FO: Passap "Bitty" scarf

Still more of this yarn to go, it's a simple double-bed tuck stitch pattern on the E6000, from the Metbury "Bitty" book. It's pattern 1004 and tech 140 if anyone's interested. Apologies for the not-great pictures, there's a bottle of white spirits just out of shot that was on its way to the shed! No, don't ask, suffice to say I've been unsticking knitting machine buttons and so far haven't had to resort to using it; surgical spirit, careful brute force, persistance and sewing machine oil seem to work. Having said that, there's a new sponge bar on order for the KH260 and I will double-check the split buttons are still behaving!

Productive weekend

Passap toque - I've made two of these now, and I suspect on my machine they'd be better worked over 152 sts and 150 rows.

Third time lucky hat - love this, worked really well!

Quick ribbed hats - another good pattern!

Scarf worked over roughly 80 sts with EON rib, ie ...I...I on both beds. Knitted until I ran out of yarn. Yarn ends have since been darned in!

I've been knitting these and claiming that they are from my pattern, but I think it's actually loosely based on a pattern from the Metbury Bitty book. In which case, my apologies! Because I love this heart and bird pattern, I made them a bit longer so that it's three full repeats. I also felt sure I'd knitted the three colour one a bit wider, because the red yarn was 4ply and made them a bit stiff, but alas I didn't write down what I did...

I had a good sort of yarn this weekend and discovered a massive box of yarn I'm never likely to knit with that can be donated to Ruddington next weekend. I've only about 4 or 5 cones of yarn that are big enough that I should think of a jumper-sized project to knit with them. I still need to do a proper inventory - one box seems to be chock full of fancy yarns, another is weaving yarns, and one is just a big patchwork blanket of samples I never finished.

Does anyone else find themselves going out just for the sake of it lately? I'm in two minds - part of me wants to stay home and avoid any chance of catching COVID, and part of me is desperate for a return to normality. This weekend we popped into town to replenish some supplies from Rugby Unwrapped, return some machine knitted items to a friend, pick up my favourite photography magazine and get some lunch. I couldn't talk the Cog into coming out again to partake of the local real ale festival. Yesterday evening we took ourselves into Leamington, hoping to sample a Japanese restaurant, but it was fully booked - ended up at a rather nice Chinese instead, so it wasn't all bad (plus there's more for tea tonight!)

Current mood: energetic

FO: CSM and Passap projects

I dusted off the CSM, which hasn't been used much since February 2020. It ended up being sited next to the tumble dryer (not ideal), since my partner is now WFH in my knitting room. I'm teaching some classes at Kegworth soon so wanted to make sure it was working ok, and to update the notes for the class.

Plain socks

Tube socks. Not pictured - I also knitted a fully ribbed sock, but it's yet to have a mate. It took ages, and fully ribbed socks with heels aren't for beginners! I remembered AFTER I had made one that it's normal to leave the foot plain because it's more comfortable to wear. Oops. To start with, the CSM played up a bit in 1x1 rib (it felt like it was going out of alignment for a while), but a bit of oiling overnight seems to have fixed it.

Passap toque, a Cardiknits pattern - this only *just* fits me as a skull cap, I'd add about 48 rows to enable it to fit properly. I like my ears covered!

Passap scarf

This was 60 sts on both beds using tech 182 for the vertical striped backing over 1600 rows, with 8 rows at each end in just tech 182. A bit on the stiff side but it might soften up when washed. 1600 rows is quite a workout!

Hyacinth - I planted a load of bulbs late last year, and this one is ahead of all the rest. I won a bag of bulbs last year and planted them all, and immediately forgot what I planted where, so it will be a nice surprise.

Current mood: happy

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

Yet another hat, and almost a scarf

Happy New Year! I hope you are well! We went back into lockdown 3 on the 6th January. It's getting BORING now - but on the plus side, no having to de-ice the car of a morning. I'm actually looking forward to getting proper snow, because this winter we'll actually get to play in it like big kids and not have to navigate it in the car. Always got to look for the upside!

Yet another handknit hat - this is from two ends of leftover sock yarn, held together. I love the way the colours alternate, a happy accident! I really need to donate some of these hats but I love them all so much, it's hard to let them go.

Almost finished, bar completing the fringing, the garter stitch scarf I started last week. It's some sort of Shetland wool from Uppinghams which doesn't appear to felt, despite not being marked as superwash. For personal reference, the pictures below indicate the positions of the end stitch cams (green) and the RH turnaround cam (white). It didn't seem to matter where I put the LH turnaround cam, it seemed to affect the patterning, so consequently I left it out in the end. They work by reducing the "turnaround" time where the garter carriage isn't knitting, so speed up the overall knitting. According to the scant instructions that come with them, anywhere within 24 sts of the edge should work. Some experimentation is required, methinks.

Tripper for the KH950i

Current mood: weary but coping.

Twixtmas fun

Well, I hope you've had a nice week relaxing. The Cog and I have spent lots of time in front of the tv watching films and enjoying being lazy (rather too lazy but never mind!). Most of the UK suddenly went back into full lockdown as of today, so I got a last minute hair appointment yesterday. A good job too as my fringe was starting to behave like curtains again. I managed to order a new sponge bar for the Brother KH950i before xmas - it arrived in good time, but the Hermes bloke is apparently not keen on ringing the doorbell. It's a good job it was well-wrapped, as the day it arrived, it rained so much there was a lot of localised flooding in the area. It was leaning against the front door - luckily I was in and out emptying bins, so I don't think the tube was outside too long. 

As you can see, I've started knitting another MK cowl from this pattern. To start with, stitches were dropping all over the place - I swapped about 6 needles out in the end PLUS the gc needle. Seems my garter carriage doesn't appreciate lots of weight. Tuesday afternoon was very frustrating - I couldn't leave it unattended without having to reform knit stitches every 8 rows - it's a block stitch pattern already in the machine's memory, 6 stitches by 8 rows. Someone posted an odd question on one of the big Ravelry forums recently - something about machine knitting and cheating. As you can imagine, that rather got my dander up, especially as someone else recounted a tale of being denied access to a sales venue where someone else was selling clothing made with sewing machine and serger. If anything, I'd say machine knitting is harder to learn than handknitting. You can easily teach yourself a new stitch pattern, or retrain yourself to knit continental. When the machine plays up, who do you turn to? How do you figure out what's wrong, when there are many more variables?

Yes, I did manage to successfully another hat, and knit the front, back and one sleeve of a very plain jumper yesterday on the Passap - whilst keeping a watchful eye on the garter carriage, which behaved impeccably. I've still one sleeve to go, and then I've to figure out how to join the shoulders and knit the neck on the Passap - that will be a manual operation I've not tried before, but should be ok. The lack of holding position on the Passap is the main bugbear. This one's not cut and sew, so at least that step is skipped. I might write it up as a simple pattern - the yarn is Yeoman Cashmilon, which knits up beautifully at ss5.5 on the E6000 in stocking stitch. You can knit the whole lot on the E6000 with console off, including a round neck (once I figured out how to mimic holding position with LX and no pushers).

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - machine knitting just speeds up the boring bits for me so I get more time to concentrate on the fun bits (patterning, designing, cables etc). Truly creative people will understand that I think. It being a machine it's just as prone to error as the human mind -  in fact, ironing out the bugs - too much weight? Not enough? Did I forget to add the end stitch cams (I did!) - teaches the student patience and forbearance. 

With that in mind, if anyone wants to book me for a Zoom 1-2-1 lesson in machine knitting, I am more than happy to try and help. I'm in the GMT time zone and it'll either be weekends or weeknights, £10 for a forty minute zoom call. I can set up my DSLR as a webcam so you will be able to see what I am doing. 

Mum has agreed to "bubble" with us, which means she can come for lunch tomorrow - she's widowed and since Grandma passed away I think she's been quite lonely, especially on Sunday afternoon. It's her birthday today, so tomorrow will be a double celebration. I only delayed asking because I didn't want to ask her to choose between my sister and I (sister is more at risk because three of them are in school). The Cog's not very keen - I agree the whole "bubble" thing is rubbish, there is always still a risk, but as we both WFH and Mum is very sensible I think it's minimal. Plus I'm not in the same town as Mum and sister, so they can "doorstep" each other when required. 

We'll be having our regular NYE party later - just the Cog and I at home, good telly, beer, nibbles and giggles. Here's to 2021 being better - 2020 can get lost! 

Current mood: happy

FO: Simple sideways crochet scarf

I made a row of foundation dc and then worked every following row as back loop only dc until the yarn ran out. The yarn is Hayfield Illusion bought locally and it was a 4mm crochet hook.

The Taos jacket crawls along slowly - I seem to be in the knitter's black hole with the first sleeve, it never seems to get any longer but will suddenly be too long I expect.

I made a start on a simple tubular scarf last night, on the KH260 - cast on 30 sts on both beds and knit until it looks long enough. Alas it was 27 degrees in the knitting room last night, so I gave it up as a bad job after about twenty minutes. Roll on cooler temperatures! Fed up of sleeping legs akimbo, like some badly-drawn space alien.

Current mood: hot