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Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

ZassZ — Sat, 25 May 2013 07:14:12 GMT

Hi knitapeace,

How are you? So nice to hear from you again. Just such a coincidence I was lookin for a stitch pattern which I tried out. I was looking for something to use as a border for a project. When I did a test knit swatch I thought it would make a perfect top edge for a curtain because when turned upside down the edge becomes a small header and the lace holes in the pattern form a natural spacing that is perfect for putting thru a rod. Just thought I'd share with you if you want to look. Imagine this upside down and the rod going thru about 1/3 of the way. Well it could be for another project & it looked interesting to me. It was easy to follow the pattern. I just used some cotton for the test swatch. I hope you find your yarn soon.

Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

knitapeace — Fri, 24 May 2013 20:33:59 GMT

Hi Janet - the yarn I used for this swatch was Luster Sheen, a Coats and Clarks acrylic, so its both washable and dryable, has a great drape and sheen - perfect for curtains. since we live in a parsonage and will at some point be moving on, I didn't want to spend a fortune or use something that needed a lot of special care. I found a skein or two of it in Michael's or A.C. Moore's...or it might have been JoAnn Fabrics on sale for a really great discounted price. When I finally realized that it was the perfect color, I ran back the store to find some more - unfortunately, the reason it was so steeply discounted was because it was discontinued in that colorway. In fact, I can no longer find luster sheen in any of the stores, only on the web. It has a slightly different name now and different colorways - no more 'Pure Aqua'. Boo!

I have looked at Patton's 'Grace' line, but it is cotton, which means figuring in some shrinkage and it just doesn't drape like the Luster Sheen acrylic. I do appreciate the suggestion though.

Happy Knitting, Debbie

Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

JanetEllen — Fri, 24 May 2013 20:20:21 GMT

Hi,

I like your idea of knitting curtins, I have thought of it also, but never did.

Are you using worsted yarn? My thoughts were to use Paton's Grace. It is a Cotton yarn that gives great stitch defination.

Probably a size 4-6 needle though. Would that work for you?

Janet

ptruncali2@hvc.rr.com

Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

JanetEllen — Fri, 24 May 2013 20:20:13 GMT

Hi,

I like your idea of knitting curtins, I have thought of it also, but never did.

Are you using worsted yarn? My thoughts were to use Paton's Grace. It is a Cotton yarn that gives great stitch defination.

Probably a size 4-6 needle though. Would that work for you?

Janet

ptruncali2@hvc.rr.com

Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

knitapeace — Fri, 24 May 2013 19:30:53 GMT

ZassZ, Here is a picture of my swatch - Afgan Feather pattern. I found this yarn to be very inexpensive, washable, dryable, the perfect aqua color to match my color scheme, and it has a nice drape and sheen.

Unfortunately, the company has discontinued making this color and I can no longer find it in stores. I checked all sorts of places on the web to find stray skeins, but alas! I only found one. So I'll just have to keep looking for a suitable substitute. Debbie

Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

knitapeace — Fri, 24 May 2013 19:20:32 GMT

mrsfroitz,

I really haven't gotten much further on the project, since I can't find the color I want.

I briefly thought about knitting up my pattern in white, which the brand I chose still makes, and then dying the curtains to match the color I want ...but I think I don't want to learn another hobby, just to make curtains!

So I'll just keep looking.

Curling stockinette is only fun, if you want it to... The lace across the bottom and top of the curtain takes care of the curling issue, but I do appreciate the advice! Thank you for taking time to respond to my inquiry.

Debbie

Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

mrsfroitz — Fri, 24 May 2013 03:37:55 GMT

I read this thread and noticed that no one has commented on your choice of stockinette fabric with a vertical purl stripe and mentioned to you the tendency of stockinette fabric to curl. It may be worth your while to add a garter stitch border to keep your fabric from curling. While you will want to finish your project by wet blocking and pinning to open up the lace pattern, the blocking will eventually lose its effectiveness. You could check out other curtain patterns to emulate the design of the border to ensure flat curtain panels. I wish you the best.

Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

ZassZ — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 22:29:06 GMT

Hi Debbie,

I think it will be pretty in your Afghan Feather pattern. You could put a pic up here for us see a sample of your swatch, that would be great! So glad you are having fun with your project. Take care! Keep me posted if you can.

Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

knitapeace — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 21:28:04 GMT

Hi ZassZ,

Waiting for sample yarn to come in the mail. While I wait, I am happily swatching with a similar weight sock yarn. It is giving me a chance to get an idea of size of needles and how open I might want the finished project to be and also giving me a chance to gain familiarity with the pattern. I think this sample will turn out to be a nice summery scarf, which I will give to my daughter for her January birthday! Also it will give me a chance to practice blocking the finished lace.

BTW I changed my mind on the lace pattern. Going to use 'Afghan Feather' instead of the previously mentioned pattern. It is only a 2 row repeat and one of the rows is all purl. I think I will do better with that to begin with.

Debbie R.

Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

ZassZ — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 22:56:28 GMT

Hi Debbie,

You know, just a normal swatch, usually 4 x 4 because you want to know your stitch height as well as your stitch width when calculating. How are your swatches coming along?

Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

knitapeace — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 19:12:44 GMT

I greatly appreciate everyone's feed back.

ZassZ, is the "stitches per inch" figure only the stitches running horizontally across one average row? Or is it a 'square inch' measure. That is, is the figure the average number of stitches in the entire swatch, vertical as well as horizontal stitches?

In other words, once I arrive at the 'stitches per inch' I don't have to multiply that number by the number of rows to get yardage, do I? I have never been very good at math, so these calculation are a bit confusing to me. Sorry, if my questions are tedious, I don't mean to be. And a BIG thank you for your patience and help.

Debbie R.

Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

ZassZ — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 04:03:28 GMT

knitapeace:
@ZassZ: Since I wrote this question, I have been making a few swatches with fingering weight yarn on US 9 bamboo needles.
Once I settle on these details, I still need to know how to figure yardage...that is how much of the chosen yarn I will need to complete the project. Can you help me with that? Is there a formula?

I'm thinking that I will need to know the dimensions Add all that up, but then what?Thanks in advance for your help! Debbie R.

Hi Debbie,

Right - That's it, you have it already in your head. First swatch (as you are doing) and then take your dimensions from your swatch and apply to how many inches you need to cover for your window (doubling dimensions to cover where applicable. Once you know how many stitches you knit/to your inches in your swatch go from there to figure how many sts per in. to the inches of fabric you will be needing to cover window, etc. All this will vary depending on the yarn you choose.

Also a helpful hint: I buy from a shop that allows you to return unused balls/skein of yarn. So they tell customers not sure of their needs, to purchase a few xtra, then if they find not needing all, can be returned to the store. You can always take it back.

Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

salmonmac — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 10:47:41 GMT

You may be able to get a rough idea of yardage from the amount of yarn you use in a good sized swatch. Scale up from the swatch to the dimensions you'll need and you should have at least an estimate. Add an extra ball or two.

Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

knitapeace — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 17:46:55 GMT

@ZassZ: looking at what other lace knitters have done, needle size, yarn weight, etc. Is definitely good advice. I will take that advice and do a little spy work that way. Since I wrote this question, I have been making a few swatches with fingering weight yarn on US 9 bamboo needles. This has been working well, though I haven't yet blocked my swatches to varify how open these samples will be.

Once I settle on these details, I still need to know how to figure yardage...that is how much of the chosen yarn I will need to complete the project. Can you help me with that? Is there a formula?

I'm thinking that I will need to know the dimensions of the window and then figure out from that the dimensions of the valance and curtain x's two. Plus the dimensions of the purposed shower curtain inset and the valance for the shelf, I want to cover. Add all that up, but then what?

Thanks in advance for your help! Debbie R.

Re: First attempt at designing lace curtains....need guidance

knitapeace — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 17:35:27 GMT

@ salmonmac: Thanks for the advice - especially the info about the characteristics of cotton. I think I'll stay away from that. Acrylic or acrylic blend might indeed be the way to go. Blessings, Debbie R.