A Whole Field of Thistles

Greetings, Gentle Readers! I think it’s happening again: Over the weekend, copies of my Thistle Stole pattern started to fly out the digital door at a prodigious rate!

First and foremost, please accept my sincerest gratitude. Your purchases, as you know, support an independent artist, and allow me to continue operating my website as the (rare as a Dodo) ad-free space it is. This windfall is particularly appreciated right now, as I’ve been searching for a new day job since June, and I was really wondering what the remainder of the holidays would look like around here. Many, many thanks.

For the uninitiated, the Thistle Stole is a luxurious rectangular piece which is worked in a big round of stranded colorwork, with knitted hems at the cast-on and bind-off edges. Once complete, the round is cut open along a designated steek (!) to become a rectangle. Then the cut edges are bound with more knitting, and big bougie thistle-shaped tassels are added. Because as you know, Gentle Readers: More is More.

I don’t yet know who this group of Thistle Knitters are. Maybe it’s an extraordinary coincidence. Maybe it’s a private knitalong. Or maybe it’s a well-publicized group project that I have failed to find online. It’s a tantalizing mystery, and one I hope you’ll help me solve.

In any case, I’m compelled to offer my knitters, both the new and the Repeat Offenders, my help in addition to my thanks.

If you would like to add yourselves to the Royal Order of the Thistle (which I totally just made up), I cordially invite you to join in the fun!

Here’s How: Grab your copy of the Thistle HERE. Then if you have a question, want to send a photo, or would just like to say hi, Drop me a line any time as you progress. Here’s my EMAIL, and here’s where you can reach me over on RAVELRY. I’d be honored to act as your mentor and guide you through the process.

Additionally, if you’d like, I’d be happy to create a special Ravelry group just for you. That way you can easily talk amongst yourselves, share your photos and let me know what’s going on with you. If this is something you would like, please contact me and I’ll post the link to such here on the blog.

Since the original yarn I used to create the Thistle is no longer available, I’m especially interested in what yarns you’re selecting for your projects. I’m glad to offer opinions/suggestions/enabling for your substitutions, and a Ravelry group would be great for that. Again, stay tuned here for details.

I’m so honored and delighted that you you still love this pattern, because it’s a favorite of mine. Who knows? Maybe I’ll join you in a Thistle Redux: I’ve long thought this motif would make a gorgeous sweater, and have been waiting for the right time…

Cut Your Knitting: Part 2, Secure and Cut

So you've done all the math-y legwork. The stitches at the top of your body tube are divided and held on waste yarn. It's finally time for the shears!

Warning: This post contains graphic images of sweater-cutting. Not for the faint of heart.

Here's my body tube, inside-out and placed over the end of my ironing board.  This photo shows what I refer to as the "Yarn Tail Combover". Note that every time I ended/joined a color, I left 6" tails hanging on the WS. I tie knots to join strands, which you may have heard we're never supposed to do. That's only true in Fair Isle knitting, which Permission Denied is not. My yarn contains slippery silk and alpaca. Tying knots is the best way for me to manage it. And I can tie as many as my heart desires, because I'm not going to weave them in. That's right. I'm going to trim them all off and hide them under the same covering I use to hide my cut knitting edges. 

First, I do the Combover: With my fingers, I comb the tails so they lie horizontally across the steek. Then I stick them down to the WS of the body tube with painter's tape. Notice that the tape is well away from the area where I'll be securing the steek. Depending which edge of the steek the knot ended up on, I comb the tails away from it and across the steek.

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Then I secure the steek with four passes of machine stitching. Is this the only way to secure a steek? Of course not. But it's the best way for this yarn and this project. Come see me in "Eeek! Steeks!" class for more (gobs more) on the subject.

Once the steek is secure, I gently lift the tape away from the body tube, without removing any of the yarn tail strands from the tape.

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I carefully trim the tail strands, right up next to the outermost line of machine stitches, kind of like a haircut.

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All the yarn tails stay attached to the tape for quick and easy disposal! Sexy Party Trick Complete.

Time to Do The Deed. I carefully cut between the center two machine-stitching lines. Slasher photo:

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And that's it. Mischief Managed.

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Are YOU ready to be a cut-up? Do comment with your questions.

Cut Your Knitting: Part I, Sweater Math

So you've finished your Permission Denied body tube. Congratulations! That went really fast, didn't it? I'm always amazed how fast and easy it is to knit stranded colorwork sweaters, once the groundwork of gauge, motifs and charts has been accomplished. Now what? Before we cut, a bit of prep work will get us ready to hack into our knitting with confidence. Job One: Math. With all the body tube sts still live on my needle, I BO the center front steek sts. Then I break the working strand(s), and set it aside while I do the following:

First I draw an oval shape in my knitting notebook. This represents the top of my body tube, if I were looking down on it from above. In the center of the oval, I write the original number of body sts from my cast on, exclusive of the steek sts (243, for my sweater). At the bottom of the oval, I draw a little space that represents the bound off steek sts. Since they are bound off, they are not part of any of this math; it's just a visual representation.

Next, I draw the location of my armhole steeks. Since there are no special waste sts cast on for these, they are just regular old live sts located at the sides of my body tube. I usually designate 6 sts for each of the armholes, but I found out I could match the pattern perfectly at its shoulder seam if I only used 5 sts for each armhole. Thanks, Knitting!

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Now I visually divide the body tube into sixths. On the back half of the sweater, there are 3 groups of sts, roughly 1/3 of the back, each. On the front half, there are 4 groups; 2 for the shoulder fronts, roughly 1/3 of the front each, and 2 little groups, one on each side of the center front which add up to the last 1/3 of the front. These  groups of sts will become my shoulder fronts and backs, and my neckline front and back. 

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I label each of my 7 stitch groups with their approximate fraction of the whole body tube, minus the armhole steeks.

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Now I can haul out my calculator and find out how many stitches are in each of these groups.

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First I subtract the stitches I know I'll need to use for the armhole steeks (243 - 10 = 233). Then I divide by 6 (233/6 = 38.666). Now I can round each group up or down to get whole numbers of stitches. The 4 shoulder groups (Right Front, Right Back, Left Back & Left Front) all have to be equal, so that's easy. I'll give them 38 sts each. I'll round up 1 st for the center back group because I started with an uneven number, which gives me 39 sts for the back neckline. Then I'll use the remaining 42 sts in my round for the front neckline, placing half on each side of the center front steek. This means that the center front neckline is 3 sts wider than the center back neckline. I could move everything around to make my groups more equal, but then my motifs won't match up at the shoulder seam. 3 sts is an acceptable margin of difference, in my experience, so I'll roll with it to make my motifs match at the shoulder joins. Then I check my math by adding all the stitch groups back together: 21 + 38 + 5 +38 + 39 + 38 + 5 + 38 + 21 = 243. Yay!

Now all I do is thread a tapestry needle with some smooth waste yarn and place each group of stitches on its own separate holder. When I come to the armhole stitches, I bind them off by looping one over the next with a crochet hook. Here's my actual sweater, with its live stitch groups held by waste yarn:

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As you can see, in this photo I've already cut my center front open. Wait until part 2 for that, please. I still have a couple of things to show you before you actually cut. Stay Tuned!