A.R.A.N. PROJECT

Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 07:13:53 -0500
To: Multiple recipients of list 
Subject: KNIT: A.R.A.N. #14- Sleeve reports...Body ribbing ruminations

Good day to you all

Busy, busy week in my house and elsewhere across the knitlist.  Lots of
Aran sleeves are BOTH finished and I need to hear from everyone who is
getting close to being done with them.

For those of you new to the knitlist...we are together knitting an
Aran-type BIG sweater in-the-round with generous needles, thickish yarn. 
Everyone is welcome to join in the Anyknitters Revolving Aran Network... 
Pat (Hiya!) just joined us this week from the lovely Cape Ann, MA, area
(home of the SPRING 1998 KNIT IN BY THE SEA, which is always looking for
more knitters...want to come?).  The address below my signature has the
preceeding 13 posts on the subject, and can help you get a feel for what's
going on AND get your self started. This project was originally my cry for
help and support as I contemplated such a sweater and, procrastinator that
I am, wanted someone to egg me on.  Little did I know that over 60 of you
would agree! 

Esther has been an incredible source of support and has generously listed
all the posts on her knitting page(s). She just found a cable named
"Rabbit Ears"  that I simply MUST use (see below). 

Mel has agreed to accept pictures of the completed sweaters to scan and
send to Esther...so we can all view what the Network has accomplished.

Shoshana and Mary and Mel have saved my hard drive from melting when they
nagged me to get a virus program. (Shoshana...your prompt service left me
breathless...can you send knitting needles as fast?) 

Janet (who awaits the pitter patter of another Szabo) and Isobel and Lee
and Marilyn and Sue have sent lots of helpful hints in the round-about
designing of this garment.

The enthusiasm of everyone is quite contagious and this project has been a
delight! 

I have heard from 5 Networkers whose sleeves are finished (now, don't
blush...)
Tracy...szathmar@pilot.msu.edu 
Cynthia...oskimbark@aol.com
Geraldine...gball@astro.ocis.temple.edu 
Esther...ebozak@cs.oswego.edu
Katie...kharts@kern.com 
I am one cable repeat from finishing the second sleeve.  I need to hear
from 25 more of you before I will start the body work...we're all in this
together!

BODY RIBBING
In perusing my sleeves, I have been uncomfortably aware that the ribbings
on the twisted ribs have biased. YIKES!  Anyone else have that problem? It
may be the yarn I am using or the fact that the twisted rib directions I
used (and sent to you all) have only the K stitch twisted.  If you've
never seen biased knitting...picture a cheap cotton T-shirt (or sometimes
a pair of denim jeans) that after repeated washings likes to "swing
around" when you put it on.  You end up with the fabric not wanting to
hang straight and the side seam(s) working themselves into traveling a bit
across the bottom edge (especially) of the front and back of your garment.
Dashedly bad looking.  At any rate, when knitting does this, and it shows
up on plain ole' stockinette stitch , we generally assume the yarn is at
fault...having been left with too much twist during the spinning of
it...it tries to untwist itself in the fabric and you get bias as a
result.  Having bias show up in only four inches of twisted ribbing makes
me unhappy (it's not THAT bad, and I will live with it), so there is NO
WAY I will use it for the bottom of the body! The solution would be to
make a FULL twisted ribbing, which would mean knitting in the back loop of
the knit stitches and purling in the back loop of the purl stitches.  But,
that would also mean a very tight, boardlike non-stretchy sort of ribbing
that pulls in quite dramatically and wears extremely well, which is not
what I am after...although some of you may decide to go for it. NOTE to
cotton knitters: this would be GREAT RIBBING for those cotton sweaters!!!! 

So, what I am leaning towards is plain ole' 1x1 rbbing on the smaller
needles. Tomorrow: the ribbing! 

Claudia knitting at Countrywool overlooking Blue Hill in the Hudson Valley
of NY State in the USA
Countrywool@berk.com
get the complete Anyknitter's Revolving Aran Network (A.R.A.N.) pattern
at: Esther's Knitting Page   http://www.cs.oswego.edu/~ebozak/knit