Gadgets ahoy!

Went up to Derbyshire again, to swap my CSM for a slight upgrade (an Imperia). The ribber on the Cymbal was too turny-twisty and it meant you could only ever rib with a really fine yarn - any more than that, and it hung up between the cylinder and ribber dial, and disaster ensued.. The seller was happy to exchange it, and I got it ribbing perfectly with Trekking XXL, so I am a happy bunny! It is all set for that yarn, so I shall probably try not to fiddle with it much now (apart from changing tensions occasionally).

I had a few spare hours to waste yesterday afternoon. The house is in uproar at the moment, because we are redecorating the office (small box room), so I don't have access to my PC (Knitware!) or printer/scanner or camera cable. So although I knew I wanted to knit something, it would have been almost impossible to draw up a garment because I think my swatches may have been stored with some of the office stuff, and anyway, no access to a PC :/ I'm not using a calculator on a sunday afternoon, ha!

So I decided to play with a few gadgets I've picked up lately and never used. First off was the RT1 transfer carriage (for Silver/Knitmaste std gauge machines). Now, I did have one of these way back, but could never get it working, so I sold it on Ebay. It later transpired my bed adjustment was all out, thanks to a sponge bar that was damaged at one end (it got damaged when I tried to insert it in a Vogue machine I was doing up, it was a suggestion I wish I'd ignored!). So when another one turned up in the estate sale I am doing, I figured I could at least give it a second chance. And guess what? Works perfectly! So I have made a donation for it.

Second up was the Passap tricofit device - a casting off tool not unlike the Brother linker, which never seemed to work for me. I must have picked it up on Ebay yonks ago and then never used it. Well, I think it may have dropped one stitch, but it was pretty good actually! I think some more practice is needed, but it made a decent cast off.

Oh, I should mention, I spent 30 frustrating minutes previous to this, trying to get the E6000 to get past error 200 - fluff on bed. That machine is so damn picky! Argh! It needs to be clinically clean for the electronic eye to do its stuff. I've also started used a simple cast on I learnt at Metropolitan - it always works, and is far less hassle!

Lastly the U100E transfer carriage. I just wanted to try it out, but it wasn't very successful, it did say it required a stretchy yarn and I was using some kind of cotton, so that probably didn't help, but dammit, sometimes I might want to use cotton! Argh!

Oh well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad! I spotted a page about U100E maintenance in the Passap Paramedic book, so maybe it just needs a little TLC...

Knitting mojo struggling a bit ATM - a few things have stalled, and I wanted something simple to work on, so I cast on an eyelash yarn scarf last night. 10 sts, 8mm needles, garter stitch, no concentration required whatsoever. Perfect.