Knitterly opinions needed.

(Crossposted from my LiveJournal.)

I am designing a dress for Thing One. She really liked the sundresses I made for Little Cat Z this summer, and kept saying things like, “I wish I had a dress like that.” Subtlety isn’t her strong suit.

The dress will have a knitted bodice and a woven fabric skirt. My original plan was to have the bodice close in the back with buttons. Now I’m thinking that might not be the best way to go. I’m thinking a zipper on the side would be better. I’m not very trusting when it comes to knitted buttonholes actually holding the buttons. This isn’t so bad when it’s on a four-year-old who’s home most of the time, but if sixth grader is wearing a dress that won’t stay shut . . . that’s a problem. Also, if it’s on the side, it would be easier for her to get on and off by herself. I think buttons on the side would be worse than on the back, because she’d be brushing against them all the time, making it more likely they’d come undone, and also it could be pretty annoying to feel the lumps from the buttons there.

Of course, I’m kind of thinking this might not be a bad pattern to try to sell, too, if it works. So while I would have little problem putting in a double-lapped zipper on the skirt and bodice (I’ve been sewing about as long as I’ve been knitting), I don’t know how other knitters would feel about that. And I’d have to be really good at explaining it in my directions, too.

To top it all off, I’m at least a third of the way done knitting the bodice, with the back buttons in mind, and I’d have to rip out most of it to do it with the zipper in the side.

So, what’d y’all think?

A list.

The forementioned pile of projects on my plate:

The Purse
Hallowig for bibliogrrl, who is shaving her head for Gilda’s Closet in Chicago.
Shirt for Thing Two (almost finished, just needs buttonholes and buttons)
“Chain mail” tunic for Thing One’s Hallowe’en costume
Swordfish fin for Thing Two’s Hallowe’en costume
Trick-or-treat bag for Little Cat Z (thinking about doing a tutorial on how to make one, too)
Dress for Thing One (designing it for her)
Dress for Little Cat Z (based on dress for Thing One, but with different yarn and a much smaller size, seeing how well the pattern can be altered)
Cropped cardigan for me (heavily modifying Ravelry pattern Sweet Little Nothing)
Ripping out first Sweet Little Nothing and finding something else I can make with that yarn (maybe The Amanda Hat)
A skirt for Grace
A skirt for me
A skirt pattern I came up with the other day that may or may not work (although I don’t even have fabric for this, so it probably shouldn’t be listed here)
Finish the super secret felting project (needs I-cord still) and figure out what the heck I’m doing with it

I think that’s far more projects than I really need to have going all at once. Hopefully by the end of this weekend, I’ll have the first three done (although if the first Hallowig works well, I might make more, but we’ll see).

A Tale of Two Sundresses

I have now made two Summerlin dresses, and two Two Summer Sundresses (pattern available on Ravelry). Both patterns are free, and are very similar: a simple knitted bodice and a gathered woven fabric skirt. There are definitely differences, though.

First off, Summerlin is much better written. The two sisters who make up Kathryn Ivy have been knitting for a while, and that shows in the pattern instructions. Natalie Larson, the designer for Two Summer Sundress, had only been knitting for a year when she wrote hers. Two Summer isn’t hard to follow, it’s just not as polished, and the sewing instructions are seriously lacking. I do a lot of sewing, so I didn’t need them (and if I did, I could have just substituted the instructions from Summerlin), but for someone who isn’t a seamstress, they might be confusing.

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Summerlin is knit from the mostly-garter-stitch straps down to a v-neck bodice (knit mostly in stockinette), then you use the backwards-loop method to cast on extra stitches for the garter stitch empire-waistband. The straps are sewn down to the back of the bodice, a button is added to the end of the waistband, and you make a buttonloop for it. The instructions are written with definite stitch counts for each size ["Repeat last two rows until you have 15 (17, 19, 21, 23) sts."].

I don’t think backwards-loop looks as bad as some people do, but I do think it’s unwieldy for such a large number of stitches. Other than that, the waistband is stable. It lies flat, and provides a good strong place for attaching the skirt.

The straps, however, stretch. Badly. I need to take pictures of the first dress I did (which was, admittedly, in a bad yarn for this project). It’s cotton, and garter stitch. They’re going to stretch. I hoped they wouldn’t stretch quite so much as they did (even in the better yarn for this project). Combined with the v-neck, the dress was more revealing than I would care to wear, as an adult, and was far too mature for the little girls (ages 1 — 5) intended to wear it. I tied a ribbon around the straps in the back to keep it from falling down so much in the front. Another problem with the straps is that, while they don’t curl at the edges, they do fold in half lengthwise (row 1, k; row 2, k2, p1, k2). That line of knit stitches down the center kills them. Sewing grosgrain ribbon to the back of the straps stops both the stretching, and the folding, but is not part of the original pattern.

The instructions for sewing the skirt are really good. One thing I recommend (and this goes for Two Summer, also), is to sew the basting (long) stitches that you use for gathering in two segments, each covering half of the upper edge of the skirt. Then, divide the skirt and bodice into four even sections, and gather the fabric one section at a time and match it to the bodice. That way you know you have it divided evenly, and you aren’t trying to pull the thread through the entire upper edge of the skirt.

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The Two Summer Sundress is knit from the empire-waistband (with a yarn-over buttonhole) up, with a square neckline and garter stitch straps with two yarn-over buttonholes each. You sew a button to the end of the waistband, and one each at points about midway between the center back and the side. The straps are adjustable so it can be worn longer (hence the name) — with the straps criss-crossed for the first year, and straight the second. The instructions give a total number of stitches to be cast on for each size, and a length for the straps, but after that, you have to do a little math (“Bind off 25% of your total stitches.”). It’s never more than figuring out 25% or 50%, so it isn’t difficult, and this also makes it easier to substitute different yarns, or to make the bodice at a different gauge. Another thing with Two Summer is that after you’ve knit it, you sew ribbon (I recommend grosgrain) to the straps and the waistband, which keeps the straps from stretching, and adds stability to the waistband for the buttons. It also allows you to cover the edge of the gathered fabric (which looks neat, and keeps the fabric from unraveling), and any yarn ends that you didn’t feel like weaving in anymore (you *do* still need to weave them in a little, though).

I hate yarnover buttonholes. They are just too stretchy and not neat-looking enough for me. I’m not real crazy about doing loops for buttons, either, so I don’t know which I really prefer. With the Two Summers I’ve made, I stopped the ribbon backing before the buttonholes (on both the straps and the waistband), because I thought it would be a pain to try to line up buttonholes sewn into the ribbon with the yarnovers. If I make another, I’m going to try doing just that, and probably at least tack them together. It will look better (to me, at least), and the ribbon won’t stretch the way the yarnover will, so the buttons should stay buttoned better. I think shank buttons are better (for either dress, really) than sew-through buttons. On Two Summer, the buttonholes are really too thick for a 1/2″ sew-through button.

I think the waistband would be better in garter stitch, instead of mostly stockinette, or at the very least, do four rows of garter stitch, two rows of stockinette, then another four rows of garter. As it is (three rows of garter, five of stockinette, and three of garter, I think), it rolls. The ribbon backing stops it from doing that, but sewing it on is a bit of a pain because, well, it rolls. I also think it makes more sense when you cast off for the ends of the waistband to cast off 25% of the stitches, then knit to the end. On the next row, cast off 25% of the stitches purlwise, then continue with the bodice stitches. That way you don’t have to break yarn and reattach.

Another thing I did with the waistband was I cast on four extra stitches, so the buttonhole could overlap the button without the fabric of the skirt having to overlap. [So when I cast off the waistband stitches, I actually cast off (# of stitches cast on - 4) x 25%, k to end, next row cast off (# of stitches cast on - 4) x 25% + 4.]

The instructions for the decreases on the bodice say to do your ssk or k2tog right at the edges, and I prefer the way it looks doing k2, ssk, k to last four stitches, k2tog, k2. I think the edge is cleaner that way.

Then there’s the straps. According to the instructions, the straps are four sts wide. I think five would be better. There’s less chance of the ribbon showing along the edges that way. I have not successfully sewn the ribbon to the straps without the straps getting skewed. It happens a little on the waistband, too, but it’s not nearly as bad. I strongly recommend taking the sewing slow and having both sides of the strap pinned to the ribbon, although this can be a pain if the pins are long (the pins along the side you sew second might get in the way of sewing the first side). I haven’t actually tried that yet, but I think that should help.

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Overalll, they’ve both got their good points and their bad points. Personally, I like Two Summer Sundress better. It has a square neckline, it’s knit from the bottom up instead of needing all those stitches cast on for the waistband, and the instructions are easily adaptable for other yarns. Any problems I have with Summerlin are easily enough fixed, though. Turn it around and knit it from the bottom up, then add ribbons to the straps and waistband for stability.

The world is in trouble now

Say hello to Fuzzyhulhu.

He's going to eat me first for this.

My mom got tired of my griping about not having a digital camera, so she got me one for an early birthday present.

My biggest reason for wanting a digital camera is that I’d like to try selling some things I’ve designed, or have plans to design, and these days it’s kind of hard to do that without pictures. It’s hard to find someplace that does good film developing for a reasonable price in a decent amount of time. And I hate feeling like I’m possibly wasting film taking crappy pictures. So, a digital camera seemed like the best way to go.

Now my problem is to decide where to submit designs.

I like Knitty. Its submission guidelines are clear and easy to follow. The guidelines say, “This is what we want from you, and this is what you’ll get in return.” It doesn’t have a set style, either. It’s a knitting magazine. The patterns they publish range from stylish to silly and useful to purely decorative. There are very few things I want to design that I think would be out of place in Knitty.

Then there’s Twist Collective. This one, I think is more of a fashion knitting magazine. The layout and patterns are much more likely to be stylish. Some things I’ve designed or plan would not be good for them. I have a couple things that are pretty utilitarian or geeky, and I don’t think Twist would be interested. Some other things would maybe be better for Twist than for Knitty. They definitely fill different niches. One thing that bothers me about Twist Collective is the submission guidelines. I kind of like the idea of patterns being sold through the magazine instead of getting a flat fee for them, but I’d like to know before I submit something what I’ll be getting. At least a ballpark idea. Twist Collective doesn’t advertise that. You have to wait until your design is accepted before you get a publication contract, which outlines the compensation structure. I don’t like not knowing what I’m getting into. It feels vaguely shady to me. And before anyone gets their skein tangled in a knot up over this, I’m not saying Twist has abusive or exploitative practices. I’m saying I can’t tell what their practices are until after a design is submitted and accepted, at which point, sure, I can say no thanks, but how much time has passed since I finished work on it? Would it be a good time to submit it elsewhere? Or will I have to sit on it for most of a year, during which time fashions will change, possibly too much for my design to be marketable? If the guidelines said, “E-mail us for our current compensation structure,” that would be great.

And, of course, there’s Ravelry. With Ravelry, you don’t have to submit your patterns to anyone, you just put them up for sale (well, that’s oversimplified, but not by much). Of course, Ravelry doesn’t really advertise for you, either. It’s a marketplace, and you’re competing with every other designer to get people’s attention.

I haven’t looked much into print magazines, although I should. I like actual magazines. I like holding things that I read. The kick from having something published on paper would be great. (However, I’m not even going to think about Vogue Knitting. I’m not that fashionable, ever, and from what I’ve heard they expect you to give up your design’s first-born as far as copyright and reprint goes.)

I know there are other websites and internet magazines I can try, also, but for now, I’m limiting myself to these (plus looking into print magazines more).

Is it just aptly named?

Is it just me, or are the top cables with the lacy insides . . . unfortunately placed in Berroco’s free pattern, Tarte?

I should acheive digital camera ownership today. I’ll be busy taking pictures this weekend. w00t!

To be written: comparison of Summerlin and The Two Summer Sundress. I’m sure there’s more stuff I wanted to write about, but I can’t think of what.

Eureka!

I’ve picked up the Super Secret Project again. After the day where I played Baron Munchausen, I realized that the last piece of yarn I attached to finish off the last panel was not, in fact, wool. The room I was in when I was doing the hunt-and-splice bit doesn’t have the best light, and I pulled this fairly long bit of yarn out of my scraps bag, and it looked like the right color (natural), and I don’t have any other natural-colored scraps of the same weight, so I just figured it must be the right thing, right? And it seemed to felt together nicely, so it must have been wool!

The next time I took it out of the bag, it was pretty obvious I was wrong. The very last bit was actually white, not natural, and the last bit of the wool had kind of felted around the white (which must be the cheap acrylic stuff I used to make Thing One’s Hallowe’en costume a couple years ago). Ooops. So, I took that out and added on some of my WOTA. It’s a prototype. It doesn’t have to be pretty.

Now I’ve got my panels all put together, but I have some more work I need to do with something non-felting, and I’ve been agonizing over how to go about attaching it, and how to get it to work right, and I just couldn’t figure anything out. This morning, when I should have been getting ready to go to work, I pulled out the project, cut out a piece of scrap fabric and pinned it where the non-felted knitting is supposed to go, and just looked at it for a while. Then I did some measuring and hemming and hawing, until I finally just thought, “Short rows!” Seriously, with the exclamation point and everything.

I’m sure I’d considered short rows already, but discarded the idea as unworkable. Probably because however I was thinking of using them then would have been unworkable. But I think I’ve got it now. I’m doing a sample piece, not attached to the project, to make sure I’ve got the idea right, but once I have my numbers correct and it all looks good, it shouldn’t take long to do these last little bits and then throw it some hot water and see what happens.

It’s perfect!

I am an inveterate and veteran web-surfer. I’ve been spending far too much time following links for at least fifteen (hmm, maybe fourteen) years. Ravelry does not help this. It starts out innocently enough. I look at my friends’ activity. Of course, the only person who has any activity on there is the lovely Triskellian, so that doesn’t take me long, even on days when she has a lot of activity. So then I look at her friends’ activity. And that’s when it all starts to get out of control. I start looking at patterns people I’ve never heard of have put on their queues, and finding new yarns that I just really want to get my hands on, and new on-line magazines and . . . two hours later, my queue and favorites pages well filled (in fact, I have completely emptied my queue in a fit of pique recently and need to refill it), I’ll have gotten absolutely no paying work or knitting done.

Another thing I really like about Ravelry (and yes, as much as I might complain about wasted time, I do like surfing the ’site), that I’ve had a chance to witness a lot with all this surfing, is the comments people leave about patterns. My absolute favorites are where someone will say, “Oh, I <3 this pattern! It’s faboo! Absolutely perfect! I’m going to make it in a different color, with a different yarn, and I’m going to make the ribbing an inch longer and turn it into a cardigan and I think I’ll add a cable detail to the neckline! It’s perfect!” Okay, so I exaggerate. But not by much. And you know it’s true.

Now, let me tell you about my new favorite pattern and how I’m going to do it differently . . .

Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I’m delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever.*

You know that scene from The Adventures of Baron Munchausen where they’re coming back from the moon, and they’ve run out of rope at the bottom, so the Baron ties on a new length, and Berthold (I think it’s Berthold) asks where he got it, and the Baron explains, rather huffily, that he cut it off the top, of course? (Insert a similar scene from a Warner Brothers cartoon if you haven’t seen Munchausen, and then go rent the movie.)

I kind of feel like I’ve been doing that.

I was almost finished with the last panel on the Super Secret project, and I ran out of the Bare yarn. So . . . I fished some cut off ends out of my scrap yarn bag, and did spit splices. (My good spouse was in the shower, so he didn’t have to be witness to me “doing something gross.”) Then I ran out of yarn. I cut off the long tails left from casting on and did some more spit splices. I’m finally finished, and I have two little pieces left I could have spliced on if I’d become terribly desperate. They’re about two inches and two and a half inches long. And it was a near thing, too.

I’m going to use the Wool of the Andes I have to join the panels and do whatever else I decide I need to do with wool. It’s a prototype. It doesn’t have to look pretty. Although I think it still will look nice, just not quite how I picture the actual finished project.

I’m pretty sure that a single hank of the Bare will be enough to do the whole project. I have four gauge-type swatches that were necessary for designing, but someone doing the project by itself will probably only need one. We’ll see. I like the idea that it could be a single-ball project. Even though it won’t quite, because it’ll need a ball of non-feltable yarn, too, but it’ll be close.

*From The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

Progress

I’ve just finished the second panel of the Super Secret Project. Well, finished knitting. It needs to have ends woven in yet. That leaves two panels, and putting them all together, and adding the other part. Then I can felt it and see if it all works. Then, assuming it does, I need to get more of the Bare yarn and actually dye it and make a new one. So far, it seems to be going according to plan. I just hope it continues to do so.

I did use the smaller motifs. They work better in so many ways I don’t want to list them all. And I did remember to rip the first panel out and measure the yarn. It really made me wish I had a scale, because figuring total grams would have been a lot easier, I’m sure.

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The ribbing on the legwarmers slipped down past my knees eventually, but that was it. The shaping of the calf kept it pretty well in place. The ribbing is very stretched out. I don’t know if increasing the ribbing — stitch-wise, not round-wise, of course — would solve the problem or exacerbate it. I have yet to wash them and see how the yarn holds up. I will do that this weekend.

Double the fun.

Or half? I did a panel of the super secret project with the motifs. I used the intarsia in the round method from Moth Heaven, which at first was awful because I thought my charts were simple enough I didn’t need to keep track. Ha! I know better now. I also knit it way too loose. So I ripped it all out and started over, keeping track of my charts, and it was lovely. I’m not exactly ready to do anything major in intarsia in the round, but for my purposes, this was perfect.

Of course, I wouldn’t be me if I hadn’t come up with something to change before I’d finished the panel. What if I made the motifs half the size? As I was finishing them, I started thinking they might be too big. They’d probably work, but they were kind of a pain to fit in with the shaping.

Thankfully, I did not cast on for a whole new panel. I’ve got brains hidden away somewhere, and occasionally I actually dust them off and use them. I did a a test swatch, which I will felt tonight, and see what I think. If they look okay width-wise, but too stumpy, I can easily lengthen them. If they don’t look good at all, I’ll stick with the originals. If I don’t stick with the originals, I’ll rip out the panel I’ve already done so I can knit it with the new motifs and then rip it out so I can measure it. At least I thought of making the motifs smaller before I ripped out the old one and measured. Not that measuring would take that long, but I need to feel good about something.

In other news, I’ve decided not to do the feathered arrow vest redux with the Wool of the Andes. It was just too heavy. I have to find a different yarn, and I have to find something to do with all the yarn I’ve got.

Also, work continues on the legwarmers. I’m almost done with the increases on the lozenge. I think two more rows, and then I’ll try them on. Changing around the stitches to get them evenly divided again has done wonders, although I really wish I had longer dpns. I think I’ll have to put the stitches on a spare cable before trying them on.