I have really enjoyed knitting Intoxicating by Kristi Porter.  Mosaic knitting requires your attention, but isn’t difficult and it is so much fun to watch your progress.  The lace sleeves also required some attention, but were also not too difficult and knit up quickly.  Kristi Porter also added helpful details on knitting the parts and how much they should measure before and after blocking.  This is really a great detail because pre-blocking, the sweater pieces looked very small, but I trusted the pattern and the pieces blocked just as Kristi Porter had detailed.  Sewing the pieces together was not easy.  I had to take the stitches out a few times, but I am very happy with my seams!  (see my prior blog on sweater construction)

So, now to my very least favorite part of the sweater construction -- picking up stitches for the neckline.  Like sewing up sweater parts, you have to be willing to undo your work until you are happy with the results.  This can be very, very time consuming.  I used to just pick up the stitches “intuitively”, but it turns out my stitch pick-up intuition is not good at all.  I’d end up with wavy necklines and button bands because I’d picked up too many stitches.  Other times, I’d find gaps in my work because I hadn’t spaced the stitches properly.  It was terribly frustrating, but I’d keep taking the stitches out and starting over as many times as needed.  You have to commit to this, really.  If you're not happy with it when you've done it, you will never be happy with it so, work on it until you're happy with it.  

​I don’t remember where I read it, but eventually I learned to measure the area of stitches to be picked up and divide it in half and then quarters and then eighths in order to figure out how many stitches to pick up in each section.  This works great when the number of stitches to be picked up are on even sides -- like a button band or a boatneck top.  This method doesn’t work so well on  scoop necks or v-necks, but it still can be done.  In order to use this method where the front and the back of the neckline are not the same, measure from the center of the neckline (not at the neck edge).  This way, you can divide by half to make sure you pick up the same number of stitches around evenly.  Then you have to use the intuition method to pick up the stitches evenly.  There’s a great article on knitty.com about this which helps clarify how to be better at being intuitive here.  At the end of the day, the only way to do this well is to commit the time and patience and continuing to practice.

​So, what's your least favorite part of sweater construction?

 

I taught myself to knit from a book in 2002.  My very first project was a sweater.  I realize it was ambitious to learn to knit by starting with a sweater, but I really wanted to knit myself an alpaca sweater.  I’m stubborn and I won’t let the actual difficulty deter me from my goal.  This continues to lead me into problems, but in this case, my stubborn-ness ensured that I was committed to learning to knit that sweater.  I was also lucky that nobody told me I should start with something else.  So, I have my alpaca sweater, knit on size 11 needles.  It is bulky and mis-shaped, but I love it and I still wear it.  It’s super warm and even if it’s ugly, I love it.  

Despite my love for my sweater, I realized I could do better.  Since I’d learned everything from a book (2002 is pre-Ravelry and YouTube), I decided to take a finishing class at my LYS (local yarn store).  Petra worked at The Yarn Company when it was owned by The Yarn Girls.  She was an amazing teacher and was always ready to help with a smile and practical wisdom.  (Petra, if you happen to see this or if you happen to know Petra, I’d love to get in touch!)  Petra taught me how to seam garments so that the sides matched perfectly and how to fudge a little when necessary to get excellent results.  Probably, the most important thing she taught me was to pull out the seams if I wasn't happy with it.  It took a long time, but a beautiful result makes it all worthwhile.  

​The finishing class with Petra was worth every penny.  If you’re going to take the time to knit up a garment, then you should take the time to learn to finish it properly.  A beautifully finished garment will make you happy when you wear it.  Take the time to do it right, even if it means undoing some of your seaming work and restarting.  It is time well-spent and you’ll enjoy your handmade item even more.  Check out my flawless work below!  Thank you, Petra!

​I finished the knitting and blocking of Kristi Porter’s Intoxicating pullover.  I think it looks great!  I used the three-needle bind-off to seem the shoulders together and now I’m just waiting for the sweater to finish drying so I can put it all together and make the neckline.

​Gente, mosaic knitting is so much fun.  It’s what the Knitmore Girls would call “potato-chippy” (“betcha can’t eat [knit] just one” -- courtesy of Lays).  Mosaic knitting is done with two colors in rows of two.  I’m going to describe how to do it, but it reads a lot more difficult than it is to do it.  You only need to knit, slip, and purl and you need two colors.  With one color you knit the row and purl back.  On the third row, you start it in a different color.  In order to create the pattern, you slip certain stitches from the row below and knit some stitches in the second color.  You purl back in the same knit and slip pattern as the row knit below.  On the fifth row, you go back to the first color and knit some stitches and slip the stitches in the second color.  The pattern becomes visible and it’s so much fun to knit two rows and it becomes harder to knit just one.  Here's are a couple of photos closer and what it looks like from the right and wrong sides.

And here's Tiki who came to sit on my work as soon as I broke out the camera.

When Amy Singer wrote No Sheep For You (a wonderful reference and pattern book for people who want to knit with fibers other than wool), she included a section on bamboo fibers.  She wrote that bamboo was “environmentally sustainable.”  This was the prevailing opinion in 2007.  Even today, if you search bamboo yarn, one of the first things you’ll see is the eco-friendly label.  The “sustainable” label certainly fit given the information we had.  Bamboo grows quickly with little need for fertilizers so there is less deforestation and chemical intervention needed.  Bamboo can be used for many purposes from paper to furniture to flooring to yarn so there is less waste, and bamboo is biodegradable.  These are all great properties, but in the process of making bamboo, many producers use toxic chemicals to process the fibers.  It turns out, that unless you are working with bamboo that is organically certified, bamboo is far from eco-friendly.  
To make bamboo fibers, the bamboo undergoes a process that uses carbon disulfide and sodium hydroxide.  (I'm no chemist so I had to look these up.)  Carbon disulfide, which is used to break down bamboo and many forms of viscose and rayon, has been linked to nerve damage and Parkinsonism.  Sodium hydroxide is the chemical name for lye.  Lye can cause burns and is classified as a hazardous, corrosive material. And, just for fun, Wikipedia defines corrosive material as:  a liquid or solid that causes full thickness destruction of human skin at the site of contact within a specified period of time.  Gross, right?  

So, what to do?  I really enjoy knitting with bamboo yarn and bamboo yarn blends.  I appreciate the feel of it -- it is smooth, soft, and kind of fluffy.  I also enjoy wearing the sweater I knit with bamboo and soy yarn.  But I enjoy this material a lot less if my yarn is toxic to people and the environment.  Until I can locate organic bamboo yarn, I won't be buying any new skeins.  For now, I will be using the bamboo yarn in my stash.  

My sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAZMAT_Class_8_Corrosive_substances


http://thegreenb.com.au/greenwash-bamboo-fabric/


http://www.cbc.ca/news/bamboo-textiles-no-more-natural-than-rayon-1.938759


http://www.emmyandlien.com/blog/yarn-review-sirdar-snuggly-baby-bamboo


http://fashion-incubator.com/how-to-avoid-trouble-if-using-bamboo-fabrics/


http://ecosalon.com/bamboo-eco-friendly-or-greenwash/