Laptop sleeve felting and needle question-help!

bethany · 02-12-2008, 12:27 AM

Hi! Knitting this http://slumberland.org/patterns/feltbook.pdf
with only one single apple though in the middle and no lines. This is my first stranding/color change like this. The sleeve is then felted also...

First, the CO edge ends up being the bottom of the sleeve and then is knitted bottom up, right?

Second, do I have to change to a larger needle to make the apple?

Seems weird because if lighter colors tend to felt less...wouldn't the same needle, if not smaller, work better?

I did do a test swatch with larger needles and it worked ok, but is it necessary?

Thanks...

MerigoldinWA · 02-12-2008, 06:01 AM

Yes, it looks like the cast on is the bottom edge. You realize don't you that this is knit in the round? Doing only one apple would require you to use the weird intarsia technique that I don't know anything about. :-) You would't really do it as stranded knitting if you were only using one apple. They have you use a larger needle for the chart because the strands across the back cause it to pull in quite a bit. If you only do one you may not need to do that.

I don't think they used bigger needles because of the color of the yarn but because of the stranding. Notice they said don't use true white, but any other color would be all right.

I wonder if you are only putting one apple that you couldn't do it with duplicate stitch or maybe even do the whole thing flat and do the apple in intarsia. Problem with that may be getting it to turn out the right size. But maybe if you made it the size given and felted carefully and then didn't have to cut it open, that would work.

I haven't done a ton of felting. Some others may have advise about this project. If you'd consider duplicate stitch you may want to ask if it felts all right. I don't know. Or about intarsia really. I have never felted duplicate stitch or intarsia. I did felt a stranded project. If you were doing one apple because you thought it would be easier, maybe in this case the stranded apples all the way around would be easier.

bethany · 02-12-2008, 03:09 PM

yes, I saw it was knit in the round. I don't plan on cutting all the way down the sides--maybe a little bit, we'll see. Doing only one apple is a request

so the "weird intarsia technique" is what will have to happen I guess! (I obviously don't know the difference unless the pattern is telling me at this point! haha!)

I am using natural color vs white and it swatched ok really. I just had big ol' holes where I switched from black to natural in my swatch...I'll have to investigate intarsia more and duplicate stitch--no idea what that is!

Thank you for your help!

bethany · 02-12-2008, 04:20 PM

ok, so the more I look at intarsia and fair isle, the more I get confused. It looks like I can't do either since I'm knitting in the round. So I could do mosaic knitting which I looked up and while I didn't see specific instructions for doing it in the round, I see how to slip the stitches and all that.

BUT, why is this an issue? I reread the pattern and it's written like it's no big deal. Am I missing something? Is this a case of me reading too much into it and just "trust the pattern" and dive in? ARG!!

knit2btied · 02-12-2008, 08:07 PM

For a Mac user? Or an apple lover... LOL Good luck on the project!

bethany · 02-12-2008, 08:17 PM

Mac user! (Thanks)

MerigoldinWA · 02-13-2008, 02:38 AM

Well, it is not a so big a deal to make the apples go all the way around, but to make one when you are knitting in the round is harder.

Duplicate stitch is a method of knitting over the stitches with another yarn using a tapestry needle and yarn. It is not real hard to learn, it can be considered an embroidery technique but it looks like it was knit.

Intarsia is a way to make a picture or single motif on something by knitting to the object, in this case an apple, then dropping the background color and working with the apple color. You drop the apple color at the edge of the apple and join another background color and continue working with it. Then when you come back (this only works back and forth) you drop the background color and pick up the apple color, do the apple part, drop the apple yarn and pick up the other background color. You have to twist the yarns around each other (sort of ) when you switch colors or there will be holes. You keep doing that until you have "drawn" the apple in. There is some way to do some sort of intarsia in the round. Do a search on this site maybe or elsewhere and see what you find.

The pattern is written for the apples to go all the way around, that is why it is no big deal to them. In this case you can't just trust the pattern, because you don't want to do what the pattern says and your change requires another technique.

There has got to be a way though.

bethany · 02-13-2008, 03:29 AM

thank you for all of your comments merigold. I really appreciate your responses. I had checked the videos here and kept hearing that it couldn't be done in the round but didn't understand why. So I contacted the pattern writer and she explained that it can't be done because the contrasting color would have to be carried so far around until the next time it was needed, it just wouldn't work. So she suggested a few options, on was knitting flat but I'm several inches in the project now, and the other was duplicate stitch and she gave me a link...SOOO, I think it's time for me to learn to do the duplicate stitch!!

Thanks again, I really appreciate it! I'll let you see how it turns out, (unless it's really crappy....)