This brings up my current crafting crisis–namely, I have too many crafts. Right now, my passion is painting, but I need to get ready for the Bash, so I have to do a lot of metalwork, which I also enjoy, which makes me want to make some jewelry, and it all spins ’round again. Also, I’m itching to torch some glass.

I know, boo hoo. I’m complaining that I have too many toys. Get a life, Lo.

I may be a bit of a perfectionist, which drives Tim crazy. He can’t stand to see me unraveling knitting, so I have to do it when he’s not around. My secret vice: frogging.

As I reknit this, I’m taking the opportunity to incorporate some improvements, including knit-as-you-go button bands. I’m hoping this will be a great pattern. Gideon, after all, has stringent sartorial requirements. Right.

I am unfamiliar the direction “K1fb” that is knit one fb?? front to back?? Please let me know….thanks

This is a great question. K1fb is one of the increases that makes two stitches out of one. Here’s how it works:

1. K1, but do not slip knitted stitch off of the lefthand needle.

2. Swing your righthand needle around and go through the back of the same stitch you just knitted, and knit 1.

3. Slip stitch off lefthand needle.

The k1fb increase “in the wild”:

The advantages of k1fb are that it is very fast, leaves no hole whatsoever, and can be used decoratively, because of the little purl bump it creates. I will sometimes use k1fb increases on top-down raglans so that little columns of purl bumps appear along the sides of my raglan lines. K1fb also does not disrupt the previous row of knitting, like m1l or m1r, where you reach down and knit into a stitch from the previous row. Because of this, it is ideal for seed stitch or garter stitch.

The disadvantages of k1fb are that it can be difficult to execute in slippery yarns and that it is not invisible, when you want your increase to not show. I would not use k1fb, for instance, on waist shaping, where the purl bumps would be very evident.

I’ve been working all weekend on a sweater to match the Gansey Booties I designed for Gid. Sorry about the cell phone picture–I can’t find my camera.

I’m using the same Cotton-Ease as before, and I really like the fabric as it’s being knit up. I have enough of this yarn in stash to make three adult-sized sweaters and another two baby sweaters, so it’s a good thing it’s going well.  I have it in mind to knit a coordinating Gansey for Tim eventually, using some of the patterns from Gideon’s. Unfortunately, by that time, Gid will have outgrown this one, and I’ll have to make him another. Sigh. It never ends. I’ve decided that I need to acquire some self-knitting yarn and self-sewing fabric. That way, things might get done around here.

I torched a little bit on Friday, and I’ll post some shots of the beads when I find my camera. I’ve been trying out silver glass for the first time–just a little Psyche frit I picked up at Frantz in Shelton right after Christmas. So far, my results have been blah. I just can’t figure out how to use the flame chemistry on my Hothead to my advantage.  Pictures when I can.

I used Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, because it’s machine washable, but any worsted-weight yarn would do. These booties would look great in real gansey wool, for a rustic look, or in a soft cashmere blend for a special gift.

Gansey Booties

Sizes: Newborn (Medium 3-6 months, Large 6-9 months)
Materials: less than 50 grams worsted-weight yarn (I used Lion Brand Cotton-Ease)
Needle: size 6 or size needed to obtain gauge
Gauge: 18 st/ 4 inches in moss st.

Notes: These booties may be made with DPNs or one long circular using the magic loop method.

Sole
CO 7(9,11) st.
Row 1: K1fb, work in seed st across to last stitch, k1fb.
Row 2: Work in seed st across.
Repeat rows 1 and 2 once. 11(13,15) st on needle.
Work 20(24, 26) rows in seed st.
BO 1 st at beginning of next 4 rows. 7(9,11) st on needle.

Pick up stitches:
Wk 1 row in seed st. Pick up stitches around sole, picking up one stitch for every two rows along side of foot, one stitch for each cast-on stitch, and one stitch for every two rows along other side of foot. 42(50,56) st on needle. Place marker to indicate the beginning of the round.

Instep
Row 1: purl around
Row 2: knit around
Row 3: purl around
Row 4: knit around
Row 5: purl around
Row 6: k7(7,9), ssk, turn.
Row 7: s1, p5, p2tog., turn.
Row 8: s1, k6, ssk, turn.
Row 9: s1, p7, p2tog, turn.
Row 10: s1, k8, ssk, turn.
Row 11: s1, p9, p2tog, turn.

Medium and Large sizes only:
Row 12: s1, k10, ssk, turn.
Row 13: s1, p11, p2tog, turn.

Large size only:
Row 14: s1, k12, ssk, turn.
Row 15: s1, p13, p2tog, turn.

All sizes:
Next row: s1, k9(11,13), ssk, turn.
Next row: s1, p9(11,13), p2tog, turn.
Repeat these rows once more.

Next row: s1, p9(11,13), ssk, turn.
Next row: s1, p9(11,13), p2tog, turn.
Repeat these rows twice more.

Next row: s1, k9(11,13), ssk, turn.
Next row: s1, p9(11,13), p2tog, turn.

Next row:  s1, k around. 24(30,34)  st.

Cuff
Work cuff around in k1, p1 rib for 2″, BO in rib loosely.

Finishing
Weave in ends, fold cuff over.

There are 26 skeins of laceweight “Alafoss Crystal Fleece,” 10 skeins of lopi in brown and orange, 10 regular-sized cakes of Plotulopi, better known as “unspun Icelandic,” in brown and orange, and one GIANT cake of plotulopi in brown. My uncle seems to have leaned toward the browns and oranges, or perhaps it was just the late Seventies rearing its ugly head.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it yet. It’s all fairly scratchy, though I know from past experience that the Crystal Fleece makes exquisite lace shawls of the heartier type.  I already have wheels and wheels of the plotulopi in stash that Grandma had previously given me, probably enough to crochet a scratchy wool afghan for every member of my extended family. I’ll have to experiment to see what it wants to be.

Venerable, and scratchy as heck. Those Norwegians must have had skin like alligators in the Eighties. Also, it’s worsted weight, while the modern Peer Gynt is sportweight. Needless to say, this will be a strictly-outer-layer sweater. But the sweater should last several decades. The wrapper assures me that it is mothproof, and this stuff should wear like iron.

Foolishly, rather than finishing weaving in the ends of the Drops cardigan, I have started another sweater for Tim. Coming in high off the success of the last sweater, I decided to try again, this time generating a classic, top-down raglan using the percentage system. To get my numbers, I made a spreadsheet. I’ll post the real file of this after I’ve played with it a bit more.

What I did was make a gague swatch with my yarn (more on the yarn later) and put the gague into the spreadsheet as stitches per inch. Since I knew I wanted a 38″ chest measurement, I made a list of the percentages given by Zimmerman, then created formulas that would give me the correct number of stitches at any given point, such as neck, upper arm, wrist, chest, etc. Then, I decided how many to cast on for my v-neck raglan using the funny cross-shaped set of numbers at the bottom, and took off in 4×2 rib. It’s pretty easy, especially since Excel does the math for me. I may have gotten a little carried away by this, since I dragged the formula boxes out to figure numbers for sizes from 36″ to 54″. Not that I will ever knit a 54″ sweater, but someone else might. The cool thing is that if I want to make another sweater using the same spreadsheet, all I would have to do is change the number in the gague box, and all the other numbers would change along with it.

There are various websites out there that will generate a raglan pattern automatically, but I prefer to see the nuts and bolts of the math myself, so that I can feel confident fudging the numbers where I need to to make them fit into the stitch pattern. I can also add measurements directly into the spreadsheet wherever I want them, and make adjustments manually as I go, rather than relying on somebody else’s program. For instance, I added a line for waist shaping, even though Tim doesn’t need it, so that I could use the same spreadsheet for a sweater for myself…which I may or may not have cast on for as well.