Just press play

Well, it's been an interesting few weeks, none of which had to do with my creative side - it does stop my creative side from happening though. And no, Anonymous (previous post), I didn't invent the Ravellenic games just for fun. Someone at Ravelry came up with it quite a while ago. It was originally called the Ravelympics until a ceast and desist from the IOC meant a name change (though they did later apologise, you don't want to mess with outraged crafters!). For my part I'm sure the Greeks would be on our side, Mount Olympus being a place, but rules is rules, and Ravellenic was voted the most popular alternative title. It's now all rather ironic seeing as Tom Daley shared a post of another lovely sweater he made during the games, though I do think he needs to learn the difference between intarsia and fairisle. The floats he gave himself around the lower edge of that sweater for the various flags are just begging to get snagged on fingers and pulled out of shape! So anyway, the Ravellenic games run alongside the Olympics; the idea is that one casts on during the opening ceremony, should it concur with your time zone, and to challenge oneself to complete at least one project before the closing ceremony. No monetary prizes are awarded, it's all just a bit of fun, and the "medals" for tagged events (eg sock heptathlon, sweater long jump) and "laurels" (for specific techniques eg beading, cables) are just fun pictures to save, download and share. The machine knitting team named itself Team Rise of The Machines after the Terminator movie of the same name and it stuck... and I usually design the team logo just because of my background in graphics.  

Incidentally, the title is a sideways tribute to one of my favourite songs, by one of my favourite bands. I was sorry to learn that Aerosmith is no longer touring due to ongoing problems with Steven Tyler's voice. There's a price to pay for being the Demon of Screamin', alas. 

Anyroad, thanks to the mental funk, I've just not felt up to doing much - couple that with a 10 day heatwave, and manhandling yarn in an upstairs room that feels like it's doubling as a pizza oven just isn't my preferred way of spending time. 

My good friend C recently gifted me with one of her Ebay purchases - a Knitmaster 260k machine. It was naked of everything except its empty accessories box, so I'm gradually putting it all back together so it can become a second workshop machine. I discovered to my chagrin last week that Brother and Knitmaster C clamps are NOT interchangeable - the latter are thinner, so the Brother ones literally won't slide into the slots. I scrambled, as my monthly club meeting was about to start, and used the ribber clamps from my SRP60N in the end, mostly because accessing the ribber box was quicker than trying to dig out the SK840 itself (and one of those clamps keeps falling off anyway, I think the thread is worn beyond repair). So after last week's disastrous attempt to demonstrate machine lace (the lace carriage drums were seized, all good again thanks to one of Ask Jack's great videos!), I thought it was time to put the machine through its paces. Alongside all that, I rediscovered a box of punchcards acquired from an estate sale. They're in one of those old vinyl boxes, very similar to the much beloved cases of my late father and his audio cassette collection. Reading the manuals (something I fail to do as often as I should), certain devices call for the ribber clamps anyway - my YC6 seems to have a single ribber clamp in the box, no idea where the other one is! 

Anyway, the first card up was a hand-punched card that just said chunky slip 901. It was mostly holes but with some unpunched alternating strips. It knits a very striking slip stitch fabric, somewhat akin to holding position in random places (but holding creates tucks, slip just means the stitches stay hanging on the machine whilst knitting happens around them). I think there's a version of this called "tea cosy stitch", which was how those old traditional striped tea cosies were knitted. It works well as long as you never have end needles slipping, because things hanging up on ends is a bit of an issue for weighting reasons.

Second up was a mystery card - it said two colour single bed slip, but other than trying to read the pattern or enter it into DAK, the quickest way to read it is to knit it. After about 20 rows being one row out, I discovered someone had attempted to replicate a fairly standard dogtooth check pattern - alas the pattern had errors, so went into the bin. Single bed slip like this is a not-often used technique, only Passaps have to do fairisle like this because they've only the one yarn feeder in use at a time. 

The third card was a bit of fun - I've two very long cards punched with dragons and yin-yang symbols. I'd like to transfer this into DAK and do some float control. Or this could be a great technique for ladder back DBJ - something I need to explore more! This would make an amazing sweater, I do wish I had some provable Welsh or Japanese ancestry!

Pulling the leading end needle out forces the second yarn to knit to the edges and eliminates tangles and other problems. 

The final card was a bit of a punt. The machine in question came with no punch cards, and although I've got a set which will work with the main bed, the lace cards I thought I'd found for it turn out to be for a two carriage lace system, and I couldn't find any Knitmaster lace cards to try. I eventually found a card someone had punched which at least proved that the lace carriage is now working. I've a dodgy needle to remove, and all of the needles need removing and soaking, but it was, all in all, just what the doctor ordered in that it got my crafting mojo back a bit, even as far as filing some of my new samples into my lever arch collection! :) Next task, asides from the needle cleaning, is to test the machine with the ribber!

So, if you're in a crafting funk - just push play. The clouds may lift sooner than you think! 

Current mood: okay

FO: Blanket from leftovers and Purbeck

Finished this late Thursday, leftovers knitted up on the KH260 at T3 using the SAYG method, then a crochet edging (#93 from Edie Eckman's Around the Corner book).

Purbeck was lovely - had excellent weather all weekend. Heck of a drive down though (satnav tried to take me on the ferry twice, which would have been fine except it wasn't running). Did a steep climb from Tyneham lost village to Flowers Barrow on Saturday, and an afternoon playing with bungypump poles. Sunday was tai-chi in front of Corfe castle, and then a walk to the blue pool (which was more green to be fair). Some interesting blisters and sore calves and a looong drive back. Think I'll stay until Monday morning next year, it would be less hassle!

I nipped to Lulworth Cove (great when the tide's not in, otherwise beach is 3m wide) and Durdle door, and an emergency dash to Swanage (not pictured, I was driving) when I ran out of dosh. Oh and I pimped my poles, will have to post a picture...







More Purbeck pictures here

Current mood: sore

FO: Bill King coat of many colours and some socks

The Drops Delight pair were started at the AGM, but some dropped stitches meant I had to frog the second sock. It dropped again but I think I managed to fudge it. Pesky socks! Ha...

Loving the Bill King cardigan - I modified the pattern by tapering at the start and end for a better-fitting sleeve. Now, if I could just figure out a way to knit it on the machine so that there's less sewing up it'd be even better!

Knitmaster carriage from the underside

I'll state here that this is a bit of a guess - Knitmasters select and knit (or whatever) within the carriage, there is no needle preselection - so they are less obvious than Brothers. Hopefully these pictures will help anyone having problems with their carriage. Click on one to embiggen. This is a punchcard carriage with side levers.

Needles in A (non-working) position
Needles in B (working) position
Needles in C position
Needles in D (Hold) position


Plain (0) position


Lace (punchlace?)


Slip


Tuck


Fairisle

Disassembly of a Knitmaster carriage

I recently went to help out a returning machine knitter, only to discover the drums on her 326 were stuck solid. With the help of some very useful videos on Youtube, I cleaned the carriage up, and now it appears to be working well (I don't have her machine here). Apart from a rather fiddly bit, when I accidentally disassembled one of the drums, it went well, and I thought I'd document it for future reference.



Remove the handle by removing the grub screws in the handle indicated by the red arrows. Remove the two screws indicated by the blue arrows. To remove the casing, I turned the tension dial past zero (some machines it's past 10) until it came free. Underneath the tension knob is the cam knob. This has a leaf spring which is what makes it "click" into the different cam positions. You can use a flat-bladed screwdriver to push the spring out of the way, and then the cam lever and plastic casing will come off together.



Next step is to remove the screws indicated by the red arrows. Squeeze the casing at the blue arrows and the whole lot should pop off.



Remove the screw and washer at A and disconnnect the wire connector. Remove the two screws and washers and the C shaped plate indicated by B. Remove the two screws to the left of C and rotate the plate (it had the wire spring in it) and there's another screw without a washer here that needs to be removed. Jiggle it a bit to remove the plate. Finally, remove the circlip and washer at D. The two pattern drums should come up together now. If they do not, put an elastic band around the groove of the drum D to hold the feelers in place before loosening the hex nut - otherwise, the drum comes apart - not fatal, just annoying! I would recommend you only disassemble one half at a time so you can see what goes where!

In my case, three of the drums were frozen solid on the shaft. I prized it off carefully, and gave it a good clean with surgical spirit.

Assembly is done in the reverse order. Don't forget to pop the spring back onto the two wires (top of picture, above A). The drums should spin with a flick of the finger.

Many thanks to Roberta Rose Kelly and "Ask Jack" for their very helpful videos, linked below.

Ask Jack - servicing the drums
Roberta Rose Kelley - removing the cover

FO: Brown v-neck jumper for the Cog

Finished this on 20th November - hope it fits him!

FO: sparkly shrugs

Blue shrug with lurex thread - knit side



Blue shrug with lurex thread - purl side



Blue lurex shrug

As always, click through for a bigger picture.

Quick guide to pattern knitting with the EC1

1. Connect EC1 to carriage and power
2. Turn on; it should beep
3. Inspection light ON
4. Set card in reader and to correct row/width
5. Select needles to be worked on
6. Set cam to 0 (stocking stitch)
7. Set Russel levers to II (normal)
8. Set side levers to triangle (if you have them – the SK840 doesn’t)
9. Disengage weaving brushes
10. Set the point cam and end cams as required
11. Cast on and knit a few rows, ending COR – alternatively, if knitting is already in progress, pop the top and do two free passes to memorise the cam positions
12. Select pattern switches as required
13. Turn inspection light OFF – EC1 should memorise first row
14. Set cam to pattern eg F, T
15. Continue to knit

Bad luck comes in threes?

Nope, not dead. This was my view all last week. Spent most of it sunning myself on the shores of Camp De Mar in Mallorca. I have some interesting tan lines. Didn't take any knitting with me as I couldn't figure out what would be portable. Weather was fantastic - 28 degs most days, and hardly any cloud (this photo was taken quite early, it had burnt off by 11am). The only minor downside of the holiday was that the hotel entertainment was loud cabaret every night until 11.30pm - and it being on the poolside terrace, and the bay being quite small - you couldn't exactly get away from it. Even with the doors shut and the television on, you could still hear it. I'm not a great fan of staying up late getting plastered - I'm afraid I'm a lightweight and tend to fall asleep! :) Apart from that, the holiday was lovely and I've eaten far too much food!

Back to earth with a bump on Monday - cold and overcast, had to pop to Sainsers en route to buy fresh food, had to run and hide in the car when himself spotted someone I really don't want to talk to right now. The cat was secretly rather pleased to see us, although he has figured out that G's brother (the cat sitter) lives over the road so he now goes over there to beg to be let in/fed. I got a rather disgruntled 'phone call saying he seemed to have our cat and could we get him before he peed up something - Thomas loves to mark his outdoor territory!

Today I managed to leave my mobile at home (which isn't a disaster but makes me feel kinda naked and disorganised). On the way to work a large stone skipped across my windscreen and 10 seconds later it was a 10cm crack - in fact, it's only the heating element stopped it going further - so I've already spent £75 on insurance excess today. Thank goodness it's payday! Last night I tried and failed to get my new-fangled and blooming expensive SK860 to talk to the EC1 patterning device - so I have a rather elaborate doorstop for a knitting machine. I've got some things to investigate tonight when I finally do make it home around 10pm - otherwise the carriage will need to be serviced. I tried swapping magnets, swapping cables, different combinations etc - and the EC1 functions perfectly well on the SK840 so I think it might be the carriage. Weirdly enough, I DID get fairisle out of it last week - but it took me a few attempts. Remember I had difficulty getting fairisle patterning on the main body? It took me several attempts. That was the first indication that something was amiss. Apparently there are some magnets at the front of the carriage that move about and tell the electronics I've changed direction, so perhaps something is sticking. I hope so, because replacing the EC1 would be very difficult.

They say these things come in threes, and as I'm not sure the leaving mobile at home quite counts, I'm just a bit nervous as to what will come next!

Current mood: grumpy

FO: Prototype xmas sock #2

100_3706
Originally uploaded by steel breeze

Sock-tastic and fiddling with fine gauge

So I've been pretty busy lately with other things, but I'm desperately trying to make time for xmas knitting too. I made a second pair of red and white fairisle socks this weekend, with an all-over snowflake pattern of my own design. I went up a number on the tensions. On last week's prototype, the short-rowed rows tucked a lot - turns out I was knitting too tightly. I was beginning to wonder if I'd used the wrong ribber clamps, because I seem to have an extra pair of the square-edged Knitmaster S clamps (the Brother clamps have radiused edges I believe, although I may be wrong).

Of course, although loosening the tension (and adding 4 stitches) means that the sock now stretches enough to be put-on-able - it also made it longer. Yes, I need to knock about 12 rows off the length to make a size 7. I asked the Cog to try on the first one - before washing, it measured 28cm, which shrank to 26cm after washing. He tried it on and immediately claimed it (he is a size 9). You could have knocked me down with a feather - this is the man who eschews New Maine jumpers because they have a tiny sailor's wheel logo embroidered on them. This is the man who always wants navy blue or black jumpers, and they are always very, very plain. Not even a cable in sight. They weren't actually intended for him, but I guess it is a success of sorts. I'm loathe to take them off him, put it this way. He's already dropping big hints that he wishes I'd darn some of the socks I've knitted for him in the past, despite the fact that the leftover yarn is long gone. If I darn them, it will be with a primary coloured sock yarn - he said that was ok, but he might not like it when he sees it!

I also finished knitting the second sock (Sirdar Crofter pattern #7). They fit ok and would be great under wellies (if I owned any) or for around the house.

Both of these endeavours required that I remember how to graft (aka Kitchener Stitch) the toes. I used to have a little bookmark somewhere that had the instructions. I copied the instructions from the back of someone's book on knit night, but I was also talking, so the grafting wasn't entirely successful. It also needs very good light, which is only really available at my dining table at home.

Once I recalled Kate of Knit the knit's foolproof Kitchener instructions, and realized that occasionally I was accidentally catching the yarn and making a kind of blanket stitch, I was away. So I present for your information, Kate's foolproof Kitchener stitch principles.

Basically, each stitch to be grafted needs a "catching" stitch and a "finishing" stitch. The "catching" stitch is always worked in the OPPOSITE direction to the stitch being worked. For example, to catch a KNIT stitch, you sew through the stitch PURLWISE, and vice versa. The stitch remains on the needle after the "catching" stitch.

When working the "finishing" stitch, the needle is worked in the SAME direction as the stitch being worked. So a purl stitch is sewn in a purlwise direction, and a knit stitch in a knitwise direction. After each finishing stitch, the worked stitch is dropped off the needle.

So, working from right to left (I am right-handed), work a catching stitch on the purl side, a catching stitch on the knit side, * a finishing stitch on the purl side, drop stitch, a catching stitch on the purl side, a finishing stitch on the knit side, drop stitch, a catching stitch on the knit side, rep from * to end, ensuring both end stitches have both catch and finish stitches worked through them.

I don't know about you, but it's easier to think of it with this system for me. Well, I am easily distracted! :) I will post pictures of the socks as soon as I remember to take some pictures and unload the camera, haha.

I also made a start on a fine gauge knitted tunic. I have a lot of 2ply cornflower blue lambswool on cones - I'd actually call it a slate blue, but the label says cornflower. I tried swatching it on the standard gauge, two ends together, but really didn't like the fabric produced (this could be my over-tightening tendency). The wool didn't bloom in the wash - it felt as if it would make a hard-wearing fabric, but not a particularly nice fabric. So I made swatches on the fine gauge, and it was like some sort of magic - a lovely soft handle, just what you would expect with lambswool.

I've designed a simple knee-length tunic using Knitware, it has raglan sleeves and a cowl neck. Yes, you read that right, raglan. This baby has 600 rows. What was I thinking? I managed to get as far as doing one side of the neck, on the front, before I had to stop and give my eyes a rest. The daylight was fading. I will finish it - and to be fair, the front is the most complicated piece - but talk about not doing anything by halves! I probably should have started with something a bit smaller. I probably ought to get a better light in the knitting room, too!

PS Kate - hope you are well! Your blog is looking kind of abandoned these days!

Grumpy bum mode

I’ve been slogging away at the Sirdar Crofter socks. The first one is almost done and just needs grafting. The second one is about a third done. Progress has been slow, as I’ve somewhat lost my knitting mojo lately.

The red fairisle sock shrunk a bit when washed – I need to measure it and recalculate the width to make it work. I can get it on (just!) but need help getting it off again.

Chipped a molar last week and am still waiting to get it fixed. It’s not hurting, but I’m starting to worry there won’t be anything left to fix soon! Remembering to eat on one side is annoying and means breakfast muesli takes even longer than usual.

This time of the year I feel an urge to hibernate, to vegetate in front of the tv, no brain power required. I leave the house in the dark and I return in the dark. I’m fighting it, but I’m not sure I’m winning! Owing to various things going on, I’m a bit grumpy at the moment. I can’t fix anything and I can’t move forward – that kind of feeling.

Onwards and sideways...

I spent a few hours last night trying to make a flat fairisle sock. My first attempt started at the top of the heel - went ok until I tried to cast on the width for the ankle, and realized that trying to start fair-isle wasn't really going to work.

The second attempt I started with a ribbed top, scrapped off half of the sock on waste yarn when I got to the heel, and then knitted heel-sole-toe-top of foot. That one came out ok but needs sewing up.

Around 10pm, I realized I could have ditched the waste yarn and just held one side, thus making a sock with only one side seam. Yeah, I'm not the brightest of sparks, am I?! Serves me right for not planning it better.

My machine SK840 doesn't really like knitting with two ends of 2ply lambswool. I'm pretty sure the Brother could cope with it though. The SK840 just seems a lot tighter, somehow. You want a firm tension for a sock, ideally.

---

I've got the CSM (Circular Sock Machine) on the back seat of my car today (the large suitcase it's in does not fit in my diddy boot). The manager of the bar where we meet has asked for a banner - nothing like a last minute challenge - and I got talked into taking my machine in. Hopefully someone'll bring some green yarn for the background. I've also brought some pompom makers. It might end up a bit kitsch!

---

To the lady who commented on an old post about crochenit, I must confess I got the special hook and some books on it, and have done nothing. I don't have a lot of DK yarn in the house and I've a terrible habit of buying these gadgets and then not using them. I am a serial gadget and book collector. I'm sure there is probably a crochenit group on Ravelry though, you might have better luck there!

I will try to get playing with some of my redundant tools this Christmas - I've a table loom begging to be warped up too. Too many hobbies, not enough free time.

Addendum: finished sock above - needs a few more stitches in the leg area because it's a bit tight, and I need to design a smaller snowflake pattern I think.

Long shots R us...

This is probably a very long shot, but does anyone have a spare copy of this they want to sell?



Passap model book 3, dates from about 1961. I can do paypal etc. Drop me a line if so!

I cast on "Take an old bag shopping" (from Knitwords 44) on the SK840 the other night - yes, the irony of not having finished the cofee-and-cream jumper neck isn't lost on me, but that's now TV hand knitting. Hoping that if this bag pattern works out OK, it might be a great Christmas stocking filler. So far it's been fiddly, but a fellow Raveler said they got it down to 45 minutes; I admit I didn't check out how thick Yeoman Cannelle is, but what I am using (two strands of unidentified lilac cotton) seems a little thin. May add another end if I make another one.

It's been a bit fiddly because it starts and ends with a picot hem, and there's another EON transfer before the main body, which is a tuck lace. But other than me making silly mistakes, it's gone ok so far. Not bad for a first attempt, anyway. Not sure I'll get to finish the main piece tonight, as we are off out for a nice meal and a local beer festival, courtesy of the A(le) Team at the Merchant Inn in town.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Almost FO: coffee and cream jumper for the Cog

Let this be a warning to all knitters. This is what happens when (a) you don't calculate if you actually have enough yarn and (b) you don't think beforehand what you're going to do with the bands. Clearly 400g of a DK yarn is not enough for a whole jumper. I was saving the cream for something else. Oh welL!

The sleeves have 10 rows reversed stocking stitch, the bottom band is reformed rib, and the neck band (knitting and then treble crochet) looks bloody awful and was unpicked last night. I'm going to add some 2x2 rib by hand, I think. So you could look at this in two ways - either the goddamn sweater curse that plagues every garment I make for the Cog has struck again, or I'm really just crap at planning. :)

This is the first garment I've made on the LK150. The yarn is Forsell's DK Touch of Silk, knitted at T4. Not the smoothest or most forgiving of yarns on a plastic machine.

There's also a round-necked one in the same yarn but bottle-green. I had two cones of it, so it's going to be more successful. It just needs sewing up - the yarn is unsuitable for sewing, as it thins and splits. It's very similar to Noro Silk Garden in composition, just without the lovely colour changes.

FO: Nina Miklin wrap

This is in an alpaca mix and was finished in August but has been hanging around whilst I decided whether I wanted to handwash it. I didn't, and it washes fine at 30 deg C. Then I kept forgetting to photograph it. Wearing it today, it's toasty!

FO: Preeemie baby cardigan

Made from the leftover yarns from the Passap baby sets - two ends together - one is pink, yellow, white, orange and the other is blue, pink, white. The green colour is by magic!

Made at T6 on the SK840 knitting machine - the pattern called for mock ribs and hems, and asides from the main body, I replaced those with rib.

Things I have learned....

...that I really shouldn't sew something up in a hurry (and hope I can steam it out later) - the Nina Miklin wrap is a case in point, and I'm wondering whether I dare wash it very gently to see if that helps. It's an alpaca mix. My (or rather the Cog's) steam iron is not great. Has to be on maximum to generate steam, and it runs dry really quickly.

...that I really shouldn't sew something up when it's completely obvious there's something a bit wrong with one (or more) of the parts (there's a preemie baby cardigan got thrown because of it).

Remember the Sirdar Crofter ballet wrap I converted to machine knitting? I added the garter stitch bands by hand, originally - using the needle sizes recommended in the pattern. And, guess what? The bands were waaay too tight. I had knitted the garment on T2 on my Brother chunky machine - and had lots of yarn left over - and yes, it would've been better on a midgauge machine (or even on the standard machine at T10 - didn't think to try it). So, having added tight bands, and a press stud (snap fastener) and a loop/tie fastener - it fitted ok but looked terrible. When I sew things up, I sew them up really, really well. As in, can't figure out how I did it later, when I need to unpick it.

So anyroad, I unpicked the neck and the bottom bands, and knitted them at T1 on the machine, and tediously reformed every other row for garter stitch. I left the sleeve bands, as they are acceptable as-is, and the neck band is so long I would never have been able to do it in less than three pieces on the machine. The yarn being a colour-change one, it wouldn't have looked great, so I did one row of double crochet and one row of trebles instead.

So, now that the bands are half decent? The cardigan is too big. I'm guessing it's all dropped/stretched somewhat, owing to the tension not being tight enough. So, I can either put the ties and press-stud around the back, where at least it sits correctly, or I can skip the fastenings and just tie the fronts. It looks quite good the latter way, so I've left it as is, for now.

Picovoli is on the final straight, and I have learnt what M1R and M1L are. Kind of. I cast on for Galena with the yellow bamboo I snapped up from Hobbycraft, and took it on Dream Week, but it was at a too-complicated stage to be able to work on it. I hope I have enough yarn, because it was on sale and it's all gone. Haven't really had much time/energy for handicrafts lately. I'm (trying) to write up a Passap workshop for the MK Guild's Yahoo group. The house has become a bit chaotic lately, and the return of the Cog with six day's laundry hasn't helped. Monday night is housework night, but seeing as for the last two Mondays one of us has been away, not much has been done!

Saturday I have to go pick up my car, it had to have some work done on the brakes (which were fine, but squeaked like there was a trapped rodent somewhere). Then I am teaching in Northamptonshire. Sunday we'll be busy getting the house back into some sort of order.

I have a long to-do list, and yet I can't get inspired to go DO any of it. But at least the ballet wrap cardigan thingy is pretty much done.

Summertime...

camping04
Originally uploaded by steel breeze

When the most colourful thing in the picture is the boot of your own car, you know you'r enjoying yet another miserable British summer! This was the view from the tent at the weekend, went for a brief two-night camping trip with my sister and her kids. Had a fun day at Kingsbury Water park, where the weather went from this (cold enough to wear a fleece) to sunny (warm enough to apply suncream) and back, in the space of a few hours.

Took my Picovoli vest along to knit on, but didn't get much done; kids take a lot of attention. Apart from a minor accident with the stove where I nearly set light to the tent making pancakes, everything went ok.

Sewed up the Nina Miklin wrap on Tuesday, it took all night to sew up with the linker. I think it needs a good washing/steaming now to improve it. Tonight I want to sew up the shoulder on the Cog's brown jumper, so that I can finish the neckline and (a) free up the table for the Silver machine to be put up instead, and (b) get my best super-long circular needle back.

Need to make a packing list for Knitcamp next week - 2 knitting machines plus attendant paraphernalia; yarn; change of clothes. My free time during the week is limited to about 4 hours, and there is always so much to do that often I do not know where to start. I'm going to be busy most of this weekend, and I'm not sure when I'm getting back from Stirling next weekend. I was planning on coming back down on the Saturday, but it depends on whether I have more students to teach or not. The Cog wanted to go see the UK GNR tribute band at Nottingham next Saturday, and I was going to meet him on the way home, but I'm not sure that's possible now (it's a good 8 hour drive home). Oh well, I'm sure they'll come round again.

Gadgets ahoy!

Went up to Derbyshire again, to swap my CSM for a slight upgrade (an Imperia). The ribber on the Cymbal was too turny-twisty and it meant you could only ever rib with a really fine yarn - any more than that, and it hung up between the cylinder and ribber dial, and disaster ensued.. The seller was happy to exchange it, and I got it ribbing perfectly with Trekking XXL, so I am a happy bunny! It is all set for that yarn, so I shall probably try not to fiddle with it much now (apart from changing tensions occasionally).

I had a few spare hours to waste yesterday afternoon. The house is in uproar at the moment, because we are redecorating the office (small box room), so I don't have access to my PC (Knitware!) or printer/scanner or camera cable. So although I knew I wanted to knit something, it would have been almost impossible to draw up a garment because I think my swatches may have been stored with some of the office stuff, and anyway, no access to a PC :/ I'm not using a calculator on a sunday afternoon, ha!

So I decided to play with a few gadgets I've picked up lately and never used. First off was the RT1 transfer carriage (for Silver/Knitmaste std gauge machines). Now, I did have one of these way back, but could never get it working, so I sold it on Ebay. It later transpired my bed adjustment was all out, thanks to a sponge bar that was damaged at one end (it got damaged when I tried to insert it in a Vogue machine I was doing up, it was a suggestion I wish I'd ignored!). So when another one turned up in the estate sale I am doing, I figured I could at least give it a second chance. And guess what? Works perfectly! So I have made a donation for it.

Second up was the Passap tricofit device - a casting off tool not unlike the Brother linker, which never seemed to work for me. I must have picked it up on Ebay yonks ago and then never used it. Well, I think it may have dropped one stitch, but it was pretty good actually! I think some more practice is needed, but it made a decent cast off.

Oh, I should mention, I spent 30 frustrating minutes previous to this, trying to get the E6000 to get past error 200 - fluff on bed. That machine is so damn picky! Argh! It needs to be clinically clean for the electronic eye to do its stuff. I've also started used a simple cast on I learnt at Metropolitan - it always works, and is far less hassle!

Lastly the U100E transfer carriage. I just wanted to try it out, but it wasn't very successful, it did say it required a stretchy yarn and I was using some kind of cotton, so that probably didn't help, but dammit, sometimes I might want to use cotton! Argh!

Oh well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad! I spotted a page about U100E maintenance in the Passap Paramedic book, so maybe it just needs a little TLC...

Knitting mojo struggling a bit ATM - a few things have stalled, and I wanted something simple to work on, so I cast on an eyelash yarn scarf last night. 10 sts, 8mm needles, garter stitch, no concentration required whatsoever. Perfect.