The Red Scarf Project

About a month ago, my mother discovered this great charity knitting project, the Red Scarf Project, which provides care packages and (you guessed it) red scarves for college students from foster care.  (The project is an offshoot of Foster Care to Success, an organization which provides assistance to former foster care children, including college scholarships).  As a college student, I remember how great it was to get care packages from home, and can only imagine how important these care packages are to students who have little or no family support.  Each knitter may send up to 5 scarves (at the appropriate collection time; check their website for specific details) and Mom has already finished 3!

This led to the following phone call:
"ring ring"
Me: "What's up?"
Mom: "Do you want to knit some scarves for the Red Scarf Project?"
Me: "Sure, I guess, if I have time."
Mom: "Oh good, I'm on my way back from the yarn store; I bought you a bunch of red yarn to get started!  Come get it later today!"
Me: "...okay.."
Later that day... she hands me a bag with 7 skeins of various yarns.
(I have lots of phone conversations with her that involve her calling to ask the one question that just occurred to her).

Grandpa Scarf

After looking around at several scarf patterns (there are some great suggested scarf patterns on the Red Scarf Project Ravelry group page) I found this one up for testing.  It features a braid cable border, and a rather intense (if you haven't worked cables before) cable in a cable center panel.  The pattern is entirely written out, which I found slightly irritating; it was my fault though, for signing up for a knit test marked "written out pattern" only.  (I will now take two seconds to voice my profound love of charted patterns, especially for cabling, because you can visualize where each cable is supposed to go while knitting.  This prevents the I-cabled-the-wrong-way-and-just-noticed-after-knitting-40-more-rows-issue from occurring.  Which may have occurred when I was knitting this scarf. Gold stars to anyone who can point out which center cable repeat I screwed up!   I took the mistake as a from the universe that the scarf was not destined to be perfect and have ignored it since it's discovery.  But my point is, I like charts).

Apart from this, the design is really lovely; there's a cute little XO (hugs and kisses!) cable, hidden in the last bit of the braid cable edging.  I love that it's a secret message to your scarf recipient!  I do recommend dropping down a needle size, as the scarf has the potential to be very wide.  (It's the kind of scarf you wear outside when it is -40 degrees).  The original pattern calls for size 8 needles; I used size 6's and got 7.5 inches across.

I used 4 skeins of Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice yarn in cranberry for the scarf.  Vanna's Choice has never been one of my favorite yarns, because it is acrylic and tends to fuzz with use.  It holds up better than Wool-Ease, though, and fit the parameters of the Red Scarf Project people just fine.  If I was going to knit the scarf again for someone special (and not as a RSP) I might consider using something like Cascade 220 or KnitPicks' Wool of the Andes, which would show off the cables beautifully.

As for the Red Scarf Project, I'll probably knit a few more scarves this year, probably with more simple patterns.  What would you knit for the project?

Test Knitting Adventures, Part 3

And we're back, again, with one more test knitting adventure!

Most of the test knitting opportunities available on Ravelry offer knitters a free working pattern in exchange for feedback, but if you look hard enough (and respond quickly) there are some tests which include yarn support!  I was lucky enough to find such a test for Interlacements Yarns, a small fiber arts company based out of Wisconsin specializing in hand-dyed yarns and rovings.  Tracey, (one of the owners) was wonderful to work with!


Sweet Feet

I was sent two skeins of Sweet Feet, a merino/Tussah silk blend sock yarn in two colorways; Mountain Jewel (blues, greens and purple) and Grape Harvest (purples and green).  Tussah silk, for those of you who were wondering (I was) is cultivated from wild silk worms living in tropical environs.  The silk they produce is brown or beige and is generally more resilient than the white silk produced by domestic silk worms.

The yarn itself is wonderfully soft to wear or knit, with a lovely silk sheen, but it can be a bit splitty if you are not careful.  However, the yarn really stands out in terms of colors.  All the colorways available feature rich, vibrant colors (more so in real life than on the computer) perfect for luxurious socks, shawls, mitts, etc.  (Check the Ravelry test group here for more pics of the colorways).

The sock pattern which I tested (not yet available for purchase) was a fairly basic cuff down sock with a simple picot edging for the cuff, and flaps sewn to the sides of the sock, through which a leather lace can be drawn to tighten the sock up around the ankle.  The simplicity of the pattern allows the beautiful colors of the yarn to really shine, but I did run out of yarn before completion of the flaps.  Although, this could have been because I was knitting a size 9 pair of women's socks, which felt like the larges pair of socks ever knitted while I was working on them!  Any smaller size sock would probably be finished without fault.

Test Knitting Adventures, Part 2

My last post was starting to get really long, so I decided to break it up into sections.  Here is another test knitting adventure!

Like other social media sites, Ravelry has the capacity for connecting a multitude of people across oceans and continents.  I am especially impressed with how you can use it to meet knitters and designers local to your area, as well as work with foreign designers (like my next test knit project, which I did for a Swedish designer).  It makes the world seem like a smaller, friendlier place.


Jolnir Mittens

In early December I was pattern-surfing with the idea of finding something quick to knit for my sister for Christmas, when I can across these beautiful Scandinavian-style mittens by Emmy Petersson (available on Ravelry).  I had knit socks, sweaters, cowl and gloves for my sister, but not mittens (and I'm really glad I did given the crap-tastic winter weather WA has received over the past couple weeks).

Her favorite color is green, so I chose a forest-y green and white color combo, reversing the main and contrasting colors for the left and right mittens for a funky look.  (Have you noticed how knitters are doing this for socks?  That was my inspiration!)

I used sock yarn for the mittens for several reasons; 1. Sock yarn is the right weight for the pattern (can you imagine how cool the mittens would look with a solid and a variegated?  I want to try that next.)  2.Mittens (just like socks) wear out, so if your yarn has a little acrylic or nylon in it, it will wear longer than if it was knitted out of 100 percent wool.  3. The doubled thickness of sock yarn creates a warm, dense fabric, perfect for keeping your hands toasty!  (I would, however, strongly recommend against using Serenity Sock Yarn, as it is very slippery and split-y, making it hard to work with in a Fair-Isle setting).

My favorite part of the pattern, is that the thumb is actually charted (unlike many Fair-Isle mittens that I've seen) with a cute column of hearts.

Both mittens knit up pretty quickly (except for the mental freak-out moment I had where I didn't follow the main color/contrasting color color key, and used the wrong needle size) and have fairly basic construction.  Although this isn't a beginner pattern, if you've knit mittens and you've done stranded knitting, you could handle this without any serious problems.

More adventures coming up in Part 3!

Test Knitting Adventures Part 1

As explained in my last couple posts, I've been doing a lot of tinkering around on Ravelry which has included test knitting for three different designers.  I'd like to say that my initial thought in test knitting was that I would gain experience in what makes a good tester/designer relationship (for when I get my current designs ready to test) and expand my networking contacts in the woolly-world.  But really, what went through my head each time I signed up was "Ooo!  Free pattern/I want that!"

The Testing Process
When a designer has completed a pattern for design, it's really important that the pattern be checked for errors and comprehension (the same way that you would have someone else proof read a research paper).  Apart from any obvious errors like spelling and grammar, or incorrect stitch counts, there is the bigger issue that knitting has it's own language.  Sure, there are some pretty basic instructions, like knit or purl, which can only be interpreted one way.  But you also have more vague instructions like "cast on" (did you mean "provisional", "long tail", "cable" or "wrap"; each one has a different look and feel), "increase" (knit into front and back of stitch or knit from bar below, or yarn over?) or "decrease" (knit two together, purl two together, slip stitch and knit next stitch and pass the slipped stitch over?).  It's enough to make any novice knitter want to cry!  Add to this the added confusion of abbreviations which are sometimes universal (K for knit) and sometimes specific to the designer or design source, and you can see why the process of pattern writing can be so complicated!

So, what should the aspiring designer do?  Be as specific as possible in your initial pattern, define all abbreviations (even if you think they are obvious) and provide good quality photos or illustrations.  Also, have your design test-knit by several knitters.

Test knitting is the phase where a group of knitters try out your pattern.  They are the ones who will try and reproduce your creation, while making constructive suggestions and catching errors.  As a test knitter, it is really important that you be in constant contact with the designer (so they know what/how you are doing; no news  is no news), be very clear with any suggestions or questions you might have, knit to the gauge recommended and make no alterations to the pattern without designer approval.

My favorite part of test knitting has been finding errors and then figuring out what to do to fix them (this may actually be more of a tech editor thing).  There's something really exciting about that "aha!" moment where you confirm that the issue is really with the pattern and not you, and that there's a way you can solve it!  It immensely satisfying to have figured out what is going on in the designer's brain, while they were designing.

Sophisticated Scribbles
The first pattern I test knitted, by Elizabeth Rislove Elter, available on Ravelry, is a simple knee-high sock with adjustable shaping for the calf and ankle and intarsia detailing.  Having never done intarsia, I figured that this would be a good pattern on which to learn.  So, I checked a couple YouTube videos on basic intarsia (you really only need basic intarsia, even though the sock will be worked in the round: this was the most helpful video that I found) and cast on!

The socks knit up pretty quickly (I ended up frogging a lot of the calf of the first sock when I miss-read the shaping instructions).  (As a side note, in each pattern that I've tested, I've had this mental freak-out moment when I either have no understanding of the pattern, or I read it wrong and knit the next 40 rows wrong, which is weird since I don't have this problem when knitting for myself).  My favorite section to knit was the foot, because of the interesting zig-zag cabling.  That, and after knitting what seems like an endless leg the foot feels like it finished super fast!

Probably the best feature of the pattern is the shaping.  Although I may be designer-friendly-sized (I wear Small for most Vogue knits, and have never knit a sock pattern that didn't fit my ankle, as is) I have several friends who have complained about the lack of sizing options in most sock patterns.  Liz, the designer, has accounted for this with 3 basic sock sizes based on ankle and foot circumference (I made the medium) which all call for customized calf shaping.  You measure your calf and then do some math (she explains it all in a non-scary way, I promise!) and voila!  A sock that fits and won't fall down!

If you give a Knitter Food Coloring...

Last week, while enjoying some indoor time and a warm cup of coffee, I was browsing back issues of Knitty and came across an article about dyeing wool with Kool-Aid and food coloring.  This, of course, made me wonder if there were any Ravelry groups for dyers (there are) which led to perusing photos of beautifully hand-painted skeins, which led to reading articles on different food dyes and coloring techniques, which led to a realization; to dye my own beautifully colored wool I need only:

1. Wool (easily procured from my mother's infinite stash; she was even so kind as to donate a skein of her own hand-spun!)

2. Vinegar (to the grocery store we go)

(3. I already had McCormick's food coloring, water, a wooden spoon, meat thermometer, rubber gloves and a crock pot at home)

This led to my kitchen yesterday, set up like a mad science laboratory, and Mark praying for the safety of our white carpeting (for the record, no surfaces, carpeted or other, were harmed in the dyeing process).  Having read and re-read the Knitty article on food coloring dyes (which you can find here; I found it very helpful) I decided to try the dip-dye method for a teal gradient.  Following the instructions carefully, I re-skeined the wool (using the kitchen table for a longer pattern repeat) tied it loosely and frequently and soaked it in water the night before (I actually washed it first with a little Dawn dish soap) and set up a dyeing station with my crock pot.  I added 8 cups water and 2/3 cup vinegar to the pot, mixed in 30 drops blue and 6 drops green and turned the heat to high.  And then I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  (I know the flipping crock pot can get water to boiling, as I've boiled apple sauce in it before, it just took a long time to get to the right temperature; about 160 F). 

After an hour of waiting, the crock pot reached the right temperature (if you don't have a meat thermometer to check with, just wait until you can see steam rising off the water) and I dunked most of the wool in the pot (swish, swish) and pulled 4-ish inches back out and hung it over a stainless steel bowl, and stuck the lid back on the pot. 

The author of the Knitty article mentions that you don't need to dunk the whole skein to get the light pastels at the very end of it, because the wool will suck the dye/water/vinegar mixture from the crock pot.  What she doesn't mention, is that the wool will continue to suck the mixture and drip it everywhere (or in the bowl, if you're prepared) until there is more water dripping out of the wool, than is in the crock pot.  This means that you either need to add more water to the pot as you dye, or take the mixture that dripped out of the wool and add it back to the pot.  Either way, every time you add more liquid to the pot, the temperature of the mixture goes down, so the wool is not getting as much heat as it may need.  Also, I have discovered that (surprisingly) with wool hanging out of a crock pot lid, the lid doesn't seal and heat escapes.  The upshot of all this temperature fluctuation is that (at least with my crock pot) it would be almost impossible to felt the dyed wool by accidentally boiling the mixture (the temperature will not get that high).  This strikes me with a certain degree of hilarity, as the author of the Knitty article states that accidentally felting your wool is a big concern, and that for this method, using superwash would be the dyer's best bet.  Right...

Moving on, I left all but the first 4 inches of wool in the crock pot for 15 minutes (added back the water that dripped out) and puled out another 4 inches.  And repeat.  And repeat.  And repeat.  (Here are my actual times: 15, 25, 25, 35, 35, 45, 60 minutes).  I added in another 10 drops of blue, and 2 drops of green along with a splash of vinegar about halfway through, when the mixture was starting to look pretty clear.

The good news is that the crock pot can just sit there and cook the wool, without you having to stand over it.  The bad news is you have to stay by it to continually pull the wool out (this may be a good opportunity to catch up on your knitting, or movie watching, etc.).

After the last bit of wool had been in the pot for an hour, I pulled it from the pot (I highly recommend using rubber gloves for this so you don't have blue and/or burned hands) squeezed out some excess water and left the last bit of the skein to cool.  This is an especially important step with wool!   After 20-ish minutes, the skein felt cool to the touch, so I washed it in cool water with a little bit of Dawn, until the water from the skein was clear.  (It was probably 6 or 7 washes).  You can wait until later to wash out the dye from the wool, if you're lucky you might end up with blue knitting needles!

After the wool finished bleeding, I placed it on a towel and rolled the towel up, squishing it gently, to remove most of the water.  Then it was time to hang the wool to dry, and wait some more!  (This waiting was better, because I was asleep). I used a towel hook in the bathroom, although, if you're worried about water puddling from the skein you can always hang it from your shower head.  Just be sure that the non-knitters in the house know, to prevent any interesting shower occurrences or extended dry times. 

Once the wool is dry, take off the ties from the skein and wind it up into a ball for knitting!

And now, I need another skein to dye...