E6000: console errors not in the manual

I think this was originally posted on one of the now-defunct Yahoo groups. 

See also: Passap errata

207: In addition to what is written in the manual, check for the following: The cable between the locks is not connected. The spiral cable is not connected to the console. If you have a switch box, the switch is set to accept a pattern from the computer instead of in the knit position. The spiral cable may have a short. Run a test by plugging the front lock directly into the console and see if this clears the problem; if so, check the cable for problems and replace if necessary. 

209: Pattern Header Corrupted. Go back into Design a Pattern, retrieve the design and save it under a different name. There really isn't anything wrong with the name, it's just that some necessary information connected to the name got lost or corrupted. The only solution is to save the design under a new name. Don't forget to go back and delete the old copy of the design. 

210: Pattern Color Corrupted. Similar to 209 and has the same solution. 

211: Parity Error. Computers have parity checks and something changed that shouldn't have. Usually restarting your computer will take care of this error. 

212: Not ready for data. The computer is okay, but your console has a problem. Turn it off and start again. You will need to reprogram it and you need to say yes to ERASE. 

213: Validity of bit not recognized. Can be similar to 209 or 211. You might try getting out of Creation6 and restarting it. Check that the cable is securely plugged into the console and the computer. 

214: You will usually get this if the computer has a problem writing to the console. You will normally get a Write Fault Error on the computer, and it will indicate which com port had the problem. If you don't get a message on the computer, then the program thought it was downloading just fine, but the console didn't get the information. You may have the wrong com port specified in Creation 6 for the cable. 

250 (undocumented): Wrong Chipset. The chips in the console are not updated to work with Creation6. Check the date as they must be from 1/1/91 or later "Write Fault Error" This is a computer message that indicates that the computer is having some kind of problem writing to the console. Check that both ends of the cables are securely connected, if you have a switch box, that it is switched to the correct cable, that the console says PC Start. If the console displays WAIT, then the computer started to write to the console and got an error. Reset the console, and restart your computer. This will normally clear the problem.Computer messages -If the computer jumps back to the 'Knit a pattern' or Knit a form' screen very fast, and the console still says PC START, there may not be enough memory for the program to create and write the files. If you know that everything is connected correctly, or you have downloaded before, check the amount of memory available by typing MEM at a C:\ prompt

Supersize cables revisited

An anonymous reader commented that they couldn't get this technique to work - and I realised I'd never tried it myself and that I'd made no mention of tension. Knowing Bill King via his monthly techniques in MKM, I suspect he probably uses 3ply or industrial yarn, and possibly has the ribber on a loose tension, and possibly all of it on a looser tension than you'd normally use.

The principle is that for a 5x5 cable, you first cross 5 and 3 stitches, knit two rows, and then continue the cross with the same 5 and the remaining 2 stitches. Thus you create a 5x5 cable, but in two seperate crosses.

So anyway, I tried it, and I agree with anonymous - as written it's very hard to do. I did manage it in some 4ply, but I don't really like the "hole" you get in the middle of the cross. 

My preferred method for supersize cables is to manually knit the cable stitches with an end of yarn, making larger loops, and then do the cable cross. Yeah, I demoed "magic fairisle" above it.

Some hats and a scarf I made to use up some poodle yarn. Very ho-hum.

I'm still struggling with DAK and have emailed Softbyte - the SK840 won't do fairisle either (though it seems happy to jam!) so I suspect there's an issue with the drivers. As the last machine I used it successfully with was the Passap, I suspect perhaps I need to tell it I've switched drivers before telling it again in DAK. Hopeful I get some clarity, being spoilt with three flavours of electronic machines! 
 

And just for fun - this is my cat, thinking he can't be seen. Plonker!

Current mood: apathetic

Frustrations

I do wonder how come I ever got this far with machine knittting. I mean, I've been doing this on and off for 21 years and yet it still blindsides me from time to time. I fished out a lost tool from the Brother KH950i and then put it away on Saturday, with big plans to start swatching a lace tunic with the SK840. The Silver handles lace differently to the Brother - it uses a one-action lace carriage, as opposed to a knitting carriage and lace carriage used together, so in theory it should be quicker. I picked up the SK840 as a bundle with ribber, lace carriage and colour changer from a local lady who was giving up due to ill health. You would assume that they worked together. Indeed, I know I've swatched lace with the lace carriage (LC560) because I even got it tuned to fit the bed by Andeeknits. One thing I failed to notice is, it doesn't trip the mechanical row counter - and there's a later 580 carriage that presumably does. It's more than £400, so I'm a bit dischuffed. That, and I cannot get DAK to make it do lace - the pattern appears to advance ok, but no lace is happening. Alas I sold my PC10 and EC1 on, so I don't even have a fallback position. After a frustrating hour of nothing happening, I gave up. Our tv finally started cutting out every ten minutes (it's over 10 years old and has been getting worse for a while), so Saturday afternoon turned into a "play silly beggars with a badly-coded website and go pick up a new TV". The Cog was far more excited than I over it, and immediately complained he wished he'd bought the next size up when we got home! Sheesh! 43" is enough and certainly much better than peering at a spare computer monitor. 

It shows how much I've progressed recently with the Passap, as I ended up casting on a simple 2x2 scarf on it, which will be 100% successful even if it IS 800 rows of tedium. 

I've had some useful responses on Ravelry - apparently this is a flaw of DAK, one must program a "piece" even if swatching, and then delete any transfers that fall on the end stitches. Annoying when I'm only at the swatching stage. But the row counter is more tricky - one needs to know where one is when knitting, because there are often interruptions from telephones and well-meaning partners to contend with. I am rather stumped as to know how to proceed! 

Current mood: annoyed

Not waving, just sleeping

Work has become very busy, so crafting has dropped by the wayside a little. Couple that with himself rarely leaving the knitting room cum office until gone 7pm, and my falling asleep on the sofa fairly regularly. The pandemic effect: as everyone goes online shopping, companies are scrambling to automate. Not complaining, at least I have a job, but it's been tiring! 

That said, I have knitted all the parts for a fairly plain charcoal grey cardigan - I started sewing it up last night with black acrylic. The bands took time - I did some bands from one of the MAO books which are a combination of stocking stitch rolls with a bit of 2x1 ribbing. I may have miscalculated - the sleeve I have sewn up seems snug and a little short. I calculated it in Knitware using a standard chest size and not my own measurements, whoops. Pictures when it's done. 

Motivation is a bit lacking at the moment. I have loaned my "workshop" machine to a friend and swapped it with one she's totally jammed - I am not sure how to proceed, I suspect the bed needs to come apart. Not something I've done before!

I also want to put my KH950i away after some maintenance, and get the SK840 out for another project. Knitting items out of "ugh" yarn for others has lost its appeal lately. I finished up a black chenille jumper and I didn't even try it on (unheard of!). Luckily, a good friend has sent me a large bag of coned 3plys, for playing about on the Passap. I just need to find the time! 

It's kind of scary how easily we have become used to being in lockdown, and how very little interaction I get with others outside of work. I am also reading up on menopause - forwarned is forarmed - after being sparked to listen to my first ever podcast, "On my last eggs", and via that to "Dun Breedin'", a very fun mini sitcom on Youtube that I do hope they get commissioned into a full series at some point... So good I might even watch it a second time!

Current mood: exhausted

Passap Errata

This is a copy of an errata list we started on Yahoo and eventually published on the big Passap group on Ravelry. I think it's worth sharing it more widely, because it's very annoying to knit something and not have it come out as expected, and not everyone's in Ravelry. With thanks to all the guys on Ravelry who contributed, and to Pat Groves for her advice and comments. If anyone has any more, please add them in the comments and I'll update this post. 

E6000 instruction manual

Page 41: Right diagram: "turned to the right" should read "colours reversed"

Page 70: 2nd display "IN PATT. AT R 0" is not in the program. Disregard it and the response

Page 139: KT106 - manual indicates EX/KX - you can actually use EX/LX or EX/N as fb pushers stay in work all the time. 

Page 149: K153 - manual indicates 2R N/KX, 4R GX/KX while the console does 4R N/KX, 2R GX/KX

Page 153: KT170 - Reverse colours, some chips only. This KT seems to colour reverse the pattern on some machines

Page 156: KT181 - pushers on bb should all be in rest position to start, but to seal the edges of the knitting, bring up the first and last pusher on the bb to working position

Page 159: KT192 - says it cannot be used in combination with another pattern but it's shown on page 64

Page 160: KT193 - says it cannot be combined with a stitch pattern but it is shown on several pages eg page 63 1300/193

Pg 172: KTs 252 and 253 both say pintuck controlled by black squares. It appears that KT253 is controlled by the white squares

Page 178: KT272 - Do not leave in transfer position to knit

Note: Most of the KTs that say that they can't be used with a pattern really can be. There are some that create their own material (156 comes to mind), but KTs like 100 etc can be used with patterns (eg KT 100 for slip stitch, in combination with LX and KX and some of the other settings). The trick is to know how the pushers are being driven and how the lock setting handles the pusher settings.

E6000 stitch pattern book

Page 10: 1014/129 should rea 1014/130

Page 10 and 11: Braids need needles L4 and R3

Page 16: 1005/132 is sts 3:1 should be 1006/13 (as picked is 5:1)

Page 21: 1062/137 2/2 col is right half and 4/4 is left half

Page 26: 1066/149 not possible with cast on 1

Page 26: 1070/149 "

Page 26: 1069/149 "

Page 33: 1128/167 should have * enlarge Rs x 2

Page 33: 169 should be 1000/169

Page 33: 1072/529* instead of 537

Page 47: 1257/180 should have * placed with 12 rows distance

Page 47: 1135/180 wrong picture (with older chips is OK)

Page 64: 1256/192 KT 192 can't be combined with a pattern; try KT 193 or 194

Page 82: 1298/188 Stem is missing

Page 89: 1363 and 1363/197 - not as pictured

Page 95: 1016 change direction from E facing right to E on its back. Add 1364/198*

Page 110: 1363/252 should be 1363/253

Page 118: 1104/259 should be 1103/259*

Page 119: 254 is a racking pattern. If you want to knit as illustrated, do not rack.

Page 119: To knit 252 as shown, use every needle set up

Note: Tuck stitch techs are normally shown as 3 digits starting with 1. In the stitch pattern book and model books you may sometimes find that they begin with a 5. Adding 400 signifies that the tech is no longer using all the needles (see instructions, page 143). After the first empty row, bring pushers in rest and their corresponding needles out of work. 

The above rule also works for any of the ribbing patterns - let the machine tell you which needles it wants to knit on during the two SX rows. If you ignore it, it won't knit properly. 

See also: console errors not in the manual

Musings on creativity

Well, February starts as January left off - grey, freezing, often wet, very muddy underfoot. Saturday brought  sleet / rain, a good excuse to get all outside errands done quickly, and get back inside the warm. Highlight of the day was a treat to myself from Christmas money, a new smartphone (Google Pixel 4a). Though I'll miss my Nexus 4, it's getting quite slow now and hasn't been supported / updated for some years. Mine's actually got a small  crack across the corner of the screen, I don't remember when it happened but it still works. Undecided whether to keep it as a mini tablet or to recycle it. It can't go anywhere just yet though, I've the tedious task of transferring all my passwords to a new app as the old app seems to be unsupported. 

I've been pondering my lack of energy to start a new project lately, and have come to the conclusion that whilst it's all very well knitting from unloved stash and making items for others, after a while the need for personal gratification from knitting something nice for oneself becomes more pressing. I mean, I've machine-knitted all the parts for a black chenille jumper, and can't bring myself to sew it up - that's not like me! I've resolved to knit any further jumpers like that by knitting the sleeves downwards on the machine, thus neatly avoiding the dreaded setting-in bit. So on Saturday I knitted up some black poodle yarn, into a simple scarf and two slightly oversized hats - another cone down! Then I doodled about on the passap. Sunday I made a start on a cardigan for myself - a lovely charcoal yarn with multi-coloured slubs. I only hope there's enough yarn - I seem to recall I originally knitted some of it into part of a skirt, which I couldn't then unpick (it may have been thrown away). It may end up having short sleeves, if so. We shall see. 

The more I play with the passap, the more fun I have with it. Here's a selection of recent swatches. The larger red and white one in the middle has a solid red background, and the smaller one on the left has a vertically striped background. The rather plain peach one on the left is interlock, the one on the far right is a slip stitch pattern which would make a cosy jacket, and on the top left I even had a go at a four colour pattern from the book. 

I've had some ups and downs lately - as reported previously, a close colleague is leaving us in a few weeks, and another is moving away, the advantage of continued WFH meaning geographical proximity isn't a big deal anymore. I've had days when all I can do after work and dinner is flop in front of the tv, where I feel like all we're doing is waiting for death (how overly dramatic!). But I keep on, because I must. Better times will come, I'm sure, and for now I mustn't lose hope. The signs of spring are all around, despite the freezing temperatures. 

Current mood: awake