Abacatha

Projecten die fout lopen, dat is misschien ook een goed onderwerp om eens over te schrijven? Lut gaf een commentaar op een facebook-post van mij: 'Prutsen is de meest onderschatte fase van het creatief proces'. Daar kan ik mij helemaal in vinden. Dus vandaag het verhaal van Abacatha. (foto van het patroon op Ravelry).

I got a comment on a Facebook picture stating that 'fiddling around' is the most underestimated part of a creative process. Maybe a good subject to write about is projets that have gone wrong? So, here goes the story of Abacatha. ...

In het origineel patroon gebruikt de ontwerpster  twee heel apart soort Japanse draden voor de achtergrond van de sjaal, één draad papier/viscose, één draad zijde/staal. Het motief is ingebreid met een draad mohair/zijde.  De gebruikte techniek om het motief in te breien is intarsia, maar in plaats van de draad te wisselen aan het motief neemt zij nog een extra draad mee (dus drie draden voor het motief). Dit creeërt een 'zwevend' effect, alsof het motief zweeft bovenop een heel lichte en haast transparante ondergrond. Ik heb geen papier/viscose en zijde/staal in mijn voorraadkast, mijn eerste proeflapje is met één draad linnen, en één draad Ijslandse wol. Ik heb geen foto van het eindresultaat, maar het zag er erg rommelig uit, niet goed dus.
The original pattern uses two strands of Japenese yarns for the background, one paper/viscose, and one silk/steel. The motif is knit in mohair/silk. The technique used is similar to intarsia, but instead of switching yarns at the motif, you will add another thread in with the working yarn. This creates an ethereal, nearly transparent motif. 
As I don't have the paper/viscose and silk/steel in stash, my first try is with one strand of linen yarn, and laceweight Icelandic wool for the motif. I don't have a picture of that swatch, but it did not look good.

Ik duik in de voorraad en haal verschillende mogelijke garens uit de kast. Hier het resultaat van mijn probeersels van onder naar boven (klik op de foto voor meer detail):

1. Bart&Francis Wool&Silks met Kidsilk Haze (onderaan het hele motief) of met Ijslandse kantwol (halve motief). Mooi resultaat, vooral met de Kidsilk Haze. En de felblauwe vlekjes in de Wool&Silks geven een speels effect! Maar jammer genoeg heb ik maar 450 meter van dat garen, dus niet genoeg om er een ganse sjaal mee te breien.
2. Bart&Francis Wol&Linnen en Kidsilk Haze. Dat ziet er niet zo goed uit. De Wol&Linnen is te dun, het is moeilijk om een mooi effen resultaat rond het intarsiamotief te behouden.
3. Wollmeise lace samengebreid met Wol&Linnen, motief in Kidsilk haze. Hier ben ik al veel blijer mee, maar het 'transparante' effect is er niet helemaal. Misschien zou een grotere naald helpen, maar dan heb je weer het risico dat de overgang tussen hoofdkleur en motief onregelmatiger wordt...

 After some stash diving I have several yarns I can work with (bottom to to top):

1. Bart&Francis wool&silks and Kidsilk Haze or Hélène Magnuson Love story = lovely, but I don’t have enough of the wool&silks to knit a big scarf
2. Bart&Francis wool&linen and Kidsilk Haze = the wool&linen is too thin, so it’s hard to keep an even tension around the intarsia
3. Wollmeise lace, stranded with Bart&Francis wool&linen, CC in Kidsilk Haze = I do like the combination of these yarns, but I don't have the 'floating' effect of the motif on a transparent background. Maybe I could use a bigger needle, with the risk that the tension around the intarsia will get sloppy again.

Conclusie: na twee weken proberen heb ik nog altijd geen resultaat waar ik echt tevreden mee ben. Anders dan bij kleurinbreiwerk over een volledige rij is het bij motiefinbreien (intarsia) moeilijk om een mooie overgang te krijgen tussen de kleuren. En eerlijk gezegd, ik ben dit patroon nu al moe. Het was plezierig om met al die garens en mogelijkheden te spelen, maar een volledig project wordt dit niet.

Conclusion: Intarsia is not too tricky, but stranded colorwork always looks smoother to me. I hate the little imperfections with intarsia that I always seem to get at the color changes. And to be honest, I am already a bit tired of this pattern. It was fun to play around with all the different yarns and see their possibilities and limitations, but this will not yield a finished object...


Afje: Blijven hangen in de proeflapfase - juli 2018

Finished Object: stuck in the swatching stage - July 2018

swatchtitis

.... the irresistible urge to swatch new projects. This 'knit from your stash' really helps me to look for possibilities in my oddball stash. I bought some handspun very fine singles in Stockholm, summer 2005. The name of the store is 'Anntorps Vav', a very nice small shop in the old center (sorry, no picture !). She does custom dyeing too. The yarn has no label, so I really needed to swatch. I was hoping to get a short lace cardigan out of it, but with my size and what I have on hand, that's not going to happen. I will need to frog this, and think of something else. I got the pattern for the 'canopy forest shoulder shawl' as a present, so maybe that's an option.

first finished object of 2007

I did finish the Jaywalkers socks, and hope to wear them soon. They are drying as I speak. This colorway wasn't too colorfast, my hands and needles came out stained after knitting with it. That's why I decided to give them a good wash first.

I frogged the brown socks. I didn't like the tiny cable in that dark color. And I lost a bunch of stitches when a needle slid out of the wip (work in progress) in my purse. I'll need to find a pattern better suited to this yarn.
I have also been inspecting my stash.

This is the cupboard in my livingroom, filled with oddballs, or special yarns, just enough for small projects. It's next to my TV, so when there's nothing on, I can admire my stash.

To keep my resolution of knitting from stash, I swatched with a variegated cotton paired up with some Rowan kidsilk haze. I bought the cotton in Venice in 2005.

The name of the shop was Lellabella, very nice but expensive. The kidsilk haze is from my local yarnstore, 't Wolwinkeltje in Leuven. (I must write one day about the yarnstores in my home town). The idea was to knit 'Tamarah', but my swatch learns me that that won't work. So now I'll have to think a bit more about what to do with these yarns.

And the jawbreaker cardigan is 'on hold' now. I finished the back, but am having second thoughts about the front. They are cut away, and slant towards the neck opening. I am wondering if this look will work on somebody who is not as flat as the model in the magazine.

not so mindless socks

I love to knit socks when I am inbetween projects, when I am stuck on a project, and when I am travelling. I use socks as a mindless project, I don't have to think about it, I can just knit and relax. So, when travelling to Torino, naturally I started a pair of socks.
I bought some sock yarns from 'storm op zolder' on the Stitch and Bitch event in Rotterdam.


The blue one is for my Secret Pal 9; the orange one is for my friend Jane in Texas, and the black/olive/sand yarn was destined to become a pair of socks for my son. To my surprise he didn't like the colors (but it has black in it, and olive !).
So I decided to start a pair of socks for me - I settled for the 'jaywalker socks'.

Now usually I knit my socks on 60 stitches, but this pattern calls for 76 stitches to cast on. OK, I thought, maybe this pattern has not much give, so it makes sense to cast on a bit more stitches. But when I had knitted the cuff, it looked soooo big, that I decided to decrease to 68 stitches. Well, let me tell you, this pattern calls for 76 stitches for a reason. And I only realised this when I had knitted the first sock, and tried it on. I could not get the sock over my heel. So frogging the first attempt was in order.
As my need for simple, mindless knitting was not satisfied, I cast on for another sock.

This is 'fancy rib socks', from the 'subscriber only' part of the Interweave knits website, knitted in Knitpicks 'essential'.
My second attempt at the 'jaywalker socks' resulted in another failure, that only got noticed when the decreases for the toe didn't add up. The zigzag pattern is formed by increasing on both ends of the needle, and decreasing in the middle. Somewhere I managed to increase without the corresponding decrease. I knitted a complete foot before this came obvious. So frogging the foot back to the heel flap was in order.
I have knitted this sock for the 3d time now - so I really got lots of knitting time for my money. And for the good order : it is entirely due to me not paying attention. There is nothing wrong with the pattern.