The
Story
Summer is here! In the coming hot days of
summer, a hand-held fan is a convenient way to keep yourself refreshed, whether
you are out and about, or simply relaxing at home.
I just learnt that the hand-held folding fan is a Japanese invention, and which was
invented around the 6th to 8th century. Then, fans were made by tying
together with thread, thin stripes of Hinoki Cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) which is indigenous to Japan. During those times, the
number of strips of wood differed according to the person's rank. Presumably,
the more strips, the higher the ranking!
 |
| a paper and bamboo-framed sensu with tsunami art print |
The folding fan is called ‘sensu’ (扇子/ せんす) in
Japanese, and these days, hand-held fans symbolizes Japanese summer, as well as
friendship and respect, rather than social status.
 |
| an uchiwa made of paper with ad prints |
The flat, non-foldable fan variant, called ‘uchiwa’ (団扇/ うちわ), is commonly made of paper and plastic, and are freebies during summer festivals.
The
Project
This is my first summer knit project, which
is a cover for the hand-held folding fan. It is a fast and easy project (this one done in one day), using just about 1 ball of yarn about 30g. (I read a
blog about someone complaining that yarn balls in Japan are teeny weeny, and indeed
they are! …not to mention the price.. ouch!)
Well this project is knitted-in-the-round,
and thus is seamless, except the bottom end (the cast on edge), which is seamed
from the inside. The length of the cover leaves about 1 cm of the fan tip protruding,
so that the fan can be pulled out (of the cover) with ease. For binding off, I
used the Basic Knit Bind-Off for a tight opening, to ensure that the fan will not easily slip out of the
cover.
The stitch pattern I used is Rose Stitch,
which can be found on Barbara Breiter’s knittingonthenet.
Since the pattern was written for back and forth knitting, I made a small
modification to the pattern stitch count, for knitting-in-the round. For a
wider or narrower size (width of the knitted cover), cast on multiples of 2
stitches more, or less.
This will make a nice handmade gift for someone.
I made this for my Japanese language
teacher (She doesn’t know it yet)... and of course, the fan goes with it.
Materials
Needles: A set of four 2.0 mm DPNs, or a 2.0
mm CN.
Yarn: 1 ball of Romantic Linen in Navy (82%
acrylic, 18% linen); 30g per ball.
Measurement
Gauge: not too important, since the design
is just for a small object.
Finished measurements: 4 cm (width) x 21 cm
(length)
Instructions
- co 18 sts; leaving a tail of at least 10cm long for seaming; divide the stitches evenly over 3 dpns. Join in the round.
i.
Round 1: *k1, p1; rep from * to
end;
ii.
R2: *k1, k1 in st in row below;
rep from * to end;
iii.
R3: *p1, k1; rep from * to end;
iv.
R4: *k1 in st in row below, k1;
rep from * to end;
- Repeat Rounds 1-4, until work measures 21 cm (or to desired length).
- Bind off, and weave in ends. (You can finish off at any of the 4 rounds.)
Tips:
- Seam the cast on edge when you have done 5 repeats of Rounds 1-4. To do this, turn the work inside out, and seam from inside. Otherwise, it will be quite difficult to turn the work when the tube becomes long.
- In Round 2, when you get to the last stitch of every needle, i.e. one st left on the left needle, you might find it quite tricky to knit in the st in the row below. Therefore, instead of wrestling with the yarn, move this last st onto the next needle on the left, then knit.
- You might want to place a marker at the beginning of the round, although as Barbara states, the repeats are easy to remember, and its does get easier after you have knitted a few rounds.
- For the bo, divide the sts onto 2 needles (9 sts per needle). This way, you don’t have too many needles in the way.
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