It was a little too hot this past weekend to work on Sis's blanket, though I did a little, so I started playing with some yarn and different patterns instead.
Top down knitting is just what it sounds like...you start at the top and work down to the bottom as opposed to the more traditional starting at the bottom and working your way up. When you're making a garment, this method allows two big bonuses: you can try the work on as you go, if it's that sort of thing, and you can stop when you run out of yarn, if it's that sort of thing.
For Auntie's birthday, which is in January, I'm planning a shawl with some of the Scottish yarn that's coming my way. I usually make her something for her birthday...I've done a shawl in the past, really more like a shawlette, and an afghan and a scarf. So even though I've made her a shawl before, I'm doing another one because it'll be special because of the yarn. She also likes something around her shoulders sometimes, so this will give her options. Options are always good.
I want to work top down because I'm not entirely certain how far the yarn will go. With this method, I can work until I'm out of yarn and it will be a complete garment. Working bottom up can also work that way, with this particular style, but top down, to me, seems to have a more finished look to it. As opposed to, say, looking like you just bound off when you ran out of yarn. Plus, top down has a border edge on the edge that lays across your shoulders and over your arms instead of just a bind off row, which seems a bit more sturdy. I've found a ton of different patterns for this kind of knitting, none of which I absolutely love, so I'm combining a few different techniques and seeing what happens. I even found an absolutely fabulous website to get a shawl pin or stick to go with it! I won't pick or buy anything until I have the thing completed so that I can see what works best, but still, I now have source. And they have all sorts of other closures, too. I'm thinking I'll be visiting there a lot in the future.
But I don't have the yarn yet, and her birthday is some months away yet. So right now, it's more about playing and making design decisions as a way to occupy my time when it's too hot and/or I don't want to work on Sis's blanket.
This is interesting, Kris. It does sound as though it'll be nicer with the border across the shoulders.
ReplyDeleteNot being a crafter, I'm always a bit amazed at the variety of ways there are to knit - on two needles, four needles, one big bendy needle. top to bottom, bottom to top. And I think you mentioned in a post once that you knit portuguese style. Miss Silver, the detective in Patricia Wentworth's novels, knits continental style. Fisherwomen here used to have a special padded belt with holes in to brace the knitting needles as they knitted and walked along while selling fish from the creels on their backs. No doubt around the world there are many more variations. You're following a long tradition, Kris.
The use of all those different needles vary on what kind of fabric you want to create. I do knit Portuguese style, but before I learned that and found it way easier, I knitted continental, too. Sis and my friend Suze knit "throw" or American style. I've seen the Scottish fisherwoman style demonstrated and it's something I want to try at some point. There's an idiom out there, and I'm paraphrasing, that as long as your stitches look like they're supposed to, it doesn't matter what method, combination of methods, or made up method you used to knit them. Of course, some people take that too far and develop bad habits that effect the finished project...
DeleteLet me jump down off that soap box and stop rambling. But I like the fact that I'm a part of a long tradition. Makes me feel important somehow. Thank you for saying that.