Machine Knitter's Knit-In day in 2012

I am organising a Machine Knitter's Knit-In day in 2012. The details
are as follows:

Saturday, May 5th, 2012 in the Coventry Artspace, 16 Lower Holyhead
Rd, Coventry, 10-4pm. More details here - this is the mysterious extra tab at the top of the blog.

The basic idea is that I will bring all my knitting machines and
attendees will have the chance to play on a machine they've perhaps
only ever seen online (or in a shop). There will be some optional
demos done throughout the day by other attendees. Attendees are
welcome to bring their own machine and table and just knit amongst
like-minded people. I'm hoping it will be a lot of fun! I'm also
hoping that if someone has a useful technique they might feel they can
share it.

Cost will be £10 per person, I will be sending out payment information
in January. Places are limited to 20.

Please email me privately at the address opposite if you wish to attend.

Machine knitting as performance art

This was shared on FB and on Ravelry and I thought I'd share it. Blisters and back-breaking work - now, who said machine knitting was cheating again?

An Army of Knitters

Harrogate show

This was my haul from the Harrogate show - six skeins of Texere Olympia that looks exactly like Rowan Colourscape but was only £20 for 3 skeins - I can see knots, mind you, but it feels lovely. I also picked up their catalogue which is a real treat. I'm hoping we can talk the rest of the Manor House group into taking a trip to Texere soon - I think it would probably do some serious damage to our bank balances though.

I also picked up two of those "magic clip" hair things (two combs attached with fancy beads etc). However I don't think they're anywhere near as good as the African Butterfly one I picked up at Ally Pally last year, because I can't get them to stay in my hair - a cheap knock off I reckon. Oh well, never mind!

Harrogate was fantastic - I went around with a lady called Olga who only has the one knitting machine. Every time we thought we'd seen everything, there was another hall of things to see. There was one hall that had a "Bayeux tapestry" - except this was of the battle of Prestonpans - ranged up both sides. Marvellous amount of work.

FO: Cowl

100_2329
Originally uploaded by steel breeze

This is Kriskrafter's pattern. More details and a link on Ravelry. Made on the Brother KH950i with the KG93 garter carriage. Uppinghams baby acrylic 4ply, T7.

FO: Brown v-neck jumper for the Cog

Finished this on 20th November - hope it fits him!

The perils of electronics...

Finally established that my Passap E6000 has a damaged curly cord last night. I borrowed a continuity tester from work, and could only get a positive signal from the central pin (it's a 6 pin DIN), and then I also plugged the console directly into the lock and hey presto! It works perfectly. It's just a pity you can't set it up like that and then plug it back in - once it's set up it seems to work perfectly. Unfortunately, it also detects "unpluggedness" - those Swiss engineers thought of everything - so it probably wouldn't work (and anyway it's very tricky to hold both locks and console).

The machine is pristine now so have ruled out everything else. Luckily Yarnmonger on Ravelry reminded me that Richard Croucher can fix these things (and he's in the UK) - otherwise a new cable is $299 CAD plus postage and import duty. Ouch!

On the plus side, my KG93 garter carriage has chugged away happily for 470 odd rows and nary a dropped stitch. There are some errors on the right hand side because I put the turnaround cam a little too far in and the pattern hasn't quite reset in a few places, but it's hardly noticeable. I'm hoping I'll have time to finish it off tonight.

Garter carriage in action

gc_in_action
Originally uploaded by steel breeze

I also videoed this but it's not a very exciting video. This is what is currently beavering away on my Brother 950i.

Still no further forward with the Passap E6000 (well, I managed to change the program, but not to get past error 200). I'm taking the hoover to it tonight, and then also checking the cable to see if it is damaged.

The saga continues...

Got my repaired SK860 carriage back on Tuesday. Was very excited to try it out. Guess what? Same problem still - put a cam between approx. 28L and 73L and it disappears. Then himself spotted something - the back rail (on which the cams slide) is 2mm further back into the machine at the left hand end, meaning the cam is also 2mm further away from the back of the carriage. Could this be why it can't "see" it?

It's gone back down south for inspection and testing. And possibly a few incantations whilst waving a rubber chicken. Sigh.

Put away my SK840 combo last night and got the Brother 950i and the garter carriage out and deliberately did NOT get the ribber out - this will force me to use the Passap for ribbing. Started a cowl a la Kriskrafter. Can't get past error 200 on the Passap. Grrr.

FO: sparkly shrugs

Blue shrug with lurex thread - knit side



Blue shrug with lurex thread - purl side



Blue lurex shrug

As always, click through for a bigger picture.

Back on the horse

Well, from a week or two of feeling as if I'm drifting aimlessly, to finishing three projects (almost) within one day. Actually, the parts for one of the project were all finished on Saturday, Sunday was mostly sewing up by hand.

I also made two shrugs (from the Bill King "All in One" pattern that appeared in MKM June 2011). The plan had been to make some sort of sparkly shrug - the kind of thing you wear over an evening dress - as I attended a works dinner last week and realised I really didn't have anything suitable to wear over my rather summery dress.

The first shrug was made with one end of Bramwell Artistic, and one end of a black/silver lurex thread. I think there should be another 2 rows added at the start of the pattern, because the collar looks a bit uneven to me. I discovered the perils of not using a yarn twister, when I was already half way through - I got a lovely sparkly shrug, but it's sparkly on the WRONG side. Oh well, at least it's reversible.

The second shrug was made with a leftover cone of lurex, already plied. Not the easiest thing to knit with as it's quite stiff. As the yarn was thinner, the shrug came out a little smaller.

I still have more of the black and silver lurex, I am wondering whether a little black shrug might be just the thing.

Photos when I have some.

Normality, somewhat...

Still plugging away on the fluffy handknit, and have started a project for himself. Got my own car back today, gearbox feels really weird - it's lovely and shiny and clean though, and it looks like they did a good job.

Winter nights

There's not been much knitting to blog about, but only because I've been busy sorting out the car and various other things. I've just started a new website for the Manor House machine knitters (www.manorhousemk.org.uk) so that has kept me busy. I've not had the time nor the inclination to do much knitting, but I feel sure my mojo will be back soon.

FO: charity tee

...and I've STILL got more of this yarn left! :)

Very little progress since my car accident last week. Still waiting for my insurance company to get their butts into gear and sort out the hire car. Gawd knows how I'd cope if the car was undrivable. Not very impressed with thei snail-like speed, really.

Finished objects

Life's been a bit manic lately with lots of social/knitty things on in the evenings. Couple that with my car getting bumped on Wednesday night, and things have been pretty fraught round here!


Charity tee made on tuesday at a workshop with Manor House Machine knitters


Reversible charity hat made same day


V-neck cardigan


Hat for me


Hat for child


My current handknitting - it's a jumper with a scoop neck