A Knitter’s Blog

I have to admit that I would rather work an SSK decrease rather than a k2tog. The movement in the SSK seems to be so much more fluid to me than a k2tog.

However, because of the nature of each stitch, one can’t just replace k2tog with SSK. K2tog is a decrease that slants to the right and ssk slants to the left. When working fabric-shaping decreases, one must go with the correct diagonal.

SSK is the decrease that seems to have replaced PSSO (slip one, knit, pass the slipped stitch over the knit stitch). If I remember correctly, PSSO was the only left slanting decrease choice of my youth.

To implement and SSK, slip the first stitch on the left needle as if to knit, then slip the next stitch on the left needle as if to knit. There are now two unworked stitches on the right needle. Insert the left needle tip into the front of these two stitches and knit them.

For the last few weeks, I have been knitting mittens of all sizes while I was developing Mitten Wizard. By the time I was finishing the tweaks on the wizard, I had several newly knitted mittens scattered across my desk.

The last thing on my to-do list was to scan one of the mittens to use in yesterday’s post.  As I was trying too decide which mitten to use, I realized that my eye kept going back to the pulled top mitten in which I used SSK rather than K2tog for the decreases to close the mitten.

I was really surprised by two things. The first was that I really liked the rounded top of the mitten created by pulling. To pull a top, thread a tapestry needle with the tail of the yarn and pass the tapestry needle through the stitches on the needle and pull to close.

I usually knit mitten tops much like a sock toe, using the paired decrease method and then grafting. This method creates more of a squared top and Kitchener Stitch. 

And, to my surprise, I realized that I had used an SSK for each decrease line. I am not sure why I did this while I was knitting this particular knitting, but I did. The decrease lines were so even, that I went back to Mitten Wizard and changed the decreases in the pulled top mitten to SSK’s.

I have had it with code for the week. Today, the day of the Mitten Wizard introduction, I am going to spend my time knitting a pair of cashmere mittens with the pulled top. In some cases, simplicity is the definition of luxury.

Filed under: Knitting, Techniques, Tools by cwulster
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We have always had a mitten drawer.

Each winter, the mittens seemed to be combined rather than paired. We suffer from “lost mitten syndrome” but no one ever seemed to mind wearing mittens that didn’t match for outdoor games or chores.

I must admit, there are a few mittens that never had a mate. I just never took the time to knit the second mitten. But, on a snowy day, who cares if the mittens he or she is wearing don’t match, as long as the mittens fit.

I have never knit fancy mittens. You won’t find fancy mittens in our mitten drawer. There are no mittens with interlocking cables, or intricate colorwork. All the mittens are plain vanilla made with wool that was leftover from other projects. I knit mittens to keep little and big hands warm.

I think that drawer reflects our family history more than any other knitting I have done. As long as a mitten is still serviceable, it has a home in the drawer.

Our children are all grown now, some with children of their own. When they return home in the winter, they know that they can always find something in that drawer to keep their hands warm or the hands of one of their children.

Each time someone opens that drawer, I hear and see a family laughing and playing. I hear and see my family as it was and as it is.

Filed under: Knitting, Tools by cwulster
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When I lay a set-in sleeve on a table, aligned with the armhole of the sweater, I always think that “finishing” is not for the faint of heart!

Years ago, when I was a college student, it was common practice to knit all the pieces of a garment and then take those pieces to the yarn shop. The person who owned the shop, for a modest fee, would seam and block the garment.

Never did we feel the stress of setting in a set-in sleeve.

Today, we, knitters do it all.

For those of you who are new to full cap shaping and then setting in the sleeve, I thought I would take a few moments to walk you through the steps.

Today, I am going to discuss seaming from the right side of the garment. This means that you will already need to know how to mattress stitch. Tomorrow, I will write about back stitching the sleeve into place.

Looking at the diagram above, it does seem that we are going to be trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, but the sleeve will fit.

1. Block all the pieces of your sweater into the correct shape. Be sure to match the measurements on your schematic.

2. Seam the shoulders.

3. On a table, lay the sweater flat with the front to the left and the back to the right.

4. Lay the first sleeve flat with the cap nearly abutting the armhole as in the above diagram.

5. Again, look at the the diagram above. There are three areas to note on the sleeve cap starting at the top.

• (Section 1) The straight edge at the very top of the sleeve cap
• (Section 2) The set of every other row decreases on the at the base of the cap that match the every other row decreases at the armhole
• (Section 3) The bound off section on each side of the sleeve cap

4. Measure the straight edge at the top of the sleeve cap and then divide by 2 to find the center. This is the spot on the cap that will match the shoulder seam on the body of the sweater.  Place a pin in the sleeve cap to mark the center

5. On the sweater body, from the shoulder toward the base of the armhole at the front measure half the width of that top most edge of the sleeve cap. Place a pin to mark. Do the same from the shoulder down the back.

6. Lift the fabric at the shoulder of the sweater body just a bit and do the same at the center pin on the sleeve cap. Pin together.

7. Move to the left edge of section 1 of the sleeve cap and pin to the body where you placed the pin marker.

8. Move to the opposite side of the shoulder and repeat.

9. Now, ease the fabric between the center pins together and pin.

10. Move to the bottom of the sleeve cap. (Section 3). Match the bind offs on the sweater armhole and the sleeve cap and pin.

11. Move to the every other row decreases (Section 2). Match the decreased rows on the armhole and pin.

12. The last step is to ease the remaining fabric between pins on either side and pin.

13. Seam. I always start at the shoulder and move down one side to the underarm. I also leave a long tail at the beginning of the mattress stitch at the shoulder seam. This tail is on the public face of the fabric. I will use the tail to start the other side when I am ready.

14. Insert the tapestry needle under the seam of the shoulder leaving a long tail. Remove the first few pins and mattress stitch the body to the sleeve, easing the fabric as you go. Continue in this manner until you are at the center of the underarm, again, removing only a few pins before you seam.

15. Using the long tail, repeat from shoulder to the underarm. Weave in ends at the underarm.

16. Seam the second sleeve in place.

17. Seam side seams of the sweater.

17. Seam sleeves.

18. Weave in all ends.

Filed under: Knitting, Techniques by cwulster
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A few months ago, a customer posted a request on Sweater Wizard group for a hat wizard.

Over the years, I had often thought about doing a hat wizard, but a full program seemed like overkill, therefore, I never wrote the code.

When I discovered that I could develop Interactive Patterns, I then realized that I could also write mini-programs for specific knitting tasks.

This interactive format seemed to be the perfect user interface for a hat wizard.

The Hat Wizard generates basic patterns for caps in any size or gauge. It is a neat knitting gadget. It can be used over and over again. Each pattern can be saved as a separate entity from the template.

Hats are a staple project for all knitters. Those of us who experience winter, know that we can’t get through the season without a pull on hat.

Elizabeth Zimmerman speaks of using hats as swatches for her large projects. There is always enough knitting, even in an infant’s hat, to get a real reading of gauge.

In fact, a member of Sweater Wizard group is doing just that.

I received the latest Coldwater Creek catalog while I was working on Hat Wizard. The cover featured a striped knited cap that is so cute that I immediately wanted to search for a novelty yarn that would reproduce the hat and matching scarf.  With Hat Wizard, I knew that I could generate a pattern within seconds.

You understand, of course, that it is much more fun to search for a yarn and knit the cap then to click a button and order one ready made!

Filed under: Knitting, Tools by cwulster
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I can’t tell you how thrilled I was when we received this email inquiry this week.

>>I saw a lady knitting a beautiful vest while
waiting for a show in the theater. I got 1 minute to talk
to her and learned that she got the pattern at Stitches 
in Baltimore last month and the yarn was Rhythm. It was a very simple and elegant vest with open V-neck at front and split on both sides. <<

Although I designed this vest, I can’t take any credit for the beauty of the finished garment. It is the the Jojoland Rhythm. I think the fact that it caught the eye of someone while it was a work in progress attests to the wonder of the colorway.

The vest is very simple to knit. It is knit in one piece from center front to center front.  The only seams are the shoulder seams.

I knit the sample in Rhythm M10.

Filed under: Knitting, Projects by cwulster
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