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| Re: More KES related [message #50255 is a reply to message #50252 ] |
Sun, 10 June 2012 21:11   |
EMoon
Messages: 664
Registered: March 2009 |
Senior Member |
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Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, YarnHarlot online, has written quite a bit about swatching, and how swatches lie...though in her books I've read so far, she hasn't complained about the yarn a swatch takes up. I'm swatching right now with leftover yarn, which kind of defeats the purpose of a swatch, except that I'm using a different size of needle, and wondering if it's what I want to use for a pair of socks down the line. And boy-howdy does the regulation 4x4-plus-a-margin swatch take up wool! Just hoovers it right in, like a cat with a can of tuna. And takes time that I'd rather put into knitting whatever it is I want to use.
But not swatching, says YarnHarlot, who also doesn't love swatching, leads to a lot of ripping out or (as in her story of the house-cozy sized sweater) failure to recognize impending doom. Or, says I, a lot of trying something on every few rows, if possible. (I was very bad at following written directions as a child. I never made the things my Tinker Toy and Lincoln Log sets told me how to make...I made other things, including the infamous [in our family] Tinker-Toy water-wheel that flung water across my bedroom and I didn't get it wiped up before my mother found me. Hence I was not allowed to have an Erector set or any dry cells or a chemistry set. Spoilsport!)
YarnHarlot's fun to read, BTW. I have Knitting Rules (and yes, it's a pun), All Wound Up, Free Range Knitter, and At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much. (Though I'm not sure she believes anyone knits too much. Too much for what? Or whom?)
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| Re: More KES related [message #50261 is a reply to message #50255 ] |
Mon, 11 June 2012 03:57 |
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equus_peduus
Messages: 437
Registered: September 2009
Location: France |
Senior Member |
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I don't think YarnHarlot complains about the amount of yarn used, because she generally has more, and if her project ends up needing the extra yarn, she rips out the swatch. Though I haven't gotten around to reading her books yet, I have read every single post on her blog... And she talks a lot about swatches and how they lie there too.
You can't really decrimp yarn in a ball. or rather, you could, but either the center bit isn't going to decrimp cos it didn't get wet, or the center bit is going to go moldy because it got wet and didn't dry very quickly. TECHknitter talks about crimped yarn on her blog here: http://techknitting.blogspot.fr/2007/02/kinky-yarn.html .
What I usually do is I make a hank (the back of a chair works well), boil a pot of water, and hold sections of the skein in the steam with a slight bit of tension on either side of the currently-being-steamed bit, then let it dry for an hour or two. You can *see* the yarn relaxing, which is very satisfying. You do sort of have to roll it into a ball again after, but I don't mind that part *too* much... though it's less fun than the actual knitting.
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| Re: More KES related [message #50264 is a reply to message #50262 ] |
Mon, 11 June 2012 08:44 |
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That's how you wash just-spun yarn too. To put it in a hank, you can wind it around your forearm -- hand to elbow -- tie in at least three or four places, and bathe, press dry in a towel and let it hang. If you want to store it like that, you can twist the loop and tuck one end inside the other. If you have a bigger length of yarn to wash, you can use a chair back or two to make the loop bigger.
But yeah, you'll want it to dry out all the way or risk The Smell. Gross.
Have you thought about getting a yarn winder? It makes hanks of yarn like that much easier to wind into balls. (Or cakes, as some like to call those.) It is another THING to have around, but if you have a lot of yarn in hanks, it might be worth it. I bet your local shop has one you can at least look at. They might be able to order one for you, too. If you can't find one, Knitpicks sells them. Link And another link. Since most if my yarn is handspun and therefore in hank form, my ball winder is one of my best knitting friends. Heh.
Smooshes!
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| Re: More KES related [message #50265 is a reply to message #50261 ] |
Mon, 11 June 2012 08:56 |
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 blondviolinist
Messages: 1069
Registered: October 2008
Location: Midwestern United States |
Senior Member |
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| equus_peduus wrote on Mon, 11 June 2012 03:57 |
You can't really decrimp yarn in a ball. or rather, you could, but either the center bit isn't going to decrimp cos it didn't get wet, or the center bit is going to go moldy because it got wet and didn't dry very quickly. TECHknitter talks about crimped yarn on her blog here: http://techknitting.blogspot.fr/2007/02/kinky-yarn.html .
What I usually do is I make a hank (the back of a chair works well), boil a pot of water, and hold sections of the skein in the steam with a slight bit of tension on either side of the currently-being-steamed bit, then let it dry for an hour or two. You can *see* the yarn relaxing, which is very satisfying. You do sort of have to roll it into a ball again after, but I don't mind that part *too* much... though it's less fun than the actual knitting.
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Oh, good, a TECHknitting post! I *knew* someone had explained this succinctly somewhere on the web, but I couldn't remember where. (Knitty? Twist Collective? Random blog post by random knitter?) TECHknitter always does such a good job of explaining things.
"Purity of heart is to will one thing." Kirkegaard
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| Re: More KES related [message #50268 is a reply to message #50264 ] |
Mon, 11 June 2012 11:28 |
Fiona
Messages: 61
Registered: June 2010 |
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| jmeadows wrote on Mon, 11 June 2012 13:44 |
That's how you wash just-spun yarn too. To put it in a hank, you can wind it around your forearm -- hand to elbow -- tie in at least three or four places, and bathe, press dry in a towel and let it hang. If you want to store it like that, you can twist the loop and tuck one end inside the other. If you have a bigger length of yarn to wash, you can use a chair back or two to make the loop bigger.
But yeah, you'll want it to dry out all the way or risk The Smell. Gross.
Have you thought about getting a yarn winder? It makes hanks of yarn like that much easier to wind into balls. (Or cakes, as some like to call those.) It is another THING to have around, but if you have a lot of yarn in hanks, it might be worth it. I bet your local shop has one you can at least look at. They might be able to order one for you, too. If you can't find one, Knitpicks sells them. Link And another link. Since most if my yarn is handspun and therefore in hank form, my ball winder is one of my best knitting friends. Heh.
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Thanks Jodi! I tied myself in knots trying to put how to make a hank into words, and I think Robin probably took one look at my email and said "What on EARTH is she waffling on about?"
And Robin, if you want to try out a ball winder, let me know and I'll bring mine next time I see you...
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| Re: More KES related [message #50280 is a reply to message #50252 ] |
Mon, 11 June 2012 23:48 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2730
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
Senior Member |
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A ball winder is a wonderful machine. And if you buy your yarn in hanks, a swift is absolutely worth the investment. I'm now sort of beginning to think about a yarn meter, because I have a garment whose yarn I may want to repurpose, as they say, and it would be kind of nice to know how much yarn is in it if I ever decide to unravel it. (And wouldn't that be an adventure . . .)
I will agree with anyone who says that swatching is boring, but for me it's really necessary, especially since I usually seem to be using a different yarn than my pattern calls for. I've decided that it's worth the effort to rinse out or wash and wet-block the swatch as well, to see what the fabric will do. Surprises are all right in their place, but not at the end of knitting a sweater!
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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