It's Not Going to Work

Or, A Tale of Two Toes, if you prefer.

Once upon a time I purchased this orange sweater second hand with the intent to harvest its wooly blend goodness.

At another time, I found the same sweater in pink, like bubblegum pink.

I used the orange for a pair of socks already (this pair) but I always had the secret wish to use them together in an awesome, albeit eye-searing, project.

When I saw a project from the book Op-art Socks, I thought I may have found my muse. I got the book from the library, carefully considered many projects and then set my heart on this swirly masterpiece:

The designer, Stephanie van der Linden, has conquered my knitting heart with this masterpiece of a design. Look how the swirl moves seamlessly from one sock to the other. Incredible. How much more awesome would it be in orange and pink?

So I set about casting on the sock - I figured I could use the toe as a gauge swatch.

First I tried it with one strand on my smallest dpns (bottom sock above and right sock below). Then I tried it with a double strand on slightly larger needles (top sock above and left socks below).

I calculated my gauge as the following:
  single strand: 41st/4" and 72 rows/4"
  double strand: 34st/4" and 52 rows/4"

What the pattern called for was 34st/4" and 46 rows/4". It looks like the double strand was pretty close, right? It's right on for stitch gauge, which determines how wide the sock is (the fit around the foot); but the row gauge is off (determining the length of the sock).

I debated about reworking the pattern to be knit from the top down so I could adjust the foot length as needed after the colourwork section was done, but the pattern has an unusual heel and it was going to be more work than I wanted.

I went to bed and hoped for inspiration to strike overnight.

It did.

I had the brilliant idea of doing a provisional cast on, working the sock toe-up (as written) starting with the colourwork section, and then coming back to knit the toe as long/short as needed at the end. Ok, now I was set...

I knit happily for the morning and got this far on the colour chart:

It was enough to see 1. I love pink and orange together. 2. It was far too big around. I had had my fears beforehand because the pattern calls for 72 stitches and I don't ever use that many stitches for my own socks, but the maths said otherwise. I followed the maths and obviously was led down the wrong path. (Happens more often than you would think.)

So I gamely ripped it out. No easy task since I had to separate the strands that had been knit together, but I persisted.

I cast on again, with one strand and smaller needles and knit the early afternoon away.

I got most of the way through the colour chart and I saw two things. 1. It is the right size to fit around my foot. 2. It's way, way too short. Where I should have about 4.5" of knitting, I have less than 2".

That is where I stopped.

I have two thoughts: 1. I could knit the chart repeating each row so that it is effectively double tall. This would be a pain in the butt to keep track of because many of the rows are already the same and I'm not convinced it will be tall enough even with that modification.

2. These yarns and this pattern are just not meant to go together.

That is where the project sits. My knitting time that day ran out and I haven't picked it up again. But after a few days in time out, I'm leaning toward thinking it deserves one more try.

New Wardrobe Item - the Skowl (You Heard it Here First)

I recently finished a cowl from the Vogue Knitting Winter 2017/18 issue. The pattern is actually identical to a cowl I knit a few years ago, designed straight out of my head, but it's nice to be able to link it to a pattern in Ravelry. Plus, saying I knit it from the pattern (which I did) makes it eligible for the current knit-along in the Vogue Knitting Ravelry group.

Just like the first cowl, I loved knitting this from start to end. Unlike the first cowl, I invented two-handed brioche--a way to knit a row of each colour at the same time. I searched online because I thought surely someone else has thought of this but I couldn't find anything. I had never heard of it anywhere else and I couldn't imagine it wouldn't be common if it was known because I felt like it was such a revelation. (Angels singing and the whole bit.) So I actually started to wonder if I really did invent it.

The problem with traditional brioche is that you really knit only half the stitches with one colour and then the other stitches with the other. If you work with only one colour at a time, you essentially have to work twice as many rows. It's slow.

I had planned to do a video of the technique I apparently just invented, but just recently heard someone refer to "one-pass" brioche and I had an inkling that might be the same thing. A quick search confirmed that it is the same thing and there are enough good videos that I don't have to do one. I refer you to this tutorial by Sockmatician. I did it with one yarn in each hand (similar to how some people do two-colour stranded colourwork) but he also demonstrates how it can be done with both yarns in the left or right hand depending on whether you prefer continental or English style.

Checking out my cast off edge.

This cowl was an excellent opportunity for me to practice the new (to me) technique and work out the kinks (since I didn't know there were tutorials until after I worked it out on my own). It was very exciting to me because it allows you to knit much more efficiently.

Again, I really don't understand why this isn't the primary method of brioche for everyone, but my real question is why did it take so long for me to hear about it??

Back to the topic at hand, this was one of those projects where I was glad to finish it because it is a delight to wear, but I was sad because it was a delight to knit as well.

Looks alright to me! :)

In case you're unfamiliar with it, brioche results in a two sided fabric. Here the black columns are standing out:

and on the other side, the pink columns stand out:

Brioche makes a thick fabric that's squishy instead of dense. It's also usually quite stretchy. It can be worked in one colour, in which case the fabric would have all the same qualities, but both sides would look identical. Because of the fun colour effects, brioche is usually worked in two colours, although often they are similar colours for a more subtle effect.

The stretch of the stitch allows the cowl to be worn in many ways. Let me count them.

1. Over the arms and loose on top (pink side out):

2. Over the arms with the top folded over (black side out):

3. On top of the shoulders, all scrunched up (black side out):

4. On top of the shoulders and folded over:

5. As a snood:

(Ok, it doesn't really stay up on my head, but it was worth trying and adding it to the list.)

Don't wear it like this:

Wear it long over the arms:

Or wear it higher:

6. And then I realized it would fit as a skirt!

I threaded a cord through the ribbing on one end and tied it to fit.

So I can wear it at the waist or low on the hip, depending on what top I'm wearing and what length I would like.

The loose stretch of the brioche stitch is perfect to allow for movement without losing its shape.

And then look what I found the following week at Goodwill:

Beautiful heels in the perfect shade of pink.

Forgive me a few glamour shots, but I was really excited to find them and can't wait to wear them with the skirt for the first time.

Back to the cowl, now that it had a tie, I could decide whether to tighten it or not.

7. Over the shoulders, with the ties hanging loose:

8. Over the shoulders, with the cord pulled in:

9. Cord pulled in and top folded over:

10. Cord pulled in as much as I could (comfortably) and top folded over:

Word of the day: apricity - the warmth of the sun
on a winter day.

11. Cord pull snug:

Fantastic project all the way though. I love it.

Project Stats
Started: 6 Jan '18 / Finished: 6 Apr '18
Pattern: #14 Brioche Rib Cowl by Jacqueline van Dillen from Vogue Knitting Winter 2017/18
Materials: The black was lambswool from a Polo by Ralph Lauren sweater (161 g). The pink was from two sweaters. Bright pink: A blend from an Express Design Studio sweater, 40% merino/30% viscose/10% cashmere/20% angora (66 g). Pale pink: Cashmere from a J Crew sweater (36 g). I held two strands of the black together, and two strands of each of the pinks together to make matching weights suitable for the gauge.

Project Spectrum: August into September

Have you been mindful of pink this month? I have to say I have not seen a lot of it except for the hibiscus bushes in my yard. And that's a big "except" because they have been blooming like crazy all month long.

I give you my pink collage in which the hibiscus figure prominently:

The other flower (lower right) are my poppies which finally decided to bloom. They are darling. And the top right picture is one of the bibs I made for my great-niece, my only pink or purple project this month. (I was busy with that tablecloth, remember?) It's 100% cotton and knit in the "snakes and ladders" pattern I made up for the 2009 Red Purl afghan with crochet ties.

But my favourite "pink thing" this month would have to be my great-niece herself:

Ella was literally born blue, so we are all so happy to see her pink and rosy now!

As the calendar turns to September, Project Spectrum moves on to yellow and metallics. Those are not colours I wear often, but I found plenty of pics in the archives:

Top row: bracelet knit with stainless steel wire; a block from my Kentucky quilt top; bee on sunflower;
Middle row: Knit stellated dodecahedron Christmas star; gold "boot socks";
Bottom row: Detail of last year's Christmas card; early crocus; sewing my Kaffe Fasset quilt; a binfull of popcorn Troy grew.

Here's to a month of yellows, golds, bronzes, coppers, etc. Let's see what we can see...