Episode 5: Make the knit fit!

We're baaaaack! Ha, where would we be without famous movie lines, right? Anyhoo, we've been busy tending to business and getting our sales reps fall/winter packs together, and we got those off in the mail last week. Phewww! It's like giving birth...twice a year :-)

In this podcast episode:
1) what makes a yarn a winner in my book
2) traveling with knitting in tow
3) the mini lesson is about choosing the right sweater to fit your body shape

I was recently asked to describe my company, and the type of yarn I sell. It got me thinking more seriously about what drives my decisions. Unlike other companies that specialize in only natural fibers, or in high end yarns, Knit One, Crochet Too has a much broader selection. Turns out I am an equal opportunity knitter! Yes, I am a knitter first, and I like a LOT of different types of yarn. When a yarn is added to our collection it means I want to knit with it. It has passed the "hand" test (how it feels and how it drapes), the feel test, the knitting test, and the inspiration test (I can see lots of design ideas)---as well as a few other tests. Of course, Joyce has input, too. I drive her crazy asking for her opinion on yarn, weight of yarn, color of yarn, what does she think of possible design ideas...all while she is trying to get her work done. What a slave driver I am...(but secretly, I think she loves it :-)

Nautika, a new yarn for summer, is a perfect example of the type of yarn that won me over by passing all the tests with flying colors, all while being a blend of 85% microfiber acrylic and 15% nylon. Yes, I said acrylic! In the world of yarn, we know that it's a word that make some knitters turn off. Completely. But it won me over by it's softness, sheen, stitch definition, and easy care. Not to mention the price ain't bad either. And in today's world, that's a pretty good thing. Ute Grzanna, of The Knitting Basket, in Richmond, VA, also succumbed to the temptation. She first passed it over when she read about Nautika in a sales flyer we sent her. But then we did an evil thing. We sent her a small sample. Bad, bad us (insert maniacal laugh). She got hooked...and her customers did too. She said she can't keep it in stock.

I invite you to test yourself: next time you visit a yarn shop, make your yarn selection by feel and by sight. Only then allow yourself to take a peek at the fiber content. You might be surprised by your selection.

After we got the rep packets out the door, I took a bit of a break in Branson, MO. Perfect time to go there (early April). No crowds, pretty quiet, and the weather cooperated. But of course, I never leave home without tons of yarn and needles, and I came back with this cute jacket, named Waterlily 'cause it kinda looks like the famous painting. It's made of Wrapunzel in a new color called Foxgloves (not yet shown on the website) and Ty-Dy Wool. The pattern will be available shortly as it is a late addition to the aforementioned fall/winter collection.
I also made one sock in Ty-Dy Socks Skinny Stripes (this link shows you the original Ty-Dy Socks, minus the skinny stripes - still too new to load on the site, but shown here just to tease... :-) Oh, and the color is called Twilight. I just love that yarn---so much so, I am actually planning on knitting a 2nd sock. Matching socks, what a concept!
Yes, I traveled armed to the teeth with 2 pairs of straights and 2 circular needles, in my carry-on bag. No problem. But don't try that as an audience member of the Jay Leno show. You'll have to park your arsenal at the door. Yes, in January, I was a victim of the Leno Show goon squad and had to pull the needles right out of my work-in-progress. But never fear, I used my super-duper back-on-the-needle method once I got my needles back at the end of show (they were still outside in a basket when I exited). Here's a how-to video where I demonstrate:

The lesson for this episode is about identifying your body shape and selecting garments that puts your best attributes forward. Shape #1: the Pear---wider hips, narrow waist and shoulder. Best to select styles with details at the neck and shoulders, and minimal patterning at the lower edge. We suggest the Braided Yoke Tank worked in Nautika:
Shape #2: the Apple---round body, broad chested, minimal waist definition, flat derriere, shapely legs. Select garments that divide your body vertically. The Charlie Vest in Ty-Dy can be worn with a loosely fitted belt (as shown below) that creates movement at the waist, or unbuttoned. A multi-colored garment like this will be most successful layered over a monochromatic top and pants.
Shape #3: the Hourglass---width of hips and shoulders match with well defined waist, the perfect shape (or so I hear). The lucky hourglass can wear many styles, and is best showcased with form-fitting sweaters. The Sabrina Tee in 2nd Time Cotton molds your body for a vavavoom! effect :-)
Shape #4: the Rectangle: evenly sized from shoulder to hips, no waist definition, boyish figure. Look for waist shaping and avoid square shaped garments. The Dahlia Cardigan in Babyboo gives width to the shoulders and a fit-and-flair lower section. Lots of trompe l'oeuil action there.
Shape #5: the Inverted Triangle---the opposite of the pear, the emphasis needs to be on the hips to balance extra wide shoulders. According to Joyce (who claims this shape as her nemesis), shapes with peplums or a flaired edging are best. The Mermaid Tee in Ty-Dy adds width to the hips, while camouflaging any tummy bulge that may have taken up residence there...
Go ahead and gawk all you want at knitters modeling their creations on Ravelry.com and see what looks good on folks with a similar body type as yours. Nothing wrong with gawking. I do it all the time.

Hélène

Sometimes work gets in the way of fun...booo, hiss!

No podcast this week (and next week too)! For the next couple of weeks, we will be finalizing our sales rep fall/winter sample packs (a big, deadline driven project), so we won't even have a chance to record a new episode :-/

BUT, once we're done, we sure will have lots to tell you!! Don't you hate it when work gets in the way of having fun (I may still take a few minutes of yarn fondling here and there...hey, a gal's got to get her fiber fix. No cold turkey for me!)

Stay tuned...

Hélène

Episode 4: Vest, and socks, and shaping, too.

Yes, I am tired of the rain, and the dirty, melting snow, and am now looking forward to mud season (not really) - and yes, mud season IS an official season in Maine. Good thing I've got plenty of knitting to get me over that dreadful hump...

In this podcast episode:
1) Joyce feels pressured by me (what?? me? nahhh...) to reconstruct her mitered vest
2) I get inspired by Cookie A., the sock mistress
4) the mini lesson is about full-fashioning

First off, let me apologize for the tapping/bumping noises on the podcast. I think as we speak, our hands move around (I am French, you know, and speak LOUDLY with my hands!), and perhaps tap the counter where the microphone sits. I haven't pinpointed the problem (we can't even think of what we were doing), and it may be annoying to hear. I'll bring my ruler next time and swat any noisy fingers! (just kidding...we'll just sit on our hands :-)

In Episode 1, Joyce and I discussed some ideas to change a vest from a too-small garment to one that fits just right. Although she claims that I "nagged" her into finally making those changes (something about being her work wife...), the finished version fits her way better, and looks great, too.
She chose to add a solid color band, continuing in Garter stitch with a mitered stitch in the front corner. A couple of rows of the contrasting color just before the bind off brings it all together nicely. I know taking out a project you thought was done to rework it is no fun, but that is the difference between a project that sits in the closet never to see the light of day, and one you can wear proudly, and often!

Joyce described a method of weaving a loose strand of yarn in and out of your fabric, from row to row, to use instead of a stitch marker. I searched the internet to find such a method demonstrated and didn't find anything. So I experimented and came up with this, my own version. I guess you could just as well make a small loop (like a yarn ring) and use that instead of a ring marker, but this video shows you what Joyce was talking about. Can you think of a reason to do it this way?

During my latest trip out of town (yes, again having to decide what projects to take), I took inspiration from a sock designer I very much admire, Cookie A. I find the way she makes the stitches move around in her sock designs intriguing and clever. So, as I looked at a new color of Ty-Dy Socks Dots (called Periwinkle, brand spanking new and not even in stock, yet), I decided to take a small stab at making my sock stitches travel, too. Still don't know what I'll call this design. Any suggestions?
I recorded a short video to demonstrate the Stretchy Cast On method I used for the top of the socks. It is a new method for me so my technique is a little rough, but I think it's clear enough for you to give it a shot. It really makes a nice stretchy cast on—not too loose and sloppy looking like some other methods I've tried.

This episode's mini lesson is about full-fashioning. As I explained in the podcast, that term refers to working your decreases a few stitches in from the edge to create a decorative ridge. The two garments shown below make good use of that technique for working a raglan sleeve. On the left, the Urbana Cardie, has the yoke worked in one piece. The cardigan on the right, the Stadium Cardie, has all pieces (fronts, back and sleeves) worked individually and sewn together. Both garments feature the feathered version of full-fashioning, and both are worked with Nautika, a high-twist and smooth yarn that shows stitch detail beautifully. It is new this season, comes in 12 coordinated colors, and is machine wash and dry (you gotta love that for a summer yarn!).

The 2 examples below are as follows: a close-up of the Stadium Cardie with feathered full-fashioning (left), and a small swatch done in Wrapunzel with basic full-fashioning. As I mentioned in the podcast, even though this yarn has lots of personality (textures and colors), the refined detail still works well.
As I finish writing this blog entry, the sun is shining today (the process of recording, video taping, editing and writing spans several days) and I see the remnants of snow on the roof morphing into water drops. Yes, ladies and gents, spring is coming to Maine, any day now, and that makes me happy. Have a great knitting week :-)

Hélène

Episode 3: Business Challenges, and a bit of Lace, too!

Episode 3 comes to you from my kitchen, on a rainy Monday morning in Maine. After experimenting with a few recording spots at the office and warehouse, stepping away from the hustle and bustle may just be the best solution for decent audio.

After a short trip to Las Vegas, I share one of my all time travel fears: running out of knitting projects to work on during a trip! From experience, I ALWAYS over pack. This time was no exception—3 projects for a 3-day trip. Really...REALLY?? Yes...I can't help it. You never know. I actually Mapquested the nearest yarn shop in advance, Gail Knits (a customer of ours), just in case...

And if you think a Vegas casino is no place for knitting, think again. While waiting for the slowest penny slot machine to pay out $111.27, I took out a sock project (note to self: never leave the hotel room without an emergency knitting project) worked in an experimental version of Ty-Dy Socks (Skinny Stripes—a new version of this popular yarn). A win/win situation ($$ + knitting in public) And by the way in case you are wondering, no tattoos!

While I was in Las Vegas for the American Rental Association trade show (Jay, my SO, owns an equipment rental store), I did not take the time to walk the show floor with him—tractors and chain saws do nothing for my creative soul. Fortunately, there is a trade organization in our industry, The National Needle Arts Association, that totally fits the bill. We exhibit our products at the bi-annual trade show, along with many other companies. The show, including classes open to members only (sorry folks, not to the general public), spans 5 to 6 days, and one of the highlight is the Friday evening fashion show. We always participate and for this latest show, we had 3 featured designs: the Mermaid Tee in Ty-Dy cotton, the Stadium Cardigan in Nautika, and the Yoga Shrug and Sock Set in Pediwick.

We have many new designs for spring, including the Athena Tank. This design is a perfect example of a blend of 2 ideas: an off-the-rack tank top with a printed motif on the racer back and a design for the Triangle Shawl from a previous season. Combine components of these 2 very different garments, and the end design is the Athena Tank (shown below in blue), pattern 1740, worked in Babyboo, a bamboo/nylon blend (very soft to the touch and machine washable).
This pattern is also featured in the June issue of Knit'n Style magazine (should be on the newsstand any day now).

The mini lesson for this episode is about the basics of lace: for every yarn over in lace (which creates the eyelet openings) there must be a matching decrease to offset it. If you work a yarn over without this matching decrease, the yarn over becomes an increase (and you will have more and more stitches on your needle). The following chart shows you each group of matching stitches (each color = matching stitches).

For the groups of symbols in blue, red, purple and green, each yarn over is matched with either a k2 together or ssk decrease. The 2 orange eyelets are offset by the double decrease in between. The Hey Teach Cardigan from Knitty.com I designed in 2008 (and still going strong) is a perfect example of a pattern where you must be careful in keeping track of your matching yarn overs and decreases. In the chart below, the blue line illustrates a sample armhole shaping. The 2 circled yarn overs must NOT be worked because their matching decrease (the inverted V to the right) is no longer being worked after being eliminated by shaping.
As promised, I've created a pdf file with a blank grid to be used whenever you want to chart out the complete armhole shaping of a garment, or if you want to experiment in designing your own lace—go ahead, give it a go!

Hélène

Episode 2: Destash and Design to Fit

Listen Now

Another week has passed and we've managed to stay on schedule with our second episode of the podcast. Next week will most likely be off track as I will be out of the office through Wednesday.

Episode 2 of the Knit One, Crochet Too podcast includes the following:
1) Weekend Wrap-Up where Joyce tells us about her major stash re-organization, and Helene discusses her week-in-knitting projects. Joyce also gets tips on salvaging a project that came out too small.
2) Do a little homework to learn how to transcribe information from garments you already own and love, onto a basic knitted t-shirt pattern.

While Joyce discussed her systematic way of purging her stash, she mentioned the McClellan's Frankenmuth Woolen Mill where she had great luck in having fleeces washed and carded. She got back beautiful balls of roving, ready to be spun.

We would both be interested to hear some of your de-stashing tips or anecdotes. Please feel free to share via comments below!

Ok, so back to the now called "Linus Capelet and Hat" set. I, not so originally, called it Linus because of the yarn it's made of (sometimes you put all your inspiration in the design and there ain't much left for the naming process, know what I mean?). Yes, I took it apart, down to the large cable band, and it really wanted to stay a capelet (minus the buttonband idea), or mini poncho, whatever you want to call it. Capelet sounds a bit like some medieval garment, and not exactly something fashionable...but it's probably just me.It fits about elbow length and is very warm. The hat is cute, too. This will be part of our next fall/winter season and the pattern will be available in late April. Linus is already in our line and is available now. Below is the video for the stretchy bind off shown in ribbing. You can use the same method if binding off knitwise or purlwise.

The next project I managed to complete over the weekend is the Snow Flower Set worked in Petite Boucle. The yarn has too much texture to show any fancy pattern stitch and has lots of personality so it doesn't need much else. As I was unsure of its fiber content (shame on me!), I looked it up and here it is: 58% nylon/21% kid mohair/21% merino wool. The project is one size fits all adults. This will also be ready in April, and will only be available as a kit in all 12 colors of Petite Boucle . I knew I already had just the right buttons for this, and turns out I even had exactly 2 - sometimes the stars align just right.

You can wear the cowl buttoned or not, depending on how much warmth you need. The button on the beret is decorative only.

Joyce asked for suggestions on altering a vest she made a few years ago. She's worn it a few times, even though it is a bit too small. I suggested adding a double breasted band in the center, and going around the bottom if she also wanted more length. She thought working it in corrugated ribbing (alternating k2 in blue and p2 in multi) could be another option.
The Daisy Vest, worked in Ambrosia was designed that way because the fronts were original too small (bad me didn't bother with a gauge swatch), and I added the wider bands at the center to add to the size. The double row of buttons turned out to be a nice unplanned design element.

The "Made-to-Fit Tee Worksheet" is part of a "Basic Lesson Series" I decided to start. This first lesson has you try your hand at designing a basic t-shirt shaped top. I've uploaded a pdf worksheet you can download.
Work a gauge swatch first using your stitch of choice (no, no, don't do as I do, do as I say!), then follow the directions carefully and fill in all your dimensions and stitch count first, before transfering that information on the pattern. Keep in mind that if you use a real t-shirt (made of thin knit fabric) as the garment to measure, and plan on using the pattern you create to knit yourself a tee shirt, you need to allow a bit more ease as your handknit fabric will be thicker than that of the t-shirt. Click on image below to begin downloading the worksheet file.
The Fiber Gypsy site has a great chart for Garment Ease Allowances that is worth bookmarking. I also highly recommend the book Designing Knitwear, by Deborah Newton. Although written in 1998, the information included on designing and fit, is still relevant—a must-have reference book.
By the way, we are now listed on iTunes. Doing a search for Knit One Crochet Too should bring us up. If not, drop down the "Advanced" menu in the iTunes software, and select the "Subscribe to Podcast" option. In the input box, copy and paste: "http://feeds.feedburner.com/KnitOneCrochetToo". That worked for me. Please leave comments on iTunes as this will help in moving the podcast out of obscurity :-)

This wraps up the notes portion of Episode 2. If you get stuck figuring out the t-shirt worksheet, post your questions here. Next podcast may be a continuation of this workshop. Have a great week in knitting!

Hélène

Episode 1: Taking the plunge!

Listen Now

We've finally taken the plunge and started a podcast and this accompanying blog. This has been percolating for a while, but as always, time flies by, and there are too many things to do, and not enough time.

Episode 1 of the Knit One, Crochet Too podcast includes the following:
1) our Monday morning weekend wrap up where we discuss our weekend endeavors, and I report on my ongoing designs and knitting projects
2) a mini lesson on color selections, with suggestions where to look for ideas for inspiring colors
3) a short reading of a knitting related essay

Here is what the failed (so far) capelet design worked in Linus yarn looks like - before frogging.

This is a close-up view (above) of the end where the 1" band turned into a 4" band...and still not big enough to go around the shoulders and arms, unless I place a buttonhole at the very top, and the capelet is worn open in the center. Not the look I was looking for.

This shows you the entire thing...mostly finished...with all the small braided cables...ready to be ripped back...all the way down to the large cable band (which I actually ended up doing). Next photos will be of the finished garment, done like my original idea (the one that actually fits), but in the round, with no opening or buttons. Plus, there will be a matching hat. Yes, I do like to torture myself. :-)

The book of designs for the roller derby crowd is called "Knockdown Knits: 30 Projects from the Roller Derby Track" by Joan of Dark a.k.a. Toni Carr. As I mentioned, you can go to Amazon.com and look inside the book to see some of the featured projects. Some cute things, some interesting things, some things a little bit weird...but what do I know, right? I am the one who went dancing in the snow bank with the referee.
Oh, and did I mention that each sample in the book is modeled by a member of the Naptown Roller Girls? And if you are interested in our local roller derby team, Maine Roller Derby, you can read about them here.

In the 2nd section of the podcast, I give you tips on color selection. I know some knitters feel less than confident when trying to select colors for a multi-color project. I give easy tips for developing a reference list of matching color groups.
Here is the image (above) of the Pantone color guide I use to communicate my color choices to the dye houses. From left to right, above the color chips, you can see Ty-Dy Wool, 2 upcoming colors of Wrapunzel, and the Lucia Tee, a free t-shirt pattern that uses Ty-Dy cotton.
Here's a photo of the whole Lucia Tee. Isn't it cute? The pattern is written from finished size 34" to 50".

I did a lot of fiddling with the podcast sound file, trying to make it sound as professional as I can. But of course, as this is our very first program, I know things can only get better. So, please forgive any popping, smacking, talking over each other, mismatch sound level, and anything else that may need working on. I do invite you to post comments of specific peeves that we will try to address. Of course, we know we won't be everyone's cup of tea...and that's ok.

We just hope to bring you some insider information from the business end of yarn, and a bit more.

Enjoy!

Hélène