Acquisition Fever

So, I'm still working my way through the Torquay stuff. Started putting it up on Ravelry on Sunday night.

I swear I could have sold the yarn twisters at least twice already. I think they're all sold now. The other stuff is not going as quickly as I thought it might, and although I've had 30-odd views of the ad for the Brother KH260/KR260, so far no bids! I hesitate to advertise on here normally, but heck, this is MY blog! Go take a look - if you are in the Midlands area and fancy a punchcard knitting machine that knits most handknitting yarns, plus a matching ribber, I'm asking a reasonable donation for charity, and I'm open to offers (I might even agree to meet you at a motorway services, like some kind of spy, with a knitting machine!)

Brother KH260/KR260

Misc bits

The items will go up on Newbritknitbargains next week if not already sold, and then on Ebay the week after.

I'd half a mind to spend Sunday sorting through the whole lot - I think it's mostly there, but all mixed up and in the wrong boxes. However, the Cog needed help in replacing the coving that came down when he flooded the bathroom, and then he wanted to go to Brum to show me all the shirts he won't buy, ever. He did buy a few, eventually. Couple that with sleeping in 'til 10am, and hangover-induced, ahem, stomach trouble, I wasn't in the best moods and feeling quite delicate. Got back around 5.45pm, and managed to snatch the last few hours of daylight on the front lawn with a large picnic rug, and found 99% of the Brother chunky machine and ribber. Missing the stitch scales and a bodkin - as the owner didn't have the KL116 knitleader, I suspect she might have traded the scales with somebody else. No worries, I'll get them photocopied.

I still need to sort out the standard machine - a pristine Silver SK280 punchcard and matching SRP50 ribber - I suspect the owner had an older punchcard machine, because I seem to have more manuals and carriages than machines, but I'm not so well-informed about the history of Knitmaster.

Last night I only really had time to quickly check the condition of all the spongebars - only the chunkies need replacing - and grab a box of books to look through in bed. I'm slowing making a spreadsheet of everything, just so that I can keep track of where it's been advertised, what it is, and who bought it. Looking through the box of books, I was thinking, "Have I got this book? Can I buy it?" and then, "Dammit I need to get more organised and inventory my own library". Ahem. Yes, I've plans to get the knitting room better organised - lots of bookshelves, so that the craft stuff is all in one place, and possibly some kind of racking system so I can have all four japanese machines mounted and ready for action at any time. Not much can be done with the passap, it's too heavy and has its own stand, but my friend Pat Banyard-Smith has an ingenious shelving system that I'd like to copy. Although, that would mean the room is permanently dedicated to machine knitting. I could do with a better filing system, too. Heck, I could do with a bigger room, really.

Heh. Who am I kidding? The Cog has hardly set foot in his own spare bedroom for months, except to load/unload the tumble drier, or open a window. The room is, to all intents and purposes, mine. Whoops!

Currently working my way through Kathleen Kinder's very interesting history of knitting machines, from her book "A Resource Book for Machine Knitters". Oh, and plodding ever onward with the slip stitch crochet top and the Kimi cardigan.


Current mood: determined

Slow progress

Managed to finally finish the front last night, desipte a small mishap that occurred when I moved a claw weight up a bit too high and somehow managed to mangle the claw AND snap the yarn/make a hole in the knitting. No, don't ask - it serves me right. I could feel the carriage was struggling but I ignored it. I am a doofus sometimes! The fronts seem to be the same length. Result!

Also managed to make one sleeve without too much hassle. Seems rather long, but the garment will be "pre-shrunk" (washed at 40 deg C) before it's finished.

To finish the garment, I need to make another sleeve, and add all the ribs in pale blue - the first time I made this garment, the cast on row of the rib (done at T0) snapped in a few places - this is 2ply lambswool. Luckily washing it stopped anything unravelling, but I am taking no chances this time around. Then I have to hang half the neckline - the neck is split at the back, I can't think of an easier way to do it on a split-front placket jumper with raglan sleeves. So I must rib both sides of the neck, and then add some knitting for the placket itself. The pattern is for a buttonband, but 'im indoors wants a zip. Nearly broke my sewing machine last time, this time I am prepared. Using the zipper foot only works on thin fabrics - the ordinary foot works far better on thick wool.

Hoping I have enough navy to complete the other sleeve, without trying to unfrog the "nest" I made on Tuesday - hanging onto it just in case!

Susan, yes, I'm sure I make just as many mistakes as you - I often don't get to the machines until 7pm so I am already tired from a full day at the office, and of course the light isn't as good this time of year (and I failed to buy a 100w lightbulb before the EU ban, so it's not getting any brighter either). I just don't post about my mistakes often - it never occurred to me. I can be a right moaner when something's going wrong and I figured once I opened that floodgate, I'd be hard-pushed to close it again, and everybody (all three of you!) would stop reading! :D Once I get a strop on (or get my a*se in my hands, it's a local expression!) my bad temper makes things go from bad to worse. And then it's almost as if the fates are mocking me. I admire your refreshing honesty about your exploits - please don't stop!

Not sure I'd be any good at flower-arranging, either. I do know I've looked at our double-glazing a few times, and wondered if a hurled knitting machine would bounce off it (and knock me over), though :D If it's really winding me up, I stomp off and go and find some wine/chocolate/something else to do, until I've calmed down sufficiently. I "punish" the machine for being naughty by abandoning it, because of course, the mistakes are never my fault! Ha! :)

OMG

Got a call a few weeks ago from a chap whose mother had some machine knitting stuff he needs to repatriate (she passed away; liver cancer).

I came away today, with a car full of 3 kms plus ribbers, 3 wool winders, tons of books and gadgets. And yarn. I feel like I hit the machine knitting motherlode!

Will be selling it off and sending the proceeds to Cancer Research/Macmillan nurses.

There’s a fine gauge machine in there, plus accessories. Talk me out of it folks, do I really NEED another machine?! :/ It’s a Silver, too, so still current.

And why is it, when you get more than one machine in the house, they BREED? I now have, um… NINE machines on this property. NOT counting the CSM.

Yikes! Believe it or not, I live in a smallish 3 bed detached house with garage. Not a castle, as one Raveller intimated at one point! (think I was eyeing up an industrial Raschel machine?) :) I’ve already taken over the entire front bedroom - guests now have to sleep on the sofa/camp out in the back garden - and it looks as if my hobby is well on the way to conquering the garage too now! Heaven help the downstairs loo, that will be next I fear! :)

Wonder if I can talk the Cog into building a conservatory?!

I just gave away two big bags of industrial thickness cones, too. Now there’s more of them! They are taking over, I tell you! :)

I need to sort through it and make a proper inventory. It all looks to be there, but in the wrong boxes (the owner seems to have despised ribber boxes for some reason).

If anyone wants me, I’ll probably be face down in a bag of yarn behind the sofa. Oh yes, it’s in the living room right now! :)

The trials of "fun fur"

Ok, so you remember I posted a pic on the 11th September of the free yarn the Coventry Knit Wits got for being Simply Knitting's club of the month? Well, if you look a little more closely - half of it is fun fur! And discontinued fun fur at that! Ack!

I didn't post the details (nor a clearer photo) before, because I wanted to keep the contents a surprise (!) from my fellow knitters. I think there was one bag of a camel-coloured yarn with a gold fleck, one bag of something cotton with blobs of fluff in, one bag of bright zigzag stuff that Julie went for, three bags of fun fur and one of a thin pink yarn with paper flags attached - not technically a fun fur, but not easy to knit with either!

Almost nobody wanted the yarn they got - only the zigzag found a home. So that left me with a big bag of acrylic frightfulness.

So, after some debate, I turned the three bags of fun fur into stocking stitch (or rib) scarves. Found a raveller who is collecting scarves for a women's refuge. The yarn mostly behaved - bits that got tangled up, or started to unravel (the turquoise did) went into the naughty receptacle (the bin). I also dug out two "scarflets" that resulted from a momentary lapse of reason in the January sales - yes, more fun fur, I can only blame the mince pie fumes for that lot ending up in my shopping bag.

The pink stuff with flags I suspect will not go through even my chunky machine, so I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do with it - I made a bag with that yarn some time ago, and it knits up fairly easily by hand, but I'm not sure I fancy making a whole tedious scarf with it. Not sure what to do with the cotton stuff, nor the camel-coloured yarn.

What can I say? "Fun fur" has to be the biggest knitting misnomer going. It's not fun for anybody. I'm sure even the poor bloke operating the mill hates it (the turqouise stuff had rubber bands on each ball to stop it unravelling), and the shops that bought it are now struggling to shift it. I keep remembering a Franklin cartoon (from "It Itches!) of a woman standing by a display of "super whizzy fun yarn" saying "I'll decide if it's fun to knit, thankyou!"

===

I had a quiet evening on Tuesday owing to some vitally important football match requiring the Cog to be down the pub, so I thought I'd tackle the front of the jumper I'm making to replace the one he shrunk in the tumble drier. Yes, I am a complete mug. So I cast on and was knitting away without incident, when I realised I'd not cast on enough. OK, so that was 20 mins wasted; no problem, I rewound the yarn. I'm making this out of 2 ends of dark navy lambswool, and I am plying the yarn as it is knitted. Cast on the correct number of stitches - well, tried to - but this is so long that the cast on comb I'd used for weight wasn't long enough, and making the super-long comb was too long to use without taking the ribber off and disassembling everything. After a few false starts I gave up and used the e-wrap cast on, which is slow but always works. Knitted up to the neck divide, and knitted the first half with no problem. However, I somehow managed to set the row counter wrong for the second half of the neck. At one point I am supposed to have 11 stitches, but I had about 30. And it didn't match the other side. So, rehung the knitting back on the machine (by the neck divide) - had to put the lamp under the table so that I had some idea of what I was doing. Got it all re-hung, only to discover it was one stitch over - so moved everything over one needle (because I know it'll do my head in later trying to check where I am in the pattern).

At this point, it's almost 10pm and the table behind the knitting machine is strewn with a nest of unpicked yarn. I sit back and stretch, rather annoyed that I didn't finish. And somehow manage to run over my own toe with the wheel of my chair. Yes, there was some cursing! The Cog, who is now back home, says he's glad he's been out all night and missed the swearing!

Whoever it was who said knitting was fun, obviously never tried machine knitting! :)

Mucking about on the CSM

Picture 023
Originally uploaded by steel breeze

Well, this is the first heel that has come out almost perfect! Yeah, let's not look at the other side, there was a knot that became a hole, ok? :)

The heel spring behaved itself this time - perhaps it saw the Brother tension mast alongside it and decided it didn't want to get dumped in the garage? I made the heel too pointy, I was that pleased that it was actually working that I overshot somewhat. And short-rowing back out worked too, and that was 100% better.

This is with some leftover Forsell's 3ply. Just shows you what a difference being calm and not overtired with "the beast" can do. :)

Maths hassles and some updates...

Crafting progress has slowed somewhat this summer. This is partly due to being away a lot, but that can't completely take the blame (I only take small portable projects on flights, it's easier!).

The slip stitch crochet top is stalled because I need to pick up a weird no of stitches along the edge. I already made the size I thought would suit, and it was too big, so I have partly frogged it. I used my chunky knitting machine to pick up the weird no of stitches, because it's far easier than trying to do the maths. Doesn't help that there is no schematic for the garment.

The Kimi wrap is edging along slowly - I think I've done most of the first front apart from the neck shaping, and then I need to make the other front, two sleeves, and two ties.

The crochet shawl I started with the left-over Clea cotton is stalled, because I've leant my crochet hook to Julie - to be honest, I always envisioned it as a background project anyway, and when I realised how small the motifs are coming out it's going to take even longer than I thought, so I'm not in any hurry for my hook back.

I made a CSM tube and am gradually making it into an afterthought sock, but it requires concentration and I seem distracted and unfocused at the moment. I finished the second Easy Passap sock on Monday, despite wrecking a stripper, so that just needs sewing up now. Hopefully using a mix of orange and blue stripper won't have affected the tension too much, haven't held it up against the first one!

What else? Oh I've tons of little bits and pieces to sew onto the fancy yarns afghan. That's a sitting in front of the TV job and the blanket's so big now it's not a summer job unless I want to sit there semi-naked! :) The nights are definitely drawing in here and it's turning into a beautiful autumn.

The replacement jumper for he-who-shall-not-be-named-who-tumble-dries-wool only has a back, so far. Luckily I have a pattern and notes for what I was doing otherwise I'd have to start again.

Despite all this stuff being in progress, I still find myself wanting to work on sewing projects or getting to grips with the weaving loom. Perhaps that's the cause of the unfocus? Too many things to finish?

Bit grumpy today 'cause the Cog is off to Italy to watch the Grand Prix and I didn't fancy it. Mind you, the weather report for Italy looks duff! Hoping to have a quiet weekend in and catch up with some things.

Yarn delivery!

Look what arrived in the post yesterday! A gift for Coventry Knit Wits being Simply Knitting's club of the month in issue 58. Yarn courtesy of Abakhan.



Took a quick photo of it this morning - there is actually a bag of Paton's zigzag hiding under the fawn stuff, which is quite pretty. There's enough for quite a lot of jumpers here, folks! I'm going to resist abusing my privilege as group leader and bring the whole lot to club next week.

Oh, the cream thingy behind? That's a cushion, that's not part of it! :)

A Passap nightmare

Thought I'd settle down and do some easy knitting last night, make the second sock from the Easy Passap Sock. Yeah, right.

Forgot one switch on the front carriage (should've been CX not N) and total calamity! Utter jam. One bent needle, and one damaged stripper. Don't ask, I panicked! Getting the carriages apart was bad enough, I ended up snipping the yarn too as it was only row 2.

So - another use for the blue strippers? When you have damaged an orange one! The plastic halves have come away slightly so it will not move across needles, guess the space is pretty tight around there!

The good news? After getting OH to snip the bent needle - picture two of us with eyes tightly shut - I finally figured out how to replace needles. I do have the Passap Paramedic book, but the pictures aren't very clear, and I imagined "remove retaining bar" to involve a screwdriver.

Luckily the back doesn't have a spring in it, but I had a quick practise on the front.

The moral of this tale of woe?

1. Don't panic!
2. Even disasters can teach you something.
3. Don't answer the 'phone mid-disaster because you'll be rather sharp with the caller (yes, mother called!).

Ordered a new stripper yesterday, and it's here already. Thanks Metropolitan!

Mostly OT: Beer, chocs and knitting....

Had a fantastic long weekend in Bruges (Belgium) - took the Eurostar to Brussels, and the ticket covers you for onward travel to any station in Belgium. It's really reasonable, too - £29.50 for London St Pancras to Brussels (one way) and just £9.50 for the Rugby to London bit.

St Pancras is a wonderful building (and you can walk to it from Euston). I'm afraid I don't remember it from before the reconstruction work, I may have gone through the tube station as a child. The Eurostar terminal is airy and light and has a fantastic roof, and all the shops are fronted with glass, so you can still see the building. Apparently there's a champagne bar on the upper level; but we were both too excited to hang around for long. I was instructed to get "food for the excited traveller" so got some tuna sarnies.

Out hotel was a pleasant 10 minute walk through the Minnewater park to the edge of the city centre. A lot of the streets are cobbled, and there are strict building and noise level codes in the city, so new buildings are built in the style of the old ones, and there are no thumping nightclubs or their attendant hen/stag parties. Even the hotel was built around an existing building - not a red brick Hotel Ibis as is common in the UK.

Alas the exchange rate is no longer in favour of us Brits, and couple that with 21% sales tax and 16% service charge, food and clothing are pretty pricey, but you do get decent amounts and the food itself was excellent. Bruges is a maze of streets with sudden appearances of squares with pavement cafes - every time you think you've seen it all, you discover another little nook and cranny. It has an amazing amount of churches with bells, so the skies are rarely silent, and it is ringed with canals - we took a trip around one on the last day. We hunted down some haunts recommended by friends and found nearly all of them. Alas, the Hobbit (all you can eat ribs and beer) was closed for holidays, and when we did find Stamine de la Garre it was shut (as was the lace museum, which was a bit of a walk). However, we checked out the Belhof (bell tower), a Salvador Dali exhibition, the cathedral and two other churches, the chocolate museum and the lamp museum (almost completely empty but very interesting from an engineering point of view). Might check out the frites museum (chips I'm guessing) - hoping their older exhibits are models and not actual potato!

We also sat around in various bars and watched the world and his horse-drawn carriage (with manure catchers - they think of everything!) go by. We found the pub featured in the Hairy Bikers, where they have a beer menu of some 300+, and bumped into some pub owners from Cambridge who suggested a few beers. I tried banana and passionfruit beers, and also Graal, which was kind of gingery. I like cold beer but my taste tends towards sweet, I often pick WKD Blue or pear cider or... well, depends on the mood. I drank a lot of Kriek - a lambic cherry beer - but I think I need to learn to pace myself because my guts complained all week. I'm used to more veggies and a lot less beer/fizz I think! Tried waterzooi, a kind of soup or thin sauce with chicken in it, and flemish stew (beef in local beer) and waffles. Brought back over 2kg of chocolate, because it is three times as cheap over there.

What else can I say? Had fantastic weather all weekend, it only rained as we headed back to the station. Killed some time in Brussels - not so keen, it's your normal noisy city with traffic jams and roadworks and faceless office blocks. The one bar we tried (only 'cause I needed to pee) wasn't very friendly and the bathroom - "Strictly Customers Only" - was rather nasty and incredibly ironic. To be fair to Brussels, nowhere looks great in the rain - we finally managed to find the main square and took a few piccies, and then decided we'd rather get out of the rain and get back to our suitcases before we got completely lost.

I would really like to go back again, someday. Bruges beats Antwerp and Brussels into a cocked hat I think. Photos here - far too many to choose from. The snapper was mostly the Cog.

Yes, I did get some knitting done, once I realised I'd gone wrong and frogged back some 30 odd rows. Don't tell me I never post any knitting content! It's acres of stocking stitch though, so nothing worth photographing.

We all had a go at beaded knitting at KnitWits last night. I didn't get time to practice last week, so it was a group effort, and kudos to Linda M for making a sample beforehand.

I'm back in the UK now for some time (unless work calls again) so I can hopefully crack on and work on some projects. The WIP list is getting too long!