The Tart
Yesterday the last color needed before I could get going on the Tartan Jacket from the most recent Interweave arrived from Threadbear. (Tahiti teal. It had been on backorder.) Last night I diligently swatched, was very pleased to get gauge on the recommended needles first time out, and this morning cast on for the back.
This is what it looks like, three rows in.
Every time I switch from RS to WS or WS to RS, those eight little balls of yarn in their sad little sandwich baggies have to get moved around. It takes longer to turn the knitting over than to complete a row.
So hereÂ’s what IÂ’m wondering, having not tackled any intarsia more complicated than the youÂ’d-have-to-be-braindead-to-screw-it up barely-intarsia intarsia of the Rosedale.
- A) Is there a better/easier way to set things up than the way IÂ’m going about it?
- 2) Am I just crazy to be doing intarsia, especially with so many colors?
- III) Since what I really love about the jacket is the shaping and texture, should I maybe consider following the shaping guidelines without the intarsia? Or am I just saying this because the mess on my worktable looks like such a hassle? I have a feeling that decision would be inspired more by fear and laziness than actual desire. I could see myself making this AGAIN without the intarsia, but I do like the plaid pattern…
Mostly I think I’m nuts to have started this project with so much to do before the wedding AND with school starting in two days. Yep. MFA year numbah two starts in two days. A wise woman would stick with mindless st st. I, however, am not all that wise.
Gulp.
The baggies are a good idea, but it might be less cumbersome with bobbins. I believe I have a bunch, but maybe not eight of them. See if you can get rather large bobbins, or cut out large enough pieces of cardboard to wrap a lot of yarn around, making sure there’s a notch to put the part leading into the sweater so that it doesn’t unravel.
It’ll get easier, too. I would hate to see you not do the jacket you love so much. It’s not like you’re on a deadline for it, right? Just enjoy the challenge.
Posted by: Em
Bobbins can be good too, but personally I prefer yarn butterflies. I will try and describe it here — wish me luck!
Start with the yarn attached to the project laying on the inside of your arm (project in lap), up the palm and down between your thumb and index finger. Now, holding your thumb and pinkie wide, wrap a figure-eight, around the outside of your thumb across your palm, between the pinkie and ring finger, around your pinkie, back across the palm making a figure-eight. Continue this wrapping motion until you have a sufficient “wad” of yarn. Cut the yarn attached to the ball leaving a 12″ tail. With your free hand pinch the “X” of the figure-eight and wrap the tail around this snuggly and tuck in the end.
As you work off the the butterflies, keep them realtively short and close to the work (about 12″ – 18″ hanging). As you need more, gently pull out another loop from the butterfly. If your butterfly started out rather large, you may need to re-wrap it once or twice before completely running out.
It is also a great way to manage little bits and pieces as each butterfly acts like a mini pull-skein. Good luck!!!
Posted by: Gwen
I’m no intarsia master, so I can’t comment on the technique, but I agree with Em. Would be a shame to abandon it. Keep it as your “knit at home when you have time to concentrate on it” knitting.
Posted by: Nathania
I haven’t knit a lot of intarsia myself, but I read that if you keep all those bags in a long, narrow box (maybe a shoebox?) that when you turn the row, you can turn the box and all the colors will be in the right order.
Posted by: alison
I just happened upon your blog and realized we are both craftsters with naked dogs. I’ll be back to look around.
Posted by: Jordan
Well I’m a dumb one, I just realized that your dogs indeed to have hair. But I’m still intruiged and still looking around.
Posted by: jordan
I just got my copy of that Interweave in the mail today, because I loved how that jacked looked so much. I’m excited to see your progress and read tips before I decide if I want to dive in or not (so sorry, no advice.. the Rosedale intarsia is all of the experience I have, too)!
Posted by: jessie
Don’t give up yet. The gauge of the sweater is so large that it will probably knit up faster than it seems.
I also loved the shape & texture of the sweater and have been adapting the pattern with stash yarn. No plaid. It’s still a fun knit. I can see myself someday knitting the plaid version.
Posted by: Melanie
2 days??!! Is the summer over? Nooooo.
More Proust, y’think? Is MC still there?
Posted by: Rachael
OK, I’m not really scoffing at the paltry number of colors in this sweater. Really. But here is how I survived a Kaffe Fassett carrying 21 colors at once.
No baggies, no bobbins, no butterflies. Just long lengths of each color, free flowing and unencumbered. Not wicked long, but long enough to reach to the floor and then some when you are sitting in your favorite chair. It won’t get two tangled, especially if you finger comb it once in a while. And it is much faster. Yes, it does generate more ends to weave in cause you’ll run out of each color more often.
But intarsia is about survival, baby.
Posted by: claudia
My intarsia experience was mostly with child-sized objects, so I either used bobbins or the butterfly method (tho they always unraveled on me). I’m waiting to see how yours works out before I start mine; might be some big ole bobbins for an adult sweater.
Posted by: Iris
The baggies are a good idea, but it might be less cumbersome with bobbins. I believe I have a bunch, but maybe not eight of them. See if you can get rather large bobbins, or cut out large enough pieces of cardboard to wrap a lot of yarn around, making sure there’s a notch to put the part leading into the sweater so that it doesn’t unravel.
It’ll get easier, too. I would hate to see you not do the jacket you love so much. It’s not like you’re on a deadline for it, right? Just enjoy the challenge.
Posted by: Em
Bobbins can be good too, but personally I prefer yarn butterflies. I will try and describe it here — wish me luck!
Start with the yarn attached to the project laying on the inside of your arm (project in lap), up the palm and down between your thumb and index finger. Now, holding your thumb and pinkie wide, wrap a figure-eight, around the outside of your thumb across your palm, between the pinkie and ring finger, around your pinkie, back across the palm making a figure-eight. Continue this wrapping motion until you have a sufficient “wad” of yarn. Cut the yarn attached to the ball leaving a 12″ tail. With your free hand pinch the “X” of the figure-eight and wrap the tail around this snuggly and tuck in the end.
As you work off the the butterflies, keep them realtively short and close to the work (about 12″ – 18″ hanging). As you need more, gently pull out another loop from the butterfly. If your butterfly started out rather large, you may need to re-wrap it once or twice before completely running out.
It is also a great way to manage little bits and pieces as each butterfly acts like a mini pull-skein. Good luck!!!
Posted by: Gwen
I’m no intarsia master, so I can’t comment on the technique, but I agree with Em. Would be a shame to abandon it. Keep it as your “knit at home when you have time to concentrate on it” knitting.
Posted by: Nathania
I haven’t knit a lot of intarsia myself, but I read that if you keep all those bags in a long, narrow box (maybe a shoebox?) that when you turn the row, you can turn the box and all the colors will be in the right order.
Posted by: alison
I just happened upon your blog and realized we are both craftsters with naked dogs. I’ll be back to look around.
Posted by: Jordan
Well I’m a dumb one, I just realized that your dogs indeed to have hair. But I’m still intruiged and still looking around.
Posted by: jordan
I just got my copy of that Interweave in the mail today, because I loved how that jacked looked so much. I’m excited to see your progress and read tips before I decide if I want to dive in or not (so sorry, no advice.. the Rosedale intarsia is all of the experience I have, too)!
Posted by: jessie
Don’t give up yet. The gauge of the sweater is so large that it will probably knit up faster than it seems.
I also loved the shape & texture of the sweater and have been adapting the pattern with stash yarn. No plaid. It’s still a fun knit. I can see myself someday knitting the plaid version.
Posted by: Melanie
2 days??!! Is the summer over? Nooooo.
More Proust, y’think? Is MC still there?
Posted by: Rachael
OK, I’m not really scoffing at the paltry number of colors in this sweater. Really. But here is how I survived a Kaffe Fassett carrying 21 colors at once.
No baggies, no bobbins, no butterflies. Just long lengths of each color, free flowing and unencumbered. Not wicked long, but long enough to reach to the floor and then some when you are sitting in your favorite chair. It won’t get two tangled, especially if you finger comb it once in a while. And it is much faster. Yes, it does generate more ends to weave in cause you’ll run out of each color more often.
But intarsia is about survival, baby.
Posted by: claudia
My intarsia experience was mostly with child-sized objects, so I either used bobbins or the butterfly method (tho they always unraveled on me). I’m waiting to see how yours works out before I start mine; might be some big ole bobbins for an adult sweater.
Posted by: Iris
Don’t give up. I was very excited to read you are doing the sweater. I’ll cheer you on and learn like you in the process. : )
Posted by: Cindy
Knit for joy! If the Tartan makes you happy then knit it. If you enjoy it, it’s not wasted time or energy.
Posted by: Jennifer
Well, for my single experiment with intarsia (a technique I don’t enjoy enough to use except for situations where I really, really want the finished product) I used big plastic snapper clothespins as my “bobbins”.
I’m too hateful of weaving in ends to do shorter, loose lengths of yarn. And I’m too cack-handed to make butterflies – I tried.
I wanted bobbins but I live in the Land of Wal-Mart And Hobby Lobby, so there was no handy LYS to purchase from, and I was too impatient to wait for a mail order to come. So here’s what I did:
Cut a long enough piece of yarn so I figured I wouldn’t have a whole mess of ends to weave in. Opened the clothespin, put one end in the jaws, then wound the rest of the yarn around the (partly closed) jaws. I then clamped the jaws shut on the other end, leaving enough of a tail to knit in. When I needed more yarn, I just opened the jaws and unwound a bit. (Sort of like bobbins).
It worked OK, but if you can manage doing a “butterfly”, that’s probably a lot more esthetically pleasing than having a bunch of clanky blue plastic clothespins hanging off your work.
Posted by: fillyjonk
I really respect you for showing your slightly messy workspace in your blog. My knitting stuff is always strewn all over the place, and then i see other people’s PERFECT knitting areas and I cannot relate. I love your blog and your work. Good luck on your MFA!
Posted by: Illanna
Another option is one borrowed from fair isle knitters: a collapsable canvas sock sorter. It is a box with canvas dividers just the right size for balls of yarn. You pop all your yarn in the cubbies , put it on the floor next to you as you work and go. All you need to do is make sure when you turn the work each time that you don’t twist the yarn: i.e., whichever way you twist the circular on your first turn, reverse it (which will untwist any overlays in the yarn) on the next turn.
Posted by: Allana
I ran into the same problem a few years ago during my brief foray into intarsia.
I experimented with spools that were hung on nails which had been driven into a 2×4. That worked pretty well, but I think Allana’s suggestion of the sock thingy is even better. With that, you wouldn’t have to wind the spools.
Posted by: David
I do butterflies or clothespins or long legths, as recommended above, AND as recommended by Kaffe Fassett himself, by the way. It is MUCH easier. Kaffee (we’re on a first name basis, you know) says y=to just tie or weave in the new lenght when you run out of the color, and it makes intarsia less of a hassle.
Posted by: Rebecca
okay, one more suggestion for your colour baggies here, building on what you’ve already got. Knit one row as is, then instead of turning it around, turn it over. Then when you knit the next row, turn it over, but backwards. By now it will be sitting straight again. So every second row, your baggies will be in the right order, and you don’t have to move them around every row turn. Does that make sense?
So instead of turning around the same way each time, alternate the “turn” direction each row.
Good luck!
Posted by: Monica
I have yarn in stash for a crazy beautiful Kaffe Fassett design which, at more than one point, has 31 colors in a row. I’m contemplating learning to knit backwards so that I never have to turn the work… And I will say this about bobbins or clothespins or what-nots dangling from the work — a lot more weight to be carrying on your project!
Posted by: Jon
Don’t give up. I was very excited to read you are doing the sweater. I’ll cheer you on and learn like you in the process. : )
Posted by: Cindy
Knit for joy! If the Tartan makes you happy then knit it. If you enjoy it, it’s not wasted time or energy.
Posted by: Jennifer
Well, for my single experiment with intarsia (a technique I don’t enjoy enough to use except for situations where I really, really want the finished product) I used big plastic snapper clothespins as my “bobbins”.
I’m too hateful of weaving in ends to do shorter, loose lengths of yarn. And I’m too cack-handed to make butterflies – I tried.
I wanted bobbins but I live in the Land of Wal-Mart And Hobby Lobby, so there was no handy LYS to purchase from, and I was too impatient to wait for a mail order to come. So here’s what I did:
Cut a long enough piece of yarn so I figured I wouldn’t have a whole mess of ends to weave in. Opened the clothespin, put one end in the jaws, then wound the rest of the yarn around the (partly closed) jaws. I then clamped the jaws shut on the other end, leaving enough of a tail to knit in. When I needed more yarn, I just opened the jaws and unwound a bit. (Sort of like bobbins).
It worked OK, but if you can manage doing a “butterfly”, that’s probably a lot more esthetically pleasing than having a bunch of clanky blue plastic clothespins hanging off your work.
Posted by: fillyjonk
I really respect you for showing your slightly messy workspace in your blog. My knitting stuff is always strewn all over the place, and then i see other people’s PERFECT knitting areas and I cannot relate. I love your blog and your work. Good luck on your MFA!
Posted by: Illanna
Another option is one borrowed from fair isle knitters: a collapsable canvas sock sorter. It is a box with canvas dividers just the right size for balls of yarn. You pop all your yarn in the cubbies , put it on the floor next to you as you work and go. All you need to do is make sure when you turn the work each time that you don’t twist the yarn: i.e., whichever way you twist the circular on your first turn, reverse it (which will untwist any overlays in the yarn) on the next turn.
Posted by: Allana
I ran into the same problem a few years ago during my brief foray into intarsia.
I experimented with spools that were hung on nails which had been driven into a 2×4. That worked pretty well, but I think Allana’s suggestion of the sock thingy is even better. With that, you wouldn’t have to wind the spools.
Posted by: David
I do butterflies or clothespins or long legths, as recommended above, AND as recommended by Kaffe Fassett himself, by the way. It is MUCH easier. Kaffee (we’re on a first name basis, you know) says y=to just tie or weave in the new lenght when you run out of the color, and it makes intarsia less of a hassle.
Posted by: Rebecca
okay, one more suggestion for your colour baggies here, building on what you’ve already got. Knit one row as is, then instead of turning it around, turn it over. Then when you knit the next row, turn it over, but backwards. By now it will be sitting straight again. So every second row, your baggies will be in the right order, and you don’t have to move them around every row turn. Does that make sense?
So instead of turning around the same way each time, alternate the “turn” direction each row.
Good luck!
Posted by: Monica
I have yarn in stash for a crazy beautiful Kaffe Fassett design which, at more than one point, has 31 colors in a row. I’m contemplating learning to knit backwards so that I never have to turn the work… And I will say this about bobbins or clothespins or what-nots dangling from the work — a lot more weight to be carrying on your project!
Posted by: Jon