Nupp and Square Needles

Nupp, which rhymes with droop, is a type of textural element added generally, but not exclusively, to lace work.  It is Estonian and is said to be the word for bud.  Since I started working with lace I have been excited about the day I'd have enough skill to be able to actually use this technique.  So with a bit of time on my hands this weekend, and with new square needles crying out to be used, the development of a skill in nupp making began.  (It is certainly debatable whether my current lace skills are ready for this challenge, but heck what do I have to lose?  A few hours of knitting.)

Here's what a bunch of nupp looks like in lace:

The nupp is the brighter white clusters which look like elogated buds.  This photo is from a Nancy Bush presentation on the Keep on Knitting site; the design is called Lily of the Valley.  (It is so beautiful IMHO.)

Now let's talk about what I am making.  I ordered the Kollage square needles in a U.S. #7/4.5 mm size.  From all accounts these needles should yield knitting as if it were done on a U.S. #6/4 mm sized needle.  So before coming to the Twin Cities I checked out Ravelry to find a shawl pattern using these needles and a lace weight yarn that incorporated the nupp.  Viaduct, designed by Beata Jezek checked off all these requirements and it creates a lovely shawl to boot.

So the nupp requires creating 5, 7 or 9 stitches in one stitch on the right side row.  This is done by knitting one and doing a yarn over (k,YO, k, YO, etc) in that order. Then on the wrong side row all those stitches are purled back into one stitch. As you can imagine this creates quite a lovely little bump of texture that when added to a SSK PSSO on the next right side creates an oval shape. (It is not a bobble for those of you wondering.)  In theory this should be rather simple to do, but like everything requiring skill, it takes practice. The trick is in knitting all those extra stitches very loosely so it is possible to get the needle into all of in my case 7 stitches when doing the purl together. Again, this should be easy peasy but I am finding it less easy when actually trying to performing it. My YOs (yarn overs) are notoriously tight making picking them up a real challenge. Viaduct will give plenty of opportunity to practice, and practice makes perfect.

Here’s my work so far. It is obviously early days, first I will show you the rather ordinary look, then the more spectacular stretched version and finally a real closeup.

Note how lovely each nupp becomes when it pulled into place. BTW, I am using another skein of Fantastic Knitting’s Zephry Lace Weight yarn which is 50% merino and 50% silk in the colour of Indigo.  It has become clear to me that I will be taking my time with this one. The process of fixing mistakes when you have a 7-stitch nupp to deal with is tricky. (You can guess why I already have thoughts about this.) A lifeline will be a must too. I had gotten away from lifelines in my third Ashton shawl, but it is time to bring them out again. You will see my Indigo Viaduct periodically, but it won’t be finished quickly.  I want to enjoy the journey.

Now a few words about the square Kollage needles. Let’s start by saying I like them. They are made of aluminum with a coating that causes the yarn to stick to them ever so slightly, which is wonderful for a metal needle. I can see how they impact tension because of that appropriate grip of the yarn. As 

for the fatigue issue (they are supposed to help reduce hand and arm stress) I don’t notice a difference.  But then I knit using the Continental style and purl using the English method. This changes up how I approach knitting almost every other row so fatigue is not really a problem for me.

The cord of my new set of circular needles interests me as well. It is very flexible, like red licorice string flexible, which causes me to wonder if it will hold the weight of a heavier project.  (It should be fine for Viaduct because it uses only 2 ounces or 57 grams of yarn.)  Most of my other circular needles are made with a stiff cord which I seem to be constantly working to get it appropriately aligned to knit. This is even after the cord is soaked in hot water to get it out of its coiled mode. The Kollage cord doesn't coil, but as I mentioned I am concerned about all the weight of the project wanting to fall to the middle.

Stay tuned, there will be periodic updates about both the Viaduct project and those square needles.