FO: Peacock blue hat and Passap play...

Apologies for the marks on the hat, the mirror needs a clean. Still using up this yarn, I've half a pair of fingerless gloves on the go too. Does this hat need a pompom, do you think?

I've been working on a v-neck cardigan on the Passap, from an unknown salmon pink 3ply. To give it some body I thought I'd use K/K (aka full needle rib) instead of plain stocking stitch, but didn't realise how much extra work it is to do increases in this fabric. I also (at one point) made a monster sleeve, that got frogged back. The cardigan is now finished but I forgot to add borders to the DAK pattern so it's a bit on the cropped side, and I'm not keen on how much extra fabric DAK seems to make in the armscye (but that could be operator error). A picture of that, next post. As I discovered, fully fashioned increasing as per the manual looks pretty neat. Being lazy and leaving the empty needle to pick up a loop is surprisingly holey! I guess it could become a feature elsewhere, but maybe not on the sleeves. Next DAK pattern I intend to measure myself and probably do raglan sleeves instead, I think they will work better though they are more work. 

Fully fashioned increasing in K/K, step 1 - needles moved out

Fully fashioned increasing in K/K, step 2 - empty needles filled with heels of previous stitches

Result when it's done as above

Result when empty needles are returned to work with no heel

The cardigan came out a bit "meh" if truth be told, another one for the charity pile. The yarn didn't cost me very much so it was a useful exercise on the Passap more than anything else. I am working my way through the Bill King videos on the MKC and that was inspiring, so I am already planning other things this year and may rethink what I was going to do with some burgundy bamboo yarn. 

This weekend I also had a play with the U100E transfer carriage, it didn't go so well but it turns out one of my brushes isn't in place (I thought it was a spare). Trying to work garter stitch out of the box was probably a bad idea too. I did play with long stitch, interlock and overknit which were interesting. 

Next weekend I'm teaching at the annual Kegworth CSM event, so do say hi if you're there! Family issues have kept me quite busy and quietly anxious even though a lot of it is things I can only sit and watch. 

Current mood: lethargic

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: many hats

This Saturday I went to a machine knitting day at Fladbury, organised by my good friend R, and spent the day doing a bit of a hat-a-thon on the KH881, using just the cards that came with the machine. A bit of a Downton Abbey binge yesterday and I had them all sewn up. Pattern link here. These are going to "Hats 4 the Homeless" this year. If I knit this many again I will wear fingerless gloves, I was in danger of getting blisters I think!

Yesterday we had a small ramble from Newbold quarry and then a quiet afternoon in. At least the rain held off this time whilst we were outdoors!

Current mood: working

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

Passap and DAK, finally!

My first programmed pattern on the Passap! Yes, no big deal to anyone else really - I think I bought the Passap DAK cable last xmas and then never got around to trying it out. I think I can do without the magnetic sensor bit for interactive knitting - the slope of the back lock doesn't make it easy to position the magnetic arm, and the masts aren't really deep enough to hold the weight of the sensor - and the cable is not QUITE long enough to mount on the mast and ALSO plug into the console, which is a bit annoying because at first I did get it positioned perfectly. Plus there isn't actually anywhere to position my laptop for interactive knitting - putting it on the motor is fine until one wishes to change colours, and then the laptop's liable to get thrown across the room and out of the door. Never mind - the stars pattern was something I had in DAK, probably a .BMP file, and it went well - you start the Passap up with the DAK cable plugged into the top left hand side of the Passap console, in place of the connector that goes to the locks. When the program asks for the stitch pattern, you press the blank button and then zero, and it comes up with "PC START", which is when you hit the download button on your computer. When the programming is all finished and you're ready to start, you switch the Passap off and reconnect the lock, fire it up again and skip straight to the cast on. I can see why a switch box would be useful, to stop me having to keep unplugging. I did buy one many moons ago, with the intention of connecting the machine up, but I've an awful feeling it's a serial not a USB box, because Wincrea was on my mind at the time and not DAK. Quite archaic technology now, but then the Passap is at least 40 years old already... probably older! 

Well I had a fairly productive, if frustrating, final day "at" work. Did some small modifications on an already sold system, which took most of the day, and then an engineer I was working with on something else last week made a right mess of the folder structure in head office and wanted something changing. That is a bit of an issue as we CAD engineers are all currently working on our C: drives to save our sanity (due to the pandemic / remote working) and then copying files back up when done - and we know what goes where!  I couldn't figure out where I'd saved it, as my structure didn't match his. These engineers, pah - firstly, they never consider that you've worked on several projects most weeks, and that theirs might not be at the forefront of your mind. Secondly, xmas always seems to come as a surprise to them. This year 70% of the CAD engineers have already finished for the year, so leaving work 'til week 52 is a really bad idea. I'd consider logging on if I was offered overtime, but I'm not on that sort of contract alas. So extra work is at my discretion. Dunno about you but I'm DONE with 2020! Yes, a whole week early! Someone pinging me about some document he's written at 4:20pm, just putting the tin hat on the icing, as it were? Not my circus and not my monkeys today, mate - it can wait until the 4th January. 

Current mood: annoyed

Free pattern: Passap DBJ hats

Well, I used the overlocker to trim down the two earlier attempts, and knitted myself a third one which worked out really well.

Machine: Passap E6000
Yarn: Oddments of 3ply acrylic

Cast on 2 (Duomatic users: Cast on for knit/knit)

St patt A: 180 which is BX <-- -->/LX - bird's eye jacquard - front bed pushers work a slip stitch pattern, back bed pushers are 1 up, 1 down for slipped background

St patt B: Your dbj pattern, technique 180. Pattern 1161 is roses, 1242 is squiggles, but you can use any pattern you like here. 

Cast on N/N ss 3, two rows CX/CX ss 4, final row N/N ss 5 over 110 sts. I found I got a neater edge by having both end needles in work on the back bed, so technically this is knitted over 111 sts. 

RC000. Knit st patt A in single colour. Knit 48 rows for a 1" brim, or 96 rows for a brim you can fold.

Set machine for st patt B and RC000. Knit 200 rows, changing the colour every 2 rows. On the E6000, the first colour is the background and the second is the motif.

Change to N/N and knit two rows in the background colour, then change to waste yarn and knit a further 10 rows and scrap off, or knit two passes of ravel cord on CX/CX and start another one. Use the latch tool to cast off the last row. 

Finishing - there are two methods here. You can either sew the side and top seams by hand, and then sew the corners to the centre of the top edge (the roses hat on the left). Alternatively, pin the hat so the wrong side is outside, and use a saucer and a marker to trace radiused corners. Use an overlocker to cut and sew the hat. If you knit the longer brim version, it looks neater if you mattress stitch the brim by hand from the wrong side. 

Picture showing sewn crown version

This hat pattern is loosely based on one from the Metbury Bitty book, and I got the idea for cut and sew from this post by Herman Hills Farm - a great way to use up old swatches, please check it out! 

I really love this rose pattern, I don't know why! I would like to have a go at reprogramming it to have  leaves in a third colour. 

Get ahead, get a hat...

Don't ask me why, but I seem to be on a bit of a hat jag lately. I hand-knitted another ribbed hat, started a third one from leftover sock yarn (yes, the spiral sock is now circling the recycling bin!). Then I made two on the Passap. One was from my personal pattern, 2x2 rib, and one was a fisherman's rib one from the Metbury Bitty book. The Metbury one is on the tight side after washing. I'm also playing with the DBJ on the machine and trying to calculate a hat pattern with it. Needless to say, I've ended up with two hats which wouldn't go amiss on some of the seven dwarves because they came out too tall! One of them is too tight for my head too, but would probably fit a child. If I come up with a sensible pattern I'll post it here. 

Handknit hats

Machine knit hats - Metbury is on the left

Passap hats - too tall! I may take the overlocker to these, to make them shorter.

The spiral sock. I'm too bored of it to finish it, alas. A picture taken just to prove how far I got!

After all the effort that went into the burgundy lambswool jumper, the cable has receded somewhat after a wash (yes, it's lambswool). It's still drying at the moment, not sure if it's shrunk too much to fit me - we shall see! Picture was taken before it was washed. The colour is loganberry according to the cone label.

Oh, I have been having fun making these little origami christmas trees, after a brief segment on Sunday Kitchen. They are very cute (mine are small because it's A5 notepaper, the only green paper I have in the house). 

Great for table centres I think!

Though I am in no way regretting our decision to stay home this Christmas - we've two teachers amongst our relatives, and that risk alone makes any indoors visits foolhardy - I must admit, I'm very weary of the whole thing now. Apart from short chats with my immediate department, and my sweetie, I don't get to speak to anyone else all day. Whilst I appreciate everyone's busy, I'd appreciate the odd phone call - being given tasks over email wouldn't have bothered me this time last year, but now it seems almost rude! I'm lonely. There, I said it. All the zoom calls and forum chats in the world cannot compensate for actual people. But the worst thing? It doesn't matter how I feel - this one is going to run and run - and there's nothing any of us seem to be able to do about it. Still, there's Christmas to look forward to. January? Meh - that's going to be quite a slog I think... 

Current mood:  weary

The mad hatter...

Don't ask me why, but I'm inordinately pleased with this hat. It couldn't be simpler - just 1x1 rib worked in the round for 8 or so inches, and then decreased. I found the pattern (from Purl Soho) via Ravelry, and it's in a large array of sizes. This is the adult's small, which seems to fit me just fine, though it's another one for the charity bag. I've already got a second one on the needles - it's perfect for mindless knitting in front of the tv. This is something you couldn't knit on the knitting machine - ribbing in the round is reserved for CSMs with ribbers (and my CSM would choke on this anyway as it is two ends of 4ply to make up to DK). 

What else to tell you? Nothing much really. Last week's "highlight", if you could call it that, was a filling coming loose, luckily on the very day I had an emergency dental appointment. Then later discovering that the Cog had accidentally let his car's MOT lapse - cue a panicked trip to the garage - all is now well. Oh, I joined the local WI and we had lovely cake, delivered personally, to celebrate the group's tenth birthday - and an an amazing mind-reading act. It's amazing what you can do over Zoom, isn't it?! Next month is chocolate tasting. Looking forward to that! 

It seems I've lost all "oomph" to finish the burgundy jumper - serves me right for knitting two backs when I could just have easily done a proper shaped neck. The sweater parts are now draped over the Passap and rebuke me every time I enter the room. Do I care? No! What did I do? I cast on and knitted the back of Mary Anne Oger's Take a Turn sweater in some pale blue lambswool I do not remember buying. I misread the armscye shaping instructions, and probably should have re-read the "Take a Turn" KAL thread on Rav from twelve years ago. Oh well, the front will be correct. Luckily it will all be hidden under the arm - I won't be reknitting the back as it has a cabled yoke with reformed tuck stitch gutters. I do need to get the sewing machine out this week to finish up some other items so I daresay I will get onto the burgundy jumper this week. Wish I had a second overlocker like my friend J - rethreading it for what amounts to 10" of black cut and sew seems like an awful pest. I might just do a zigzag row - once washed it'll be secure enough I think. 

The other thing taking up my time is a cross-stitch kit for the Willow Pattern. It's very detailed but I am loving it. 

Current mood: okay

More FOs: No pain, no gain

I had somewhat of a marathon mk session this Sunday, seeing as it was a snow day and I had the house to myself. Regretting it now though - when I got up, after about 4.5 hours of machine knitting, I could hardly stand (I had been sitting on my kneeling stool). My back is still delicate two days later, and I am walking around like a little old lady. I think I need to either invest in a standing desk, or pack machine knitting in. I'm not happy about that prospect!

Current mood: very, very sore

Finished objects

Silver tuck scarf


Pink beret - not an easy colour in artificial light


Kilt hose mk I