More Garters

ETA: I finished the second garter on 9/4.

I'm pleased to announce that I finished my first garter last week.  I've already started the second and will post more pictures when I'm done.

But, more exciting is that a friend, Diane Glewwe, finished one of her garters.  She graciously gave me permission to share her notes and pictures here.  I have edited it only to remove some specifics of the "recipe" as per Jane Malcolm-Davies. So, with no further ado, I bring you:

Diane's Garter

After completing one garter here are my notes.
Hand Knitted Garters
Yarn used:
100% Romney Wool
2 ply from Beaver Valley, Washington
www.insouciantfibers.com
Worsted Weight
96 (g), 148 yards
Needle Size: US 2

What I learned:
In the beginning I was trying to watch the tension, so the edges would come out even. A friend pointed out that the yarn was, slightly, not a consistent thickness which may have caused the uneven edges. (See photo of yarn)
I didn’t sweat the small stuff. I didn’t count rows and gave up on knitting smooth finished edges.
I did make sure the purl row was on the same side of the garter as the other. Honestly, it probably wouldn’t matter because, as in some common extant garments, the finished product would not have been perfect.
It took approximately five minutes to knit 1” (at my pace). Which is about 3 hours to knit one garter.

Garters!

If I can knit an inch a day*, it will take me ~2 months to finish a pair of garters.

That's depressing.

*Disclaimer: I'm not known for my speed in projecting, and I often only get an hour or so a day to do something / anything that I want to do. 

Better get started!

At the amazing Jamestown conference, we were introduced to some new research on garters by the Tudor Tailors and had the opportunity to examine some 16-17th c. extant knitting examples.

I can't share the "recipe" but the knit fabric was much tighter than I had expected, and it seems they would knit with two strands instead of using yarn with multiple plies (twisted together).

At the end of the session, Jane looked over some of the different yarns we had brought and commented on if they would be interesting/appropriate.  I brought Jamieson & Smith 1 Ply Cobweb Lace Weight.  Jane said she would be interested in seeing the results as it was a commercially available single ply wool, made for heritage knitting.  It has a slightly coarse feel even though it is very fine. It's fairly easy to knit; the two strands "stick" together pretty well. I should mention that I'm a lefty, so I often end up un-ply-ing normal yarn as I knit so it's nice to not be fighting with this. It's also stronger than I thought it would be. I haven't broken it yet!

I started by winding the single ply wool into two balls.  This allows me to knit with two strands.  The next step was to gauge.  From past knitting projects, I know that I have a tendency to knit on the tighter side, so your gauge may vary.  Each sample is 9 stitches wide and 10 rows long in plain knit with 2 strands of the wool.  The one exception is the very small 000 sample where I used a single strand, just for comparison.

Gauges: Starting from the bottom, size 4, size 3, size 2, size 1, size 000

Close up of size 4 and size 3

Close up of size 2 and size 1

Close up of size 000 single and double strand

Better close up of size 000 single and double strand

I didn't have 0 or 00 needles, so I went with what I had.  From the gauged samples, I decided on using size 1 needles with 8 stitches per row to achieve the right size and density. The 000 gave a very dense fabric, but it was rather difficult to knit at that gauge and I felt it was overkill.  Size 0 (if I had them) would likely be a good option as well.

At this point, I've completed about half of one garter (~36 in each), but wanted to share progress! I have a strong spiral curl to my garter that I haven't figured out how to remove, but otherwise, it's coming along.