from one of Barbara Walker’s Treasuries. (Credit is given, and they are generally considered encyclopedic references.) More than half the book is these little anecdotes about smiling making the world go ’round. I will make the one shawl from it and see, but I suspect the library will get it.

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No social stuff this week. That new knitting group canceled. I was relieved and grateful not to be the one begging off.

I am nearly ready to start my own fiber-oriented group. I have done some preliminary investigation into potential sites. There really needs to be more stuff near me and no one else seems to be starting it. If you are in Oakland, CA or willing to come here, let me know you are interested.

Passing along ideas.

There are a lot of people who worry about spinning 2-ply yarn from different bobbins because (at least for beginners) there is rarely an even length on each. Some people even say the remaining single is “wasted”.

I came up with a two-fold solution. First, we should all be trying to spin consistently anyway. Second though, is making a Navajo ply of the remaining single. I usually get just a few yards of Navajo 3-ply yarn. The question becomes what to do with a sample-size skein. I cast on with the 3-ply. Making mittens or a hat… the first edge takes a lot of abuse. Or I have just that little bit of yarn if something needs darning later.

Now I do not worry about whether my bobbins are exactly the same. (Though it is a terrific feeling when the ends are less than a yard different.)

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Another thing I learned today was how to do a tubular bind off (which is a variant of Kitchner grafting) without a darning needle. Kitchner without sewing needle and Kitchner bind off
I am practicing that on a worsted-weight mitt before it comes up on Endpaper.

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Progress on the “Endpaper Mitt” proceeds at a slow pace. I did three rounds today. Since I started out this morning 20 rounds overdue, I need to move it along. But I can, pretty steadily, knit three rounds in an hour.

dyeing to be blue and .. pink?

Playing a bit of catch-up here.

I was talking to Boogie, who heard me bemoaning my lack of cookware that could be sacrificed to dyeing and she suggested I put my yarn in zip-top bags for boiling. Then the pot could still be used for food after.

The reality is that the acid dyes are not terribly non-food safe, but it is enough that I would not want to make soup in one that had been a vat for dye. About half my dye usage seems to be food coloring anyway, which definitely is not a problem.

I put a large kettle on the stove and filled with hot tap water. Since it was not for human consumption, I did not worry about the amount of lead or impurities which might be in the water and it dramatically decreases the stove-heating time.

My experience with the bags was not wholly what I expected. Let me detail what I did.

There is a concern about breathing in powdered substances and causing lung damage. One should definitely use a well-ventilated area and preferably wear a dust mask. It is my opinion that everywhere selling things which require safety precautions should be forced by law to carry those safety precautions as well. Power tools need hearing protection, but there is not usually a display of earplugs immediately adjacent or even a sign indicating where those might be located. There were no dust masks available at the store selling the dye.

I put the stove hood on high, pulled my shirt over my nose and mouth, and added a fractional-spoonful of citric acid powder. (The package says 1 Tablespoon per pound of fiber. I was dyeing 70g of fiber in two batches. There are about 500g per pound. So I was looking for about a fourteenth of a Tablespoon in each bag. I probably used between a third and a quarter of a “teaspoon”.) Then I added water to each bag and stood them in a (used but washed) take-out food container. I used a plastic tube (which had been one of those WTF packaging elements in a pair of shoes) and tapped it into the dye jar. I stuck the tube into one prepared bag and poured water through the tube to rinse the dye into the solution. Then I added another cup of hot tap water. To the other bag I added 30 drops of red food coloring, 10 yellow, 1 blue and a cup of hot tap water.

I washed my superwash yarn in warm water with a drop of soap added. Then I squeezed out some of the water and put a hank in each bag. (Rinsing the soap is not required and may even help the dye bond, according to the instructions. But I assumed it was like washing the kitchen floor, if the soap is diluted in a gallon of water, no rinsing is needed, if it is used full strength, a sticky residue would remain and rinsing is necessary.) The yarn which contacted the dye solution sucked up all the color. But the yarn near the top of the bag did not get exposed to the solution and did not get any color. The solution in both cases had immediately gone clear. I added another cup of hot tap water to the bag and a few more drops of food coloring immediately in the white area of the red bag. I sealed it and swished it and put it in the pot of simmering water. I did the same with the blue, though the straw was awkward while holding the jar, the bag, and the water for rinsing all at once. Luckily when I spilled, it was the exhausted water in the bag before the fresh dye was added. I was able to mop this up with a cleaning rag (usually used for dusting). I sealed and swished and put the bag into the simmering water.

Both bags were simmered (heat on) for 30 minutes and left to cool (heat off) for several hours. The bags float in the water, which is was unexpected, but only because I had not thought it through.

Upon removal from the water, each bag was individually handled. I turned on the tap, opened the bag and let fresh water flow in. This would guarantee minimal skin exposure to acid and dye. Then the bag was completely drained and fresh water added for the first real rinse. After that draining, the yarn was removed and rinsed in the sink while the bag was rinsed out. Some baking soda was shaken on, but no foaming or bubbles occurred which indicates the acid level was minimal. The yarn was removed and excess water was squished out. (Dyeing superwash yarn first is recommended because of the handling tolerance.) This was set on a clean but sacrificial t-shirt for drying. 35g of wool+nylon should dry overnight if it was sufficiently wrung out.

The resulting yarn is a monochromatic variegated yarn. It is exceptionally well done if that was the desired result. Since I had intended a solid color, I found myself somewhat dismayed. However that dismay was overshadowed by my thrill of the creation of a very useful kind of yarn. I call it serendipitous.

In future, I plan to use much more water when trying for a solid color. I hope that if the dye is suspended in a larger volume, the yarn will have a better chance to absorb the color evenly. That will require a new container because having a gallon of acidic dye in a slider-style zip-top bag strikes me as foolish. I also think that the bags would be ideal for boiling handpainted yarns. There is a suggestion that one can soak the yarn in the acidic water, drop on dye, then let the resulting colored fiber dry (so the colors do not bleed) then steam to heat set. If the handpainted fiber was only mostly dry it could be placed in a zip-top bag and simmered for 30-40 minutes. I plan to attempt that next time.

Overall my experience was very positive, even if unexpected things occurred. Since undyed yarn can be so much less expensive, I would highly recommend attempting this. I liked the Jacquard acid dye because of its color intensity. I really liked the citric acid powder in lieu of vinegar for the convenience. But the food coloring really does work quite well and there are no safety concerns about reusing the cookware. I did not like the Kool-Aid idea, even though that contains the citric acid and is obviously food safe. But the drink packets are quite expensive compared to 25 years ago and it seems wasteful of money.