Helmetliner Pattern for Standard Gauge Machine
By
Lynn Christensen, lynnknit@tds.net, of
This helmetliner is a good practice piece for double bed
techniques plus the use of your garter bar and transfer carriage. The techniques included are 2x2 ribbing
stitch increases, no-holes transition from 2x2 ribbing to Full Needle Rib
(FNR), decreasing with the garter bar, and transferring up FNR to the mainbed (I used the
transfer carriage). The three things I found helpful in knitting this pattern
were 4X magnifying glasses; good lighting (above and below – a lamp below my
machine plus my daughter’s camping head lamp); and a dental pick tool which
saved many of my stitches and helped me pick up the increase stitch. All but one of these techniques are included
in your manuals and I have provided the instructions for the no-holes
transition technique which I found on Danis McWest’s website http://www.danis.org/ If you find that you are having trouble
with any of these techniques or need more information please write to me or
post your question on the list.
Please let us know if you have a variation on this pattern to share!
PATTERN:
The
helmetliner is knitted in two parts and joined together after knitting the inch
of lower face ribbing. Doing this
remedies a problem the troops identified where the face ribbing is sometimes
too “floppy” on the sides. This face
ribbing is knitted in two mitered parts and then seamed on the sides.
The
head of the helmetliner is knitted in full needle rib for extra warmth on the
head and ears plus the stretchiness allows a nice fit for a large variety of
head sizes. The 2x2 ribbing is a little
tighter around the face and looser on the neck.
Yarn
used was 4 ply Forsell pure wool. This
is a bit itchy so a softer wool would be better.
Acceptable
colors are black, charcoal, brown, tan, olive drab.
Gauges:
(sample done on
Brother 970)
Full
Needle Rib (FNR) @ Tension 4/4 - 7.5 stitches per inch, 11 rows per inch.
2x2
Ribbing @ Tension 5.1/5.1 - 9.75 rows per inch.
Stockinette
@ Tension 7 – 12.5 rows per inch.
Measurements
of Helmetliner:
Do not
worry about being exact – “close enough” is good enough!! Your helmetliner will fit someone!!
Length
of Neck Ribbing – 6 inches
Length
of FNR – 4 inches
Length
of Stockinette Decrease Top – 2.7 inches
Length
of Face Ribbing around face – 1 inch of ribbing all around face.
Circumference
of FNR – 20 inches
Circumference
of Neck Ribbing (slightly stretched) – 18.75 inches
Knit the 2x2 Ribbing Upper Face Portion
while increasing stitches on edges to miter sides of ribbing for closer fit
around face.
Note:
When increasing put the new stitches into the 2x2 needle configuration
(ie 2 needles on mainbed, 2 on ribber, etc).
Ready
needles 9-90 (on righthand side of bed) for 2x2 (2x2 needle arrangement)
ribbing with 2 needles on main bed on both ends (i.e. 8,9
and 89,90).
Cast
on for 2x2 ribbing.
Hang 2
large weights.
Set
row counter to 0.
Row 1: T 3/3 Knit 1 row
Increase
2 stitches (1 on each edge – since both ends have 2 stitches on mainbed, both
new stitches go onto ribber)
Row 2: Knit 1 row
Incr 2 stitches
Row 3
& 4:
T3.1/3.1 Knit 2 rows.
Incr 2 st
Row 5: T 3.2/3.2 Knit 1 row
Incr 2 st
Row 6
& 7: Knit
2 rows
Incr 2 st
Row 8: T 4/4 Knit 1 row
Incr 2 st
Row 9
& 10: Knit
2 rows
Incr 2 st
Row 11: Knit 1 row
Incr 2 st
Row 12: Knit 1 row
COR
Prepare waste yarn rag for 52 stitches
to hold live 2x2 ribbing stitches that will be put back on machine later.
Make
sure ribber needles are in work with stitches in hooks.
Pull
out only the mainbed needles to hold.
Put
ribber bed down one notch.
Thread
up waste yarn, taking out main yarn if need to.
Change
ribber coupler to main bed sinker plate.
Put
carriage into Hold.
Cast
on 52-1 on main bed only using EON cast on (so needles do not
have to be in E position such as for weaving cast on) with waste yarn. Hang
cast on comb onto the 52 stitches.
Knit
10-20 rows – ending with carriage on the right (COR)
(Optional
and I think easier – last 3 rows – one row ravel cord and last 2 rows with a
bright smooth yarn for easier stitch pick up later)
Transfer
stitches so they are ready for 2x2 (2x2 needle arrangement) ribbing.
COR
Turn
off hold
Replace
sinker plate with ribber coupler.
Put
carriage on the righthand side.
Push
ribber back up
Connect
ribber carriage to mainbed carriage
Thread
up main yarn. Make sure that yarn is
securely in coupler!!
Tension
5/5
Knit 2
rows making sure to pull on cast on comb underneath for a little extra weight
on waste yarn rag.
COR
Join between 2x2 ribbing and Full
Needle Rib – makes a nice no-holes transition - from Danis McWest’s website
We
need to get all the needles into work for full needle rib. Bring all NWP
(non-working position) needles between the WP(working
position) needles into WP ( working position.)
Set
the pitch to H
Set
the carriage for circular knitting.
Tension
0/0
Knit 2
rows. COR
Rack
to 6
Change
tension to Main Tension – 4/4
Change
slide lever to Center position. (Why – I am not sure, but I did)
Set
carriage to normal (turn off the parts buttons used for circular rows)
Knit 1
row*
Rack
to 5
STAY
AT HALF PITCH for Full Needle Rib.
*First
few rows of FNR will be tough but get behind that carriage and think of it as
an isometric workout for your stomach!
Full Needle Rib – 4 inches
Knit
44 rows (4 inches) at tension 4/4. Transfer up stitches to main bed (Transfer
carriage makes quick work of this – just follow the picture instructions on the
carriage)
Decreases in Stockinette at Top of Helmetliner
Push
ribber down all the way
Put on
ribber covers
Pull
needles out to hold.
Take
off weights and extra combs (leave long ribber comb on)
Pull
knitting over ribber to make it easier to pull knitting onto the garter bar.
Replace
coupler with sinker plate.
Replace
ribber comb with claw weights all across work – this makes it easier to get
underneath the knitting to pull it onto the garter bar, but be careful, those
little weight prongs are killers if they scrap the inside of your wrist!
Row
counter to 0.
Tension
8.1 (loose
tension to make the transition line less noticeable)
Knit 1
row
Tension
8
Knit 1
row
Decrease
(with garter bar) every 15th stitch across.
Tension 7.2
Knit 3
rows
Decrease
(with garter bar) every 14th stitch
Tension
7.1
Knit 3
rows
Decr
every 13th stitch
Tension
7
Knit 3
rows
Decr
every 12th stitch
Tension
6.2
Knit 3
rows
Decr E
11th stitch
Tension
6.1
Knit 3
rows
Decr E
10th stitch
Knit 2
rows
Decr E
9th stitch
Knit 2
rows
Decr E
8th stitch
Knit 2
rows
Decr E
7th stitch
Knit 2
rows
Decr E
6th stitch
Knit 2
rows
Decr E
5th stitch
Knit 2
rows
Decr E
4th stitch
Knit 2
rows
Decr E
3rd stitch
Knit 1
row
Decr E
2nd stitch
Knit 1
row.
Row
counter should read 33.
Another
way to keep track of decreases – in chart form:
Row
1
2
Decr
every 15th stitch
3
4
5 Every 14th stitch
6
7
8 Every 13th
9
10
11 Every 12th
12
13
14 Every 11th
15
16
17 Every 10th
18
19 Every 9th
20
21 Every 8th
22
23 Every 7th
24
25 Every 6th
26
27 Every 5th
28
29 Every 4th
30
31 Every 3rd
32 Every 2nd
33
Take
off the stitches with a separate piece of yarn so later you can pull the hat
top tight and tie off.
Knit the 2x2 Ribbing Lower Face Portion
Ready
needles 9-78 (on righthand side of bed) for 2x2 (2x2 needle arrangement)
ribbing with 2 needles on main bed on both ends (ie 8,9
and 77,78). Cast on for 2x2
ribbing. Hang 2 large weights.
Set
row counter to 0.
Cast
on 2x2 ribbing.
Row 1:
T 3/3 Knit 1 row
Increase
2 stitches (1 on each edge)
Row 2:
Knit 1 row
Incr 2
stitches
Row 3
& 4: T3.1/3.1 Knit 2 rows.
Incr 2
st
Row 5:
T 3.2/3.2 Knit 1 row
Incr 2
st
Row 6
& 7: Knit 2 rows
Incr 2
st
Row 8:
T 4/4 Knit 1 row
Incr 2
st
Row 9
& 10: Knit 2 rows
Incr 2
st
Row
11: Knit 1 row
Incr 2
st
Row
12: Knit 1 row
COR
Join pieces - Rehook 2x2 ribbing you
scrapped off
Turn
scrapped off 2x2 ribbing so the right side is facing you and the upper face
ribbing is on the left.
On
needles 52-0 pick up and hang the row of bright
crochet yarn. Pull out ravel cord so
that there are still the 2 rows of the bright crochet yarn waste yarn. Hang some claw weights on piece.
This
is the picky part. I learned that there
is no easy way to get 2x2 ribbing back onto the machine. I just poked my tool into the main yarn
stitch and put it on the main bed needle and unraveled the bright crochet yarn
from that stitch. Once I got all the
stitches on the main bed I picked out any remaining waste yarn.
Optional: Move piece over 1 needle and
overlap the two pieces to make join less obvious. Then you will only have 3 needles in the
center rather than 4 needles. When finished it is hard to really tell there are
3 purl stitches rather than 2 but 4 may be more noticeable.
Take
your garter bar and move the stitches on 52-0 over to 51-0-1 (You will be
overlapping the end stitches and there will be 3 consecutive needles on the
main bed in the center instead of the usual 2 needles for 2x2 ribbing. All other needles will follow the normal 2x2
needle arrangement except the centermost 3 on the main bed.)
Transfer
stitches for 2x2 ribbing except for the center 3 that will remain on main bed.
Knit neck ribbing- 6 inches
Note: This neck ribbing needs to be
stretchy and not too tight fitting.
Knit 1
row.
(Optional: For a better-looking seam, I increased one
stitch on each side. I increased a ribber stitch on the left (now the 3
leftmost needles are on ribber bed) and I increased a main bed stitch on the
right (3 rightmost needles are on mainbed).
Knit 1
row.
Hang
ribber comb. It is a little hard to do
because there are 2 other combs hanging from the work but I just shoved the
long comb up there and hung it on. Hang
three large weights. As you knit make
sure the combs are not getting hung up on your stand.)
Knit 8
rows gradually increasing tension from 5/5 to 6/6
Knit
48 more rows. – 58 rows total.
Latch
tool bind off around gate pegs – alternate the number of gate pegs you wrap the
yarn around – I did two bind offs around 2 gate pegs then 1 bindoff around 3 gate
pegs then 1 bind off around 2 and 1 bind off around 3. Whatever sequence you want as long as this edge is stretchy(!!)
so the helmetliner edge lies flat when worn.
Seaming Together
Sequence I used:
Seam together FNR and stockinette.
Tie off top.
Seam together neck ribbing.
Seam mitered edges on face ribbing (edges are a little raggedy so just do the best you can).
|
We
have the “Made Especially for You by WI
Mknitting Guild” helmetliner tags which you can sew into your
helmetliners. Just send a SASE to
Barbara Grettie, 1422 Keough Springs Road, Mineral Point, Wisconsin 53565
requesting the # of labels you need. Please send completed helmetliners to |