D128: Tip of the day - Joins in knitted cuffs

Sometimes yarns have a bulge where a ply (a little thread within the yarn) begins and ends and they've been worked together, such as with weaving or an attempt at felting.  Sometimes there's just a little knot with two little tails.  This yarn I'm currently working has given me a knot and it's landed in the cuff of a sleeve.  (These knots pretty rare:  in the two balls of yarn I have left I can't even find one to photograph for you.)

The little blighter

Initially, I wasn't fussed about it.  I planned to work it so that the tails would appear at the back of the fabric, if at all.  In fact, joining a new ball by tying the two threads at the back of the work is perfectly acceptable and has been done since time cast on.

However, there are at least two places where this shouldn't occur: the collar and the cuff.

I'm pretty sure I can still weave this little tuft into the work, but I can't be sure it won't pop out in the future.

I should have cut out the knot and rejoined the yarn at the side.  The side seam is an easier place to hide an end and this is important because cuffs (and collars) often have both sides exposed, especially in baby items where lengths are turned back for growth.  I forgot that when working on a sleeve the 'right side' really applies to the arm and shoulder part because often both sides of the cuff may be the 'right side'.

So let it be known people: if you're working on a portion that may have both sides showing during its use, keep knots out of the work by rejoining at the seams.

In other news, and for my own records, I made another fruit purée with the following stats:

6 medium/large apples, two pears & 1 banana = about 42 tbsp of purée (840ml or a bit over 3 1/3 cups)

D124: Tip of the day - Hang your ball low!

Does your ball hang low? Well, I should, in some way or another.

While working on this garment, knitting left-handed in the Continental style I usually use with circular needles, I had patches of loose stitches.  Sometimes, this was due to dropping the tension when doing purl stitches - I'm still developing my reliability with tension when switching between stitch styles.

However, during the arms holes and neck bands I realised how this was happening.  (I knit faster than I think, it would seem...)

Here's a picture of how the tension is meant to be held when knitting Continental:

The wrapping and hold or traditional Continental knitting

This yarn is lovely and smooth.  in these winter months my fingers are slimmer, cold and smooth and the yarn just slips through like ribbon. Here's how I held it for this project:

The way I wrapped and held my yarn for this project.

And here's how those loose patches turned up:

The ravelled loop already in my hand, and what the little blighter looks like when drawn out.

As the garment is turned the yarn becomes ravelled*, sometimes into it's twist and sometimes against.  Either way, a little loop sometimes evolves and travels towards the work as I knit.  Soon, it's inside my fingers and I haven't even noticed it's there until it's too late, slackening my work - even just one or two   stitches, and developing a loose bunch of stitches.

In my hurry with this project, I haven't taken the diligence to go back, unstitching suspect bunches and reknitting them with better tension.  I also let my work space be very crowded, with bags, needles and my book, because I was keeping it from little hands.  This meant the yarn got wrapped up in things sometimes - another tension trap!

The solution is to anchor the ball of yarn somehow, and some distance and gravity would suffice.  So whether it's next to your feet or in a container, hang your ball low so that the yarn doesn't loop on itself before it gets to the thing that should control the yarn: your tension hand!

*yup, I choose to use that word this way

D114: I was so good

Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in ecru & light blue

I found a park right outside the woolstore and I thought "I'll just pop in and see what the range is like." The yarn I needed was right there, where I remembered it.  And it's really nice, and not as expensive as I thought it would be.  

So I chose two balls of something similar to what I've been using, not over thinking the choice, plus a contrast colour in case I needed it.  I paid with swiping and didn't look at anything else.  Not a thing.  Barely raised my eyes while I waited at the counter, looked straight at the door as I left, nothing else. 

See, even though I've already done a few rows of the vest, and lost a few productive days on what I have, once I saw how lovely this yarn feels - so much nicer than the pure wool I'm using - I couldn't in all good conscience, not give it a red hot go.

Gee, its lovely.  Wish me luck.