theraineysisters knitting and so much more

I’m not sure this post will make any sense to someone who hasn’t knit or isn’t in the middle of knitting a Falkenberg Ballerina, but here goes anyway. In my update yesterday, I showed the raglan edge between the back and the right sleeve before the stitches were re-activated. Here it is again so that you don’t have to scroll:

Falkenberg has you alternate between reducing one stitch and two stitches through short rows on the raglan. It’s easy to keep track of where you are (and whether you need to be deactivating one stitch or two) because they clump together. If you’ve just deactivated two stitches, for example, you’ll see what looks like three stitches in a clump: the yarnover (which Falkenberg uses instead of a wrap) and the two stitches. Alrighty then. When you are working on the other side of the raglan line, you are “increasing” through short rows. Again, you either add 1 or 2 stitches. The problem is that when you are increasing stitches through short rows you knit past your last increase on your way to do the new one. It’s harder, therefore, to see what you’ve just done and remember if you are supposed to go up by 1 stitch or 2. I’m easily distracted, constantly interrupted, and I’m working with black yarn. (Note: on the sleeve side of the raglan edge, all of my stitches are black so I can’t just use the color change as a guide, which I will be able to do on the raglan side of the right front when I am increasing stitches there.)

My sister Susan came up with a clever way to keep track: she wove a contrast yarn around the stitches before she started the short rows. That made the knitting itself much more mindless. Here’s the method:

First, in addition to increases up the raglan via short rows, you are supposed to be increasing stitches at the other end of the knitting to form the sleeve. Falkenberg makes three stitches out of one to increase two stitches (instead of using short rows). Susan and I both wanted to be able to do a three needle join of the sleeve seam. So, before starting the raglan short rows I did a provisional cast on of all of my sleeve stitches using a contrast yarn. Then I knitted one row from the cuff edge to where the stitches would join the armhole and the raglan. At this point, things looked like this:

Then I wove a contrasting yarn through the raglan stitches.

Then I could start knitting, increasing on both sides. The blue yarn tells me to stop and turn. It’s mindless, and I don’t need to remove the blue yarn as I go.

I’m sure this probably sounds incomprehensible unless you’re knitting one of these; I apologize. As a reward for making it through this painfully boring blog entry, here’s a touch of fall.

Several of you had some questions about Ballerina, so we will attempt to enlighten and clarify:

From Susan to Judi P in Cleveland : I love my Ballerina and wear it frequently — sans button!  I suffer from “lack of waist” syndrome so I wear it over a jumper.  It never slips off my shoulders, never needs adjustment.  When I went on the Shop Hop three weeks ago, Rosanne was one of my travelling peeps and she wore her Ballerina — it’s exactly like the one Sally is knitting.  She never tugged or pulled, and it looked fantastic with black slacks and black turtleneck — she also wore a stunning necklace.  Sally started hers at this time because I described how great Rosanne looked wearing hers.  So, there are a couple of real life testimonials!

Check out this source for great pricing on Ballerina:
Cucumberpatch

Warning!!  Hanne just introduced a new design that looks like a cross between Sunrise Circle and Mermaid called Gloria — quite cute (Cucumberpatch for Gloria).

From Sally: Several people have asked me about the basting along the bottom of my Ballerina:

It’s not basting. I’m marking the ridges where I’ve made increases with a contrasting piece of yarn. Ballerina is short in the front, and it gets longer as you work your way around to the back. You start knitting with the left front. I’ve marked each ridge where I’ve made an increase so that when I start decreasing as I work towards the right front, I can decrease on the same ridges. In other words, it’s an easy way for me to try to make each half of Ballerina identical. I use the same method for marking increases on sleeves or increases/decreases for waist shaping.

Susan uses the same method. She described it here. Basically, when you get to an increase row, you “lay” a different colored yarn over the running thread between two stitches. Then you knit, which traps this yarn in place. It’s quick and easy and, if you forget to lay the yarn across the running thread until you are halfway through the row, you can pull it through with a crochet hook on the next (WS) row. When the garment is finished, you just pull it out. 

Another question was whether one wraps for the short rows. That’s a little more complicated. Falkenberg’s directions tell you to do a yarnover, rather than a wrap, for short rows. You knit to the turning point. (Remember, you are knitting garter stitch.) You turn. Instead of putting the yarn to the back, if you just knit the next stitch you create a yarnover. When you activate the stitches, you knit that yarnover with the following stitch and all is well.

BUT: I have found that other methods are sometimes prettier and you just need to experiment. For example, when I did the sleeve increases, I did nothing at all. No wrap, no yarnover. Why? Well, when you first knit the new stitches (to increase the number of sleeve stitches),* you are knitting on the wrong side. When you activate them, you are knitting on the right side. When I did these short rows using Falkenberg’s yarnover method, it just didn’t look right because the YO shows on the RS. It looked better doing nothing. (I have found this to be true in general with seed stitch as well as garter.) On the other hand, when you are activating stitches on the right side of the fabric, Falkenberg’s method looks great.

With the black yarn I’m using, you could use Falkenberg’s method and it would work; I just liked my method better, at least for the sleeves.   From Susan: I used Hanne’s method on my sleeves and did not like it for the reasons that Sally describes.  But it does look okay when you activate the sts from the RS.

From Susan: Another good method for garter stitch short rows is to wrap the stitch as usual for short rows but don’t pick up the wrap when you come back and activate the sts.  The wrap mimics the look of a garter stitch ridge perfectly.

*I had placed all of the sleeve stitches on a needle first through a provisional cast on and then added them in; I was not following Falkenberg’s directions.)

PS to Marina: I do not expect to knit Gloria: I already made both Sunrise and Mermaid, so I do not feel compelled (at least for the time being) to make Gloria!  But who knows??? 😉

Now that the first rush of excitement of our Roslin Hoodie pattern is past, and quick before we find any more mistakes, let’s get back to our regularly scheduled knitting and blogging.

I love Halloween — for some reason it’s always been one of my favorite holidays. Mayhaps it’s the candy. I usually carve a few intricate pumpkins, but I confess that this year’s are a little dull:

Fortunately, someone in the wilds of Colorado has been taking up the slack. Remember my little assistant? Here’s a refresher photo for those who don’t:

He’s been immortalized in a Halloween pumpkin by my daughter’s boyfriend. I think he may have found his true calling; it captures Batman perfectly.

As for knitting, I’ve embarked on another Hanne Falkenberg: Ballerina. I’ve had this kit for some time, and suddenly got interested in it when I finished Mermaid. I needed a portable project — my Kauni skeins are too large to carry around. Well, all I meant to do was get it “started,” but I got carried away. I’m just over halfway finished with it already, although I suspect my progress will now slow considerably.

Here are a few shots. First, Lucy is modeling it and wishing I would provide her with some kind of undergarments:

Here are some other shots that show the color and the pattern a little better. I was surprised, based on the photos I’d seen of this jacket, at just how many stripes there were on the sides. That part was a little sl-o-o-o-w.

For some reason, I’m finding this to be a more enjoyable knit than Mermaid — I’m not sure why. One reason may be that you are forced to knit the sleeves as you knit the body, so I know I won’t be faced with the drudgery of sleeves when the project is almost, but not quite, finished. It’s also a very clever design. As you finish the front, you knit one row of a garter ridge (which is always two rows) from the bottom to the neck edge, quickly (ha!) knit a sleeve, and then go back down the garter ridge and finish it. There is thus no side seam — you just keep going. You are supposed to go back later and seam the sleeves.

My clever sister Susan, who made Ballerina earlier, figured out an easy modification that allows you to join the sides of the sleeve in a three-needle bind off as you are knitting so that you don’t even have to go back later and do that bit of finishing. Instead of doing the sleeve increases as Falkenberg directs (by stitch increases), you do a provisional cast on of all the sleeve stitches and increase using short rows (as you do for the raglan shaping, etc.). Then, as you finish the last row of the sleeve, one side of the sleeve is already on a needle. You remove the provisional cast on from the other side and put those sleeve stitches on a second needle, and do a three needle bind off as you knit the last sleeve ridge. It’s brilliant and easy and eliminates finishing. I’m so glad she knit this first.