Geezer Chic...

What on earth is a ‘geezer’ cardigan? Well, I guess the idea behind it - I’d heard young people were going to Value Village and the Sally Ann, searching out old men’s cardigans to wear. And I thought, well, everyone’s heard of the boyfriend sweater - never sure what it really was other than maybe, kind of like a sweater a young girl might borrow from her boyfriend and not want to give back because she found it comfy for schlepping around... who knows? So, I figured, okay, take the design elements of the old guy’s cardigan and turn it into a fashion statement.
Well, I’d like patch pockets, a vee neck, buttoned front, of course - otherwise it wouldn’t be a cardigan, duh? I also thought - longer than we’ve seen for a while and slightly A-line, instead of fitted.
The yarn I chose is simply gorgeous - Jaggerspun zephyr wool/silk 2/18 which I used doubled, making similar to a 4 ply fingering weight in stockinette - the sheen and drape to this yarn is awesome. The hems are deep, full needle rib, left open at the sides. I did the same depth on the cuff and when I tried it on, after seaming the sides and underarm, I liked the cuff left open as well! The front band is knit in one piece vertically, circular, with vertical slit buttonholes. Getting it all together, the final touch was finding the big black leather buttons, just like the old style you used to see on Grandpa’s sweater!
I wasn’t too sure about using this name, but at the photo shoot, when I gave it to Shanley to put on, and told her I was thinking of calling it ‘Geezer Classic’ or ‘Geezer Chic’, she said ‘oh, it has to be ‘Geezer Chic’! Here’s Shanley! Look for this in No 50!

Needles to say...

You may have wondered about the title of my blog or maybe not...I’m going to tell you anyway. Back in the early 90’s there was a lovely magazine called ‘Machine Knit America’ and I was a fairly regular contributor for most of the 6 years of their duration. Many of the experiences I had with them shaped some of my quirks for K’words - more on that another time!
In Vol 2 No 1 (July 1992), I had a design they called ‘Canadian Cooler’ - totally dumb name, considering the jacket was made with DK wool, nothing cool about it and, in the previous issue, I had a 2 piece threadlace outfit they had named ‘Strawberry Cooler’. I’m sure you may see some of my motivation for the names of the designs in K’words!
They had certain ways of wanting things said and done in their magazine, which is their right, of course and I had to follow their format. Anyway, it was such a popular design that I re-knit it, made a few changes and published it as a single pattern pamphlett in 1995. I had made the jacket many times, having done several hands-on workshops with that pattern, both locally and nationally.
January 1996, I received a letter from a lady in Florida - really just copies of 2 previous letters, reprinted from her computer files, that she wrote to the editor of MKA. The first was dated October, 1993. In it, she explains she made the ‘Canadian Cooler’ and although happy with her finished product, she found the experience to be ‘very hard, frostrating and time consuming to make something and it does not go together very well. I sure hope, that this Lady proofs her Knitting.’ Her letter was so full of errors, it was hard to tell if they were typos, spelling mistakes or just how she talked. She outlined her troubles and, using her own brand of abbreviations and words, told how she fixed the glaring problems in the pattern. Another of her comments ‘Everything was fine until I got to the Nick band. 70 stitches? Even a very thin person would not fit this. I made it 120.’ ( I still have my original notes, using 140 sts, but somehow MKA changed it to 70 sts.) Marie continued to tell of the changes she made to the pattern, and ended with ‘It is very hard and time consuming to make it look nice. Well, needles to say, with my next garment I was smarter...I do hope, this writing does not get too long and booring. I also hope, that you will respond to my letter.’

January 18, 1996, Marie again writes to the editor of MKA, saying she never received a reply to her earlier letter. She had recently attended a seminar in Tampa where a demonstrator had a ‘folder of the very same "‘Canadian Cooler" and when I looked, I found, that there been a lot of improvments in the Pattern, some been my suggestions. Needles to say, I felt very hurt about this. Nobody ever contacted me in any way, and yet, some of my suggestions been used. Again I would like to say "it would be nice, if you would answer your mail. I am sure you get a lot of mail, but in all this time, surely you could had found a couple of minutes to answer. Afterall, I do buy your magazine or at least I did in the past.’

By the time I got to the end of her second letter, I was laughing so hard, I could barely hold the pages and I kept saying, ‘needles to say...I just love that - one day I’ll use it!!’
Anyway, I did send her a hand written note (I kept a copy of it too)
Jan 26/96
Dear Marie, I was very concerned, upon reading your letters, that you have had such an experience. It was never brought to my attention there was any problem with the ‘Canadian Cooler’ pattern in MKA. I must say you seem to be a very determined knitter to have overcome all of the problems. Keep up the good work! I am sending you a complimentary copy of the slip cable jacket as my way of apologizing for the situation. Sincerely, Mary Anne

I never received an answer.

The same but different...

Where do the ideas and designs come from? Sometimes they are as simple as needing something to wear with something I already have. Or, in the case of ‘Flouncing Around’, I was given a beautiful handmade beaded necklace - Heather gave it to me last fall after an intensive hands-on workshop in Indiana - she said her Mom crocheted it just for me - it was after my admitted green crisis and I think they were hoping to divert my attention to other colours. It has four strands of beads, in ivory, plum and cranberry, that spiral - beats me how it was made, but it is very pretty and I was totally honoured to receive it. I just happened to have some wool crepe deluxe in black cherry that was perfect for it. Also, in the back of my head was a vague idea of a fitted cardigan with an asymmetrical ruffle. So, I started knitting....basic waist length fitted shape; wide, low vee; button front; elbow length sleeve. I ended up with a flounced peplum of sideways shortrows that looked cute and I added it to the sleeve and decided that was enough for one design. The plain neckline is the prefect frame for my necklace! Thank you, Heather’s Mom! And it goes perfectly with my fairisle skirt from ‘Sassy Skirts’.
That first idea of ruffles on one side of the vee was still in my head, so I re-knit the same basic block using another colour of Velveen, changed the hemline and sleeve by using a 1X1 rib with a really neat chained edging and picot knot (new technique), did a double ruffle (with two more brand new edges!!) on one side only, used my skin print buttons, well-aged and I just love it! I called it ‘Wild Side’. If you think it’s trashy, keep it to yourself, I don’t want to know!
These are two more of the designs in No 50 - I really like this idea - taking a basic block and changing it up with plenty of options - or just try it plain - you’ll see more of this in the future, I’m already working on things for No 51!

Spots in Dots...

I have felt rather bad, almost like I’ve been dissing the brother machine unnecessarily after that thread lace thing - I felt that I should give it another chance. Lace knitting is one of my favourite looks and I love coming up with something that looks crochet-like. I had this idea in mind to make a mesh-like canvas and then have random spots or squares or whatever, similar to filet-crochet without the picture thing. I began swatching on the brother - it was really easy, once I came up with my mesh fabric, to simply push back some needles after passing the lace carriage, to de-select some of the mesh and get a spot of knit stitches here and there. After looking at the results, I went to Designaknit and made a large swatch of the mesh and then used the ‘eraser’ to make spots similar to my swatch, so it would be automatic. Back to the brother and knit 2 swatches at differing stitch sizes to find the optimum. Turned out tighter was better, because of the openness of the stitch pattern.
Now, to knit lace on the brother, it means at least 4 passes of the lace carriage and then knit 2 rows with the main carriage; the yarn stays threaded up in the main carriage. Not really a big deal, once you get into the rhythm, but as I was swatching, I kept dreaming of my Silver Reed, with which I can simply knit plain lace as quickly as stockinette. I couldn’t resist. I re-designed the stitch pattern for the Silver Reed and made a swatch. Hummm...interesting! What I thought was plain lace really wasn’t and the swatch did look better from the brother than the plain lace on the Silver Reed. Might look the same to the casual observer, but the holes stay more square on the brother swatch. To get exactly the same thing on the Silver Reed, I would need to knit it as fashion lace: take out the yarn, change the cam to fashion lace, pass 2 rows, re-thread the carriage, change the cam back to stockinette, K2R and repeat throughout. The re-threading of the carriage can be tricky and if not careful, you can easily dump everything. I decided to stick with the brother.
Cast on 80-0-81 needles. Now, I forgot to say, with this mesh knitting, I found that I liked the edges to have at least 2 plain stitches for seaming, so, while knitting this, on two of the rows of the lace carriage, I need to be watching the end needles and push back any that are selected on the 2nd needle from each side. I have already programmed my shape file into the box, but it’s a fairly simple body, just straight to the underarm. I knit a couple of rows and I realize the pattern has not advanced like it should. Reset to the proper row, pass the lace carriage and I get this error message, something like ‘No 48 error, carriage has not passed row tripper’. Sigh. Go find the manual to see what the answer is - there isn’t one that applies to the lace carriage. I changed the sponge bar, thinking maybe the lace carriage is sitting lower than the regular carriage or something. Try again, no difference. It’s after 5pm, so I won’t find any tech support anywhere right then, so I manually clicked the row tripper after passing the lace carriage and it worked, advancing the pattern to the next row. So feature this - pass lace carriage, check end needles, click row tripper, lace, watch end needles, push one back, click row tripper, lace, end needles, row tripper, lace, end needles, row tripper, knit 2 rows! I’ve got a mantra going - lace ends trip, lace ends trip, lace ends trip, lace ends trip, knit 2 rows. I’m concentrating so hard on keeping all this straight, I’ve got about 40 rows done and the box is indicating that I should be decreasing stitches. The darn thing thinks I’m at the underarm already!! I realize my tripping the row counter is racking up garment rows which the lace carriage does not usually do. Fortunately, I do have a manual row counter on this machine that I use faithfully, as well as the one in the box and I have charted out my shape on graph paper, so can follow that. I manage to complete the garment - somewhere around the middle of the front, the row tripper decides to get back in the game so I never did find out what went wrong, but my finished garment is beautiful and just what I had imagined!!! See KNITWORDS No 50, coming soon!! The yarn is Cannelé from Yeoman Yarns and the edging is from ‘Band Practise’, perfect with the filet-knit!
My working title for this was Testing, 1, 2, 3... but you never would have known what that meant!!
PS - yesterday, I went back to the brother. I wanted to make one of those shopping bags (Take an Old Bag Shopping - KW No 44 and see previous blogs) for a gift and, still high on my success with ‘Spots in Dots’, remembering I had thought doing the bag on the brother might be quicker because of being able to use the lace carriage for the transfers to every other needle....NOT!! (for me anyway!)

All Ribbing Aside...

Back in mid-April, I had a few hours between things, I think I was hanging around waiting for the proof copy of No 49 to come in from the printers and decided to use the time to try out an idea. I had seen a girl at the bank wearing a wide rib sweater that was cute. Hers was a chunky knit and it was the collar that interested me. It was a wide rib also, that circled her neck and was buttoned with a large button in front. I often get vague ideas like that, mull them over for a bit and it develops into something to make. I did up a couple of swatches of various ribs, on the standard gauge machine, in a discontinued yarn, Forsell’s Thistledown Silk, even using a colour (pale blue) I didn’t particularly love. I chose the yarn knowing it would steam out fairly flat and it stay that way - I’m not such a masochist that I really wanted a stretchy, clingy ribbed sweater! So, short story, I ended up with a really cute raglan A-line cardy and since I was teaching a class on facings, threw it into my suitcase when doing my Spring seminars and called it my prototype - they loved it!
Back home and settled into knitting for No 50, I had to re-do the 3X3 rib. Having experimented with the facings, one method worked much better than the other and it needed to be made in a current yarn. I chose Yeoman’s Twister in the red/black colourway - actually, there were a couple of cones on the shelf just waiting to be picked. I’ve used this yarn in a couple of double bed garments and found it to be very nice to work with and although soft, doesn’t seem to have much stretch too it, which was one of the properties I was looking for. Twister also has great yardage, 1 cone will do it, with plenty leftover, but I always like to have 2 of one dyelot of anything, just to be on the safe side. It was a very quick knit, with great raglan seams, an excellent teaching project.
I wanted to really check out my pattern and instructions so I asked Cindy from ABQ if she’d be willing to test knit it for me. She likes to learn new things and accepted the challenge. We emailed back and forth a bit, but between the accompanying article and the pattern, other than re-checking numbers - the pattern had not been to my proofreader’s yet - she was able to get her garment finished without extra help from me - she loved the fact it was such a quick knit and marvelled that she usually has to re-knit pieces over - she refers to it as the body count and was pleased she was able to get 5 pieces done only once each! She sent a photo of her completed garment just 10 days after starting. I was impressed! She was able to point out a few things from a beginner’s standpoint that needed more instruction, so we were both happy!.
Along with her photo, Cindy wrote: ‘The way the ribs decrease together at the raglans is really a thing of beauty, Mary Anne. It really fits well too; I guess I need to do the loop and button to finish it up? Thank you for letting me knit this; mostly I had fun and now feel like me and the ribber are friends, after all!’
So, just to give you the head’s up on what’s coming, it’s ‘Just Ribbing’! in No 50 - told you it was a bad hair day...

absence makes the heart grow fonder?

I know, I know...where the heck have I been?? I’ve got lots of excuses, but why bother, I’m back, thanks to Cecile in Florida! She called yesterday to renew, order a book and to ask me what happened to my blog - she had become a silent, dedicated reader and told me she checked every week to see what I was up to and she’s really missed me - I felt so bad, like I let her down and I promised to get back into it.
I saw a local ad the other day, ‘50 years later and we’re still in business’ - forget the 50 years, 50 issues later and I’m still here, WOW!!
Anyway, we did the photo shoot for No 50 the other day and I’m so happy! It was amazing - you probably don’t realize how stressful the photo shoots can be. Lining up models, figuring out when they can come and then hoping that things will fit and look good. Most of our models are friends, family and friends of friends and nobody’s professional. Sometimes, I get girls showing up that I’ve never seen and don’t even know what size they are. I’ve had it all - someone who tells you they are a size 14 ( you need a 12 to 14) and they get there and they’re really an 18!! yikes, try to be polite and make it work??? Or, just as bad, you need a ten and she’s a two. And, yes, the gal who was an 8 last year and forgets to tell you she’s gained a few...or a girl you just met and she looked fine, but shows up with a new haircut and yikes, what was I thinking!! and you know, they are all doing this for free and doing me a favour and I really do appreciate it.
So, here’s the inside scoop. I went to get my nails done on Tuesday and there’s Shanley (aesthetician, cover of No 41, dark hair, 5’7", beautiful, 30) and Alex, the massage therapist who works with her (new girl, 25, tiny, petite, totally cute). I casually asked them both if they’d like to come and try it out. Knowing they are self-employed, I expected them to be too busy, but after juggling their appointment book, they say they can both come late Thursday afternoon - wow!!, but oh fooey, I’m not quite ready! I’ll make this work if it means staying up all night! Buttons to sew on, final pressing, always a few more ends to darn in and, what to have to go with what???
I generally try to have 4 to 5 girls for 10-12 adult garments, put the same garment on at least 2 girls and it takes some doing, sometimes lasting all day and at least 2 to 3 different days, which means getting everything pressed and ready and shlepping it all over to Bill’s a couple of times. I guess what I’m trying to say, it isn’t just a snap of the fingers.
Okay, it’s Thursday afternoon and they’re due at Bill’s at 5:30pm. The day’s muggy and quite warm, all the requirements for bad hair; mine’s frizzy already and I know fine hair goes limp, yadda, yadda, yadda... I’m worrying already that Alex is going to be too tiny and she’s never modelled before. The girls arrive, and we all hustle around. Bill and I’ve already checked out the lights and his camera settings. I’ve got all the clothes laid out and I have a basic plan of what to start with, until I see how things are fitting and how the girls are posing. 45 minutes later, they’re heading out the door and Bill and I are both feeling like we’re not really sure what just happened! But, we’ve got 340 photos, and all 10 of the adult garments are done and everything looked fabulous!!
Well, the proof is in the pictures!! Stay tuned for a few sneak peak previews of what’s in No 50!! It’ll blow you away!! Now, just the kids to do, later this week and we’ll be all ready for you!

Happy feet

I just know you’re not going to believe what I did yesterday! We finished up No 49 on Sunday night and got it sent off to the printers. I had a bit of office work to occupy the morning and then I was wandering around trying to come up with something to do. I looked at all my yarn and tried to invent a project, but mostly on days like this, I find it hard to focus - kind of like after the sugar rush of putting all my energy into getting the magazine finished and now, what should I do?
I had gotten my bicycle out over the weekend, even though my back yard is still full of snow. So, I went for my second spin of the season - it felt good, in spite of my sore butt!!
So, back in the office, looking for something to get into - not that I really have nothing to do, but, again, the focus thing. What CAN I do??
Here’s the part, brace yourself - I re-knit some socks. Yes, you read right! MAO actually re-knit something! Now, don’t get too excited, I didn’t unravel and reknit - I actually had a couple of pairs of socks (KNITWORDS No 24 & No 39) - double bed socks of nice, expensive sock yarn with worn-out holes in the toes and bottom of the feet - I couldn’t bear to throw them out, they were my favourites! Before Christmas, while cleaning out drawers and cupboards, I’d set these aside, promising myself I’d do something, but I really felt I was just prolonging the agony. The tops of the socks are still perfect, nicely ribbed in stretchy 2X2 rib - that part will never wear out. But the holes in the stockinette part - couldn’t even be darned if you even would think of that, which I wouldn’t.
I had leftovers of the same yarn and figured, why not? I cut off the sock, below the rib - it’s still in a circle and it was quite easy to follow a fairly straight line because of the colour changes of the self-patterning sock yarn. Picked out the bits of broken stitches and unravelled a whole row. Then, knowing exactly how many stitches, I hung the rib bed stitches first - this is the trickiest part. Then brought the ribber up and hung the main bed stitches. Threaded up the new yarn and whipped off the new foot - too simple.
Have your sock right side out - that’s the correct way for rehanging! Find the seam that was at the back of the leg and put that part in the centre of the main bed, same place where you are going to shape the heel.
I just thought this - my Dad used to wear ‘Happy Foot’ socks - now I have some!!