Golden sands and Golden Hands - landscape knitting

Never one to throw anything away, my box of odd bits of wool is overflowing again...

Recently I have been gradually working my way through the 150 issues of Golden hands and Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Crafts which I acquired a couple of holidays ago for the princely sum of 1p each. These publications go back to the 1970's. I never saw too many of them at the time. But I will be ever grateful to the good lady who ordered every issue, kept them all and then forty years and later left them at her gate. For sale at one pence a copy - the money to be left in the honesty box at the side. Our stroll to the beach had to be abandoned, the only way this lot could be got back to the campsite was in the car.  And I wasn't going to pass this little treasure trove up!

A little tip I had just picked up about knitting in several colours said to keep the yarn in use coming up from below the other yarns. I thought I would have a little practice. I did not have a pattern so I cast on about twenty  and  made a little sketch of a country scene to have something to aim at. I had to have two goes at the little dog, it came out too big the first time. But drawing a little grid over the shape made it quite easy.

The tip was a good one, I ended up with a little bag. I was so pleased with it, I took the trouble to line it. Just right for crochet hooks and little tools.

All thanks to Mrs Lee.

Down the slippery slope - bias knitting problems

Oh dear what can the matter be? Quite a lot it appears. The knitting has gone all lop sided!

I had my suspicions when I knitted a tension swatch that all might not be well with the yarn I had Navajo plyed on the spinning wheel. This looping/chaining technique converts a single strand into a three ply yarn. It's quite simple when you get going, but  I was aware some over twisting had occurred while I was getting the hang of it.

I knew over twisted yarn can cause the knitted fabric to slope off in one direction, but the slope on the tension swatch was barely perceptible so I pressed on with the main garment sleeve. Thirty six cms.(15") of slip stitch pattern later not only do I have a bias on the fabric but one side is a good 5cms(2") longer than  the other.

Time for a cup of cocoa and burning some midnight oil while wading through Montese Stanley's "The Hand Knitter's Handbook - still the best book I have for finding better techniques and problem solving.

Along with  the over twisted yarn, loose stitches at the beginning of a purl row could well be part of the problem.  Apart from tightening the first purl stitches another suggestion Montese gave is to work a double chain selvedge on the over long edge. But that might not be suitable on a sleeve seam.

I'm hoping taking the yarn from the opposite direction of twist might help things. Another possibility for sorting the bias caused by the yarn, given by Montese, could be to incorporate twisted or plaited stocking stitches going in the opposite direction.

You often come across knitting or purling into the back of a stitch when shaping but I have never really considered the possibilities created by the use of rows of such stitches for forming basic fabrics. I am now quite fascinated and am busy making sample swatches of twisted and plaited stocking stitch.

I still love the yarn, I'm determined to make it behave and give me a new cosy cardigan - based on one I had when I was eight. Any other suggestions?