Tutorial: Jog-less Stripes

To go along with my recently self-published pattern, Walking Stripes, I put together a basic tutorial on how to achieve jog-less stripes in the round. This tutorial will demonstrate a four-color stripe, though it is relatively easy to change this number once you understand the concept.

For this tutorial, you will need:
*Four balls of yarn of the same weight in different colors
*5 dpns (or a long circular needle for magic loop) in the corresponding size


To start with, cast on the desired number of stitches in your main color (MC). I cast on 48 stitches, which is a nice multiple of 4 colors and 3 'buffer' stitches (explained later).

Work a short cuff; this gives a little smoother transition into the striped section. I knit a *K1,P1* rib for about an inch.


Now you will begin to set up your striped section. Knit the first 25% of the stitches in MC--in my case this fraction is 12 st. Pick up contrast color 3 (CC3) and knit the next 25% of the stitches in CC3. Knit the subsequent 25% in CC2 and the last 25% in CC1. Your needles should look something like this:


Rotate the work until you find the tail of CC2. You are now going to layer CC2 above the stitches you just made with CC1. Using CC2, knit into all but the last 3 stitches in CC1. These are the 'buffer' stitches for CC1 which will keep the stripes from jogging. In my case, I simply knit my next 9 stitches in blue from where I dropped the tail, as if no other strange things were going on.


Find the tail of CC3. Knit into all of the CC2 stitches, leaving the last 3 as buffer stitches. You should now have 3 buffer stitches in CC1 and another 3 in CC2. In my case, I picked up my red tail and knit 18 stitches, slipping the next 6 buffer stitches to give:


Finally, grab the tail of MC and knit into all of the stitches of CC3, save 3. This will leave you with 3 buffer stitches in each color, with the remainder of the stitches in MC. In my case, I knit 27 stitches in yellow and slipped the next 9 buffer stitches out of the way.


If you look carefully, you can start to see the stripes accumulating.


Now you are ready to work your stripes. Starting with CC1, knit over all of the MC stitches except for the last three. You should have 3 stitches each in CC2, CC3 and MC, with the rest being CC1. For me, I knit 36 stitches in CC1, slipping the 9 buffer stitches out of the way.


Repeat this process for CC2, CC3, and MC, in that order. You may notice that after knitting these 4 rows, you have not made a complete circuit around the needles. By not working the entire round and leaving a few 'live' stitches in each color, you essentially prevent the your stripes from jogging. All of my buffer stitches have ended up one needle to the right of where they started 4 rows ago.


Laying your work flat, the stripes really start to appear.


Work the last four rows as many times as you desire, layering each stripe on top of the previous until you work is at the desired length.


To end the striped section, you will work the set-up in reverse. Knit CC1 as during the striped section. Pick up the tail of CC2 and knit into CC1. However, this time you will leave 25% of the total stitches (12 stitches in my case) as CC1 buffer stitches instead of the normal 3. Pick up CC3 and knit, leaving 25% of the stitches as buffer CC2. Repeat this for MC. This will leave you with a quarter of your stitches in each color, as in the beginning.


Work one complete round in MC, knitting over the buffer stitches of all the contrast colors, thus ending the striped section. Cut the tails of the contrast colors. Work another cuff at the end, if desired. I did another inch of *K1,P1* rib to mirror the beginning.


Cast off. Before you weave in the ends, pull the tails (both the beginning and ending) of the contrast colors snug, as this will give a smoother transition into the striped section. Finish as usual.

Questions or comments? Contact me at brineydeepdesigns_at_gmail_dot_com!

Andy's Scarf

In addition to working on my vibrant knee-high socks--which I am terming the obnoxiousocks--the other project that has been keeping me busy is a scarf. A Christmas scarf for darling husband to be exact. Even though I just finished his sweater in December, he really was in great need of a new scarf. So, I put two skeins of Cascade 220 under the Christmas tree and enjoyed a couple weeks of knitting for myself in the meantime.



For the pattern, I chose a simple 8 row basket-weave; interesting to knit but not too feminine. About 6" into the scarf, however, it started to curl (damn!), and by the time I was done, the scarf looked like a palmier cookie (double damn!). So I did something I've never done to a piece of my knitwear--I ironed it.


As you can see from the pictures, the ironing worked out really well. The scarf is flat and even the pattern looks better. As long as you are careful (medium heat, moderate steam, and using a fairly light touch), I'm now of the opinion that ironing actually works better than blocking for some knitwear. But finishing aside, I just hope that my husband likes the scarf and it will keep him warm during the frozen Wisconsin winters.

Cranberry Cordial and Vanilla Liqueur

I've been making an effort in the last couple months to consistently blog here once per week. And while the amount that I knit has not correspondingly increased, the more frequent posting allows me to showcase some of the other creative things I am working on. For example, today's non-knitting post highlights my homemade cordials.


I made my first cordial this summer after seeing a recipe for Rhubarb Schnapps in Nigella Lawson's delightful, but poorly named book 'How To Be A Domestic Goddess'. Very pleased with the results, I soon acquired the book 'Cordials From Your Kitchen', which contains a wide range of recipes for cordials and liqueurs. The cranberry cordial and vanilla liqueur, seen above, are my first two batches from this new book. They both have another month to steep, and probably another month to mellow after I strain out the solids, but I can't wait to see how they turn out!

Husband of the Year

I have the best husband ever. I think he took the hint from the sweater I made him and decided that I really like to knit. Or perhaps it was the yarn spilling out of the closet or the incessant clicking of the needles that persuaded him to buy me more yarn for Christmas. And not just any yarn, a monthly sock club!


My first package was waiting for me when I returned home from my holiday vacation, and I am very pleased with it. The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash Paints that looks like it has been very subtly kettle dyed a bright red color. I plan to ignore the enclosed pattern entirely and use my just-purchased copy of Sensational Knitted Socks to make a pair of socks for myself.


And speaking of socks, my knee-high rainbow socks have hit the needles. The winning stitch pattern was a 2x2 rib, pooling be damned. The foot looks very neat but we'll see how the pooling changes once I reach the calf (which should be soon, as these socks are working up really quickly). In the meantime, I'm in search of a good adjective to describe these socks. Lurid? Obnoxious? Vibrant? With a little more work on the socks, I'm sure the right word will come to me.

New Uses for Old Tea Tins

I drink a lot of tea. So much so that I might be considered, well, a tea snob. Some people drink wine, others coffee, but I am ever in search of that perfect cup of tea. While on this quest, I've collected a number of teacups, teapots, and tea tins along the way. It's pretty obvious what to do with the first two items, but what do you do with those extra tea tins once you've drunk all that tea?

So, I'm taking a little break from the knitting today to share with you some creative uses for extra tins or decorative boxes you happen to have around.

Pens & Pencils

A reasonably sized tea controls the usual chaos that surrounds these writing utensils. Plus, I get to look at that pretty Chinese mountain scene when I am having a bad day at work!

Paperclips, Rubberbands, & Pushpins

I like to use my short and squat tins for my other office supplies. This enables me to easily find the item I am looking for without having to dig through a pile of pushpins. Eek! And this tin has apparently become the haven for loose change, which is another great use for a spare tin.

Scissors, Knitting Needles, & Other Craft Supplies

This tall Octavia tin lives on my craft desk, providing a place where I can always find my scissors on short notice. I also keep my sparkly craft pens, my favorite flower pen, and a few other items in here. And if I didn't have a few knitting needle cases already, I'm sure that my needles would find a home in one of these old tins.

Tea 'Service'

This is my favorite use for an old tea tin, as it houses all of the notions I need to make my morning pot of tea. From the tea towel I use to wipe off my just-rinsed pot, to the three minute timer, to my favorite notion of all--a tea spoon that helps measure '1 cup of perfect tea'--I use this almost every day.

Or More Tea!
When in doubt, I fill those old tins with more tea, because I always seem to have plenty extra around!

Holiday Knitting

Did you know that the car is the ideal place to wind skeins into balls of yarn? I discovered this truth on the nine hour car ride to my parent's house yesterday, when it was DH's turn at the wheel. Sitting on the passenger's side, I simply draped the skein around my knees and wound a few balls. Now I am all ready to enjoy a very knit-filled holiday vacation.


I've got big plans for a scarf for DH and a pair of socks for me, but I also hope to do something with the yarn pictured above, which I won at the Ravelry get-together after Wisconsin Sheep and Wool. It is 560 yards of worsted weight yarn from the local dyer Happy Hands. I was thinking about making knee-high socks with it, as that would be obnoxious enough to offset the vibrant colors, but am unsure what to do for a pattern. Each of the 8 color sections is 2 inches long and they repeat in a set order, so my biggest challenge will be pooling. Maybe a slip-stitch pattern? If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them!

In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and get lots of knitting done!

Andy's Sweater: The Full Story

Words are failing me today. How do I express the time, emotion, and work that I have put into this sweater? I've dropped hints and clues in some of my previous posts, but perhaps it's time to tell the whole story.


From almost the moment that Andy discovered I could knit, he's been harassing me for a sweater. The first time he asked as a friend, and as a friend I answered a resounding 'No'. However, I did knit him a scarf, which eventually prompted him to ask me out on a date. We then dated for several years, and, as much as I explained the boyfriend-sweater curse to him, I still had several more requests for a sweater. Finally, in the fall of last year, we got married. As a wedding gift, I gave him a box of yarn with the promise of finally making him a sweater.

After returning from our Italian honeymoon, I set to work planning the sweater. I was going to knit Elizabeth Zimmerman's Classic Brooks Sweater and I was going to knit it in under a month as part of NaKniSweMo. In this I was somewhat successful; I finished the sweater while on Thanksgiving vacation with Andy's family, but as soon as he tried on the sweater, I knew it was all wrong. The body was too tight, the arms too large, and the saddle shoulder style did not flatter him at all. In my heart, I knew that the only way to fix it (and for me to be happy) was to rip it all out and start again with a different pattern and better measurements.

So the sweater sat abandoned for several months until I was emotionally stable enough to rip the entire thing out and start anew. This time, I was going to knit the top-down Classic Raglan Pullover by Barbara Walker. The top-down method makes it much easier for on-the-fly adjustments to ensure proper fit--meaning I only had to rip out half of a sleeve when I discovered that the arms were too large, instead of frogging two whole sleeves. This sweater took a little longer and a little more yarn to complete than the previous, and aside from the slightly darker color of the right-front forearm (the extra yarn was a different dyelot), I was pretty happy with it. I blocked it just in time to give to Andy as a first anniversary present. But the sweater had other plans.

Despite a second blocking attempt, the sweater was obviously too long. When Andy stated, "It's fine. It will be a great around-the-house sweater," I knew that I would not be happy until it fit properly and he didn't feel embarrassed to wear it out in public. At this point, I was really glad that I chose a top-down design, as it is so easy to modify the length. I simply ripped out 5 inches from the hem and reknit 2. And with the extra yarn, I reknit the right sleeve to match the rest of the sweater. Then I blocked the sweater a third time and crossed my fingers.

So, finally, over a year after starting this sweater and having knit countless more stitches than are actually represented in the final product, I am proud to present Andy's sweater:


Disclaimer: Knitting a sweater for your SO can be hazardous to your health. Please do not undertake the above without consulting with your SO about the strength of your relationship. Luckily, I love this man and he appreciates my determination to knit a sweater that both fits and flatters him.