The Sum of the Parts

My work on the Modern Fana continues apace! For those playing along at home, you’ll remember that my cunning plan was to grow a human ear on the back of a mouse. Which is to say that I’ve now grown a sleeve on the side of (one half of ) a cardigan body. The point of these machinations was/is to get all the pieces of knitting I need, while reversing the color dominance of the star bands with a minimum of fuss in the circular knitting.

Having most of the knitting behind me, I thought it would be fun to show you the various pieces I now have, and what they are/will become.

Here’s one half of the project. It’s a tube of knitting which is part sleeve and part body:

Once I cut the two pieces apart, they’ll be like this (notice I’ve gathered the sleeve cap below the facing - a new twist!):

Once I arrange those pieces into a garment, I’ll (finish and) attach this swell hood, upon which you can see the effect of reversing the color placement on the star band:

I’m working it in the round (natch), with a steek. when it gets to the right bigness, I’ll work some decreases at its center back to make it head-shaped. Once cut, the steek will attach at the neck edge and be covered by a sexy knitted band. Because sexy is as sexy does, don’t ya know.

And lastly, I’ll remove all the provisional castons, working edgings in their stead. Then embroidery. And rhinestones, mirrors, tassels and pompoms. Because more is More.

And if all of that happens, you’ll see it here, Gentle Readers. Watch this space!

The Power of Yes

Greetings, Gentle Readers, and a belated Happy New Year! Along with health, prosperity and yarn, in 2022 I wish for you something I’ve newly rediscovered: The magic and power of simply saying “Yes”.

I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions. That way lay peril, my friends, and the unhappiness guaranteed of disappointing oneself. No, instead, I wish you the gift of Yes.

A simple answer in the affirmative to all that life is offering us, every single day.

Here are some examples of Yes working its magic in my life so far this year:

Will I accept an invitation to a weekend at the beach in spite of not knowing anyone there? Yes. Result: a gaggle of new like-minded friends with different life experience than my own, and a standing invitation to visit their beach house.

Will I try digging for clams, even though it’s really cold and I don’t know how? Yes. Result: My first bivalve capture, and subsequent chowder.

Will I finally trust my daughter’s advice that I’ve been wearing my jeans three sizes too big and get sexy new skinny ones? Yes. Result: Immediate reduction in the number of times I hoist my sagging trousers, and a surprise coffee invitation.

Will I agree to have coffee with a funny gent who landed on my doorstep, even though I might have to talk about something other than knitting? Yes. Result: Instant connection. Sparks, even.

So that’s my hope for you all, Gentle Readers. Please look carefully at this day, with the stated purpose of looking for ways to say Yes. They’re all around us, all the time. The universe loves us and wants us to be happy. Yes to caring for yourself in little ways you’ve been putting off. Yes to taking the route less travelled, just because. Yes to my challenge to knit fearlessly (more on that, anon).

Remember that you are precious to me, and the best is yet to come. Yes to 2022.

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.