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10.12.2003 :: Sanqahar Swatch
This swatch is for a pair of Sanquhar Gloves. I'm going to use the free pattern from the Japanese web site the ABC's of Knitting.
The yarn is Jamieson and Smith 2-ply laceweight (shetland wool). I'm using 1.5mm(US000) needles. I did a one-color, back and forth swatch and my gauge came out to 9.5 stitches/inch. Which is not even close to the recommended 14 st/in in the pattern.
Since the 000s are the smallest needles that I have on hand, I tried again with the two color circular swatch and fortunately ended up getting a gauge of 12 st/in. A little math and a few measurements has helped me to determine that the gauge difference will size up the mittens perfectly for a slightly larger glove.
To the right is a close-up of the salt-and-pepper pattern. Notice that in the middle, it looks very messy.
I've found that the most comfortable way to do stranded knitting is with both colors in my left hand. I started knitting the two color swatch with the black as the color away from me. My impression was that the white was not 'popping' enough, so I switched and held the white yarn in the 'away' position. The three messy rows in the middle are the ones that I knit with the white yarn 'away'. After those three rows, I switched back to the original set up of yarns in my hand and am happy with the results.
Last night I cast on 88 teeny-tiny stitches for glove number one. Once I have some notable progress, I'll post an update.
p.s. This yarn is very soft. And, this project is a part of a glove knitalong that one of my Yahoo groups is doing.
Posted by Mary on 10.12.2003 AT 10:57 AM
Comments
I think your gauge might tighten up when you are working in the round. I always notice my tension is tighter on glove fingers - guess I'm worried the needles will fall out of the knitting.
Posted by: Nanette on 10.12.2003 AT 02:53 PM
Size 000 needles?! In my house, I call 'em toothpicks! GAK! The gloves are fab.
Posted by: Brooks on 10.14.2003 AT 09:31 AM
Hi Mary,
Very nice! Will you be working on these in Rhinebeck (I hope!) I'd love to see how you knit with both strands in your left--do you wrap the yarn around 2 different fingers? I've been trying learn to hold 2 strands in my left since my tension is not very even when holding strands in each hand.
Posted by: Leigh on 10.14.2003 AT 06:35 PM
How pretty. Isn't black and white a satisfying combination. I want to knit something in black and white soon - the Giant Latvian Mitten cardigan or Frogner from Dale 106.
Posted by: CarolineF on 10.15.2003 AT 09:12 AM
Mary, I'm doing the Japanese Sanquhar glove pattern in J&S laceweight on size 00 dpns and getting about 12 stitches to the inch. And the gloves are not terribly tight although the Shirl the Purl pattern says Sanquhar gloves aren't supposed to be tight.
Posted by: Nanette on 10.12.2003 AT 02:52 PM