Here's the progress on my sleeve... so far, 2 daisies and 1 sprig.
But something is rotten in the state or Denmark. (Sorry Thos). I tried to swiss darn (aka duplicate stitch) the stems, and it looks awful. The yarns just seems too thick to get a flat finish. I might take a steam iron to it, but I think that I would never be satisfied. So, I'm going to cry a few tears, unravel it and start again. No pain, no gain.
Throwing, Picking and Biasing
I found a fascinating technical article in Interweave Fall 2000 by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts. This goes beyond the continental vs. English style of throwing vs picking, but on stitch mounting of western knitting vs eastern kntting, with a hybrid style called combined knitting. Priscilla Gibson-Roberts explains how wrapping the yarns the way most western cultures do for the purl stitch, tends to use just a bit more yarn, so the purls rows are just a little looser than the knit rows. In eastern cultures, the knit stitches tend to be twisted knits but the knits stitches tend to use more yarns, hence the knit stitches tend to be looser. The combine knitting combines the western style knit and the eastern style purls for a more even tension. (OK, you can also cheat by using a smaller needle)
Did you know that the way that you wrap the yarn around the needle can affect the twist and cause the fabric to bias or that continental style knitting can aggravate carpal tunnel syndrome? It's all so obvious when someone points it out... but now I've got to try these techniques out...
Posted by atu at October 29, 2003 08:40 PMPolly, really the daisys stems look fine! Stand back and look at them from a distance. OR, leave them as they are and try intarsia -ing a few. Darning in 1 or 2 ends will be quicker than all that Swiss darning. It's actually impossible to get fiddly details like that spot on in cotton, unless you are a machine. Look closely at any Sasha Kagan!
Posted by: Sam at October 31, 2003 08:06 PMPolly--I'll stand aside for wiser souls to advise you on What To Do, but I will say that I love your colorway and think it'll all hang together beautifully, frogging or not.
Re tension and stitch formation (sounds like spiritual formation)--the longer I knit, the more I think about these things. It actually slows down my knitting sometimes, because I'm aware that the angle of the needles affects the slant of the stitch, that my purl rows need extra tension, that I actually do have control of some (some!) of what I'm doing. A fascinating article, I bet.
x0x0 Ann
Posted by: Ann at October 31, 2003 12:23 PMLis - I'm going to present Jill with my daisy sleeve and see what she recommends. Jill has a lot more experience with Daisy. She's finished more than *** a few of them ***.
Kate - I'm collecting all these old Interweave just because whenever I read them, I learn something new. I used to be an eastern style knitter for my purl stitches but someone pointed out my purls were done *wrong*. Now that the purls are *right* I find my tension is not so consistent. If only I read this article 5 years ago ... of course, I only started questioning, what is *right* and *wrong* when I got involved in a wider circle of knitters and learned that there really isn't a right/wrong way to do things.
Posted by: Polly at October 31, 2003 08:22 AMI changed the way I wrap for purl following that Patricia Gibson Roberts article. I actually like the way my stocking stitch looks now.
Posted by: Kate at October 31, 2003 12:51 AMAlas, I am not the world class knitter that you are...only a "novice -intermediate" so I have no advice for you really. Although Jill's suggestion sounds good and certainly worth a try. If its worth anything, from where I am sitting....across the pond in NYC your work looks great.
Posted by: Lis at October 30, 2003 11:45 PMSharon, Jill, Yvonne, OK, I'll sleep a bit more on it before frogging, but when you see it, you'll understand why I'd say frog.
Jill, The mail thing is also driving me berserk. I'm getting dribbles of mails very occasionally and when I called the post office again about a package, they told me that I'll have to be patient since all the sorting offices are backed. (Argh!) Is the new Interweave out yet?
Wendy, I didn't bring it with me, but will do so next time. The wool room is worst than when I started ... eek!
Posted by: Polly at October 30, 2003 12:36 PMPolly,
Why don't you wait and get a second (third, fourth, fifth) opinion before you frog? (hope it's not too late) Yvonne made a very good suggestion. It could be worthwhile letting some other Rowanettes get up close and personal with your daisys and we could all learn a thing or two. All might not be lost just yet!
Hi Polly
before you rip it out why not reconsider making the swiss darning an extra embellishment.(I know you love that word!) You could embroider over the yellow as well to raise the texture and you'd get an effect similar to my favourite green cardigan.
Posted by: Yvonne at October 30, 2003 06:29 AMPolly, I'd love to read that article - could you bring it to Liberty sometime?
Glad to hear that the wool room is a little more under control - you've not gone as far as organising it all in an Excel spreadsheet yet?!
Wendy x
Posted by: Wendy Peterson at October 29, 2003 10:15 PMI'm still waiting for my Interweave Knits (grumble, grumble) - we are in an area affected by this unofficial postal strike - haven't had any mail collection/deliveries for a week tomorrow. Someone else said that there was an article on prisoners in US jails learning to knit/crochet? I've always wanted to learn to knit continental stye, but not if it aggravates carpal tunnel syndrome.
Why don't you try steam-ironing your daisy stems before you rip? You might just be surprised......
Posted by: Jill at October 29, 2003 09:48 PM