A Pile of lies

My last post was a pile of lies.

People often come after me, when I tell the truth, so I thought I would tell a pile of lies and see if anyone noticed.

They seem not to have noticed.

 First: "Ouvre", she said coyly. 
 (Gladys Thompson on page 5 of Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys, and Arans, third edition, copyright 1979 by Dover Publications.) is true.  Note well, that she does not mention "Spain or Portugal".  What authors do not say is often as important as what they do say.  Experts often know what their audience wants to hear, and make a point of not saying what their their audience does not want to hear, but they got to be "experts" by by being careful not to lie.  They dance around the truth, and the astute reader must learn to recognize the dances.

Gladys Thompson, seems to define "jersey" as having a warmer and usually denser fabric than a guernsey, but the rest of the post contained nonsense.  Nobody seems to have noticed much, but I am sure that now MANY will come out of the woodwork saying "Oh, I saw the error of Aaron's ways, but Aaron makes so many mistakes that I did not bother to enumerate these!"

With hand-held needles, one way to get a denser fabric is Eastern Stitch Mount which is perhaps best handled with Portuguese knitting.  (Most of the time it is really Portuguese purling.)  If you must make traditional Eastern Crossed Stitch fabric (ECS) with hand held needles, then Portuguese knitting is the way to go. At this time, you should review the discussions in Knitting in the Old Way and Mary Thomas's Knitting Book.  However, better is https://abundantyarn.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/ways-of-knitting-part-1-introduction-to-stitch-mount/ and http://petitevie.net/?p=1206.

If you need a lot of ECS fabric in a hurry, then stop; and - well the best use of Eastern Crossed Stitch fabric is socks, and the best way to make small tubular objects such as socks or gloves is swaving - using a knitting sheath with bent needles called "pricks".  In the past, I had trouble with pricks longer than 6" jamming and not turning easily in their knitting sheath. Now, pricks as long as 8" are working well for me. With a knitting sheath and pricks, Portuguese knitting will just slow you down.  With the high leverage of a knitting sheath, there are smaller motions that will do the job much faster   The virtues of practice.

If you do not need Eastern Crossed Stitch fabric, but only a denser fabric, then any stitch mount can be used with a KNITTING SHEATH and finer needles. Stitch mount ceases to be an issue.

Particularly with knitting in the round, I can switch from eastern stitch mount to western or vice-versa, and a hour later, I cannot tell which stitches were knit with which stitch mount. I can only tell by looking at the transition row. If it is a finished object, then I must look at the cast-on row to determine stitch mount. And, if it is finely knit, I need my linen tester.  I do not think that GT always got a chance to examine the cast-on row with her linen tester and thus often made her guernsey/jersey classification by the geometry of the patterns and the density of the fabric.

The fact that finely knit stitches become change shape as the fabric is knit more finely is the reason that I moved from "stitches per inch" to "stitches per square inch".  In finely knit fabrics, the stitches per inch does not convey the density of the fabric.  That is,  there are different fabrics that can be knit from the same yarn that will have the same number of stitches per inch, but have very different densities, warmth, durability, and hand/drape. Defining both spi and rpi does define the fabric, and stitches per square inch does define both spi and rpi.

Inspection of of the patterns in Patterns  tells us that Gladys Thompson considered fabrics with moderate density to be  "guernsey".  If we then take "gansey" to mean knit from fine yarns, (e.g., more than 2,000 ypp), then a sweater knit from ~1,650 ypp for Dunraven 3-ply could be a guernsey.  Guernseys knit from finer yarns  (e.g.,  ~2,500 ypp for Paton's 4-ply Behive used on pg 85),  would  also be considered ganseys. Thus, it  would be possible to have a "gansey guernsey". Note that modern Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift also has a grist of ~2,500 ypp, but being only 2 plies, produces a stiffer fabric than the old Beehive 4-ply when knit at 12 spi by 20 rpi. See  Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys and Arans, 3d ed. pages 83, 84 and 85.  

Note also that Weldon's also provides patterns for both seamen's guernseys and jerseys, allowing additional refining of the definitions.   Weldon's does not use the term "ganseys" 

This concept of finer plies producing finer fabric is why I bother to make my own 6-ply yarn at 1,650 ypp instead of just using commercial 3-ply sock yarn.  And, with all due respect to Alden Amos, more plies means a better hand/drape when knit fine. They used 5-ply for seaman's sweaters because it was warmer AND because it gave a better hand, AND because it was more durable. Real 10-ply Aran yarn makes a nice fabric when knit tight, 2 or 3-ply  Aran yarn makes less pleasant fabric when knit tight.  One can knit a very warm jumper from Jamieson's 2-ply Shetland Spindrift , but  4-ply Behive is about the same grist and will produce a warmer fabric with better hand when knit to the same gauge.  However, good luck finding commercial 2,500 ypp, 4-ply knitting yarns these days.  Good luck finding hand spinners that can produce 2,500 ypp 4-ply yarns these days.  You will likely have to order such a yarn from a mini-mill.  That is the difference between a skilled professional spinner, and a hobby hand spinner.  I am somewhere in between.  I am a hand spinner with a DRS wheel that makes spinning 2,500 ypp, 4-ply yarns easy.  I wish we had such spinning wheels for more hand spinners. with such a wheel, one can learn to spin such yarns in a few days.

I do think, the Channel Islands got knitting from the Islamic world very early, and started buying wool from England by the time of Henry Beauclerc, and knit/ sold sweaters to English seamen fishing the Icelandic waters in the 14th century, Portuguese fishermen taking cod in the North Atlantic in the 15th century, and the seamen that explored for Henry the Navigator.  I think it would be VERY odd if the origins of guernseys and jerseys were not knit eastern stitch mount. However, that was 70 generations ago.  Since then, knitters on the shores of the North Sea, the Baltic, the Finnish Sea, the Irish Sea, the English Channel, the Mediterranean, the China Sea, the Atlantic, and the Pacific have all been linked by sea commerce.  In the way of commerce, they have sought to produce better products faster and cheaper. Improvements include knitting pouches, and at least 3 rather specialized forms of knitting sheaths. 

With a proper knitting sheath, very fine fabrics can be knit at a practical pace using any stitch mount.

Hobby knitters like to pretend that they are knitting as fine and as fast as the knitters of old, and they have told each other this since the days of Queen Victoria.  Hobby knitting is an echo chamber. Experts dance around the truth and do not say differently.  They take traditional finely knit patterns and revise them to be less finely knit. (e.g., Nancy Bush and  Alice Starmore take patterns for utilitarian objects and convert them to make very pretty, but fragile objects.) Thereby, hobby level knitters can pretend they are knitting "ganseys".  I certainly took part in this echo chamber, and knit what everyone else was calling "ganseys". They are very good sweaters, but I no longer consider those sweaters to be "ganseys".   P. A Gibson-Roberts,  D. Robson, and E. Zimmerman have  likewise been careful not to tell some truths.  One such truth is that long DPN ("gansey needles") are not useful without a knitting belt or knitting sheath to help control the long needles.  These experts set-up generations of knitters to fail by telling them that guernseys and jerseys were mostly knit on long needles, and failing to mention that using a knitting sheath was more important than the length of needles.  For example, the commercial pattern, A Channel Islands' Guernsey / Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys, and Arans specifies 11 DPN. I usually knit this pattern on 6 +1 DPN  that are 12" long because that knitting sheath works well in the stuffed chair in front of the TV.  However, when I am in a hurry I use 18" gansey needles because they are faster. (Piece work knitters always wanted more speed.) However, with the 18" needles,  I need to sit in the wooden chair by the kitchen window where that knitting sheath works. (It rubs on my overstuffed chair.)  Nevertheless,  I can make good progress on  "A Channel Islands' Guernsey", in a doctor's office, or in the car or on an airplane using 8" DPN and (another) knitting sheath, or even just a leather knitting belt. The 8" needles provides less leverage, so there is more stress on my hands, but not enough extra stress to be a problem in less than a few weeks. (I noticed again this morning that the 12" needles used Friday evening, produce a more uniform fabric than the 8" needles used for KIP yesterday.  This was not a surprise.  The 8" needles with sheath produce a better fabric than I can knit with hand-held needles, but the 12" needles produce an excellent fabric.)

The main thing that a knitting belt or knitting sheath provides is stability that facilitates  the use of very fine needles. And, a steel needle with a knitting sheath allows knitting faster, so that the greater number of stitches that a fine fabric requires can be accomplished in a reasonable time. Knitting sheaths allow knitting a higher quality fabric. 

The Transition(s)

It took me 3 or 4 years to transition from hand held needles (e.g., circular needles) to knitting sheaths and knitting belts.

I would knit something with circs, and see if I could knit it with a knitting sheath.  Here the greatest challange for the knitting sheaths (with DPN) was Moebius knitting.  Ultimately it was clear that any Moebius knitting could be done with a knitting sheath, and some Moebius objects that are not practical to knit with circular needles and can be knit expeditiously with a knitting sheath.

Then, I would knit objects with knitting sheath technology and see if I could knit them with hand held needles. First, it was clear that knitting with a knitting sheath was easier on my hands and wrists, allowing knitting to be done faster, easier and with less stress on the hands and wrists. Then,  I was able to knit fabrics that were much tighter and more weatherproof than anything I could knit with circular needles. Third, Fair Isle and stranded techniques were much faster and easier. The difference in productivity and level of effort was huge.  Over all, it took about 4 years to convince myself that anything that could be knit on circular needles could be knit faster and easier with a knitting sheath. That is it took me 4 years of serious effort to set aside the teaching of the experts that I had so carefully learned. However, I was still knitting things that I could, in theory, knit with circular needles.  I was simply using a knitting sheath because it is faster and easier.

I knew I was on the correct track when I took a large swatch knit from Patons Classic Wool into the knitting instructor at a very high-end yarn shop, and she looked at it for half a minute, with her mouth open, turning it over and over and feeling it, but saying nothing for a long time.  I thought she was going to berate me for bringing cheap wool into her high-end shop, At long last, she asked, "How did you every knit anything so wonderful?  Can you show me how you knit?  "

About halfway through my transition from circular needles to  knitting sheaths, I started looking for better yarns, and spinning, Yes, better yarns lead to better knitting, but most importantly, a better knowledge of yarn leads to better knitting.  Today one of my favorite sock yarns is a 1,650 ypp, 6-strand cable that I make up from commercial 5,600 ypp, 2-ply warp yarns.  I would never have found that yarn if I had not learned to spin.  I would not be able to ply it up quickly, as a high quality knitting yarn if I had not learned good spinning skills. 

Spinning also taught me about the glories of fine yarns. 

Since moving firmly to knitting sheaths, I have started knitting things that I cannot imagine knitting on circular needles. Knitting sheaths allow me to finely knit large objects in a reasonable rate.  When I first came across Jamieson's Spindrift, I was as still using circular needles, but I did not like the fabric as produced at 7.5 spi on US3 needles.  With a knitting sheath, today I knit Spindrift on 1.5 mm needles, and I like the fabric. Now, I knit Spindrift at ~13 spi and ~16 rpi for about 200 stitches per square inch. On a 4" by 4" swatch, that is 3,200 stitches.  Most importantly, Spindrift taught me  what I could do with 2-ply, 2,000 ypp, woolen spun yarns.  Knit on fine needles, such yarns produce wonderful fabrics.

I may lack imagination, but I cannot dream of knitting a sweater with 200 stitches per square inch on circular needles. However, it is very feasible with a knitting sheath.   I also knit my 1,650 ypp, 6-strand cable yarns on 1.5 mm needles at ~ 10 spi by 17 rpi, and it makes a nice fabric that I love for a multitude of uses. It is a great sock yarn,and works when ever I need a wool jersey.  I knit commercial 5-ply gansey yarn on US00 / 1.6 mm needles to produce a fine dense fabric - that is weatherproof.  You may not like it (or need it),  but, I find that it far out performs the products by Marmot (https://marmot.com/products/men), which I use as standard.

Today, knitting sheaths allow me to knit such objects on a practical basis.  I love the fabrics.  If you can knit such fabrics with circular needles on a practical basis, then more power to you.  I do not find it practical, and I love fine fabrics,so I keep using knitting sheaths.  On the other hand, I do not stop looking for better ways to knit  -- as in my transition to blunter needles over the last couple of years. Even last night I was grinding blunter points on 6" steel sock needles that I made 10 years ago for use with Dutch style knitting sticks.  Yes, pointy needles can be faster than blunt needles when hand held, but with a knitting stick, blunter needles are much more productive.  And, many of my old knitting sticks have been upgraded to take 1.5 mm needles.  And, when knitting sock fabrics at 170 stitches per square inch - I need the speed.

My finding of knitting sheaths as a more productive way to knit finer fabrics is not a "belief'", it is the summary of hundreds of tests relating to knitting productivity during my transition period, and subsequent feasibility testing as I have moved to finer yarns over the last few years. Moreover, it is consistent with the use of knitting sheaths by many generations of professional knitters.  And, it is consistent with the physics and ergonomics of knitting.   Any reasonable assertion that circular needles are as good for knitting should be supported by substantial tests of knitting productivity by both methods,  address the use of knitting sheaths by professional knitters, and the physics/ergonomics of knitting.

I do not see such testing and analysis. The people that I have taught to use knitting sheaths knit faster - without exception. And, some of these were awe inspiring, fast knitters from childhood when they met me. Some of them were teaching me to knit faster, a few hours after they got their knitting sheaths. When somebody says that a knitting sheath does not allow  her to knit faster, I know she has not bothered to learn the technique.

When the path starts to spiral into a point

Will we know when we get to the point where knitting is the best that it can be?  I take historical knitting as a standard, and try to reverse engineer the skills and technology, so I can knit like they did.  I will never achieve it, because they learned details and skills as children, so the could do their best work while still bright eyed, and nimble fingered.  In contrast, I am still struggling with the technologies as I am past my prime. Somebody should have taught me all of this when I first learned to knit in back in 1972.

 I  often say that one of the hardest points of using a knitting sheath is knowing how to secure it in place.  To a certain extent this is controlled by the choice of knitting sheath and other wardrobe.

When KIP or doing a bit of knitting, it does not matter much which tools I use.  Any of my current cycle of knitting sheaths:

Tools from beside my knitting chair

and, any belt will work, allowing me to knit faster and more uniformly than I can knit with hand held needles.  For KIP, the rosewood knitting sheath:

3-ply sock fabric

Also very good for sweaters

 threaded onto a belt worn with jeans, is very effective and not conspicuous. It does not go astray (or over board) when KIP.   And, with different needle adapters it works with different needles to for different gauges.  It is usually on my belt.

5-ply guernsey fabric

However, if I need to get substantial knitting done as fast, and as well as I can, then I use my best tools and my skill at fastening the knitting sheath in place to make the session as productive as possible.

The hint is in Figure 1 of Mary Thomas's Knitting Book, the Knitters of Gayle.

 At this point, my best solution is a soft leather welder's apron with soft leather work belt holding the sheath against it, as in:

Leather support for knitting fast.

The combination of the soft, split leather apron and the soft leather belt provide enough stability to hold the knitting sheath and give a very good spring action to the steel needles within the ergonomic zone.  I find this system holds the knitting sheath firmer, than any cloth apron, and is much better than just a belt through the belt loops in a pair of  pants, and is less stiff than my full grain leather, wood turning apron. For just practical knitting, it cannot get much better.  Ok, it is ugly, but it works. You   know me, "First make it work, then make it pretty".

When I have to get some knitting done, I put on my welder's apron, and belt my knitting sheath on over  the apron, under my right elbow. I look funny, but it lets me get more knitting done, faster.

This also means that I am using flat-tipped 12"-  long UK18 needles for much of my knitting rather than rather than the pointy 18"- long UK13 needles that I previously favored.   I knit faster, but have more needle changes per round.  The needle instructions in the first pattern in Gladys Thompson (PGJA), suggests that this may be a worth while trade off for fine knitting,and actually lead to greater over all productivity on many objects. However, If I could have only one set of needles, and I HAD to knit a lot of  lace, then I would have to go with pointy needles.

The old knitters were very smart.

I bought this apron when I first started working with fine, pointy lace needles and they went through my pants into my thighs.  In truth, this is not my welder's apron, it is my "Lace Apron"!

Good Knitting

I get asked if I consider myself a"good knitter" on a fairly regular basis.  Usually, it is as a snide, "Do you think you are an expert knitter?"

That is a hard question to answer, because what is an "expert knitter"?

Is it someone that has been through the Master's Knitting Program?  No, I have not been through the any MKP.

I think being a good knitter is being able to knit the required fabric to size and finish the object appropriately.  For example, boot socks need to be durable; and, socks knit for winter wear should be warm, while boot socks knit for summer wear should be cool.  Objects knit to be decorative should be beautiful, and stay beautiful for an extended life span.  Knit sportswear, should have appropriate warmth for the activity, be attractive, and stay attractive for many seasons of  wear.  Objects knit to be worn during work should be very suited to the nature of the work.  In any case, the knit object can be no better than the fabric. At the core of being a good knitter is being able to knit, not just a good fabric, but the right fabric for the object. And, the object can be no better than its fit. Thus, at a minimum, I think that a good knitter can produce excellent fabrics with near perfect fit and finish in a reasonable time period. And, an expert knitter can produce exceptional fabrics with perfect fit, and finish, very quickly.

Traditionally, British seaman's sweaters were considered masterpieces of  knitting. A catalog of  such objects is  Gladys Thompson's, Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys, and Arans (PGJA).

However, most modern knitters do not knit the fabrics as described in the PGJA. The first sweater in the book is A Channel Island's Guernsey as knit on a commercial basis for working seamen. The suggested yarn is 5-ply worsted spun, at ~ 1,000 ypp, and the pattern says that 416 stitches give a chest of 44 inches in pattern. That is 9.5 spi or  37 stitches per 10 cm in pattern.  Total number of stitches per square inch is around 150.  I expect a good knitter to have knit such objects at the stated gauge, and had them fit very well. That yarn, knit at that gauge, has virtues, which do not appear when the yarn is knit more loosely. Knitting "tightly" is a misnomer, as the virtues are achieved by knitting with finer needles to produce more stitches per square inch, rather than knitting "tighter".   A good knitter knows how to work with these virtues because the knitter has made and tested a variety of such objects.  Such knitters have worked with fine needles before, and climbed the substantial experience curve. One does not knit such objects on a first try. (cf: Rae Compton's patterns)

Another set of examples in PGJA are the Sheringham Guernseys and ganseys that are knit with finer yarns, resulting in as many as 240 stitches per square inch. Again, the path to the finer fabric leads through finer needles, not tighter knitting.  The needles used for Sheringham ganseys, are so thin e.g., (1.5 mm) and flexible, that "knitting tighter" is simply not an option. Yarn tension is absolutely limited by the spring constant of the needles.

Finer fabrics require finer needles.  And, more stitches per square inch requires faster knitting to finish objects in a reasonable period of time. It can be done.  It is a matter of knowing the craft, and having the right tools.

For years, I worked almost exclusively with US1 needles, but over the last several months, I have converted to needles in the 1.5 mm range. The full transition took a couple of years. The first part of that transition was leaning that blunt needles allowed knitting fast enough to finish finely knit objects in a reasonable time. It required understanding the physics, visualizing the skills, making the tools, and then actually developing the skills. Again, the bottom line is that both tools and skills matter.  The skills without the tools are nothing.  The tools without the skills are just junk. However, I do not see instructions in modern knitting text on how to practically produce such fabrics, and such fabrics are ignored in modern master's knitting courses.

The bottom line is that I think Gladys Thompson's, Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys, and Arans, as written, sets an enduring standard of knitting excellence. A careful reading of  Weldon's Practical Knitter, tells us that, yes people did knit like this, but the gauges are not as clearly stated. In fact, the Woolen Guernsey Frock in Weldon's Twenty-First Series, is similar in gauge the first Guernsey in PGJA  but includes some additional finishing detail that the expert knitter may wish to use. If one can knit the objects in PGJA ( or Weldon's)  as written, then that is a much sterner test than any modern master knitting program. What master knitting programs teach -- is how to knit in the fashion of our time.  Such knitting is not an enduring standard of excellence.

Current contents of  my knitting project box including a leather apron,

2+ hanks of 5-ply worsted spun LONG WOOL,

knitting journal, PGJA, knitting sheath,

 crochet hook, tapestry needle, and stitch markers. 

There are ~10,000 stitches on the (6 x 1.5 mm x 12") needles at this point. If I was knitting an Elizabeth Zimmerman sweater (e.g., 5 spi), it would be ~ 1/4th done.

Close-up of  needle tips.

 A gauge swatch, knit in the round, on gansey needles for the current set of projects.

Gauge is ~150 stitches per square inch with the 5-ply, ~1,000 ypp worsted spun yarn.

That is a gauge that one is NOT going to get with larger needles, regardless of how strong their  hands are.

This is absolutely one of the best fabrics that I have ever knit as outer wear in foul weather.  It is very much on a par with the Aran weight MacAusland (the great gardening gansey) knit on the 1/8th inch steel needles, but is a great deal less work to knit.  And, while just as warm, it is much lighter in weight and more comfortable to wear. 

The project box contents for a Sheringhan gansey differs by the kind of yarn, and a few more stitch markers.  These days, I knit the Sheringham fabrics very much in the style of the sock fabric below. For a pair of downhill ski socks, I use the 5-ply yarn, and the same needles, but sometimes I swave the feet. For a pair of sport socks, I use 6-strand, worsted spun, 1,650 ypp yarns with 1.5 mm swaving needles.

Swaved sock in progress on 1.5 mm needles.

6-strand, worsted spun, 1,650 ypp yarn

This cabled yarn is cool and the fabric breathes very well.

They are all nice fabrics, each with its own virtues.

Return from a Memorial Day climb in Yosemite. 

The previous day and night, our camp, (4,000 feet higher, and on the west side of the ridge) got several feet of snow that promptly blew into drifts many feet deep. We were equipped for an early summer climb, not for a descent in deep snow. Getting out was quite a slog. We said some unkind things about weathermen.  On the other hand, Bishop and Lone Pine did get only a trace of  rain that week,  

These are the kind of guys that get the gear I knit.  We go, we look, we touch, we feel.  In those days, we wore poly-pro, and we smelled.  Wool is better!

Back to leverage

Ultimately, knitting needles are levers for moving loops of yarn. For hand held needles such as circular needles or DPN, the thumb is usually the fulcrum, and total leverage is ~1:3.  With a knitting sheath or knitting stick or knitting pouch as the fulcrum, the leverage is between 1:20 and 1:100.  With the gansey needles/knitting sheath that I am using for sock knitting these days, my leverage is about 1:50.

That means, a knitter with with circular needles must apply about 17 times as much force as I do to move the yarn loops. In fact, it is possible to knit as tight as needed with circular needles.  I wore through the plating on 2 sets of US1  Addi Turbos doing just that.  As an old rock climber, I have reasonably strong hands.  There was a time when I spent 2 hours per day at Indian Rock hanging from my fingers, just to strengthen them.

A very easy training climb on Mt. Tam.

There was a time when I climbed the 2,500 feet of Mt. Tam.

every day.  When they closed Mt. Tam because of the trail-side shootings, 

I climbed it every night.

Some knitters, say that they have very strong hands and can knit as I do using circular needles.  Their hands would have to be 17 times as strong as my hands are.  That is like claiming that if Aaron can lift a hundred pounds, they can lift 1700 pounds, over and over.  They may be that strong, but human hands cannot endure such stress indefinably. Using gansey needles and a knitting sheath, my hands and wrists are subject to only 5% (e.g., 1/17 th)  of the stress of their hands and wrists are subjected to as they knit.  It is a level of stress that my hands can endure indefinably.  I let my steel needles take the stress, and save my hands.

I think that is a smarter way to knit.

Swaving using curved needles with a knitting sheath

provides uses compound leverage, to yield

very high effective leverage.

The crew of one the last wooden cargo 

ships to go around the Horn.  Notice 

the commercially knit Guernseys.

Eastern Cross Stitch Revisited

I like ECS.  The fabric is thicker, with much more cushion and ventilation than plain knitting.  It has a much softer feel than plain knitting knit at the same gauge.  This makes it ideal for socks.  On the other hand, it can never be as weatherproof as plain knitting so it is not as suited for outer wear, where wind is a factor.

ECS wants to be knit with small motions.  Large motions tend to tighten up the fabric and make the next row difficult to knit.  Thus, ECS is easier to knit with a working needle that is stabilized, and more difficult to knit with say circular needles, where both needles are hand held.

I first tried ECS on circular needles and it too much effort to be practical.  Yes, it could be done,  but it was an effort.  Then, I went to  DPN with a knitting sheath.  That was much better. As I discovered that blunt needles work better with knitting sheaths than DPN,  I used knitting sheaths with blunt needles to knit ECS faster. To be frank, knitting ECS with blunt needles is fast, but tricky.

Now, I know that leather (Shetland style) knitting belts are the  support of choice for DPN, and DPN with a knitting belt is the tool kit of choice for knitting Eastern Cross Stitch.  And it is a stitch that allows knitting very tight fabrics, very durable without the extra leverage that a knitting sheath provides.  And, when knit very tight, ECS is much less stiff then plain knitting knit similarly. Plain knitting is the path to a tight firm fabric. ECS is the path to a tight, soft fabric.

ECS is a very nice fabric for socks and undergarments.  I think it is likely the basis of the traditional "Jersey".  It has taken years for me to come to a technology that made knitting such fabrics a reasonable effort.

Why did I not get here earlier? Conventional wisdom did not tell me that a knitting belt could produce such fabrics.  Today, I see knitting belts with pointy needles as the tool of choice for lace and crossed stitch fabrics.

The  other side of this is that a knitting sheath with blunt needles remains easiest and fastest way that I know do plain knitting, garter stitch or Fair Isle.   

Eastern Cross stitch

My attention was originally drawn to Eastern Cross Stitch when I read in Mary Thomas's  Knitting Book, that in previous times, it had been a very popular stitch. This raised the question, "What was  Eastern Cross Stitch's particular virtue to make it popular?"

Yes it produces a nice firm fabric, but so does stockinette when knit with fine needles and a knitting sheath.

However, with flat tipped needles (and a knitting sheath), Eastern Cross Stitch turns out to be the fastest stitch to knit. (Or at least the fastest I have found so far.)   The hand movements are few and tiny. They can be done quickly and with minimal effort.   In hand knitting, fast is cheap.  Fabrics knit with Eastern Cross Stitch had the lowest cost to knit.  And, it produces a warmer fabric using larger needles (fewer stitches per inch^2).

I played with ECS on pointy needles a while back, and knitting it was more effort than knitting stockinette so I have bins full of ECS WIP.    Now, I know how to finish them quickly and easily. Knitting ECS with pointy hand held needles is also more effort than stockinette.  I actually expect that at one time ECS knit in the round would have been considered "stockinette".  Consider for example the stitch structure of the Coptic socks.

Eastern Cross Stitch has rather abruptly become my default stitch for firm fabrics. (Pending  full testing of the prototypes.)   It was just a matter of finding the right tools to make the stitch faster and easier.

This of course raises the question as to whether the Channel Island knitters used the ECS as a competitive advantage in knitting seaman's clothing.  In any case, it is easy to see why the stitch was popular.  And, it lends credence to the old stories of very fast knitting. (e.g., even faster than :

Flat tipped needles work with leather knitting pouches

I was wrong.  Flat tipped needles work very well with Shetland knitting pouches for ordinary knitting, purling, and decreases.

Since the motions are smaller, the knitting is faster and less effort.  As I get more comfortable knitting with flat tipped needles, the process gets faster.  My original estimates of 10%- 15% likely understate the speed advantage of flat tipped needles.

Also the knitting sheath needle adapters are much easier to make for cylindrical needles, and they work much better. As a system, flat tipped needles with knitting sheaths is simpler and works better.

Using a Journeyman knitting pouch with US#1 flat tipped needles did not seem to cause any delay in inserting the needle into the pouch. This was very much a surprise as I had expected that the point of the needle was essential to quickly inserting the needle into the knitting pouch.

At this point, I see pointy knitting needles as only for hand held knitting techniques.

At this point, I guess that with a Shetland knitting pouch and flat tipped needles, all of the stitches used in traditional Shetland lace of the Victorian period can be produced with flat tipped needles.  I have not tested this, and will have to get out my old lace patterns and see if it is true.