Holli Yeoh Knits

I just love receiving email from knitters who have completed one of my sweaters - especially when they send photos!  Martha has outdone herself by knitting not one, but TWO Drunken Argyle vests.  The original pattern was published in the men’s issue of Knitty.com.

In January Martha emailed me a photo of her first vest that she knit for her 28-yr-old son for Christmas.  He selected the design from about six vests that Martha showed him.  He’s a graphic designer and as Martha said, 

“The idea of the argyle being drunken really appealed to his sense of humour.”

Then in February, Martha wrote to me again to tell me that her 26-yr-old son wanted a Drunken Argyle vest too, however Martha was suffering from tendonitis and wanted to knit it in a larger gauge.  Her son could not be dissuaded even though Martha tried showing him many ’sober’ and less detailed options.  Martha wrote,

“He would dearly love a drunken version as he claims he doesn’t take his golfing too seriously!”

I sent Martha some options and possible solutions and she surprised me by sending me photos of the finished vest earlier this month.  It took her just under a month to complete a DK version of Drunken Argyle.  Doesn’t it look great?!

“If my youngest lad insists on one I will do it.”

Martha, I want to see a picture of all three of your sons wearing their Drunken Argyle vests.  Thank you for sharing your story and your knitting with me.

Pearls, that is.  I’ve been looking everywhere for a Canadian source for Pony Pearl dpns.  I found them at the Beehive Wool Shop in Victoria when I participated in the yarn crawl at the Victoria Fibre Festival.  So, I decided to get a set in every size from 2 mm to 4 mm.  At some point I’ll probably regret not getting the full range but at least now I know where I can find them.

I fell in love with them when I started a new pair of socks after knitting with my Crystal Palace bamboo dpns.  The yarn just doesn’t slide on the bamboo and the tips were starting to catch and snag the yarn.  Not good.  Once I switched over to the Pony Pearls it just felt so much nicer to be knitting with them.

They are made out of cellulose acetate and are reinforced with a steel rod in the centre.  Some don’t like how the steel rod rattles a little but I don’t mind.  Each size is a different colour and that’s just an added bonus.  The needles are fun and quirky and I’m glad I finally found them. 

I started working on a glove with the 2.75 mm size.  The pattern is my own and needs a little more reworking before I’ll be satisfied.  The yarn is Opal Rodeo and Opal Uni in black.

A few posts back I talked about replacing an intarsia block of colour without ripping everything back.  The Lucy cardigan needed another fix.  The turquoise in the first six rows creating the hem also had to be replaced.  I took the time to tediously rip back only to discover that knitting doesn’t easily rip out from the cast on edge.  Next time I do this I’ll use scissors and cut it off.

After all the turquoise was removed I placed the live stitches on a needle, joined the pink yarn and started working in stocking stitch.  After six rows were knit, I decided I wanted to try a bind off that looks exactly like a long-tail cast-on (my favourite cast-on).  I knit a tiny swatch and then unpicked the cast-on edge to determine the path the yarn takes.  Out came my trusty tapestry needle and I was able to emulate it.

Step 1: Slip the tapestry needle into the first two stitches on the needle as if to purl.  Pull the yarn through leaving the stitches on the needle.

Step 2: Slip the tapestry needle into the first stitch on the needle as if to knit.  Pull the yarn through and drop the stitch from the needle.

 Step 3: Repeat Step 1.

Step 4: Repeat Step 2.

Continue in the manner until all the stitches have been removed from the needle. This bind off gives the same effect as a long-tail cast-on. With the turquoise replaced by the pink, I was able to finish off my sweater in time for the Knit-Out last weekend.

Sunday at the Victoria Knit-Out prooved to be a challenging day weatherwise.  When we arrived to set up the tent there were grey skies and the rain was holding. Devan helped unpack his bear modeling the Bobo sweater design.

After the tent was up and about the time people started arriving for the Knit-Out it tried raining a few times.  The skies were toying with us.  It would rain for a while and then it would stop.  Then the rain water would blow off the top of the tent in a big splat over the side.  Then it would rain again and I would pull everything in from the sides to keep the yarn dry. 

Throughout the afternoon we had cloud and patches of blue skies.  The whole time it was windy. By mid-afternoon there were sunny breaks and the wind was buffeting the tent around (look at the angle of the tent legs, the billowing walls and the angles of the hanging sweaters and things on the wall).  By 3:30 it was apparant that I had to take the tent down or risk having it fly up, up and away and then land in the ocean.  Thankfully some very helpful and friendly tourists from Denver CO walking by just then grabbed the tent legs to hold it down while I ran around pulling everything down that was hanging on the tent.  Then along with Nigel and myself, all four of us ripped down the walls and collapsed the tent.  

Eventful weather aside, I had a great day meeting new people and talking with knitters.  Some of my customers like Diana and Carole who I’ve chatted with by email introduced themselves and it was so great to meet them in person.  I also saw friends and bloggers Uli, Shelley from Fun Knits store, Megan and Leanne. Thanks to Marilyn for organizing a great event.

It was fun to see knitters’ reactions to my designs. They are so familiar to me and it seems so obvious to me that they use self-patterning sock yarn that it was always a surprise to me that many knitters did not realise that. Some were even unfamiliar with self-patterning yarn. Are they in for a fun experience the first time they knit with it! I’m glad I did all that sample knitting - it sure made a difference to show people how the yarn that I have knits up.

Yes, that’s who you think she is! Stephanie Pearl-McPhee a.k.a. the Yarn Harlot was standing directly in front of me while waiting for her introduction at her talk Saturday evening in Victoria.  (Sorry for the grainy cell phone photo - must remember my bloggerly duties and bring my camera to these events.) 

What a pleasant surprise to find out that as a sponsor of the Victoria FibreFest and Knit-Out, Nigel and I were entitled to a front row (literally) seats at the Yarn Harlot talk.  Stephanie was up to her usual standard and by the end of her talk, my face hurt from laughing so hard.

Stephanie also graced the Knit-Out with her presence the next day.  What a thrill it was to have her in my tent and chatting about knitting needles and car seats on airplanes and baby sweaters.  I also got to see her lovely Bohus up close and personal - beautiful.

Other things that made for a memorable weekend included a chance viewing of a bunch of nude cyclists streak past in honour of the World Naked Bike Ride, a visit to the Undersea Gardens with my son and the crazy weather on Sunday from rain to sun to blustery winds that threatened to blow my tent away (more later).

Mechelle Lymburner, a photographer friend and the mother of one of Devan’s classmates offered to photograph some of my sweaters to use in posters for my tent at the Knit-Out. We threw the sweaters on some kids in the playground after school one day last week and had some fun. Mechelle dropped the photos off this afternoon before we left for Victoria. All I have to say is WOW! Mechelle has a great way with design, composition and use of light. She’s amazingly fast at snapping just the right shot of the kids. Check out Mechelle’s site to see more of her work.

I managed to finish three sweaters (running left to right Lucy, Kieran and Aidan) in time for the Knit-Out. Not bad. How long has it been? Four weeks? I was hoping for more but I always over-estimate my time and forget to take into account the other things I have to do. I also have a fourth sweater in the works - Ruby still needs sleeves and a hood.

Patterns and Yarn
Lucy cardigan (my pattern): Opal Rainbow and Opal Uni pink (1413) and purple (18)
Kieran pullover (my pattern): Opal Petticoat (1291) and Opal Uni green (1266)
Aidan vest (my pattern): Opal Elements (1074) and Shelridge Farm Ultra Soft Touch fingering weight in Ice Blue
Ruby hoody (my pattern): Opal Petticoat (1294) and Shelridge Farm Ultra Soft Touch fingering weight in Thistleflower

I spent the day today running around trying to get last minute things done.  In between soccer practice and school, I also managed to get some kit labels printed, picked up the newly formatted patterns for the kits and framed the posters.  And while in the car and on the ferry I also worked on my demonstration sample for the Knit-Out. 

I want to share a nifty trick with you.  I’ve discovered how to replace a block of intarsia knitting without ripping everything out.  After knitting most of the back of the Lucy design I decided I didn’t like my colour choices.  I wanted to swap out the turquoise for a rich bright pink.  Instead of ripping all the way back (the cast on edge also needed to be changed), I decided to try a little experiment and replace just the turquoise areas without ripping out any of the other knitting.

Quite some time back I read about Rick Mondragon’s sliding loop technique as an alternative to working intarsia.  I was sure the technique could also be used to replace an intarsia section of colour just like this.  I was able to track down the article in Great Knits edited by Threads and the technique was more recently published in Knitter’s but I can’t find my issue. 

Ripping out the offending turquoise really helped me see where to insert the needle when I try out the new technique. It will become clear a few steps from now and you may want to scroll back up to take a closer look at these photos (click to enlarge).

With all the turquoise gone, notice how the edge of the purple is just a simple stocking stitch edge - no special edge treatment like a slipped st or a garter st edging.  This is key.

Step 1: Knit across the row towards the block of knitting to which you’ll be joining.

Step 2: Find the little twisted st on the edge that sort of looks like a little knot and slip the needle into it.  This is where studying the path of the yarn when I frogged it earlier came in handy.

Step 3: Pull a loop of yarn through and enlarge it.  This becomes the working yarn for the WS row and then the following RS row. 

Step 4: Turn the work and start purling back using the big loop of yarn as your working yarn. 

Step 5: Next row (knit row) is still worked with the big loop of yarn that was pulled through the purple edge. 

Step 6: When you get to the end of the knit row, pull on the working yarn until the loop disappears.  Start again at Step 2 pulling a new loop out of the next “knot” on the purple edge.

Et voila, the pink now replaces the turquoise.  I’ll be using this trick again, I’m sure!  Next time I’ll show you how to get rid of the bottom 6 rows and replace them with another colour.