I've now read through the first three sweater recipes in Knitting Without Tears by
Elizabeth Zimmerman for the Canary Knits
Knitting Book Read-a-long. Unlike the first time I read this book, I totally get them.
I'm on a DIY-type high because of this, which has prompted me to order some sale
Wool of the Andes that I hope will look good as the main color for my own Seamless Yoke Sweater (pattern #2). The contrast color will be Gynx Yarn's merino Aran in the
Totoro 2 color way. I'll finally,
finally be using it! I may chart out my own Totoro but I have found plenty on Ravelry. I shouldn't have been surprised to find that there are tons of Totoro yoke sweaters there, or that many were made using Elizabeth's recipe. I'm hoping mine will turn out something like
this.
Though I'm completely intrigued by the idea of knitting a sweater in three uninterrupted tubes and using steeks to cut holes in the body tube in which to attach the sleeves, the second recipe for the yoke sweater is the one that's calling my name. I've been wanting to knit that kind of sweater for a long time, and her breakdown of the math makes it so easy. I may even try continental style knitting when I do it, for fun.
As I read about Elizabeth's knitting style, I couldn't help but wonder if it would solve my gauge problems. What you're seeing here is my second try at
Riverine. My gauge is out of control. I'm fixing to have to invent the - 1 sized needle. I felt like I was knitting so tightly the first time around, but when I reach the armholes, I realized I'd loosened my tension and was one stitch off per inch. So the 32" instructions I used, knowing my sizing issues, in order to get more of a 34", actually turned out to produce a 36". It took a whole episode of Longmire to rip out. I didn't even know what was going on I was so annoyed.
There was no other way around re-knitting this, so I worked like crazy the next two days and am close to the armholes. This is .5" off per inch, but I knit the 30"... on size 0 needles. I have no where to go from here. If it doesn't fit, my daughter can throw it in the bottom of her closet.
So would switching to continental knitting help me with this? In
Knitting Without Tears, she talks about her change from English knitting to the
taboo continental. In English style she'd put the needle through, throw the yarn over it, then pull the new stitch through. For continental she began running the yarn over her left forefinger in the correct position to simply hook the needle around the yarn while sliding it through the stitch. There is some economy of movement there. I realize two movements instead of three doesn't sound like much, but after thousands of stitches it might make a difference on the joints, not to mention speed. In fact, she claimed to be a moderately paced knitter clocking no more than 51 stitches a minute. This is the point in the book where I realized I'm actually a slow knitter. I knit about 34 stitches per minute. Maybe continental knitting would help me mow through my queue faster.
I thought I would give it a try since I did pick with my left hand once when doing two-handed fair isle. I also thought the change in yarn position might give me more even tension than right-handed throwing. It was like writing left-handed. Of course, it was a 1x1 rib row, and purling is evil enough in the knitting style I'm familiar with.
I will say that it did tighten things up a lot. The knitting was so tight that I went back to knitting English for the remainder of the project. Continental also seemed easier on my left wrist. I don't usually suffer from wrist strain, unless I try pull ups, push-ups, weeding, and knitting all in the same day. But how likely is that to happen? It's just that knitting with 0s can be hard on anyone.
Another theory behind my floppy stitches could be the needle type and sizes I use. I've been partial to Addi Turbo's in a 24" length, the length EZ preferred, saying the extra inches on longer needles just got in her way. However, I notice when using them in small needle sizes, the stitches seem to knit so quickly they fall from left to right needle before I can do that little split second adjustment for tension with my right hand. That could be due to the metal, the tiny needle size, or the fact that the stitches for a 34" top don't spread out fully on 24" length needles to automatically adjust the tension.
I don't know if that even makes sense. But I can say that I have less trouble with keeping gauge on wooden needles. I don't know. No one else seems to have this problem. Anyway, I've been adding some wooden circulars to my collection, so I'll be experimenting through the Summer Sweater Knitalong.
Hey, when you knitters talk about knitting continental style do you ever think of
this?