[Nfb-krafters-korner] Kitchner Stitch and other Techniques

[Susan Roe]

Hi Ninn,

A Liberty Cap, also called Foresters or Voyagers Cap, is a style of wool cap 
from France that was worn in the 1700's and 1800's by the French, Brits and 
Colonials in the Americas at that time.  The Liberty Cap was usually dark 
blue, the Foresters Cap was green and the Voyagers Cap was dark red.  I have 
also been told that French trappers also wore their caps red.

They are smoothly knit with no ribbing, just stockenet in the round.  Often 
along the front of the fused brim there would be a line of just X's all 
around or even slogans like "Don't tred on me".  The caps are also long and 
tapered, not quite to a point with a tassel dangling at the end.  Men would 
often take a fancy pin or even a broach and fasten it just above the tassel 
and secure the cap's slouched top to one side of the cap.  Picture a Santa 
hat all in dark blue, cut the top 3 inches off, fasten a tassel instead of a 
pompom and secure the floppy top with a pin.  My sister says she has seen 
pictures of caps with a feather attached where the pin would be.

It does call for a thin yarn, but not as thin as sock yarn.  I am using a 
worsted because I couldn't see myself trying to use a light sports weight on 
such small needles.  The pattern notes called for a zero, but I had only 
worked with a 2, so I compromised and went with a one.  For the conversion 
in size, I didn't trust any kind of recalculations on what it could probably 
look like.  I took the time to use their initial instructions of casting on 
130 stitches and knitting about 10 rows.  I took that straight off the 
needles and pinched it up to where it should fit and decided to take off 26 
stitches and went with 104 stitches instead.  I went back to the directions 
on how to work a provisional cast on and hoped I was doing it correctly and 
went on from there.

I can say with a smile on my face, I have successfully knit the provisional 
cast on, knit the first flap of the brim, put in the brim welp, knit the 
front half of the 3 inch brim, put in a trapeze line, and fused the brim 
together.  I am already about one inch up from the brim.I stayed up past 10 
o'clock Saturday night because once I started fusing the brim, I was afraid 
to stop until all 104 of those tiny little stitches were locked forever in 
their place.  LOL

I haven't herd of the site you mentioned "knitter's math".  My gauges never 
fit what is called for, that is why I do so much modifying and running 
trapeze lines as I go.  It is my way of sculpting in yarn.

Fusing a brim is first shaping your brim to be folded flat and then locked 
in place almost like the kitchner stitch, but not quite.  For this pattern, 
a fused brim has three important parts, the provisional cast on, the brim 
welp and "fusing" the stitches you picked up from un raveling the 
provisional cast on onto a second kneedle, and then looping them one by one 
up and over the corresponding stitches on your working kneedle.

A trapeze line is the same thing as a life-line.  It has saved my sanity 
more than once and has definitely kept me from tossing several attempts at 
complicated stitch patterns in the trash.  LOL
I am very blessed to have my sister next door.  She is sighted, however, she 
is not a knitter and does very little crochetting, however, she is 
outstanding in reading and comprehending diagrams and pictures.  If she can 
read it and describe it to me, then I have no problems doing it.  Her talent 
is painting/drawing and when she started having some sight problems, she 
shifted to wood carving and has done nothing but excelled.  No surprise 
there.  My husband paints/draws as well, does functional wood work,and 
Native American style leather work.  He grew up with a mother and two 
grandmothers who knitted and crochetted.  He has the patients of Jobe 
looking through my pattern books when I'm trying to find something specific 
in mind and will read the pattern for me.  I can't help but smile and thank 
God for him when he is down on his knees in front of me looking over 
something I've knitted, trying to find something visually where I just know 
something dosen't"feel" right to me.  He also can't stand to see me ripping 
something out after I've spent days or even weeks working on because he 
knows when I say it doesn't feel right to me, he can tell me 100 times it 
looks fine, but I won't be happy until it does.

Susan
dogwoodfarm at verizon.net