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In Which I Use Algebra

In what seems like a former life, I spent some time teaching algebra to pre-teens and teenagers. The number one question anyone who spends time in this particular pursuit hears is, of course, “When am I ever gonna have to use this?” (sometimes accompanied by a curse word, depending on the teenager).

Most of them sounded a lot like this.

I usually had to go with “well, you need it for college,” or “it’s helpful for logical thinking practice”, or a cooking or construction example that 95% of the students wouldn’t be able to relate to at all.

But I was thinking yesterday… geez, I wish I had been designing then. Because I use algebra ALL THE TIME now. I have a whole notebook full of algebra equations. It’s a thick notebook, even. I use algebra to figure out sweater dimensions, to upsize and downsize a sample so it’ll fit people of many shapes and sizes, and to calculate the exact ratio a sleeve cap should have to its corresponding armhole.

Here’s what I was doing yesterday when I started thinking about this: working out yarn requirements for the different sizes of my Bevin Pullover.

First I split the pieces of the sweater up into geometric shapes:

That says "sleeve", not "Steve". Trust me. I'm a professional.

Then I wrote out algebraic formulas for the area of each shape, in order to figure out the square inches of knitting in each size:

I'm especially proud of myself for remembering the formula for the area of a trapezoid without having to look it up.

It might look a little complicated, but it’s actually very basic. I just took my numbers for each size, plugged them into the formula, and it spit out the total square inches for each size. Then I figured out how much yarn per square inch my swatch used, divided by that number, and voila – fairly accurate yardage amounts!

If only those kids could see me now….

FO Friday: Daisy Cloche and Mittens

I have two FOs to show off today–and they’re both new designs!

Here are my Daisy Cloche and matching Daisy Mittens:

The specs:

Pattern: my own–in testing now, planning for a release in about a week

Yarn: Cascade Ecological wool held double, left over from the Neverending Christmas Stockings of 2011

Needles: Size US #11 circular and DPNs (which I had to go out and buy… I’d never used any DPNs bigger than US #10 before!

Notes: These quick projects were EXACTLY what I needed after the three-week exclusivity of my Bevin Pullover. My hands loved the switch from DK weight cotton/linen to super-bulky, squishy wool! And the hat and mittens came together with astonishing speed… I think I spent about 8 hrs on both, and that includes writing up the patterns afterward!

Now to go mess with Photoshop Actions and get the pictures exactly as I want them, hehe…

FO Friday: Bevin Pullover

A few days ago, I finished the sweater I’ve been working on. Today, hubby and I got some pictures, just in time for FO Friday!

I named it Bevin, which happens to be my middle name. Hey, I never claimed to be really creative with pattern names. It seemed appropriate for this design, somehow.

I’m really, really happy with the way this one turned out. The twisted-stitch detail goes up both sides of the front and back and stops right before the bust shaping (no need for any stretched-out motifs emphasizing the size of my bust, thankyouverymuch).

This sweater provided me with some challenges. I was reminded (more than once) why I tend to knit sweaters in the round rather than in pieces–I couldn’t try it on as I went, had to make sure the pieces were EXACTLY the same size, had to deal with all the seaming at the end, etc. But I wanted the yarn to be appropriate for summer, and the cotton/linen blend really needed the extra structure of seams to prevent any sagging or bagging.

Here are the specs:

Pattern: my own! Soon to be published through Knit Picks’ wonderful Independent Designer Program. Stay tuned!

Yarn: Knit Picks CotLin. I’m not terribly fond of working with cotton or linen (give me a nice squishy wool any day), but I can honestly say this sweater will be more comfortable to wear here in SoCal than most of my wool sweaters. It’s one of those process vs. product questions… and I think it was worth some discomfort if the finished item is so nice.

Notes: Now it’s time to write up the pattern in different sizes (I want to do XS – 3X, at least), then get it to some test knitters and a tech editor. I’ll be running the test through the Free Pattern Testers group on Ravelry, if anyone’s interested–hopefully I’ll have a call for testers up by Monday.

Love this picture, even if it isn't the best one of the sweater!

Swatch love

Things I Love Today:

How amazing it feels to knit chunky wool with chunky needles.

Pardon the crappy nighttime cell phone pic.

In the last three days, I’ve knit something like 1200 yards of cotton/linen blend on #5 and #6 needles. My hands are killing me. So while the pieces of the sweater were blocking this afternoon… I couldn’t resist whipping out a few swatches.

I love swatching. So little commitment, but somehow so satisfying. I didn’t keep my swatches before I started designing (okay, full disclosure–sometimes I didn’t even swatch at all…), but since I actually have to make sure things fit now, things have changed. I currently keep all my swatches, tagged with the needle size and yarn info, in this little plastic bag I got from the last Stitch N’ Pitch at Dodger Stadium.

Truthfully, I think I’m going to outgrow it soon:

And while I had it out, I felt the need to take all the swatches out for a photo op (cause I’m weird like that, I guess–I want my swatches to get some love!). Remember, these are only since I started designing last summer… that should give you an idea of how much I swatch these days.

Isn’t that beautiful?

Aiiieeeee…

I’m starting a new category: things I definitely don’t like ever (TIDDLE for short, cause somehow that helps).

I was happily knitting away on the back piece of my current sweater design. I had knit about 10 inches when I noticed something awful.

Bottom of front piece. See where the pattern begins?

Bottom of back piece on which I'd already knit 10 FRICKING INCHES

Do you see it? I started the cable pattern two rows earlier on the back piece.

Now, this is a rolled edge, so ordinarily I’d just try to fudge it when sewing up, confident that it’d be hidden in the roll anyway. But the big problem is that I counted from the edge when doing the waist decreases.

This means the (paired) decreases on the front and back pieces, the ones I purposely intended to be visible at the sides of the sweater, aren’t going to line up. And the cable motif won’t line up either. The mistake would definitely be noticeable.

I wanted to cry. But instead I ripped out all 10 inches and came here to whine about it. And oddly, I feel a little better. So I’m off to start the back over again. Thanks for “listening”. :-)