Bobble Cast On: a Tutorial, and some thoughts on personality...

Today was a really hectic day, with a lot happening at work...in fact this whole week has been quite a handful. I had great intentions to post this tutorial earlier this week, but you know...the road to perdition and all... so after some delay, here it is...

I was thinking about our kids today, and how different they are in some respects. I have been doing homework in the afternoons with the little one, and the Afrikaans spelling is just a giant weight on her shoulders! She really doesn't enjoy the subject at all, and I again realized just how different they are...my older daughter is fully independent (and has been from a very young age), gets on with her work, plans by herself, is studious and self driven. She does well at school and I never have to check up on her school things...The baby on the other hand, is a free spirit, with a natural tendency to art, music, drama and all things colourful. She is very bright, and also very responsible with her school work (she nags me to death to get her projects done early...), but is the absolute queen of drama. Nothing is done half measure, and all situations can be exploited for dramatic purpose...yet both children came from the same parents (yes...I promise ;) ), have grown up in the same environment, and have the same amount of attention and encouragement, yet they are so different in some aspects of their personalities....

So in a nutshell...do you think it's nature or nurture?

Above is a picture of a visit we made to the Dinosaur Park in Mpumalanga. Take a look at who is doing what....



Notice the bottled water and chic outfit...and the knees.... :)


And now onto other things...

The bobble cast on idea has a bit of a history. Since I fiddled with the Picot Cast On with a twist,
I have been plotting and scheming on how to make a bigger , fatter "picot". The only solution in my mind, is to make a bobble, but when I looked for some idea of how to do this, I couldn't find anything on the internet or in my book stash.... I sat for a whole day, fiddling and trying to figure out, and (it must be said, my faculties have lessened in acuity somewhat, since I had my kids...;) ), eventually came to the conclusion that one has to first knit a row before you can go ahead with the bobble bit. Good, I thought, I have learned something :)

I phoned my good friend Dana later in the evening, and told her of my herculean effort. "Oh", she said, "I know how to do that, I have a pattern for that!" .... it must be said that Dana is singularly talented, and in retrospect, of course she would know how to do this... BTW, she is releasing her new book this year...I have seen what is in it, and I tell you, it's a sizzler! So keep an eye out on her blog...

So....what is this all leading up to? If I happen to be the only person out there who doesn't know how to do a bobble cast on, forgive me! :) If there happens to be someone else who hasn't been classically educated in the art of bobbling, this is for you....


This is what you are going to learn to do. The tutorial is probably over explained, but I like to do this so that newbies can also manage...




Ok, you can pretty much do this Bobble Cast On in any yarn, although perhaps laceweight yarn won't make a bobble, more of a full stop. That being said, the technique is the same irrespective of yarn weight.


Cast on the number of stitches that you need. I left two side stitches, as you will see later, because it gives the work a little bit of an edge before the fat little bobble appears, and just looks better.

Knit one row, and turn your work around. Above you can see that I have done just that.


Knit 2 stitches. Throughout the tutorial I will refer to the left hand needle as the LHN, and the right hand needle, as the RHN.


Insert the RHN into the next stitch on the LHN. You are going to knit into this stitch as you would normally, but you don't drop the stitch you have knitted into from the LHN. Just leave the loop of yarn on there .


Above, you can see that the new stitch has been made , but the loop of the old stitch is still on the LHN.


This knit stitch you have just made on the RHN, is the FIRST stitch of your bobble. You will now do a YARN OVER. What this means , is that you aren't going to make a real stitch, more of a little cheat by just wrapping the working yarn around the RHN, in the direction as shown above.


Above, you can see how your work should look once the yarn over has been done. It is so easy to do...it is essentially just bringing your yarn towards you through the two needle points...



Insert your RHN tip into THE SAME STITCH as in the previous photos, and make a new regular knit stitch. (Notice, how the yarn over will created a clearly seen stitch once you have knitted a stitch after it)


Knitting a new stitch as normal....


New knit stitch pulled through , but again DO NOT DROP the LHN loop. In the picture above, I have labelled the new stitch a "half knit" stitch because I haven't completed the knitting motion, by dropping the loop form the LHN. You have now made 3 stitches of your bobble.



Do a second Yarn Over, just like before....


Knit into the same loop on the LHN as before...insert RHN into same loop on LHN...





Pull the stitch through but this time, drop the loop from the LHN. You have made 5 stitches for your bobble.


You have 7 stitches on your RHN, of which 5 stitches make up your bobble... You will concentrate only on these 5 stitches for the next rounds, making the bobble come alive :)


Turn your work around...it should look like the picture above...


Purl the first stitch.


The next stitch was made in the previous round, by a Yarn Over, so I like to knit through the back of it, to give it a little twist . This " through the back loop" purling only happens on this row
, and only on the two stitches that were made by the Yarn Overs in the previous round.


Purling through the back loop...


Purl the next stitch as normal, then purl through the back loop of the following stitch and finally purl the last stitch of the 5 stitches that make up your bobble.
Your work should look like the picture above.


Turn your work around, and knit all 5 stitches. Turn your work around.


Now purl all the stitches of your bobble again., and turn your work around for the last time.


Knit the 5 stitches for the last time. If you push your finger into the back of the bobble to pop it out a bit, you'll see how nice and fat it is :)


Using your LHN, slip the 2nd st of your bobble, over the 1st st, as seen above.



You have a little gap that has formed where the 3nd stitch has been slipped over the first.


Slip the 3rd st of your bobble, over the 1st st, as before...


Repeat the above process until you have slipped the 5th st of your bobble over the 1st st. You should have 3 stitches left on your RHN, 2 knit stitches from tight at the beginning of the row, and the single stitch (1st) of your bobble.



Knit 3 stitches from your LHN, and repeat the bobble making process into the next stitch on your LHN. Repeat until the right amount of bobbles have been made. Carry on with your pattern.

I must say that I really love this bobble cast on (although strictly speaking , it isn't really a true cast on , as you have knitted one row before starting to make bobbles).

Hope you all make many stunning items using this cute Bobble edge, :)

Have a good evening,
♥

Designing a basic sock...Part 1

Hi all my blogfriends! I finally got a moment to blog...not that I have been snowed under by quests tedious and draining...au contraire! Our knitting group decided to do a travel-get-together today, to test out and become familiar with the new Gautrain here in Johannesburg. Now, for all the readers who do not live here in South Africa, you may not have heard of this new-fangled thing... we have a veritable fledgling public transport system now!!!!! It may seem like nothing to be very excited about....but, when you realize that there is no safe, affordable public transport at all in South Africa, then truly this is a wonderful thing! The Gautrain was fabulous :) Clean, safe, efficient, on time (!) and comfortable and user friendly....I mean, what can one ask for more than that? We went to a local bookshop, ate cake, chatted (and it must be said...I actually did do some knitting!), bought some beautiful books...and came home happy and amazed! Well done to the Gautrain people! And now onto the blogpost...how to design a basic sock for yourself...

Requirements

Obviously...your foot
A tape measure
Pins
A knitted gauge swatch in your chosen yarn and stitch of choice (I am going to do a basic, stocking stitch sock pattern to start with...)
Note pad and pen
Calculator
Ruler with inch/cm lines

Ok, lets start at the beginning...

What is a sock really? If you break down the fancy patterns, stitches, different toes, heels, cuffs, and so on, what you have is a tube with a little sticky-outy bit for the heel. This is wonderful, because if you've looked at your foot lately, it isn't really much of a tube at all. And yet, if the tube is appropriately sized, and the sticky-outy bit for the heel is the correct size...it fits! So....if you can design a knitted tube with a closed end, that fits the circumference of your foot well, all you need to add is the heel bit, which wonderfully, will be determined in part by the very number of stitches you use to knit the tube! Ok, I know that there may be people out there (perhaps like Shrek...), who have feet that may be a little different in proportion...I am merely attempting to explain how to make a sock for a normal, average person's foot... :)

An ideal sock is seamless, with no lumpy bits that make wearing them uncomfortable, so knitting them in the round is ideal. I know that there are people who knit socks flat and then seam them up, but when you see how easy it is to knit them in the round on a Magic Loop, you'll never knit them flat again!

Yarn and needles

There are obviously endless possibilities in choosing a yarn for your socks. That being said, it is generally a good idea to stick to sock weight yarn, or a double knit weight (or something in between...) If you are seriously intent on creating your life's work sock wise...by all means use a lace weight...but if you actually want to end up wearing your socks some time this century, choose a yarn that will knit up relatively fast. The yarn manufacturers will give you some indication on the ball band, what size needles to knit on. This recommendation is not terribly helpful (in my opinion...), when it comes to knitting socks. In reality, needle size is not that critical...how it feels and looks when you've knitted a swatch, is more important.

Let's discuss an example...

I am going to be using a DK weight yarn (100% superwash merino) for the sock demos in the subsequent posts. The general indication would be to knit this on needles ranging from 4-5mm. I knitted a swatch on size 4.5mm needles, and found that the resulting fabric was too loosely made and hole-yish (?is that even a word)...it wouldn't be snug and warm. When I knitted a swatch on size 3mm needles, the fabric density was perfect. So, play around with some swatches (they really don't take that long to knit...), until you are happy with the way the knitting feels and looks. I am only referring to a stocking stitch socks folks...obviously a fragile, pretty lace designed sock is going to be loose and hole-yish... :)

Right...yarn and needles chosen... now to start with the real work...

Because you are knitting the sock from the toe up, you are able to periodically measure the sock on your foot, and by how it fits, decide if your tube is long enough. So in reality, the length of your foot is only critical in determining if you have enough yarn for your project, however I will walk you through the process... ( If you are knitting a sock for someone who hasn't handily left their foot in your keep, you will have to take into account the length of the recipients foot.)

Firstly, measure your foot around the widest part of it...this will generally be around the ball of your foot. Secondly, you need to measure the length of your foot. Stand with your heels against the wall, and ask someone to place their finger at the tip of your big toe. Note the point, and measure the distance from the wall to that point. (If your big toe is not the longest toe in your foot, mark the point in front of the longest toe). Measuring your foot with a ruler while contorting your leg into an unnatural backward bend, is certainly going to give you an erroneous result ;)

Ok, you have your two measurements... now subtract 10% from each...this is to allow for so called "negative ease"...which really means that you want your sock to "hug" your foot, and to achieve that , you need to have a sock that is slightly smaller than the actual measurements of your foot. This is the reason why is is advisable to knit the sock in a yarn with some elasticity (or springyness)...wool is probably the best or if you are allergic to wool, a cotton/bamboo/linen etc that has some elastic type addition to it. If your ankle is a lot bigger than your foot circumference, you must measure this as well. You will need to increase the number of stitches you have as you get to the leg portion of your sock, or it will not go over ....

It's a good idea to keep a small notebook with details of your sock...note the yarn brand, yarn weight, needle size you've decided will work best for your sock, as well as your foot measurements.

Swatching

Yes, the dreaded word.... this is really important...trust me it will take a lot less time to knit the swatch and work with accurate measurements, than it will take to frog two socks and re-knit them (by which time you will probably never want to see a sock again!)

You have got to make a gauge swatch, folks!!!! Because the actual row gauge(the number of rows you have in an inch) is not as critical as the stitch gauge (the number of stitches in an inch), I tend to knit a swatch that is wider than it is long. In an ideal world, one should gently steam and block the swatch...but since life is too short, I just make sure that the work is on my cable rather than the needle (this allows the swatch to "relax" and contract to it's natural wannabe state...), and then measure my number of stitches in an inch. In the pic below I have indicated the stitches in a red "v". If you look at the stitches between the pins indicating the inch, you will see 6 and a half stitches. The half stitch is actually important, so don't fudge it at this point...count the half...

Ok, to recap...

-Choose your yarn
-Using needles slightly smaller than the recommended needle size on the yarn ball band, knit a swatch to see if you like the density/look of the knitted fabric
-Measure your foot length, and the width at the widest part of your foot (usually the ball of your foot), and if necessary, the ankle/leg width
-Determine your stitch gauge by measuring the number of stitches in an inch of your swatch
-Write it all down...you will need them for the next post....

If there are any things you are uncertain about in this post...please sen me a mail...I will try to clarify... :)

Have a great evening,
Lots of Love,
Heidi :)

Anatomy of a Sock

Howdy friends!

Today was a warm day in Johannesburg. Winter here has been really cold and unpleasant...although nothing compared to some of the snowy/icy countries, we are not really geared for very cold weather, as central heating is very, very uncommonly found in houses here.
So, the girls and Mr P and I went off to have a brunch at a small cafe nearby. It was a lazy Sunday...not a lot of productivity... We had supper with some close friends last night (a rarity as Mr P seldom has time off from the hospital :( ), and we had a wonderful time, catching up, chatting, laughing... The girls and their friends were so involved in their own discussions, we almost didn't notice them... all in all , a lovely evening!This week was also a fantastic learning week...my dear friend Dana, taught Linda and myself how to hand-dye/handpaint yarn! I feel like a whole world has opened up for me...suddenly all I want to do is DYE! Morning, noon and night...the kitchen smells like vinegar all the time ;) It's like painting with watercolours...addictive :) Thank you Dana ♥ If anyone is interested, Dana has her tutorials on how to dye, available on her website...


I have decided to do a series of posts on how to knit a sock. When I first became interested in learning how to do this, I was overwhelmed by the variety of ways there are to knit a sock...top (cuff) down, toe up socks, countless ways of casting on, using double pointed needles, two circular needles, one circular needle, numerous options for knitting the heel...it was truly confusing and I struggled to find information that took me through the process step by step. I am quite sure that there are probably MANY references that I just didn't come across, that you may be aware of, but it was a long journey, learning and adapting what I found , to what worked for me.So, I will be doing a bunch of "walk-you-through-a sock-KAL" posts, specifically in the way I like to knit a sock. By no means is this the only way...just the way I like to do it :)

I am assuming that you are able to do Judy's Magic Cast-on, as well as Magic Loop knitting. Really friends, this is essential...you must be comfortable with these techniques if you are to reach the end of this quest...I knit my socks from the toe up, using a Magic Loop technique, and I prefer the look of a short-row heel. OK, if you haven't ever knitted a sock, this will all sound Greek...never fear friends! All will become clear as we go along... I will stick to the kind of sock I like in terms of explanations, and if there is any interest, I can do some posts later on the other options for heels, toes etc.

Firstly, let's look at the anatomy of the humble sock (Mr P's cycling sock ;) ).

The toe is ...well...the toe! This is where I start my socks, as I find the advantages of working "toe-up", outweigh the "cuff-down" method. At the end of these sock related posts, you will be able to knit two sock at the same time, on one circular needle, toe-up, with short row heels) Wow , you might say...me? Yes, you will be able to do this magical thing!

This way of knitting socks, allows you to measure the sock on your own foot (or presumably the foot of the intended recipient) so you end up with socks that actually fit properly, you will have the same tension throughout your socks, as you are creating both at the same time, you will not suffer from the dreaded "second sock syndrome" , and you will be able to use up your yarn to the last bit...because you just keep knitting up to where the yarn starts running low...then you cast off! Voila, socks a-la-deux!So, (I get easily distracted...) the sock starts at the toe (1), you then get the sole and the upper foot (2), the heel (3) , the leg section (4), and finally the cuff (5).



We will be knitting the sock in the order shown in the pic above. First the toe (1), then the sole and upper foot (2), then the whole of the heel (3), then the leg (4) and finally the cuff (5).

Let's break it down a bit...

I use Judy's Magic Cast-on method for casting on for the toes. If you are unfamiliar with this technique, you can find a tutorial here. (In this post, I am merely giving you an overview of the process...the details will follow in the subsequent posts). This method of casting on, will give you a set of stitches on the one needle of your circular needles, and stitches on the other needle. The number of stitches will be the same on the two needles.


If you look at the pic above, you will see that I have divided the sock into two coloured halves...the rose coloured part which will be knitted on the back (or farthest-away-from-you) needle, and the turquoise coloured part which will be knitted on the front(or closest-to-you-needle). If you are unfamiliar with Magic Loop knitting, look here.

Because of the nature of Magic Loop knitting, you will work a round of knitting in the following order:


-knit all the stitches forming the sole-side or underside of the toe (1a), then knit all the stitches forming the upper-foot side of the toe (1b) until the toe is complete (ie alternately 1a, 1b, 1a, 1b etc in a continuous spiral, until the toe is the desired length)

-then stitches forming the sole of the foot (2a), alternating with the stitches forming the upper foot (2b), in the round (2a, 2b, 2a, 2b etc again, in a continuous spiral) until the sole and upper foot sections are the correct length.


Up until this point of knitting , you are essentially creating a long tube, with the number of stitches on your front and back needles being the same (you haven't any need to shape your sock with decreases and increases for this part of the foot...it will fit :) )


-then you will knit the whole of the heel on the front (closest-to-you) needle, starting with section 3a (you finish knitting this completely before you move onto section 3b...this is different from the previous sections of the sock where you are alternately knitting " a " and " b " in a continuous spiral ), then knit section 3b .

During this heel knitting adventure, the back needle stitches go into hibernation..they're quite happy..don't worry about them :) .



Once the heel is completed, you will have ended section 3b at the point where section 4a starts. This is the beginning of the lower leg part of the sock. Once again, you will knit the leg sections in the round, alternating the stitches of sections 4a and 4b in a continuous spiral, until the leg part is the desired length. You are now again basically knitting a tube in the round, as you did for the foot part...

Finally , you will do the cuff and when that is finished, bind off.



Let's take a closer look at the heel business...in the pic above, I have coloured the spiral arrows in two colours: red for the part of the sock facing you, and lighter blue for the part of the sock facing the table. These are meant to schematically represent the knitted rounds as you would do them. As you can see, the direction of the knitted rounds form the oft' mentioned continuous spiral up the length of the sock...

However when you get to the heel, you are no longer working in the round, you are knitting and purling back and forth (firstly section 3a, then when that is completed, you knit and purl back and forth on section 3b).

This back and forth knitting creates so called short-rows, ie you are not knitting all the stitches on the front needle when you do section 3a, you are actually knitting less and less of them, each time you turn your work around to knit or purl. This shapes the heel section 3a into a triangle. When you start knitting section 3b, you are (totally my own words...) essentially making " long-rows", the opposite of short rows by " picking up " the un-knitted stitches ( left out in section 3a, every time you did a short row.)

I will do a post devoted entirely to the short row...don't worry about scary words, like wrapping etc that will all come later :)

Ok, once the heel is finished, you continue knitting the long tube, just as you did before when you made the foot section, all the way up the leg to the desired length.

Easy peasy....

If there is anything in this little post that doesn't make sense, please let me know...it's late and it's been a long post...I am off to bed now...

The next post will be how to custom design a sock pattern that will give you a perfectly fitted sock!

Have a good evening,
Lots of Love,
Heidi :)

Double Knitting Tutorial

Hi friends!I have had no end of trouble uploading this tutorial...it has taken two days for the pics to upload, so I apologise for the delay in posting...:( Having said that, here it is (something to be said for perseverance :)) I wanted to do a tutorial on double knitting, because for a long time it was something I was puzzled by , not really understanding the online explanations that I found. I wanted to be able to knit a double layer of mitten/glove cuffs, for extra warmth, and eventually managed to work out how to do a cast on for the beginning of the glove, that didn't have a floppy unattractive edge to it. So, again, just to be clear, I didn't invent this technique, merely did it my way :)

You'll need to colours of yarn and a circular needle. I have used an aran weight yarn for this tutorial and size 4mm needles.

Firstly, make a slip knot in both yarns. Place the slip knots on the needle in such a way that the tails are "behind"and the working yarns to the front.

Holding your needle in your right hand, bring the working yarn of the colour closest to you right hand, towards you and then to your left, ie, you are bring the yarn around the other colour's slip knot, towards your left.

Hook your left thumb around this working yarn (you are going to be doing a good 'ol fashioned thumb cast on, alternating colours.

Insert the point of the needle, under the working yarn as shown above. Notice the placement of the working yarn, on your thumb.

Remove your thumb, and gently pull on the working yarn, to form your second blue stitch.

Now do exactly the same for the white yarn, coming off the white slip knot...holding the white working yarn in your left hand, bring it towards you and around the your left, slip your left thumb under it, and insert your needle in exactly the same way you just did for the blue yarn. You have cast on the second white stitch. Repeat again using the white yarn. Then the blue, alternating colours and each time bringing the yarns around each other to the front as explained.
Your stitches so far should look like the pic above.

Continue to do this until you have the required number of stitches. Here a small aside: lets say you are casting on to make a small square (a potholder for eg), and you need a total number of 25 stitches if you were just knitting straight back and forth...in double knitting you are creating exctly the same thing, but it has two sides, so in order to make the same item as in the regular knitting, you will need to cast on 25 stitches in the white as well as 25 stitches in the blue yarn (think of two separately made potholders, placed wrong sides together and sewn up all around...that is essentially what double knitting does). Now it's all good and well when you have two different coloured yarns...you can see the front and the back of the work developing...but if you have one colour of yarn, you may easily get confused...so if you have never done any double knitting before, I recommend that you start with two colours until you are feeling more confident with the technique. Once you have the hang of it, you will "see" which type of stitch comes next, just as you would "see" if the next stitch is a purl or a knit stitch in regular knitting.

Ok, now for the way to hold your yarns...
Through trial and error, I have found the following way to be the best for me.
Note which colour yarn you have cast on last...this will obviously be the colour you will first knit. This is important later, but for now, wrap the yarns around your little finger, as shown above. it is essentially the same way I wrap the yarn for regular knitting.

Now insert your middle finger between the yarn as above, making sure that you have brought the yarn that is the second colour you are going to knit (in this case the blue yarn is the second stitch on my needle), to the front of your finger.

Using your index finger, hook the white yarn (which forms the first stitch you are going to knit on your needles), and slip your index finger between the yarn (white now in front). This may seem over complicated and may well be uncomfortable for you, but I have found that it controls my knitting tension perfectly. You will have to experiment and see what works for you.

Initially you may find the whole "holding"thing a bit tricky...I initially hold my right needle in you left hand, just held by my thumb, in order to have it in the right vicinty for taking in my right hand (once you have your yarns placed well in your right hand, how else do you grab your right needle??) Once my yarns are wrapped around my fingers, I just "pass" over the needle from left hand to right...
You are ready to knit your first stitch...in this case the white...

Insert your needle into the first stitch. As you can see in the pic above, I tend to stabilize my right needle in my left hand so it doesn't flop about.

Bring your right hand up, and wrap the white yarn only, around the needle point exactly as for a regular knit stitch. Knit the stitch.

So now you are left with the knitted white stitch on your right hand needle and both yarns behind this needle. You need to purl the blue stitch on the left hand needle, so you bring BOTH yarns to the front exactly as if you were doing a regular purl stitch.

Once both your yarns are on this side of the work, you will insert your needle as if to purl, but use ONLY the blue yarn to purl the stitch.

After you have purled the blue stitch, you will take both yarns to the far side of the needles, and again using only the white yarn, knit the next stitch on the left hand needle.

Repeat the steps: both yarns to the front , insert needle as to do a purl stitch, use blue yarn only to purl, both yarns to the back .

One row completed.

Turn your work around. Before you start to knit twist the yarns around each other once, I find this makes a nicer edge.

Notice that you will need to knit the first stitch (blue), because on the previous row, you purled it, so in order to end up with an item that has knit sides showing only (ie the purled stitches all show inwards), you will need to purl the blue stitches and knit the white ones.

Looks so pretty, love this technique!

Just continue in the same way, bringing yarns back and forth...

If anything is unclear, please send me a mail and I shall clarify!

This has been a marathon uploading session (our internet in SA isn't always perfect), so I shall sign off...

Have a great evening :)
Lots of Love,
Heidi :)