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sunny, brisk, cool

Two and One Half Kilometers of Yarn

I’m plotting a gansey (or guernsey). I am fascinated with Gladys Thompson’s Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys & Arans, particularly with the guernseys. The patterning is subtler and the yarn finer than in the traditional Arans, which I think are too bulky for my frame¹. With British needle sizes and infrequent mentions of yarn weight or gauge, the book is also a bit of an interesting exercise in problem solving.

Going for the more traditional, I’ve bought dark blue yarn: Reynolds Whiskey in color 3608 (Webs calls it navy).

This is thirteen balls, to which I added one more to allow for swatching in the same dye lot. I purchased two other balls in lighter shades also for swatching, primarily to get a feel for the yarn.

This is a advertised as a sport-weight yarn and the manufacturer’s label suggests a US #5/3.75mm needle, but most sweater projects on Ravelry are on 3.25mm or 3.50mm needles. Knowing that I want a denser fabric, I swatched on 3.50, 3.25 and 3.00.

This is Filey Pattern I from Ms. Thompson’s book (p. 25) in Whiskey, color 098 (lavender). The portion knit on 3.50’s at bottom is noticeably looser and wider, while there is less of a difference between the 3.25 and 3.00 (top) sections.

In this photo, the higher density of the top section is more noticeable, but it was most apparent when I washed the swatch. I found the 3.00mm section harder to knit, but that might have been because I had been knitting all day and because I switched to a 16″ Addi circ from straights. Yet even on 3.00mm needles the fabric seems loose. Let me go and dust off the 2.75mm’s and 2.50mm’s. I might end up with the 3.00mm or 3.25mm if the yarn simply resists a tighter gauge, but it’s worth a try.²

I am concerned that on such small needles I will not be able to see the stitches.

In the swatch above at the top, the pattern repeat is 7.5″ in width. In Matt Cammish’s guernsey pictured on page 21 of the book, the three and a third repeats would yield a 50″ waistline. Seems unlikely. The gauge is clearly tighter, 7 to 7½ stitches to the inch, compared to the 6¼ that I am getting³. Note that the manufacturer’s label gives a gauge of 24 st per 4″ on 3.75mm’s. I’d probably get 20 or 21.

Once I get an acceptable gauge, the next step is to pick a structure and pattern. I am partial to the first sweater under the section Patrington and Withernsea, but I’m afraid the pattern requires a somewhat butcher build that I can carry off. I quite like Flamborough Pattern I⁴, but prefer the traditional plain waist of Patrington and Withernsea or Staithes⁵. After that I’m doing a hat, à la EZ to check gauge in pattern.

Obsessions

One reason I do not blog that often is that composition is such an effort for me. It’s not the typing, or entirely the organization of thought—though there is some issue there—, it’s the obsession with composing it properly in html. I’ve been working on this post for almost three hours, uploading pictures, looking up references and special character codes, rearranging paragraphs and making sure everything is HTML 4.0 strict compliant. I need a text editor that does all this for me. ⁶

I have also gotten up every now and then to see what trouble the cat is up to. She has a new fascination with the window blinds’ mechanisms.

Another reason is that I’m getting my yarn fix on Ravelry. I’ve clearly spent more time in looking yarn and knitting and reading about knitting than in knitting. I’ve even gotten 100% of stash cataloged. I do draw the line at photographing all of it. I’d have to get it all out and buy another pack of batteries for the camera.

I will credit Ravelry with renewing my interest in knitting. Now if I were only good at it.

Cat-related Question

When the cat licks the top of my head then wipes the cleaned spot with her neck is she drying me off or using my stubble as a brush?

Natural Progression

I just increased the default text size in my text editor from 11 pts to 12. Easier to read.

And two days ago my youngest brother turned 44. Why does that not seem old now? Seems a perfectly reasonable age.

I should go buy milk, start my spaghetti sauce and work up another swatch or two.