Or only one pocket actually. Behold:
All blocked and ends worked in (except for the beginning and end yarn that will be worked in when I sew on the pocket to the dress. I still don’t know if it’s at all obvious but this pocket matches the yoke correctly. Hooray! I finally got the dominant and receding yarns in the correct hands!
Yes, it seems like it’s a subtle difference but it isn’t in Real Life. This phenomenon happens in regular stranded knitting as well. The lovely and talented Ysolda has a blog post on it. And Dianna of Paper Tiger has an even more comprehensive one. I’m not sure whether her explanation is exactly relevant to the Salish Knitting technique or not since the yarns are more intertwined in the back. See?
Isn’t that pebbling lovely? The fact that there are no floats is perfect for pockets where you shove your hands and other things in. Can’t catch on anything. But I digress. Somehow the results of knitting with two colours by whichever method you choose leaves one colour dominant over the other one. Let’s see if I can make this a little more clear than the last post. It’s been raining almost non-stop around here so the light isn’t ideal for photos. Here’s another look at the pocket. This view is from the side:
Even if the dominance on the white and brown wave isn’t clear, I think the yellow spray curls are more obvious. And yes, I did begin to knit them wrong first before I pulled them out and did them right! It was really obvious. After the fact.
Here’s the finished pocket as compared directly with the unfinished one (that I need to frog back yet again!):
That’s exactly the same yarns in both and one is just laying on top of the other with the one I consider “correct” underneath. I see the white areas on the unfinished pocket piece as much denser and the stitches look larger. You might not be able to tell but they are raised slightly above the surface compared to the dark brown. On the completed pocket underneath, the brown areas are raised even after wet-blocking. The white areas look thinner and sunken into the fabric. Clear as mud? LOL!!
Well, you aren’t alone. The whole thing has confused the heck out of me and I’ve been knitting and frogging and knitting again while I try to figure this out. I even put pencil notations on my chart and ended up erasing them all because I got them wrong! Again! Sheesh. I should have read my own last blog post which has it correctly stated that Left Hand yarn is DOMINANT and Right Hand yarn is RECEDING. Maybe I can’t tell my left from my right and I need to go back to kindergarten? Now that I’ve ripped those incorrect rows out again I hope I can finish knitting the second pocket. Sometime before the New Year would be lovely.
Meanwhile my technique for Salish Knitting in the flat with two hands is getting better and better! More even tension and less chart counting mistakes. As always, ya wins some and ya loses some, right? I must remember to discuss the differences between the normal in-the-round method and my back-and-forth “unvention”.
5 comments:
It's all Greek to me!! But your 'pebbly' side looks wonderful & it looks like the white is standing out from the brown to me on the completed pocket. I hope that's what I'm supposed to say!!! I look at that stuff & run screaming in the opposite direction. Give me cables. Give me popcorn. Give me knitted lace. Multiple color work is beyond me.
The pocket looks fab. I'll take your word for it about the dominant hand etc. Meanwhile I'm going cross-eyed just thinking about it. You did a fine job and it's beautiful. And you are endlessly patient. Sainthood in the near offing.
I have seen this tech before, don't remember the name but as a resident of the greater Salish Sea I will call it that happily. Nice work. Love pocketses.
I think which hand is dominant varies between individuals depending on whether they knit continental/english. Did you ever encounter Philosopher's Yarn? They used to do trunk shows selling their kits and showing how to knit using both hands, the left continental and the right english. Quite speedy and even once you get used to it.
Your attention to the subtleties of the knit stitch is commendable!
Heather, that’s exactly what I do - knit with both hands, one yarn in each. However what I’m talking about is the yarn colour that dominates when you knit with two colours. No matter how you hold your yarn to knit, it’s the yarn that comes from underneath into the next stitch that shows the most on the surface. I didn’t think it was as important with the Salish knitting technique but it totally is! Guess you will all have to take my word for it. Or try a swatch or two yourselves. Heh.
Thanks for all the kind comments, my dears!
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