The Walker Treasury Project

on April 4, 2007

Have you seen it? So cool! The deal is, it’s an attempt to illustrate Barbara Walker’s stitch pattern treasuries with full color photos in a searchable database. If you have the books and want a better view and maybe a little opinion on a certain stitch, you can look it up online. People have to knit all the swatches and take the photos, so if you think it sounds great, go join up!

I donated a swatch of Chain Link Cables from The Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

Left to Right: Left Wave Chain, Right Cross Chain, Left Cross Chain, Right Wave Chain
Yarn: Cascade 220
Wraps Per Inch: 14 wpi
Needles: Size 7 US (4.5 mm)
Gauge: 5.25 sts. per inch in stockinette
Pattern: 9 stitch cable crossed every 8th row
Stitch Count Repeat: Multiple of 9 stitches
Book: A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns
Page:213
Difficult Techniques: Requires 2 cable needles.

It’s the one I used in Mr. HelloYarn’s gansey and my favorite cable EVER.

13 Comments

Actual Spinning

on April 3, 2007

And my first Project Spectrum post all in one. I’d never looked at the rules before because I was sure there was much more to it, but nope. There is no pressure, and so far, I just let it guide me when I wasn’t sure what color to use for something. (Hot pink Cascade 220 swatch coming tomorrow!)

I’ve been dyeing just a bit extra of all the fibers I make for the shop lately. Usually, I dye an extra ounce per 8 oz., because the ends of the top get all crummy from swishing around in the water and I have to toss them. Lately I’ve just tacked on an extra ounce and now have 4 oz. bags of each dyelot set aside for myself. I mean, I’m doing all the labor, but somehow having all those pretty bags of fiber after a shop update feels like someone’s giving me presents. This is the first spun up, color selected by Project Spectrum:

4 oz./ 229 yards
worsted 2 ply
ratio: 1:10.5 spin and ply
spun from Cosmos Merino wool top

The Opinionated Knitter arrived in the post yesterday and I’m thinking a Baby Surprise Jacket from this and some of this and this spun in the same way. I don’t even know any babies, but whatever, that thing is so cute. This photo hardly shows the sweater at all, but seriously.

Also finished is poor poor Emily’s superwash Merino yarn.

superwash Merino wool
worsted weight 2 ply
10.4 oz./ 574 yards
ratio: 1:10.5 spin and ply
For Emily, the master of swaps. Emily sent me gorgeous tea/coffee bowls ages ago in exchange.

Thanks for the lovely comments on the pulse warmers. Don’t be afraid of the gauge! I knit one per evening and did the button bands/ finishing the third. It’s not too terrible- like knitting socks.

11 Comments

Free Knitting Pattern: Mushroom Pulse Warmers

on April 2, 2007

mushroom pulse warmers modeled
I’m a hand model!

Get the pattern.

SUPPLIES:
YARN: Rauma & Røros Lamullgarn- 1 skein each of #11 (MC– white), # 43 (CC– red) and #15 (CC2-black), 250 meters/50 gram each. 2 ply 100% lambswool –OR– approx. 15-25 grams of MC and very small amounts of CC & CC2 fingering weight wool yarn
NEEDLES: Size 0 US, or size needed to get gauge
BUTTONS: 4, approx. 3/4” in diameter
SIZE: S (M, L, XL)
TO FIT: 5”- 5.5“ (6”-6.5“, 7”-7.5“. 8“-8.5“) -measure wrist over wrist bone
ACTUAL MEASUREMENT: 7” (8”, 9“,10” ) long and 3” high
GAUGE: 9.5 sts. and 11 rows per inch in chart pattern.

mushroom pulse warmers

A bit about colorwork, for those unfamiliar:
In my experience, holding the background yarn in the right hand and the patterning yarn in the left results in a much clearer knitted design. This pattern has 3 colors used in the same row, so I held the black under the red in my left hand and the white in my right. It’s not awfully difficult or anything, but you do want to keep the strands organized, particularly in a sticky yarn like this, or you’ll end up with a painfully tangled mess, complete with hissy fit (or is that just me?).

Here are some links that deal with knitting in more than one color:
Knitting in Color
Fair Isle 101

About gauge:
I know there’s going to be resistance to swatching for this project- I mean, the thing is the size of a swatch. My thoughts are that I’ll give you a gauge for this yarn in stockinette in the recommended needles and you can guesstimate your gauge that way, or, if you know your usual sock gauge, you can adjust needle size from that and just forge ahead. Just don’t blame me if you’re off! This is absolutely not guaranteed to work. The garter edges are knit flat, so why not work one of those and then take your work off the needle, lay it flat, and be honest with yourself about the size?

The gauge I got for this yarn in stockinette on size 0 needles is 8.75 sts. per inch.

See the pattern for discussion about gauge, yarn, and steeks.

18 Comments