Apres Surf Hoodie

We are having a Machine-Knit-A-Long (MKAL) on Ravelry for this one. 

I made one of these in Cleckheaton 4ply Natural Cotton last year, with one of the punchcards that came with my machine.

This year I decided to use a punchcard that more closely resembled the original (Apres Surf Hoodie) in some of the Bendigo Classic 5ply I bought last year at the Craft and Quilt show in Sydney.



The swatch turned out rather well on my SK280 using LC2 T8:

The 5ply went through quite well, and I did have to take care to keep it evenly weighted so I it did all the transfers without dropping them. I dropped about 6 stitches over the whole garment. A lot less by the time I finished (none on the hood for instance).

Changes I made:

I don't like the hem, it rolls up and annoys me, so I made a hung hem. On the lace carriage. EON T -2MT, 1row with ravel cord. hang the long weights with hooks on the ends - bring all needles into working position, knit 19 rows MT,  1R +1MT, 20R MT then I slipped the ravel cord stitches onto a thin circ needle and hung the hem. I know some clever people can just hang from the ravel cord, but not me!

Here is the hood getting itself knitted, I've hooked the sleeves onto the gate pegs to show them.

In keeping with my lengthening requirements, I've used Helga's tutorial to adjust the bodice and sleeve cap - but this will be my stock standard method for now on.

I decided not to so the last couple of rows on the hoodie. I just added a couple extra rows. I won't be wearing the hoodie in public. The lace carriage hold position was OK for the shoulders, so it wasn't for "it's too hard" much more "I'll never wear it".

I had to put my machine away (bathroom reno was happening) so I did the i-cord bind off on the neckband by hand on 3.25mms. I'd do it by machine otherwise.

Things I'd do differently.


Now I understand how the lace cards work - having punched a whole lot on new ones to choose from, I'd make sure I centred the actual pattern a little better. I could easily have moved it around to the centre o | o bit of the pattern was in the middle. If I use this one again I could either offset it so it does or punch another one. I bit obvious, but now I know!

Also I deliberately made this one an "oversize" size, so I can wear it over things around the house. It is nice and long and is very warm.  I will definitely make another something, something, just as soon as I clear the decks with the 8ply projects I have lined up first.

Ravelry - now has Machine Instruction tag on patterns

After a brief discussion amongst ourselves in the Machine Knitting group on Ravelry, Casey has a better understanding of machine knitting written patterns and has made a new tag (in attributes) to say "has machine instructions"

Here is the link to do a search for machine patterns

Photo courtesy of Casey's screen shot:

If you are a designer and not on the list, please add it in the Attributes, Pattern Instructions.

If you know of a pattern not coming up on the pattern search, can you please let dancingbarefoot know in this thread.

LC2 Lace Carriage Punchcards

After making my Zora lace cardi a couple of weeks ago, I decided to do another lace project while the machine was up.

I was looking at the cards I have for my fine gauge and saw something that greatly resembled the pattern on  Apres Surf Hoodie.
So adapted it to the 24 hole punchcard for the std machine for the 5ply wool I have out for a mystery project. I have a punch and I have some blank cards.... which let me to....

In a unrelated chat on Ravelry, someone mentioned that there were patterns in the Harmony Machine Book, so I got it out to have a look and there they were, lots of lace patterns to choose from.

My son was visiting so that cut down the time to work on the machine, so I've had such an excellent time marking out the cards cards from the Harmony book and an old book then punch when he was visiting his friends.

And here are some of them

 

And this one from a really the really old and tattered book that Beverley gave to me:

I put a cable in the top part to see how it looked. I like it without the cable better I think.

That's all I had time to run the cards through the machine. It's away now for a little bit while I get some renos done. I have an excellent time punching and  understanding how the lace carriage works in relation to the holes punched. I'll run the rest through the machine in a couple of weeks when the dust settles.