Progress on the Celtic Dreams pullover Part 2, Plus Sari Silk!

[kniteracy]

I'm afraid this really is going to get a bit technical. But the picture is kinda pretty, even if it's nowhere near finished yet.

Celtic Dreams: Saddles Joined, Beginning Back Now you can see what the shoulder saddles are for. Stitches were picked up along the sides of each saddle, then cast on in the middle to make the back. The neckline will be knit up once both upper back and upper front have been knitted. You knit each side down a certain amount of inches, then put it on a holder, after which the body is joined and knitted circularly. I'm beginning to see how the piece is coming together now. Do you see all the markers hanging off below the jumper? You probably don't; some of them are smaller than others, and I needed so many I was grabbing them from everywhere. I will have to buy new stitch markers before I start the front of this jumper! Each separate aran pattern is set apart by two markers; that helps me remember where I am in the pattern. There are nine patterns on the back of this jumper.

Unfortunately, I have to say I have some issues with the pattern and I'll probably be modifying it to better meet my needs.

The whole thing is produced as a saddle-stapled booklet, so all the pages are A5 size (or whatever you call that in American). Which means that the pages are by necessity small. I understand why you'd want to produce a complex pattern in this format: obviously knitters are going to be taking the pattern with them wherever they go, and it's easier to keep track of a booklet than a bunch of separate sheets of paper that might once have been paper-clipped together, and by the way, there's a paperclip lodged somewhere in the knitting that will one day become a hole if you don't find it nowish. However, it also means there is not a lot of room for pictures, things that you need to look at at the same time occur on different pages, and charts and legends aren't as usable as you'd like them to be.

Abbreviations and stitch patterns, for example, are given on the second and third pages. Then she starts in on the construction of the garment, but only writes out the first few rows, as you'd expect, because you expect there to be a comprehensive chart when she says, "Continue following pattern directions from chart."

Well, no. And this is the page I'm going to probably have to painstakingly recreate as an Excel spreadsheet or something. Because the chart page (which does actually have a legend) displays all the charts separately, as if they have nothing to do with one another, does not repeat the short ones up to the tall ones, and does not make note of the number of plain stitches between the patterns. Which means, that while I prefer knitting from charts, this chart page is roughly useless to me. If I use it, I have to refer back to the "Row 1" instructions to make sure I'm knitting the right pattern. And although she's helpfully chosen only aran patterns that are multiples of 24, I have to concentrate pretty hard after about Row 4, when some of the patterns are already repeating.

I suppose it isn't the end of the world: I've been meaning to check out knit charting sotware in preparation for the Fair Isle and Cabling Without a Cable Needle classes I'm teaching at iKnit London later this month. But the thing is, I'm just itching to knit a sweater. And I'd been wanting to knit this one for a long time, it's all one colour even if it is an Aran, I understand Aran patterns and knit them quickly (because -look up!- I don't use a cable needle!). But (and this is a big but) I guess I didn't take enough time with the pattern to realise I was going to have to completely reset it in order to satisfy my need to have clear instructions. Granted, I could probably do it the way I'm doing now, which is to follow the "Row 1" pattern along so I know which Aran pattern come next, then refer to either the chart page or the written cable explanation patterns, row by row. Good lord, that's tecious.

Anyway, I love knitting cables, so it's really fun to knit, at least so far. Black Water Abbey is a sturdy, backward-spun, two-ply aran weight wool that, while it kinks up a bit, is a joy to work with, for me anyway. It is quite stiff and scratchy, which to me means it's going to hold those patterns. I'm lucky enough not to have any kind of a wool allergy, though I'll be looking in to softening strategies when I'm done knitting and finishing.

...Which brings me to my next topic, Sari Silk! Some of you know I committed to buying a bunch of this when we were in Singapore, then ended up having to pay more because of a shipping debacle. And it's been sitting in my house for nearly three years, since we got back from Singapore. I've tried knitting with it, but it tears my hands up and it's so heavy.

Thursday night, I went down to IKL just to hang out and knit (my class had no takers), and the subject of a yarn swap at somebody's house in North London came up. I mentioned that I had all this sari silk I couldn't do a thing with, and the woman across from me suggested the following method to soften it up to usability:

1. While it's in the hank, wash it in a very light solution of mild soap and water. Use your bathtub.
   
2. Rinse it, then let it soak in a mild solution of hair conditioner and war water. Let it soak for awhile.
   
3. Rinse again. When it dries, silk gets hard and stiff. When the sari silk begins to dry, beat it against the side of your bathtub. Once it's completely dry, you'll have soft, manageable silk.

Has anybody out there tried something like this? Did it work for you? I may crosspost this to knitting or advanced_knit at some point.

ETA: Geeky extra: It's taking me about 15 minutes to knit a row of this thing, as I flip back and forth between pattern and chart. 15 minutes for 102 stitches. Not my fastest work. ;-)

Comments

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

I've always heard to use shampoo and conditioner on silk, or at the VERY LEAST, shampoo. (Sometimes with wool too.) Because it's like hair or whatever. Any time I've done it, with clothing, it's been fine, but never with wool, because, you know, haven't learned to knit yet.

I SHOULD LEARN THIS SUMMER.

[janciega.livejournal.com]

Ages ago, I knitted my first (and only, so far) Aran sweater. It was from a James Norbury book, and Back In The Day, virtually NOBODY used charts of any kind. The pattern consisted of several panels of aran patterns, written out separately. The patterns were of different row lengths too.

So I looked at that, and figured out the only way I'd be able to knit it would be to write the pattern out, row by row. So I did. I had a little notebook with one page per row. Fortunately for me, the whole shebang repeated at about 15 or 20 rows, so I didn't have to fill the WHOLE notebook.

You know how long ago this was? It was before the ready availability of Xerox machines. So I had to write every single bit out.

And all I had to knit with at the time was Red Heart. It was what was available in the dime store in Forsyth, GA. :)

In spite of all that, it came out ok. A little big, and I never really wore it much, but it proved to me that I could do stuff like that.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

My first completed Aran was that scary one that took me so long to knit. Granted, it took me so long to knit because I quit knitting for something like six years in the middle, there, but still. This will be the second. I'm aiming to finish it in fewer than ten yers. ;)

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

You know, once you get the supplemental chart done for this, you might look into marketing it. I'm sure you're not the only person who's had this problem, just possibly the first one who knows how to clarify the situation.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Heh. That would break enough copyright laws that I hadn't even thought of it. This sweater is designed by Beth Brown-Reinsel, who's written a number of fantastic knitting books and whose classes I've attended over the years. I suppose I could offer it to her, but I had mostly thought of just offering it as supplemental help to other knitters who could assure me they'd bought the pattern. The chart won't really help you knit the sweater, but it's more than simple fair use, I think.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a "derivative work" to me. Congratulations, you've committed the knitting equivalent of filk!

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Huh? *confused*

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

Sorry I was too obscure. In US copyright law terms, the current consensus opinion is that filksongs which use existing tunes or are based on copyrighted material (i.e., something Disney) fall into a category of permitted uses of such material called derivative works.

I was implying (poorly, as it turns out) that producing an improved chart for a sweater pattern based on the original was in some way analogous to the filk process -- after all, you were adapting it to your needs.

Sorry for the confusion.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Ah, I get it now.

I guess I just look the filk process differently from other filk people. I don't really write a lot of parodies-- in fact, I've only ever written one. So for me, the filk process is basically the songwriting process. I guess I also don't tend to explain things in terms of fandom or filk. To me, knitting is very different from filk.

Sorry to be so dense. :)

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

I wasn't thinking in terms of parodies -- more of taking something existing and expanding on it (such as the latest from cadhla here (http://cadhla.livejournal.com/1497707.html).
Hope that makes things a little more clear.