Suggested stitch size settings for Passap E6000

These are just suggested starting points. Click for a bigger view. Doing tables in Blogger is not something I want to get into, it's a nightmare!

Free pattern: peg bag

One of the blogs I read inspired me to make this - I can't remember which one, so if it's you, leave a comment so I can give you credit!





Peg bag pattern

Yarn: any DK (I used peaches n cream worsted cotton)
Tension 18.5 sts by 29 rows to 10cm/4"
MT 4

Cast on 48 sts with waste yarn and knit a few rows.
Knit one row ravel cord
RC 000 K 101 rows
T10 K 1 row
T4 K 58 rows
Cast off centre 18 needles. Working on one side using partial knitting, knit 29 rows. Place these needles into hold, break yarn and work 29 rows on other half of the needles. Without breaking yarn, e-wrap around centre 18 needles. Knit all needles back into working position. Knit a further 14 rows.
Hang cast on edge onto needles. T10, knit across. Cast off using the latch tool.
Sew side seams amd weave in ends.

This peg bag is for hanging on a rotary washing line. If you want to insert a coat hanger, don't rehang 4 sts in the centre. Cast off as before, and use a small piece of yarn to cast off the remaining cast on stitches. Leave a gap in the seam near the cast off edge for the arms of the coat hanger.

I might add a loop and button closure at the top and bottom of the bag for when it's packed away. Will post a pic when I unload the camera..



Gratuitous kitty shot. Thomas in repose - looks innocent, doesn't he? This was only a few hours after he'd taken a chunk out of a rival, mind...

In progress: Cameo

100_3241
Originally uploaded by steel breeze

This was the 45" bust, has been restarted a size smaller. In actual fact, the pattern is only in 3 widths, it's the amount of rows that changes.

Have now started to decrease for the waist, which isn't part of the pattern, so am hoping it'll work!

Two new machine knitting leaflets

Two new leaflets for sale:

A Crash Course in using the Ribber

A Crash Course in the Passap E6000

More information here.

Knitting badges

Found this via Jo/Woolly Wormhead - thanks guys! Gave me a chuckle! Always loved the badge aspect of Brownies/Guides, alas in the latter we had a rather unprogressive troupe that didn't really encourage guiding.

Now - we need some crochet/machine knitting/spinning ones, methinks!

Hey I only stop thinking about knitting when I'm working or asleep. I've given up preaching to the determinedly close-minded, though. They can go enjoy their expensive lifestyles, and I'll stay in with a bottle of £5 wine and some bamboo yarn and some Harmony DPNs.

Used jumbo paperclips as cable needles

Not a book, wrote a leaflet "A Crash course in machine knitting" - ribber and Passap versions to follow soon!

I can make out that my way is the right way with the best of them - until I try it, and it isn't. Aries are always convinced they're right, dontcha know?

- have knitted AND sewn up under the influence. And had to unpick it in the morning.

Knitting math? Uh yeah, I've recalculated a few handknit patterns into a CAD drawing for use on the knitleader. Sometimes takes a few attempts to get it right, though. Even with a spreadsheet.

Inordinately fond of loud, lumpy, or twinkly yarn. Have large collection gathering dust. Not the fun fur, though. Not even with a chunky-I'll-knit-anything Brother machine. The amount of shedding you get, it's like knitting with cats.

How to get an interesting tan

Sit in the back garden for two hours working on some crochet, whilst wearing a crocheted cardigan (Cinnabar, in this case). Hey, it was 3pm by the time we got in from running various errands and visiting Cog's dad - I didn't think I'd need suntan lotion that late in the day! Owing to poor eyesight in full sun (cataracts) I have to have my back to the sun, otherwise the glare is unbearable, and squinting the bad eye shut causes a headache.

I now have a very interesting, triangular-shaped "rash" that is actually a sun tan on my upper back. Whoops! Yes, it made me laugh - might get the Cog to photograph it, but am hoping it'll fade! If you're a Star Trek fan, think Jadzia Dax, but swap brown for red. Ha.

In mk news, I spent most of Saturday at the guild AGM in Basingstoke. If any readers attended, I was the one in the black check skirt operating the mouse during Ruth Lee's talk. Mental note - reconfigure the mouse for single button operation (it's a macbook) for presentation purposes. You can tell, I rarely use the mouse - forgot I'd set it up to emulate a windows 2-button mouse. Duh!

Both talks were very interesting - alas, Ruth's was rather hard to see owing to a massive skylight in the main auditorium that could not be blacked out. Typical British weather - it can be relied upon to scupper even the best laid plans. I think Rugby was quite miserable on Saturday, but down south it was pretty sunny, alas! It also meant that Iris decided not to do the hands-on video workshop she'd planned, although by that time it had become a little duller. Might be worth the guild investing in a portable projector screen so that next time we can project where we want to, instead of being tied to the building layout.

There were some fantastic displays of work - a machine knitted jewellery box, complete with tiara, and some fabulous garments entered into the annual competition. I was very good and didn't gain any more stash for once. To be honest I was too busy dashing about and chatting to folks. The drive back was a little tedious, as the satnav always insists on using the M1 when travelling north, so took rather a big curve to get back onto the M40, which at least isn't being dug up at the moment.

Personally my machine knitting has rather stalled of late. I'm 80% through a blue hat, for the Passap layette I made a few weeks back, but I've mislaid it somewhere - it just needs sewing up. I need to make another arm for a ribbed jumper for the Cog - I'm not sure how much he's going to like it though, because it's going to be quite figure-hugging and he's more the hide-underneath-a-chunky-jumper sort. Whilst that arm is "in the way", I'm not feeling inspired to start anything new. Beware, dear reader - if you're going to make something, try and make ALL the pieces. Sewing up can always be done later, but going back to complete a garment after a break of 4 weeks? Hope you wrote your machine settings down, haha!

I've been on quite a crochet kick lately, which keeps me away from the machines and sat, somewhat reluctantly, either in front of a football match that sounds like a bucket of annoyed wasps, or on the bed, squinting at the portable. Discovered yesterday that I can watch the first part of a film upstairs, and then go downstairs and watch the rest of it (this is on a Windows media centre) - which is quite clever. I'm making Cameo in a smaller size, although in actual fact, the pattern is only written in three "circumferences", and it's the row count that changes. Suspect the Sirdar Juicy is a little too thick for the pattern, so will have to add some waist shaping unless I want my bust to look like a bedspread.

Plus, the weather has actually started to warm up and behave like summer - hence the stupid tan!

Shocked to discover that the UK's major craft superstore have a free "how to crochet" leaflet, with two incorrect diagrams. If you follow the text you'd be fine, but the pictures for double crochet (US=sc) are completely wrong. Need to pop in this week to pick up some fray check, so might see if I can snag the manager and have a word. No wonder it's such a black art if the UK's major craft chain can't be bothered to proof-read their literature! I have emailed them but had no response so far. Perhaps they're all watching the footie?

Cameo

Forgot to read the instruction page regarding Cameo (you should make it up to 4" smaller than your actual bust size for a better fit). Whoops. So I've unpicked the lot and am starting again. Luckily it didn't take long to work up, that is the nice thing about crochet. Yes, it will be possible to add some waist shaping, but I'll have to think about that when I come to it. Decreasing in the middle of a shell pattern is not so easy and will have to be done over a few rounds I think. Might be some suggestions on Ravelry, I'll have to take a look.

Looking forward to a quiet night in with NO football and a nice bottle of wine all to myself. It'll be the first football-free night all week in my house! :/

Pushers/Lock settings on Passaps

Two useful tables. Because doing tables in Blogger is a PITA. Click on the thumbnail for a bigger picture.

How to: Cover for your knitting machine

I've had plastic covers for two of my knitting machines, and I wasn't very impressed with them. The one for the Silver was rather stiff and never really draped around the machine properly, and the one for the Passap E6000 had seen better days and was gradually perishing. Plastic is fine, but it doesn't breathe, and it can transfer oil around. The college course I used to attend had covers made out of old curtains - very simply, a sheet with an overlocked slit in, for the masts. Very easy to make, and almost free!

For those folk who don't cover their machines - believe me, it's far better to cover them than to have to clean them constantly, especially if they sit unused for weeks at a time. And my kitty likes to use the Japanese machine as a springboard to get to the windowsill, so it's worth it for that reason too! He's also discovered the covered machines make a great hiding place when I want to put him out for the day and he doesn't want to go.

So a few months back I was having a sort out, and decided to pension off one of the king size duvet covers - the colours had faded unevenly, so it looked a bit odd on the bed, but the material itself was sound. I ripped the cover apart (boy, that was fun! and overlocked (US=serged) the edges to neaten them, and then got measuring!

The Brother one (which will fit most Japanese machines) was pretty easy, as I only have the one tension mast - I draped the sheet over the machine and checked how deep I thought the slit should go, and it was about halfway across and halfway to the centre (see below):



Your mast may not be dead centre, or you may have two masts installed, in which case, measure accordingly!

The Passap E6000 was a little more tricky, as it has a console arm and two masts, and a colour changer that stands up on the right hand side. Again, you need to place it on the machine, and drape the sheet so that the front edge is where you want it.



Measurement A is the console arm to the first mast, and B is the first mast to the second mast. Because the Passap masts are a bit further back, you might not need to cut the slits as deep as for the Japanese cover.

The side slit is for the colour changer. When the cover is finished, I use a clothes peg to hold the upper and lower pieces together over the machine.

Finished passap cover:



Colour changer end:



Note about overlocking slits in fabric - you have to open the material right out at the bottom of the slit, so that it is presented to the overlocker blade as a straight edge, otherwise it will cut but not sew and will make a bit of a mess. Practice on some scrap fabric first! :)

Picnics and new beginnings...

The Coventry Knit Wits had a pot-luck picnic in the park to celebrate Worldwide Knit in Public day 2010. There was far too much food, and it was all lovely! The weather stayed nice, and I think I may even have caught the sun a bit towards the end! There was an impromptu archery session and a discussion about how to make frog juice that had me in stitches, and I can't even remember how we started talking about that!

I cast on 109 stitches for the Ballet cardie/wrap (design B) from the Sirdar Crofter book, and got bored with it about 8 rows in. It's a self-patterning yarn, so the pattern is pretty plain in order to show off the colour changes. Hmmm. Almost tempted to chart the pattern, work up a swatch and machine-knit it instead. When I got home, the Cog was busy painting the hallway (we are finally getting rid of the yucky cheap carpet), and I sat down and started crocheting "Cameo", a vest top from the Everyday Crochet book, with the yarn left over from the Cinnabar cardigan. Might need to pop to Hobbycraft tonight and see if I can pick up some more of the yarn - the cardigan only used 7.5 balls (I bought 13), but Cameo is a denser fabric and a smaller hook size. Have deliberately done the straps already so that I can gauge how much more yarn I might need.

Loving Cinnabar - it washed very well, and the arms have stretched a little. I don't like anything too long on the sleeves, anyway. As is my wont, I spilt a bit of coffee on it within an hour of putting it on. But at least it was expensive, Starbucks coffee, haha!

Decided to give up on ever making anything sensible from the lilac Rowan bamboo tape, so will collect it all together and give it to Julie to make into a shawl/blanket. Hope she has better luck with it!

Football fever has descended upon the UK and our house is no exception. Being the home of two engineers, the place is full of high-tech gadgets (mostly belonging to the Cog - my particular fetish is mostly knitting machinery, ha!) that can be relied upon to not work when required. Our tv runs from a media centre, basically a fancy-pants computer with two Freeview cards, that can happily go off and record a series of something automatically. Upstairs there's an extender box which theoretically allows you to watch something you've recorded downstairs, on the tv upstairs. I poked and prodded it a bit but it didn't want to play, so I dug out a DVD of the first series of "Coupling" and watched that instead. I suspect the Cog, who is in the process of transferring his VHS tapes to a DVD format, has probably unplugged something important and forgotten to plug it back in. I always tend to plug things back in when I've been doing something, in the same way that I'll put the flour back in the cupboard - but he's quite absent-minded in that respect.

Home again...

...and already I can feel my stress levels going through the roof. Same old same old at work, alas. I love my job, but I find the office environment very noisy to work in. Why do some people think everyone needs to hear their train of thought whilst they work? Perhaps I should speak out loud every single thing that I'm doing - I'm sure there'd soon be complaints!

Cinnabar is in the laundry bin, I'll try and block it tonight after tea. Katie, thanks for the comment - however, if you're expecting your knitting to look like Cinnabar you'll be disappointed, as it is crocheted not knitted. I find crochet far more portable (only one stitch and one hook to lose) and it grows much faster than knitting if you're doing all trebles.

To the spam commenters - I'm sorry you have nothing better to do, all comments on this blog have been moderated for some time, so good luck getting one through. Not! Someone also informed me that an Ebay seller is using a link to one of my passap videos to sell their passap. The cheek of these people is astounding!

FO: Cinnabar

100_3227
Originally uploaded by steel breeze

Started this the Thursday before we went away to Bruges, and finished it yesterday. Needs blocking.

Yarn is Sirdar Juicy (bamboo/cotton), colour is "foam", aka powder blue - on sale at Hobbycraft ATM. It's a little on the snug side, so I am hoping it will stretch a little in the blocking. Very pleased with how it turned out, and less mistakes than for Eve's rib tunic. I actually used markers and read the pattern properly. Duh.

FO: Eve's rib tunic

100_3229
Originally uploaded by steel breeze

Decided not to make it as long as in the pattern, and skipped the cowl neck. A few mistakes I think, but not bad and it fits well.