Beginning a project is usually pretty much a slam dunk for me. Buy yarn. Wind yarn. Swatch yarn. Cast on. Boom! Then, the journey begins.
With Tripartite (a gauzy ubiquitous wear-how-you-want piece designed by Stephen West), the beginning was a journey in and of itself!
I found the pattern the night before going to the Madrona Yarn Market — as I knew I would be buying yarn and figured it would be best to have something in mind for which to buy said yarn (you knitters will understand). Sarah and I love us a nice yarn hunt. Something more challenging than plucking pretty sock yarn off the nearest yarn booth racks (altho that has its pleasures too!).
Stephen West used a lace-weight linen for his model. Most of the lace-weight yarn we found was wool or wool blended with silk. Lovely stuff, but too light, too fluffy (in a microscopic way — but enough to affect the look and feel of the piece). Meanwhile, Sarah was singing the praises of Tencel — which she had used with much pleasure and terrific effect in a recent Q’mitl. I chose Prism hand-dyed Delicato 100% Tencel “Gauge Variable, Lace Weight” in buttery yellows and Spring blues. Soft and sheen-y.
At home that evening, I set about swatching. And swatching. And swatching. I kept jumping up needle sizes trying to get the gauge to 4 sts/inch. But even as I approached gauge, the fabric failed to open up into anything like gauzy. It just got puffier — as if the yarn was thickening as I used larger needles! Like I was zooming in on the stitches making them into happy monster stitches that were cheerfully willing to become as big and thick a fabric as I wanted. It was never going to have the spidery look I was going for — it was, sad to say, The Wrong Yarn! And even as I became more and more enchanted with the colors, I realized that it was too light-hued as well. (On the positive side, I am convinced this yarn will make a terrific summer top! cheery colors in a beautiful yarn that will “fill in” its stitches so no one sees my bra through it).
Back to Madrona the next day (darn! right?). And this time we went straight to Just Our Yarns for more Tencel. But this yarn is very, very thin and tightly spun. Stunning colors that almost glow! I chose a combination of chocolate brown and sea blue. It will go with everything I own (making the ubiquitous piece even more ubiquitous).
At home, I had no trouble swatching it up into the spidery fabric I needed — although I am using US 8 not US 4 needles as the pattern calls for. So, then I was ready to cast on my 64 stitches. Figuring a loose, stretchy cast on was called for, I used Old Norwegian (a long-tail variation suitable for ribbed sock tops). But a few rows into the knitting, I realized that the cast on edge was pulling in! Not loose enough. That sent me running for my bookshelf — and also started me on an epic quest through both Leslie Ann Bestor’s “Cast On Bind Off” and Cap Sease’s “Cast On, Bind Off” (with a few panicked side trips into some lace books) for the cast on that would give me a good-looking base for what was, in essence, a netting fabric.
There were lots of stretchy cast ons (in fact, there is a mind-blowing number of cast ons altogether with one book featuring 33 and the other 120!). But stretchy cast ons do just that: stretch out to go over your foot or head or hand, then un-stretch back to snug up around your ankle or neck or wrist. I needed a cast on that would stay stretched open. I finally hit upon The Knotted Cast On, aka Guernsey Cast On, which is described as “durable but flexible” — but more importantly carries the warning that “It has a tendency to widen, especially if worked too loosely, so it’s not well suited for ribbing.” (The remedy Cap Sease gives is to work the cast on with needles 4 sizes smaller than the project needles, tho why one would bother when there are dozens of other ribbing cast ons…and I began to wonder what the women of Guernsey knitted with their widening cast on anyway…fishing nets, perhaps? But I digress…)
Well, I had no trouble casting on loosely with my thread-thin slippery yarn and my girthy size 8s. And the result was perfect!
Now it is just a matter of knitting a billion rows of garter (with some short-rowing thrown in to keep me from knitting myself into a trance) and then a second side which is virtually the same — and I will have a very cool (both literally and figuratively) doubly ubiquitous garment for Spring and Summer. Let the journey begin!