Spindlitis

Back in the old days, there was a revolutionary knitting book. It was called Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmerman. She gave you a percentage system, that you could use to design your own sweater, without needing a pattern. EZ’s work led to a lot of knitting innovation.  We seem to have fallen back into buying patterns, letting someone else do the design work. I am putting together a tutorial on knitting an Icelandic Sweater, using the percentage system. I will be using Knitting in the Old Way by Priscilla Gibson-Robert for my work. She uses EZ’s percentage system, but also focuses on how to use that system for classic sweater design.

Also, I am linking to this set of tutorials online, from Knitting for Everyone:

https://youtu.be/0ss8VxLNqlY

https://youtu.be/tRUCf3mzTGg

https://youtu.be/BGNLk1sSdEk

She does use commercial patterns, but it is a good overview on how this sweater goes together. Also, she uses a really nice method of starting a 1×1 rib. There’s an additional video on her channel, if you need a clearer view of it.

The drawback to making your own patterns is that you have to figure out how much yarn you’ll need and a few sizing details along the way. I’m making mine bottom up, as she shows in the tutorials, so you can try the sleeves on as you go. You’ll have a good idea of gauge after making two sleeves! I love Icelandic yarns, so I just bought a bunch of it, online from Little Knits. I have enough for two sweaters, possibly three. If you need to get a better idea before you start, there is some reference material in PGR’s book on yardage and you can always check a pattern online to see what they used. There are graphs for a couple of yoke designs in the book, or you could graph a pattern that you’ve seen online. Trust me, you’ll get braver about modifying things as you go, once you’ve started working this way.

I’ve finished both sleeves, so will try to put the first part of the tutorial up soon. I would love to see more folks making their own designs and learning how easy it is to have a sweater that fits you well.

I posted this over on Ravelry, so decided to share it here.

Here’s a quick tutorial on how I use a nostepinne. A nosty is just a stick, so this would work on any stick or even a toilet paper roll.

I like to start by tying the yarn around the handle of my nosty. You can just hold it in place to start. I wrap it around towards the right.

Here I’ve wrapped it a few times around the nosty to get started. Notice that I’ve got the yarn pointed up as I’m getting ready to start my wraps.

This is my first wrap down. Most people seem to wrap up, but I feel that I am faster making that downward motion.

Now I’ve gone around the nosty and back up, in position for the next downward wrap.

Each wrap is next to the previous wrap. You slowly turn the nosty as you are wrapping, using that same motion down in the front, then back up at the back.

I’ve done several more turns here. Notice that the wraps are getting longer and the ball is growing longer on the nosty.

You can continue to go around like this, but you will wind up with a skinny long ball. I’m going to do what I call “make a shoulder” so that I make the ball fatter. Here’s my base:

When you make a shoulder, you are deliberately shortening the length of the wrap. It helps to keep a finger nearby, to guide the yarn around the first few wraps.

You can really start to see how I’ve shortened the wrap. It also is moving diagonally across the ball, instead of up and down.

As you continue to move around the ball, it gets wider.

I used up all my yarn, but you can see the shoulder that I’ve formed. When I am making a large ball of yarn, I will sometimes do this for awhile, then wrap back up to the top again for a bit. You can make a shoulder any time that you feel the ball needs to be fatter.