Can I pick your brain for a sec?spinunderskyApril 20 2009, 05:11:16 UTC
Hey there, tracked you down from Leaves in Relief on Knitty. I'm not a stalker, I swear! You just seem to have the best grasp on non-traditional cabling out there, so I thought you'd be the best one to talk to. I'm currently formulating--in the very, very early stages--a sweater pattern with a non-traditional cable on the back. Now, I get the compensation needed widthwise for traditional, vertical cables. However, how do you calculate any extra stitches needed when the cable isn't the same from top to bottom? As in, for example, Leaves in Relief, or your gorgeous Faramir sweater. The bottom of the cable pattern is obviously far less cabled than the upper portion; how did you calculate how much extra ease was needed? (I'm asking because everyone is just telling me to swatch swatch swatch, but if the cable panel is the same size as the entire back of the sweater, then we're not really swatching, are we? We're just hoping it all turns out. . . ) Thanks!
Re: Can I pick your brain for a sec?dragoncrafterApril 20 2009, 12:38:08 UTC
The general rule of thumb I use is this: cables are embroidery. So if a two-stitch branch appears, wanders around for a while, and then disappears, you'll want two increases when it starts and two decreases when it ends.
This also works out well because if you want a closed-ring sort of design, the good-looking things to do on the top and bottom are quadruple increases and decreases (which make two branches appear or disappear at once).
This is usually a slight overestimate, and of course a cable that goes vertically for a while spreads apart and is wider than this, but knitted fabric is stretchy enough that this isn't a huge deal.
If you can arrange for your swatch to be smaller than your sweater, it can still be a good thing to do---the big blue tree halfway down the page here is a swatch, and the photo shows almost all of it; it's still a big swatch, but is a lot smaller than the whole knit-in-the-round sweater
( ... )
horizontal cable questionext_395318January 17 2011, 20:41:59 UTC
I've lost the url of your horizontal cable entry - I'll keep looking though.
Have you done more on Ravelry? I'm Christinethecurio there - friend me please!
Do you ever picture knit with thicker cables than twist stitches? Do you use Barbara G walker ring cables, or mostly Elsebeth Lavold ones? I came up with a smoother way to start BGW ring cables at http://homeschoolblogger.com/curiousities/631532/
I've seen picture knitting like yours only in the old Threads magazine article by Kathleen Warnick - are there other publications that you know of for this technique?
have you made your other three elephants? Did the horizontal cable technique help their backs? why do you need to dec 1 after a twist stitch so often? How is the font coming?
Re: horizontal cable questiondragoncrafterJanuary 19 2011, 22:45:30 UTC
I haven't done much with Ravelry; I can friend you, but there isn't much there.
I do picture-knit with thicker cables; the Faramir tree, for example, is all 2-stitch cables. I tent to use Barbara Walker ring cables for lower curves, not Elsebeth Lavold ones; I'll have to try your method.
I haven't come across a lot of picture knitting references (but I haven't searched that hard); I found a few picture knits in Walker 3, and from then on I worked on my own.
I haven't made any other elephants yet. I should do that this year.
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It made sense in my head, but I realize now that I wasn't very clear. Sorry about that.
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(I'm asking because everyone is just telling me to swatch swatch swatch, but if the cable panel is the same size as the entire back of the sweater, then we're not really swatching, are we? We're just hoping it all turns out. . . )
Thanks!
Reply
This also works out well because if you want a closed-ring sort of design, the good-looking things to do on the top and bottom are quadruple increases and decreases (which make two branches appear or disappear at once).
This is usually a slight overestimate, and of course a cable that goes vertically for a while spreads apart and is wider than this, but knitted fabric is stretchy enough that this isn't a huge deal.
If you can arrange for your swatch to be smaller than your sweater, it can still be a good thing to do---the big blue tree halfway down the page here is a swatch, and the photo shows almost all of it; it's still a big swatch, but is a lot smaller than the whole knit-in-the-round sweater ( ... )
Reply
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Have you done more on Ravelry? I'm Christinethecurio there - friend me please!
Do you ever picture knit with thicker cables than twist stitches? Do you use Barbara G walker ring cables, or mostly Elsebeth Lavold ones? I came up with a smoother way to start BGW ring cables at http://homeschoolblogger.com/curiousities/631532/
I've seen picture knitting like yours only in the old Threads magazine article by Kathleen Warnick - are there other publications that you know of for this technique?
have you made your other three elephants? Did the horizontal cable technique help their backs? why do you need to dec 1 after a twist stitch so often? How is the font coming?
Sincerely,
Christine Guest
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I do picture-knit with thicker cables; the Faramir tree, for example, is all 2-stitch cables. I tent to use Barbara Walker ring cables for lower curves, not Elsebeth Lavold ones; I'll have to try your method.
I haven't come across a lot of picture knitting references (but I haven't searched that hard); I found a few picture knits in Walker 3, and from then on I worked on my own.
I haven't made any other elephants yet. I should do that this year.
Reply
This should help me get my Ivy Vine Mittens more tidy
-http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Christinethecurio/ivy-vine-mittens-proto-type
though I feel like Babage the computer guy who never finished anything by always trying to make it better...
Thanks,
Christine
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