Divide Bravo Six

You've seen this one before. The difference is in the structural math. In the past year I've been clarifying my designs to more accurately demonstrate their visual properties, and take full advantage of the individual yarns used in each iteration. This pursuit has had me changing needle sizes, increasing stitch counts, doubling up yarn… all sorts of things. I have a penchant for over-analysis.



Basically it's bigger. The structural math from Bravo Five has been applied to the original navy version. This is the last of this particular italian wool yarn, so it's the final one in this color. I have just enough for one more (for me). But yeah: bigger. Stitches per row has been increased, and this added about three fourths of an inch to the overall length. I think this one needed it because these thicker yarns don't slouch all that much.

Now I need to start focusing on the higher gauge stuff for Spring. With February looming, I need to start work on the Reflect Series, and it's going to be nice working with all the thread weight merinos I've been hoarding all winter.

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Shear Alpha Two

I've mentioned a few times before how the Alphas of each series define the parameters. But over the past year I've looked at Shear Alpha and thought it could be better. It could demonstrate the structural foundations of the series more eloquently. The goal of my alphas is to show the most basic representation of the design, but I think this one was a little too basic, so I redesigned it.



Firstly the structural math has been tweaked. I have increased the stitches per row (SPR) while dropping down one needle size. The row counts have also been clarified, as they were a bit unstructured before. Due to the SPR increase, the row totals increased, resulting in an increase in total length (about 1/2 an inch). This slightly higher gauge has improved the stitch quality tremendously while the added length contributes more slouch.



The other more obvious change is the addition of garter stitch ribbing on the trefoil crown. Something I had said in the blog post I wrote about the original Shear Alpha was that the crown section was also an area to add stitch variation. Yet the alpha had none, so this addition to the design was essentially addressing that.

Visually speaking there doesn't appear to be much of a change aside from the crown section. It makes the design much more striking, but I can't help geeking out about the smaller, structural clarifications that push my craftsmanship forward.

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Like a Quilt

It really is. Like a quilt I mean. Bits into strips, then strips into sheets. Come to think of it, I've never made a quilt, but I'm guessing that's what you do... maybe that wasn't a very good title if I end up being wrong. Oh well, that's how I did it. This wrapping paper is made from a Gap Inc. annual report, and an Anthropologie catalogue.

The how-to of it all is pretty self-explanatory, but one thing worth mentioning is that I used a glue stick. I've used spray adhesive before, but learned that it renders paper un-recyclable. Glues such as those found in glue sticks are fully recyclable.

I wish you all a happy holiday season!

Divide Bravo Five

As I progress from one iteration to the next, I find the stitch counts rising. My hats are getting bigger and bigger every year. This is the fifth version of Divide Bravo, and with this new version comes --well, I guess I already said it-- more stitches. More hat. And with more hat comes more slouchiness. I had already upped the stitch counts on Divide Alpha, so now it's Bravo's turn.



Bravo Five made the jump from 96 stitches per row (spr) to 108 spr. For any other hat design that would have no bearing on the amount of rows, but with angular transitions it tacks on 6 additional rows to complete each transition. Okay, I'm getting too technical. It's bigger because it's colder this time of year. I think everyone can see the logic in that.

This is that same recycled lamb's wool I've been using since way back when, and there is still much more to go before it's all gone. I know I'll be bummed when it's all gone. But hey, there are plenty of sweaters out there waiting to be recycled.

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Reflect Bravo Three

I like pushing these design concepts further. All this angularity started off as really basic shapes, and now they are maturing into intricate, nuanced designs. It's funny because the things I used to think were a pain in the neck are now pretty much standard design elements.



Take this trefoil shape for example. It has always been there, on the crown of every hat I've ever done (except the very first one, but I frogged that one). As the designs developed more complex combinations of ribbing, it became necessary to align the trefoil columns with the ribbing.

This lead to what I've been calling 'isolation decreases.' When the columns are aligned with the pattern ribbing a discrepancy occurs in the amount of stitches between each column. In order to rectify it, I'll decreases these bigger sections until all sections are equal. Of course it gets more complicated than that, but you get the idea, and I don't want to alienate all you non-knitters out there.

Now that the alignment thing is second nature to me, I can push forward, and incorporate the pattern elements into the trefoil. I've already been doing this with Divide and Shear. Since they're lower in gauge, it was easier to figure out. Now I feel confident enough to apply these full trefoils into Reflect, the highest gauge hats I offer.

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