Technically Not Fair Isle

By Leigh

When I first started working on my Shetland Sampler Cardigan, I referred to it as "Fair Isle." I did this mostly because the chart I'm using is for the "Dyepot Fairisle Sweater" from Anne Field's The Ashford Book of Spinning.

Since then, I've been reading about Fair Isle, and discovered that not all 2-color stranded knitting is actually Fair Isle. I'll tell you what I've learned so far.

Fair Isle Knitting

• Knitted in the round (traditionally with long double pointed needles). This has a number of benefits:
• No seams to sew later
• No purling (except for the bands)
• Pattern is always on the right side of the work (no having to read charts backwards!)
• Tension is more consistent
• The body of the sweater is knitted first and then underarm gussets added.
• Shoulder seams are grafted and then
• Sleeves are picked up around the shoulder opening and knitting down to the cuff.
• Steeks - Extra stitches are added at the front, shoulder, and neck openings. These are later cut open to knit sleeves and border bands.
• Only two colors are used per round: a pattern color and a background color.
  
• The unused yarn is stranded across the back of the work.
• Strands are usually no longer than three stitches
  
• Traditionally, the contrast between pattern and background colors should be consistent throughout the piece. Actual color schemes vary.
  
• Designs consist of horizontal bands of symmetrical patterning:
• x's and o's.
• Peeries patterns of one to seven rows often separate the larger bands of pattern
• Border patterns have nine to fifteen rows. These are used at borders or combined with peeries.
• Stars - These have the same number of stitches and rows, often 21, 25, or 31. They can be single motifs, but often are repeated in a knitted band.
• All over patterns
  
• Seeding patterns which are used to fill in spaces between large patterns
• Peaks and waves patterns (shaded from light to dark.)
• Pattern bands usually contain an odd number of rows in a band pattern so that there is a center row. This center row often carries an accent color.
• Corrugated ribbing. This is a knit 2, purl 2 ribbing which uses different colors for the knit and purl stitches.

So technically, my Shetland Sampler Cardigan doesn't qualify as Fair Isle. Which doesn't mean I like it any less; I just feel more technically correct about it. :)

My progress?

I've knit a few more inches on the Siamese sleeves, but am now very much distracted by the adjacent black and brown rows near the top.

They are just too dark together and keep pulling at the eye.

DH says it looks okay to him and to just keep going. I tried that for another inch or so, but now I just can't stand it.

Frog city, here we come.

---

Fair Isle Bibliography:

• Alice Starmore, "Fair Isle Knitting" from Knitting Around the World from Threads, Taunton Press, Newtown, CT, 1993
• The Celtic Collection, Alice Starmore, Trafalgar Square, Publishing, North Pomfret, Vermont, 1992
• The Harmony Guide to Aran and Fair Isle Knitting: Patterns, Techniques, and Stitches, Debra Mountford, Editor, Collins & Brown Limited, London, 2000
• Traditional Fair Isle Knitting, Shelia McGregor, Dover Publications, Mineola, NY, 1981

© 7 June 2008 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related Posts:
What I Learned From My Swatch - Calculating yardage for individual FI color patterns

Expanding Multiple Tabby Weave Blocks

By Leigh

I've spent two posts discussing trying to calculate sett without saying much about the other project details.

What I'm working on, is another multiple tabby weaves experiment, also from Dr. Bateman's book. So far I've only threaded all three plain weave possibilities in alternating blocks, but this next experiment is based on expanding these blocks.

The blocks are expanded to five threads by repeating the first thread. So that,

and

In addition, these blocks can be flipped to create more possibilities. The threading draft I'm using is found on page 48 of Dr. Bateman's book.

I'm also planning to try the weftings found in this section as well. How far along am I at the moment? This far.........

© 4 June 2008 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related posts:
Multiple Tabby Weaves
MTW Weaving Update At Last - how this warp is weaving up
Expanded Multiple Tabby Weave Samples - the finished samples

Another Way to Calculate Sett

By Leigh

I've just finished winding on my next warp, so I don't know yet how satisfactory the sett I calculated will be. There are other ways to calculate sett. Trapunto pointed out another one in the comments to that post, and I thought it would be helpful to blog about that one too. The formula is....

Sett = WPI x R ÷ I + R

WPI = wraps per inch
R = warp threads in one repeat
I = intersections of weft with warp in one threading repeat

This formula is found in Sharon Alderman's Mastering Weave Structures, which I don't have, but it's also in Interweave Press's The Weaver's Companion (page 36) and in Peggy Osterkamp's Winding a Warp and Using a Paddle, on page 98. The terms vary a bit in each version, but they all do the same thing.

The formula requires a little more information to get started, so I admit I haven't used it more than once, especially since I usually use charts.

Of course my curiosity is up, so I've decided to give it a try. First I need to know a few things.

My threading draft is a four block pattern with 5 warp ends per block, so there are 20 warp threads in one pattern repeat.

From the tie-up, I can see the interactions of warp and weft, and count 4 interactions per block. Multiplying this by the four blocks in the repeat gives me 16. So....

WPI = 65
R = 20
I = 16

Let me plug those in and see what I come up with.

WPI x R = 65 x 20 = 1300
.I + R ..= 20 + 16 = ..36

= a sett of 36

The sett from the other method? 34

I'm officially relieved!

Next I'll thread the heddles and then on to sleying. Hopefully I'll be weaving by Monday.

Posted 1 June 2008 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related Post - Calculating Sett

Calculating Sett

By Leigh

When it comes to calculating sett, I am a great fan of using charts. My favorite sett charts are found in the appendix of Peggy Osterkamp's New Guide to Weaving Volume 1: Winding a Warp and Using a Paddle. (You can see samples of these charts at her website, here.) Usually I can find what I need on one of these charts, however, I do have some oddball yarns that I've picked up here and there, which sometimes aren't listed.

Such is the case with the 16/3 cotton I want to use for my next multiple tabby weave experiment. So far, I've mostly used 8/2s cottons, because that's what I have a lot of. But I want to weave some everyday table napkins in navy and white, and I need a lighter weight warp yarn to go with the heavier navy weft.

Peggy's charts don't list 16/3 cotton, so I'm going to have to resort to another method to calculate the sett. I've decided to try something new, so here I am, thinking "out loud." Trying to explain concepts to others always helps clarify them for me. I only hope that in the end, all of this makes sense to you too!

The first step for any method is to figure out the wraps per inch.

Wraps per inch (WPI) can be calculated in one of two ways. The first way is to physically wrap the yarn around a one inch measure and to count how many wraps it takes to achieve a solid inch of yarn. A more detailed description of how to do this is here.

The second way is by using the Ashenhurst Rule.

The Ashenhurst Rule calculates the wraps per inch without doing the wrapping. This is especially helpful for fine or slippery yarns. This method is found in Winding a Warp and Using a Paddle, on page 90. If you don't have that book and would like to read a more detailed explanation, you can find the excerpt here.

Here's the formula:

WPI = 0.9 x √ of YPP

WPI = wraps (diameters) per inch
√ = square root of
YPP = yards per pound

The key to this one is knowing the yards per pound of the yarn. Sometimes this information is readily available, sometimes not. In my case I have absolutely no idea. However, I can figure it out with a McMorran Balance.

I considered doing a tutorial on how to use the McMorran Balance, but Laritza at Yorksett Arts & Crafts already has a good one, so I will refer you to it; just click here.

Using my McMorran Balance, I discover that the ypp is 5250. Grabbing my calculator and plugging that number into the formula, I get:

0.9 x √ of 5250 = 65.25 WPI.

Okay. So 65 and a quarter wraps will give me a solidly covered inch of my yarn. However, I need to make room for the weft, so that requires another calculation (this version also from Osterkamp):

Sett = WPI x weave firmness

This is how I learned to calculate sett.

WPI ÷ 2 = epi for balanced plain weave
WPI x 2/3 = epi for balanced 2/2 twill

Where WPI = wraps per inch and
..............epi = ends per inch

This gives what Peggy calls "maximum sett" for a balanced weave. If the sett is closer, then the fabric becomes warp dominant. One the other hand, the weaver may want a softer fabric. We have two choices here too. One can either weave a bunch of samples to decide what is best, or one can try ....

Allowing for the Purpose

This is something else found in Peggy's book. She lists suggested percentages to use depending upon the weave firmness wanted. This is based on the purpose for which the cloth will be used. You can find the box chart on page 93 of her book, or read the excerpt online here.

The threading draft I am planning to use is a broken twill, and my yarn is 65.25 WPI, so here are my calculations:

65 WPI x 2/3 (or .67 on my calculator) = 43 epi maximum sett

Taking Peggy's recommendation for 80% of maximum sett, (see "Sett: Making Your Weaving Easier").

43 x .8 = 34 epi to start.

So there you have it. The art and science of calculating sett. The science is in the math, and the art is in the weaver's choices based on knowledge and experience.

There are a couple of other methods, but these are the only ones I have experience with so far. I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences, so please leave a comment if you feel so inclined.

© 26 May 2008 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related posts:
Another Way to Calculate Sett
Measuring Wraps Per Inch (WPI)
How to Use a McMorran Balance (Yorksett Arts & Crafts)

Shetland Sleeve Update

By Leigh

Due to Life getting in the way, there hasn't been any weaving or spinning going on for about a week now. I have been knitting however. Here is how my Shetland Sampler Cardigan sleeves look now:

Less than two weeks ago I posted about just getting started on them, so this is a lot of progress for me! This is 92 rows worth and it measures 12.5 inches, so I'm roughly 2/3 of the way done.

If you're just dropping by for the first time, there are actually two sleeves here, as I'm using Lucy Neatby's Siamese Sleeves method. If you look closely, you can see the two stitch markers on the circular needle at the top of the photo. These are marking one of the two 6-stitch steeks which separate the sleeves. The increases on either side of it help create the odd looking pattern.

The cuffs will be added after the sleeves are cut apart and seamed.

I'm such a slow knitter that it never occurred to me that I might actually finish this thing this summer. I will definitely set it aside when the weather gets too hot to have a wool sweater in my lap. But so far our weather is very fine so who knows, I may have it done before you (and I) know it!

© 23 May 2008 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related Posts:
Ready to Start Those Sleeves - Discovering Siamese Sleeves
Starting the Sleeves - Sleeve Increase Calculator
Siamese Sleeves Done!
Wound Neck Steek