Jan 21, 2012

Finally set this up right!

I have finally taken the time to register on blogspot.com to create a real blog. Please go to

sallymelvilleknits.blogspot.com

for all future blog posts. I will repeat my favourite posts from here, and eventually new posts will appear there. all I've left here are very old posts with photos--often with accompanying instructions that I may have told you about in a class.

FOR THE MOMENT ONLY (AND UNTIL I CAN REACH MY TECH GUY), the photos that accmpany the following posts are refusing to be loaded.

December 9, 2010

Keeping the Faith

Wow,  I cannot believe it's been so long since I've posted here. I'll make it a New Year's resolution to get here more often. But the fall has been busy--with babies and all the good stuff they bring.

So, speaking of babies, I am putting a new free pattern on my site--a baby version of one of my favourite patterns from our new book, the Center-panelled Vest.  It's something I first knit for Ada (for her first birthday), but when Eliana saw it , i knew I had to knit one for Leila. It really is the perfect garment for a baby girl--to keep her core warm and to garner compliments on her fashion sense.

In the meantime, I thought you might like to see a photo of this piece (the one Leila is wearing on the PATTERNS page) before it was sewn up. It's something I've always thought should be shown--how truly awful something looks before it is sewn and blocked. (For me, blocking is usually washing, but it could be steam pressing also.)

Doesn't this speak to how amazingly optimistic knitters are?! That we can make something that looks like this and keep the faith through the finishing, knowing that all will be well?!? I think this is one of the truly terrific things about knitters that should be celebrated: that we can set a goal and then happily and persistently keep knitting even though it doesn't look like much! How wonderful are we!!!

August 30, 2010

Travelling and Knitting

I just returned from a trip (Scottish Serenade) with Craft Cruise Specialists and unpacked my luggage with yet more lessons learned!

But first let me say that if you have never done a knitting cruise or entertained the idea of one or have any understanding about this experience, it is wonderful! Imagine seeing places you've never seen with a built-in list of the best yarn shops to explore. Then imagine coming back to the ship to a group who are thrilled to discuss your purchases with you as you sit and knit with them all evening. And then picture people (not always women) stopping by to visit with this evening-knitting-group, querying what you are doing, telling you how much they envy you, and asking where they can buy yarn and needles the next day!

Finally, imagine this joy supported by meals prepared and rooms cleaned by wonderful staff!

So, on these knitting cruises, one does buy yarn! Whether or not you are prepared to, you buy! Whether or not you need more yarn, you buy! Whether or not you have any idea what you will make with said yarn, you buy! I certainly do not want to minimize the thrill and significance of buying yarn in far-off places that you could never find at home and will handle with future nostalgia.

But here is what I have learned with repeated experience of these purchases.

• If you don't know precisely what you are going to do with it, you run the risk of buying the wrong amount or (sadly) never using it. So it's a really good idea to have a favorite, tried-and-true pattern handy.
• Lace weight yarn weighs less and takes longer to knit up! And you don't usually have to worry about buying the right amount. So it's the best weight yarn to both carry in your luggage (to knit on) and to buy in these far-off places.

I saw the Citron scarf (a free pattern on knitty.com) at The Constant Knitter in Dublin and fell in love with it. So I bought Manos lace weight to knit one on the trip. It was finished before we dis-embarked and much admired.  But I did make changes to the pattern, and I offer them here. (The reason for the change is that Rosemary--the yarn shop owner--made her m1's the same way plus expressed that her ruched areas were not as full in the lace weight version as they were in heavier yarns: so I added more stitches to my ruched areas.)

• For all m1's, do not twist: just lift the thread between the stitches and knit it. (This will give you nice little ooined-up holes.)
• For all rows 1, instead of kf&b, work (k1, yo, k1).
• Do not count stitches for rows 2-6: you will have close to 50% more.
• For all rows 7, instead of k2tog, work s2kp.
• Your stitch counts for rows 8-20 will be correct.
• I did not change (by adding to) the number of stitches for the final frilly edge: it seemed frilly enough, and already had a huge number of stitches!

Oddly, even though I had close to 50% more stitches for some of the rows, I still only used 1 skein of the Manos lace weight. I can't explain this because (according to the pattern) I should have required a second skein. (I used 3.25mm needles, but I am not a tight knitter!)

Here she is! I love her and look forward to knitting another one!

May 10, 2010

Another adaptation

Since doing the work on MOTHER-DAUGHTER KNITS (the KNIT TO FLATTER AND FIT  chapter), teaching the KNIT TO FLATTER AND FIT class, and just paying more attention to what looks good on me, I've become a fan of garments with a little more shape--with a little 'nip' at the waist. And so here is a second adaptation to a pattern from THE PURL STITCH--to the CROSS-OVER TOP, one of my favourite pieces. (I already own 4 of them and am knitting a 5th.)

There are photos below that show both options. The reason you would choose one option over the other is a) the look you prefer, b) the amount of work you want to do, c) how many buttons you have available, and d) how much more yarn you have available.

 OPTION ONE

This one requires the most work, 6 more buttons, and more yarn. (Below is a photo of both the front and the back. This is the original garment from THE PURL STITCH.)

• Work the garment as written, but do not sew up the side seams. (If you are working with an existing garment, undo the side seams.)
• Pick up and knit along both FRONT sides (the edges that should have gone into the side seams) exactly as you did for the button band--picking up and knitting 3 stitches for every 4 rows--marking places for and making 3 button loops--as written in the button band directions.
• Try the garment on, and determine where you will put the 6 buttons (3 on each side). (I overlapped each side by about 3" at each hem and 1" at each underarm.)
• Sew down the edging.
• Sew the overlapped bottom bands together as needed.

OPTION  TWO

This one requires much less work, only two buttons, and very little extra yarn. (I only show a photo of the back. This version was recently knit from CASCADE 220, which got gauge beautifully.)

• Work the garment as written, including all finishing.
• Make a 'pleat' at each side of the back. (The fold lines of mine are about 3" from the side seams, and the overlap is about 2".)
• Along the fold lines, and extending from the bottom edge upwards, pick up and knit as for the button band--picking up and knitting 3 stitches for every 4 rows--for about 3", making one button loop right in the middle of this little piece of band--as written in the button band directions. (This is a little more difficult to understand, because it doesn't have an 'end point.' I think my little pleat edging had about 18 stitches. And for this edging you will pick up and knit through the stitch at the fold line. Perhaps the photo can help.)
• Sew down the edging.
• Sew on the button, and sew the overlapped bottom bands together.

Mar 2, 2010

My Olympic project

Some years ago--well, four, to be precise--Stephanie Pearl-McPhee introduced the concept of knitting an Olympic project--something started and completed during the days of the Olympics. So here's mine. But first, its introduction.

In MOTHER-DAUGHTER KNITS, I have a coat called The Camelot Coat, so named because it reminded me of the iconic style of Jackie Kennedy. Every time I showed it--in classes or at book signings--I would hear "You should make one for Michelle Obama!" After a podcast, in which this story was repeated, I received a phone call from someone who agreed that this should be given to the First Lady. This phone call did not come from her office, but it did come from a knitter who was "connected" enough to assure me she could deliver the coat to Mrs O. 

So, I made it my Olympic project to knit this coat--knit in a spring green that we chose together, and made to be delivered in time for a Washington spring. Below is a photo of it--knit in the same yarn as the book's version (CASCADE Eco+) and with arm-warmers designed by my daughter (which will appear in our next book), knit in yarn from MOUNTAIN COLORS (that they made specially to go with the coat).

I did send a cover letter with the coat, and I have included a portion of it here.  (The rest of the letter speaks to the coat itself plus includes a few words from my daughter.) It would be our dream to see the First Lady wearing a hand-knit item . . . perhaps on a spring trip to Canada?!

Dear First Lady, Michelle Obama,

It is my honour to offer you this hand-knit coat on behalf of knitters everywere.

You may not be aware of the resurgence in knitting's popularity in the United States (and Canada), but it is no longer an activity of             predominantly older women. Young women join aging women—and yes, a number of very intelligent men—to discover the joys and         rewards of knitting.

• It puts us into our right brain—the place which accepts new ideas, sponsors creativity, supports healing, encourages optimism, and says "yes" to the universe.
• It offers a refreshing alternative to hours in front of a computer screen.
• It is the basis for countless social networks, connecting families, friends, cultures, and traditions.
• It is an antidote to boredom, providing hours of low-cost entertainment.
• It teaches us to set goals and work patiently towards their conclusion.
• It honours the "maker" in each of us, counteracting the acquisition of quick, cheap, overseas goods.

Knitting is introduced to every 6-year-old in Waldorf Schools because founding educator and leading philosopher Rudolf Steiner             thought it the perfect human activity. Millions around the world are discovering his wisdom.

I offer this package to you—representing all that knitting means to me and many, with optimism for you and your family, with respect for     all you do, and with the hope that I have expressed this adequately on behalf of knitters everywhere.

And here's a photo of the coat itself! I hope you approve!

Jan 25, 2010

Challenge a basic assumption!
(This includes substituting a solid with a variegated.)

Sometimes, I--like most everyone at some time or another--find myself thinking "That won't work." And as soon as I hear those words I know there's a potential lesson to be learned.

For example, I was once knitting with 3 variegated yarns (one row in each) and wanted to work short rows. But how do you work short rows when the yarn you need next is waiting at the other end of the row--not available in the middle of the row where the short row will turn? The answer was to work all yarns down to one end (on circulars) and to work 2 short rows in each. I was pretty sure that the messing-up-of-the-sequence wouldn't show much in the variegated yarns. And it didn't.

Well, thought I, that works find with variegated yarns. But messing-up-the-sequence isn't gonna look so good if my 3 yarns are solid? Again, here came the lesson. If my yarns are solid, all I need do is choose one of the colors as the only color to be used through my short-row sections. This, too, worked well and turned out to be a cute feature of the color-pattern / design that one of the colors is featured in repeated short-row shaping.

In both cases, the answer was to challenge the assumption that I must work each yarn in turn and for only one row. It speaks to the lesson taught by the inventor Paul McCready: challenge basic assumptions. It'll give you an solution to a problem every time!

I can't post photos of the garments mentioned here because a) they are patterns not published yet and b) one of them is a gift yet to be given. But the results can be seen in my STRIPES AND STRFIPES THAT AREN'T workshop in which we play with these concepts--with both solid and variegated yarns.

And speaking of variegated yarns (and the SECOND SWEATER SYNDROME I spoke of in Dec, below) . . .

. . . here are photos of garments (shown in Mother-Daughter Knits in solid yarns) re-knit in variegated: the Gray Cardigan and the Inside-Out Panel Skirt. (The former is shown here in Queensland Collection Rustic Tweed, color 909; the latter is shown here in Mountain colors Weavers Wool, color 'crazy woman,' with River Twist, color 'stillwater river' as the edging.)

It's another challenge to our basic assumption, isn't it? We see something knit in a solid yarn, and we assume it must be knit in a solid yarn! (Check out the Two-Tone Pullover, from The Purl Stitch, shown in my Nov 30 post in a slightly different shape and a variegated yarn.)

I see re-knitting in a variegated yarn as an essential part of my work . . . and not counting as an SSS affliction?





  

Nov 30, 2009

Shaped Two-Tone Pullover

One of the reasons I haven't posted here is that I've been doing so much teaching. And my favourite class to teach is my new one, KNIT TO FLATTER AND FIT.  It's so much fun to see the bells go off as people see what they can wear . . . and what they can't . . . and why.

(Speaking of bells going off, I am going to write tomorrow about what happened to me when I knit the sweater. My goodness, that'll be DECEMBER!)

So one of the things we've been discovering is that everyone looks good with some degree of waist shaping on a sweater that lands on the hip. I decided I needed a very simple garment with this shape. (If what I am saying doesn't make much sense to you, check out my introduction to this material in the BOOKS page of this website, and then go to the Knit to Flatter and Fit chapter of MOTHER-DAUGHTER KNITS for a full discussion. And I will speak a little more about it in tomorrow's post.) 

I already had hand-dyed yarn on hand--two shades of Grandma's Blessing from Briar Rose Fibers (www.brierrosefibers.net). With it I had planned to simply knit the Two-Tone Pullover from THE PURL STITCH. (I did not care that this yarn was sport wt--6 stitches / inch--because I knew the sweater was simple enough to re-gauge: go to the COLOR book to see how to do this yourself. It's very easy!) But that original sweater wasn't shaped. How to translate this new information about shaping and length into an old pattern?

It was simpler than you'd think, and here's what you can do with that pattern from PURL.

1. Cast on the number of stitches demanded in the pattern + 10%.
2. Work the pattern as written to the distance between where you want the garment to fall on the hip and your waist (approx 5-6"?).
3. Change to 2 sizes smaller needles, and work 3" in 2x2 rib as follows (over a multiple of 4 + 2 stitches--so you might have to do a little increasing or decreasing across the first rib row): *k2, p2; repeat from * to last 2 stitches, k2.4. End after working a WS row.
4. Change back to larger needles, and work the first row as follows: *k9, k2tog, repeat from * to end.
You now have the right number of stitches for the pattern and can finish it exactly as written.

I know the rib at the waist is a little difficult to see, but please believe that it makes all  the difference in how the garment hangs. I get many compliments and requests for the pattern when I wear it!