Shapely, Sexy Steeks

You may have heard that is possible to grow a human ear on the back of a mouse. So obviously, in my head, this translates directly to knitting. What if I grew a sleeve on the side of a body tube?

Ripley’s Believe It Or Not

When we knit with steeks, an enormous world opens up with regard to how we create the parts of garments. For example: What if my new Fana sweater were equal parts green with white, and white with green, in a color blocked arrangement? Something like this:

Cardigan by Gudrun Sjoden

I need some sweater parts in both color arrangements, notably left body tube, right body tube, left sleeve and right sleeve. The reversed charts are like this:

And here’s a little sketch for how the color placement might look:

Stay with me now; it’s about to get thinky. Let’s say I want to knit a round where the chart colors reverse in the middle of the round. Each time there’s a single-color round (lots of times in a striped Fana), I’d have to physically switch yarn sources in order to have the proper strand in place when I come back to it in the round. That’s intarsia, which we all know is a Dark Art.

Nope.

Instead, I can make two tubes of knitting; one in each of the color configurations. Each of my tubes will become one half of the body, and one sleeve, once I cut them apart.

The sleeve needs to be longer than the body, so I started it first. Then I cast on more stitches for 1/2 of the body tube with some waste yarn, and joined the round with steek stitches on either side of the sleeve. As I work away, I can decide on the exact sleeve shaping. Since I’m just knitting sweater pieces, which happen to be conjoined, I can make specific decisions about the way each piece is shaped as I go.

About halfway along the first sleeve, I’ve decided I want gathers up at its cap. For that I’ll need more sleeve width, so I’ll start increasing at shorter intervals now. All the while, I’m also making half of the body tube with every round. The body tube halves don’t need any shaping in this case, so they’re just straight-sided cylinders. If the finished garment needed bust darts or waist shaping, though, I could easily also work them on that half of the piece.

For more ideas about sexy knitting engineered by adding steeks, join me online for a thought exercise/adventure! We’ll explore knitted construction that is shaped with the strategic placement of cuts, and I’ll help you understand how to plan them. Oh, and you get to make this super cute thing:

Sign up HERE, and imagine your knitting in a completely new way.

Rabbit Hole

I can’t believe I’m knitting plain old simple stockinette in the round. It’s been For. Ever. since I found myself doing TV Knitting. Not that I’m complaining, mind you.

Yes, I know this is a totally bizarre way to construct a dress. You’ve known all along, Gentle Readers, that my process is somewhat, um, unconventional.

““...You have your idea you want to do, but then you got to figure out what does this thing want to be? You got to let it lead you a little.””

— Jerry Seinfeld

I always envision the result first, often at the most unlikely or inconvenient time. Then I’m compelled to find a way to get it. Then I figure out a way to show you how to get it. In at least four sizes. Always, I hope, keeping in mind that just because I conjured up a thing doesn’t mean you would enjoy it.

Once upon a time, I dreamt of the little rabbits in “The Unicorn and the Lady” Tapestries:

La Dame à la licorne, Musée de Cluny

I startled from the dream with the design fully formed in my head, and raced to draw it as a chart before the magic of that place between sleep and awake evaporated.

Wild Hare Mittens, ca. 2012.

At first he was a mitten. I wanted to work him out on a small canvas, and mittens are perfect for that. Once they were done, I thought the itch had been scratched.

But the Wild Hare, as he told me he was called, had other plans. He stayed with me, hopping around in my brain, always wanting to be something else. Something More. I told him to be patient, to wait for the right time, the right yarn, the right garment.

But instead, he did what hares will do: He multiplied. He insisted that he and his friends needed room enough to hop around. Perhaps in circles, so that they would never have to stop, and never worry they might fall off an edge. And he wanted a bigger, grander border to keep them company; something that would remind him of the Lady, and the Unicorn, and the tapestry where he was born. I resisted his his pleading. I told him there were books to write, children to feed, and other stories to be told.

The Wild Hare would have none of it. “A Dress,” he said. “You must make us a dress to live upon.” “I’ve never knitted a dress,” I argued. I wasn’t sure knitters would like to make such a big project. The Wild Hare didn’t care. He pestered and multiplied and haunted my dreams.

Seven years passed. The books got written, the children got bigger, and many, many other stories were told.

And then finally, one day, a box full of magic arrived, unsuspected, unsolicited, and completely delightful.

Shuksan Sport, Jorstad Creek

The softness. The drape. The halo. At long last, I gave in to the Hare’s entreaties. I had run out of excuses. It was time to go back down the rabbit hole.

Care to join me? Watch this space…

Technical Difficulties

Didja Miss Me?

My Hard Drive Blew. And by Blew, I mean: Black Screen of Death, Hope your last 10 years of data were backed up. Contrary to my expectations, they were not. I may have gone fetal for a bit there. So nauseating to think of losing ALL my knitting work, but I didn't.

So that was exciting and time-consuming. Thankfully a Technicious Genius came to my rescue and saved my entire knitting careers' worth of work.

Meanwhile, I retreated to the relative safety of yarn:

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Dicentra Designs has called upon me to make something special, for which Lisa created this delicious pile of lovliness. Holy Cats: wait till you knit with this! 

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A gorgeous and sexy three-ply super-soft merino, with the perfect degree of twist to make it bouncy and sproingy. And that was before Lisa got hold of it to apply her color magic! Get a load of that color! If it looks as though it was lit from within and the blue has about a million shades layered over it, that's because your eyes are not fooling you. And there are 5 variations on this blue. And three greens, an aubergine, and a tomato red, just because. Yep, it's gonna be a kit. And I designed a sweater for it. Here's a preview:

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I still have a Bee Problem. And I'm not sorry. Watch This Space.