To Block or to Frog?

I think perhaps I've come against one of the great lessons in the life of a knitter. To block or to frog.

I've been very lucky up to this point when it comes to gauge. That is, without doing swatches, I've just gotten by and just gotten lucky with fit. But now I think I've encountered a piece where I have to let go of my gauge denial.

I began knitting this cycling aran for myself shortly before Christmas. I have to say that the cables turned out beautifully, and looking at it over the Internet with no reference of scale, one could easily assume the panel is knit to the correct dimensions. Unfortunately, it's not.

I've used the right yarn, but contrary to Elizabeth Zimmermann's advice, I trusted the gauge on the yarn package and not trusted my own gauge. I thought I'd squeak by, but I think I'm going to just have to accept that I'm in the wrong gauge.

It really comes down to three options.

One, keep knitting and stay in denial. Two, knit the opposite panel to gauge and see how big the difference is. If the difference is significant, I can frog this panel and knit it again. Three, stay only partially in denial and block this piece (potentially stretching the life out of it) to see if it wasn't a matter of gauge to begin with.

It's a dilemma that I'm ready to confront. I just have to decide on which option works for me. I know I don't want to go with option one. I'm done with snoozing on this project. I've really got to decide on option two or three. I'm going to think on it this weekend and commit to a decision by Sunday.

Fingerless Mitts

It was one of those days where I just needed to knit something quickly. I have a sweater on hold, I wanted to take a step back from the MHK program for a minute, and I wanted to be able to create something someone could use. Now.

I have had a bunch of Manos del Uruguay in my stash and have been looking at fingerless mitt patterns. They all look pretty easy, and I thought it would be fun to just zip some out before going home to Pittsburgh for my nephew's first birthday this weekend. I thought maybe my sister could use them (I would make them for myself, but my fingers are always cold... I would never use them).

I found a great pattern in Ravelry for some mitts that are knit flat. I did a gauge swatch and decided to go up a needle size from the one suggested in the pattern. The patterns calls for a M1 increase, but doesn't really clarify which M1 to use. I opted for an M1 using strand between the stitches. I think because they're mitts I would use a bar increase for future sets of these mitts so the increases would add some texture and be a bit less loose.

At the time of writing this, I've finished one mitt and will be casting on the second mitt today. I'll have time to finish them before I see my sister in Pittsburgh. The first one only took about 2.5 hours to knit, so I have plenty of time to bang out another one.

Hmmmm. It's good to feel productive. I'm hoping she likes them. Even if she doesn't, I'm sure she'll be kind and pretend.

Setting the Tone and the Tension: Dealing with a Knitting Affliction

Because I'm always trying to learn new things, and learn them at a level beyond superficial, I decided to join The Knitting Guild Association's Master Hand Knitters Program. I received the curriculum earlier this month, and have spent some time reading through the Level 1 requirements. I made a trip to a local yarn shop and selected yarns for the various swatches and final knitting project (a hat) that I'll have to complete and submit to the committee. All in all, I was very excited about the program.

There seem to be several schools of thought around why someone would want to go through the Master Hand Knitters Program. The predominant thought by those who are in the program or have completed it seems to be that we're doing it because we want to knit and we want to become better at knitting. By going through the process, a knitter has to do research on various stitches, report out on observations made about his own swatches, and eventually submit all of these for review. Apparently it's common for at least a few revisions to be requested by the committee before final approval.

Another school of thought seems to be from those who have chosen not to go through the program. That sentiment seems to be that knitting is enjoyable, but putting criteria and judgment on one's knitting takes the enjoyment out of it. I see their point.

When I sat down to do my first swatches for the MHK program, I zipped through a couple just to see how they would turn out. I actually did two in the same knight and thought about doing one more. Before I moved forward though, I set the swatches down and looked at them closely the next day. To me, something was wrong.

I went online to the TKGA website and found an article about tension. Upon reading the article my ego was immediately deflated. I had tension problems. For a second a wave swept over me as if I had just been diagnosed with an illness over which I had no control. The enjoyment left. The people who told me knitting wouldn't be fun anymore were right! All that money spent on yarn and needles. All that time spent learning to knit. I was done. My knitting life had ended, killed off by the fatal tension problem.

Then I decided to get over myself. I had to take another step back. I realized the problem I was having with tension had to do with what's known as striping. As a continental knitter I'm apparently prone to striping. The symptoms of this affliction appear in stockinette stitch when knitting flat pieces. The tension of the purl stitches is weaker than the tension of knit stitches thus making the V's on the right side of the work appear larger and smaller in alternate rows (see image above).

Several sources actually give different treatment options for poor tension. One solution is Norwegian Purl. Another is combined knitting. Without getting into the gory details of these methods, they'd either mean I'd have to perform manual backflips or re-teach myself to purl English-style. I have to say I was one of those stubborn patients who rejected both ideas. I really liked the way I purled, and I was in no condition to change (not with all the striping!).

I finally read an article that said, "Sometimes just an awareness of loose purling leads the knitter to improving tension on the purl side." No backflips?! Sold.

I went back to my swatches. I got out a needle one size smaller than what I had knit with before, and resigned myself to tightening up my purls. On my first row of purls I made sure to give an extra tug to each of my purl stitches. I could actually feel each stitch locking into place and holding fast to the stitches below it. I continued for the next ten rows making sure I felt the lock of each purl stitch and set my work down flat to examine it. No striping. The purl side looked tight. The knit side looked even. I was cured.

Looking back on this experience, I realize that this is exactly what I signed up for. I wanted to learn to be a better knitter. As a learner it's healthy to be humbled by not knowing everything. It's good to feel defeated once in a while because sometimes falling down provides the kick in the rear we need to let go of our egos and get down to business.

Joining the MHK program is definitely a personal choice. For those knitters out there who have no desire to be held up to someone else's criteria, I applaud you. But for me, I like being given a set of problems that I have to research, and I like having to use trial and error to get myself to a higher level of whatever it is I'm doing. I also like accessing learning communities like Ravelry, the forum at KnittingHelp, and the TKGA forum. I don't have the luxury of a local knitting guild with experienced knitters to lead me into knitted enlightenment, so the online knitting community is my surrogate guild.

As I look forward into my MHK future, I know I'll encounter more problems. I'll probably even get frustrated and think about throwing in the towel, but I'm confident I'll eventually take a step back and see it as a problem which needs to be researched and another step in the learning process.

Reading to Knit (and rest)

I've been on pause from my knitting this week. I'm kind of regrouping to see what I need or want to do next. In the meantime, I've been doing some reading and trying to do some independent learning about different techniques. I've also been looking for techniques I haven't tried yet, or want to practice.

A book I have heard recommended on many occasions was Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears. So I ordered it from Amazon. When it arrived in the mail first impression was that it wasn't going to be a book I would enjoy. For a knitting book, there are very few pictures. When I noticed this, I set it aside for a few days.

Last night before bed I decided to give the book a chance. I have to say it's a great read. Zimmermann's sense of humor and her persona as an "opinionated knitter" have drawn me in and made me chuckle. I appreciate her sensibility about certain things as well as her high standards regarding others. For example, she talks about joining the same color wool and never making a knot, but making a knot when joining different colors of wool. I love that she seems to be able to laugh at herself by conceding that she's somewhat superstitious about some things.

My favorite excerpt so far is her retelling of her evolution from a traditional English knitter to a Continental knitter.

I'm excited to try some of the patterns in the book, but think I may need to write out some of the instructions for her seamless sweaters in more contemporary knitting shorthand. I'm very accustom to reading line-by-line instructions or charts, and the narrative layout of the patterns in this book could be difficult to knit on the fly for me.

All in all, I'm delighted I purchased and read the book.

First Post :)

It's official. I'm posting.

Latest news? I just received the TKGA Master Hand Knitter Level I curriculum. I had told myself it was going to be a lot of work, but it didn't sync in until last night when I started to really look at it.

Any TKGA Master Knitters out there who would like to share their advice and experience... or anyone who wants to keep in touch and "go through it together," feel free to contact me!

By the way, I'm tclarkeee on Ravelry.