Long Tail vs. Knitted Cast On

I'm currently on the third sleeve of the cap sleeved t-shirt I'm knitting.  The third, of course, because I had to rip out the first one and reknit it.  Why? Because I realized after I finished it that I'd used a knitted cast on and since there's no ribbing at the beginning (it starts with 2 purl rows before going into stockinette), it had zero give.  It would be tight around my bicep and probably cut into my arm if I dared to move my arm at all (You know, because of my huge muscles.  Yeah.)  Grr!  I broke the cardinal rule of casting on. Which is, of course, to match the cast on to the project!  I started the second one with long-tail and am reknitting the first one the same way.  These sleeves have give, the cast on edge doesn't draw in AND, I know I'll get even a bit more room once I block.  Just what I wanted!

So, a refresher for anyone out there who is wondering about different cast ons:  The knitted cast on is a great all purpose cast on.  You can use it for just about anything.  BUT, if you want your cast on edge to be super stretchy, like for the edge of a hat or sock cuffs or, in my case, a ribless sleeve edge, you want to go with something more like the long tail. 

Now, there are tons more cast ons out there, and everyone has their favourite, but the key thing to remember is to take a moment to consider which one is best for your project. Pattern writers rarely recommend a cast on. They leave it up to you to figure out which one to use. And, trust me on this, there is nothing more frustrating than to get to the end of your project and realize it is all wrong because of how you started!

Knittinghelp.com was a fantastic resource for me in my earlier years of knitting, and I still go there first when I have a knitting related problem.  She has a long list of cast ons, descriptions of them and videos teaching you how to do them.  AND she records all her techniques in continental AND English.  (If only she also did them in mirror!) It's just one in a huge array of websites offering knitting help (you know, apart from Ravelry, which is the be all, end all of everything knitting), so if you have questions about cast ons, want to try a new one just for kicks or want to make sure you're picking the right one for your next project, I encourage you to do a bit or research.  Learn from my mistake!

May all your cast ons be the right ones,

SereKnitty

What to Knit With and What Not

I recently purchased two different yarns from Knit Picks to make some things for new babies in my life. Since one baby is in Florida and the other in Oklahoma, I went for cottons. The first one I tried is their Simply Cotton Worsted. It’s a worsted weight organic cotton (the dyes aren’t organic, but the cotton itself is) that comes in a whole bunch of lovely bright yummy heathered colours that look way better in person than online (and they look pretty cute online.)

It currently sells for $4.49-$5.99 for 164yard/100 gram balls. I decided to make an entrelac baby blanket out of this yarn. I was worried about how my fingers would handle working on such a big project. We’ve all been there: the skin rubbed sore, unyielding, stiff cotton that sticks to the needles (stiff, that is, until you wash it when it suddenly turns to jelly and grows three sizes!) But this was not the case. As anyone who has ever bought an organic cotton garment knows, organic cotton is sooooo soft. And it gets softer the more you wash it. This yarn is soft! And not only is it soft, but it’s actually nice to knit with. It’s smoother than most other cottons I’ve knit with, there was almost no pilling or fuzzing (again, pretty unusual with a plied, unmercerized cotton like this!) and it gets really nice stitch definition. I thing cables would look great with this yarn. I hand washed and blocked my blanket. It might have grown a bit. I’m not entirely sure since I didn’t really measure or do a gauge. It’s a blanket. It’s blanket sized. But I can tell you that it didn’t do the giant stretchy thing cotton sometimes does. It held up its shape pretty well. Here is the finished product, after it was washed and blocked (and folded.)

Take into consideration, though, that I did entrelac. It tends to add structure to the fabric, just by the way you knit it. If I was doing a sweater with this yarn (which I really want to do. I am in LOVE with the golden heather colour in the picture!) I would definitely wash and dry my swatches carefully before knitting, but we should all be doing this anyway. I haven’t put it in the dryer yet, but based on how little it fuzzed when I was knitting it and lugging it around and kicking my cat off of it, I think it would do well. Don’t dry it on high and I think it would be fine. To sum up, I think it’s a great value for the money, it’s soft but strong, has great stitch definition, it comes in scrumptious colours, and seems to wash with almost no pilling, which makes me think it’s durable, too. I think it’s perfect as an alternate to wool, soft against baby’s skin (or mine!) and since it’s organic, it’s a more eco-friendly choice. I will use it again (I’m actually working on a second blanket out of different colours!), and I think Knit Picks should expand this yarn into other weights. I’d like to see it in DK at the least. I give this yarn 4.5 out of 5 (if the dyes were low eco impact I might give it 5!) The second yarn was Shine Worsted, which is 60% pima cotton and 40% modal, which is a fibre made from beech wood.

This yarn was more expensive than Simply Cotton, running at $2.99 for a 75yard/100 gram ball so I expected a bit more of it. At first touch it was very soft. Softer than the Simply cotton. It had a nice sheen to it and the colour was rich and bright. But it didn’t give that same feeling of strength and durability that the other yarn did. I wanted to make a strawberry sleep sack out of this yarn, but when I started knitting, I noticed very quickly that this yarn was going to be a bit difficult. It was splitty, it fuzzed and pilled like crazy, it didn’t have much give. I felt like it was working against me, not with me. Having to tink back was a nightmare and when I realized the project and the yarn were not going to work well together and frogged the whole thing, I was very disappointed at how worn and fuzzy the yarn looked. I didn’t want to reuse the yarn I had frogged so when I decided to turn it into a hat, I started with new yarn. I finished the simple baby hat just fine (it's pretty cute, huh?)

but I wouldn’t use this yarn for anything I wanted to last for a long time. This yarn is definitely hand wash only, and have your sweater razor ready, you will need it. I recommend keeping a lint brush with you when you knit, since I was covered in red fuzz the whole time. I honestly did not like this yarn at all and will never knit with it again. It is not worth the money, in my opinion. I’m considering returning the unused skeins. I could buy more Simply Cotton to make myself a sweater! I give it a 1. Have you used either of these yarns? What did you think? Do you agree with my reviews or have other opinions? I'm curious to hear what you think!

Slog Saturday

I didn't get a chance to work on my Finish Friday project on Friday. I'm knitting a shawl with a deadline so I've been mostly knitting on that (more on THAT below). But, I did find time last night to work on my sock. Here's where I started:

I popped in a DVD and ended up here:

Not too much farther to go! I can have it finished in a few more Fridays if I keep this up!

LoloKnits and I managed to get lots of crafting time in during the 4th of July weekend. Here's our Knitting in Public Tip for you: If you're going to sit outside to watch fireworks, make sure you score a seat under a street light so you can knit after it gets dark. Loloknits and I made great use of a street light at the Harbourfront in Buffalo. The fireworks were late, so we had LOTS of time to knit, while everyone around us was bored and complaining.

And we also got plenty of knitting time at a parade in Lancaster on the 4th. One of my favourite bits of the parade was the Four Presidents of Mt. Rushmore. I only got one terrible picture, but trust me, they looked amazing.

Oh, and back to my shawl with the deadline: Guess who is running out of yarn? YUP, that would be me. I was doubting whether I'd have enough yarn for a few days now, but I suddenly realized last night that I would not have enough to finish. I did the math, it would not work. So I think I have no choice but to frog back and reduce the number of pattern repeats on the body and then redo the two edge charts. It's going to set me back a couple weeks and I'll miss my deadline! I emailed the designer and I'm waiting to hear back from her to see what she says. The crazy bit is that I OVERESTIMATED how much yarn I'd need, I thought I'd have plenty leftover. I was even fantasizing about what I'd make with the leftovers (socks of course). It's very upsetting!! But, if I tink back now and knit furiously I can have it done before the end of the month, easy. I was so close! I had 13 rows left.

What lessons can be learned from this? Well, thankfully I left in my last 2 life lines so I can frog back to the beginning of the edge rows no problem. That's a good lesson; leave the lifelines in place, just in case! Also, I could probably also learn to give myself plenty of time to meet a deadline. I knew this would be a tight squeeze when I signed on for it, not much room for error. So maybe that was my bad. And then, I guess I should pay more attention when I start to get that little niggling "something's not quite right" feeling. You know what I mean. The sweater's just not working in the yarn, yet you keep knitting it. The sizing is off but you think you can make it work. And you keep knitting and knitting and then when it's finished you HATE it and have to frog it. All that wasted effort. If I had paid more attention when I first started having suspicions, I might have realized earlier on that I'd have to go back and would have saved myself time and heartache. That's an important lesson to learn, listening to your Inner Better Knitter. Ah well. Tinking makes us better knitters, right?

-Sereknitty