Long shots R us...

This is probably a very long shot, but does anyone have a spare copy of this they want to sell?



Passap model book 3, dates from about 1961. I can do paypal etc. Drop me a line if so!

I cast on "Take an old bag shopping" (from Knitwords 44) on the SK840 the other night - yes, the irony of not having finished the cofee-and-cream jumper neck isn't lost on me, but that's now TV hand knitting. Hoping that if this bag pattern works out OK, it might be a great Christmas stocking filler. So far it's been fiddly, but a fellow Raveler said they got it down to 45 minutes; I admit I didn't check out how thick Yeoman Cannelle is, but what I am using (two strands of unidentified lilac cotton) seems a little thin. May add another end if I make another one.

It's been a bit fiddly because it starts and ends with a picot hem, and there's another EON transfer before the main body, which is a tuck lace. But other than me making silly mistakes, it's gone ok so far. Not bad for a first attempt, anyway. Not sure I'll get to finish the main piece tonight, as we are off out for a nice meal and a local beer festival, courtesy of the A(le) Team at the Merchant Inn in town.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Valley of the Dolls

Completely OT - if you're looking for knitting content, you have my permission to skip this post!

I was never a great one for baby dolls - that was my sister. I got a second-hand Teeny Tiny Tears for Christmas (some of its fingers chewed) the year she asked for a Tiny Tears. After trying out the "feeding it with water, it wets itself" function on Christmas day (it leaked for what seemed like ages!) I never did it again. I was more interested in changing its clothes than actually playing with it that much.

Fast-forward to the late 70s and these were my favourites:


Claire, Kay, Mandy, Jasmine, Meredith

Yeah, Pippa Dolls. Anybody remember them? Claire was the first so is going a bit bald now. She was originally a "Dancing Pippa" but must have had some major surgery because that isn't her original body. Mandy's sporting one of my early handknits, the logo is supposed to be a heart, think it was intarsia. Jasmine's hair went woolly and is impossible to straighten. Meredith is a bit of an interloper as she's actually a Dawn doll Mum must have picked up at a jumble sale. My sister had a different set. We also had a Sindy doll each, and they were the mothers of this lot (despite the completely different anatomical proportions) - my Sindy went around adopting kids (which was the only plausible way we could explain the two black girls Mandy and Leila, and Marie the mexican).

More recently I've fallen for Blythes, Pullips and Momokos... Ebay is a terrible thing!


Blythe


Cornice (Pullip)


(Pullip)



They're kind of similar in size to a Sindy or Barbie, except that the Blythe/Pullip dolls have very large heads. Blythe has four eye colours (pullstring operated) and can now close her eyes because I added another string. The Pullips can move their eyes by virtue of a lever at the back of the head, I think it re-centres though so isn't poseable. The Momoko does nothing fancy. I'm not one for taking them everywhere or naming them or anything. I just love the attention to detail and the accessories. And the way you can pose them and they always look kind of wistful. Could be boredom of course!

Stash

In the interests of transparency (and because there's been a bit of a show and tell on Rav lately), this is the current location of my stash.


Four transparent tubs, and the cardboard box down the side is a lucky dip box of cotton from Yeoman Yarns which I am still working through. There is more stash on top, plus various carriages etc, and just seen on the left side is my fabric stash.


The stash corner. Yeah, the box is kinda overflowing. And yes, you can see a rigid heddle loom and a bass guitar in this picture too.


This is the shelving area. Yeah, bit messy, but I do know what's here mostly :)

Just saying...

...that getting the accountants in AFTER an event has made a big loss (leaving lots of people out of pocket), seems akin to nailing a smoke alarm to the remains of your burnt-out house. Just saying.

JaneKAL and Pat (Woolly Thoughts) have organised a collection for the tutors that are owed money from Knit Camp. The fund closes on the 31st October, so if you feel you want to donate, the info is here. It's entirely voluntary, and in no ways lets the (dis)organiser off the hook. I think some of the affected people are now pursuing this in the small claims courts. The actual amount owed is eyebrow-raising (and sadly I don't think will ever be repaid in full).

Anyway, that said, I finished sewing up the bottle green jumper for the Cog last night. Verdict: "It's getting there". Hmm. Well, better than his pained "how do I tell her it's bloody awful and it'll never see the light of day ever again" look, I suppose. It's awaiting a wash before final photography.

Have unpicked the neck on the beige jumper - caught myself wincing when he popped over the road in it, so it needs to be re-done. Bah. Knitting machines? They make jumpers quickly, but they also provide you with lots of sewing up/rework. And I can machine knit faster than I can sew up, haha!

Remember the autumn flare skirt? It was a magazine pattern, and I resized it to fit my ample frame. Alas, I never wore it, I felt it was too heavy. So it's unpicked and has been swatched on the LK150. Not sure what it will become yet - maybe a simpler pencil skirt? Hmm. I do know that it knits more smoothly that the Forsells Touch of Silk, and having been knitted once, it means most of the chaff has been removed too.

Almost FO: coffee and cream jumper for the Cog

Let this be a warning to all knitters. This is what happens when (a) you don't calculate if you actually have enough yarn and (b) you don't think beforehand what you're going to do with the bands. Clearly 400g of a DK yarn is not enough for a whole jumper. I was saving the cream for something else. Oh welL!

The sleeves have 10 rows reversed stocking stitch, the bottom band is reformed rib, and the neck band (knitting and then treble crochet) looks bloody awful and was unpicked last night. I'm going to add some 2x2 rib by hand, I think. So you could look at this in two ways - either the goddamn sweater curse that plagues every garment I make for the Cog has struck again, or I'm really just crap at planning. :)

This is the first garment I've made on the LK150. The yarn is Forsell's DK Touch of Silk, knitted at T4. Not the smoothest or most forgiving of yarns on a plastic machine.

There's also a round-necked one in the same yarn but bottle-green. I had two cones of it, so it's going to be more successful. It just needs sewing up - the yarn is unsuitable for sewing, as it thins and splits. It's very similar to Noro Silk Garden in composition, just without the lovely colour changes.

FO: Picovoli

This was made with some Berroco Poppy (I still have three skeins left). I added a moss stitch bottom border, and three rows of double crochet around the neck and armholes. It fits really well, considering I only tried it on once whilst knitting it. The yarn is a linen / viscose / cotton / acrylic mix, with big blobs of coloured fluff every so often.

Was going to add a link to the pattern, but the link is broken, it's one of Grumperinas. Have a look on Ravelry and you'll find it.

Odds n' ends

Despite my best intentions (of finishing some projects, as I have three that are almost done), I cast on a garment for the Cog on my new LK150 (mid-gauge machine). Regular readers will know that I have some kind of sweater curse on any item I try to make for the Cog. It always goes wrong.

This time? I ran out of yarn less than halfway up the second arm. I was not amused. I didn't think about how I was going to finish the bands (this machine is plastic and has no ribber), so I had to hastily wound some cream that I bought for dyeing purposes, and redid both arms, and added some edgings. The neck got some crochet treatment, and the ribs at the bottom were painstakingly relatched into 2x2 by hand. He's still moaning it's a bit on the short side, but it's tough I'm afraid. I have resolved that from now on, all swatches will be 100x100. 40x60 is just too small to be accurate, and I'm fed up of getting squat, wide jumpers.

Asides from all that, I've had a stinking cold this week, and have been working on writing up a Passap workshop. I've passed the snotty stage and have emerged on the sounding like Rod Stewart/Bonnie Tyler side. Woohoo. Not. Hoping I can keep my voice until Saturday, I am teaching, having no voice is not an option!

Mind you, Dee has 37 UFOs. That makes me feel a little better.

FO: Nina Miklin wrap

This is in an alpaca mix and was finished in August but has been hanging around whilst I decided whether I wanted to handwash it. I didn't, and it washes fine at 30 deg C. Then I kept forgetting to photograph it. Wearing it today, it's toasty!

FO: Preeemie baby cardigan

Made from the leftover yarns from the Passap baby sets - two ends together - one is pink, yellow, white, orange and the other is blue, pink, white. The green colour is by magic!

Made at T6 on the SK840 knitting machine - the pattern called for mock ribs and hems, and asides from the main body, I replaced those with rib.

The Ally Pally swag in full...

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Originally uploaded by steel breeze

* Two skeins of sari silk
* 10 balls of Jojoland Rhythm (which seems to be identical to the Yarntree yarn I used for my Lizard Ridge jumper, a v neck jumper and two felted bags)
* a dichroic glass bracelet (also a pendant, not pictured)
* Christmas earrings and a brooch (a lucky dip prize from the dichroic glass stall)
* a ball of Lang Jawolle Magic, which looks similar to the Mochi mochi yarn but is superwash so should remain human-sock size for more than one wash
* a skein of Lang Mille Fiamme which is very beautiful
* two crystal heart drops, probably going to make these into pendants

Passap neckwarmer

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Originally uploaded by steel breeze

This is a better picture, taken in actual daylight, and no felines causing problems either! You can clearly see where the 1x1 rib is gradually converted to knit/knit, forming a V shape.

New toy - LK150

Picked up this from a fellow Raveller - wanted a midgauge for a while, but the only new metal bed currently available is very expensive (and that's not including the ribber, which of course I would have to have also). Whilst I might save up for that, this will tide me over in the meantime.

It does tuck, slip, plating, fairisle and there's an intarsia carriage. Any patterning is hand-selected (fairisle is done using slip and two passes per colour).

I'm pretty sure it's an LK150, although it's got "Option 4" written on it. It was a bargain and was in excellent condition (had to replace the row counter though). It's got pink and grey rollers and looks very girly, but seems man enough to knit all the DK I've tried in it so far.

Looks like the Bro convertible is now extraneous. Have to have a think and see if I can find it a deserving new home.

FO: Passap neckwarmer

Extraordinarily bad photograph - not only was it a bit dark in the bedroom, but with my other hand I was trying to keep the dratted cat out of the picture, who has been completely smitten with me since we got back from holiday. It's a neckwarmer - cast on at the neck edge in 1x1 rib, cast on for shoulders, and then gradually add in the empty needles, working from the outside edge towards the middle (so gradually become knit/knit or full needle rib). This is some kind of acrylic 4ply, a little thick for the stitch size I was using. I ran this up on Thursday night, when I had a spare hour.

Since I got back from Malta (yeah, still haven't uploaded the holiday pics), work's been very, very busy - so much so that, I haven't had the head-space to do much more than handknit when I get home. Couple that with the fact that the last few weeks nobody's really been keeping on top of the housework - Monday night is housework night, and for the last three weeks one or more of us has been on holiday - had to have a major declutter last night, and tackle a monstrous pile of ironing too. Still, have done an inventory of all my craft books and most of my mk patterns. Have filed a lot of stuff and have started a pile of stuff to put onto Ebay. I also did some swatches on Sunday, because the weather was miserable all day.

Since I got back I've been wondering what happened to the Galena top I was crocheting - forgot I popped it into a spare filing cabinet at work! :)

Aligning a Brother ribber

Alignment - this is a one-off process when putting a ribber with a new machine (although occasionally if I’ve been using thick yarn, the horizontal alignment can require re-tightening). I’ve had various Brothers and the ribber required re-alignment for each one! :)

Vertical

Pull some needles at the ends of the main bed fully forward, and have the ribber in the highest position
MINIMUM - you should be able to slide a piece of paper in the gap ‘twixt extended needles and ribber gate pegs
MAXIMUM - ditto, but the thickness of a CD

Adjust the vertical alignment at both ends by loosening the hex nut (sits between the back of the ribber bed and the rise-and-fall bracket) and then raising or lowering the little metal lever there. There should be a spanner with your ribber things. Re-tighten when done.

DON’T adjust this unless you have a decent sponge bar in, ie the main bed needles are flat against their bed, because if it’s a flat one it’s entirely possible to set the ribber too high and it won’t pass at all, ask me how I know!

Horizontal

There are two slotted screws in the bed of the ribber at the left hand end. Loosen them by one turn only. Set the ribber to P5 and tap at the end of the beds until the needles either side of 0 correspond exactly to those on the ribber. Don’t forget to re-tighten!