Sweater Analysis

My friend Mary is in her 80's and an accomplished knitter. I spotted her wearing this beautiful Aran cardi a while back, and I requested the pattern...but it turns out the sweater is as old as I am and the pattern is long gone.

So, instead, she lent me the sweater for some analysis. I invite you to share on my "sweater deconstruction" journey...

Here's the sweater. Lovely, no?

[vintage aran cardigan]

Just looking at it, you can see that:

1. it's been knit flat in pieces, and sewn together. 

2. the sleeves are "set-in", not drop-shoulder or raglan

3. the font band is vertical (not picked up later and knit on), and has been knit separately and sewn on. Ditto the collar.

I think this method of construction was par for the course in the 1960's - nowadays lots of people tend to knit sweaters in the round, and do drop-sleeves, and knit on the front band and collar. 

Let's have a look at the stitch patterns to see if I can figure this puppy out. I'll start with the easiest one; the one that the sleeves are knitted out of and that runs up the sides of the sweater fronts and back:

["background" pattern]

This is pretty clearly:

R1: knit on RS

R2: purl on WS

R3, 4: K1 P1 ribbing

Then repeat, but offset the ribbing.

Right? OK. Look really really closely at the ribbing. 

[zoomyzoom on the ribbing part of the background]

The two blue arrows point to a column of sts from the ribbing rows, and the orange arrows point to the stockinette rows. You can see that the ribbing rows are twisted stitches while the stockinette is not. The left leg of each twisted stitch overlaps the right leg, whereas in the not-twisted stitches, the two legs originate from the same point. So, the actual background pattern is:

2 rows stockinette (K one row, P back)

2 rows twisted ribbing (KTBL, PTBL)

and then repeated, offset.

And don't feel bad if you got this wrong. I did, and tried plain ole' ribbing. Here's what I got, and you can see it doesn't look as nice!

[my swatch]

I was trying to get that crisp, ripply look and figured at first it was my needle size, so I kept downsizing. But you can see it didn't help! My wool is different too, of course - it's woolier than Mary's, so that doesn't help with the stitch definition - but I'm glad I decided on a closer inspection. I will have to redo the swatch now!

Next up: the bobble cabley thing:

[bobble-cable, in context]

This one's a bit harder, but it's clearly 2 rope cables twisting in opposite directions, separated by a bobble. Duh.

Now, in detail - I had to look on the inside, and stretch the knitting out to count stitches - the cables are over 5 stitches, and every twist is made of up 3 stitches in the front crossing over 2 in the back, and this is done every 4 rows. They're asymmetric, which is kinda unusual. 

Now, also notice that the right-side cable looks narrower than the left-side cable; this is particularly noticeable in the photo above. Why??

Again, let's zoom:

[zoom of bobble cables]

The stitches are again twisted! Telltale ridges are appearing along the RH cable (see yellow line to guide the eye). And, because the "through the back loop" technique twist stitches in the clockwise direction, I can imagine that a clockwise cable will look tighter than a counterclockwise one. Which is what you see in the pic above, right?

So, I have embarked on a swatch to combat this problem. It involves knitting TBL on one side of the bobble, and reseating the sts prior to knitting them, on the other side. It matters not which side you do what on; the point is that the stitch-level twist and the cable-level twist on each side are symmetric (either opposing each other, or going the same way, on each side). Of course, you could also omit the whole twist thing and just knit and purl, but then your cables will not be as tightly defined.

To reseat a stitch, you slip it knitwise to the RH needle, then transfer it back to the left while keeping the twist in place. Remove your RH needle from the stitch completely, or you will have a strong desire to knit it through the back loop, which will undo what you've just done! Now the stitch is reseated and ready for regular through-the-front knitting or purling.

Now, as to that bobble, this took me several tries, as well as some dives into stitch dictionaries to find out how to do bobbles. In the end I settled on a 5-stitch bobble. You can see my swatch below. Both cables are the same width and the bobbles look the right size. And below that, you can see where I tried plain old untwisted sts on the cables. I don't like the result as much!

[my bobbley-cable swatch, with TBL and reseated sts]

[another swatch, this time with no twisted sts]

Isn't this fun? Oh, and here's the chart:

[chart for bobble cable]

OK, almost done. Let's look at the diamond things.

[diamond pattern]

Yikes. This looks complicated. These are 4-stitch wide travelling bands defining a diamond, which is filled with moss stitch. The 4-wide bands are themselves cabled. To get this, you need to cable on both the front and the back of the work. If I use the bobble-cable on either side as a guide, I'm guessing the diamond takes 24 rows or so to complete. It stretches over 21 sts (includes 2 reverse stockinette "gutters" on either side).

Here's my chart:

[diamond pattern chart]

You'll see that I've done the travelling on the wrong side of the work (even rows) and the cabling on the right side (odd rows). I've worked up a swatch, too...

[diamond cable swatch]

I'm not entirely happy with this yet though. I think especially the diamond cable swatch is too small; too tight. I will try all these again with larger needles, now that I have figured out that the background stitch reqiures twisted sts!

I must say I am pleased that I am able to recognize a high-quality knitted garment. And close examination of it shows lots of expert-level pattern details! Mary is indeed a fine knitter.

Spinning for Socks, part II

I'm trying to get better (more consistent and thinner) at spinning sock yarn.

In addition to the things I've learned about setting up my wheel I've come up with a sort of training program for my spinning. Here's a description of what I'm trying. Note that I have only a very basic wheel, only a single treadle, no lace flyers or high-speed whorls or anything. So spinning thin is going to be slow! I figure I want to learn how to do it first, before I go out and start souping up my machine to make the stuff faster.

First, I measure the WPI of my favourite sock yarn and I knit up a small sample (20st x 20 rows or so) on my favourite sock needles (2mm).  I measure the gauge and make a little card that I write everything on, and tie it to the sample. This sample is the "goal". Then, I start spinning!

1. I purchased a hank of (cheap) sock roving (100g) from KnitPicks ("stroll roving" - undyed) - a superwash merino / nylon blend. I made it CHEAP to be sure that I wouldn't mind screwing it up. This is not going to turn into socks. This is for practise only! Note that this particular blend is quite slippery and very fine. I find that it's hard to spin woolen, so the short forward draft I described here is what I find easiest to use. If you use different roving (ex. something crimpy like southdown) you might find that a different drafting technique suits better.

2. I divided the 100g hank into 5-10 small portions and am making "mini-skeins", trying different spinning and plying techniques. I started with double, then moved to triple, and finally 4-ply trials. I've found this book particularly helpful for yarn construction ideas.

3. I use a small portion to spin up fine singles. Then, I measure the WPI. I visualize sewing thread while spinning and try to make it as thin as possible. Then, I ply it and measure the WPI again. Then I wash the yarn and when it's dry, measure the WPI yet again. Then I critically examine the yarn. Is it thin enough? Well-plied? Strong enough? I take my sock knitting needles and use the yarn to knit up a small swatch, and I measure the gauge of my knitting when I'm done. I write down all these measurements (WPI counts, knitting gauge, needle size) on a little paper tag, and tie it to the cast-off tail of the sample. I unply part of the cast-on tail so I can see the singles and/or the 2-ply.  Now I can use this sample to guide me in my next spinning session!

4. Then I move on to the next small portion . If I didn't like my first sample, I can adjust the number of treadles per inch of drafting (which changes the amount of twist in the yarn). If there's too much twist, I draft out a longer piece per treadle. If there's not enough twist, I draft out less per treadle. I find it easier to adjust what my hands are doing, than my feet. Somehow, my feet get into a particular rhythm/speed with the treadling, which is hard to break out of (must be all the biking I do). Once I'm satisfied with how thin I'm getting the yarn, I try a different plying technique. I first tried chain or Navajo plying, and then measured all the WPIs again and knit up another sample.  I'm not very happy with my Navajo plied yarn - it's pretty inconsistent!

 [Navajo/chain-plied 3 ply sample - note thick/thin parts which don't pass muster with me]

As I've gone through the portions, I find I'm spinning thinner and thinner. The focus on the measurements really seems to drive home that I need to take very small "bites" when drafting.

I've even tried  a cable-4 ply:  first spin the singles  Z, then (over)ply 2 singles together in the opposite direction (S), and then ply that back on itself in the Z-direction. I find it easiest to do the first ply to the "balance point" (ie. make a nice-looking balanced yarn), and spin the yarn onto another bobbin, spinning it up to double the amount of twist (rather than trying to overtwist on the first go-round). I've found that 4-ply cable produces really nice even yarn for me, even if it is still a bit on the thick side for my expectations. It's the most consistent I've done.The knit sample has a larger gauge than the 3-ply (I need to spin even thinner to get the same gauge!).

 

[4-ply cable sample in merino-nylon]

I'm still working on this program and have a collection of little knit samples now, and I think I've got a lot better feel for how to spin thin. I'm now trying a different type of wool (southdown), which is actually not easy to spin worsted because it's so crimpy and short. So I'm modifying my draw to a sort of "short backwards draw"; letting the twist get into the drafting zone but not drawing out a big long thread, only an inch or 2. The resulting knit sample feels quite different from the merino sock blend; it's a lot coarser and not as supple, even if the WPI and knit gauge is about the same. It is springy and very, very elastic. It's kind of like the difference between a piece of wool jersey and a piece of lycra!

[4-ply cable sample in Southdown - each of those threads is 2-ply]

The Swatching Game Continues

Back to that cardigan I've been slowly working on...

So I finished off one sleeve, blocked it and had Younger Son try it on for fit and approval, before starting on the second one. Just for your amazement, here's a photo comparing the two sleeves. Check out what happens to this yarn when you block it!

[ top: blocked; bottom: unblocked sleeve]

So this makes me kinda nervous about starting the body. But heck, here we go.

I measured the top of the sleeve (70 sts) to establish the blocked gauge, and then figured out how many sts to cast on for the body. The pattern has a 10+6 st repeat, and I will add 1 purl stitch to each side plus a 5-st steek for the middle (I'm making a cardigan). So I figure 181 sts for the body (176 + 5 st steek). Then I will cast on about 10% less to give a snug band. 

Done.

I've worked about 2.5" of 2x2 ribbing (same as for the sleeves) and, with smoke coming out of my ears,  have managed to get the design centered as desired while increasing the required 10% to get me to 181 sts total. Whew!

I will knit about 6" of the sweater, and then I'll take it off the needle and block it, just to make double-triple-quadruple sure that the gauge is where I want it. While I'm knitting, I will add an extra row or so every pattern repeat, just along the back of the sweater, the way EZ recommends. The way other sweaters hang on Young Son's skinny body, I figure I need the back about 1" longer than the front.

The yarn I'm using is Beaverslide 90% merino/10% mohair. This yarn has lovely earthy colours and a good price (1/2 the price of, for example, Brooklyn Tweed's stuff!), but I find it rather hard to deal with. For starters, the gauge thing has me very nervous, and then the yarn has lots of knots (6-7 per skein, typically only in one of the two plies), lots of straw ("vegetable matter" - OK, it's homey stuff and from sheep, so this doesn't bug me too much), very low elasticity (tiring to knit; this is actually a problem because I get very sore hands from it) and is not tightly plied, so the two plies tend to split easily - and this makes twisted-stitch patterns like this one a royal pain.

I've got two other projects in the stash from Beaverslide: a pair of socks (2-ply sport weight) and a thick sweater (3-ply "fishermans" yarn)...I think I will wash the skeins before I knit with them....see if that helps with the gauging issues...but gotta finish this one first!

Gauge Swatching Hell

So now the younger son wants a sweater. A v-necked cardigan, to be exact. With buttons.

We shopped for yarn and he decided on something from Beaverslide Dry Goods, which I think is cool because this is "local" yarn - grown, dyed, and spun in the western US and Canada. I like that idea. The yarn's nice, too - very soft, tweedy, and with a large range of muted colours.

Younger Son picked "sage", a greyish-green colour that reminds me of my childhood summers on the Alberta prairie.

Now for the pattern. He's not too specific about what he wants, so I'm going to have to run a bunch of swatches by him. He has indicated "cables" and "all-over"; not an aran in other words. Hm...

I first tried a swatch of one of Melissa Leapman's designs, but it didn't look good. The yarn knit up too big and the tweedy nature of the wool hid the cables. Nixed.

Next up: Kathy Zimmerman's Anniversary pullover.

I've knit up a swatch, it's looking promising. A quick "steam blocking" (pin the thing down on the ironing board and zap it with a blast of steam) gives me a provisional gauge of 5.6st/inch, so I will be trying a 100-st hat next. I want to confirm my gauge in the round (I knit the swatch flat, back-and-forth). Before blocking, the piece is quite stretchy (it's a rib-based design after all), while after the steam blocking you loose some of this. I'm assuming washing it for wet-blocking will have a similar effect...

[swatch of Anniversary Pullover stitch pattern. Yarn = Beaverslide Dry Goods 90/10 merino/mohair, colourway sage heather)

Armed with the swatch, I've set up for a larger swatch - a hat - 100sts and knit in the round. After washing it gently and laying it out to dry, it turns out that this yarn relaxes a lot. I now find that the gauge is closer to 5sts/in! It has totally changed its texture and is soft and fluffy. Very nice...but not as "ribby" and it has lost a lot of the stitch definition.

But, the Son likes the hat and is wearing it around. After a day or so I grab it off his head and measure it again. The hat (which was not particularly tight fitting) has now grown to 4.5 sts/in. Yikes!!

Now I am confused. Which gauge should I use to start knitting the sweater? 5.6 st/in?  5 st/in? 4.5 st/in?? This is a huge difference!

I've decided to use the 5 st/in, because:
1. the sweater will be washed at some point,
2. the sweater will not be worn on someone's head, and so the "stretching stress" is likely to be smaller than for a hat.

So, the next step is to start on a sleeve (something SMALL so I won't go over the edge if I have to frog!) and to knit up to the elbow, wash it, and see what I get:

[partial sleeve, washed and dried without stretching]

This is looking good. It fits well, Young Son is still happy with the look (although I find it disappointingly unlike the pattern picture). So I'm good to go for the 2 sleeves.