FO: One piece of sky

This isn't quite finished - the bands need steaming - but I was desperate to share it online. (Pictures replaced now it's done!) Bob Morley and Bill King kind of jointly gave me this idea - to knit an entire cardigan or jumper in one piece. I calculated the pattern in Knitware using a swatch, as a raglan v-neck sweater. Then I tweaked the figures a little to make it work. The front short-rowing was actually originally meant to bend the other way but I decided I quite liked it as it was in the end.

To work all this out I printed some graph paper from here, based on my tension swatch. Then draw various lines for the angles you want, and see what the stitch and row ratios are. You get different angles in partial knitting depending on the ratio of how many needles are held over how many rows. For almost "square" turns, you need to reduce by 2 needles every 3 rows (it's actually 47 degrees with this yarn's tension and gauge, but what's 2 degrees between friends?). To keep things simple, every time I was on a row that was NOT divisible by 3, I held another needle, until all but 1 were out of work. The needles are then returned into work in the same manner - though you could construct some interesting shapes by NOT keeping to the same ratio!

For the raglan decreases it was 1 needle held every 1 row, so very easy to remember. The sleeve called for increases every 7 rows, so I made it every 6 rows to accomodate the short row turn at the bottom where there is NO shaping - I did try that on my first attempt, but the maths was too complex when you are shortrowing AND decreasing for the first half of the sleeve. So the sleeves are a smidge too long.

After doing two "square" turns, the second half of the sleeve is knitted whilst hanging the first half's edge every two rows, so it is joined as I go. Likewise for the back. There is some casting on and off between the sleeves and body to adjust for the different widths required. It's almost easier to knit than it is to explain. You could add more partial turns to the sleeves and fronts / backs, for peplum effects. I added a wrapped e-wrap edge to the sleeves and knitted a simple lace edge to counteract the curl at the hem, and knitted a long strip of rib for the button band. Luckily I had some perfectly matched ceramic buttons for this too! 

I thought James C Brett marble chunky was perfect for something like this, as it shows off the partial knitting very well. I hope to steam the bands soon and take more photos - WFH means not a lot of ironing is being produced at the moment in this house, and it's a pain to get the ironing board out for just one thing, as it is usually done in the living room and blocks access. My next project is sewing though so I might set the iron up in my craft room for that. I've more of this yarn too, it being a 1kg bag from Uppinghams. There's no reason why you couldn't do this on a standard gauge machine either.

The name is "One piece of sky", because we are all labouring under one piece of sky at the moment, seperate, alone, yet working together for the greater good.

Current mood: impressed that it fits rather well, given the maths! :)

Brother carriage settings from the underside

Lots of people get machines second-hand, which need some TLC, and they don't know what things are supposed to look like on the underside. I thought I'd post pictures of some of my carriages in the hopes it might help diagnose faults. These pictures are of the KH260, which has the split-button / punch lace feature. Note that these are just pictures of the cam buttons being pressed - in order to make the patterning read from the punchcard, KC or SM would also need to be pressed (see later pics). As always, click on the picture for a clearer view.

Key:
Needles in A (Non-Working Position)
Needles in B (Working Position)
Needles in D (Upper Working Position)
Needles in E (Holding Position)




This is the underside of the carriage set for N or stocking stitch. Note that any needle in HOLD (the blue line) will knit back.



This is the carriage set to tuck - note that needles in B don't move out as far (ie they tuck). Needles in D and E position knit.



This is the carriage set for fair-isle. Needles in B position take a slightly shorter route and knit the yarn in feeder A. Needles in D or E position knit the yarn in feeder B.



This is the carriage set for punch lace - this is a very similar set-up to the fairisle one. Only later machines have this function. Both yarns knit together in certain areas, and the second yarn only knits in other areas.



This is the carriage set to slip - needles in B position hardly move and therefore do not knit.



This is the carriage set to hold - any needle in E position will remain in E position.



This is the carriage in N position. Note also the pink plastic part - this is the end needle selection cam. It's not always pink though, sometimes it is yellow.



This is the carriage in KC (Knitting Card) position



This is the carriage in SM (Single Motif) position - not available on all machines.

A commission for a friend...

Yes, I have cut my head off the first shot because I was talking and look really mean. Anyway, preserves an air of mystery, ya know?! This beautiful creation is a Bill King All-in-One knitted for Babylonglegs, dyer of lots of scrummy yarns - just looking at her shop makes me want to lick the monitor. Shouldn't have worn the navy and white top with the floofy sleeves today, doesn't really work, oh well, never mind! The bottom picture doesn't really do the colours justice, the perils of indoor/wintertime photography. The pattern is in MKM Nov 2012. 

The yarn is Denys Brunton Magicolor (alas, no longer available!) and it's been steam pressed for drape. I snagged a batch of this a few years back at Metropolitan and this happened to be a complete cone. I don't often do commissions - I don't mind for friends, but non-knitters seem surprised and annoyed when you ask for minimum wage x hrs x 2 + the cost of the yarn... funny that! I once made a pair of socks for an ex- work colleague who wasn't happy when I showed her the price of the yarn online (probably about £6-7 a ball). She got socks made from leftovers in the end, and I got a fiver for my trouble (machine-knitted foot, hand-knitted ribs). Non-knitting folks never want to pay much for stuff, they'd much rather compare it to slave labour garments made in China. So I usually knit stuff I like (or to learn a process/try out a yarn) and it goes into a bag for charity. Because it's not as if I really need more knitwear these days! Anyway, dismounting the soap box...

Been getting on with lots of Christmas knitting but cannot divulge it, of course, until after the 26th Dec. I'm almost done with the heel on the first Hopscotch sock. The sari silk bag is sulking on the stairs, I need to finish sewing it up and I keep forgetting. It might need lining, not decided yet.