Spring startitis (kind of)

Regular readers will know I used to suffer terribly from startitis, every spring. Well, it's been late this year and absent in previous years due to my getting older, getting slower at finishing things, and general SAD type issues. When sleep is hard to obtain, inspiration for creating new things falls way down my list of priorities. Anyway, I've decided to just look at what's in the stash and try and make something (anything) with it, instead of "procrasti-planning" items in my head that I never get around to. So the leftover cone of sienna coloured boucle (Christine shawl nightmare, but this is just one end) might become a simple scarf, if it's not also moth-eaten and too fragile. Having said that, I've swatched T6, 7 and 8 in a yarn I hope to make into a sweater. The pattern's at T9, wouldn't ya know it? So another swatch is needed or a lot of maths, never a strong suit!

Work's been pretty busy thus stressful. I suspect part of it is my age - I'm irritable and grumpy and getting tired of dealing with unfixed bugs and general downgrading of the creativity I once was able to bring to the task at hand. Let's face it, designing conveyor systems isn't a dream job for someone who loves colour and creativity, but it's close enough and is at least a marketable skill I suppose, until AI takes that away from me for good. 

I'm delighted to be running a small two day machineknitting "retreat" which is already fully booked (the venue is quite small). If it goes well, I might run a single-day one. We'll see. I've got to check my machine "stable" and think about where we're all going to go. That's tomorrow's job. 

I've been starting to catalogue my books; it's a big job, and so far I've completed crochet, and partially  done machine knitting, hand-knitting and weaving, and I'm getting rid of a few I'll never use in the process. I've been amazed at what I've bought, flipped through, and then presumably hoped would stay in my brain by process of some weird osmosis! Anyway, in the vein of "use what I have to learn something", I'm teaching myself how to work tunisian cables. Now, a cable to me, in the purest sense, is when stitches appear to lean one way or the other, and under another set of stitches, to create a cabled pattern. So crochet cables (back post / front post) aren't quite cables in the strictest sense, as they are worked AROUND preceding stitches and not INTO them. Tunisian cables are much more like knitted cables in that they are worked into the stitches below. I purchased an Annie's Crochet book some time ago on the subject, and had leant it to a relative. When I got it back I thought it was about time I had a go. 

This is my second attempt. Whilst flipping through another book, which gives 3-4 samplers of various crochet techniques, I discovered I was doing my work too tight because the hook needs to stay on top of the work and not to the front... once I made my loops looser (and figured out the tunisian purl they are using, my first attempt was incorrect), it went a lot better. I'm ignoring how they instruct to work the cable though, I am cabling like I would in knitting. The book states I should rearrange all my loops and put them back onto the needle (an extra chain is worked between each cable "strand"). I'm just letting the loops hang off onto a cable needle and putting them back onto the loop when it's time to work them. It just works better for me! 

If I get far enough (I have to work 28 twists and then two more strips of this) it will be a scarf. The twists happen every 6 rows. Because I'm still learning how to "read" my work, I'm using stitch markers. No, I do not need any more scarves, but someone might!

Oh, and I've taken up netball, after a 40 year gap. Week one (taster week) there was one sprained ankle, and one momentarily dislocated shoulder. The first match week, one of our team members fell straight backwards during practice (ball to the face, she's short, and no, I did NOT throw it!) and cracked a vertebra. I may have lost my mind if that sort of thing keeps happening, and my knees did complain a bit the folllowing day. Mid-life crisis? I hated sport at school until later on, because I was short and sturdy. Watch this space! :D 

Current mood: exhausted

Some useful MK edgings

I found these written up on a scrap of paper, I suspect someone presented these at Metropolitan Dream Week but I've no idea now who it was, so apologies if anyone wants to claim copyright on them (though I'm not sure you can copyright a technique anyway). The first three are joined as you knit. 

Cable edging (start at RHS of bed if right-handed):

Use 3 prong tool to hang edge of item, RS facing away from you, knit 4 rows. Use 3 prong tool to hang next 3 along edge, K4 rows. *Place end 3sts on RHS onto 3 rem. sts (ie move them left), use 3 prong tool to hang next 3 along edge, K4 rows. Repeat from * to end. Remember to work extra rows if turning a corner. If you run out of bed, use the three prong tool to remove the work and rehang on the RHS to continue. Cast off, steam. 

Cable join:

Cast on 4 sts, K2 rows. RC000. Hang edge of first piece using single prong transfer tool on the opposite side from the carriage, WS facing you, K1 row. Hang edge of second piece at the other end, K1 row. Repeat until RC010. Work cable over the 4sts (2 over 2), hang next edge, repeat. Cable is worked every 10 rows. You could experiment by casting on more stitches and still working the cable in the middle (perhaps leaving a needle out of work each side of the central 4 to make the cable stand out more). 

Simple lace edge:

CO 5sts. * Using 3 prong tool, move centre 3 sts to left by 1 needle, leave empty needle in work. Hang edge, WS facing you. K2 rows. Repeat from *. Cast off, steam flat. Could be useful if the item needs drawing up afterwards eg the top of a bag. 

Pie crust edging: 

Poke 3 prong tool through edge of knitting, knit 6 rows. * Poke 3 prong tool into next area, hang onto same needles, k6 rows. Repeat from * to end

Ruffle (to be sewn on later):

E-wrap cast on 5 stitches or more (adjust to suit taste). Knit two rows. * Transfer end stitch on RHS to its neighbour as if to decrease, but leave the needle in work. Knit 2 rows. Rep from * to desired length. You need to knit A LOT of this! When finished, cast off. Using the latch tool, latch up the edge loops created by the decreased stitch, this will make the knitted strip curl into a ruffle. I did knit this one, but I think I must have thrown it away. One to try and see if you like it. 

Return of the MK mojo and knitting through stash

Sad to say, it took a week's holiday off work (and then not until Thursday) for me to destress enough and do some actual machine knitting. We did manage to catch up with relatives and see Shakespeare's birthplace, something that's been on my bucket list for ages. It's tiny and a bit disappointing when compared with the other properties, ie Mary Arden's and Anne Hathaway's cottages. Luckily we have a ticket which allows us entrance to all three until the end of September this year. It was further complicated by a coach load of French students who were determined to take ridiculous selfies in front of displays of text in the small museum that precedes the historic property. Ugh, I do wish mobile phones could be banned in certain areas - take selfies in the garden, by all means, when you're not under people's noses, but not when other paying customers are trying to squint past you and look at things! 

First up was the Christine shawl. This is my second attempt - my first was frogged when I ran out of yarn. My copy of the pattern has no indication of yardage or yarn weight. Anyway, I spied some terracotta coloured yarn, picked up some months ago for a donation. It had been doubled and made into yarn cakes, and came with the single yarn on a cone, which declared that it was Atkinson Sienna. It is a "wiggly" yarn, like a boucle but with no slubs, and seemed to be about a 3ply so I thought it would be perfect for this project. All went well until I was about 150 rows from the end. The shawl is loosely based on one of Bill King's designs, where you knit a "mock rib" of 3 needles in work, 1 out, and use short row shaping three times to make a turn that sits around the neck. It starts and ends with 240 rows of straight knitting. Yes, the last yarn cake had clearly had a visit from moths, or at least one end had, because it snapped repeatedly. Even though I wound off the first layer, the damage continued. In the end I was tying on the snapped yarn and letting the knots fall where they may. I would usually tie on at the ends but this went on for quite some time! Anyway, I managed to cast off (the remainder of the yarn is now in the bin!) and after weaving in the ends I deliberately washed the shawl at 60 degrees C. The yarn develops a slight haze but it was partly to felt it and hopefully give it some strength. By some stroke of luck, it worked - no holes appeared in the wash! The shawl is waiting on a press before it gets a photo shoot.

Second up was a simple baby blanket on the Passap, another "let's just knit something, ANYTHING, to get rid of some stash" project. The loose instructions are here. I cast on across the whole bed of the E6000 using cast on 6 (slip cast on in 4 rows) and knitted 8 rows at ss5 in stocking stitch. The yarn is two ends of acrylic that makes roughly a 3 ply. I used a simple diamond tuck stitch pattern (1008 tech 130) which is in the pattern book. All went well for about 450 rows, and then I got repeated error 200, which indicates a dirty sensor. Oh, my word. I knew the machine needed some cleaning - I was genuinely surprised just HOW MUCH black fluff Miss Swiss can pack away before she gets grumpy. It took two attempts to clean - the front lock consists of plates that move up and down, depending on what you are doing, and there's no easy way to clean them out other than painstakingly going at them with either a toothbrush OR carefully with a dental pick. I managed to restart the pattern, albeit in the wrong place, and completed roughly 600 rows, followed by a further 9 rows stocking stitch and a very loose row. Took it off on waste yarn and latch tooled it away from the machine. The blanket turned out really well - I need to either apply an edge, or just kill it and be done with it (so another reason to get the iron out, but never on Sundays as there are other things to be ironed too, and that equates to housework for me!). Edit to add: in the end, I added a simple 3x3 cable braid to the cast on edge, to hide some loopiness. I couldn't face adding it all the way around and indeed it wasn't necessary anyway!

I must say that the E6000 manual is very badly written - even though I vaguely remember how to reset the pattern, it's not at all easy to find that in the manual and both the contents and index page could have done with serious expansion. I almost feel as if someone should have written a book to explain the manual. Resetting the patterning is something one will need to know when knitting a round neck or v neck front, so not exactly a small matter!

So I finally got my mojo back and am wondering what I can make next. I also swatched two cones of kingfisher blue yarn and established that one of them is definitely too dense for the SK840 and for this sweater that is on my bucket list. What a pity I'm nose to the grind again tomorrow, next day off is May Day. Boo hiss! If I could only turn my creative interests into a profitable side hustle... :)

Current mood: inspired

Knitting Machine Maintenance notes

I was lucky enough to attend a talk recently by Neil Collison, of Knitting Machine Repairs, at the Long Buckby machine knitting club, and took these notes. Hopefully they will help others who for reasons of geography cannot use Neil's excellent services. I left my faulty garter carriage with him - it would sit on the bed and make all the right noises, but only knit a few stitches and then sit there chugging away and not moving. He returned it very quickly and replaced a circuit board. The only hitch in the whole transaction was that my email provider refused to accept his, so invoicing ended up being done via Whatsapp!

Brother sinker plate

• Remove yarn from around brushes

• Brush wheels can be replaced with rubber ones

Lubricants

• Gun oil (not bore oil)

• Sewing machine oil

Retainer bars

• Spartan or Andeeknits in the UK, they are ordered in bulk from Germany

Maintenance steps

1. Push needles to UWP, use clean paintbrush to brush out the needle strip area and the back rail area

2. Run a finger along the needles, the latches that don't drop back are bent

3. Open all latches, push down quite hard. Use a piece of paper to flick the latches shut.

4. Return the needles to A position. Stroke along whilst pushing forward, this checks the needles for straightness

5. If any needles get jammed low in their channel, you may need to release the patterning belt to free them.

Cleaning

Neil uses a solution of 2 parts iso propyl alcohol to 1 part surgical spirits. This is used to soak stuck components eg stuck buttons (requires some carriage disassembly). Items should be soaked for a few seconds and then wiped off. You can also use the paintbrush to get the solution into difficult areas. Disassembly of the plastic lid from the carriage is done by loosening the brass coloured screws. 

For needles, use surgical spirits with a few drops of oil in a jar. Soak needles for an hour. You can clean needles in situ - when the retainer bar removed, wipe in HOLD with the cleaning fluid, push them down and put them back into position and clean off.

Use a clean paintbrush dipped in the oil/spirit solution to clean the front rail. You can also use cotton buds dipped in the solution to clean small, tight areas eg rails, slots on the underside of the carriage. 

If you are doing a full clean, use a cat tail brush to clean out the retainer bar slot. If you put a small 90 degree bend in the handle end of the brush, you can use it to retract the brush easily by winding it back out. 

Knitmaster drums: use WD40 to loosen seized drums (this was the only time he would use WD40). 

Plastic parts: Flash all purpose cleaner is fine for plastic parts

The carriage underside: apply the gun oil to the two large cams. Rub it into the grooves using your fingers. Oil the front and rear rails. 

Passap jaws: apply surgical spirit with the jaws open. Passaps take 6 to 8 hours to service. Brush out the needle slots with surgical spirit only and a toothbrush. When all has been cleaned, replace the middle 40 needles on both beds, set to N/N and “air knit” for a bit to bed in the needles. Add 10 needles each side on both beds, repeat until all needles are back in place. Repeat this with the pushers. Set front and back beds to alternate the pushers every row. 

Going round in circles (Kegworth) 2024

It's always a highlight over December / January to get the invite for the annual CSM event in Kegworth - even more so this year, with our somewhat challenging Christmas. After not teaching last year, I realised that for me, I knit socks better alone, without the delicious distractions of pretty yarn, lovely people, interesting gadgets and plentiful workshops taking my attention elsewhere. But there's a place for just knitting socks if that's what you want to do, and plenty of people do just that! 

Anyway, because the Cog had managed to "book" our car before me to go on a snowboarding trip that weekend, I had arranged a hire car. After discussion with P who was travelling with me, we decided to take her car and cancel the hire because I was still able to get a refund. Unfortunately, her car developed a minor fault the following day - one of those faults that go away if you wait ten minutes - but she thought we would be ok. So we duly set off from mine at 2pm, pleased at how we'd managed to fit everything in. Alas, her car went into "limp" mode before we'd even got to the M1, so she sensibly pulled over into a layby. We tried waiting and starting, locking ourselves in and starting, and even an on-off ignition thing that was supposed to reset the computer - then THREE lights were on, not just the engine light, and it wouldn't start at all. Hubby and relations were called; the cavalry duly arrived and of course the car started perfectly (though the engine light was still on). Hubby drove us back to theirs and a hire vehicle was booked. They couldn't get to us before 6pm, so P kindly rustled up a tea of pizza, salad and very nice ice-cream (salted caramel, ooh!). The "van" turned out to be a Ford Fiesta van, so basically my old diesel Fiesta with no back seats, slightly longer doors and whited-out windows. Tiny, but we managed to fit everything bar the trolley. It was dark by now, and as it's a car I'm very familiar with, I took the wheel and we were at our destination without further incident. I think P has been asking hubby to replace the car for some time, but as he's a classic car restorer I think he's rather reluctant! The delay meant we just had time for a drink and catch up with friends, and we missed both the rush hour and the noisy cabin-crew-in-training that use this hotel for aircraft dry runs, so win-win! My other friend C wasn't so lucky; they didn't leave until half 8, and a lorry tipped over on the M1, so they didn't get to the hotel until 11pm (we went to bed at half 10). It's only a 45 minute drive when things are good!

On Saturday I attended the "how to dismantle your machine" talk by Hilary first thing, which was fascinating - my machine is overdue a good clean. At 11am I demonstrated the circular/slip ribber cast on  - lesson learned, use my smartphone in future for taking down email addresses, because I email my hand-outs as PDFs to save on printing, and there's always at least one person whose handwriting I can't read, so I got a few bounces later. After lunch, there was a short talk on the history of machine knitting by Matthew, and how to knit flip-top mittens with a gored thumb from Jo. Someone offered to buy the Dean and Bean, part way through that - I asked if she could give me a shout at the end of the talk before she left (only thirty minutes), but when I went to look for her, she was nowhere to be found! I thought it was a bit rude (especially as she'd knocked £150 off my asking price which was already £50 off from the $ price bought new, not to mention import duties), but clearly it wasn't meant to be!

On Sunday, I helped out in the "newbies" room for a bit, before reprising the circular/slip ribber cast on again. After lunch, Jo demonstrated simple fingerless mittens (with vertical or horizontal slits), and a lovely Swedish lady Lina demonstrated how she does colourwork. I managed to sell the D&B machine to a lovely lady who offered me more than the disappearing woman, so all's well that ends well. 

The hotel isn't great - the beds are hard, the pillows flat, the walls so thin that at one point I could hear the ladies on one side talking whilst also listening to someone's tv on the other side. My kettle had a hairline crack, so I ended up with some damp tea bags in a bit of a puddle on Saturday night! But I don't go for the accomodation, I go for the event; the staff are lovely and I remember quite a few of them from previous years - one even patched me up when I caught my finger on something sharp. Yes, a bit of sock yarn was purchased, plus a few random gadgets. All in all, a great weekend and I learnt quite a lot, including that the heel I work is called the "suicide heel" by some! I guess I've just been lucky with it, in that case!

Very pretty 3d printed CSM

Bill King popped up and brought a fascinating Harrison V bed

It could only be a Bill King sock - knitted for a pantomime dame, no less!

A very shiny Erlbacher!

I didn't get the make of this 3d printed machine but it looks really cool!

Current mood: exhausted but inspired

... can't they?

Well, I spoke too soon - the refund still hasn't shown up, but a letter informing them that legal action would be next got an email response within hours (almost as if they have a lawyer on standby - suspicious much?). I'll think on it a few days before I respond, seeing as they've dragged it out this long. Funny how their email hasn't worked since January (but in that period, they did manage to send some spam inviting me to buy a second device! As if!)

Anyroad, enough of that - I made this vest / tanktop this weekend just gone. It was supposed to have had short sleeves - the yarn's some kind of brushed acrylic, with no label - but as soon as I'd done the front, back and one sleeve I could see there was not going to be enough yarn. So I frogged the one sleeve, and applied the neckbands. There was just enough yarn to replace sleeves with a bit of ribbing. Alas, had I foreseen this, I would probably have selected a set-in sleeve design instead - the ribbing sticks out a bit over the shoulders, and looks a little odd to me. Then again, I've never quite understood the point of tanktops, seeing as I rarely wear blouses I could wear a tanktop over (and anyway, I'm always a bit too warm, so warming the body is the last thing I need!). I'm quite happy with it despite all that, another one for the charity pile I think. I'm an anomaly, a machine knitter who doesn't wear or even keep much of her output. I ought to stick to socks and wristwarmers, because those I do wear, but I think I'd get bored only making them!

There's never a dull moment here - we discovered we had some loose roof tiles a few weeks ago, and managed to get a roofer to take a look. We were informed that a lot of the honeycomb mesh was missing at the rear of the house (which explains why we were getting a starling nesting every year). The roof was duly fixed last week - tonight I went into the attic to get something and startled the bird, which is presumably now trapped. I left the rear bedroom windows open, barred all other exits and waited downstairs, hoping that it might be drawn by the light, but by this time it was dusk and the poor thing is still up there and terrified. I've left some water up there; hopefully we can try again tomorrow when daylight returns. Alas, I think there might be some damage to the roof felt in a few places, so I'll have to get pictures and possibly get the roofer back again.

I've got some fun things planned in March, so I am looking forward to that. More soon!

Current mood: really rather fed up at the moment!

Things can only get better...

TLDR 2 paragraphs: the car issues get resolved somewhat

I'm cautiously optimistic that the issues with the car are solved (financially, anyway; a full refund is pending). Still annoyed about the perception of how I was treated, as I had to resort to chasing them on the 'phone several times a week by the end. "I'll be in touch" seemed to be meaningless (I started to keep a communications log, mostly my calling them). They peed off more than three of my many hats - engineers (we do a good job, not a bodge, or we admit we are incapable and find someone who is), quality control (first install had zero), safety rep (first install electrically unsafe), and fire marshall (ditto). I think I will send a letter of complaint, because I'm still financially in deficit because of this, but I'm happy to write that off just to be shot of the whole matter really. I was poised to start legal proceedings tomorrow. It's rather handy to have a sister in law (retired teacher of law at secondary school level) who can turn a 4 page rant into bullet points, and then put the correct legal letter (just the facts, ma'am) at the front. But it will wait until I see the dosh. I might also cc trading standards, because this could have become a very serious matter. Let's hope they're wrong about my car still having battery issues - we'll find out soon enough I guess! Cannot test it at the mo because my cousin is repairing and calibrating our voltmeter which had blown fuses. 

So my sleep is still pretty shot. Dropping asleep at 8pm in front of the telly, fighting it until 9pm, then going to bed and waking up at 2am? Programmes that make no sense because my consciousness is in and out? Rubbish! So exhausted today, I feel drunk and woozy (and I had one bottle of beer last night, so it's not a hangover). I suspect I'm on the brink of nervous exhaustion, and I'm noticing my varifocals more, hence the wooziness. It'll pass, I hope!

Anyway, actual craft content! The cardigan below is Drop's Red Berry Hill, except I didn't knit it in coloured stripes, nor use the right yarn (this is James C Brett marble chunky) - and I did add the cables. Possibly could have been a smidge longer (I have a long torso and short legs), and it doesn't quite fit around my bust so if I made it again I'd add a few rows, but overall I'm pretty happy with it. I'm wearing it right now, in fact. 

Plus the finished tunisian crochet cushion. Mum said she thought the sideways sheep looked like pacman?

I just added press studs in the end, a zip probably would have been better but not something I felt up to tackling.

Today we've both just piddled about, I've been getting some minor tasks done. My favourite kind of day is a day with no plan. Yesterday I marched around town like a mad thing (my calves are screaming right now) getting provisions and library books, whilst the Cog watched the footie. We had planned to visit a distant relative, but he's poorly AND got COVID, so he postponed. I did get to catch up with C about planning a two day machine knitting seminar at her arts venue. Watch this space! I hope it comes off, because there's quite a bit of interest, but I mustn't say more until things are more firm. But of course I'm already making plans in my head. It's nice to have a fun thing to focus on, instead of the nightmare of the last nine weeks which pretty much erased any good feeling around Xmas. Spring is springing, and hopefully someone will be round next week to put in missing honeycomb mesh in the roof (the builders left it out 20 years ago, shocking!), because Ms Starling is back for year 3 of nest building already, and I need her to move elsewhere! 

It's very nice to see lighter evenings and buds on everything. Hurray for spring, now I just need to slow down and breathe again! We've got some time off coming up too. Lots to look forward to!

Current mood: exhausted but vertical (only just)