Mobius(s)

In the knitters world the "Infinity Scarf" is also known as a Mobius scarf. We like the Cat Bordhi method of using a 48" circular needle and knitting from the center outwards. You can purchase her excellent book with it's plethora of creative versions, and in the meantime get started with her simple, ingenious speedy cast  on available as a you tube video.

This month I made one out of King Cole Galaxy, a brushed acrylic/mohair mix which is also threaded with sequins. I used an Inox 6 mm/48" circular needle and cast on 120 stitches.

For fun, I am also making one with the same yarn, 2 related shades, doubled, on the same 6mm/48" needle. 

The most favorite mobius we have at the shop is this one, made from(vintage) Pingoin fine angora. I used the sawtooth border as the cast off which I found in a Knitty magazine design called Justify. I find it tricky to cast off loosly enough, and this alternate border adds lovely interest plus it is completely stretchy.

After casting off the mobius, block by stretching as far as it will comfortably go, then lay on the end of the ironing board (because you only want to gently steam one layer at a time), keeping the width consistent, going round and round, section by section. Galaxy has quite a bit of man made fiber and is senstive to heat, plus knit purl ridges don't want squashing.

Once again I use the trusty wet (Australian) tea towel and steaming thoughoughly yet gently. The piece should feel warmly damp.

When completely dry, use a brush to improve the nap of the fabric, stroking the stitches with the horizontal grain of the stitch pattern. Done! There are lots of other infinity scarves out there, most notably on the Garnstudio website.

Felting and fulling

Some past felting adventures for you

We used to have the company of Paula Shasta the fiber artist at our shop and she is most practiced at felting. Her favorite yarn was Kureyon by Noro and no wonder, such great colours! Here is a Noro felted Seven Circle Necklace.

very very fully felted

the striking colours of the Noro yarn are wonderfully muted and blended

as a bonus, the felting makes the necklace a warm and windproof scarf.

This capelet is also knit and felted by Paula then decorated with flowers. The design is from a past issue of Interweave Knits I believe. Any body out there remember the back issue, please let us know.

I made this study purse myself out of the Tove using the honeycomb stitch and based on the Booga Bag.

My understanding of felting is that you can no longer distinguish the stitches or weave of the fabric. If you can still discern the threads the article is said to be fulled. Success with felting is helped by lots of practice and keeping good notes about the details, needle size, number of washings etc. etc.

A few summers ago, Paula, Mayah and I attended a felting workshop at the Haliburton School of the Arts. Our instructor was the fabulous weaver Lucille Crighton. We learned so much, and had a lot of fun. Lucille shared lots of tips and techniques with us, and among them the primary importance of notes and records.

Feltable yarns we especially like include  Peer Gynt, Tove, Cascade 220, Kureyon, Lopi, Lopi lite and Freedom Spirit.

I have never felt better

You may remember years ago , when we had the location on Brock Street in downtown Whitby, we made a lot of felted mittens from Alafoss Lopi. The pattern used one ball, had a ridged cuff with stocking stitch in between and the afterthought thumb. Like the Handwarmer Family a pair can be accomplished in a couple of evenings, not counting the felting process. I use them for winter bike riding because of the cosy windproof characteristic of felt.

Last week, Sharion, the president of the Whitby Knitting Guild, presented Byron with a lovely, smoke coloured pair of mittens but with a 2 by 2 rib cuff variation. To ensure the mittens turned out similiar in size and shape, Sharion basted them to each other before processing them in the washing machine.

This was Sharion's first venture into fulling and felting, and don't they look great! The thumb shaping is more sophisticated, using the technique shared in the excellent note package from the Beaverton fall retreat. You can find the pattern; "New England Boiled Wool Mittens" used as the starting point for her variation here.

The Whitby Handknitting Guild meets the second Wednesday of the month at the downtown branch of the public library from 7pm to 9pm. It is a warm and welcoming evening, with generous hints, tips and encouragements shared among all. Hope you can join us sometime!

Weight a minute

You will remember the Handwarmer Family pattern from a while ago. Today I thought I would share  samples I worked on in order to illustrate the usefulness of the Pocket Scale from Lee Valley tools. I like these handwarmers to cosy up my leather gloves when I ride my bike in the fall.

Sometines, in the knitting life one wonders if there is sufficient yarn to complete a project. My strategy for going ahead with confidence is to use a very sensitive scale to measure the project.

In the handwarmer case I weigh the first one I knit: 9.5 grams. This is Bravo Jaquard acrylic DK.

Then the remaining portion of yarn, and yes I have 14.9, grams enough to complete the pair!

This pair is made of pure superwash wool double knitting in the smallest size; 9.4 grams. This is the Kaffee Fassett Regia DK.

I have 17.9 grams to finish the pair. Another use for using weight is to rummage through the stash and check out other potential candidates for hand warmers and also what size will be the most efficient.
Of course the fiber will make a difference, for example, cotton is heavier than acrylic, so you want to be sure to compare apples to apples

For a 3rd size I will need 13.8 grams per hand warmer. 13.8 plus 13.8 = 27.6, so out of a 50 gram ball I could likely make a second pair of the 1st size. (9.4 plus 9.4 =18.8. it will be close)

For much larger items I have asked permission of the cashier at the local supermarket as they have a really large and senisitive scale. Lee Valley also carries an excellent scale we use to check our suitcases before we travel. I will give it a try with a sweater