Fun flowers and more finished objects

First, some fun swap items I received today. I love the FLOL group on Ravelry, this was the May flowers swap. I sent some floral-themed items to someone too!

Next up, an almost-finished (blue) beige helix. Turns out it involves the self-timer trying to take pictures of the reverse, apologies for catching my partner's "floordrobe" in shot. This was finished late last night, I just need to weave in all the ends, which will be interesting as this is a bamboo-cotton mix yarn made of many thin strands. The collar's so big (it's a big circle) that it almost doubles as a Jedi-style hood!

Finally, I present one argyle sock worked manually on the CSM (overchecks worked by hand, it involves a dental pick on my CSM and is not for the faint-hearted). Very pleased with it, even though I made it much harder for myself in terms of ends by reversing my colours for the overchecks. Matthew Hamilton's original video on youtube uses a third colour for the overchecks, which means a lot less ends to sew in later. The second sock will happen sometime mid June.

In other news, I've managed to catalogue all of the craft books I have stored in the craft room, whilst having a bit of a cull. Now just two big cases of non-craft books and a bunch of self-published ones (Mary Weaver, Kathleen Kinder) to add. The self-published ones take time because they don't have ISBN numbers of course. More car shenanigans - I got reversed into by a lorry whilst I was legally parked waiting to get into a training venue (turned out they'd moved the training, and the lorry driver didn't normally go to that depot). Minutes after I'd moved my car, someone else was parked in that spot. You just couldn't make it up. Anyway, fingers crossed I get the car back ASAP, the courtesy vehicle is a very budget affair. I dread to think what next year's car insurance looks like.

We've also been making some effort with the garden with the addition of a bug hotel, and some weeding (and extra mowing, in between the rain). The roses are blooming, despite the current weird "summer" of sunny yet chilly with sudden downpours. Today it's 16 degrees, grey and wet so the tumble dryer is the only way to get the laundry done. I think I've managed to sit outside in the garden maybe twice, and with warm clothing both times! Oh well, same old same old!

Current mood: happy

Going round in circles (Kegworth) 2024

It's always a highlight over December / January to get the invite for the annual CSM event in Kegworth - even more so this year, with our somewhat challenging Christmas. After not teaching last year, I realised that for me, I knit socks better alone, without the delicious distractions of pretty yarn, lovely people, interesting gadgets and plentiful workshops taking my attention elsewhere. But there's a place for just knitting socks if that's what you want to do, and plenty of people do just that! 

Anyway, because the Cog had managed to "book" our car before me to go on a snowboarding trip that weekend, I had arranged a hire car. After discussion with P who was travelling with me, we decided to take her car and cancel the hire because I was still able to get a refund. Unfortunately, her car developed a minor fault the following day - one of those faults that go away if you wait ten minutes - but she thought we would be ok. So we duly set off from mine at 2pm, pleased at how we'd managed to fit everything in. Alas, her car went into "limp" mode before we'd even got to the M1, so she sensibly pulled over into a layby. We tried waiting and starting, locking ourselves in and starting, and even an on-off ignition thing that was supposed to reset the computer - then THREE lights were on, not just the engine light, and it wouldn't start at all. Hubby and relations were called; the cavalry duly arrived and of course the car started perfectly (though the engine light was still on). Hubby drove us back to theirs and a hire vehicle was booked. They couldn't get to us before 6pm, so P kindly rustled up a tea of pizza, salad and very nice ice-cream (salted caramel, ooh!). The "van" turned out to be a Ford Fiesta van, so basically my old diesel Fiesta with no back seats, slightly longer doors and whited-out windows. Tiny, but we managed to fit everything bar the trolley. It was dark by now, and as it's a car I'm very familiar with, I took the wheel and we were at our destination without further incident. I think P has been asking hubby to replace the car for some time, but as he's a classic car restorer I think he's rather reluctant! The delay meant we just had time for a drink and catch up with friends, and we missed both the rush hour and the noisy cabin-crew-in-training that use this hotel for aircraft dry runs, so win-win! My other friend C wasn't so lucky; they didn't leave until half 8, and a lorry tipped over on the M1, so they didn't get to the hotel until 11pm (we went to bed at half 10). It's only a 45 minute drive when things are good!

On Saturday I attended the "how to dismantle your machine" talk by Hilary first thing, which was fascinating - my machine is overdue a good clean. At 11am I demonstrated the circular/slip ribber cast on  - lesson learned, use my smartphone in future for taking down email addresses, because I email my hand-outs as PDFs to save on printing, and there's always at least one person whose handwriting I can't read, so I got a few bounces later. After lunch, there was a short talk on the history of machine knitting by Matthew, and how to knit flip-top mittens with a gored thumb from Jo. Someone offered to buy the Dean and Bean, part way through that - I asked if she could give me a shout at the end of the talk before she left (only thirty minutes), but when I went to look for her, she was nowhere to be found! I thought it was a bit rude (especially as she'd knocked £150 off my asking price which was already £50 off from the $ price bought new, not to mention import duties), but clearly it wasn't meant to be!

On Sunday, I helped out in the "newbies" room for a bit, before reprising the circular/slip ribber cast on again. After lunch, Jo demonstrated simple fingerless mittens (with vertical or horizontal slits), and a lovely Swedish lady Lina demonstrated how she does colourwork. I managed to sell the D&B machine to a lovely lady who offered me more than the disappearing woman, so all's well that ends well. 

The hotel isn't great - the beds are hard, the pillows flat, the walls so thin that at one point I could hear the ladies on one side talking whilst also listening to someone's tv on the other side. My kettle had a hairline crack, so I ended up with some damp tea bags in a bit of a puddle on Saturday night! But I don't go for the accomodation, I go for the event; the staff are lovely and I remember quite a few of them from previous years - one even patched me up when I caught my finger on something sharp. Yes, a bit of sock yarn was purchased, plus a few random gadgets. All in all, a great weekend and I learnt quite a lot, including that the heel I work is called the "suicide heel" by some! I guess I've just been lucky with it, in that case!

Very pretty 3d printed CSM

Bill King popped up and brought a fascinating Harrison V bed

It could only be a Bill King sock - knitted for a pantomime dame, no less!

A very shiny Erlbacher!

I didn't get the make of this 3d printed machine but it looks really cool!

Current mood: exhausted but inspired

Someone can't count...

Ugh!

Current mood: annoyed

Machine knitter interrupted

First, way past due - this was birthday sock yarn, and these are the socks it made!

I really need to finish this - the knitting was done by a local lady who has since passed away, so far I've managed to add all the cuffs (in a slightly different colour pink) and sew it up, it just needs the front bands finishing. Because she did facings, it's slowing me up as to how to complete them.

This looks much better on - the Green Grove tee. Though on closer inspection, it looks like I left some of the patterning out. Oh well, never mind! Now, what to do with the leftover yarn?

I made two pairs of these mittens on Sunday, but only managed to photograph this pair. Made from the Gerda Stitt pattern that she kindly let me host in perpetuity before she died.

Last, but by no means least, I have been distracted by the beading bug lately, when a friend gifted me her extensive bead stash. The bottom two are kits picked up at a recent craft fair - they will be either Spellbound Beads or Southampton Beads - and the top are beaded tassels I am making, after being inspired to make my own by some very expensive ones seen online. Mine are interchangeable, too! There might be some xmas present making going on too, but I can't post about that just yet!

Not shown, the kitty cross stitch kit I really ought to finish! In other news, we traded our cars in for a newer car and already some little sh!t has tried to hack the electronics. I guess getting stranded at a garden centre wasn't the worst place to end up, but still, ugh! It cost me £99 to get the car reset, and if it happens again I think I will trade it in for something less attractive...

Current mood: enthralled

Lumpy toe

Well, in my defence, a good friend turned up in the middle to pick up some books and MK equipment I'm getting rid of, and I kind of lost track with the toe of this sock. But it came out very well and I am quite pleased with it, my first sock on the Dean and Bean machine! I still need to loosen off the directional cam I think, I don't want to have to poke it on every pass because that's a bit irritating! There are two Russian joins in this sock because the yarn had already been used and cut, and alas I don't have more of this colour to make it a mate yet. The tension is a bit iffy because I was too lazy to rewind the yarn into a proper ball. Perhaps I could start a trend for odd socks though?

I've sold a few MK books on Facebook this week which is good. The garage is awash with coned yarn so himself is not best pleased! Nobody seems to want the Toyota needles which is a pity. I hate to take things down the tip but that is where they will go! 

Current mood: working

More objects of desire, and machine knitting frustrations

Well, I bought two new lenses and already the 18-400mm has proved its worth - so much lighter to take hiking. However, I am now lusting over a 100mm macro lens. My 35mm lens (discontinued) is fine but you do have to get pretty close to things to get a decent shot. I've yet to figure out what to do with the 50mm. Perhaps that's the curse of photography - never got the right lens, always something to lust after! 

It's probably down to my terrible note-keeping, but I finally decided to restart work on the half-fisherman's rib cardigan (supposedly an easy Passap Model Book pattern - ha!) only to discover the tension I'd written down was really struggling. Stitches were hopping off all over the place. First attempt at a sleeve had so many missed tucks it looked like the moths had been at it - even a homeless person wouldn't want it! A restart at a lower tension went better BUT the left hand end stitch refused to form on the tucking back bed - I don't know that there's an easy fix for that! I do wish the Passap E6000 manual went into more detail as to how these things are achieved! The manual has very little information on this! I wrote on the pattern I'd used ss6/6 but on Ravelry I've written down ss5/5 which, apart from that left needle, worked much better. In disgust I'm afraid I frogged the lot, apart from the pocket, which I cannot figure out how it was knit (I *think* it was started circular - it refused to reveal its secrets and I didn't feel like looking them up by that point). Reader, I cast on a hand knit shawl in disgust. It does make me think the Passap is more suited to straight pieces and yardage, but I will have a rummage through my Passap books and see if I can find a better method for knitting sleeves in a tucked rib. I'm sure it's going to come up again! Increasing shouldn't be so hard! 

I recently offered to host Susan Guagliumi's free patterns, as she has recently taken her website down amid rising expenses. I can confirm that the garment patterns are now available online as PDFs with her kind permission. I didn't give her a specific page, but until the next round of updates they'll be the ones marked *NEW* in most cases. 

In other news, I finally finished the Pauline cardigan, with yarn to spare. I've yet to wear it of course, it is too hot to be wearing acrylic!

Mother Nature finally leaned on the "Summer" button here, we have had almost constant sunshine for the last few weeks, with the odd thunderstorm. Alas the ground is so dry it's almost as if the water is bouncing. I have been pretty lazy this year garden-wise and just pulled some weeds so far. We do seem to have a few bald spots that need occupying to keep the weeds in check if nothing else. 

The socks made with yarn I bought in Ghent. They were finished a few weeks ago, I think I put them away before I got around to taking their picture.

Current mood: annoyed

FO: 2.5 pairs of socks and a Sunday walk

Tube socks in Drops Delight

Tube socks in Spin Sisters yarn

Heeled sock with the fairisle polk dots worked using holding position, after a demo last weekend. Quite a few dropped stitches and a few mistakes, and 20 rounds rib / 40 ankle isn't quite enough in wear, I will make the next pair longer. Not seen, the hot mess of ends inside and the slight mess I've made of grafting the toe whilst also splitting the yarn. This will be fixed later, not sure when its mate will appear. I love that the dots (just 2x2 stitches) look a bit like love hearts from a distance. This yarn is neon pink in real life, it's Opal solids.

There's been some discussion on my Needles of Steel MKC Whatsapp group about how many machines we all have. My out of use ones are stored like this, for want of a better option. The machine under the sheet is the SK840/SRP60N, and just seen by the blue yarn/white leg is the CSM. The workshop machine lives in the garage, along with another ribber. Out of shot to the right is the Passap E6000. 

On Sunday sweetie planned a short walk around the canals just at the back of Elliott's Field retail park in Rugby. The Oxford Canal, Rivers Avon and Swift all snake around this area - it took us a while to figure out how to get down onto the canal as it's in a steep cutting here. The canal was originally a contour canal that was later straightened, so there's lots of "lost" bits in the area. As luck would have it, we even got a bit of sunshine, the weather turned nasty later on. After the walk we browsed in Dunelm and had a look at bathroom ideas, as our ensuite is in need of replacement. Very middle-aged but somewhat productive, I just wish they'd show more space-saving solutions. We can't all have bathrooms the size of main bedroooms, surely?!

Complete with ghost sign from Rugby Wharf advertising calor gas (I think the wharf still exists, but much smaller and not in this shot). The white bridge had smooth gouges in the railing nearest the sign, almost as if worn down by ropes constantly running across it. 

The mural is under a bridge near the Harvester, I wonder how many commuters even know it's there as they drive over it?

Current mood: curious

Going Round in Circles 2023

I was delighted to be invited to this annual event again, and this year I decided I wanted to be a student and not a teacher. Nothing against teaching of course, just that I've done it quite a few times now and as I've not really gone much out of my own comfort zone, I'm not sure what I could teach that most haven't already seen! 

I picked up my friend P and we got there without incident. We're only 50 minutes away from the venue, so were somewhat early. We couldn't get into the conference rooms to unload because the hotel was hosting cabin crew examinations (which we were warned about). So we spent what felt like ages in the bar chatting, surrounded by some very noisy twenty-somethings doing the same! I seemed to be in the same room as last year, but luckily the lock had been replaced so that it actually locked and unlocked consistantly. I only seemed to have the one bedside lamp with a bulb, so I swiftly swapped it to my preferred side of the bed!

In the end I ate an instant noodle I'd brought with me, because time was getting on and I need to take medication at certain times of the day. Whilst P had her dinner I unloaded our gear from the car and parked up again, and she came and we got set up and somewhat organised for the morrow.  The hotel wifi was down all weekend (and I was a long way from reception) so I used up my free credit. Glad I didn't bother taking my laptop now! 

On Saturday morning, I spent the morning chatting with P and E and catching up with other familiar friends, whilst attempting to make what I thought would be one of my fairly straightforward tube socks. Oh dear! The yarn kept not knitting (I knit my socks pretty tight on the 72 cylinder). It's not a yarn I've used before (I don't think those sellers turned up this year) - it looked thinner but was perhaps more tightly spun. The Wool Wagon arrived and I accidentally bought more yarn from both them and H (aka The Sock Doc). I learned an ingenious way to park the ribber needles whilst working a heel on a ribbed sock, which will enable me to see where I'm hanging the heel fork. It's soo clever and obvious, I wish I'd thought of it myself. Meanwhile, P had lots of help knitting a ribbed sock from another friend. I also attended an interesting talk on calf shaping, where the ribber is set to 1/3 or 2/3 pitch so that extra needles are added at the start - ie, 4x1 for the front half of the cylinder - and how to do that without getting holes, and then to return them to 3x1 to make different calf shapings. Fascinating and not something I'd ever come across before. It is mostly fully fashioned shaping, as done on flat bed domestic knitting machines - but not something I've ever considered attempting on my CSM for some reason! By the end of the day I'd managed a pair of the tube socks in the misbehaving yarn, and most of one sock in Drops Delight, which I understand is discontinued?! Ugh, another lovely yarn I won't be able to get soon. Rats.

I had a quick walk before dinner just because I needed some fresh air, then came back and glammed up for the evening meal. The food was great but the conversation turned to deaths of pets so I made my excuses and got a drink, because the following day was annniversary of the day we had Thomas euthanised and I needed to not think about that too much! I got a very nice white wine spritzer, with hibiscus blossom and star anise in the top, and caught up with the lady who runs the ex-Metropolitan correspondance courses and Eric of the amazing 3D printed CSM items. 

I awoke too early on Sunday, after a nightmare where everyone was persecuting me. No idea what that was about, just that my sweetie wasn't on my side either, which was the only thing that really upset me! On and off I supervised P in making a 2nd sock to match her first one. We got into a few pickles, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. I watched the jacquard patterning Reader CSM, which uses a flying saucer shaped patterning attachment containing little metal jacks, set at an angle, to automatically knit two coloured socks. It took the convention organisers quite some time to figure out how to program it - the disc has a different number of pins to the CSM itself, enabling you to knit 12 row repeated patterns. Initially a colour is "tucked" ie it floats in front, but then it gets flipped over to the inside as for fairisle so becomes a slip. Ingenious! I also attended a talk on russian joins and scrappy socks (probably more fun to knit socks from scraps than use them for granny squares as is my current wont), and another on manual tuck techniques and using holding position to knit in different colours. 

A lady was trying to auction off some CSMs - I thought the asking price was a little high compared to last year, but then I have a machine so my interest is always academic (and I stay well off ebay normally). I think she sold three in the end. There were some lovely competition entries. Nope, the socks in the last post didn't win - I didn't realise, but one sock being longer is dead obvious when it includes zigzag lace transfers, whoops! The winners were all worthy and I've already enjoyed wearing my lacey socks anyway. 

All in all a good weekend - if I had any complaints, it's that two days is never long enough! Five would be less rushed, we could all alternate between learning and putting it into practice. As the event is all in aid of Ruddington Museum it's all in a good cause, and we're lucky we have anything to attend of course. COVID and financial considerations killed off the remaining MK shows, and there weren't many left before the pandemic as it was! 

I will add some pictures when I get them off my mobile phone - there were some amazing 3D printed CSMs there, but I don't think the technology is quite there yet as regards ribbing!

The reader CSM

Pretty printed cylinders - one of them is a rainbow if you look closely!

A winning sock entry - tuck, why didn't I think of that?

Current mood: enthralled

Gent, FO roundup and learning a new skill

Well, September flew by! I had a two day demo at the Alexandra Arts cafe, where I made two pairs of socks and a pair of fingerless gloves on the CSM and flatbed respectively. L helped me make some hats, which need a smidge of steam to control the flippy up mock ribs. Oh, and I made it to page 6 of the local newspaper, misspelt as usual (the photographer wrote it down correctly but someone always thinks they know better!) and not my best shot! 

The following weekend was the guild AGM, detailed in the previous post. Last weekend my partner and I had a short break in Gent, or Ghent (the H appears to be optional and doesn't appear in the train station name so I will go with the former!).

Gent was lovely, although someone narrowly missed hitting me with a properly dangerous full size umbrella, dropped off the bridge on the second shot (I was about level with the red life preserver at the time!). Not sure if it was an accident or a student prank, that bridge ballustrade is pretty thick! The weather was a bit hit and miss, but we loved the pavement cafes, cobbled streets, excellent beer and food, and the friendly people. We visited two of the churches and the bell tower, and I picked up a lovely tapestry handbag in the sale. Suitcase space was severly limited so we did not bring back chocolate or beer, alas!

This weekend I learned to do this:

I picked up a copy of "Learn Tunisian Crochet in the Round" by Sandy Walker at the AGM, along with two other tunisian books. The photo tutorial in the front was a bit confused - at one point it refers to working into the legs of the tunisian stitches, when you are still in the foundation crochet set up part of the pattern. Some of the pictures are clearly out of sequence, though that might be deliberate. I could not understand the bit about closing each round with a tks so decided to skip it in the end, having watched someone else do this technique on youtube - she did the corner increases differently - I might try that method next time, tss, yo and tss into the same loop is fiddly - and didn't join. I do wish they'd get such books read by a proofreader who tries the technique from scratch. It would also help if they'd put all the tunisian stitch diagrams on one page, instead of peppered throughout the book - this is an Annie's Crochet book and they have a comprehensive page of crochet stitches in the back, most of which aren't even required in this book. I did try and contact the designer via Facebook but you have to join her FB group before you can message her (and I haven't been approved yet) and anway, it's academic now... 

Anyway, those small gripes aside, my version is a true spiral - the lack of a join doesn't seem to be making a difference anyway! I love this technique and can see how I could rechart it for other designs - no idea what I'm doing with this sheep design but I'll figure something out! A cushion cover perhaps? It's supposed to be 16" square when finished though of course it's US DK which might not be quite the same as UK DK. There's an amazing fairisle sampler afghan in the back of the book - what a pity I'm mostly out of DK yarn, other than the two shades I'm using here! I suspect I might have to tackle that at some point, despite the fact I have no need of more blankets here! I just love making them and seeing the patterns appear, especially as in this technique the aspect ratio seems to be 1:1 so much easier to design things to come out in the correct proportions.

This morning we were greeted with this as we made our breakfast. Got to love those autumn sunrises!

Current mood:  impressed

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