FO: Hands, feet and upsy-daisy

CSM handwarmers from leftovers. These are lovely and soft since I washed them.


CSM socks in Babylongleg's Rainbow Brite yarn. Haven't had chance to wear them yet as they were still wet when we left for a long weekend in Edinburgh.



A view of the "new" town, with the Christmas market in the foreground, and Waverley station on the far right. Had a lovely weekend, ate and drank too much, and my calves are aching from all the steps. Edinburgh is a very 3D city. Rock hard beds at the Novotel, alas, so lack of sleep spoilt things a little. Finally got to see part 2 of the Hunger Games films.

Accidentally posted some pics of xmas knitting here briefly, because apparently I can't tell the difference between 27/11/13 and 27/12/13. Hoping none of the recipients read my blog!

FO: more CSM socks

More CSM socks. Made these a little on the small side (40 rows). Know anybody with size 1 feet? Made from various sock yarn oddments.

Have done a bit more on the red sparkly top. It's been a struggle, because the yarn keeps wanting to jump off the needles. Turns out, if I use the bar weights that came with the machine (SK860), it works a lot better and I have to stop less frequently.

Another commission

This is a Bill King "Gold Star", from MKM Dec 2011. The yarn is Texere New Fancy Acrylic, which is acrylic "roving" with a binder yarn. Only just had enough yarn!

Now, I'm making myself something red and glittery for the party season. There's been a lot of knitting for others so far this month - now it's my turn! :)

FO: CSM socks

DSCN1146
Originally uploaded by steel breeze
Not sure who these are for yet =) Done so much CSMing I made a hole in my index finger. Ouch!

Rough guide: HK - MK conversion

If anyone's ever had one of those Brother convertibles, and wondered what the chart on the left hand end meant, it's supposed to be a rough guide to equivalent hand-knitting needle sizes. These are, of course, in Japanese, so I've typed up a metric conversion. There's a bigger chart here and lots of useful information about Japanese knitting here. 

4.5mm  JP     Metric (mm)
1      1      2.4
2      1-2    2.4 - 2.7
3      2      2.7
4      3      3
5      4      3.3

9mm
6      5      3.6
7      5-6    3.6 - 3.9
8      6      3.9
9      6-7    3.9 - 4.2
10     7      4.2
11     8      4.5
12     8-9    4.5 - 4.8
13     9      4.8

I think the idea was, you have a hand-knitting yarn that calls for x sized needles, and you can use this information to decide what equivalent tension to use on the convertible machine. The convertible machine has no "half" tensions, unlike the Passap which has increments of 0.25 or the Japanese machines which tend to have increments of 0.33 (usually indicated as dots). 

Of course, as any experienced knitter will tell you, this is also largely dependant on the yarn thickness itself. Not all yarn thicknesses are created equal! So I'd use this as a starting point only - only you can decide if you like the resulting feel of the fabric you create. Of course, unless you happen to own a set of Japanese knitting needles, you'll have to approximate anyway, as English metric needles only tend to come in 0.25 and 0.5mm variants in the smaller sizes!

I have often thought about researching various yarns on the knitting machine, and producing a table of tensions vs machine gauge vs equivalent hand knitting needle. But as a project it would never end - and even identical machines can knit to different gauges due to variations in the manufacturer, the speed/ease of the yarn flow, the overhead tension mast. There are just too many variables to be able to produce something that will be perfectly consistent for everyone. Which is why we should always make a tension swatch! If you can't quite get the tension to match a pattern, aim to match the stitch tension. It's easy to add or subtract rows, but a lot harder to recalculate shaping. 

As an aside, if you have machine-knitted a garment, and need to include some hand-knitted elements (for example, a complex cable that is too tight to machine knit, or to add a hand-knitted welt), then figuring out which size needles to use is really easy. Poke a needle through a knitted stitch. If it's loose, go up a size. Keep trying different sizes until you find a needle that is pretty snug. That should be the size you'll need for stocking stitch. Go down two sizes from that for ribbing. 

In other news, I've completed one batch of xmas knitting but love the yarn so much I may well just get some more. I've another commission to do for a friend so that'll be happening this weekend. 

RTFM

Isn't it amazing what you spot when you actually bother to read the manual? I must have filed the manual for my Imperia CSM in my "to be filed" pile, sometime before the Big Decorating Debacle of 2013, and only found it again, along with some other manuals, last night whilst looking for a penpal letter I need to reply to (yes, I found that too eventually, but not filed anywhere sensible, just in a pile of knitting books on the floor. Oops!)

Apparently, I'm supposed to knit four selvedge rows not two (it says rows, I would call it rounds really) and that to make them tighter the heel spring should be used. Now, I have been wondering how to make my ribbed edges less wibbly (technical term) - the trick with knitting EON on the main cylinder and hooking the float onto the empty ribber needles does make a neater edge, but it IS fiddly and risks splitting the yarn. The hooky tool I use looks like a re-purposed dental pick so it's pretty sharp. I've a few pairs of socks I mean to try the old ravel cord trick on - you thread the ravel cord through the cast on edge, and pull it tight, and it often evens out the stitches. 

And this also follows for knitting machines - who amongst us hasn't thought "I know how to do this technique", and had the machine go into fits. Often it's the simplest things one forgets - like knitting lace draped across the ribber bed (to maintain the 90 degree angle you'd get without the ribber in place). So, don't be too proud to go back to your manuals and refresh your memory. We all suffer from CRS syndrome from time to time (Can't Remember Sh*t)!! You'd be surprised how much information is in the manuals :)

Next time I get anywhere near my house and CSM, I'm gonna try using the heel spring. I might even try four rows of selvedge (suspect that modern 4ply might be a bit too thick for that though). Watch this space!

A commission for a friend...

Yes, I have cut my head off the first shot because I was talking and look really mean. Anyway, preserves an air of mystery, ya know?! This beautiful creation is a Bill King All-in-One knitted for Babylonglegs, dyer of lots of scrummy yarns - just looking at her shop makes me want to lick the monitor. Shouldn't have worn the navy and white top with the floofy sleeves today, doesn't really work, oh well, never mind! The bottom picture doesn't really do the colours justice, the perils of indoor/wintertime photography. The pattern is in MKM Nov 2012. 

The yarn is Denys Brunton Magicolor (alas, no longer available!) and it's been steam pressed for drape. I snagged a batch of this a few years back at Metropolitan and this happened to be a complete cone. I don't often do commissions - I don't mind for friends, but non-knitters seem surprised and annoyed when you ask for minimum wage x hrs x 2 + the cost of the yarn... funny that! I once made a pair of socks for an ex- work colleague who wasn't happy when I showed her the price of the yarn online (probably about £6-7 a ball). She got socks made from leftovers in the end, and I got a fiver for my trouble (machine-knitted foot, hand-knitted ribs). Non-knitting folks never want to pay much for stuff, they'd much rather compare it to slave labour garments made in China. So I usually knit stuff I like (or to learn a process/try out a yarn) and it goes into a bag for charity. Because it's not as if I really need more knitwear these days! Anyway, dismounting the soap box...

Been getting on with lots of Christmas knitting but cannot divulge it, of course, until after the 26th Dec. I'm almost done with the heel on the first Hopscotch sock. The sari silk bag is sulking on the stairs, I need to finish sewing it up and I keep forgetting. It might need lining, not decided yet.