Choosing the Yarn

Suitability, Availability and Affordability - the key criteria for choosing the right yarn for this project and for our respective machines.  As mentioned previously, the pattern is written for Honiburd Cotton Rainbow at T9, giving a tension of 27 sts and 36 rows = 10 cm/4".  This is pretty close to the lower limit of my mid-gauge, recommended at T1.  I have found in the past that being that close to the limits of what the mid-gauge can do means that sometimes the results are not the best.  As well, a quick internet search didn't turn up any Canadian suppliers.  Another knitter in our group recommended Patons Astra as a substitute, and since that is readily available and relatively inexpensive, we decided we would both try swatching it to see how it would work with both machines.  For Lynne and her standard gauge machine, it was too thick, and she had static problems knitting even just a small swatch.  For me and my mid-gauge, it knit very nicely at T4 and produced a very nice fabric.  Here are the instructions for basic tension swatches courtesy of Lynne:


E-wrap cast on 60 sts with main colour (or weaving cast on for speed)Knit 10 rows 

Knit 2 rows of contrast

Move stitch 21 to 22 on both sides – push needles out of work

With main colour knit 60 rows

Pull out needles 21 on both sides

Knit 2 rows of contrast

Knit 10 rows of main colour

Cast off

Mark your swatch: 1. machine used, 2. yarn used, 3. Tension (main bed, ribber, and mast), 4. Any special notes (eg needed wax on yarn to make is knit smoothly).

Let the swatch rest for several hours and then measure the number of stitches and rows to the inch. It’s best to measure over 4” (or 10 cm if you prefer metric) and then divide by 4.

Fractions are important especially if you are making a large garment as ¼ of a stitch over 40” makes a big difference to the finished size.

I purchased three balls of Astra to play with for each of us - two solid and one multicolour.  Lynne noticed right away that the multicolour ball felt lighter than the two solid balls.   I have a small scale so I decided to weigh them and indeed the multicolour ball weighed in at 48 grams.

 So even though they are both labelled as 50 g of Patons Astra, a closer inspection of the label for the Wild Wizard (multicoloured) ball shows the yardage to be 133 yards or 122 metres, versus that of the solid coloured ball which indicates 161 yards or 147 metres.  Otherwise, price and packaging were the same, as was recommended gauge (hand knit) of 22 sts and 28 rows per 10 cm/4".  The lesson - read the label!

I proceeded to make the basic tension swatches from the directions above for the Oz colour (the solid pictured above) and the Wild Wizard.  Tension 4 is recommended on my machine for this weight of yarn and recommended gauge, so that is usually where I start.  I also let my tension swatches rest, and then wash and block them and let them dry before measuring.

In order to fit them both on the same small padded board, the top one is tipped on its side, the bottom one is oriented how it would have come off the machine.  You'll probably notice the eyelet holes on the bottom left of both swatches - when I remember to I put those in they remind me what gauge I used to knit them.  One of the other things you'll probably notice right away is how much shorter the Oz one is as compared to the Wild Wizard.  I was very surprised at how much shorter it was - so much so that I decided I had better count the rows between the white rows to make sure I hadn't messed up.  I counted twice and got 48 instead of 60 - and realized I must have forgotten to reset my row counter after I did the initial ten rows and two rows of contrast.   Good thing I checked!

Since I only have one ball of the Oz to swatch with for the time being, I decided not to do another, and would just figure out the gauge but with 48 rows instead of 60.  The only disadvantage to this is the larger your swatch, the more accurate your gauge will be, so I have sacrificed some accuracy, but hopefully not enough to cause a problem.  The  main reason I let it go, though, is because my decision point right now is suitability of the yarn, not final gauge and pattern recalculation.  And because it knit very well on my machine and produced a nice fabric, is very inexpensive ($2.99 per ball) and is easily available (Mary Maxim), I will be proceeding with the Astra for this project.  But I will do at least one other tension swatch when the colour I'm using arrives (Faded Denim) in case there are any other variations in colour.

So my final numbers on these two swatches were as follows:

Wild Wizard:  60 rows = 8 1/8"                               Oz:  48 rows = 5 1/4"
                         40 sts     = 7 5/8"                                       40 sts     = 7 5/8"

Or:                   29.5 rows = 10 cm/4"                               36.5 rows = 10 cm/4"
                         20 sts       = 10 cm/4"                                 21 sts      = 10 cm/4"

The Wild Wizard swatch is a bit thin and floppy, so would probably be better knitted at a lower tension number on the dial.  The Oz swatch was pretty good in terms of thickness and drape.  It looks like I will be doing a conversion on this pattern from the 27 sts per 4" as written down to 21 sts per 4".

Next step/blog entry:  I will be ordering the yarn, doing another tension swatch, and figuring out the final measurements that I want my hoodie to be for my best fit.  We'd love to hear from you so please leave your comments or questions below, or just say hi and introduce yourself so we know who is following along with us!

Nancy

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One more thing before we start!

We've had some feedback and questions via private email (thank you!) and thought it best, before we move forward, to post a summary of how we expect our knit-a-long to proceed.  We do encourage you to post your questions in the comments section as others may have the same questions and will benefit by seeing that and seeing our responses.

1. Select pattern
2. Determine size/measurements
3. Select appropriate yarn/gauge
4. Select machine
5. Make tension swatch (plain stocking stitch)
6. Exploring technical and design elements
1. Cast on method; hem, binding or ribbing?
2. Texture or colour elements on main body and/or sleeves?
3. Centre closure - zipper, buttons, pullover?  Type of band?
4. Short row shaping for custom fitting?
5. Neckline design options?
6. Sleeve and sleeve placement design options?
7. Hood - texture or colour elements?
8. More swatching as required by A through G
7. Rewriting the pattern for yarn, machine and design changes
8. Knitting the modified pattern
9. Blocking and finishing
10. Project evaluation

These steps are subject to change as we work through the project, but for now they seem a logical way to proceed.

Nancy

Introduction #2

I have been hand knitting since childhood and bought my first knitting machine about forty years ago. I loved making ski sweaters with Fair Isle yokes but wanted to knit the plain part much faster than my hand knitting would allow. My first purchase was a second hand Singer 321 machine. What was interesting was that I bought this machine through a neighbour who was a manager at Singer in Montreal. The machine he found for me was a Spanish machine with all of the printed key words (eg on the tension wheel) and the instruction book in Spanish. Let's just say it was an interesting experience trying to learn to use the machine.

I started by hand knitting the ribbed welt, then put the knitting on every other needle on the main bed (this is a standard machine that I still own) and knitted the plain part of the body. Then I took the piece back off the machine and onto my needles to hand knit the Fair Isle yoke. I certainly learned to machine knit in a very unconventional manner.

I hope to knit the hoodie on my Brother 940 but also have the option of using my LK 140 mid gauge machine.

Nancy and I hope you will join in and knit along with us. Please comment and send in your hints and questions. We hope that everyone will learn something from our blog.

Happy Knitting
Lynne
www.sheepsclothing.ca

Introduction

Welcome to the "Hoods Up!" Knit-a-long blog, where you will be able to follow along as two machine knitting friends inspire each other to make the hoodie designed by Mary Anne Oger and featured in Knitwords issue #22, August 2002.

If we were knitting it exactly as written there might not be much to blog about, but we have modifications that we either need to make or want to explore as we go along, using this basic pattern to push us out of our "comfort zone" and question everything.  For example, the pattern is written for a standard gauge machine, using Honiburd Cotton Rainbow yarn.  Nancy only has a mid-gauge machine (a Studio 860), so some yarn substitution and re-working of numbers will be required.   Lynne has a standard gauge machine, but will also explore yarn substitution.

So who are we?  I am Nancy, long time hand knitter and a bit newer to machine knitting.  My machine, the Studio 860, is a metal bed mid-gauge electronic machine, and one that has many capabilities that I have not yet explored.  I love a creative challenge, but usually need a little extra push to not just slip in to what I am comfortable making on my machine.  Lynne is also a hand knitter as well as machine knitter, but has been machine knitting for many more years than I, and owns several different machines.  I will let her take over the rest of own introduction, perhaps in the comments below.

So how did this get started?  Over the last couple of months we've been exchanging emails about getting together on a regular basis, and the conversation evolved to getting together once a month to do something with our machines.  We considered doing samples and practicing different techniques (a few a month) on swatches, but it eventually seemed to make more sense to actually produce something useful.  Between us we have quite a few print resources at our disposal, and we are neither of us afraid to teach ourselves from a book, but dedicating the time and staying focused seems to be something easier to achieve in partnership with someone likeminded instead of solo.  One of the books that is already laid out in a lesson format is Fashion Knit Course Outline for Hand Knitting Machines by Regine Faust.  Another that we both own is A Machine Knitters Guide to Creating Fabrics by Susanna E. Lewis and Julia Weissman.  We expect both books to be frequent, valuable resources as we explore modifications we might make with the hoodie.

So why the hoodie?  We wanted something casual and basic, something that would be inexpensive and not too "precious" that we would not want to make modifications.  And something that both of us would be most likely to actually wear.

And why the blog?  Some members of our Metro Machine Knitters Guild, and possibly other machine knitters as well, have expressed interest in what we're up to, and perhaps joining along, but we don't all live as relatively close to each other as Lynne and I do, so it seemed a good way to keep people in the loop and allow others to knit-a-long as well if they so desire, either with us or at their own pace.  It will also be another tool to keep us focused and accountable I think.  I can't say how often we will update the blog, it's too soon to tell, but perhaps as much as weekly, and certainly no less frequently than monthly.  We encourage comments, questions and critiques as well, they'll help us along!

Nancy

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