Friday, June 06, 2008

Tips for Textured Painted Knitting

Look at what I just finished...a textured painted dishtowel! I love knitted dishtowels and thought this technique would yield a nice looking towel. I'm very happy with the results, but it does take a long time to knit. Great take along project, because of the easiness of the pattern.

This knitting technique (original pattern) is really different...at least it was for me. I know I had to experiment a little at first, but then once I figured it all out, it was easy. I'm sure others have questions. Patricia and Barbara contacted me with their questions.

Patrica had a whole bunch of questions:

Dear Ms Hakucho,
I teach knitting and we have discovered this pattern through your blog. Here is what has happened to my students:
1. Do you knit the rev st st stitches as they appear on the needle or as the color appears from the working yarn?
2: Do you only do it on the right side and purl every row on the wrong side?
3: What do you do if there are several (like 3 or 4) colors in the yarn? Do you designate what you want to dominate? And pick it as the rev st st?
These are just the top three questions. We spent one whole class debating the options. Which it appears could be several. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated so we can move along on this project. Maybe just your method? They are wearing me out! LOL
Patricia

This is how I answered her:

Hi Patrica,

I really don't think there is any right or wrong way to do this kind of knitting, but whatever you do, you do have to be consistent.

To answer your questions:
1. I knit as the color appears from the working yarn. I made a cheat sheet to help me keep it straight:
For example: Color A = Rev. Stock {Knit WS } {purl RS}
Color B = Stock {Knit RS} { Purl WS}
2. Basically if you follow the cheat sheet, I think it will work out. You could try doing it on the right side and purl every row on the wrong side ...not sure how it would look, but if you do - just do the same thing every time to develop a pattern. I think I might give it a try...sounds interesting :)
3. I haven't done one with four different colors. The ones I have for example - a light green, dark green and an off white. I decided to designate the light green as white. The other one was dark yellow, light yellow and white. This time I kept all the yellows together. Just designate the colors to A or B before you start and stick to it.

I think it's so cool that you decided to try this in a knitting class...what fun so see all of your results :) I know I enjoyed knitting the three I did with such different results. If it's not too much trouble I would love to see photos of your cloths when finished...perhaps I could write a post about your experiments? Very interesting :)

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask more questions...I'll try my best to answer them.

Deb

(I'm still waiting for her to send me some photos of the finished cloths. She said she'd sent me some...there were so many different versions knitted by her students. I'll be sure and post them and if anyone else wants to send me their photos I'd be happy to post them as well.)

Then Barbara left me this comment:

I love the dishcloths but am confused regarding the pattern. Is it just freeform---knit one color, combine and purl, knit another color?
Thanks for any help. I'd like to try them.
Barbara

Barbara,
Yes, Barbara is is more or less freeform...with the rules you set for yourself. There is no right or wrong way. I hope my answer to Patricia' s questions answers yours? If you still have question please do not hesitate contacting me.

The last thing I have to show you is nothing new. It's just another one of my plastic big bags:
Figured I'd show you what I was up to so you wouldn't think I was slacking off with my knitting. This bag is for my middle son's saxophone teacher. In the past when ever I was knitting my plastic bags while waiting while my boys had their lessons she was always so interested and thought the bags were awesome. She'll be getting this next week when he goes for his last lesson :) I think she'll like it!

Another week and then school vacation begins...I'm happy :) Hope you all have a wonderful weekend with lots of happy knitting or may be something else....I know I'm heading in a new direction. Change is good :)

18 comments:

  1. your SO busy and yet knitting like crazy. then school is out and a summer full of projects!!
    Happy weekend and ofcourse.. happy knitting to you! ~M

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love those bags. I'm still thinking of buying some colored trash bags and making a girly colored one with those. Thanks for the tips with the Textured Painted Knitted dishcloths/towels. It's also on my to do list. Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The towel looks so cool! I've been wanting to try that technique since I first saw it in my Lucy Neatby sock book a couple of years ago (she suggests it as a way fun way to work with variegated sock yarn). They truly all do turn out different!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh hon I love that textured knit. I will definitely try it out.

    Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm not sure I follow the questions and explanation. Gonna have to study it a bit more, but olla I do like the look of it all!

    Tis the wkend, and I hope your's is a good one.

    Sandy

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your towel looks really neat! Love how you can try different patterns with it and make each one-of-a-kind.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Beautiful pattern - I'd love to see it in a charcoal scarf! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your towel looks very cool! The texture sure accents the colors & makes it look like a river winding back & forth. I'm going to try this someday so I appreciate the knitting tips! :)

    Love the plastic bag! I'm sure your son's teacher will, too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gorgeous dishtowel! Such a beautiful texture and I love how the colors intermingle.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great looking dishtowel! Have a great weekend....

    ReplyDelete
  11. How cool! What a fabulous project! I have to try it!

    Ang

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love this dish towel. I know I'll got to one some day. I really want one, and I have so much cotton, but mostly multi colored. I'm sure the Sax Teacher will like the bag! I'm curious what you new direction will be, hope to hear all about it here! :o) Have a nice weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love that towel...you are always full of surprises! I really like the effect. Awesome!

    Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I appreciate the explanations of the dish cloth technique too.

    Somewhere on the horizon I plan to make one of the plastic shopping bags too. I'm still collecting bags to cut into yarn. I'll need to look back at your earlier posts to see how many bags might need.

    ReplyDelete
  15. i still think the textured dishcloths are so cool... maybe i'll knit one someday. : )

    ReplyDelete
  16. I really like the towel. It looks like shadows or ripples on water :)

    And thank you for commenting on my dad. He isn't sleeping all that great right now, but otherwise I think he's glad he's home!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I agree with you 200%. You can use the same variegated yarn, change the pattern or knit it, and then crochet it and how the colors come out will be totally different. It's always fun to see.

    I re-read your questions on the textured knitting and I think I now get it.

    Daughters a school teacher, but her kiddo's still have a few days before they're out for the summer. And they're counting them down; as you would expect.

    Have a good one
    Sandy

    ReplyDelete
  18. Beautiful dish towel! Such an organic and cool pattern!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you all for your comments! I really appreciate them. I usually don't follow up with an email, but if you do have a question please make sure you include a way to reach you within your comment so I may answer your question. Thanks and happy knitting :)

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.