Author: debgemmellmods

I'm a Knitter. The capital K means every day, everywhere. I started designing as co-owner of Cabin Fever with my sister Lyn. We have published over 160 patterns and 11 books. I'm also working on a new set of patterns for Any Gauge or Gauge-free knitting so you can dive into your stash and cast on for a Top Down sweater that fits, or an accessory to use up those odd balls of yarn.

Helical knitting to the rescue

Sometimes, a technique that is used for one application can be used somewhere else to solve a different problem. It might be nothing the original technique was ever set up for. That is the case with Helical Knitting.

Helical Knitting is working coloured stripes in the round without a jog at the beginning of the round. In this sock, one stripe was a solid colour and one stripe was variegated.

If you haven’t heard of this or haven’t given it a try, this video is from the book Something New to Learn about Helical Knitting:

Basic 1×1 Helical Stripe video by Jen and Jim of Arnall-Culliford Knitwear.

Once you have mastered 1×1 stripes you can work 3 or more coloured stripes: Multi-round Helical Knitting. This hat has 4 colours.

All that’s great but where is the alternative application? Right here.

I am knitting with kettle dyed yarn. The general rule for knitting with yarn that’s not commercially dyed is to work with two balls of wool, alternating rounds. I am always afraid there might still be some pooling so I used 3 skeins and the Multi-Round Helical Knitting method.

I set it up for 3 stripes. I’m calling them stripes even though all the stripes are the same colour. It seems silly but it ties into the Helical technique video above. It means I have 3 balls coming from my project and yes, they do tangle but … I have very smooth colour with some colour variation but no pooling.

I will certainly be doing this again. This might be a terrific technique for you too.

Keep on, keeping on. Cheers, Deb

Gauge-Free and Any Gauge patterns by Deb

Deb on instagram

Knitting with a different gauge of yarn

I was looking to knit something light weight, cheerful and easy to pop on. I also wanted a garment with a colourful pattern. A fairisle patterned poncho seemed like the perfect garment.

I chose the Ninilchik Swoncho pattern which is knit in double knitting weight yarn. I wanted to knit it in fingering weight wool even though it meant I would be knitting in an entirely different weight of yarn than the pattern calls for.

80/20 Fingering wool by Shelridge Yarns

Have you worked a pattern with a different weight of yarn? Did it work? It’s a skill you need if you’re serious about stash busting.

So, here we go. This is one way to do this. Are you ready for some math?

First steps are to convert the Pattern Gauge and my New Yarn Gauge to the number of stitches in 1″/2.5cm.

  1. The pattern calls for double knitting weight yarn with a gauge of 20 sts = 4″/10cm. I’m going convert this to #sts = 1″/2.5cm and call this the Pattern Gauge. Pattern Gauge: 20 sts divided by 4 = 5 sts = 1″/2.5cm.
  2. My New Yarn Gauge for my fingering weight wool is 28 sts = 4″/10cm. New Yarn Gauge: 28 sts divided by 4 = 7 sts = 1″/2.5cm

Next up is to choose which size in the pattern will give you the Finished Size you want. You’re not working to the pattern’s gauge so you’re going to have to follow the stitch numbers for a different size to get the Finished size you want. I know, it seems weird.

Read through the pattern and find the number of stitches in the pattern for the Body. That’s the finished size that matters. Divide the Body number of stitches by the New Yarn Gauge. This will give you the finished size, in inches or cm, that knitting in your new yarn will give you. Do this for every pattern size.

3. This Swoncho pattern only has 2 Finished Body sizes: 69 (83)”/175 (211)cm. I want to make the small size but because I’m knitting with finer yarn I am going to have to follow the stitch numbers for the larger size. The larger size has 416 sts for the Body. So, 416 sts divided by New Yarn Gauge of 7 sts = 59″ . In my finer yarn the Body of the poncho is going to be 59″ around after dividing for the sleeves, even using the stitch numbers for the larger size. It’s a pretty big poncho so I’m fine with a slightly smaller version.

I worked the stitch numbers for the larger size with the finer yarn. It is a light, swishy poncho and plenty big enough for my daughter.

Now I have lots and lots of plain knitting but more on that next time.

Keep on, keeping on. Cheers, Deb

Gauge-Free and Any Gauge patterns by Deb

Deb on instagram

Fairisle: a fan or not?

I decided to dust off my fairisle knitting skills and knit the Ninilchik Swoncho by Caitlin Hunter. It’s a lovely design with terrific charts, and you know I love a chart or three.

My daughter liked this pattern. Do you think looking outside affected her colour choices?

80/20 fingering by Shelridge Yarns

The first couple of inches were a bit painful. I was very rusty. After working 8 inches, with a colour in each hand, it felt like my hands were beginning to know what to do.

I did learn a couple things about myself:

  1. I need to work on knitting with my right hand. It needs a lot of work. I’m a continental knitter (yarn in my left hand) even though I am right-handed. Knitting with the right hand looks so easy when I see other people doing it but they probably – OK they do – say the same about me.
  2. Long floats cause great anxiety. Are the floats loose enough? Is it going to pucker? Should I catch a stitch? Ooops, too late, next time?
  3. I like to make quick colour changes. So I dropped a few extra stitches into the last pattern. It changes the pattern but who’s the boss of this knitting anyway!

The colourwork is beautiful but now that I’m done, I must admit, I’m a little relieved.

It turns out that I’m not a fairisle knitter after all.

Now I can enjoy all those beautiful colourwork sweaters I’m seeing everywhere and know that I am not going to knit them. Phew, good to know.

Hope you’re knitting something you love.

Cheers, Deb

Gauge-Free and Any Gauge patterns by Deb, dive into your stash and cast on.

Deb on instagram

Knitting like crazy, is it good?

I just listened to a podcast interview by Brene Brown which explains why I, and maybe you too, are knitting like a crazy person.

A small, very small, pile of my finished knitting.

She interviewed two sisters who wrote the book Burnout, Emily and Amelia Nagoski. What I found really interesting is that they said that stress (irregardless of the cause) has a beginning, middle and end. Getting to the end, on a daily basis, is the trick to dealing with stress. Getting stuck in the middle causes emotional exhaustion. You may be familiar with this feeling?!

To end the stress they suggested some solutions you could practice every day to bring an end to that wound-up or maybe more like unwound, feeling:

  1. Physical exercise. Walk, yoga, whatever.
  2. Breath. Deep breaths with long exhales.
  3. Positive Social Connection. Talk to someone, anyone. It could be a nice comment to a shop person.
  4. Laughter. The belly shaking kind.
  5. Affection. A warm hug with someone in your bubble. The feeling of being safe. This is the difficult one these days.
  6. Cry. Pay attention to the crying. Don’t keep thinking about the stressor (cause of stress).
  7. CREATIVE EXPRESSION. OK, this is where I’m at. Knitting, knitting, knitting.
  • 80/20 fingering by Shelridge Yarns

Turns out that KNITTING IS TOTALLY GOOD FOR YOU so keep knitting, knitting, knitting.

You may recognize this? Ninilchik Swoncho by Caitlin Hunter

Cheers, Deb

Any Gauge and Gauge-free patterns by Deb

Deb on Instagram

My Socks by Cat Bordhi

I could say that I’m knitting socks because it is socktober but that would be a lie. I’m knitting socks because they are my go-to when I’m thinking about a new design or procrastinating on another project or just restless and need to cast on something, anything, new. Someone needs socks, right? My daughter just dug out her winter clothes and counted 12 pairs so she’s good. My son-in-law is working in his basement where it’s cooler so he could use another pair. My husband is talking about buying socks so he’s definitely in the queue.

Cat Bordhi has left us. To honour her, I have made a pile of all her books. I am trying to learn one of her sock systems because my dream of taking a class from her is gone. First up is the New Pathways for Sock Knitters book.

I have knit several pairs so far: the Spiraling Coriolis which are toe up, Bartholomew’s Tantalizing Socks which begin at the cuff, and lastly the Ocean Toes which are also worked cuff down.

I’m still working on these socks because I have learned:

  1. You can place the gusset stitches anywhere on the sock: on the top of the foot, under the foot (I love this idea) or even only on one side of the sock. Wow, that opens things up, doesn’t it?!
  2. You can work the gusset stitches with two knit rounds between the decreases (or increases if toe up). That means the gusset section is longer so these socks give you more room along the instep (the arch on the top of your foot between mid-foot and ankle) which I really need for a good fit, bonus!

I’ve knit six socks so I have this system down, right? I mean six is enough. Now to do it with the book closed (feels like high school exams). The first sock went pretty well until I turned the heel and realized that I had worked the Short Rows for the heel starting with long rows which got shorter. No, no, no, rip, rip, rip. Started the heel again with Short Rows which started short and got longer. OK, look at me, I got this. Everything looks great.

I cast on the second sock a couple of weeks later. Finished the heel and guess what, it doesn’t look like the first sock. It’s close but now quite right. What happened?! Picture me looking clueless.

It’s back to the drawing board to figure out where I went wrong. Rip, rip, rip. I feel like the little engine that could. I can do this. I can do this.

I’m changing my name to Deb Persistence Gemmell. Has a nice ring to it.

Cheers. Keep on, keepin’ on.

Any Gauge and Gauge-Free patterns by Deb

Cabin Fever patterns by Deb and Lyn

Deb on instagram

Variegated Sock yarn can be challenging

Look over there, some bright sock yarn. Into a bag it goes and now it’s mine with no thought as to what I might do with it.

Diamond Select Footsie

When I go into a yarn store I feed obligated to buy something and that something is almost always sock yarn. Bright sock colours shout at me but then, when I get home, I don’t always know what to do with them.

This wool has a really, really short colour changes. Can you see that? Each colour knits only 1-5 stitches. It’s not going to take a pattern well and I didn’t really want to work a totally plain sock, so what to do?

I decided that every time the next few stitches on my needle were the same colour as the next bit on the strand of yarn in my hand, I would purl those stitches. Sometimes one stitch, mostly 3 stitches and every once in a while I got to purl 5 stitches, whoo hoo exciting. It gave the leg of my sock some texture and kept me watching the colours very carefully. The first leg knit up really quickly.

I knit the foot in plain stockinette. You can see how sometimes the colours sit on top of each other.

One sock done. Can’t wait to get started on the second one.

Socks you gotta love them.

Cheers, Deb

Gauge Free and Any Gauge patterns by Deb

Did you get value from your pattern?

Did you ever buy a pattern and wondered what you paid for? What makes this pattern special?

I’m knitting the Lanterns shawl by Softsweater (Sylvia McFadden).

The leaf pattern is gorgeous. I worked it with the twisted knits and twisted purls (don’t worry, there is an untwisted version). This was a challenge. The trick, I found, is to work the twisted knit row on the loose side so the twisted purls on the next row are easier to work. It doesn’t take long to get the hang of this. The final blocking will really show this off.

The leaf section is done. But that’s not the special part for me.

The edge stitches are really well thought out and charted. I’m quite sure the beginning and end of the rows took time to develop. She even did a video of a different stitch she used. That’s customer service. But that’s still not ‘it’ for me either.

What I paid for, and it was a very small amount of $ but I won’t go into how much patterns are undervalued in our industry, was the 10 or so rows right here.

This is the transition from the leaf pattern to the chevron pattern. It’s elegant, don’t you think? It’s a thing of beauty. I’ve stopped knitting here so I can just appreciate how she made these patterns flow, one into the other.

As far as I’m concerned this is what I paid for. A little bit of knitting elegance. When I pick it up tomorrow I am starting with a smile of appreciation on my face. Thanks Sylvia.

Cheers and happy knitting, Deb

Any Gauge and Gauge-Free patterns by Deb

Cabin Fever No-Sew patterns by Deb & Lyn

Tiny (Sock) Slippers

If you already know how to make cuff-down socks, you can make a small modification and use your sock know-how to make slippers. I hope this is a helpful tip for you.

I’m making tiny socks for my grandson and at 3 months old he’s not on his feet too much so making sock slippers seemed like the way to go.

worked from the Need A Sock book by Cabin Fever 36 sts in sock yarn

What makes them slippers instead of socks? A continuous rounded toe to give the slippers a higher toe box.

It’s all about the grafting at the very end.

These tiny socks are worked in the usual manner of cuff-down socks, ending with a rounded toe. Then instead of grafting the stitches on the front of the sock to the stitches on the sole of the sock, move the stitches on your needles so that you can graft the side stitches to the other side stitches. This gives you some thickness to the toe box of the socks and is therefore more slipper-like.

Graft 4 side stitches to 4 side stitches.

Now I admit that using only 4 stitches on either side doesn’t raise the toe box very much, so for an older child or an adult you could graft 8 or 10 side stitches to 8 or 10 side stitches and that would make them slippers. Make sure your slipper foot is long enough and then for the toe decrease work: starting in the centre of the sole, *knit to last 5 sts on needle, K3, K2tog, on top of foot K3, SSK; repeat from *. Work in heavier yarn, add a stitch pattern or some colour work, make the cuff ribbing nice and tall so it can be folded over and voila, slippers.

Try it and let me know if you liked it. Cheers, Deb

Gauge-Free and Any Gauge patterns by Deb

Deb on instagram

Cabin Fever patterns by Deb & Lyn

Little Socks

I have gone overboard once again. To increase my concentration, which has mostly deserted me, I am trying to work on projects that require attention. But now that’s all I have to work on. What am I going to do when my mind clouds over and I’m done with this concentration business?

I am working on 2 lace projects. One is the Tail End of my 3-Act Play scarf.

The concentration needed to follow my own pattern exactly is hard. I’m not very good at following directions (which is why I write patterns instead of following them) so this is a struggle.

Secondly I’m trying to imagine I’m a newish intermediate knitter trying this pattern out. How can I make this as easy to follow as possible? This takes some mind altering as I try to convince myself that I don’t know what this pattern is about when it was me that thought the whole thing up in the first place. You can see that this is a form of mind gymnastics that cannot be maintained for long.

So I’m knitting socks for my new grandson. Tiny socks that make me smile just to look at them.

I recently recommended our Need A Sock book by Brenda Harris and Cabin Fever (Cabin Fever is me and my sister Lyn) to a new sock knitter so I thought I should take a look through it again and knit my socks from there. I’m still extremely happy with how it takes a knitter through the process, one step at a time, using double pointed needles, my favourite method. Good job, Brenda.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/cabin-fever-need-a-sock

I think I will knit little Max some ribbed socks next. The first socks used 19g of fingering wool so now I know what to do with all those little balls of yarn I have in my stash.

Cheers and hoping your stash is still holding up, Deb

Any Gauge and Gauge-Free patterns by Deb

Cabin Fever No-Sew patterns by Deb & Lyn

Deb on instgram

Working row+Comfort row

Working row + comfort row OR work on every row. Where do you stand on this important question? Do you like a comfort row, worked quite often in purl, where you don’t have to think about a stitch pattern? I do but sometimes it’s not the best way to go.

Right now I’m knitting lace and boy, I am really appreciating the comfort row. I have to concentrate and count as I work across the row, glancing at the chart over and over again since I don’t seem to be able to hold too much in my small brain these days. Since I’m working garter lace my comfort row is a knit row and I sigh in gratitude every time.

But when I was working the Bias Centre in garter stitch I was happy to do a little bit on every row. It gives the garter stitch, not structure exactly, but some way to tell where I was. I especially, in the case of garter stitch, like to work the decreases or increases at the beginning of the row as opposed to the end.

I don’t know if you find this but garter stitch sort of numbs me out, especially on long rows of it. About 5 stitches in my mind is off on another tangent and not paying any attention to what I’m doing. I find myself turning and starting the next row, paying close attention to whatever is required, before I realize that maybe I was supposed to do something at the end of that last row. Wait, did I miss something?? Tink back and finish up correctly. This is where a strategically placed marker comes in very handy. A very large marker that you can’t miss is a must, just like tying a string on your finger. Hmm I wonder why that string is there? I know there was something I was trying not to forget!

This little guy is our comfort these days. His family made it up to the camp (called a cottage if you’re in the south but here in the north it’s called a camp). Max is the 7th generation to come here. Right now we have 4 generations of my own family in residence, plus cousins and aunts and uncles too, over 6 camp properties (all social distancing but pretty easy since we spend all our time outside).

My daughter (who is feeling pretty good right now) and her little boy.
Max and daddy, ready for bed, at least Max is.

I’ll stop now with the Nana pics. We are overjoyed that they made it up. Another baby that can grow up here, just like Morgan and her brother did, me and my sisters did and my father before me. Makes me feel hopeful for the future.

Cheers, and I hope you are working some magic with your knitting whether you have a comfort row or not,

Deb

Gauge-Free and Any Gauge patterns by Deb

Cabin Fever No-Sew patterns by Deb & Lyn