tychoish, now without a net

So we’re in a sort of “long stretch” part of the Latvian-Dreaming sweater. But I just wanted to post something to remind you that you can start this any time and that I haven’t forgotten about the project (it is in fact, basically my own project at the moment).

So here’s the plan:

1. The project materials (PDF chart, excel file with a more modifiable copy of the chart, a read me file explaining how to read the chart) are located here. Download them now!
2. Obtain yarn. Fingering weight to DK, in two colors. You’ll probably need a chunk more of the background/darker color. I’m bad at predicting this. I got about 1425 yards of each color, but I had the end of a skein leftover from a previous project of the background color. I think this should be enough, and I anticipate significant leftovers. This also depends a lot on factors like your gauge and any resizing.
3. Determine your gauge and the number of stitches that you need to get a sweater that you fits you. Hope that your number is close to 340. If it’s a bit smaller, don’t sweat it, if it’s a bit bigger, add a couple of stitches at each underarm before stitch 1 on the chart. If it’s more or more than a few stitches less, (read this](http://www.tychoish.com/2008/05/strategies-for-upsizing/).
4. If you want a ribbing cast on 320 and knit in two color ribbing for a couple of inches, then knit a row in the background color and increase to 340 like so. And/or adjust.
5. If you don’t want a ribbing, or want to think about about it yet, provisionally cast on 340 (or however many number of stitches you need) and begin knitting the pattern in the next row.
6. Ignore anything I said previously about 344 stitches. My fault.
7. After you’ve increased, begin knitting the pattern, following the chart, and the instructions for chart knitting included with the chart. You’ll be doing this for a long time.
8. Ask any questions you still have. (Before you ask about making a cardigan, read this.)
9. Keep knitting. Other than follow the chart, I’m not doing anything until the sweater is 12 inches long. This is 3 inches from the underarm point. I’ll get to what happens here in an upcoming post.

Knit in good health!

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tagged: knitting • latvian dreaming

I don’t have a good new post for tychoish today, it’s been eventful, and I seem to have about half a spare brain cell.

I did however manage to get posts up for a couple of guest blogging things:

• A post on Zimmermania, with a finished picture of a sweater that I worked on a while back (I’m behind on sweater posting, it’s true)…

• A post on the Feminist Science Fiction Blog about “the singularity” and possible theoretical interactions with feminist ideas. It’s sort of rambling, but a good start.

I’ll be back plenty soon enough, you just wait and see.

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tagged: interwebs • knitting • the queer

I’ve been a bit off the fiber arts these past few days. For starters, I discovered a stain on my Latvian Mitten sweater which is all but finished. (I just have to sew down the hem.)

It’s a tea stain, which are particularly brutal to get off. My last sweater that I made with this yarn currently suffers from a few more honestly derived tea stains. There’s also something about this yarn, I’m convinced, No other seems to stain so easily. Is there something about superwash? In any case, though I think the stain has mostly come up (salt, who’d thought?) and it’s on the back of the sweater sort of under the arm, so again, not a big deal, that whole mess has put me off knitting just a bit. I’ll get back to it in time. I want to get the hem sewn down by the weekend, which shouldn’t be a problem.

There’ll be more latvian dreaming stuff soon. I promise. How are people doing on this one?

I also finished this little spinning project I’d been working on for a great while. It’s 3ply merino DKish weight yarn. Light blue marl. I’m loving it, though I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do with it. This of course means that I’ve already started spinning up my shetland roving which I’m hoping to turn into three-ply of a similar weight as well. It’s nice fiber, unlike anything else I’ve ever spun, but it’s going well. One thought is that I could use the blue merino at least in part for hems. Which seems like a foolish waist of hand spun. I’ve made a rule that handspun (once it’s spun) doesn’t count as stash, so it could sit around for a while.

I’ve decided that I’m going to try and spin 100 gram skeins of yarn, by measuring off 3 33ish gram lengths of roving and spinning one on to each bobbin and then plying. I think this will give me reasonably sized skeins, it’ll break up the spinning in an interesting way, and I’m less likely to have leftovers of any quantity (I know this isn’t a huge issue, but I’m a bit neurotic.) This decision made me really rather happy. I also decided that I’d not use the lazy kate that came with my wheel except for holding bobbins when plying. All other bobbin holding will be done by the basket that I use to hold my fiber as I’m spinning. Somehow these decisions were incredibly liberating, and I think that realization is kind of worrying. Anyway, I think I should end this before it degenerates any further.

Onward and Upward.

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tagged: knitting • spinning

So I’ve been talking about this project for a few days, and thinking about something like it for much longer. And I think, enough fooling around, I might as well post the “getting started” entry. You need not get started this instance (but you should! peer pressure!), but just in case you were ready for it, here it is. A proper introduction and the first little chunk of the pattern…

I want to knit a sweater with you. It’s a big project, probably best suited to winter knitting, but I’ve never let something as predictable as the weather get in my way for such things. I might need a fan for knitting the sleeves and the end of the body as summer approaches, but I happen to have one or two around for that possibility.

This sweater is like many of my others, two color, stranded all the way across, simple vertical lines, and I’m thinking a simple drop shouldered look. Maybe shoulder straps. I’ll decide later.

I know that I’ve already started, don’t feel behind! feel glad that I’m going to be ahead of you, I’m here to make your mistakes for you. I’ll be posting regularly about my progress and my design decisions, and when I’m done maybe we’ll make a “real” pattern of it.

The charts I’ve chosen and modified (a bit) are from Joyce Williams’ Latvian Dreams: Knitting from Weaving Charts. (2000; Schoolhouse Press); which is an amazing book that I highly recommend. Amazing stuff. I’ve chosen a few of these charts that are small enough to memorize and arranged them so that there’s a vertical line. They all even repeat every 16 rounds. Better yet, because they’re weaving charts, the top half (rows ~10-16) are the same as the bottom half (rows ~2-8), which makes it even easier to memorize.

Here’s the download link for the pattern materials packet. And please do note that there’s a pattern up on ravelry here.

Coming up below the fold: a description of what’s going on at the beginning of the sweater (sizing, yarn choice, casting on) for those of you who want to get started right away… Tallk of options like hemmed edges and cardigans come later, particularly if there’s interest.

Continue reading Latvian Dreaming

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tagged: knitting • latvian dreaming

So I’m off in a few to go visit with my grandmother who has recent had a knee replacement. (Indeed this means that the blog has been down one reader for a few weeks–rehab centers not having wifi and all–and likely will for another week and some change.) While there is high speed internet (how do you think said grandmother reads the blog,) my posting time might be a little bit sparse.¹

My goal is to post the first bread crumb of the latvian dreaming tonight.

I did want to share a couple of links that I’ve been collecting over the past few days and weeks.

• sockpr0n’s schacht matchless - This blog posting has some useful info on “hybrid” double drive setup, where you can do double drive with two separate bands rather than one band. This means you can have a finer degree of control over tension like you would with a break band, except with the evenness of double drive. Rock. On.
• y knit - I started listening to this as I was spinning with my mother this morning before getting ready to go. It’s great. Perfect length, great guys (hi mike!), nice insight. I’m generally pretty nonplussed towards the Stitch and Bitch stuff (the “consumer feminism” wigs me out, as does the hipster stuff.) but hearing Debbie Stoller talk makes me like her more, even if the aura isn’t something I”m into. I suspect I’m the last person to be getting into this (I’m generally 3 months behind on getting into new podcasts, at least), but if you’re not listening to this one, work on it.
• Tea Gadget - I got an email from the marketing department of this company, that makes this portable loose leaf tea brewing thing. I think the website might be an interesting place to start a semiotic study of advertising, and the contraption looks interesting. I’m not sure if it’s right for me, but you might be different. I think getting this email either means that I’ve arrived, or I’m officially passed my prime.

Anyway. Looks like that’s all the news that’s fit to sing.

Brownie points to the first person to figure that one out. That isn’t family.

Onward and Upward!

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tagged: Announcements • interwebs • knitting

Ok, so I realized that I wasn’t incredibly clear in my first post. I’ve since written a “here’s what you have to do to get started post, but I think that in my eagerness to get started (and for you to get started,) there’s some prep work that needs to be taken care before folks can start. So I might as well get that out of the way before I dive in.

And besides you all need time to get things in order.

Other than the beginning cast on directions, I think I’ll post a little bit here and there about other things that might be important to touch upon. Like things to consider for making a cardigan version, or tips for resizing, stuff about the design process, fitting, and so forth. I want to pace the project out so that I don’t overload you all with information that you won’t need for many weeks, but also, as there are large stretches of time when the main direction will be “knit on in pattern,” for a long time, I want to make sure there’s stuff to post. Remembering of course that my writing of the pattern depends at least a little on my knitting speed.

If there’s a question or issue you want me to cover be in touch about that and I’ll do my best to fit it in.

Here are some answers to the questions and issues that have come up (below the fold):

Continue reading Sweater Project Clarifications

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tagged: knitting • latvian dreaming