PURL DIVA*

Holiday/Weather Changes to Schedule (None at this time....)

Holiday/weather changes to our schedule will be announced here.

(There are no updates at this time.)

Good Start To The Day

Cherylyn covered for me at the shop last night, and when I arrived at work this morning I found some nice things that were left by Wednesday night knitters Tam and Thanh. Tam dropped off the newest issue of Down East magazine, which contains a great article about Pam Allen and Quince & Co, and Thanh loaned us two scarves to use as Koigu shop models.

The yellowish scarf at the bottom of the pic is the Churchmouse Linen Stitch Scarf, a much loved design that exposes the addictive nature of linen stich. The brownish scarf is one that Thanh created using the Indian Cross Stitch pattern from Barbara Walker's Treasury Of Knititng Patterns, Volume 1 (Click HERE to see a close-up of the stitch from the Walker Treasury Project). I don't think Thanh used a formal pattern to create her scarf, but it looks like someone else has published one (click HERE to see it.) 

Thanks Tam! Thanks Thanh! My day is off to an excellent start because of your generosity!

Our First FO For The Miriam KAL

We have our first FO! Joy just stopped by to show me her finished Miriam, the focus of our newest KAL.

She wanted something lightweight, so she used Quince Finch (fingering weight) instead of Chickadee (sport weight). She used a size 7 needle and got a looser gauge (5.5 sts/inch) than the one specified in the pattern, so she followed the directions for size 32" to get closer to 36" (i.e, basically the same thing I am doing, except I'm using Chickadee). She made her sweater about one inch longer, and the garter stitch edging along the front about an inch shorter than in the pattern.

Great job, Joy!

New Knit On The Block: Koigu

Please join me in welcoming Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino (KPPPM) to Purl Diva!

KPPPM is a hand-dyed fingering weight 100% merino yarn with a tight twist. Knitters are somewhat fanatical about this yarn because the colorways, twist and bloom make it something very special.

The directions on the KPPPM label say to hand wash this yarn, so it lends itself to shawls and accessories. Many knitters use the yarn for socks with great success. If you do use it for socks, I recommend reinforcing the heel with nylon sock thread (which we have in stock) and hand-washing the socks so you'll be able to appreciate them longer.

One project I'd really like to make with the Koigu is a linen-stitch scarf using THIS PATTERN (from the Churchmouse Classics series). If you like ruffles, you can make THIS PATTERN. If your toes are feeling neglected, THIS PATTERN looks great too. And what about your cold hands? Try THIS PATTERN.

As you can see, you have options!

(Oh, and by the way, we're the only shop in Maine that has Koigu!)

New Knits On The Block...Acadia and Canopy from The Fibre Company

Just in from The Fibre Company: Acadia and Canopy!

Acadia is a DK-weight blend of merino, alpaca, and silk. It is soft and tweedy and gorgeous.

Canopy is a fingering-weight blend of alpaca, merino, and bamboo. It lends itself beautifully to delicate shawls and fine-gauge sweaters.

The Fibre Company does beautiful things with fiber.  Be sure to check out these yarns in person because these photos just don't do justice to the complexity of the colors.

Miriam KAL Update: Ready, Set, Wait......OK - Go!

If you have been monitoring our Twitter and Facebook updates, you know that the Miriam KAL kick-off was delayed while I did a little background research on gauge differences. The mystery began last week when I received an email from a KAL participant who said she was having a hard time getting gauge with Chickadee (despite going down two needle sizes). For frame of reference, the label for Chickadee indicates that one is likely to get 6 sts/inch in stockinette stitch on a 5 US needle, and 6.5 sts/inch on a 3 US needle, implying that one might get a 6.25 st/inch gauge on a size 4 US needle. According to the pattern, the target gauge was 6.25 sts/inch on size 6 needles.

Gauge is a personal thing - everyone has their own knitting style and related tension - and this is why I sat down and swatched for Miriam this past Sunday night. I got 5.5 sts inch on size 6 needles, and 5.75 sts/inch on size 4s. (FYI: These were the results before blocking.)

It's very important to block your swatch, because sometimes blocking does wonky things to your gauge. When I block my swatches, I do a wet-block (i.e., I soak the swatch for 20-30 minutes, lay it flat on a towel, and let it dry in peace).  I personally prefer wet-blocking to steam-blocking. As I see it, the finished object will eventually be hand-washed and laid out flat to dry anyway, so wet-blocking the swatch is a good indicator of what will happen (gauge-wise) to the garment in real life.

After blocking, the gauge on my swatches relaxed a tiny bit to 5.25 (on 6s) and 5.5 stitches/inch (on 4s). At this rate, I would probably have to go down to a size 3 - or maybe even a 2 - to get 6.25 sts/inch. I don't usually have to adjust my needle size that much to achieve gauge. Hence the gauge confusion. But as I said before, gauge is a personal thing.

So now that I've thrown all these numbers at you, what does this mean for the Miriam KAL? 

1) I am guessing that you will have to go down in needle size to get gauge - probably to a size 3 or 4 US, depending on your personal knitting style.

2) You should wet-block your swatch and see what happens with your gauge.

3) Stitch gauge is more important than row gauge with this pattern. Miriam is a bottom-up pattern, so you won't be able to really try it on as you go (as you would be able to if it were a top-down pattern), but you can still hold it up and test length, and knit accordingly.

4) This cardigan has no buttons, so it doesn't close in front. The garter bands on the front panels are knit toward the center, so you could make those garter stitch bands smaller or bigger to adjust the size. (Please note that if you make this change the bands won't match the size of the garter band at the bottom, so if you are a symmetry freak, beware.)

5) If you prefer a looser gauge than the one specified in the pattern (and aren't afraid of a little math), you can make a smaller size at a looser gauge and it will size up automatically. I don't recommend this for patterns with set-in sleeves, but I do this all the time with top-down sweaters. The math isn't too complicated, but it is necessary if you want the sweater to fit.

I'll walk you through what I plan to do and you can experiment with your own numbers. Ready? Here we go...

My goal is to make a sweater that is about 36 inches in circumference around the bust. If I were to knit Miriam at the gauge specified in the pattern (6.25 sts/inch) then I would follow the directions for size 35.75 inches. But I like the look of my 5.5 sts/inch swatch (done on 4s), so I'm going to crunch some numbers to see what will happen if I use that gauge and follow the instructions for the 32-inch size.

For size 32, the pattern says that there will be 100 sts along the back before you divide for the sleeves. To get the bust circumference stitch number for my calculations, I can do things: 1) take that number of back stitches and double it, or 2) add the number of back stitches to the number of stitches on the two front panels, and then add on the size of the garter stitch bands. I'm going to take the first approach because 1) it is waaay easier, and 2) probably more accurate since the front panels don't really close.

So... if we double the number of back stitches we get 200. To repeat, that's 100 stitches across the back, and (an implied) 100 across the front (i.e., there are 200 stitches around the chest). If we take 200 and divide it by 6.25 (the pattern gauge) we get 32 (which makes sense since we are focusing on the 32 bust size in the pattern). Since we want to size it up with a looser gauge, we need to divide 200 by 5.5 (my desired gauge) to see what happens to the size. The result is 36.36 inches, which (voila!) is pretty close to the size I was targeting.

If you'd like to try that with your own measurements, here's how to do it.

A = your preferred gauge.

B = your chest circumference

C = the number of stitches across the back. (This number should be based on a smaller size if your gauge is looser than the pattern gauge, because you will be sizing the pattern UP.  Alternatively, this number should be based on a larger size if your gauge is tighter than the pattern gauge, because you will want to size the sweater DOWN). You'll find the number of stitches across the back for the various sizes if you look in the pattern just before the part where you separate for the sleeves.

OK, now multiply C by 2 = 2C

Divide 2C by A. Is the result close to B?  If so, then follow the pattern for the size you used to get your C. If not, try a different size to get your C number, and/or plug in a different gauge. Please note that the gauge has to actually be a gauge you achieved on a different set of needles - i.e., you can't just randomly pick a gauge and plug it in.

 So there you have it! And the KAL begins.... NOW!  Go forth and knit a Miriam!