Knitting Math

Have you ever  ....

So many questions and stories start with this. Knitting math falls under this category. 

Have you ever knit and knit and knit and feel like you aren't getting anywhere?

Have you ever wondered why some knitting seems to fly while others drag on and on?

Knitting math 1.  Recently I wondered why a corner-to-corner dishcloth seemed to knit more quickly while a traditional cast-on with straight sides seemed to take forever.   I did the math to first see if it was because there is actually fewer stitches. 

First the traditional dishcloth example:

10 stitches cast on 

10 rows knit 

This equals 100 stitches knit 

Bind off the 10.

Now for the corner-to-corner dishcloth example 

Cast on 1.

Increase and knit across for 10 rows.

1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10=55 stitches 

10-1=9-1=8-1=7-1=6-1=5-1=4-1=3-1=2-1=1=45 stitches.  55+45 =100 stitches 

Nope, there is not a different number of stitches.  So what is the supposed difference?  Could it be the constant turning of the short rows?  The constant turning at the beginning and end will definitely make it feel like it's going faster.

Spring is here!

Many years ago everyone did spring cleaning.  Everything in the house was cleaned to within an inch of its life.  It was good for getting rid of the trash that had accumulated over the winter that weather might not have allowed to be removed.  This is less of a thing than it used to be.  Weather is not as harsh as it once was.  But it still feels good to do a deep cleaning after the house has been shut up over winter.

I'm going through this process in my knitting and crocheting.  I've been going through the boxes of yarns, tubs of swatches and blankets and stuff, boxes of books and magazines.  I need to paint the walls and ceilings of my crafting space.  As much as I want lots of color, I will be doing white.  White paint and a sheen will make the light bounce and spread unlike the dark color currently.

I have been going through the boxes one by one before moving them.  I have a list of things I want to find for various reasons.  I'm trying to collect all my swatch books in one place and make sure all the swatches are in them.  They're not.  I'm trying to collect my hooks and needles.  I thought it would be good to use what I have rather than buying.  Along the way I found many things like UFOs and projects from my teaching at Michaels, teaching at private lessons or guild retreats as well as things I have no idea where they came from.

So as I look through the boxes and find things, I'm putting aside the stuff on my list, the stuff I want to evaluate, and the finished stuff.  I also have added a box in my living room for the stuff to go to the various charities the guilds I belong.

So I have frogged so far all of the arm knit things.  I have no use for these things and they don't fit the criteria for the charities.  The yarn will be repurposed into things for the charities.  I have also frogged to reclaim the yarn a bunch of UFOs that for whatever reason have no clue what they are, have no pattern, or just plain don't interest me any longer.  Boy was that a big pile.  

I have also found a huge laundry basket of wool, cashmere, angora, you name it sweaters that I want to reclaim the yarn.  I didn't know I had so many.  Until I started checking them out.  Some were donated by my son that he doesn't want anymore.  These are all commercial knit sweaters not hand knit and come from thrift stores.  Those will wait for the reclamation process.

Have you gone through your crafty things yet?  It's a good idea every now and again to do.  It works to reacquaint you with what you have and make sure you still want to work with it.  If you don't, you have plenty of options.  Finish and gift.  Finish and keep.  Frog and keep the yarn.  Donate or sell it in the WIP state with the pattern so someone else can finish and keep it gift or frog it and make something they want with the yarn.

Happy spring!

Dreamwork

Recently I saw this topic on knitpicks blog.  Or was it a podcast?   Either way,  it was about people who are doing the things they dream about. 

I want to suggest something different.  I'm not going to talk about dream jobs.  Or dream projects.  Or dream fibers.  Have you ever dreamed a solution to a problem?   Have you ever dreamed a pattern that seemed perfect? Until you woke up and tried to write it down or put it into real practice......

One morning,  my husband said I had kept him awake half the night because I was teaching in my sleep.   I asked what I was teaching.  He said I wasn't all that intelligible to be understood. So maybe teaching in my dreams is a bad idea.

On the other hand, I have dreamed of a shawl/scarf pattern.  It utilized the Fibonacci sequence.  It was a knit pattern and had lace in it.  I tried so hard to write it down.  But that was just a beautiful dream. However, the idea has not left my mind apparently.  It has formulated itself into a crochet pattern that makes much more sense.  It still uses Fibonacci.  It should be done with multiple colors. Let's give this a try.  For those who want the numbers...

1+1+2+3+5+8+13+21+33+54+87+

Here it is in crochet. I suggest that this could be a great way to use variegated yarn.  Use whatever yarn you want. Use a hook two sizes larger than usual for that yarn and your personal gauge.

(1)  Ch2.
(1)  2sc in 2nd ch from hook. Turn
(2)  Ch1.  2sc in 1st St, SC in SC. Ch4.   Turn
       Ch1.  2sc in 2nd ch from hook,  SC to end. Turn
(3)  Ch6.  2sc in 2nd ch from hook,  SC to end. Turn
       * Ch1.  2sc in 1st St,  SC to end.  Turn.  Rep this row. 

(5)  Ch9.  2 sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc to end.  Turn. 

       * Ch1.  2 sc in 1st st, sc to end. Turn.  Rep this row 3x more.

(8)  Ch 14.  2 sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc to end.Turn.

       * Ch1.  2 sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc to end.  Turn.  Rep this row 6x more.

What does yours look like?  If I ever find mine I will post pictures.  4 plus years post move and I still can't find anything 

Have you considered doing this?

Years ago when my children were in elementary school, plastic canvas was enjoying a huge amount of popularity.  Does anyone else remember that?  Sadly I had boys who didn't really like anything made with that substance.  They were much more into match box cars and trucks and other modes of transportation.  Plastic canvas cars and trucks were more of a decorative than functional toy.  

I did find a leisure arts booklet for a plastic canvas circular Santa workshop.  I really wanted to make it .  However I couldn't justify the time it would take when I had things to do and make that my sons would like, want and use.  Things like hats, mittens and gloves and camping and digging in the dirt.

I was going to make this for younger son but he'd want to play with it and that would be bad.

Now that we have a next generation, the youngest wants a Christmas village.  I'm not sure if it was her hangry mood, her inability to express she didn't feel well or she really does want a Christmas village.  If she does, it's being made from recyclable materials and she can play with it.

I might crochet her a gingerbread house for next year.......

To Grinch Along or Not

Do you gift your needlework?  Do you do specific things for the holiday, any or all?  

The Knitmore Girls, Jasmin, Gigi, and Genevieve, subscribe to grinchiness.  They suggest that there should be no mad dash to finish Christmas gifts you are making for people.  To a point, I agree.  To a point, I disagree.  Hear me out.

If there are those in your circle who are worthy of your handcrafted goodness, do you really want to have the harried last-minute cursing that goes along with hurrying and making mistakes inserted in your project?  I don't mind finishing things at the beginning of the month the holiday is a part of.  Or two weeks before, whichever comes first.  This way I can enjoy the process and enjoy the decorative things this season.  I don't really want to finish things and have to pack them away until next year at the same time.  I'll probably forget them.

Right now, I'm working on a very large gift that is not a Christmas present but will be given at Christmas because this is when I will see this part of my family.  There are so many things going on and I can't enjoy any of it. My husband wanting me to go off with him every other minute doesn't help.  But there we have the wonderful chaos of life.

As soon as this large thing is done,  I have a couple pairs of slippers for my granddaughter and a quilt for her new bed. 

Fast forward to a new year and a new holiday season.  She received store-bought slippers and bedding for her new bed and she is thrilled.  She also got sheets that were her great-grandmother's and those made her very happy.  They were plush sheets with blue flowers.  The tie to Nana will deepen in the years to come I think.

This is a queen to king-size afghan.  The pattern is courthouse steps taken from quilting.  I don't remember where all the yarns came from.  The center of each 30-inch block is the basic diagonal knit dishcloth.  This is a 10-inch center.  Each strip is 5 inches deep.  All blocks are mattress stitched together.  The colors are special to my daughter-in-law to remind her of home no matter where she goes.

This new holiday season will probably be just as chaotic and just as full of fun and life as previous years and I wouldn't miss it for the world.  Happy holidays friends.  Much of my joy of knitting and crocheting comes from working on things when the mood strikes me.  If I don't have a deadline things can get forgotten.

Simple Shapes and How to Achieve Them

Basic shapes make up most of life.  I see circles, squares, and rectangles all over the place.  Triangles are a little harder to come by, as are ovals. 

A brief search of Pinterest will bring up many graphics of circles and squares and how many increases to add each go-around.  Let's start with the basics.

CROCHET CIRCLE

CH 4.  Join with a sl st in the first ch.

Rd 1:  Ch 1 (doesn’t count as a stitch), 6 sc in ring. Join with sl st in top of first sc.

Rd 2:  Ch 1,* 2 sc in each st.  Rep from * around. Join with sl st in top of first sc.

Rd 3:  Ch 1, *2 sc in st, sc in next 2 sts.  Rep from * around.  Join with sl st in top of first sc.

Rd 4:  Ch 1, *2 sc in st, sc in next 3 sts.  Rep from * around.  Join with sl st in top of first sc.

Continue in this fashion increasing the number of stitches between the increases every round.

CROCHET SQUARE

CH 4.  Join with a sl st in the first ch.

Rd 1:  Ch 3, 2 dc in ring, ch 1, *3 dc in ring, ch 1 (3x). Join with a sl st in top of ch 3.

Rd 2:  Ch 3, dc in same ch 1 sp, *dc in each dc to ch 1 sp, (2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc) in ch 1 sp.  Rep from * around.  Join with a sl st in top of ch 3.

Rep Rd 2 to sufficient size.  Fasten off.

KNIT CIRCLE

Cast on using Judy’s magic ring, 9 sts.  PM

RD 1:  Kfb in each st. Slip maker each round.

Rd 2:  * Kfb, k.  Rep from * around.

Rd 3:  *Kfb, k in next 2 sts.  Rep from * around.

Rd 4:  *Kfb, k in next 3 sts.  Rep from * around.

Continue in this fashion increasing the number of stitches between the increases every round.  If you do the increases every other round or more, you will end up with a hat shape.

KNIT SQUARE

Cast on using Judy’s magic ring, 8 sts.  PM different marker from others.

RD 1:  *Kfbf, k1, PM.  Rep from * around.  Slip marker each round.

Rd 2:  k around.

Rd 3:  *K 1, kfbf (middle st of the increase) K to marker.  Rep from * around, slipping markers as you go.

Rep Rd 2 & 3 until sufficient size.  Bind off using a stretchy bind-off of choice.

These are basic shapes suitable for shawls, blankets, and if you choose to try it, sweaters and other types of clothes.  For ideas on how to put these shapes together, look for schematics for granny squares on Pinterest.  There are some really good ones.

Blanket for granddaughter

I made my youngest granddaughter her own snuggly, cuddly, very warm blanket for when she gets a big girl bed. In the beginning on her youth bed (for those who don't know, this is the crib mattress on a very low to the floor twin like bedframe.  She thought she was a big girl until she got her big girl bed) this blanket fit the length and 2/3 back up.  This was fine because she could be cuddled in the softness front and back and kept warm.   

So far here are my particulars.  

Yarn is yarnspirations Bernat blanket stripes.  The colorway is chocolate rose.  It's a size 7 super bulky yarn.  There is a center section of magenta before continuing the chocolate rose.  Six balls of yarn were used.

My needle is a boye circular needle size US 13 with aluminum tips. It's a 29-inch fixed length.

My gauge is 1.5 stitches per inch and 2.5 rows per inch. I used just a standard garter stitch.  It's wide enough for covering a twin-sized mattress to all four edges.  It was a fairly quick knit given the size of the yarn and the size of the needles.  I was able to work on it during campfires and while waiting for people while I was in the car.  After the first ball or so, it was too large for travel knitting unless I was stationery.  

This blanket is heavy enough that she doesn't drag it off the bed but not so heavy as to be a weighted blanket and not let her move.  She still manages to take it quite a few places and likes it when she doesn't feel well.