Knitting Tips: Patterns and Designs

1. When Does it Become an Original Design?
2. Size of Rectangular Stole?
3. Finished Sweater Sizes
4. Hat Warmth
5. Dishcloth Afghan Rectangular Version
6. Tomten Jacket Hood
7. Knitted Towel
8. No Stitch on Chart
9. Pattern while turning heel?
10. Collar or Buttonband First?
11. Steek Trick
12. Cowl Neck
13. Knitted Coonskin Cap
14. Vertical Stripes
15. Sagging Halter Back

1. When Does it Become an Original Design?

Joan Schrouder 1/25/03

Simple answer - When it no longer looks like a copy of the original.

If you change lots of the numbers, either thru resizing or using different gauge yarn. When you change shaping details, st patt details, etc.

Bottom line is, you can think it's your own original design at any point you want. The only time it's critical is if you were thinking of having it published.

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Joan Schrouder 1/25/03

I'm 5'4" on a good day, so what works for me probably wouldn't for you. And even another person of similar physique might have different preferences. To come close to what *you* would like, take a bed sheet and fold it some, then drape it around you. Fold up longer/shorter/narrower/wider until you get something that looks/feels right. Then measure that size. I know that a woven percale sheet won't have the same drape as a shawl, but at least you can see where it's going to hit.

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Joan Schrouder 1/28/03

Now I've figured out that I can decrease slightly when doing stockinet for a better fit, but what do you do when you're doing a highly patterned aran sweater? Do you go by the chest measurement and just not make the sweater too long (that would work) or do you go by your hip measurements and then have a slightly looser fit at the top? Hmm...or could you still decrease, but what would be the best way? Anyone have any thoughts.

Most Arans have side panels of seed st or other "filler" st. It's usually not dificult to dec there. EZ, BGW, et al have recommended adding extra purl sts between the cable panels and gradually dec'ing them away.

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Joan Schrouder 2/11/03

Would a hat still be as warm if I knit it on a size or two bigger needles? The fabric would have a better hand, and would probably be less itchy. My working theory is that the looser fabric would still trap warm air and be as insulating, because it's loftier.

You're right that loftiness will trap air and can be warmer. BUT, if wind is an issue, then looser sts will let more of that thru. One option to thwart that problem is that you have a fold-up portion, so there would be a doubled section, especially over the ears.

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Joan Schrouder 2/12/03

I am making a "dishcloth Afghan" and would like instructions to make it a rectangle. I think someone posted them a couple of weeks ago.

First part - Start out as for square/diamond, which is actually a triangle. Continue 'til one side is the width you want on the "short" side of your rectangle.

Second part - Now mark 1 side and begin the dec's, while maintaining the inc's on the opposite edge. Continue as set until the "long" side is as long as you want.

Third part - Now commence dec'ing on both edges, to finish the triangle.

You can plot out your yarn usage easily with this shaping. When you've finished part 1, hold back a similar amt of yarn for part 3. Then you can use all of the rest of the yarn for part 2.

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Joan Schrouder 3/8/03

Tomten Jacket (Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern - Schoolhouse Press The hood looks loose. Other hooded thing's I've made had a border around it to help it stay close to the head since no one puts drawstrings or ties on hoods anymore. Those of you who've made the tomten, have you done anything to help the hood stay on? I don't have the right size child to use as a model.

I've added I-cord arnd it. I usually do that after I add the buttonbands on, and use the I-cord to bind them off, then cont. the I-cord alone on up arnd the hood. If it looks like you really want to draw in the hood, you can go down a size on the ndl used to knit the I-cord.

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Joan Schrouder 3/13/03

I have some Cotton Terry yarn and would like to make a hooded baby towel. Does anyone know of an existing pattern?

Easy enough to make up your own. Do a gauge swatch so that you can figure out how many sts to cast on in whatever st patt (plain garter?). Work straight for either a square or a rectangle. BO. K a smaller triangle, sew to corner.

Or use the basic garter st washcloth pattern, only make it much larger. When you get to the upper corner, start inc'ing again until it's wide enough for the hooded part. BO, fold over and sew edges of smaller part to larger part.

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Joan Schrouder 3/15/03

It's not as common that a "no st" (NS) is used when an inc is separated by a great distance from a dec on the same row. But it is true that it's used when it holds the space for a future st (one to come on subsequent rows) or to sometimes take the place of a st that was dec'd on a previous row. The key is if there are a different # of sts from 1 row to the next. If so, then you need NS spaces to preserve the vertical correlations of the rest of the pattern sts.

OK, I can just hear you muttering, "Huh?" <g> Think of it this way -

You want to add a leaf into a pattern so you have a sudden inc of sts to form it, say 7 sts/squares wide increased from a 1 st "stem", on Row 4. On a chart, you want to show the 5 sts centered above the stem. So you have to place 3 sts/squares on either side of that stem. But on the 3 previous rows, you didn't have those extra 6 sts. In order for the chart to show them centered correctly, you put 3 squares as "NO ST" symbols to hold the place for those future sts on each side of the center stem st. Then as you continue on with your petal, you'll gradually dec those sts away. So on subsequent rows you'd put more NS symbols to fill in those spaces.

There is another way to chart this kind of operation without use of a NS. On the point in the chart where you begin the leaf, there would be a special symbol that only takes up one square. In the legend it specifies the entire directions for that leaf, including following rows. I've seen this most commonly used in some German patterns with bobbles.

I'm a firm proponent of "NO STS", in most cases. (I always leave myself an "out"; sure as shootin' there will be at least 1 case to the contrary. ) The point is, if the NS's preserve the chart in such a way that the pattern is clearly shown to keep its vertical alignment, then it makes sense to have them. A good chart should closely resemble the knitted fabric, so anything to aid that goal is laudable. If a chart has a jagged edge, and the knitting doesn't, then I'm not sure what is the point of having a chart. In that case, text instructions are just as good. (IMO, of course.)

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Joan Schrouder 3/23/03

Am I supposed to repeat the pattern in the row during heel turning?

Usually you don't continue any patterning during the heel turning. It won't show, and with heel st (the patt you were just using for the heel flap), it's trickier to try to keep to that, with it's slipped sts, and interjecting the short rows of the turning. So just switch to plain stockinette for these few rows.

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Joan Schrouder 4/4/03

Do I make the collar, and then run the button bands up to the top of it; or do I do the button bands, and then pick up stitches at the top of them to use in the collar?

You can do either first.

I prefer to do the collar first so that I can do all the buttohnoles on that band last. If I do them first, I have to remember to do one more BH on the collar band. Also, the top BH itself will be slanted horizontally whereas the rest of the BH's will be vertical.

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Joan Schrouder 4/4/03

It's in a variegated mohair boucle and in an effort to keep the patterning of the yarn colors the same throughout I was thinking that instead of dividing for the front and back at the armholes of doing a double yarn over at each spot when I come to it the next round drop those to yarn overs so they are loose and repeating the process, continuing this all the way up, so that way I'll have a definite area to cut for the armholes without cutting into the knitting and the I'm doing the sleeves from the top down so by picking up the stitiches I'll have the loose ends secured....so it would look like:
xxxx--xxxx
xxxx--xxxx
and I'd cut where the dashes are.. does this sound plausible to anyone?

I applaud your concept; I agree that it's important to keep the variegated patterning constant as much as possible. But I have reservations re your steeking method.

I tried this once for the front opening of a cardigan. I didn't like the result as well as I'd hoped. Because of the looseness of the st on either side of the run-down sts, it made the area where I knit up the buttonbands, like where you're knitting up your sleeves, uneven and loose. Plus I had a zillion ends to weave in. I ended up running machine stitching down each side after I'd cut to hold everything together.

If you don't want to machine st, you can use the crochet method Rick Mondragon described in a KNITTER's mag article ~1.5 yrs ago. The mohair should really hold well for that. It won't matter that don't add any sts for the steek; simply knit straight up in a tube, just doing the twisted sts ala Rick with a st or two plain inbetween at each armhole. I'd suggest not even bothering with the twisted sts, and later laddering them down, then repicking them back up in a twisted mode like I did on one sweater, but the mohair might make it difficult to run the sts down.

You'll end up with a little width at the bottom of your armhole after cutting, but just knit up a couple of more sts there on your first rnd of the sleeves.

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Joan Schrouder 4/6/03

I've had good luck making cowl necks by just changing ndl sizes as I go. Knit up sts with the usual ribbing size ndl, then every 2" change to 1 size larger, for ~4 times. I used I-cord bind-off with a double strand of yarn. It spread out the cowl edge so that it flared appropriately.

For I-cord bind-off: Cast on 3 sts with the double strand (and a larger ndl - experiment). Slide 3 sts onto ndl holding cowl sts. *K2 sts, SSK. Slip 3 sts as to purl back to left ndl and rept from *, until only 1 st of neck left. Cut yarn, leaving ~8" tail. Thread yarns on blunt darning ndl and graft 3 sts to cast on 3 sts, incorporating final neck st.

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Joan Schrouder 4/8/03

My sister wants a coonskin cap out of the same yarn (Funny). I've looked at pictures of coonskin caps on Ebay and am not sure how to proceed. The top is flat and therefore unlike the usual hat patterns. Anyone with words of wisdom? Would I just have to increase from a certain number of casted on stitches and then decrease back to that number to get a somewhat circular flat piece of fabric and then pick up stitches and knit down, in the round for the sides?

The top on this cap isn't really circular, but more oval or a football shape. Eons ago I tackled something similar. Cast on ~an inch worth of sts. Inc a st at each side every or every other row until it's ~4-6" wide, work straight for ~an inch, then dec a st at each edge at the same rate as you increased. You may have to experiment to get the right rates. If you know your head circumference, work the "straight" part until the circumf of your work-in-progress (not measuring across the sts on the ndl) is 1/2 your head circumf, then reversing what you've done so far to get the second half.

For the straight part, K up sts all arnd the perimeter of the oval, join and purl a couple of rnds to make a sharp turn, then K arnd for maybe 3". To make this part stiffer, I'd be tempted to purl a rnd and then work a hem for 3" before sewing down.

I'll leave it to your prowess to figure out the tail.

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Beth Katcher 4/14/03

Creating vertical stripes without pain is actually something I know how to do! :). My local LYS turned me on to this trick. Warning: this trick assumes that the body of the sweater is stockinette stitch.

Instead of carrying the colors for vertical stripes, try purling where the vertical stripe should be. When the sweater piece is done, take a crochet hook of the same size and chain stitches inside the purled "valley" using the stripe color. It's really hard to describe how to do this. It took me a few tries before I figured it out. But essentially (if I remember correctly) your crochet hook is on top and the yarn is on bottom. Starting at the bottom of the sweater piece, bring the hook down and then bring the loop back up. Now go one stitch up and bring up another loop. Slide the first loop over the top one and you should have a chain that looks just like a stockinette stitch. Continue to the end, then repeat for each vertical stripe.

This technique is tricky at first but once you get the hang of it it is soooo much easier!

(Of course if these are really pinstripes (e.g., 1 stitch wide) it's probably just as easy to set up each stripe on a bobbin and then just carry the main color. But my technique is more fun.

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Joan Schrouder 5/21/03

I am about to embark on my halter knitting pattern but have had problems in the past with the back sagging and not laying flat across the back. I am sure I will need to incorporate elastic somehow or make a casing and run the elastic through. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

What about constructing straps so that there are several of them which extend to several points along the back, sort of like cables on a bridge? (think Golden Gate <g>) They could all join up (braided?) for the front.

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