Potato Chip Knitting

     You might remember an old commercial for potato chips that bet you can't eat just one.  I find that some knitting patterns are like that too.  I knit them, and then knit them again.  It is quite satisfying.
     I am currently coming to the end of a streak of knitting accessories for gifts.  There's half a hat and one pair of mitts to go.  The hat pattern is one I've used before, and the mitts pattern will be new to me.  

     I am growing a little in technical skill.  I feel quite clever because I've applied a technique I learned from Ann Hanson in a Craftsy course of hers, the one row buttonhole.  I used it to make a ponytail opening just above the ribbed brim of a hat.  That hat was the third hat I've made from a particular pattern, in white after doing lime green and dark red.  The pattern has a lot of texture from thin lines of stockinette on reverse stockinette.  It is a pattern with a bold style.  There are family members I would not make it for, because I just don't think it would appeal to them.  I like the look of it, though, and fortunately I also like the knitting process for it.  I found the stitches easy to read and the pattern easy to memorize over the course of a round.  That surprised me, given all the cables.

     Have amassed some more books on knitting sweaters but haven't dug into them yet.  I got one book for a particular pattern that I think is quite pretty because it has a lot of texture.  It is similar to the hat I just mentioned.  However, I have concerns that such a sweater would visually add bulk and not be flattering to wear.  And I think you really have to be sensible and weigh both when picking a project.  So that pattern may stay in the "nice to think about" category.

     I did read one knitting book recently that was written in the 1980s.  The content is very dated in parts and rather amusing.  The author raved about the new looser fit that had just become fashionable.  It's good to know that I have the pattern for a dolman sleeve sweater if I ever need it.  I got the idea to buy that title from watching Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's stash room tour on Patreon, a tour which includes her bookshelves.

Raglan Sweater

     So I was working on a sweater.  I am pleased to say that it is finished and it fits. 

     I had started out following the pattern Brick by Clare Lee.  I made quite a few modifications to the fit and the design details.  In the end, I began thinking of it as just a raglan sweater. 

     Anyway, it is nice to be done.  I enjoyed the process of making the sweater as much as I enjoy owning it.  (Not wearing it, not till Fall.)  I just mean to say, the sense of accomplishment is pleasant.  Big project and all.

Radio Segment about Briggs and Little Yarn

You might enjoy listening to a radio segment about Briggs and Little Yarn called "Made to Last," at https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/made-to-last-more-than-100-years-old-canadian-wool-company-thrives-in-changing-knitting-market-1.5459413 or on the CBC Radio app under the Sunday Edition show.

Trends in the Cut of Clothing and Knits

     Decades ago I read a book about planning a wardrobe and making smart choices when one gets pieces.  It recommended that you study the clothes in the shops and magazines to examine the cut, as well as the colour, embellishment, and texture.  For example, see where the waist sits, where the line of the shoulder sits in relation to the tip of a person's bone at the end of the shoulder, how high the underarm sleeve sits, how closely or loosely the fabric sits against the body, where the hems and seams hit.  It seemed like a sensible and clever approach to me, so I adopted it.
     Recently I had a look at knits on the market and realized that drop shoulders have come back in.  I feel like this change snuck up on me.  I remember the last time they were in and I remember when they went out.  The shoulder is dropped and the body of the sweater is wide like before, but the sleeve is much narrower this time.  With less of a taper, understandably.  The necklines are somewhat wider and lower.  The yarn is a finer gauge.  The modern knits don't have as much texture or colourwork as they did in knitting books from the last fashion cycle.  This may be for style or just because it is cheaper for a factory to make plain garments.
     I suppose if a knitter was enterprising and liked math, she could snap up secondhand some of the knitting books from the 80s and 90s and modify any drop shoulder pattern that lacks armhole shaping.  You'd reduce the number of stitches in the sleeve, plot a new neckline on graph paper, and perhaps convert a pattern to a different, finer gauge by recalculating the stitches and rows or by using the directions for a larger size and accounting for the difference in row gauge.  I saw a used book from the 90s the other day at a thrift store and passed it up without thinking about possible modifications.  On the other hand, using a recently-published pattern would be simpler.
     In the same thrift shop, I saw a cardigan with a colourwork yoke that looked to me like it was handknit, judging by the lack of tag and a texture and gauge like Icelandic wool yarn.  I thought the yarn felt rather scratchy and wondered if that was the reason the sweater was donated.
     The other day I was able to correctly identify a woman's cowl as handknit.  This was out in the wild, not at a guild meeting where the odds are high of running into handknits.  I guessed because the cowl was in garter stitch.  If a factory had made it, the machine would have needed two needle beds.  More complicated machine, more expensive, less likely.  Whereas a handknitter can knit garter stitch flat easily.  
     Besides the drop shoulder sweaters, I noticed some yoke sweaters with colourwork for sale online.  I've seen one person wearing one.  I will have to try and see the details up close sometime.  From a distance the sweaters appear to have been knitted flat in pieces, using short rows to imitate the curved design that's characteristic of handknit yoke sweater patterns from the 80s.  The original designs were a function of the technique in the decreases handknit in the round.  Again, simple for a handknitter, involved for machines.
     It's is nice to know what the new fashionable options are.  Fashion still seems to be favouring sweaters with a natural shoulder fit and a high-ish underarm seam.  I consider these to be more flattering and more trend-proof.
     This begs the question, why am I knitting a sweater with a raglan sleeve.  Expediency, I think.  Brick is such a simple pattern that the directions make me confident I can finish knitting it if I keep plugging away.  I expect the result with Brick will look acceptable and be comfortable to wear.
     It might be fun to do another sometime in two colours like a baseball t-shirt for a retro look.

Rabbit Hole of Research in Knitted Texture

     I created a bundle of favourites on Ravelry and called it texture.  I created it so I can view at a glance pictures of a collection of patterns and projects that show texture in the knitted cloth and that particularly appeal to me.
     When I saw the URL for the bundle, it appeared hundreds of other people had done so before me.  Found I could type in a different number in the URL and see other bundles.
     I'll be a while.  The results are very cool.
     Am also looking at projects made with undyed yarn, using the advanced search feature, sorted by most favourited projects.  Some of them are very pretty.
    Myself, I just finished knitting Julie Hayes' beret pattern Colette in undyed brown yarn.  Love the concentric decreases in the crown.  Am wondering if I should mail the hat to a family member now or wait months and months until Christmas.
     I applied concentric decreases to a stockinette hat that's fresh off the needles.  I knitted it without a pattern as a sort of test swatch for a sweater, as is recommended in Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears.  Used the same yarn as I used for Colette but with one needle size down and a different natural shade of wool on the white side.  Am not into brown.
     Have cast on for the sweater, Brick, using the same yarn but in a medium natural grey shade.  While I wish the wool was glossier, the colour appeals to me.  Brick is a plain stockinette raglan sweater so it has no texture to it.  I plan to knit the trim from the Susie Roger's Reading Mitts pattern on the cuffs and hem, with picot at the collar.
                ***
     Oh, wow.  There are hundreds of bundles of favourites under the name linen too.  Love linen.
     You can type in www dot ravelry dot com slash bundles slash [name] for any name or word you think is likely, and see what comes up.

A Podcast on Craftivism

     If you are spinning yarn or knitting and want to listen to interviews as you work, I recommend episode 447: "Rethinking Craft" from the CBC Radio program, Spark.

     You can stream it with your Internet browser at www.cbc.ca/radio/podcasts/arts-culture/spark/.  Or find Spark from CBC Radio on your favourite podcast app, and find the episode.  

     The last segment on crafts and activism, also called craftivism, will probably be of interest to you.
     For those who prefer to read, a synopsis of the episode is here, www.cbc.ca/radio/spark/rethinking-craft-in-the-age-of-digital-reproduction-1.5291067.