What a Life!

The thing about knitting Hitchhiker with sock yarn on sock needles [aka tiny stitches on tiny needles] is that other seemingly difficult projects become easy peasy in comparison.

Take Pomme de Pin (Ravelry link).

A week ago, it looked like this:

Knit in one piece from the bottom up [yes, that means fronts and back together which translates to very long rows] with sport weight yarn [finer than the worsted weight yarn I normally use for sweaters meaning more stitches per inch] and an allover lace pattern [that centered double decrease alone takes longer than the working the other 7 sts in each pattern repeat combined], it was a slog. Add to that the fact that I’d made a mistake and had to rip back about eight rows to correct it, slog was an understatement. I started it in January, and it was going nowhere fast.

But after Hitchhiker, I’m telling you, sport yarn looks really heavy to me. And 195 sts per row? The sts are so big the yarn is literally flying off the ball. This project has become a breeze.

See? Almost up to the armholes.

Supero* indeed.

One possible hitch: After a looking for the perfect yarn to knit Color Affection (Ravelry link) for over a year – needed to be three colors that played well together in three different intensities which would show contrast when viewed in black and white – I have found [and ordered] the perfect yarn: Quince & Co. Finch in Iceland, Kumlien’s Gull, and Kittywake. On my monitor, it looks like three shades of a blue-based heather, but even if it turns out to be pure grey, I’m happy. I have been drooling over these colors since they debuted, and I am elated to have come up with the perfect project for them. The yarn has been shipped, and I’m telling you, when it arrives, I am casting on.

*Supero – Latin, with many meanings: to be above, have the upper hand, surpass, conquer, overcome

I’ve added a new hobby: spinning.

No, I don’t have a spinning wheel. I have no room for such a thing plus I have Joey the Engineer who would be constantly messing with it. No, thanks.

I do enjoy using spindles, though. Today I have my largest cop (ball of yarn wound on a spindle) yet. This was a pain in the arse to keep going so I probably won’t be doing it again. For what it’s worth, though, here it is.

Eye of the Peacock: Cotswold Sheepswool Sliver from Jan 2013 Spunky Eclectic Club on a Bosworth Midi Spindle

All of it spun today after finishing school with Ben. Spinning after school seems to be a good thing. After a morning of sitting on the couch (and knitting, of course), I am ready to be on my feet and move around a little. The light is great then, too.

This is woolen spun so the weight of the single is all over the place. I’m pretty consistent with worsted spun, but with that there is more direct control. The weight of woolen spun yarn seems to vary with the amount of twist in the single, and with a spindle, it’s harder to find that groove.

This morning I threw consistency to the wind and spun up a whole strand of sliver (half of a half of a 4 oz braid) which is how I ended up with my biggest cop ever. Consistency will come with practice. Practice, practice…

I’ve had this yarn in my stash for what seems like forever. Malabrigo Yarn Sock, color Rayon Vert. I purchased it at Personal Threads at the end of 2010 in our annual trip there for the year-end sale. I liked it so much, I bought three skeins of it, thinking I would make a shawl or stole that took up to 1200 yards.

It was not to be.

The first project was Aria Delicato by Anne Hanson of Knitspot. Very pretty. Took only about 240 yards. Lots of yarn leftover.

The next project was Pemberly Socks by Theresa Belville of Little Turtle Knits. Toe up socks in a great stitch pattern. Loved every minute of knitting these.

My mistake? I used up the rest of the first skein and then started in on the second. Even though the dye lots were the same, the yarn is kettle-dyed and the amount of dye in each pot varies, so there was a clear line where the first skein ended and the second began.

That disaster along with a couple holes due to moth damage spelled disaster for that project.

My next project with this yarn was Shaelyn by Leila Raabe [Ravelry link]. This time I was smart – I worked two rows from each ball of yarn so no dye lot issues would arise. The plan was to keep going until I ran out of yarn.

Then the moth damage issue resurfaced. I began having to splice yarn every couple of rows. After a couple of inches like that, I frogged the entire thing and swore I would get rid of the yarn.

But I didn’t. I kept it. Somehow I just couldn’t let go of it.

Yet it was still there, haunting me in my stash. I started Evelyn’s Flower Basket shawl with it, but didn’t get far enough to hardly call it a project. I was tired of the yarn. I even gave Aria Delecato to a new yarn store – Yarn Charm – to use as a store sample. I was so tired of looking at that yarn.

Then last weekend something got into me, and I picked it up again. I wanted that yarn out of my stash once and for all. Enter: Hitchhiker.

It begins with only 2 sts, but a net of 4 sts are added after every tooth, making it a great project to work until you run out of yarn. Worked on 2.5 mm needles (US 2) – the same size needles one would use for a sock project – the project would be tedious if it were not for miles and miles of garter stitch. Worked to Ravel’s Bolero, it’s a great knit.

What’s even better? The project is finished, and the yarn is no longer in my stash. It’s gone, baby! And I have a new scarf to wear. Perfect for spring weather. Love it!

Generally when a tech editor works for a magazine, a complete pattern is submitted by the designer. The technical editor’s responsibility is mainly to put the pattern into the magazine’s format, draw the schematics according to the magazine’s standards, and double check the numbers. If there are charts, they are usually already created when the pattern is submitted, and again, it’s just a matter of putting the charts into the magazine format.

When working with independent designers, however, there are opportunities to become far more involved the the process as the technical editor. Rather than just checking things to see if they are correct when all is said and done, the technical editor may play an integral role in taking an idea and figuring out how to make it work.

In many ways, when Alana and I work together, she is the architectural designer with the brilliant ideas, and I am the engineer who works on the details of transforming those ideas into patterns for other knitters to follow.

Accessories – hats, shawls, socks and the like – usually have one size. Alana knits up the sample and takes copious notes of what she did, row by row.

Then I get the pattern. I take Alana’s notes and create a chart. Not the finished chart – just a rough draft created in Excel using whatever symbols I am able to improvise. I decide what should be included in the chart and what shouldn’t be. I remove the text from the pattern that is part of the chart and re-write the pattern to incorporate the chart.

We send the chart to the graphic designer. Decisions are made as to what symbols should be used, where repeat lines should go, how to handle changes in marker position, and so forth. Our graphic designer, Mary Joy, is great because she is a knitter/designer herself and understands what we are trying to do (rather than being someone who is moving these foreign symbols around for these two women who can’t decide how things should be arranged). Mary Joy keeps a file of standard symbols used in Alana’s patterns and gives us valuable input based on how we’ve done things in previous patterns.

Once all that is done, the pattern is at a point where it is ready for a second technical editor – another pair of eyes to make sure everything is okay. The second technical editor plays the role more like that of the typical magazine technical editor, double checking everything that has been done and giving feedback on anything we may have missed.

Sweaters are even more involved than accessories.

Alana will send me an email with the gauge, the style (raglan, fitted, etc.), the sample size, and any stitch pattern constraints (such as a multiple of 10+11 for the patterned portions of Autumn’s End). I will take those specifications and give her key numbers for her to work with – stitch counts for the chest, upper arm, crossback, back neck width, shoulders, etc. Alana then knits up the sample, taking copious notes as she goes.

When I get the pattern, I decide what needs to be charted, just as with accessories. But with a sweater pattern, there is more.

Once the charts are created, I go on to grade the pattern for a whole range of sizes, doing everything I can to retain the look and feel of the sample size. Sometimes this requires modifications of the charts, such as with Twigs and Willows where we added extra leaves for the sizes on the higher end of the range. Sometimes that requires determining the design features upon which a design will hinge. For instance, Autumn’s End is knit from the bottom up but had to be graded from the top down in order to retain the look of the neckline across the sizes.

At that point, the sweater pattern is ready for the second technical editor. In addition, all patterns – sweaters and accessories – go to a sample knitter (or two) for additional testing and feedback.

Usually I am just involved in the technical editing, but on this project, I got to knit one of the samples as well. That’s a whole story of its own.

Knitting a sample isn’t like just knitting something for yourself. It’s a whole different experience. You have to actually follow the pattern (ha! ha!).

Seriously…if the designer says to work a ssk at the beginning of the row and a k2tog at the end, you have to do it that way even if you might do it differently if you were knitting this item for yourself. On the other hand, you get to just follow the pattern – there is no modifying the length or the waist shaping to make it fit your body. But if you mess up and do something wrong, you can’t just call it a “design feature” and keep going – you have to frog back and correct it…because it is a sample, after all.

This is the point at which everything turns into a three-ring circus. The second technical editor is making changes and comments that need to be reviewed. The test knitters are sending in feedback that needs to be addressed. And there are consistency edits to think about. Do we tell the knitter when to cut the yarn? Do we say “cut yarn” or “break yarn”? Is that part of the main pattern or the finishing portion? Those types of things are discussed and debated seemingly ad nauseam.

But at some point it all comes together and things are in pretty good shape. Then it is time for the whole project to go to the graphic designer to be prettied up. Seeing all the patterns go from Word doc format to the beautiful designs in the final book is like ordering yarn online and then seeing it in person when it arrives. There is no comparison.

Yet there is still work to be done. We have to check to make sure all of the pattern text is in the pdf document, that the charts were placed correctly, that everything is formatted correctly, etc. We try to have everything in order as much as possible before things go to the graphic designer, but there are still changes. Lots of changes. It’s a good thing the pdf is so beautiful because otherwise I might get tired of looking at it!

And still there are things that get missed that knitters discover once the pdf version is released. We scramble to review each of the questions and make any necessary changes. As I review these types of changes, I always go back and look through the various drafts see who changed what in order to discover how the error made it into the document. I go back to my original numbers to see if I had a formula wrong in my original Excel worksheet. For every error a knitter points out, I try to figure out what went wrong so we can learn from our mistakes.

Every technical editor will tell you that if they designed something, even though they are a technical editor, they would have someone else review it. As technical editors, we find and correct lots of mistakes, but still there are always a few that manage to slip through. We are human, after all.

I work with many designers, and my part in the process is different with every one. I love working with independent designers for that reason – there is so much variety. Sometimes I’m just checking things while on other projects, I am an integral part of the creative process. So many different perspectives helps me be a more well-rounded editor. Or so I hope.

Alana’s newest book – Botanical Knits – is now available for preorder for $22 + shipping. As a special thank you for preordering the printed copy, you will get the ebook for free immediately. The printed book will ship mid-May. For those who preorder the book, it will ship with an exclusive extra botanically inspired garment pattern as a thank you from Alana for preordering.

Or you can just order the ebook by itself for $18. This is a great option for those knitters who live internationally and do not want to pay the high cost of shipping.

After the pre-order period ends in May, the book will be available EITHER in print for $22 or ebook for $18. There will be no digital and print bundle offered.

My advice? Order your copy today! If you knit, your biggest problem will be deciding which project to start first. And if you don’t knit, you will still want this book for your coffee table.

I’ve been thinking more about the failure of those pullovers. It seems as of late that all of the knitting I have blogged about has been a dismal failure. That isn’t true really – it’s that the failures are more interesting to talk about so they make the news.

Here’s what happened with the pullovers: We were going on vacation, a trip through the Sandhills of Nebraska. Sightseeing. I brought the pullovers and some socks. I quickly realized that for this trip, sock knitting was not appropriate as the sts were too small and the road was too bumpy. So I stuck with the pullovers and their larger st gauge and pattern that was fairly easy to knit without looking. I cast on when we left, and I knew a few inches into the first piece that my gauge was 16 sts over 4 inches instead of the 14 sts over 4 inches that my swatch had indicated. But I had nothing else to knit and it seemed like a waste of time to sit there and not knit, so I pressed on, telling myself that blocking would fix any problems. I knit most of Joey’s pullover on that trip, and I must confess I was rather tired of the stitch pattern, and it seemed to be going rather slowly because I did it in short spurts here and there as I was looking around a lot at all the sights. Then I blocked the sweater, and it didn’t fit Ben and hardly fit Joey. So it goes.

So basically I kept going on a project that had gone awry because I didn’t want to “waste” my knitting time and all of my effort ended up being to no avail (and thus a complete waste, to state it bluntly). That’s the thing about frogging – the sooner you frog, the better. If you think it’s going wrong, for goodness sake, stop! Don’t finish it!

All of this has led to a new rule. I’ve come up with a sort of formula for a set of knitting projects to always have on the needles and in the queue. Single projects can fill more than one category or each project may count for only one category (even though it may qualify for more) meaning this is not a criteria for the number of projects on my needles at any given time but rather simply a way of balancing my efforts. Hence, the categories:

• Socks. I always like having a pair of socks on the needles. They are portable, interesting, and great to grab at the last minute as insurance knitting for when I walk out the door. Insurance knitting, meaning that if there were some accident or the car broke down or I was otherwise detained along the way, I would have something to do. I also always have my Kindle with me for the same reason (and I specifically bought a purse that my Kindle would fit into without being an over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder, but that’s another story).
• Lace. I knit lace for the sheer joy of it, and I do wear the shawls and wraps that I make. They come in very handy during the summer when the chill of air conditioning is too much. Other projects, such as socks and sweaters, may have lace patterns, so they may fill this category as well, though knitting a shawl is always a good thing.
• A sweater. I love sweater-knitting. I love wearing sweaters. It’s a good thing to always have one on the needles, regardless of how long it takes me to actually finish the project.
• Something for someone else. There have been times in my knitting life when everything I was making was for someone else. I’ve learned the joy of making and wearing my own knits. I also think I appreciate my own hand-knits more than anyone else because I know exactly what went into them. But knitting for others is always a good thing. Thus this category.
• Something for on-the-go. Socks can be a great on-the-go project as they are small, but sometimes the st pattern requires a bit more thought that I would like, or I am at a part of the project where I need to think, such as turning the heel. So socks aren’t always what I want to take with me when I walk out the door. Something in St st or garter with very little shaping is great for this category. An endless shawl with miles and miles of St st or even the back of a sweater can fit well here. And the project in this category can constantly be changing. I just want something mindless that can easily be worked on without making a mistake while I am being sociable.
• An accessory or other small project. Key words: instant gratification. Sometimes socks, sweaters and shawls go on for miles and miles seemingly without progress. That’s where hats and mittens and other single skein projects come in. They’re quick knits, and they make you feel like you’re accomplishing something. They’re also a nice change a of pace, and a great way to try a different yarn without making a commitment.
• Finally, a project just for vacations. We don’t travel much, so this is something that is mostly in the queue. But it needs to be ready to go at a moments notice. Currently Color Affection {Ravelry link} and Wingspan {Ravelry link} are queued for this purpose, though I have not yet purchased yarn for either. They are both simple stitch patterns where gauge is not critical for success (though being in the ballpark is always a good thing). I may bring other projects with me, but these will be my default projects for when I travel. Thus I won’t spend hours in the car working on projects I know are doomed if I would only stop long enough to admit it. You might say Something for On-the-go might fulfill this category, but it is fun to have a new project for a trip and leave the old behind for a few days. I’m weird like that.

I’ve been an avid knitter for almost ten years, and I’ve often longed to have a list of categories like this, but it wasn’t until The Pullovers that I finally came up with something that felt right. So The Pullovers were not all in vain. Just a bump along the road.

On a side note, if you’re wondering about the picture at the top of this post, that would be my latest Instant Gratification projects. Three hats for my three little people. Not in the infamous Peace Fleece yarn. The green hat on the needles is actually the second version knit for Ben. The first fit him but not as I had intended so it has become a store sample at my new favorite yarn store while I started a bigger one. The design is similar to one I knit in the past (but could not find the pattern to and wanted to do the crown shaping differently anyway so it is basically my own as far as how it is executed). And I love how those three colors go together!

So I frogged the pullovers this weekend – both of them – and started over. I don’t know what possessed me – if I was just in a bad mood or what – but I did it and I’m glad.

I re-graded the patterns.

Change #1 – Different gauge. I went with 16 sts over 4 inches (vs the 14 sts on the yarn label – I am doing a garter rib stitch pattern after all). I started on Joey’s sleeve first and after working a few inches I decided my row gauge was 24 rows over 4 inches (I had estimated 22 rows – the yarn label says 20 rows; again, I am doing a garter rib stitch pattern so that makes sense).

Change #2 – Instead of going off of my children’s actual measurements (which don’t match the CYC standards any more than mine do), I am using the standard measurements for a size 6 and a size 10. Why am I doing that? Well, it seems that children’s clothing – at least the clothing my children wear, which is pretty basic stuff (knit shirts, button-down shirts, etc) – seems to be cut with quite a bit of ease. Seriously, if my children’s shirts had no ease or even if you could pinch-an-inch, they would have very spindly arms. I swear, their t-shirt sleeves are twice the circumference of their arms. And my kids are average height/weight when I take them in for their annual physicals. That’s how their clothes are made, and these sweaters are being worn over those clothes, so lots of ease.

Last year Ben didn’t wear the sweater I made him (based on actual measurements) at all because it didn’t fit. Joey’s fit okay, but never looked very good so he only wore it once or twice. Caroline wore hers more, but the fit on her was much better.

I think the standards take measurements and spread them evenly over the size range. I mean, think about a high school student vs a college student – they may be the same height, but the college student is more, shall we say, filled out. You can just tell them apart that way. Kids are spindly, but apparently we dress them so they are more filled-out.

I frogged the sweaters Saturday night and started knitting Sunday morning. By the end of the day, I had done two sleeves and the back. It’s a raglan, so the front and yoke remain, and it’s only a child’s size 6, but still, that’s a lot of knitting. Which leads to the title of this post: I’ve decided I’m going to name my knitting projects after the books I’m listening to as I knit them. Sunday morning I began listening to the third book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Return of the King. Clearly it was a very good story. Today I haven’t had a chance to get back to it so not much knitting has been done. I am about a third of the way up the front, but most of that was done during school this morning.

This weekend I am hoping to take the boys to the Nearly Full Moon Walkabout at Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center. It will probably be cold and those sweaters would feel really good, so I’m trying to finish both of them this week. I’d like to make them mittens, too. And finish Ben’s hat. We shall see. I am only a third of the way through The Return of the King, so I have lots of good listening in store. Still, I don’t know if I’m that fast of a knitter. Indeed, we shall see.