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Hints on the Einstein Coat and Related Knitting Matters Many of these comments were written in response to questions on the KnitU list where Sally is a frequent contributor. They are reprinted here with permission from Sally Melville.
On Garter Stitch and Projects from The Knit StitchIt’s a good idea to question an extensive use of garter stitch, because garter stitch CAN stretch and distort horribly. When? It’s most likely to stretch along its horizontal (rows) axis (ie, lengthen when knit bottom to top)
In BOOK 1 of THE KNITTING EXPERIENCE, I took all of this very seriously into account, and I feel confident that I dealt with it appropriately. In all of the projects, an appropriate gauge is offered OR the direction of knitting minimizes stretch OR there is something--a seam, an opposing element, a different needle size, a stitch pattern--that controls the piece. Of course, I’m going to assume that everyone knit a gauge swatch and choose appropriate yarn! But even when we knit to gauge, things can happen. After all, some of us knit to gauge, and gravity can still react to the piece: others of us knit to gauge, and gravity doesn’t have a chance! I had to make decisions that would minimize the things that could happen. In what follows, I speak about the relevant garments and about how all that theory was put into practice. The RUANA is the only garment that is knit straight up-from-the-bottom-- without seams or opposing directional pieces or change of needle size or added stitch pattern--but the yarn is pretty controlling (a light, angora blend), plus do we really care how drapey it becomes? The PONCHO is worked diagonally, with seams to control it. The ASYMMETRICAL VEST is knit side-to-side in a thick boucle that isn’t going anywhere. The BEST FRIEND JACKET is also knit side-to-side, so any stretch is along the more flattering, vertical axis. (I first knit this piece 5 years ago, and many of my friends have knit it since. Most versions are still the size they were when knit; some--knit to a looser gauge--have stretched a little in length, but no-one minds. Stretching along the vertical is not un-flattering. Stretching of the sleeves might be an issue, so I recommend they be measured hanging. Again, this depends upon the gauge and the yarn. The blue version in the book was done 2 years ago, and it is still precisely the size it was knit.) The EINSTEIN COAT and related pieces are highly controlled by the multi-directional knitting and by the seams. The lower body piece (the skirt) is, of course, knit side-to-side (so the fabric will not “seat”). The sleeves are knit down, so it’s a no-brainer to get them the right length. The entire garment may or may not stretch in length: the not-so-warm ones certainly will, and this is taken into account in the pattern; the heavier coats could, depending upon how firmly the piece is knit to gauge. BUT any stretch would be along the flattering axis, the vertical. The garment has no opportunity to distort, other than this possible lengthening. (The heavy coats in the book were knit 2 years ago, and they really do still look wonderful.) The SHEER VS OPAQUE pieces are all summer garments, all knit from bottom to top, all done in light-weight yarns. They just don’t have enough weight to distort. Plus the sheer fabrics are controlled because one row is done on smaller needles. (You are actually told to press them out to make them stretch to their appropriate length.) In the final chapter, all garments have a slip stitch each fifth stitch that controls the garter. If you pay attention to gauge and to your yarn choice, you’ll be fine. These decisions were not made without much thought; these designs have been worn and photographed and have stood up well. Enjoy! Sally Yardage for Men's Einstein CoatNina asked about yardage for the EINSTEIN COAT, since she wants to make the man’s length. Here is the answer to that question. The men’s sizes may use 50-100yds less than the women’s. (This is a line that will be added to future editions.) (This may seem like not a lot less, but the men’s sleeves are quite a bit longer, and it doesn’t have the COLLAR. PLUS, it’s very hard to figure exactly how much less: sometimes one knitter would have a part ball left, another would have closer to a full ball left.) To compound all this slightly more, the size for the man’s caption is wrong: it should have been a SIZE L. So, you’ll see then that the man’s L took 100 yds less than the woman’s L. Weight of the Einstein CoatJudy asked the following about the EINSTEIN COAT.
> Love the look, have the yarn in stash, I can get a copy of the book for The coat is not heavy, not by coat standards. (The woman’s medium took 11 balls X 3.5oz = 38.5oz = 2.5lbs. Did I do this math right? This seems like a lot, at least to me, but when I hold it up, it doesn’t seem heavy at all.) Yes, there could be “distortion,” depending upon how tightly you knit to gauge. There are folks who knit to st and row gauge, and the piece NEVER MOVES: gravity doesn’t have a CHANCE against this stuff. And then there are the rest of us who GET GAUGE but also live with gravity: for those folks (and I am one) the coat might stretch 2-3” in length over time and with wearing. (I just checked mine, which has gone through much, and it’s stretched this much. I, personally, don’t mind this extra length at all, and I am only 5’4” tall.) I actually thought about writing the pattern to reflect gauge as knit and then gauge after wearing. But it got too complicated, and it really didn’t reflect all the wonderful diversity among us. So, the schema are “as knit,” which is what we usually expect to see.
What is good about this coat is that the shape is really controlled: the
“skirt” is held to shape by the top; the top is held to shape by both the skirt and the sleeves. I just measured the other parts of mine, and the only
distortion really does appear to be in length. AND the LOPI fabric does not
“seat,” so it still looks good from behind I can honestly say that Gail is right with respect to the distortion issue: the coats have been worn by many AND hung on hangers for display (which we do NOT recommend!), and they still look great. Pockets in the Einstein CoatMonica asked about POCKETS in the EINSTEIN COAT. Absolutely, go ahead and introduce pockets! (I would have done so except that it would have made it a more difficult pattern.) From the nature of Monica’s question, I think she probably already knows how to execute what follows. But for some others, what follows is a brief description. One option is to work the pockets from a VERTICAL slash, and the other is to work the pockets from a HORIZONTAL slash). For the VERTICAL slash, you could finish the coat and work the pockets later. (I love to be able to do this!) You put the coat on, decide where you want the pockets, and mark the top and bottom of the pocket opening. You then cut one stitch, in the middle of where you want the pocket, and un-knit in each direction to the width of the pocket. You’ll have open sts going in each direction: one set of sts will be bound off (for the edge of the pocket), although you might work an extra row here so the bind off is done on the RS of the fabric; the other sts will be knit to the length you want for the pocket lining. This’ll make you a patch pocket that will then be tacked down to the back of the coat. A corollary to the above would be a free-hanging pocket, begun the same way EXCEPT that you don’t bind off for the pocket edge AND you knit the pocket lining to TWICE its depth. You fold the pocket lining back and then do a 3-needle bind-off with the pocket lining and the sts to be bound off. I’m not sure that the free-hanging wouldn’t be too bulky, but the beauty of working this way is that you can decide as you work! It was suggested on KNITU that these could be worked in LOPI LITE, but then you’d have to work a gauge swatch to figure out how many more sts you need, so this doesn’t distort the garment. For the HORIZONTAL slash, you have to decide WHILE KNITTING where these guys are going to be. You decide where the pocket is to BEGIN (how far from the front edge, how far from the bottom edge). When you get to that place in your knitting, you split your work, leaving the part of the coat ABOVE the pocket to be worked in a bit. You then work the part of the coat BELOW the pocket to the width of the pocket (and don’t forget the slip stitch edge!). After knitting the width of the pocket, you go back to the part of the coat ABOVE the pocket, and you cast on the # sts that you want for the DEPTH of the pocket. You then work all these sts to the width of the pocket. When both pieces match, you continue your coat. This also is a patch pocket, to be tacked down later. The Free-hanging could also be made, as above, by casting on TWICE the depth of the pocket. Both these pockets should work aesthetically well with the coat. Buttonholes on the Female Side?Laurie asked if the EINSTEIN COAT could be turned inside out so that the buttonholes are on the FEMALE side. First let me tell you why they are on the MALE side. The coat was originally 2 patterns: the woman’s and the man’s/child’s. (The lengths and buttonholes were the differences.) This took VERY many pages, and we made a decision to combine the patterns (so we didn’t have to take another pattern or 2 out of the book, ’cause it was getting too long). In combining the 2, the pattern got very BUSY looking--with the directions for the different lengths PLUS the different buttonholes. (Remember, we don’t want to intimidate beginner knitters!) So we decided it wise to keep one set of buttonhole directions and put the buttonholes on the MALE side. Now, to answer Laurie’s question. No, you cannot turn the finished garment inside out. The picking up along the slip st edge looks slightly different on the inside: not as neat and pretty. BUT, what you could do is the following: --work the lower body piece as written, but turn it “around” (or inside out, which is not a problem yet because you haven’t picked up along the slip st edge) before picking up (to put the buttonholes in the appropriate side); --work the upper pieces with the directions for the buttonholes reversed and made at the BEGINNING of the RIGHT FRONT rather than the END of the LEFT FRONT. Decorated Cuffs and CollarLaurie also asked whether one might not take advantage of the garter construction to “decorate” the cuffs and maybe the collar (or elsewhere) using mosaic patterns a la Barbara Walker. This might be a wonderful addition to the coat, as long as the design is done in THREE places. (Remember the adage, ONCE IS A MISTAKE, TWICE IS A PROBLEM, THREE TIMES OR MORE IS A DESIGN!) So, the collar might not be a MAYBE! Regards, Sally M Waist Length for Einstein CoatOne thing I noticed recurring was the mention of a WAIST. That line on this garment really ISN’T a waist, and I would caution folks not to think of it as such. In some of the photos, it clearly sits higher (especially on the guys, when it was made by someone who knits more tightly that I do), and it looks fine. (The male model really did want to buy his!) Anyway, the point is that it is NOT a waist, and any attempt to make it sit at a waist would be problematic, BECAUSE (drum roll) it’s actually the sleeve line! The desired sleeve depth is what determines the depth of the top! So, if you think through the suggestion to just make the top longer (maybe 16”, to match an actual waist), then you’d have 32” sleeves! YIKES! Sleeves too deep is something that folks complain about all the time! The sleeves on the garment (as is) are deep enough for a drop-shoulder (which is what this is) coat, but I sure wouldn’t want them any deeper. Not-So-Warm Coat in Cotton?Myra asked about making the NOT-SO-WARM coat in a more suitable yarn for Florida.
> How could one modify the Not So Warm Coat to be made with Cotton To Myra and everyone else in warmer climes than where I live (which would in fact be MOST OF THE WORLD!)-- I originally made the NOT-SO-WARM COAT 2 ways: as a dressy version and as a summer version. (The summer version is on page 93, in the orange.) I made this latter coat about 3 years ago, in a wonderful cotton acrylic blend (SANDNES “LIME”) which has since been discontinued. (Don't even ASK how often that happened to me!) We SEARCHED AND SEARCHED for a cotton blend that would work (a yarn that was interesting--perhaps a bit nubbly--and not too heavy, and that came in a range of colors, and that got the gauge of 18 sts / 4”). Such a yarn was NOT TO BE FOUND. We were on a bit (HA!) of a deadline crunch, so there might be such a yarn out there? But we couldn't find one and so could not recommend anything for the book. I would NOT recommend the COTTON CLASSIC (much as I love it), and not just because the gauge doesn’t match. The major problem is that it is HEAVY, and--at least in my temperature-sensitive and personal-summer--world, HEAVY translates into WARM. (Read the intro to chapter 5 in the book, where this point is made more fully.) I would really suggest that you keep looking for something not so heavy. If you find something, I’d love to know about it. And I would then be happy to help you deal with the gauge issue! Sally M What about spacing the buttonholes?Ruthann had some questions about the spacing of buttonholes on her Einstein Coat.
> 1) The directions do not produce buttonhole placements (on the bottom The buttonholes as written are a little higher in the garment than shown in the picture. The reason for this is that when we combined the men’s and women’s sizes, it seemed like the placement of the buttonholes as on the men’s worked better for the larger sizes. So, the first buttonhole is perhaps 4 (I can’t tell from the photo) sts higher on the women’s coats than shown. Please forgive this: but the choice was to combine the patterns and suffer the consequences OR delete at least 1 other pattern from the book.
> 2) It was thinking about this that caused me to notice that the No, I am not sure what your assumption here is, but the buttonholes remain evenly spaced. The only thing that happens is that the upper most buttonhole is either closer to the collar (in the smaller sizes) or further from the collar (In the larger sizes). It isn’t a problem. The fact that the collar is a separate piece seems to make it look just fine.
> 3) The buttonhole itself is an eyelet. And following the directions My experience has been that buttonholes in this size yarn STRETCH terribly. Most knitter I know have had to twist the buttonholes to keep control over them. BUT, if your twisted yo’s are too small, then maybe you could knit through the FRONT of the yo (to not twist it) or buy smaller buttons?
Best of the season to all! Yardage requirements for a multicolored Einstein
Jody asked: Certainly would be fun in lots of colors! Here’s how you might do the math. 1. First you have to find the # sts in each section of the garment. (You could do this with inches--from the schematic--rather than sts--from the pattern--but I don’t see that one is easier than the other.)
2. Now you have to find the proportion of the total # sts that each section requires.
3. Now you have to find the yardage that each section requires.
Sally M |
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