November Magknits is up

[Lucy-Lastic]

The november Magknits is up. I really like the Fake Isle hat and quite like the cardi. Why would you want to knit a slice of blueberry pie is beyond me though:loopy:

[Guest]

...Why would you want to knit a slice of blueberry pie is beyond me though:loopy:

Well, it is calorie-free .

 

I rather like the Rossnyev Cardigan, but I'd knit it in a plain yarn. I think the varigated stuff distracts from the stitch pattern detail. I'm not overly enthralled by any of the other patterns though.

[beansforyou]

I had a look at these the other day, I like the hat, but not keen on the others really.

[Lucy-Lastic]

I think I might have a go at the hat even though Ive never done intarsia/ fairisle before:o Is intarsia/ fairisle difficult and would this hat be intarsia or fairisle anyway? Scared of holes and stranding but I have a ball of Noro silk garden that would look lovely:D

[Guest]

Intarsia isn't too difficult, though if there are loads of small blocks of colour, you do tend to have lots of bobbins hanging from the back of the work which can get a bit messy. Well, it does with me anyway. The thing to remember is not to take a strand of yarn across too big an area (I'd say over about four stitches, but that's just my personal preference). Also, when you do any stranding, you've got to be careful about tension. If the fabric is a bit loose or folded as you're knitting (as it usually is when on the needles), then you might find that even if you've taken care to do what you think is a loose strand at the back, when the fabric is off the needles and straightened out you end up with a bit of puckering.

 

Could just be me though, as I'm be no means experienced in doing intarsia.

 

I've never attempted fairisle. It looks a bit tricky with all that handling of multiple colours at once though.

[Lucy-Lastic]

Intarsia isn't too difficult, though if there are loads of small blocks of colour, you do tend to have lots of bobbins hanging from the back of the work which can get a bit messy. Well, it does with me anyway. The thing to remember is not to take a strand of yarn across too big an area (I'd say over about four stitches, but that's just my personal preference). Also, when you do any stranding, you've got to be careful about tension. If the fabric is a bit loose or folded as you're knitting (as it usually is when on the needles), then you might find that even if you've taken care to do what you think is a loose strand at the back, when the fabric is off the needles and straightened out you end up with a bit of puckering.

 

Could just be me though, as I'm be no means experienced in doing intarsia.

 

I've never attempted fairisle. It looks a bit tricky with all that handling of multiple colours at once though.

 

With that pattern its just 2 colours (well using the stripiness of the noro to fake the fairisle so I guess it is intarsia). Are youe supposed to wind your different colours onto bobbins then? If there is a space bigger than 4 stitches what should you do - break off and rejoin? Oooo im getting scared again:o Maybe I should sign up for the intarsia workshop:)

[Guest]

With that pattern its just 2 colours (well using the stripiness of the noro to fake the fairisle so I guess it is intarsia). Are youe supposed to wind your different colours onto bobbins then? If there is a space bigger than 4 stitches what should you do - break off and rejoin? Oooo im getting scared again:o Maybe I should sign up for the intarsia workshop:)

Definitely sign up for the workshop. Having these things demonstrated to you makes it much easier than just looking in books.

 

Intarsia is generally used for motifs. I posted a photo ages ago of a jumper I did which had a white fluffy owl against a blue background with its wings spread out. The eyes and beak were done in two shades of brown.

 

So, if you imagine the front of the jumper, You've got a block of blue background to the left of the owl, a block of white for its body, then another block of blue background to the right. Each of these three areas had its own bobbin. When I finished the first block of background, I dropped the blue bobbin and picked up the white, being careful to wrap the two threads so as not to get a gap where the colours meet. You really should get a demonstration/consult a text on that though, as it's difficult to explain.

 

If you don't want to use bobbins, you can just wind each colour into a little ball, and have those dangle from the work instead. You just need to remember to have sufficient yarn on the bobbin/ball to be able to complete the colour block in question.

 

Intarsia is a lot easier to do than to explain .

[Lucy-Lastic]

Damn the colour workshops arent on saturdays - cant do during the week (part of the downside of a termtime contract is that I have restricted number of days to take off at other times). Ho hum I might just have to try anyway:D

[beansforyou]

I'm obviously no professional with this, but i've just had a look at the pattern, and here's what id' do,

 

I'd do the first bit as it says, then join in the CC, and knit the rounds it says with that. As you knit these rounds, when you get to the end of each round, simply twist the KC with the CC once to keep it up behind your work at the beginning of each round - so it's following you up the beginning stitch, but your not knitting with it.

 

When you get to the first round of the chart, you'll have both MC and CC waiting at the beginning of the row, follow the chart as it shows, and if you have to knit more than four stitches on one colour, twist the other colour around the working yarn once at the back to keep it following your work.

 

I wouldn't bother with bobbins or making little balls of yarn, as your only working with two balls at a time anyway, so it should be easy to control.

 

To stop you getting lots of twists in your yarn going to the ball, try and change the rotation of the twists as you put them in, do a few clockwise, then a few anti clockwise as you go along.

 

Does any of that make sense whatsoever?

 

Thats how I did my bag and the wristbands, and it's basically the same type of design.

 

What I wanted to ask was, can I knit this on DPN's instead of a circular, because I can't get on with them at all? and this goes for most patterns really, i've been put off making alot of things because it says circulars.

[Wool4brains]

Beansforyou said:

 

"What I wanted to ask was, can I knit this on DPN's instead of a circular, because I can't get on with them at all? and this goes for most patterns really, i've been put off making alot of things because it says circulars."

 

The only thing I've ever come across where you HAD to use a circular and couldn't use dpns is a mobius scarf. I've knitted lots of hats on both dpns and circular needles, even when I started on a circular I had to end up with dpns when the shaping kicked in and there were too few stitches for the needle. The only challenge is that it gives you more places to drop stitches off the ends. I find it easier to work fairisle on a circular because it's easy to stretch the stitches out so that the floats don't tighten up. I found it tricky to carry the non working yarn between needles without having it take a short cut and tighten up.

 

Give it a try - what have you got to lose? If it doesn't work out you still have the wool that you started with and it will come in for something. You could even spin your own Noro-alike with a nice long colour change.