Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

If the US Republicans keep spouting doctrines for the suppression of women (rape pregnancies are part of god's plan) I may implode/explode like Rumpelstiltskin of that, yet another, "women aren't worth much" fairy tale. If you remember, that queen who had to guess Rumpy's name or lose her first born to him, started her palace life as a poor girl who was placed in a room full of straw and told to spin it into gold by morning or else death awaited her.

So it's pretty natural in my present political state of mind, as I was rushing to finish a vest so I could take a picture for today, that I thought of that other suppressed woman fairy tale, The Swan Princess. As I remember it, an evil sorcerer turned her 12 brothers into swans and she had to knit 12 sweaters for them (probably out of magic thread) before they could become men again. The catch being, she couldn't talk while she did this. Of course, her beauty catches the eye of the king but his evil adviser poisons his mind against her by convincing him that with her silence, she must be a witch. (Notice the trend in the treatment of women? Helpless in the world of men. Truth be told, I never really thought about that when I read these tales but now...)

Anyway, she is led to the stake to be burned as a witch, still frantically knitting, when the 12 swans fly over and she throws the sweaters at them (This, I never understood.) so they are changed back to men and save her. And, the king decides he can marry her. Unfortunately, she didn't get to finish the last sleeve so her youngest brother kept one swan arm. I think he was pissed. The End.

And that's what I was thinking about yesterday, as I worked frantically on this:

#1 look at the bottom vest

Now, I never intended to work on this vest when I left you last Friday. In fact, I promised a shawl using different types of crochet stitches but that was a bust. I don't even remember how I came across the Birch vest:

 Pdf Birch Vest Kristin Omdahl - Knitting Daily

(I hope this link works since I can't link directly to a pdf. It's an Knitting Daily TV pdf freebie but a $5.50 purchase from Interweave. If you can't use the link, just google Birch Vest and scroll down a little to the url you see above.)

You may remember that I am on an eternal search for a V-neck, top-down top which needs no pick-up work for the V at the end. The Birch vest seems to be an answer. As you can see from my examples (the top cranberry one was my swatch) and from the original pattern, the yoke is crocheted. The original pattern continues on with crocheted lace for the body but I switched to knitted lace.

What I did was: After the last crocheted row (which includes the chaining for the underarm), I put the loop on the hook onto US 10 needles and picked up one stitch for every double crochet in the row, making sure the edges were straight by picking up a stitch in the ending chain 3 loop. At this point, the WS was facing me so I worked Row 1 of the pattern by purling across** decreasing 7 stitches evenly as I went for 100 stitches (this vest isn't supposed to meet in the body). Then I just kept working in pattern.

(** Always start and end each row with: Start: Slip 1 purl, K4 and End: K5. This is not in the pattern below.)

Row 1 and 3 WS: Purl

Row 2: *YO, K2tog*

Row 4: *K2tog, YO*

A couple of thoughts on the crocheted top. The pattern calls for double knit yarn which I consider one up from sport in weight but the yarn examples with the pattern on Ravelry show more fingering and sport weight. They recommend a G hook.

I used my concept of DK weight (one up from sport) and an I hook. I tried with a G hook but no way was this baby going to fit around my neck. In both the vests shown, I chained 42 to start. The only difference between the two is that on the bottom vest, I worked one row less of DC (Row 5) than I did on the top vest. As you can see, the bottom one is less wide.

Comments on Ravelry were pretty unanimous that it was tough to get stitch and row gauge on this vest. I didn't find that to be a problem but then I only worked two repeats of Row 5 (for my size, you were supposed to work 8 repeats of Row 5) so on the bottom vest, I only had 96 stitches on my last row when the pattern calls for 252 sts in my size. (That would have been huge!)

Of course, the beauty of crocheting is that ripping out stitches is a breeze. If you decide to change to knitting for the body as I did, be sure to work the row where you chain the stitches for the underarm. (called "Next row" after Row 5) because by doing this you will have no pesky underarm holes you get in knitting. (I chained 6 for this and then picked 6 stitches from them on the next row.)

Since I posted the brown vest above (which is in horrible feeling virgin wool - that sheep was no virgin!) I've decided to rip back to the crocheted section and join the body to make a pullover vest. I'm really unhappy with the wool and I want something better looking for a vest to wear over tops. I'm thinking Paton Classic Wool for this. For some reason, this vest is taking a long time to knit but I'll try to post a picture next week.

#2 A new stitch for me

As you know, I love to experiment with new stitches and on the left is my latest. It's only on Ravelry so I have to link this way: 

http://www.ravelry.com/

Then click Patterns and type in The Pearl Tower. It's free.

(If you don't belong to Ravelry, it really is time to join. If only to get the "Helpful Notes" under their many thousands of free patterns.)

I don't want to make the Pearl Tower scarf but I like the stitch which is a combination of adding extra loops to the needle before you knit into a stitch and then on the next row, dropping these extra stitches (you use groups of 4 stitches at a time) and then reworking the now-long stitches again to get the look above. I'm thinking about using this stitch for a yoke. More later.

Next week: I really didn't forget my promise to discuss what is working for me on my diet but then I remembered those fairy tales........... But next week, I promise.

Also, I'm exploring two possibilities for a) a short summer shawl which covers my shoulders and b) a circular vest which will do the same. I'll post those patterns next week.

Happy knitting till then.