Masters Monday - 2.31

The argyle section of the Level II sock is done and all those fiddly ends are sewn in (except the beginning and ending tails which I may end up needing).



With this section pinned to exact size and blocking, I'll next be duplicate stitching the contrasting lines and then joining those two small sections still on stitch holders to start knitting the heel.

Masters Monday - 2.30

Two steps forward, one step back.

I had hoped to finish the argyle part of this sock some time tonight but I've had a set back. I could probably still reach that goal but I think I've had my fill of this thing for a while.

See the purple cord in the photos? That's the cord of my circular needle. I've run the needle through the stitches of a single row (at least I hope it's all in the same row), below the mistake I found.

I'm hoping that when I rip back the cable will catch the stitches and also help each section end on the same row. Trouble with ripping without a safety line in place cost me the entire argyle section the last time.

Anyway, this is the instep section. Even losing the portion I have to rip, I am nearing the end of the argyle knitting. Next step will be to sew in all the numerous ends and to duplicate stitch the lines. Then there is still the knitting of the sole and the toe.....but thankfully that will only be with the one colour.

Masters Monday - 2.29

All I ask of myself, in regard to the TKGA Master Knitter program, is that each week I do at least some small thing. Progress, even if it is small, is still better than allowing stagnation.

The only progress I can report this week is reaching the half way point in the second row of diamonds. This is the dividing point where I put the side/heel stitches on holders and continue on, in pattern, down the arch of the foot. (Please ignore the messy bits at the joining points of the two tiers of diamonds. That will be cleaned up as I darn in the ends. No, really......I already checked that it works.)

This bit of argyle knitting was all completed today because we spent last week out of town.....out of the province completely, actually. We were a 12 hour drive away in Lethbridge, Alberta visiting my mom and her husband. I took knitting with me, of course, but I wasn't sure I would have the needed focus to work on the argyle sock in the car so I took along something else. Completed the whole project too! More on that in the coming week.

Masters Monday - 2.27

The beginning of the dreaded argyle sock, 2 inches of 2x2 ribbing.

So far it's going pretty well. Hopefully success will stick with me through the colour work section.

Masters Monday - 2.26

Argyle Practice

I worked up a bit of an argyle swatch this week in preparation for knitting the argyle sock for Level II. I think it turned out very well, although I see some areas I will need to work on.

I have a 1954, Grace Ennis, argyle sock pattern. The gauge requirement is 10 stitches per inch. I lucked out and got gauge on the very first try using size 2.25 mm needles and Lang Jawoll sock yarn purchased locally.

To do the motif I've been picking up the new yarn from under the old at the colour change, and the technique hasn't been leaving any holes, but there is some irregularity where the two colours change, particularly on the right leaning slants. In that area I end up with the old colour looking a bit loose and sloppy and the new colour being a bit tight and distorted.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to alleviate this problem?

Masters Monday - 2.21

No pictures. Brief post.

Working on right front of the vest. Looks the same as the left front did only "reverse shaping".

Being distracted by spinning and weaving.

Masters Monday - 2.19

I've finished the back of the Masters Level II vest, and I'm working on the left front piece.

It's up to the neckline shaping and underarm now. The way I have the neckline shaping written out doesn't look as good as I thought it would so I have paused for a bit while I consider the alternatives.

As I show this as a work in progress keep in mind that these pieces are not blocked. Hopefully any irregularities will be reduced in the blocking.

Masters Monday - 2.16

Well, whaddaya know? A wee bit of progress to report! (What's that saying? If it wasn't for the last minute a lot of things wouldn't get done.)

This is Swatch 21 - picking up stitches.

For this swatch the knitter has to figure out how many stitches to pick up and how to place them most effectively along selvedge and bind off edges. The swatch also tests your ability to select and position appropriate decreases for the neckline.

Masters Monday 2.14

I'll chalk this week's effort up as research and practice.

Swatches 17 - 20 are all about buttonholes so I dug out all my reference books and found every mention of every type of buttonhole I could. The little strip on top was a bit of practice. In the end I decided that I will wait for the April issue of "Cast On", the TKGA magazine, which is supposed to be coming out with an entire article on buttonholes. Other technical articles I have found in the magazine have always been quite enlightening, often refining techniques in a way I have not found in my other references.

Maybe I'll start on the argyle sock or vest. I have the yarn for both.

Masters Monday - 2.13

One more swatch checked off the list. This is #16, another swatch where the knitter picks a cable that will fit into the required dimensions with a minimum of 2 multiples and three repeats and then figures out the gauge (by swatching), makes allowances for the differences in density between the cable portion and the seed stitch border, plans an effective way of dealing with the difference, writes a complete pattern and....

.....yes, still must knit the final swatch. This is cable 16.5 in the "Harmony Guide to Aran Knitting".

Masters Monday 2.11

Did you arrive early, find nothing but old posts, and think I was skipping Masters Monday again? Sorry about that. I was fiddling with a video/slide show of birthday pictures for my granddaughter Kaylen's blog instead of getting my own blogging done. If you're up for a round of "Happy Birthday" and watching a wee one discover birthday cake for the first time, pop on over to Kaylen's blog and wish her a happy 1st birthday.

And yes, I did work on my Masters Knitting this week. I worked and worked actually, but this one swatch (and its pattern) is all I have to show for it right now.

This is Level II, Swatch 14, Cable of Your Choice, but with a twist to the assignment that wasn't there for Level I. In this level the knitter has to choose three stitch patterns, do the math, and write out the patterns for each of the swatches themselves. This results in the absurd situation of swatching for the swatches. An initial swatch must be made to determine gauge so that you can not only make the final swatches within the size limits, but also correct for "cable flare" - where the edging bulges and gathers because the seed stitch and the cables are of different gauges.

I actually have more done than shows here as I did my initial "swatching for the swatches" with all three cables on the one practice swatch. I have also begun the rough drafts of the patterns for the other two swatches. I learned with the first one that it works best to write the pattern and then knit from it, rather than the source the stitch pattern was found in. I found and corrected several omissions and mistakes as I attempted to knit from my own pattern. Hopefully now I won't have my patterns thrust back at me with "errata" to be corrected.

Masters Monday - 2.10

As promised, for this week's Masters Monday I did the boring bit. I got caught up on the paperwork for the last three swatches I had done.

It doesn't make for very exciting blog pictures, but let me tell you, it's a huge relief! And hours of work. A full, working pattern had to be written up for each of these, complete with references, gauge, materials, abbreviations....not to mention the labeling of the swatches, answering of related questions, and cross referencing in the bibliography.

Now I can check off Swatches 11, 12 and 13 (of 22).

Masters Monday 2.2

Only one completed swatch this week. Much of my spare time has been swallowed up by Christmas preparations.

Edited to add: It has been pointed out that the seam is about half a stitch off, with the tops not matching. Yup. Back to the needles.

This is Swatch 4 - Single Rib (K1P1), a seaming exercise. I'm not all that pleased with it. I seamed it in the manner described in the Seaming article in "Cast On" magazine, and it is not my usual method. The article suggests using an even number of stitches and starting each piece of ribbing with a knit stitch so that you end up seaming a knit stitch and a purl stitch together (leaving the ribbing pattern intact), supposedly hiding the seam "in the ditch" of the two stitches. Because the magazine article so strongly recommended this method I went with it, but I'm having second thoughts.

I normally seam ribbing by starting with an uneven number of stitches, starting and ending both pieces with a knit stitch and seaming up the centre of these edge stitches (leaving the ribbing pattern unbroken). I find it makes a finer seam (less seam bulk, especially at cuff edges) and it still turns out neat and tidy. The "Cast On" magazine article says that the seam turns out messier, but I'm not sure that it does. I think this might be worth a bit of additional experimentation.

For readers' further consideration (are you still with me?), Maggie Righetti suggests a third method in her book "Sweater Design in Plain English". She says to add an additional knit stitch so that your single rib ends in K2 at one end. This lets you seam with a full stitch, but gives you that knit/purl "ditch" seam.