Slated, and rated

Slated: discovering Twistedthread has pulled the NEC knitting and stitching show - the one I usually demonstrate MK at. Oh, and having to replace the 2mm crochet hook I lost
Rated: realising who the secret speaker is at the UK Ravelry day. Working out the correct way to start the crochet motifs in Blusa Queen.

Destashing and frogging...

Well, there's more than one way to get projects moved out of the WIP queue. The Cog had a flare-up of the hives on his face last Wednesday, and refused to go to work. Consequently, he really wanted to go out for a drive Wednesday night. I obliged, and skipped club - although, the dirty rat then admitted he'd actually brought no cash, once we were on the road. I only had shrapnel, which limited us to soft drinks. I'd popped some sock knitting in my bag, but we weren't really sat down anywhere long enough to work on it. The first pub was a tiny village pub, and although the patrons were friendly, they all seemed to know each other and it was a bit off-putting. The second pub is not far from us, and was completely packed out - I did walk the length of it, to establish that, yes, all seats were taken (they do excellent food as well). I spotted sock yarn trailing from my hangbag, so picked it up. Yesterday I fished the sock out, intending to add a few more rounds, and, shock horror! There is no longer a ball of yarn attached to the sock!

I was having a bit of a game with the yarn (Regia pompon in black) and I'm too embarrassed to go back to the pub, so I chucked the remainder in the bin. No great loss. What can I say, but, whoops? I bought some zip lock bags at the weekend, I think I need to start bagging stuff up, stop it mating and/or escaping.

I also went up into the attic and bagged up all the unwanted cones of yarn - I was quite ruthless, and only kept what I absolutely thought I might use in the future. The rest is going to college tomorrow. Result? My stash is now contained in one room of the house, excepting the small amount in my workbasket downstairs. I also chucked a bag of white acrylic - lovely soft yarn, but somebody had wound it off onto toilet roll centres, and it kept tangling. I chucked it after 20 frustrating minutes. Sometimes it's just not worth it!

I finished up the passap jumper with the shawl front - it came out rather well I think. I did get to the bottom of the FORM program, but ended up using a round-necked sweater calculated in Knitware instead. The shawl was supposed to be 1 metre long, but the yarn ran out with literally 1 inch to spare. There are supposed to be sequins on the shawl, and buttons on the shoulder strip. I might add sequins, there were two dropped stitches in the shawl that I fixed, that might benefit from a sequin. I think I'll forgo the buttons though. I love the drape of the shawl. The main yarn is actually a pale blue with lilac undertones - it doesn't photograph well indoors, and it was dark when I'd finished the sweater.

I need to add some sort of border to the long cardigan for the Cog - the original pattern suggested I made rib on 274 needles, which would be fine, but my machine only has 200. So I might do a vertical rib border - it would certainly be quicker than trying to crochet or hand-knit one. I have a zip ready, although I don't think it's long enough - it was the longest I could find.

Passap FORM program - an example

I finally got it working - have already made fronts and backs without the program, but just entering the figures correctly was a challenge for me!

This is an example of the kind of figures the FORM program expects:

1        102
2        168
3        88 = A (height of 40 rows in mm)
4        147 = B (width of 40 stitches in mm)
5        140
6        112
7        118 = * hip size (cm)
8        195
9        147 = C (width of 40 stitches rib in mm)
10        135
11        134
12        38
13        140
14        107
15        110 = ** bust size (cm)
16        50
17        57
18        66 = *** torso length (cm)
19        0

This is a program to knit a back. The asterisked entries are my personal measurements - note, these are the FULL measurements, not half. The numbers immediately above those rows are the originally programmed lengths - your measurements should be the same or larger, I admit I entered the same figure for the rib as for the stocking stitch - it's notoriously hard to measure ribbing. I wonder if the program would instruct you to knit a row with multiple increases or decreases to adjust the stitches if these widths didn't match? Hmm.

The computer makes you enter all this in sequence, and then makes you run through the figures again as a check. Then it kicks off by telling you how many stitches to cast on, and when to increase/decrease. Neat! And quite ahead of it's time (the E6000 is from 1984 I think).

Form programs can be longer - the last entry is always a 0, which tells the computer it's finished. I think I am going to measure myself and make notes, so that I have the data ready in the future.

FO: Passap shawl jumper

Passap shawl jumper
Originally uploaded by steel breeze

Simple stocking stitch jumper with attached "shawl" in tuck stitch

The spoon-fed mentality

It never ceases to amaze me, that people, who are intelligent enough to get online and surf, seem to be unable to use Google or a similar search engine to seek out the information they need. No, they expect a complete stranger to practically walk them through something step-by-step. I have a video of "lace knitting without a lace carriage" on Youtube - a useful workaround for anyone who has a Brother or Toyota knitting machine but no lace carriage, or if one wants to produce lace on a chunky machine (which never came with lace carriages - the needles don't bend enough). Some cheeky devil asked me to post a video of the normal lace carriage in operation. I may well do that someday, but IN MY OWN TIME. The Brother standard machine is packed away at the moment, and I have no plans to unpack it - I don't really have the room. I appreciate that, machine-knitting being somewhat an underground craft these days, that there's a generation of people that won't have seen such a thing in action. But it is quite clearly documented in the manuals. You will learn best by trying the thing out yourself, and learning from your mistakes.

Having said that, I'm more than happy to help people out (via the blog, e-mail or 'phone), if they have TRIED to do something and failed, or they have got stuck on something. Obviously, if I am teaching you in person, then that is a different matter.

Making a video takes time - not least because my camera insists on using Quicktime, and my video editing software only accepts AVI and MPG formats, so straight away a ten minute clip can take up to an hour to convert. Then there's the small matter of captioning - it's not unknown for videos to get claimed by someone else, so I prefer to mark mine in someway, so that a casual observer on Youtube is in no doubt of the creator and knows where to find my blog.

If the learner does not have the will to learn, then there is no point in teaching them. You have to have a passion for your subject, otherwise what's the point?

Do I sound like a miserable git? A curmudgeon? Well, so be it. If I had nothing else to do all day but knit and make videos, then perhaps matters would be different, but as it is, I work full time and am also on an evening course. I also have to cook, eat, sleep and do laundry. There are only so many hours in a day!

Why go off on this subject? Because it recently affected an online friend of mine, and I am annoyed on her behalf.
===

The passap shawl jumper has a front and a back, which is a result for me! The first attempt at the front went rather wrong, and ended up getting frogged. For those without Passaps, there is no holding position on these machines. Putting the needles fully out is a sure-fire way to bend or break them, in fact. Partial knitting is done by setting the front lock to LX, and putting certain pushers out of work. Needles with a pusher will knit; those without will be slipped. Which is fine, for small amounts of partial knitting. To knit the two halves of a neckline, I figured it was easier to knit half of it off onto waste yarn, complete the first half, and then rehang the second half and mirror the neck shapings. Possibly not the quickest of methods (I welcome any suggestions!) but it worked for me. Another thing about the Passap E6000, is that you tell it the whole width of the garment at the beginning.It expects you to run the carriage the whole width of the bed, regardless of what you are knitting (you get a nasty beep and are forced to walk through set-up steps if you upset the computer). At this point I turned off the console, because the machine can knit stocking stitch without the computer. Turns out you can enter new width figures later on if you need to. I shall remember that next time.

There may not be enough yarn for a full-length sleeve, so calculations are in order. Might be another short-sleeved job.

I've been corresponding with some Passap experts about my problems with the FORM program - so far I can't get past error 161 - and I think I made a few mistakes. I put in the wrong swatch measurements, and I halved my hip and bust sizes because logically a back is half of a garment. I am going to try inputting the revised program tonight, and see if I can't do a dry run with the thing. It seems like a lot of effort for a simple bit of knitting - but I just need to get my head around what it wants and in what format. I need to think like the original programmer.

The body measurements are entered in cm, and the swatch measurements (for 40s by 40r) in mm. That might have tripped me up, too. I'll probably post an example of a program, when I get it working.

Start-itis. I has it.

I think I can identify what causes "start-itis" (the urge to start more craft projects and ignore existing ones) for me. It's the end of winter and the coming of spring. Yesterday I cast on for a hand-knitted sock - I fell for some Regia Pom-pon in two colours, and have ascertained that both kms spurn it - it would probably have worked on the chunky, but only if fish-net socks ever come into fashion :) Black pompon is a cotton yarn with fluffy blobs and it is impossible to tell if you are doing rib, so I gave up with rib after about 4 rows. Yeah, I'm a quitter!

I find my mind turning towards the marble chunky (currently sulking in an almost-finished monster cardigan with slanted fronts that just didn't work) and turning it into something more wearable in crochet. I find myself thinking I should really do something with the black and multi-yarn that failed to go on the destash night into something, dammit, anything, to get it assembled and out into the world (and possibly out of the house).

I made three balls of DK weight yarn out of a conglomeration of industrial cones and started crocheting a circle - I figured it might make a nice rug. We do not need any rugs.

And then there's the eyelash yarn I bought in a fit of red mist in the January sales. Still in the bag. Glaring at me.

Dammit. My stash is definitely giving me guilt trips.

Of destashing and men

(with apologies to John Steinbeck)

I was ruthless on Tuesday night and dug out some stuff in the "ooh pretty" department - yarn bought with no thought of its future use. Some Denys Magicolour in a burgundy went to Jeanette, who fondled it for a good ten minutes before we forced it on her. Some Rowan cotton, and Riverside acrylic in blues for Julie, and in pink for Claire. Christina was quite restrained and took some leftover Trekking and the red leftover from the cowl neck I made last month. Nobody took a fancy to the black squiggly with multicoloured flashes, not the pastel superchunky from a jumper I unravelled. I may still make them into something. It was quite a nice feeling to despatch those items from the stash in Ravelry. I should stash dive more often. I gained some books, "Crocheting for Dummies" being one of them. I'm far from a dummy in that department, but I do like a good diagram! Memories of an old maths teacher come back to me - he would roam the desks, exclaiming "Superb diagram!" every so often.

The MK group I co-moderate on Ravelry has suddenly gained a competitor, in the form of a trader. I suspect, in all innocence, she didn't bother to check the groups out before creating a new one (with an almost identical name). I'm a little disappointed we're invisible; she might also want to make it clear she's a trader and therefore has a slightly ulterior motive (our group is run by enthusiastic mkers with no shop to market). Having said that, I made the exact same mistake when I joined - I morphed the group I'd created into one specifically for Passaps. Don't get me wrong - people are free to create any groups they like - I just think they should be above board in the description so that members are aware the moderator is also a trader.

I've been trying to wrestle with the Form computer, a magic bit of programming that comes with the Passap E6000. Basically, you measure a swatch, and measure yourself, and put in a long column of figures, and it tells you how to knit a jumper. For example, it will tell you when to stop ribbing, and when to cast off. Sounds great - except, I can't get it to work for me. I've rechecked the figures (and even tried a different shape), but I get error 161, which means the machine cannot do what I ask. I'm guessing it's because I have lots of curves "up top", and need something too wide for the machine. I ran the figures through Knitware and it wanted 276 needles (I have only 200). I might try a different stitch size - it might be borderline enough that I could get away with it - but I'm not hopeful! The daft thing is, I have a perfectly good Japanese machine, that I know can make large enough knitting for me. And that machine is actually smaller in width than the Passap. I may end up using that machine, but it means more swatching. I'm really hoping I didn't buy the Passap just to make baby blankets, and clothes for stick insect women. That would just be ridiculous!

I'm forever sewing buttons...

Starting top left, and gradually getting better to the bottom right. Had to adjust the left side slightly, as if was coming out coarser. Rather chuffed with these! Forgot to take interfacing, so sewed the back seam instead.

Yes, blizzard arrived during class. Drive home was interesting, stuck behind a guy too scared/stupid to use his full beams. Snow pics from weekend here

The perils of not looking before you leap...

...or in my case, not weighing my swatch and estimating requirements, before embarking on a large garment. I've made a hip-length cardigan for the Cog, in a bottle green 4ply acrylic that I found (Bramwell Bracken, apparently). It was a large-enough looking cone, but I ran out midway through the second sleeve. I started the sleeve again on waste yarn, and had to unpick the swatch and the other cuff to make enough yarn to finish. The Cog chose a navy blue to finish the cuffs and collar - alas it's a 2ply so they are a bit weedy. He didn't seem to mind though. Spent about 4 hours sewing the flipping thing up yesterday, gave myself cramp. I need a sewing assistant methinks! I could've used the linker, I suppose, but hand-sewing gives the best finish, and the Cog wanted me to watch "From Russia With Love" with him.

Ironically, the editor's letter in Knitwords, received Saturday morning, talked about just this - ways to make the yarn go further by working alternative cuffs. Serves me right for powering ahead! Cardigan requires a front band - Knitware is telling me it needs 267 needles, so that won't be happening - I'll probably just do a few rows of crochet, that would be far easier.

Tried making a simple swatch on the Passap - I don't think it copes very well with industrial yarns unless it's a FNR or double-bed tuck pattern. Gave up in disgust, having established that the yarn in question was waay too thin for a garment as-is. I might need to see if I can dig out some weights, and try again.

MK Challenge '09 - update

Reposting this in a shorter format, so that I can link to it, and because I added something for August and October

Jan: 2 colour slip stitch - made child's jumper (see post on Feb 1st)
Feb: Double jaquard
Mar: Garter bar
Apr: Pile stitch
May: Garter carriage
Jun: Passap linker
Jul: Passap intarsia carriage
Aug: Passap form program
Sep: PC10 punchcard maker - design own two-colour slip stitch card?
Oct: Garment using short-row shaping - either a sideways skirt, or a yoked sweater
Nov: Passap transfer carriage
Dec:

Not sure what I am planning to make yet for February's challenge. It will probably be on the SK840, no cheating with a built-in pattern on the Passap.

Crochet meme

Nicked and modified from the knitting meme - finally, a crochet version. Be tagged, if you want!

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.

Afghan/Blanket
Crochet with metal wire
Shawl
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Crochet with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Crochet with silk
Irish crochet
Moebius band crochet
Participating in a CAL
Sweater
Spike stitch patterns
Crochet with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch crochet
Crochet with banana fiber yarn
Domino crochet (modular crochet)
Twisted stitch patterns
Crochet with bamboo yarn
Charity crochet
Crochet with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Crochet with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti crochet (crochet items on, or to be left on the street)
Tunisian crochet
Designing crocheted garments
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns
Publishing a crochet book
Scarf
Teaching a child to crochet
Crochet to make money
Button holes
Crochet with alpaca
Fair Isle crochet (stranding)
Dying with plant colors
Crochet items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Olympic crochet
Crochet with someone else's handspun yarn
Holiday related crochet
Teaching a male how to crochet
Bobbles
Crochet for a living
Crochet with cotton
Dying yarn
Steeks (cut and sew)
Bosnian crochet
Crochet art
Fulling/felting
Crochet with wool
Textured crochet
Purses/bags
Crochet with beads
Front post/back post crochet
Swatching
Slingshot crochet cast on
Entrelac
Crocheting backwards
Crochet with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Foundation crochet (no starting chain)
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Crochet with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Crochet with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Two-colour crochet
Intarsia crochet
Crochet with linen
Crochet for preemies
Tubular crochet
Freeform crochet
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Crochet a pattern from an online crochet magazine
Rug
Crochet a gift
Crochet for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Crochet with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Crochet in public
Filet crochet
Motif crochet
Thread crochet
Spiral crochet
Tunisian entrelac
Tunisian entrelac in the round
Crochenit or cro-hooking

Mini update

The main body of "Blusa Queen" is finished to pattern. However, it must be designed for a Kate Moss type; there's no way I'll ever get my arms into it, as it stands. I need to add a further 3" approx. to each front and back, to make it work. Which means I will have to modify the sleeves too, to match. Luckily I ordered more than enough thread, and crochet is eminently adaptable for this kind of thing. Got quite a lot of the crochet done on Monday, when I was off sick. Came down feeling odd on Sunday - thought it was 'flu, but it turned out to be food poisoning - I blame the Cog's paella, but he denies it (he was fine).

I'm running a workshop in chain-free crochet (foundation crochet) at the club tonight, so I have been practicing it in spare moments. Not sure how many folks will want to take part - crochet is in the minority - but that's ok. The basic foundation stitch is very easy so it probably won't take up the whole two hours.

FO: slip stitch sweater

Picture 037
Originally uploaded by steel breeze

Made my Jan challenge, with 2 hours to go. Cut and sew neckline.