Continuing the yarn - thinned out back loop method

Not in Finnish today, sorry!

You can find lots of very valuable hints of continuing the yarn and working the ends as you go in the TECHknitting-blog. I started discussing about a method of thinning the back join, but the answer grew and grew and I might include some pictures afterwards so I ended here. Sounds almost like I'm excusing for blogging again (I'm not! :)



I'm a big fan of the back join to continue yarn, not matter whether the color is changing or not. Mostly the extra bulk does not matter, but sometimes I want to avoid any bulk at all. Like: I happened to be in the middle of the front of a sweater I knitted for G a while a go as the yarn just, well, ended there, with no warning! OK, so I was not paying attention, and I would have preferred to continue the yarn on the side of the sweater, but didn't want to rip half a row either... call me lazy. It worked pretty well.

You can "thin out" the back join or the overlap join to avoid bulk by splicing a multi-plied yarn,



i.e., cutting off 2 plies of a (say) 4-ply yarn for the last 3-4 inches (I use usually some 4-5 sts length) and keeping the other 2 plies.



Then make a (say) back join with the remaining 3-4 inches of half-the-yarn.




Allow little overlap between the cut (short) end and the long end, depending whether you want to sew in the ends afterwards.



Knit a couple of stitches, depending on the size of your loop, to make joining the new end easier.



Do the same with the new yarn end, cutting half of the plies (in this case 1 of 3 in a 3-ply yarn)




and making a loop of the remaining ones.




You will have no bulk whatsoever in your join, but the yarn will always have the original thickness.



The problem with this method is that there is a change of getting wisps of the remaining threads sticking out of the fabric, also in the right side.



I'm discussing two cases of avoiding these wisps, unfortunately both of them are imperfect:


*If I'm lazy and the back side is not going to show, I separate the short and long end for an extra inch, do not overlap the ends but only make the loop on the long end (back join) allowing also the long end some 1 inch extra at the point in which the short and long end are separated. Now I have 1 inch (or as long as you wish) of both long and short ends coming of the fabric at the same spot. After the blocking I can handle them like I would for a normal back join except that the threads of the yarn are separated. Usually I just cut the ends leaving some 1/4-1/2 inch extra on the back side (like the inside of a sock).

*If the back side is going to show,
1) I separate the long and short ends for at least ca 1 inch.
2) I make a loop of the long end and overlap the long end with the "whole" yarn at the point where the short and long end are separated, leaving at least 1 inch extra for the short end to be weaved in later, as well as 1 inch of the long end beyond the overlapped part.
3) If possible, I spit-felt the long end together with the "whole" yarn for the first sts that I'm using to knit i.e., the point where the back join starts (however adding bulk again, but not as much as in a normal back join).
4) As previously, I leave the ends to be cut after blocking. However, this leaves you with the doubled amount of ends, since the short and long ends are not coming out of the fabric at the same spot. That, is in my book, means a doubled probability of wisps.. so it might be necessary weave the spliced ends, or maybe use the overcast-method.

Now this is G's sweater, showing two wisps where I joined the yarn.



In the case of the G's sweater the yarn, despite of being merino, was not felting but rather cotton-y, so I left pretty long ends hanging in the join (maybe 3 inches each) and after "back join with 1 sts overlap of the whole yarn and the long end" did something similar to the overcast-method to weave in the thinned-out ends as I went (for a couple of stitches per end and row), and also weaved in the remaining ends after blocking.

The wisps were not visible first, but after some weeks use they popped up in the front. Since the inside of the sweater is not showing I just thucked them in

- problem solved! I the picture of the purl side you can slightly see that some ends have been woven in, but this does not show in the knit side.


I don't think the ends are going to pop up in the front again, but even if, I'm just going to keep thucking them in, I think.

Magknits is gone :( Laminaria is ready :)

ETA: pics of laminaria

Luin juuri Magknitsin lopettaneen toimintansa. Samalla myös lehden serveritilasta on luovuttu, mikä tarkoittaa sitä että ensialkuun Magknitsin ohjeet eivät ole saatavilla. Osa ohjeista löytyy google-cachesta (eli googleta ohjetta ja ota välimuistin versio) kuvattomina. Myös archive.org:ista löytyy kuvattomat kopiot ohjeista. Archive.orgin hakuun tarvitaan alkuperäisen sivun osoite.

I just found out that Magknits is gone. Also their server space is gone, which means that the patterns are momentarily unavailable. Some of the patterns can be found cached by Google (after googling (?) the pattern just take the cache-version and not the original page), without original pictures and charts, though. You can also found copies of the patterns at archive.org, without pics also. For a search at archive.org you need the original address of the page you are looking for.

On täällä neulottukin, Laminaria valmistui juuri (on vielä pingoittumassa, lisään kuvan illalla) ja hyshys-juttu pikkusiskolle pääsi hyppäämään puikoille.


I've also been knitting, Laminaria is blocking (so picture will follow in the evening) and I started something secretive for my sister.

Hyvää blogipäivää - Happy Blogday

Blogipäivän kunniaksi vielä muutamia linkkejä "kulttuuriltaan ja asenteeltaan erilaisiin blogeihin (kuin tämä)" siis ainakin jossain mielessä:

For the sake of the blogday I proudly represent some links to blogs that are "different from my culture, point of view and attitude" at least in some sense:

Suomeksi/in Finnish:
*Anna ihmemaassa ihmettelee Texasin elämää ja saa pojan näillä hetkillä.
*Jatulintarha pohtii mm kirjoittamista, sukupuolia sekä totuttuja kaavoja.
*Osastovakoilija Lihvonen opettelee kävelemään.
*Saastainen huone ruotii kristillistä uskontoa ja uskonnollisuutta sekä sitä mitä näillä sanoilla oikeastaan edes pitäisi ymmärtää. Entisen uskovan näkökulma.
*Viistolla pinnalla on autismiperheen arkea yhteiskuntakriittisesti.

Englanniksi/in English:
*Dykes to watch out for is a blog about wonderful comics and their creator. Without a proper RSS-feed though.
*Half of Me's Pasta Queen is half of the size she used to.
*Mistress Matisse's Journal is written by a professional dominatrix.
*Rate your students: professors tell their side of the story.
*Stil in Berlin: more pics than text.

ja koska luen myös saksalaisia blogeja/and just because I can

Saksaksi/in German:
*Buchhändleralltag und Kundenwahnsinn
*Der täglich Wahnsinn an der Hotline

molemmat asiakaspalvelukomiikkaa/both about service-insanity.

Nautitaan huolella ja ajan kanssa. /Enjoy with time and care!

Lisää lomailua - heading for holiday

Ensimmäinen joululahja on valmis. Esittelen ehkä jo ennen joulua. Tai sitten vasta joulun jälkeen... Kuten otsikko lupaa lähden lomailemaan, tällä kertaa 10 päivän alppivaellukselle!! Kovin montaa ja painavaa kutomusta ei rinkaan mahdu, mutta yhteensä vähintään 20 tunnin junamatkoja ajatellen muutamat sukat kyllä. Yhdet kirjoneuleiset (omaa sävellystä vanhan saksalaisen ohjeen mukaan) ja seuraavat sidewindersit, joihin tulee omaa kivaa päälle, saas nähdä onnistuuko...

First Christmas present is finished. Maybe I'll introduce it after Xmas, maybe before. As the title says I'm heading for holiday, 10 days of trekking in the Alps! So not too much too heavy knitting in my backpack. But I'm going to sit some 20 hours in train (only, if I'm lucky, there are also some warnings about strikes for trains..) so I'm going to take some socks to knit with me. One pair of fair isle (modified from old German huettensocke-model) and next sidewinders, with some extras on top, let's see whether I'll succeed with them...

ETA: Ai niin, ensimmäiset Sidewindersit on valmiit ja sopii! Kuvia loman jälkeen. Forgot to say, the first Sidewinders are ready and rocking! Pics after holiday.

Elossa ollaan/I'm alive

ja palattu sateiseen berliiniin. Suomen loma meni kivasti (ihanat valoisat yöt taas muisto vain) ja (iso Kiitos Iso-Gnulle) lankaa löytyi jopa suunniteltua enemmän :) Esittely seuraa kuvien kera kunhan saan kuvat ladattua kamerasta. Neulomisaikaa sen sijaan ei tahtonut löytyä ensinkään kaiken reissaamisen ja kavereiden tapaamisen välissä, etenkin kun reissatessa piti iso osa ajasta kuluttaa auton ratissa... (Kävellessä neulomisesta oon jo kuullut, mahtaneeko kuitenkaan onnistua ratissa? Kaikkia kokeilleita pyydetään ilmoittautumaan infotiskillä.)

Viimeksi valmistunut takki on nyt kuitenkin päässyt tositoimiin, ja ilmeisesti kaulus on vähän löysä, ts. takki meinaa valua olkapäille. No äitikkä onneksi jo neuvoi miten sitä voisi fiksata. Tämä ja takin huppu odottavat siis kiireisten listalla. Kotiin tultua on kummasti löytynyt enemmän aikaa neulomiseen, ja jälkimmäinenkin sidewinder alkaa olla saumaamista vaille valmis. Tästä myös lisää kuvien kera pika puolin!

and back in rainy Berlin. It was nice to be in Finland again (oh the looong looong nights) and thanks to Iso-Gnu my stash grew even more than planned :) I'll introduce you to the new members of my stash as soon as the pictures have been downloaded from the camera. I didn't have too much time to knit though, since most of the time used for travelling I needed to drive a rental car. If you have experiences driving and knitting in parallel, please share them with me.

G's gardigan has now been tested in real life, and it functions well, except that it kind of slips to shoulders. Luckily my dear Mum told me how to prevent that, so fixing that and knitting the hood are waiting me coming home. After coming home from Finland I also have been able to almost finish the second sidewinder (pics coming soon as well!)

Suomeen - To Finland

Huomenna lähtee lento yhdentoista kieppeillä suomeen! Jippii! Tulee taas nähtyä juhannuksen valoisat yöt parin vuoden tauon jälkeen. Mutta asiaan: koska helsingissä ja turussa kiertelyyn jäänee aikaa muutama päivä, otan kommentteihin mielelläni vastaan vinkkejä aivan ihanista noilta suunnilta löytyvistä lankakaupoista, josko vaikka saisin Hanilta luvan livetä lomabudjetista ihanien kerien tai vyyhtien satutessa kohdalle.

Tomorrow we have our figth to Finland, to it's lovely summer nights! So any recommendations about lovely yarn shops in Helsinki-Turku region are warmly welcome.

lankaa - yarns

Mennäkuukausina lankaa ja puikkoja on kuin huomaamatta kertynyt kaappiin. Yhä useammin hiirisormi vaeltaa linkkien luo, jotka johtavat oi niin kauniiden ohjeiden pariin. Tuollaisia kun joskus osaisin mäkin.. Huoh. En siis voi kuin vastata kutsuun, ja harjoitella, jotta joskus pääsen niiden ihanienkin ohjeiden pariin. Koska harjoitteluinnostus ei ole ottanut laantuakseen, täytyy aloittaa blogi jotta voi pitää kirjaa harjoituskappaleista.

Last months I've been distracted from work, byuing yarn and needles. And even more often I find my mouse wondering to links leading to the most beautiful recepies and illustrations. One day I'll be able to do those as well... Sigh.. So I had to take the call of yarns, and start practicing to get to The Most Wonderful ones too. Since I didn't want to stop practicing yet, I need to start a blog to keep up with all my practicing.