Crocheted sample and charity knitting

Some finished objects, and a test crochet piece...



A bunch of charity tees, to go to Guidepost's Knit for Kids. I've got another two unfinished, but will send these now before the parcel gets too heavy. The dark one is actually bottle green, doesn't photograph too well.

My test sample in Rowan cotton

This shawl is from Rowan Classic Holiday Spring Summer 2005, and is called Carnival. Nope, I didn't use the right yarn, who has Rowan tape or cashsoft lying around? I just wanted to test the pattern, it's really really easy and is crocheted in a spiral. Think it might become a coaster or something. Or go into the freeform blanket bag!

I love spirals and interesting constructions. Ok, time for bed!

As always, click for a bigger picture

UFO shame, or attack of the start-itis!

Argh!

I seem to want to start more projects, with no thought of finishing others!

To my shame, the Rowan waistcoat just needs sewing up. I think it's going to be way too heavy as a waistcoat, though. I don't know what possessed me to buy the yarn. Yes, I do. The colour, and sales fever! Not sure whether to frog it back completely or finish it! It doesn't help that we have had several very mild winters here in the UK, and what with central heating I've actually got very little use for knitware. Doesn't stop me making them though!

The free-form bag? Re-discovered it bundled in a corner. I had a long-overdue tidy of my knitting room last night. The bag looks great, but it bows out at the top, and it's a funny size, kinda long and thin. Again, not sure whether to unpick it or try and finish it! I could certainly overlock it smaller, I suppose.

The beach tote, that never got to the beach? It's a knitweave pattern, not sure I'm happy with how it went (I'm using two ends, the pattern called for something thicker really). I also used a pattern card and didn't stick with card 1 which would have been safer. Plus I cast off the bottom too tightly, and it's more a trapezoid shape than a rectangle.

So, what did I start yesterday? A crocheted spiral hexagon courtesy of Rowan (it's from a shawl). No, I don't have yarn for the whole thing, I just wanted to try the pattern out on one piece.

I also made a botched attempt at the cat-tea-cosy-that-has-become-an-evening-bag. Must finish that up, at least.

Now I've got that Pisgah cotton I want to make something nice with it.

I usually only suffer from start-itis in January, so not sure why it's happening now!

Whilst tidying up last night, I realised just how much yarn I've got, and how I'm never going to get through it all at this rate (there are three more bags in the attic!). I did make another charity tee last night, though - a blue marl with royal, navy and sky blue 4ply. I also had a go at plating on the chunky machine. Not all that successful - it only plated when it felt like it. Think I might have needed more weight, or thicker yarn. I attempted it with 4 ends of 4ply, as I don't have much DK lying around. Had to lose one of the plies because it kept bunching up and feeding wrong. I should have used the Hague blender, but it's a pain to set it up whilst leaning bent double over the knitting machine. Excuses, excuses. I am such a lazy knitter sometimes! :)

If I could figure out a way of making non-curl blankets for charity, I'd do it - but "Feed the Children" prefer natural fibres, and I'm not even sure what half of my stuff is! Some of it is so old the labels are faded or non-existant. I could do a batch in FNR on the chunky and blow the fibre composition. It's got to better than no blankets at all, right?

Maybe I should catalogue all my yarn, with photographs. It might help me get using it...

What kind of yarn are you?

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Shetland Wool. You are a traditional sort who can sometimes be a little on the harsh side. Though you look delicate you are tough as nails and prone to intricacies. Despite your acerbic ways you are widely respected and even revered.
Take this quiz!

Hmm, first attempt came back as mercerized cotton:

"You are Mercerized Cotton.
You are always very crisp and neat. You are very playful and are happiest while outdoors in the sunshine. You are sometimes accused of splitting hairs, but in the end people find you pretty easy to live with."

I wish I *was* delicate - need to lose a bit of weight to be delicate. Nah, it'll never happen. Not with these hips, LOL!

Blogger bug...

Oh, and I've figured out why I'm having such problems posting photos with Blogger. They've changed something, and now it only works in Internet Explorer. Opera is my browser of choice, not least because I can have several windows open at once. Oh well, c'est la vie! I do have IE installed for just this sort of problem - also I do online banking and Opera isn't supported for that.

The nightmare "dream week" project

Well, thought I'd have a go at my MK Dream Week project, seeing as today's a day off in the UK and the weather's miserable...

Remember this?

Plan was to turn it into this teacosy:

The pattern starts with 48 sts and is gradually increased to the full width, to make the "circular" top of the cosy. Two attempts at this fell off the machine. The yarn's like miniature tinsel - you can't even see the stitches, let alone rehang them if they fall off. Third attempt I decided to do it as cut and sew.

Well, for a start there's not nearly enough yarn. No problem, I thought - it's a tea cosy, I'll line it with some black acrylic instead of the nylon stuff. Then it occurred to me that there wasn't even enough for both a front and a back, let alone the tail and ears.

Debated asking for a second cone (you can do this), but being a headstrong Aries I wanted to make it all in a day, and having it stuck on my machine for at least a week was not really an option. Took it off the machine, removed the marker yarns I'd been using, and decided it might make quite a nice evening bag instead.

I did unpick a few rows, but it's snaggy and I risk breaking it. Plus it's getting a bit, well, bald in a few places.

Got the overlocker out. Realised I couldn't get two thicknesses through the overlocker - overlocked the top edge, so at least it wouldn't unravel. Looking at the piece it appears to bias quite badly. Not a problem, think I, if I cut and sew it. Alas, the overlocker's not too keen on it, even at only one thickness, and it takes two attempts to do a complete row without the cotton snapping.

At this point I decide to ditch the overlocker - the sewing machine will cope with two thicknesses far better, and I can always trim it by hand afterwards. Make the mistake of blowing into the overlocker to clean it before I put it away. Yes, you've guessed it, I am now covered in little tiny bits of black plastic.

Chuck work into a corner, in a huff. Go downstairs to whine at better half, who is in the kitchen making bread. He's trying really hard not to laugh at this red-faced woman covered in black bits, that look rather like black-fly!

Never fear, it will be finished. Just, not today. *grump*

---

Done some more swatching of the Peaches N Creme cotton - double worsted cotton is way thicker than I imagined! It's a struggle to knit it at T10 on the chunky machine - but it knits OK at T7 on every other needle (EON), so all is not lost. The reason the swatch is "flared" where I cast on is because I knit a row with T7, then 8, 9, 10, then realised that EON was the only way to go. Looks awful on the machine, but springs into shape with a sharp tug when cast off.

Also had a go at punch lace on the same machine - came out quite well. This design is supposed to be triangles. The "holes" are made by using an incredibly fine invisible yarn. Believe you me, it is not misnamed. Lost sight of the end a few times before I got this far! :)

The spare carriage (an 881) I got from Andeeknits only has one visible advantage over my 836 - it's got end needle selection. However, the row counter/knitleader tripper are too short, so that kind of takes away the advantage. It doesn't do punchlace - turns out that's something only the Brother 900 series do (the electronics). I did browse Ebay for machines and there were a few, but to be fair the Silver Reed does punch lace so I'd be daft to buy it just for that reason. It'd be tempting to try and get a 900 series carriage, but then there would be no patterning, so a bit pointless.

Also discovered that my chunky machine does plating whilst reading up on punch lace - I never spotted the extra hole in the yarn feeder before. It would be an interesting effect on the single bed. Something I shall have to try, if I can locate some yarns of the correct thickness.

Current mood: annoyed but determined

Current to-do list

Techniques:

Lace collars
Collars
Convert a fair-isle card to dbj
Tension swatches
Tension swatch dbj jumper
Garter bar
Using a punched card and the KC setting to indicate the start points of cables
Ladder-backed fairisle
Heart slip-stitch pattern
Hand-manipulated lace on the chunky
Pile knitting<<-- tried on chunky machine yesterday, yet to try on standard machine
Shadow lace
Punch lace
Silver Reed transfer tool
Silver Reed intarsia tool
Silver Reed knitleader
Tunisian knitting
Passaps - booked day in college in June.

Projects:

Dbj jumper
Circular yoked sweater
Pleated skirt

Key: College work, Personal

I keep adding techniques to this - I shall never finish learning new things! Mind you, it's no bad thing! :)

Swatching the cotton

Had a quiet morning messing about on the chunky knitting machine, and getting some laundry done...

Day started sunny but has gradually gone downhill - got one load dry, but the other has gone into the tumble dryer. It's quite chilly out there today!

Have swatched the Peaches n' creme cotton - it's the worsted weight in "strawberries and cream" shade. About a DK to the Englishters. Did them at T3 and T4 - T4 was a lot easier to knit, and looks about the same. Might wash the swatch, see if it gets any softer.



Also, another Lizard Ridge square - this is my new favourite, I think. I especially like the pink bits!



The neon jumper of luridness is now just past the half-way point, thank goodness. The Emily hat is stalled, but not far off completion, and the lace knitting so far has half a first repeat on it. I have to admit maybe lace knitting is too much for someone with a full time job, who is tired and fractious in the evenings. But I won't be giving up, no way! It just might take a little longer than my usual easy projects. It's about time I had a challenge, anyway!

The Cog and I are off to see "Pirates of the Carribean 3" later, and then going for a meal at the local Indian restaurant. I love long weekends!

Current mood: happy

Yarn, lovely yarn...

Picture 050,
originally uploaded by steel breeze.

This was last night's haul from Elmore-Pisgah, and the main reason I've dropped the KFYS button. I can no longer live a lie!! :)

The newest member of the family H...

chloe01,
originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Mum's new cat, right before she attacked me!

This was about 10 seconds before she swiped at me:

Chloe: "purr, purr, this is nice, purr, purr, SWIPE!"

Posted via Flickr. Because the Blogger photo server is flaky whenever I want to use it!

Beer-flavoured sofa

Interesting meeting last night - Jo brought the Pisgah cotton, which was lovely...

I missed some of the discussion, because I popped down to the ATM to get some money out, but I gather her craft shop in Coventry has fallen through, rotten sellers! Fingers crossed it'll go ahead in Warwick instead. I wanna paint me some pottery!

Sewed up the latest charity tee, knitted a few more rows on the neon jumper of luridness - it's slow going, because I'm knitting from sleeve edge to sleeve edge - but at least I'm nearing the half-way point.

Got Anne-marie started on her hood - a great big long paragraph about what stitches need to be picked up, when it could be summarised with: "Starting with the right front, put all the stitches on the same needle." No wonder beginners get put off!

Julie was making cords with a lucet - really, really cool! I sense another workshop coming on!

Got home and the telly was on full blast (Liverpool v Milan). Retreated upstairs with a glass of wine. The match ended, Liverpool lost, decided to risk going downstairs and got yelled at because somebody couldn't find the mouse (our tv is operated with a media centre). Went back upstairs for a bit - when I came down I made to snuggle up next to G, but he'd managed to spill beer all over the sofa, and I'm afraid I snapped at him, 'cause he didn't seem all that bothered. After a lot of struggling it became clear that you can't get the seat back covers off, as they are buttoned on (and it's sewn). Went upstairs in a huff. Men!

Feeling guilty for snapping at him now - it's the old Aries bluster, gone in a moment like a sudden storm. Alas, he remembers hurts longer than I do and is still sulking this morning.

Oh, and I removed the KFYS button. I think I've proved I just can't resist yarn!


Current mood: guilty

Lace, restarted

Made another start on the lace last night. I think I've figured out where I went wrong last time - I was counting K2togs and SSKs along with the plain K stitches, I think. Yes, I know, Duh! Doesn't help that the row markers are all out of place at one point (right in the middle of a K3tog, since you asked!). Using cotton markers - my usual stitch markers were a complete menace, getting caught and pulling stitches.

Also I'm making a concerted effort to mark where I am in the pattern. Never done that before, I am such a knitting know-all! :) Mind you, if it's on the machine, the row counter takes care of it, and I haven't done any hand-knit patterning for some time now.

Lots to take tonight - I successfully unlocked G's old Nokia 3310 for a friend whose 'phone died, plus discovered that my old Nokia (the crappy colour one that only stayed charged for a day) is already unlocked... don't remember doing that one! Gets me that they charge £10 to unlock mobiles on the Coventry Market, and you can do it for nothing online.

I digress - got to take that phone, take a sewing machine, some sewing notes, a shower-head, some magazines and some books tonight. Good job I'm in the car, eh?!
===
Found online:

This is the software description for a program which lets you beam tunes for use on your mobile. Thought it was funny.

"New: You can direct brace a tone to to your Nokia or Siemens without having to depute an SMS! Tones are installed undeviatingly from your handheld into your unstationary! MonkeyTone lets you rephrase and compose new ringtones for your Nokia or Siemens unstationary phone from your Palm"

I love it. "I've got an unstationary phone in my bag!" Actually, that's quite true - I've got one of those little inside pockets, but it's never in there, it's always found its way right to the bottom.

Amazon purchases and garter carriages...

I received "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns" and "A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns" by Barbara G. Walker in the post last week...

Tons and tons of fantastic patterns - cables, lace, two-colour slip stitch etc. I will never be able to use them all! I think my only small gripe about the books is that they are in black and white - but then there are so many patterns, perhaps the cost was prohibitive? The pictures are pretty clear, anyway. Think the Harmony Guides (which I also own), but bigger, and you get the basic idea.

The weird thing is, it's often cheaper to buy the books from the USA and get them shipped over here (if you don't mind waiting for them). One seller is selling the book for £99 (the cheapest is about £20). Do they think we're all daft?!

Next month I hope to get books 3 & 4.

I'd love to make a massive afghan with all the different stitches - it'd probably be the size of a football pitch, though!

===

I also took the afternoon off last Monday, to attend a talk about garter carriages. Despite having a rather frightening experience with White Van Man (see here), it was a good talk, and I learnt a few things about my garter carriage. Mine is one of the early models so doesn't do casting on or off, but then I think I'd prefer to do that myself anyway - I don't trust it. A garter carriage, for those non-MKers, is a special carriage that walk across the machine, knitting or purling stitches based on a punchcard pattern. You *can* use it for rib - but it's very slow, even at top speed. You can leave it running unattended and go and do something else, and it will count down for you (or at least, that's the theory - mine is a little temperamental!). It's very noisy, too - you can't leave it running overnight, unless your bedroom is a long way away from it! I haven't used mine too much yet, because I've needed access to my machine to complete my OCN course, and the garter carriage ties the machine up for so long.

Have a look here for a really funny video with a garter carriage - it's a 3MB QuickTime .mov file by a male machine knittiner, Marc Chametzky.

There was a massive pile of cones and patterns - somebody had passed on, and the family had passed her knitting things to the club. Poor Pat just couldn't give the yarn away, it was such a shame! If there had been any DK stuff I would have had it for the Knit Wits, but it was all coned industrial stuff - I even resisted the magicolour stuff, which is not like me! I had a load of punchcards, all the DPNs, and some autumny colours - figured we could make some seaweed or something for the sea scene.

I felt bad about not taking more yarn, but I still have three big bags and a big box of it at home. I daresay it went down to the tip. What a shame!

===

The neon jumper of luridness continues apace, a good mindless project I can do without even looking at the needles. I need to photocopy the lace chart for the Knitpicks scarf, so that I can carry the chart around without getting the book all battered.


Current mood: determined

Alas, poor knitpicks, I knew him well...

Here is the lace before it was frogged, plus a safety pin to hold up that dropped stitch.

Free pattern: Crocheted headphone covers

G wears headphones a lot in the office, as he has a preference for very heavy metal music that I don't share, and also for widdling about on his guitar, which can get annoying after the first hour or so! :) However, the original foam pads eventually perished, so he asked me to knit some covers. I figured crochet would be far quicker, as it's really easy to crochet in the round! So here's my pattern...




Yarn: I used two ends of 3ply, so a thin DK would do
Hook: 3.5mm
Note: These stitches are in the UK terminology. US folk: For tr, read dc, and for dc, read sc

Round 1: Make 5 ch, sl st into first ch to make into a loop
Round 2: Ch 3, work 15 tr into the ch loop made previously. Sl st into top of 3ch to join
Round 3: Ch 4, [1tr, 1ch,] 15 times, sl st into 3rd chain of first 4 ch to join
Round 4: Ch 1, work 7 dcs as follows: 2 dcs into a ch loop, 1 dc into the top of a tr, ch 1, sl st into next 9 sts, work 8 dcs as before, sl st into next 9 sts to beginning of round, ch 1, sl st into first ch st to join

Omit round 4 if your headphones aren't elliptical. I tried to make them fit without this row, and they were just too tight.

Round 5: Ch 3, work a tr into every st. Sl st into top of 3 ch loop to join.

Add more rows here if the work is still too small - you need it a little bit too small, though, so that it will stretch and stay on.

This row is the decreasing row, to make a "lip" to fit the covers over the headphones

Round 6: Ch 3, work decreasing tr (dec tr) as follows:

Yo, insert hook into first chain, yo, pull through 1st loop, yo, pull through 2 loops, yo, insert hook into next chain, yo, pull through 1st loop, yo, pull through 2 loops, yo, pull through all loops. This makes two tr into one stitch, kind of like a K2 tog.

Work dec tr into every st. Sl st into top of first 3 ch loop to join.

Break yarn, pull through last loop. Sew in ends.

You may need to modify this pattern somewhat to suit your headphones.

Lace update...

Well, I was going to frog down to the first repeat...

But as I approached that point, it looked as if I had a dropped stitch that had made it all the way to the cast on row. So, it's now back into a ball. Never mind.

I'm feeling quite chirpy about it, actually. I supposed I ought to be gutted, but I'm not! Maybe it's the thought of the crispy chili beef that is on its way to the house as I type, maybe it's the unexpected sunshine, maybe it's just end-of-the-week euphoria!


Current mood: happy and hungry

Another knitting meme...

Bold for stuff you've done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you're not planning on doing.
I underlined the ones I'm currently doing and coloured red things I don't understand...



Afghan/Blanket
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else's handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

I feel I ought to point out that (a) I'm a machine knitter, so textured knitting and some of the other techniques are relatively easy with the cam buttons and (b) I've never knitted a shawl, but I did crochet one. Likewise the knitting for pets was actually a crocheted afghan that I started for myself years ago, and eventually converted into a cat blanket, just to finish it... I'd love to teach the Cog how to knit, but he's just not interested. Thinks it's a girly activity I reckon....

7 random facts

I was tagged by Lucia aka The Knitting Fiend (http://www.thedietdiary.com/blog/), so here you go:

1. I'm allergic to penicillin and penicillin-based medication. Not a violent allergy though - nothing anaphylactic. I just get an itchy rash, everywhere. And I do mean, everywhere! Whatever I was taking the medication for, tends to go away of its own accord. My dad was also allergic, so presumably he passed it onto me.
2. I have never been able to snap my fingers. My other half thinks this is hilarious
3. I'm not keen on fresh tomatoes, but I love tinned. Something about the feel of them, I'm not sure why. I will eat them, though, because they are good for me.
4. When I was a child, I used to sneak stock cubes out of my mother's larder and eat them. I still can't resist licking my fingers after using them. Oooh, taste the salty goodness! :)
5. I have a bad habit of buying more sauces and condiments than actual food. This must stop - not only because, I'm running out of cupboard space.
6. I have very fine cataracts inside both lenses, another gift from my father. Some day I will need implant surgery I expect. I hope someone will notice when I start driving in the middle of the road (they don't always go at the same time!). I get my eyes tested every three years.
7. I'm not very good with house-plants - I forget to water them. The only plant that does well is the Christmas cactus, but then it's 35 years old, and I've not managed to kill it in the ten or so years I've had it. Another house-plant that was doing just fine has become the cat's chew toy, so it now looks terrible.

Oh, and apparently I can't count, either. Have two bonus random factoids:

8. I'm not a great one for make-up. I tend to wear a small amount on special occasions, eg parties. My excuse is, I get up far too early in the morning. My employer is lucky I turn up clothed, let alone anything else!
9. I love perfume, and seem to be collecting it. I prefer light, floral scents to heavy musky ones.

I can't think of 7 people to tag right now. It's dinnertime and my stomach is overriding any sensible thought. Be tagged if you so wish!

Not much knitting!

Not much knitting to report, lately...

Had another concert to go to (Saxon) last night at Nottingham Rock City. Didn't get back to Rugby until nearly 1 o'clock (we had to drop another brother off in Cov). A good gig though - we came in half way through the support band. I don't know any of Saxon's work, but it was excellent. However, I was quite tired, and sitting down, so found myself dozing off. Yes, that's right - I struggle to get to sleep in my own bed, which is cool and quiet (apart from the snoring), but I can doze off in a rock concert surrounded by hundreds of people! To be fair, I did have earplugs in!

Did some more work on the neon jumper of luridness, but failed to take a tape measure so had to guess 8.5". Oh well, as long as the back matches the front in length it doesn't matter I guess. The lace is still sulking in the knitting room - I *will* photograph it before it gets frogged, just to prove I got that far!


Current mood: impressed

SP10 Contest No. 2

With the weather turning warmer, many of you are thinking of traveling (though some of you have just returned, you can play along).

1) What do you pack to knit?

When I went to Barcelona, I packed the half-clapotis scarf Otis on Denise needles (airline friendly). It has to be something fairly easy that I'm not going to get lost in pattern-wise - lace wouldn't be good, especially if I was in a really relaxed frame of mind!

2) What do you hope to shop for?

Oh, I dunno - interesting knick-knacks, jewellery etc - I've got more than enough yarn.

Bonus: Where would you go on a "knitting holiday"?

Oh, central Wales without a doubt - Colinette is worth a few hours, plus there are one or two knitting/weaving museums in the area too. And of course, lots and lots of mobile wool in the form of sheep! :)

Knitting injuries part 1

Just to prove I did indeed sustain a blister from six hours knitting at the Knitathon.

Machine knitting pattern definitions - ribber bed techniques

Decided to split up the definitions into main bed and ribber for clarity.

Basic rib, 1x1 rib, 2x2 rib, 5x5 rib etc

Ribbed knitting created by use of the ribber bed for purl stitches.

Half-fisherman's rib

Ribbed knitting where the purl stitches are tucked in one direction (ie every other row)

Full Fisherman's rib

Ribbed knitting where the purl stitches are tucked in both directions (ie every row)

Full needle rib

Ribbed knitting created using every needle on both beds, ribber bed set at half-pitch. Because there is less room to move, finer yarn must be used.

Pile knitting

A thin yarn is knitted in and then dropped, creating a pile on side of the knitting. Done with a special p carriage on the Silver Reed machines, can be done with some effort on other makes.

Drive Lace

"You use the second bed to pick up the loop of yarn, and then you drop the loop off the needles, the extra yarn just makes a looser stitch in a stocking stitch fabric and thus appears to be a lace hole. On the Knitmaster machines you would have had all the work on the ribber bed, and used the main bed, a punchcard and slip setting for selecting the needles that would pick up the yarn. Then you would have knitted a row on the ribber ONLY (the punchcard was only marked out on alternate rows). Then you would have used the P-carriage to drop the stitches off the main bed needles."

Definition courtesy of Glynne Jones, UK

Shadow lace

"Shadow lace is knitted using both main bed and ribber, and you transfer the 'lace' stitches from one bed to the other. I was used to doing it on the Passap using its transfer carriage which made it very easy, but I do remember doing something similar on the Silver machines using 'Jaws'! Because it is basically a rib fabric, the 'lace' stitches are not very open but it produces a rather nice fabric.

Jaws was the name we gave to the special transfer tool - hard to describe, but it has two rows of eyelets set opposite each other, eyelet to eyelet and you pick up the stitches from selected needles onto one set of eyelete,close the tool and sort of 'rock' the stitches over onto the other set ofeyelets and transfer the stitches onto the needles on the opposite bed."

Definition courtesy of Sheila, Western Australia

Double bed jacquard

Two or more colours knitted in such a way as to create a pattern on one side, and to have a plain, striped or bird's eye backing on the wrong side. The knitting is technically a tube, knitted together every time the yarn changes to the front or back.

More definitions to be added later - I am away from my notes right now!

More books and more rain!

Well, Legoland was really good. Pity it rained for a good part of the day. My nephew's favourite thing all day? His Tigger ballon animal, provided free of charge by an NCT-hired entertainer. Typical!

Mind you, it was lovely and quiet because of the rain, so we got to go on lots of things twice, no queues!! Nephew B wanted to go on everything straight away, of course. I mostly got to look after niece L because she was too small for most things, but we did all get to go on the river ride a few times.

The first two Barbara Walker treasuries turned up from America. Yay! Got a half-day today, off to play with garter carriages with the Long Buckby MK club, a rare treat!

More later!

Lace knitting

Thanks for the lace tips, SP! Wish I'd read them first now!


Knitting beyond the Hebrides

I like the tip about using crochet cotton between repeats - my stitch markers keep snagging in the yarn, which is really annoying!

Yikes, frogging one repeat down, that looks scarey! Alas, I think I've made enough minor mistakes elsewhere throughout that I should probably frog the whole lot. Ok, ok, I admit it - I've been cheating! The numer of stitches has fluctuated a bit, so I've been adding an extra k2tog or increase at the end. Man, I am *so* slap-dash sometimes it's untrue!

It's going to have to be a stay-at-home project I think. I might also try the pattern in ordinary DK first, so that I can see where I've slipped up before.

Think I'd better downgrade my knitting skill to intermediate, too! LOL!

I'm a bit excited today (woke up at 6am) because I may or may not be going to Legoland Windsor today. My bro-in-law isn't feeling well so there's a spare ticket, and Wendy doesn't fancy going down on her own with two kiddies in tow. I'll know in half an hour I guess!


Current mood: determined

To frog, or not to frog...

Well, I've been carting the lace knitting around in my workbag like the complete plonker I am. It gets caught on things - I really should keep it inside something else. Anyway, the other day, I spotted a dropped stitch, about an inch from the bottom. I've safety-pinned it up so it doesn't go any further, but now I can't decide what to do!

If it was ordinary knitting, DK or something, I'd be able to drop down to it and pick it back up, or possibly just sew it so it doesn't run. But it's lace - v v fine, so if I sew it up it'll be visible, and I don't think I'll be able to pick it up, the pattern's too complex. So I suppose frogging is in order. I wouldn't mind, but that's about 4 inches worth! I'm a perfectionist, but only to a point - I have a low attention span and can be impatient, so I'm torn. Help, what do I do?!

In other news, I got a blister from 6 hours knitting - did try and photograph it, but it was a bit blurry!! It probably occurred in the morning, when I was so cold I could only tell I was knitting with my eyes! :)

Did a bit more on the Emily hat - not sure how long to make it really!

In pictures: some current projects

The Emily hat, the neon jumper of luridness and my current design-in-progress. Yes, it really *is* that bumpy!

Silly hat

Another lizard ridge, and me in the "yarn that doesn't want to leave" hat.





Yes, I have Dennis Healey eyebrows! Look, it's quite hard to take a photo of your own head, ok?!

After a few abortive starts I've made a new start on the MKM design. Figured I should probably start with a hem before I got too much further with the design! Yesterday's piece isn't the right pattern, so it's going into the bag for the freeform blanket, which is getting rather a lot of pieces lately!

One pattern repeat is 134 rows, only about 1" of knitting, so I don't expect it to be finished any time soon!

Gotta go, G's made hot n sour soup, and my mouth and nose are on fire!


current mood: hot

Rugby's Knitathon - in pictures!

This was at the freezing-to-death stage, so we all have our coats on! As always, click for bigger images!

I worked on two hand-knit projects - the neon jumper of luridness for charity, and a simple hat in Emily to match the Otis scarf. The latter may make it into the local paper, so look out!

That's my sequinned bag, to the right of the lady in the green coat in the first pic.

Botheration!

Maybe I should just stick to hand-knitting. My brain obviously can't cope with even the simplest math

I've just spent the best part of the day working on my first ever design for MKM magazine, a stripey top. I got up to the slash neck, 18 rows rib, should've been easy. Alas, some stitches had got caught around the gatepegs, so big mess at that end. Just got it all set up, ready to run the rib again, and thought I'd just count the stitches and check the width (bearing in mind I've knitted about 1800 rows here!). I've got 105 stitches.

It was supposed to be 155.

What kind of doofus leaves out 50 stitches?! It'll never fit a woman unless they're of the Kylie Minogue/Kate Moss ilk and have no curves whatsoever.

Guess I could use it as a tension swatch.

Totally fed-up with myself!!

Addendum:

Oh, and thinking I'd do at least something useful today I got the shower curtain and pole out. No shower curtain hooks. Feh!

Mebbes I should just go back to bed! Ha!

Current mood: angry with myself

Colder than a... well, you know!

Just spent six hours (yes, you read that right!) handknitting in Rugby town centre, for Marie Curie cancer nurses

The sun came out around half 2, but that doesn't make up for a morning spent freezing to the bone! Luckily the church hall opened and were serving coffee and tea! My hands are stiff and sore, I cut my finger trying to snap some yarn.. but apart from that I'm just glad to be home, with a cuppa in my hand. Next stop, hot bath!

Did about 30 rows on the neon jumper of luridness, and about the same on the Emily hat, which may or may not end up in the Rugby Observer. Watch this space!

Must admit I nearly wimped out after 4 hours because I was so cold, and nobody had sponsored me "per hour"... But there was a steel band we danced and sang to, a barbecque grill, and the chocolate fountain. So not too bad!

Thai meal later, yay!
Current mood: cold

Machine knitting pattern definitions - main bed techniques

Here I'm defining different machine knitting patterns/techniques. This will be a work in progress! Slip stitch The stitch is skipped and not knitted, leaving a bar of yarn behind it on the purl side. Mosaic/Maze knitting Two-colour slip stitch which forms a maze or mosaic pattern on the right side. Tuck stitch On the machine, the stitch has a loop of yarn placed in the hook, but the original stitch is not knitted off. To replicate this by hand you'd bring the yarn forward, slip a st, then knit a stitch, creating an extra stitch Fair-isle or knit-in Two-colour work, where the colour not is use is slipped behind the knitted stitches, resulting in "floats" of yarn on the wrong side of the work. Simple lace Lace of holes made by transferring single stitches in one direction or another Fashion lace Lace where stitches are transferred over several passes - almost a cable effect, but with lace holes Punch lace Punch lace Lace made by running an invisible thread along with the main yarn. In certain areas, only the invisible yarn is knitted. Tuck lace Lace created with a tuck card, where certain needles are out of work, and the tucks fall either side.

Knitweave A contrasting yarn is woven into the wrong side of the knitting - can be done to a pattern Garter stitch Knitting made with a garter carriage, that may have both knit and purl in one row If you've got any more definitions to add, please comment and I'll update. I'm only really a beginner at this so don't claim to have them all down!

Anatomy of a punchcard

Often on the newsgroups we have newbies asking what card so-and-so can be used for, so I thought I'd do a post explaining it.

This card could be used for fair-isle, knitweave, punch lace or tuck stitch. Tuck stitch requires that there are no more than 1 blank in any column, ie that you can't have two blanks together on a row. The number of punched holes in between blanks is immaterial. Tucking has limitations on rows too (see below). 

Another card - this could be used for fair-isle, knitweave, punch lace. The centre of the motif would not work in tuck st.

This would work for fair-isle, knitweave, punch lace - might look a bit odd in punch lace though.

This is definitely a lace card - note that the card is mostly not punched. This is for a Brother machine - you can tell because there are blank rows in between punching. With lace, you cannot have two holes together. There are ways of creating two needles out at once, but you still can't have the holes on the same line, so you need to chart the pattern on graph paper and then work out what order to do the transfers in. There are little arrows that turn back on themselves every few rows (always an even number of rows). When this arrow reaches the top of your card reader you need to knit 2 rows with the main carriage, which is parked on the left. Prior to this, all the lace needles tend to return to B position with the last pass of the lace carriage to the right - so if you look for "all needles back" this tells you it's time to knit 2 rows. If this doesn't happen, you might be out of synch by a row or two!

Knitmaster machines use a replacement carriage for lace, not an auxiliary one, which means the extra blank rows are not required, so their cards are not interchangeable with Brother machines. Thus their cards are somewhat shorter for the same lace pattern and do not have the turning back arrows. Knitmaster cards have line 1 on the fifth row, and Brother/Toyota on the seventh, so that's a second check to make if you are not sure of the card. 

This card would be suitable for a motif, or an all-over fairisle, as it has a bird's eye backing which would control background floats. Note it has large floats in the glass and ice-cream area - it would be worth latching them up the back or tieing them up with a length of matching yarn as you go, to save time and tears later.

This is the ubiquitous tuck card - the pattern doesn't look like much, but it will produce a bumpy, almost quilted fabric. Note that there is a row completely punched every few rows. This ensure that the tuck loops are knitted off, and that they don't build up on the needle. All machines are different. Japanese machines can tuck for about 6 rows, although it depends on the thickness of the yarn and how much weight it can stand. With tuck you cannot have two punched blanks together on a row.


This is a double bed jacquard card. How can you tell? Because the pattern (a flower) is interspersed with negative lines for the background. If you have an electronic machine you don't need to use DBJ cards because you will have a conversion switch. On the Silver Reed it is marked XXX, on the Brother it is KRC (for Knit Ribber Changer).

Next post: definitions of different patterns for knitting machines. A work-in-progress, methinks

Onwards and upwards

Been on a bit of an Ebay frenzy this week. Man, I love payday!

Bought some invisible thread (but I can't find it, haha!) from BSK so that I can have a go at punch lace - Susan, you've inspired me, I've never tried it out before. To be fair, it was only recently I got a second carriage I could do it with - the 836 doesn't have that capability.

Bought a single ball of Noro Kureyon, in shade #170,, to complete my afghan. I've about 10 pieces left to do, and then it's a marathon steaming and sewing job, followed by a crochet border. Think it'll probably be sewn on the Hague Linker - I've even got some black wool for the job.

Bought and am bidding on a few punchcard books. You can never have enough punchcards, I say!

My SP spoilee is really pleased with her parcel - it's made my day to hear her enthusiasm.

Busily scanning punchcards for the aforementioned Susan - I just love the musty smell of these punchcards, I imagine they've been hiding away in somebody's attic for years.

Finished sewing up another charity tee top, pastel yellow and multi-coloured pastels. Will photograph the lot before they get posted.

One for the pot and crochet spot

Remember this?



I think it might become this:



This is one of Ruth Cox's Pippin Designs - a cat tea cosy. Mum gave me Grandma's old cosy - haven't the heart to tell her it doesn't actually fit over our teapot, which is ordinary size.

Note to readers: I'm now using expandable posts, so there's often more after "Read more..." - not always - alas, it appears on every post!!

Somebody suggested I use the yarn to make an evening shawl, then kill it - but as it's a plastic yarn, I'm not sure that would be such a good idea!

Ran a crochet workshop at knitting group tonight. I think it went really well - got two people crocheting that had never got the hang of it before, and one was a left-hander, too. Mandy somehow managed to make a pentagon out of an afghan square - but it was a good pentagon, not bowl-shaped. I threatened them that they all had to wear crochet hats next week - or crochet bikinis!

They thought I was kidding! [evil laugh] Anybody know how to put backslashes in posts and not have them parsed as HTML?

Found a v clever site for tracking any comments I leave on other blogs - http://www.cocomment.com/ - very clever idea!

Right, off to bed to read a bit more Billy Conolly and have a horlicks! G'night!

Current mood: chuffed

Knitting meme

1. What is your favourite cast-on?

HK: Cable, 'cause it's the only one I know currently
MK: Latch tool

2. What is your favourite stitch?

HK: Linen stitch
MK: DBJ, though I've yet to master it on the Silver Reed

3. What are your favourite needles?

HK: My Denise interchangeables
MK: The ones in the machine, haha!

4. What is your favourite project?

HK: Probably socks
MK: The lizard ridge afghan, natch

5. What is your least favourite project?

HK/MK: Anything with massive swathes of stocking stitch in

6. What is your favourite cast-off?

HK: I like the scandinavian one
MK: Latch-tool

7. What are your favourite yarns?

Anything variegated or loud, slubby, lumpy-bumpy - anything novelty

8. What are your least favourite yarns?

Nylon. Ack!

9. What are your favourite colours?

I like all colours in moderation, but esp. cobalt blue, hot pink, red, purple

10. What are your least favourite colours?

On their own - orange, green or brown. But pastel shades are OK.

Yolanda Gypsy, Mandy, Julie, you are *so* tagged!

Gratuitous kitty porn, and more knitting...

Feh - second attempt - just lost this post somehow.

Yes, this is my office chair, looks like I've lost it huh?! This is the kind of thing we have to put up with around here. I know who's in charge, and it's not me!

So, I've been knitting away tonight...


Feeling quite inspired tonight - posted two MK techniques, finally knitted that dratted yarn into something resembling a hat, and made another charity tee front. Another hour to go before my football banishment ends. Anything involving Liverpool or England and I lose telly rights in this house! I don't mind, means I can knit without widdly-widdly guitar noises from the next room, haha!


current mood: inspired

One-row stripes

I found this on one of the MK mailing lists, and I'm sorry but I can't credit it to anyone because I forgot who suggested, so apologies!

To knit a one-row stripe in another colour, work as follows:

Put card 1 into the machine, and lock. Card 1 is this one:

xoxoxoxo
oxoxoxox

Method:

1. Stop knitting when you have one row of the previous colour to knit.
   
2. Select KC on the carriage, knit one row.
3. Release card, change yarn, put both part buttons on.
4. K 2 rows.
5. Select NL on carriage and change yarn for original or next yarn.

What this does is to knit every other stitch in the contrast colour, and then every *other* stitch on the way back, thus creating a one-row stripe.

Simple, huh?!

Lace knitting without a lace carriage

I've been planning to try lace out on my chunky machine for a while, and tonight I got the chance. Thought I would document the technique so that others may benefit. NB this only works on machines that preselect needles before pattern ie Brother. Sorry Empisal/Silver Reed/Knitmaster folk!


Firstly, why would you want or need to do this? Firstly, the lace carriage was often sold as an optional extra, so not everybody has one. Secondly, on certain machines it was an engineering impossibility. The lace carriage works by bending two needles together, and transferring the nearest stitch onto the furthest needle. Bulky/chunky and mid-gauge machines have needles that are, well, just far too beefy for such a carriage!

Lace on a chunky machine looks really good too.



Method:

1. Knit to point in garment where you wish to start lace. Insert lace punchcard/mylar and set on row 1, locked.
   
2. Set carriage to KC (this selects needles forward) and both part/slip buttons in. K one row - the machine actually does a free pass, but needles are selected forwards.
3. Release punchcard, and using a transfer tool, transfer the selected needles to the left or right as indicated on the punchcard. Keep the empty needles in working position.
4. "K" another row - further needles are selected, transfer these in the indicated direction. Keep the empty needles in working position.
5. Repeat step 4 until the back-and-forth arrow comes up - this indicates some actual knitting is required!
6. Lock the pattern card or mylar, release both part buttons, and knit 2 rows, or whichever amount is indicated.
7. Put both part buttons on, release pattern card.
8. Repeat steps 4 to 7 ad infinitum.

OK, so it's not as automated as proper lace carriage knitting. But, I think the extra work is worthwhile, don't you?

Video here

Note: Never set a lace card to double length - you can't have double length holes!

Tragicomic

Tragicomic is, discovering that Noro have a german subsidiary (http://www.noroyarns.com/) that sell industrial versions of their yarns - but only to knitwear manufacturers. But I fell in love with the colours, especially wave shade #2! *sob*

Am I blogging too much lately, d'ya think? Should I spend less time online and more time knitting? Hmm....

Sending 2nd secret pal parcel tonight. Hope she likes it! 'cause I quite fancy it myself! :)