A perfect use for clews
I mentioned recently that I had a new book to review and that a sample set of 20g balls from Chocflock (clews!) would be a perfect way to get a taste of both a new book and new yarn.
Wooly Wormhead’s, Short-Row Colorwork Knitting is absolutely fabulous. I can’t even think of enough positive adjectives to describe it, but I’ll try to give you a sense of what I find so surprising and engaging.
The book is available on Amazon, and shortly will be on Wooly’s website as well.
The basic design elements of this short-row technique bear a striking resemblance to tapestry weaving…characterized by bold, graphic, lines and shapes that are achieved through the use of a discontinuous weft. This old image of a Navajo weaver shows that technique pretty clearly on the left side of the rug (I’ve highlighted it with a white triangle). The weaver works back and forth across one element/color in the design. The adjacent color butts up against the first, but doesn’t continue across the full weft as in plain weaves. This means there always is a small space where the colors meet.
These designs often feature motifs with diagonal lines, such as the design at the left. Staggering the beginning and end of each color leaves only a tiny hole, that will get filled as the wool is beaten to straighten the rows and compact the wool.
Using short rows, Woolly builds up the background for the color work shapes, balancing each row so that every stitch is worked over the same number of rows as every other. It took me a while to fully understand and internalize the concept. In fact, I read the full section on the “Core Concepts” through at least 3 times before I started knitting.
The simple lines (called Adjustable Patterns) didn’t embed the concept completely, but did give me the opportunity to practice German Short Rows that I hadn’t used in a while. I made some rookie mistakes — like forgetting to leave the working yarn in position for the next knitted row (on the wrong side). I also bungled a couple of the short-row stitches which made them come out a little lumpy.
What is so remarkable about the technique is the level of movement and texture that can be achieved within the knitting. If your goal is to make something that won’t show the technique front and center, this is the wrong application. If you want to jack up the narrative of your knit and make it move, this is one for you. It can be even more dynamic if you use a yarn that has subtle veriegation, like a kettle-dyed yarn.
There are 50 stitch patterns/motifs presented in the book, divided into 3 categories: the lines (Adjustable), repeats that are arranged vertically (Stackable), and those that align both horizontally and vertically (Repeatable). The Repeatable Motifs can be worked either flat or in the round, giving lots of design flexibility to work out your own ideas.
For each of the stitch patterns, a complete set of instructions is provided with both charts and line-by-line written directions. As a more visual learner, I went straight to the charts. While it takes a few moments to fully grasp them, you very quickly see how they develop as you knit, and it’s a pretty quick jump from there to getting a swatch knitted.
At first I was a little stunned at the numbers of rows for each motif. For the one called Broadbeam (looks like 3 nested left facing direction marks above) the full repeat is 46 rows. This includes both the set-up (13 rows to develop the structure for the first half of the motif), 22 rows to execute the motif itself, and 11 rows after (to finish balancing the motif) that bring you back to knitting fully across the row. You get a better idea of that structure where I’ve left off the balancing rows on that swatch.
This gives you an idea of what a chart looks like for the upper design I did on my swatch. It looks daunting, but once you get into the rhythm, it goes pretty quickly.
The book itself is beautifully done, with full color, and a well-designed layout. The motifs are laid out from simple to more complex, but even the most complex are straight forward after you master the basic concepts. One small thing I was really impressed by was the fold-over fly leaf on the front cover that lists abbreviations and a map key. It’s nice to be able to quickly refresh your memory on this information without having to page through the book to find it in the text.
This is a very thoughtfully arranged book, and each little detail like the fly leaf adds to an overall comfortable and welcoming feeling as you work your way through. I know that Woolly was thoroughly involved in the production of the book, and I expect these details are their contributions. Hats off to sixth&spring Books for expending the effort and expense to make this book so special.
Woolly Wormhead may be best known for their hat designs. They are all about construction and using common knitting techniques to create unusual and interesting shapes. Their training was as an electronics engineer, but after some years in the field, they returned to their first and enduring love — textiles. They then studied textile technology, fine art, and sculptural textiles, going on to post graduate training in education. As it says on the back fly leaf of the book, “As an Autistic with ADHD, Woolly brings a unique perspective to our stitches, what they can do, and how we can manipulate them. It was a natural next step for them to become an advocate for neurodivergent and mental health care.” This unusual and perceptive approach allows them to discuss the benefits of knitting for folks whose brains are a little bit different. I say, Bravo!
I’m in no way ready to strike out on my own with short-row color-work, but it’s a joy simply to knit and understand the various motifs via swatching. In fact I find it so relaxing I’m thinking of starting over on a slightly wider swatch, continuing on with more of the motifs in the book to make a table runner. It’s always nice to have some kind of a use in mind, even for a swatch.
About the Yarn
Chocflock is a 4-ply (heavy fingering weight) blend of Castlemilk Moorit and Shetland wool. I’ve had the experience of knitting with 100% Castlemilk, and with a Castlemilk/alpaca blend from Caithness Yarns.
The Castlemilk yarn on its own is heavy and dense, and while lovely, it’s hard to think of how it would be best used on its own. I made a shawl, and it weighs a ton!
When I reached the end of the yarn pure Castlemilk yarn, I still needed a bit more length to finish the shawl. For the border I continued knitting with the Caithness blend. It is super soft and a much lighter weight, and I thoroughly loved working with it. To be honest, I’ve never worn this shawl because it’s just too heavy. It’s also almost too warm even for a Massachusetts winter.
I chose to work up the swatch for short-row color work using the Chocflock yarn. Like the Caithness blend, it’s much lighter weight, and the two fibers work well together to give a very lofty, well rounded yarn that gives excellent stitch definition. It was a nice yarn to work with, and an excellent choice for color work. It’s softer than the Castlemilk Morrit alone, but not nearly as soft as the blend with alpaca. That might not even be a fair comparison.
These three yarns couldn’t be more different. Each has their own use and value and there is no benefit in a comparison. The 100% Castlemilk would make a great blanket or coat, if you can tolerate the weight. The addition of alpaca makes a soft, fluffy yarn that works well where stitch definition isn’t critical. The Shetland makes a light-weight robust yarn and I think it would be very long-wearing. The fabrics woven from this blend (and shown on the Chocflock website) are lovely and drape well. Knitted for something like a hat, they will hold their shape both because of the inherent characteristics of each fiber, and because the spin is very compact and round.
The different blends do exactly what I would have hoped. They take the best characteristics of two very different fibers and form a wholly new yarn. It is wonderful to be able to work with primitive and rare breeds, and even better to see how these shepherds are able to develop very different and interesting yarns for the market.
Off the needles…
The top-down bonnet is off the needles. This was even less successful than the first one because I had trouble reaching a good diameter without using more increases in each row. The base pattern for a top down bonnet has 1 increase per row, but by the time I’d reached 22 stitches per needle, I was pretty sure the hat would be huge if I continued on that path.
The problem with two increases per needle was that the disc was no longer flat, but rippled at the edges. This was really obvious after it was fulled and dried. It took some really aggressive steaming to bend it to my will and get it into the shape I wanted. It also didn’t achieve any where near the stiffness I had tried to achieve. (The photo below appears much lighter than the one to the left, apparently because the wool below is wet, and seemed to lighten after steaming.)
There is going to be another bonnet in the works as soon as I figure out which yarn in my stash from Scotland might make a good candidate. Again, I’m looking for something that will be as close as possible to the fibers available in the 17th century. I have some North Ronaldsay that might do, as well as some Boreray, both from Orkney. I’ll also go back to a brim up knit. I’ve read that some of the bonnets were knitted top down, but haven’t actually seen any that I believe were constructed that way. For me, the brim up is easier to judge size on, so I’ll knit that style hoping for a better outcome. I’ll also be swatching again to determine the level of felting possible. It’s a mystery to me how I can accidentally machine wash and dry a wool sweater and have it come out stiffer than cardboard, and that same “technique” with the first two bonnets left them floppy.
These two late 19th century examples aren’t fully stiff, but hold their shape without drooping over the brim and ear as mine do. There is no evidence that a stiffened lining was used, so I’m still thinking how I might make it work. Let me know if you have any thoughts.
Meanwhile…
We have had really sultry weather here at the lake. It feels more like mid-August than the end of July. The ceiling fans are moving the air, but the air feels like it’s carrying a cloud’s-worth of water. It actually wouldn’t surprise me if it started raining inside.
There has been outdoor progress! The hosta garden has finally been completely weeded and mulched. There are two new additions, and one small plant was moved to give it more space. By next year there should be almost no blank spaces at all. Most of the larger plants have reached their maximum size so I can predict if any more are needed.
We also had the walkway re-paved, and it’s quite nice to walk up the path without tripping on the edges of stones. Also, with the fill between stones, I think that the dreaded weeding 3 times a summer is over. Happy days!
So that’s it for today. I don’t think much knitting will get done this afternoon, but I’ll be thinking about it.
I’ll leave you with this image of a Navajo woman multi-tasking. If it is to be believed, she’s weaving and spinning at the same time. She might actually be weaving the yarn she’s spinning right into the tapestry!
So stay calm and cool, and craft on…not necessarily in that order.
Priceless!