Old News

Deadline knitting isn't good news for the blog, which I why I have some old news to share today.  I worked up a design for some stranded knitting awhile back, and knit up a swatch, but never got around to posting photos.  As you can see, the colors in my paper pattern are definitely not quite accurate, and--I was a little surprised to see--the motifs look taller and narrower in the swatch.  The boxes on the paper pattern are stitch shaped-- wider than they are tall-- so apparently the stitches in the swatch are more square than I thought they would be (and in fact the gauge is 12 sts/11 rows to 2 inches).  I wonder if this is typical of stranded knitting or whether this means that the tension on my floats is too high?  (Anyone?)

As for the colors, I like the combinations in  both of the large motifs-- the orange and the blue/green bands-- and I like them both with the narrow motifs.  But I don't think I like the large motifs together:  the bright orange and the muted green just don't do it for me.  And I've already used up a precious ball of that green to make swatches for a submission to Vogue Knitting*, so that is the band that will require major color re-mixing.  Once I re-mix the colors, redraw the motifs so they don't come out so vertically stretched (especially the lower one), and fiddle with the background bands so they blend more subtly, I'll be ready to try another swatch.

Could take awhile.

*WHICH they accepted for their Fall 2008 issue; woohoo!

Comments

[Jocelyn]

Congrats! I love the stitch patterns. Maybe I'll be caught up enough by next fall to make whatever it becomes?!

[Linda]

Hi...I am trying to work this out in my head...I have just started playing with charting myself. I THINK the reason your motif is stretched is because the proportion of the stitch graph is not the same as your stitch/row count. I BELIEVE that a typical proportion used in graphing is 7 st/10 rows per inch. Your 12 st/11 rows would make for little graph squares closer to square than the one you are using.

According to my experiments, when using the right graph paper for your project and you draw a square around the area that represents your guage--and it actually looks like a square--it will knit up in the correct proportion. I think I also read that there is a knitting graphing calculator online somewhere that makes a graph to your stitch gauge, but I haven't gone looking for it yet.

Linda

[Deborah Robson]

Yes, it's typical of stranded knitting to square up that way. I use Print-A-Grid to print my charting paper to the proportions I need (although that requires hand-coloring, and some of the charting software that prints in color doesn't let a person set the gauge, so one learns to compensate visually).

The only way to really tell gauge is to count what it is for your yarn. But yup, this is on target and you don't need to worry about your tension. The fabrics look fine.

[Melanie]

Hi Angela, I just had to let you know that I think your designs are beautiful! I stumbled across your Chinese Lace Pullover on Ravelry, which led me to your Sorelle Lace Pullover and Wyvern Wrap. The designs are graceful and feminine without being fussy (IMO).

By the way, one of the Fair Isle books I have (Ann Feitelson's? sp?) says something to the effect of Fair Isle (and by default, all stranded knitting) tends to have stitches that are more square than regular stockinette. HTH.