Auditions and callbacks

I’ve been doing a fair bit of mental noodling about Campbell’s Aran sweater, now that the yarn is ready. As always, there are some considerations that will inform my design choices. Conferring with my client, we arrived at the following for the basic silhouette:

Garment Silhouette

As you can see, it’s pretty traditional, with Campbell’s favorite elements included to personalize it. Specifically, he requested shoulder saddles and a shawl collar. It wasn’t till I sat down to sketch it that I realized: I don’t think I’ve ever seen shoulder saddles and a shawl collar on the same sweater. There’s no reason not to do it - I just think it’s a bit uncommon. So is Campbell, though, so there you have it.

Design Elements

Of course, if there are shoulder saddles, I insist that they continue all the way down the sleeves and into the cuffs. Because if it’s not sexy, why bother? Also sexy is when the body cables extend down into the lower edge treatment, through careful planning. Add that one to my list of requirements. There may or may not be a closure of some sort where the collar overlaps. We shall see, but you know me: If there’s a place to put a button, buckle or tie, I’ll find it.

Cable Styles

Cam also had some opinions about the styles of cables he likes: Honeycombs and twists more than geometrics and braids. And finally, we agreed that I could add some special motifs that would be secret messages to him from his mom, but that they would be somewhat hidden, in panels at the sides. More to come on the secret message motifs!

Construction (knitter’s safety)

Before losing my heart to any particular cable(s), I wanted to sort out some construction details. I *MAY* have mentioned that this will be a big sweater. And by “big” I mean “as seen from space”. The amount of fabric in it will require some structural support. For that, I’ll be relying on seams.

At first the idea of seams made me sad, as I prefer to work circularly whenever I can. But on reflection, I realized that swinging a 56-inch sweater around in circles is actually much more work, physically, than working the pieces one at a time. Aside from eliminating seam-sewing, the main advantage to knitting in the round is that you don’t have to work wrong-side (purl) rows. But while that’s true for stockinette knitting, cable knitting has just as many purl stitches on the front as the back side of the work. Knitting separate pieces will also work well for bottom-up construction. I’m choosing that this time so I won’t have to reverse-chart any cables, which can be an adventure/aneurysm.

Another thing I’m thinking about is the cable(s) I’ll choose for those shoulder straps. Yes, they’re dreamy, but they also have to support the weight of the entire sweater. I’m leaning toward something dense, without too many rows between crosses. Otherwise they might stretch laterally, allowing the whole garment to drag out of shape.

In addition the construction, I’m considering scale. I started shopping for cables in my stitch dictionaries with an eye to the sizes, as well as the styles. I’ve got a lot of blank space to fill, without using too many different cables, and without having to repeat elements too frequently. While I will use varied widths, I want the effect to be proportionate to the garment as a whole.

Swatching

With all those ideas in place, I shopped just about every book about cables that I own. Once I found the contenders, I swatched. A. LOT. The paper tags in the photos below are to remind me where I found each chart, and of its stitch count, row count and measurements. Swatching each element and laying them out in order is the best way for me to predict how they will fit and measure together in the actual sweater. I’m sure there are knitters who can accomplish this using math, but I’m not one of them.

This one’s a clear winner for the center front panel. It needs borders on either side to keep it company though.

I remembered this little number from a different book. Its row count is perfect, and there’s a lovely reverse of it for the other side (didn’t bother swatching the reverse). And then I added a wee 4-st twist to border the works and divide it from the next panel:

Which will be Cam’s requested Honeycomb. It took a few tries to get a width I like but I love it juxtaposed with the rope-y center twist. Bonus: it’s un-thinky to knit, and the row count also works well with its neighbors.

And now for the important stabilizing shoulder saddles. I like this firm plait for the job. I can also easily widen it if need be.

Here’s a combo I made up to border the shoulder saddle. I don’t love it yet and still need to try again. Adjacent to that is the filler stitch I’ll be using throughout: Mini Honeycomb. It’s fun to knit (no cable needle required!) and the fabric is both fluffy and flexible. I’m a fan.

This is the swatch collection (only those making the first cut - there are MANY others I deemed not groovy) so far. On the left are some contenders for the “secret message” side panels…To be continued.

So that’s the state of Campbell’s Aran at the moment. How do you like to plan your cables, Gentle Readers? Please share your process in the comments!

Perserverence > Skill

Greetings, Gentle Readers! When last we checked in with Campbell’s sweater, it was still a big nondescript pile of undyed yarn. In the days since, I’ve been doing a fair bit of trial and error in the hopes of getting the color he requested. As a dyer, it turns out, I make an excellent knitter. Which is fine with me. I don’t expect to be good at everything I try - in fact I like to keep the bar low in some areas (I’m looking at you , kitchen) to lessen the pressure.

In fact, I’m a big advocate of sucking at some things, just so I look better at others.

So when my Boyo chose Aubergine for his Aran knit, I determined that anything in the general zip code of eggplant would be good enough, and screwed my courage to the sticking place. Congratulations to Lindsay M., by the way, for the closest guess to what color I’m planning! Drop me an email with your mailing addy so I can send out your prize. And as always, to everyone who played: thank you so much for jumping in with your guesses!

Here’s how the adventure went down: First I made a few test swatches in little jars in the microwave, just to see what would happen. I was really happy with the Aubergine (#475) color I ordered HERE, just as it came out of the pot. That simplified everything, because I could abandon thougts of blending and then scaling the “perfect” combination of red-violet and blue-violet with brown, etc. to get aubergine.

The center one is darker than the one on the right, if you’re wondering - turns out this is a tricky shade to photograph. I liked all of these, actually. I eliminated the darkest one, because knitting really dark colors in the winter, mostly at night, is no longer the rollicking good time for my eyes that it once was. I was sure I’d like anything close to one of the other two, though. Armed with some measuring tools and the force of my steely will, I leaned in to Operation Aubergine.

I had a lot of free-floating anxiety about getting all the skeins to match. So even though just about everything I read cautioned against it, I decided to dye all 4,185 yards in one go, in my washing machine. I cranked the hot water heater up, removed the agitator from my trusty top-loader and stood by with an electric kettle of boiling water, leaving nothing to chance. Yeah, that failed. As you cen see above, the color that happened was less eggplant and more Grimace.

I still considered myself on the right side of the Dyeing Gods though, because A. I hadn’t felted the yarn, and B. the gross color was very consistient across all 17 skeins.

So next stop: Dye Pot on the stove. Did I mention we’re having a blizzard? Sure would suck to lose power in the middle of this project, I realized in the middle of this project…

With better control and higher heat (DUH) I was able to exhaust all the dye into the yarn, where it belongs. I did it in four batches because this is my biggest pot. I recorded the time and temperature for each step and repeated each exactly, including the bonus round of using the snow to accellerate each cool-down.

I reported my progress to Campbell, who was also celebrating nature by being trapped at his place on the other side of the Columbia River from me.

Still wet, the yarn looked miles closer to what I was going for. The only question remaining was would it all match from batch to batch. Ruby both approved and reassured me as she supervised.

I still wasn’t able to see whether my batches looked the same until the following morning, when they were dry and we had daylight.

Atlas was a fan of the drying process, and of the color, too.

And here we are! I couldn’t be happier with this color. I could honestly eat it with a spoon.

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On behalf of rank amateurs everywhere, I’d like to report that tenacity can sometimes make up for a lack of experience. As long as the standards for success are low.

Would I ever do this again? Well, I didn’t bore you with what happens when you overflow your washing machine with aubergine dye in the middle of a blizzard. No one who’s met me will be surprised THAT happened. I also won’t point out that I’ve now got two whole days invested here, between re-skeining and dyeing (twice) all 4000 + yards. So yeah, it’s already a labor of love. Cheap in terms of cash outlay (between gift cards and multiple coupons, etc. I have around $40 invested in the yarn). Expensive if measured in time and anxiety. But worth it? Hell yeah. What else was I gonna do with my bonus blizzard day off?

In Which I Revert To Type

I stopped knitting for my son Campbell when he was somewhere around the 6th grade. It became clear that not only was he growing faster than I could knit, but that there was no end in sight to his growth spurts. This coincided with a decrease in his interest in wearing handknits, so at the time I called it a win and focused my energies on futile attempts to keep groceries in the house.

Of course I always hoped he would regain an enthusiasm for things his mommy knits, but that was tempered by the knowledge that he comes from a line of big, tall menfolk. Cam is now 22 years old, and 6’5” tall. He asked me in October if there was any possibility of my making him a sweater before the end of this winter. Naturally, I laughed out loud before gently informing him that it was unlikely. And by “unlikely”, I meant “statistically improbable”, within the limits of time, energy and caffeine.

He’s a mostly reasonable sort, (not sure where he gets that from), and said he wasn’t too disappointed/surprised, but that it never hurts to ask. It was sweet. Even though he has watched me knit sweaters for his whole life and knows very well how long it takes, he seemed to hope I might somehow subvert the laws of nature. How adorable, when one’s grown children still think her all-powerful.

A little before Christmas I couldn’t stand the guilt anymore, and honored a long-standing family tradition: The Delayed Gratification Gift:

I gave him a big ol’ box of yarn. 4,185 yards of it, to be exact. Like I said, we grow them big at my house. Since the request is for a cabled Aran, and I’m planning an attempt to dye it to order, I decided not to play around, yardage-wise. A person close to me who shall remain nameless (not Campbell) and can do math informed me that that amount of yarn is over two miles. Mathelete.

At 465 yards each, these are just huge skeins. Since I needed to re-wind them into hanks for dyeing, I decided that I would divide them into halves in order to better manage the extreme yardage. Thanks, Start-itis!

It was fun making friends with this yarn, which for some reason I have never worked with before. I chose it solely based on the criteria that A. I could physically attain it in time for Christmas, and B. I could afford what amounts to a motorcycle-cozy’s-worth of it. Right off the skein, it seemed a bit flaccid, even possibly underspun. That could just be due to handling/stretching in its production, though. Since I’m going to dye it first, I have high hopes that it will recover some bounce. Interestingly, it also contains a fair bit of kemp, and even some vegetable matter. Both are easily removed though, and are probably part of what make this yarn so affordable. Additionally, as advertised, it does retain a fair bit of lanolin, too, which may dissipate when it’s washed, allowing it to bloom. Oh, yarn! You are so full of mysteries…

Here are the re-skeined hanks, eagerly awaiting a relaxing pre-soak, followed by a hot dye bath makeover.

It’s hard to believe that a world of color is going to come out of this little beige box! Since the yarn contains a fair bit of grease (and other possible substances unknown), I’m trying Synthrapol for its presoak. Also shown is Campbell’s dye color of choice. Care to guess what delicious shade he has requested, Gentle Readers? Submit your best guess in the comments by 01.15.24 and I’ll send the winner a prize!