Negative Ease

Negative Ease

has never been something I've understood. I always thought it had to do with knitting something a little fatter or longer to accommodate a part of the body that was longer or wider respectively--for instance, knitting more stitches around in order to accommodate a longer foot, or knitting a longer foot to accommodate a fatter foot...meaning that one "counteracts" the other.

Frankly, I've always thought that making a sock that way was silly--since no one likes a sock that doesn't fit well on every horizon, and socks that don't fit well end up inside your shoe and under your foot, instead of snuggly around your ankle...and god knows, I don't like socks that don't fit well.

But a BIT of negative ease does help in making a sock fit well, in that about 10% fewer stitches than gauge would have you knit will give a snugger feel and help keep the sock on your leg, instead of falling down around your ankles. And you incorporate negative ease into hats to keep them snuggly on your ears, instead of falling down over your eyes...

So there's a method to the madness, right?

Positive ease, on the other hand, is a term I was more familiar with as simply "ease", as in sewing patterns...an extra bit of fabric here or there to accommodate for raising your hand in class, so that the shirt didn't ride up under your breasts and make an uncomfortable "statement" to the boys--or, pleats in the front of pants, so (okay, we are SO not going there).

So ease has a place in the world, and negative ease is creeping into the fitted garments we knit too. In fact, Knitting Daily had a whole series of articles on knitting fitted garments recently, and I might just have to revisit them.

Fanilla is still on the needles, but on hold until I can run in to Threadbear to get some knitterly help. The socks are coming along, slow but sure, with lots of negative ease to them. I have a headache from drinking too much caffeine this morning, and my wrist is bothering me from lifting too many files at the office.

I know, I know! I just want to get this particular job done. It's a big one, and nearly done after today's foray into "oh that hurts my wrist" mania. I really mean that, too--mania. I was working so hard so fast, that I was literally hurting myself. I'll pay for it in the morning, I'm willing to bet.

For now, though, I'd like to knit, but for whatever reason, the nightlife is really bugging me--get it? Bugging me? This happens when I knit with the windows open and a light on in the house - especially the one I sit under? The bugs that fit through the screen come in, fly around my head and land on my body and crawl. You know that creepy feeling?

With that, off to knitterly land I go.