FO: piano scarf

Many years ago, the Cog and I visited Antwerp. I saw a lovely piano scarf in a clothes shop, on a poster on the wall. We then trawled both branches of the shop, in a fruitless attempt to buy it. I had completely forgotten about it until this weekend, when it suddenly occurred to me that I could knit one for myself! Well, I am a bear of very little brain sometimes. The weather was cold and dreary, so perfect for staying in and knitting. The stitch pattern for this was designed in Designaknit, and it is knitted over 60 sts at ss 4.5 on both beds, using technique 180, about 1640 odd rows (thank heavens for the motor!). Very pleased with it, though next time I will program the whole five repeats instead of as a repeating pattern so that I know when it's finished. I might have a go making a skinnier version too. Next little project is to knit some samples of the different DBJ techniques, using the same stitch pattern, so I can compare the handle of them. I like technique 180 (bird's eye slipped backing) because it comes out the expected proportions - some of the DBJs elongate the pattern. Oh, and I cast this off ON the machine, first time ever. Despite it being in black. Quite impressed with myself!

There are precious few advantages to the pandemic, but finally getting to grips with the Passap has been mine. You know you've achieved something in machine knitting, when you are master of the machines and not the other way around. I'm now really inspired to try other things!

Current mood: impressed

Lockdown staycations and birthdays

Last week, the Cog and I had a nice "staycation", mostly visiting the parks in local towns, and popping to the odd farm shop. There are a few nice ones in the area.

Some finished objects:

I couldn't make head nor tail of the assembly instructions for this, so fudged it as best I could. This is rather snuggly!

This needs a bit of steaming to set the hems, but is otherwise finished. Alas, as I continue to WFH, getting the iron out will only happen if I start sewing again!

The weaving came out again, leading me to lust after a folding floor loom that I do not have room for. This has been packed away for seven months, as this is the table the Cog has been working from.

I finally had a go at programming letters on the Passap. These are photographed in the order they were attempted - I misread the code for N because I didn't have my glasses on! If you program one letter wrong you have to start again I think. Anyway, it really tickled me that I figured it out. Next step is to figure out how to stop it repeating, if that's possible.

I originally got into machine knitting because I was inspired to knit double-bed jacquard scarves; I forget where I saw them now, but a designer was selling customised ones and that just tweaked my interest. I can confidently say, dbj isn't for the faint-hearted, and it's still not a technique I do a lot of on the Japanese machines. But the Passap does at least make it pretty easy.

Yes, my birthday is now associated with the day the lockdown started in the UK last year. Meh, as if the Act of Enablement wasn't bad enough. I had lots of lovely cards, flowers by post, lovely meals and some nice gifts. It would be so nice to do something normal for a birthday, that could include friends. Never mind, at least everyone's in the same boat I guess. 

Current mood: loved

Using the knitting machine to join garments

Having a "staycation" this week. It was probably a daft idea to take a week's leave when only essential shops are open - I had to time it to match the Cog's contract ending - but we've had some nice walks out in the parks in Warwick and Leamington Spa. It's a pity the weather's not a bit nicer, but we have had fun visiting local farm shops and bringing nice food home. When all else is closed, food tourism is all there is!

Anyway, I thought I'd share how I have recently used my knitting machine to join a garment. It's knitted all in black, and after an abortive attempt I realised I couldn't face trying to hand sew it. So I used the Passap machine to join the neckband pieces (as the garment was knitted on the passap), and the SK840 to join the remaining seams. You could also use a device such as the Hague linker for this, which would be quicker. I sold mine a while ago as I was not really using it. I use this method for hanging neckbands also. This is done by knitting the ribbing, transferring to the main bed and knitting one row, and then hanging the garment onto the needles in use. 

Using the knitting machine to join garment pieces aka I can't face hand-sewing this! :)

Preparation: Place the carriage on the right hand side of the machine bed (if you are left handed, put it on the left side of the bed).

Hold the knitting, right side facing you, slightly stretched against the knitting machine. Use the 2 prong tool to hang the end stitches at both ends, and use the single prong to hang the work in the middle. Make a note of what needle width you used so that you can use the same width for the other half of the garment. I like mine to divide by 10 because it's easier to remember. You can start from either end of the machine and don't have to concern yourself about centring the knitting on the machine.

Continue to divide the knitting across the needle bed by dividing up the space and pulling a needle through the knitting - try to aim for at least two threads on every needle, and try not to split the yarn.

Carry on until all needles are out, then use the ruler to push the needles back about 1 cm.

Hang the second garment piece, wrong side facing you, in the same manner. Be sure to match any details eg ribbed cuffs. When this is complete, use the ruler to close all the latches - failure to do so could damage needles and cause jams, especially when joining side seams.

Thread the carriage. Using maximum tension, slowly knit one row. Pull the needles fully out (keeping the knitting against the gatepegs) and cast off the stitches using the latch tool. Complete the rest of the seams in the same manner, and weave in the ends. 

Current mood: hungry

Passap E6000 crash course

A little plug - I updated and revised my Passap crash course leaflet. It's now 20 pages and will give anyone a good grounding in the Passap E6000. Available on etsy now. 

Anyone ever use the UX setting, aka "slick" - slips one way, tucks the other? Things like that intrigue me, the manual just says "for future use", but it already works - there just aren't any patterns for it. Something I need to investigate further I think... 

Knitting machine comparison

There's been discussion of creating a record, a comparison of what knitting machines can do what, so to that end I started a spreadsheet here and a friend and I started to fill it in. See what you think! The link is view only right now, happy to admit others if they can add machines.

Sugarcoating...

My apologies if the last post came off as a bit of a whine. White middle-class woman in full time employment has a bit of a moan, poor me. I guess it's one of my issues with facebook - people only tend to post the positive stuff, giving the rest of us a skewed version of reality. Anyway, it's how I feel - quite lonely at times, and weary as the pandemic comes up to a year. Last night, the Cog popped out for a socially-distant bag of chips with an ex-work colleague, and it felt incredibly odd to have the house all to myself. The almost-feral cat isn't exactly company - in fact, he's mostly a nuisance, as he communicates by shredding carpets. What a turnaround - time was, I savoured having the house to myself. A chance to watch a few more episodes of Outlander or somesuch. I ended up hanging parts of the chenille pullover on the machine - I'm going to use the Japanese machine as a linker, because I can't motivate myself to destroy my eyesight sewing it up by hand! 

I think the pandemic will change my socialising permanently, and probably not for the better. Meeting others in real life is now a source of anxiety. Zoom's fine as far as it goes, but it's kind of 2D! 

What's bugging me right now? The lack of incidental exercise is having a detrimental effect on my back - over the last six months, my sleep has deteriorated to a few hours a night, because sleeping with what feels like a large bruise at the base of my spine makes staying comfortable tricky. How to keep active inside a 3 bed house? It's not really big enough indoors to engender much movement. I've not left the house since Tuesday (unless you count five minutes putting the bins out!). As relatives all announce their vaccination appointments, we are excluded for being underage - I do accept we're least at risk as we could quite easily only leave the house for food. FOMO indeed. I have a second lockdown birthday looming - last year's was lockdown Monday, not a date I'll forget in a hurry. Actually, I came down with a 24 hour fever in 2019, so that birthday got postponed too. I'm overdue a good one, but alas it'll be 2022 when there's a zero on the end. Not sure I want to admit that! :D The weather's been windy and pretty chilly - roll on Spring getting a proper foothold.

On the positive side, the Cog has kept us supplied with home-made bread. Last year I finally feel like I became knowledgeable enough to say I've mastered the Passap, though it'll still have me scratching my head more than the Japanese machines. We've both come to appreciate our house much more, and to enjoy nature unfolding constantly around us. The electric bill has gone up by a fiver a month - not sure if that's down to my using the tumble dryer as a "heater" in the Cog's "office", or our computers and monitors being on more. Probably the latter - we're making no more washing than we ever were. 

Right, well I better get motivated and get up! 

Current mood:  exhausted

Tedium

Yes, there's been some knitting progress, but nothing I can show you. I have made up some pieces for "plush sweater", which appeared in an old copy of Knitwords - it's two squares for front and back, two sleeve/shoulder parts, and a shawl collar in two halves. Yet more of the black chenille - although I got three cones at the same time, this one does seem better quality. The yarn goes through the Passap a dream, and there's a lot less airborne fluff because of the machine's design. Making up might be fun though, black yarn! Oh dear! 

As you know I've been beavering away making hats and scarves for Knit for Peace since last year, only to get an email newsletter saying they're currently full of such items thanks to everyone knitting in lockdown, and only adult garments and blankets are now required. Such a pity as I like to wait until I've a box full, to make the postage worthwhile. So if anyone has any alternative charity destinations, preferably in the UK, please ping me in the comments! It's starting to gradually warm up here so I guess they may have to be saved up for next winter. 

The lockdown is dragging on a bit now - I miss seeing people outside my bubble! Female friends especially! It can be lonely at times, even within a relationship - I love the Cog to bits, but sometimes I just need a change of conversation that isn't based around work, what we're eating tonight, or what to watch on tv. I caught up with a local friend yesterday for a walk and it really brightened my day. On walks with the Cog, I try and focus outside myself, looking out for birds nesting, and spotting all the lovely spring flowers. I planted lots of bulbs in October, and there are signs that at least some of them are sprouting (I guess half of them might be upside down, whoops!). I'm not doing quite so well on the exercise front, and there's no excuse not to climb on the exercise bike, other than my bed is soo toasty in the morning! 

Oh well - at least I've lots of crafts to keep me company. I kind of feel I've gone back to an earlier version of myself, as a twenty-something - no social life but plenty of knitting, and Friday nights just a bar of chocolate and a bottle of wine for company. Hey ho... 

Current mood: Meh...

Lace - holes where you want them

I've always thought of lace as "planned holes" as opposed to dropped stitches, which are "unplanned holes". As I am champing at the bit to knit something lacey, I thought I'd test knit the 20 lace patterns that come with the Silver machines - they are on the mylars and also come with Designaknit. Unlike in the Brother manuals, only two of the lace patterns are shown in the manual as examples on how to set them up. 

A few of them are "fashion lace", ie the carriage is moved back and forth to transfer stitches, but the knitting doesn't get any longer. This is the same as the Brother method, where there's nowhere to put the yarn in the lace carriage. Fasion lace patterns are pretty, but time-consuming - you can often identify such patterns by the fact they have "travelling stitches". I had wondered how DAK would handle it - it was easy, a pink carriage means the transfer only lace setting (P), and a blue carriage means the transfer and knit lace setting (L).

And some cheerful crocuses from the village square. We all need a bit of cheering up lately!

Current mood: working

Doing the happy dance / Designaknit 9

Well, after another frustrating Sunday afternoon making no headway with the lace carriage, I turned to just making fairisle with the machine (it kept jamming, I tell you I was at my wit's end last weekend!). Turns out it wasn't quite seated correctly, fairisle is fine, so that meant that the laptop and all cables were working correctly. When you've an issue with anything, it's best to try and be methodical and find out what is and isn't at fault. 

Eventually, I DMed the lovely Andrea from Andeeknits and explained my dilemma. She said without the lace tool add-on in DAK8, there would be no way I'd get the SK840 / LC560 to knit lace. She also said the row tripper just needed bending. So another two hours wasted - thank goodness I didn't go any further, I had taken the top off the machine to see if there was an easy way to stop the machine tripper riding up (it has a smidge of vertical play in it). Luckily I couldn't remember how to get the row counter off - it's directly above. This machine couldn't count beyond nine when I bought it secondhand, so I replaced the row counter straight off ages ago. So instead of having to replace the (perfectly fine) LC560, I just needed to upgrade to DAK9 which now includes the lace tool. So I did, and got the handknit part too just because I might as well. 

I've just knit a test swatch - apart from a dropped stitch hole in the middle, it worked well, even to the point of ignoring a lace stitch that appeared on the end stitch - you don't want a hole on the very end stitches, it's also known as decreasing (leading edge) or dropping the stitch (trailing edge). That may just have been luck. Oh, and a careful application of the pliers to the row tripper and it's now tripping correctly. It means some of the Silver compatibility charts I've seen online are wrong (they specify only the LC580 will work here). 

I can't play more with the machine tonight as it's watercolours on zoom in twenty minutes, Coventry knitwits on facetime tomorrow night, and the Leicestershire MKC zoom on Thursday. But it's lovely to know, it's all ready and waiting for me this weekend! Now I just need to get rewinding the bamboo so I can swatch on this machine... I aim to do something like this again -  but in pink, with a v neck, a bit shorter, and probably not so many different patterns (although...!). The only reason I got rid of it was that I lost quite a bit of weight, and that, combined with the square neck, meant it drowned me and kept falling off my shoulders. You can see I'm wearing a lacey vest under it because it was borderline indecent for work! Sigh, yes, that photo was taken in reception. I miss seeing my work colleagues in person! 

Right, well, those pictures won't paint themselves! 

Current mood: excited