Little bit on Hand Tooling Lace

I've just finished two jumpers with the same panel but one with 3 and the other with 4 repeats of the panel.

Humboldt Raglan - minus the raglan!

 First I make a template of the pattern I'm repeating, here I've marked the edges and centres of each panel by putting a piece of cardboard onto the needle bed and putting in the pencil marks on it.

Another really good idea is to mark the bed with a waterproof pencil, but I can't find my one and only - so cardboard and pencil it was:

The first three transfers were the same,  so I bring the needles forward that are to be transferred on those first three repeats - transfer, 3 x to the right; 3 x to the left, knit two rows:

Then I do the same for the rest of the pattern, I found bringing the needles out to be transferred to be the quickest and easiest way to get it done. If you have to start second guessing which is this one is the right one, it slows everything down and makes the whole process very tiring. So... put the template down, bring the needles out, (check the line up) transfer, knit.

Here is a nice close up of the lace pattern. For this one, at the end of the pattern is two rows of reverse stocking stitch. I used the put the latch tool two stitches down, pull down, relatch, reattach, pull out to hold, do the next one. Again, working quickly and steadily gets it done, using the machine's settings to help keep track of which has been done - so there's no second guessing and no mental exhaustion from doing that over and over again. That's the real trick. Do the prep, and keep working at a steady pace and take short breaks to refresh the mind and stretch the legs.

What I've Been Doing Over at the Lace Factory

I've been busy making lace over the last couple of months with my SK280+LC2 lace carriage. Lauren suggest I get all the projects done then put the machine away and sew them up - freeing up the clutter in the loungeroom.

My over abundance of Bendigo 4ply Cotton is my focus yarn out of my stash for these projects. I still have too much, but I've made five projects from 12 x 200G at the lace factory, which is a start

So I thought I'd share my experimental successes and failures

I tried out six different ideas.

First was Wild Lavender with a lovely circle lace pattern from the Harmony book. I punched the cards all by myself too!

Lauren's next good idea was - if you make one and you like it, make another - so right on cue - Damask Rose got itself made from a slightly different circular pattern.

Wild Lavender

 

Damask Rose

 Then I tried out the motif bits and pieces to put part of a card on a stripe and relatched the gutter on the next project - Maritime Trellis

Maritime Trellis motif

Progress: not making any

Well that was the first three projects off the machine - then came the next three.

The White Diamonds did not go well, there were a few little piles of white Snow at the back of the machine while I worked out how to stop it dropping stitches on my next project - White Diamonds throw over cardi. But eventually with enough weight, evenly distributed across the needles - Success!

White Diamonds Throwover Cardi

Then there was the upside down punchcard to figure out where and how to copy something I'd seen on someone over at the shops.

first try was with the garter bar - and I didn't quite like it...

Knock off Version 1

Knock off Version 2

 

And here I am sewing it up (I'll get a better photo tomorrow)  It's a lovely colour and looking good.


Which bring me to the sixth project - loved the lace card, thought it was gorgeous, but a little bit too much over the whole garment.

Ah I forgot to say I decided to use my cone of Bramwells Savanah "knits as 4ply" cotton. a little bit thin in my opinion, however... I ran into problems which I had no luck in solving.

I had a few breaks on the large piece but it was an absolute nightmare using motif in the centre of the front. I'd done the back... sigh, but I think there was.. six breaks in the first 100 rows and I decided to give up and do it plain. It is my official fail.

I think five success where I've learnt so much, is not too bad.

So... that's the fun I've been having at the "Lace Factory" over the last couple of months.

Now I have to sew up the Knock off, White Diamonds and the plain black tee. (and Thanks Lauren, my lounge room is clear while I do it).


And I've finished sewing up the last two projects so I'm going to add them here:

Knock Off Lacey tee

Front of White Diamonds

Back of White Diamonds

Some Zoomy Vests

My stash on Rav 6 Mar 2012

I've been working on getting rid of my old WIPs (works in progress). I decided to start finishing them this year, starting with the nearest to finished. Well I finished the body and started on the sleeves. The more I did the less I wanted to finish it, wear it or have anything to do with it. So I decided to NOT finish it, and undo/frog it. So that makes two things I've put back into balls.

 But what started this epiphany, was... I need to make another blue/black vest or three. The ones from last year have suffered from "wearing them all the time".  I have one redish tone one that I can walk out the door, and I machined and hand knit - green! Two green vests. Great! I don't know what I was thinking, just getting them done. Which brings me to my Zoomy. Lauren and her Dad brought me back two packets of 10 Zoomys in different blues from their road trip home from Melbourne, in Dec 2010. Sadly my old Zoomy vest - well I don't think even the needy will want to wear it. It's rubbish. But backtracking to my WIP hand knit problem, I really didn't want to start another handknit until I made them go away. Problem solved, it's no more, it's back into balls.

My Shalom Vest with elledot (Leila's) buttons

So onto the Zoomy. I really need vests, so I made a replacement Shalom for the one that I threw away, and have started a Heather Hoodie on the other packet.

Heather hoodie in progress

And now I'm back to machine knitting. I'll finish off my second Lana Vest this week, then I'll think about whether I pack up Yoko and do something else one of the other machines. Maybe I'll make another Shawl Collared Cardi on it before I do.

Lana Sweater in progress - only sleeves to do

And I went to Spotties and bought some cotton jersey to make some long body/sleeve tees for this winter. I'd like to get them done next week, ready for the cool weather, which I don't think is too far away. I got some nice easy to wear ones from Primark, three plain cotton jersey ones from Lauren's trip to London, year before last and the three I brought back from my trip to London. I must admit I like the 100% cotton ones better and I'm so sick of stuff that is too short. So this year, I'm getting rid of all the too short stuff.


That's enough to be getting on with now I think!

Finished my Spiral Jumper

I've finished it and here it is. Phyllo Yoke Sweater from the Knitting Nature book.


It worked out very well. The only odd thing was the chart instructions. Of course every second round is knitted, but nowhere did it actually say to do that. Plenty of blather about seashells. I think less seashells and more attention to correctly writing out the instructions would be better all round. Never mind, here is a closer look as the yoke:

I like how the KX350, with the wobbly tension mast, makes the stocking stitch sections a little bit uneven, just enough to add a nice look to it. Very pleased. I'm sure when the weather cools down it will be my fav jumper.

No Boring Bits Machine and Hand Knit Projects

I'm interested in putting some hand knit panels onto the machine and getting the machine to do the boring bits.


I know there are many ways to do this already. Tried and true, but I thought I'd like to see which one I liked best.


The most obvious one is to sew the pieces together with mattress stitch, but I didn't want to do that, mostly because I thought it would pull in an unpleasant way along the bustline.


Firstly, daughter decided to try our hand at a Drops dress/tunic pattern and I decided to do Climbing Vines, both have a varying stitch count over a number of rows and is too much of a pain to do on the machine.


On this one, daughter hand knitted the bands on the train to and from work, and joined the "bar" up on the KX350 Brother machine. As best described in Diana Sullivan's single bed sock tutorial. However, this is excellent for thinner sock wool, on this 8ply yarn, it's not quite so good.


Next bright idea we had was to pick up the "bump" not the "bar". As Best described as being the bit between the bar, very each to pick up on thick work.


This brings me to my second project that I've been trying to figure out the best way of making, the Climbing Vines Jumper.


So I decided to knit up the leaf panel on 4.00mm needles, but first I did the ribbing on the Passap, cause it's quick and easy. Then onto the plastic KX350:

Here is a pretty clear shot of the "bump" that we decided may give a tighter "seam"

I used the single prong to get the stitch and put it back onto the machine.

And put it onto the needle, which is done every second row and really worked well.

Crochet over Stocking Stitch Edging

I've done the Crochet style hem, described in Susan Guagliumi's book Hand Manipulated Stitches for Machine Knitters, page 46; Chapter 2. 10: Alternative Crochet Cast on. Please refer to the book for further details.

The method I used to do the neck isn't covered in the book and this is what I worked out to best match the hem.

Of course I could have tried to put it back onto the machine and managed it that way, but getting the V neck right is way above my ability.

How I Pick Up Neck Stitches: (Just read this bit)
Pick up stitches from the saved ones on the back - I don't cast them off; pick up stitches along the neckline - I do two of the little loops and then the big loop in the middle , ie every third is the big loop, that's my method of picking up neck stitches.

I use knit pics or pro as they are called now, with a 5.00 on the right end and 3.00 on the left end, and a 5.00mm crochet hook.

This is what I did:
Before I picked up the front neck stitches, I did a row of crochet between the stitches on the holder,
I "park" the last loop from the crochet round on the knitting needle,
but could have a stitch marker or scrap of yarn to stop it unravelling,
then picked up and knitted the front edge stitches and knitted across the back,
one round completed.

Photos:
Doing the knit one round:
Picking up the last "parked" crochet loop from the prev crochet round.
putting the loop from the prev crochet round onto the hook:


Crocheting between the stitches knitted on the previous knit row, having the thinner needle and cable make it a lot easier, it also works with the 5.00 end, but it's a lot tighter.

Doing the crochet one round between each stitch on the cable cord:The pick up round is a bit untidy so I did another round into it when I've finished the other.When I finished the neck band I went back and filled in the gaps with another line of crochet stitches, I think it looks better:
I decided to make the V a feature, so I made a centre stitch from the tail, crocheted behind it on that round with one chain behind it so it didn't pull. Every second round I did 3 together... umm. put 2 togther onto the right needle and picked the third behind it and knitted off all 3 tog.

Hopefully, I haven't forgotten anything, (I'll come back and edit anything I've messed up)!

A Gathering of Gathered Jumpers

Sooo... I made myself a long awaited Gathered Pullover on my KX350. Experimented with different techniques and I've had a lot of admiring. It was an easy knit. Really! Mostly done on the machine, with about 40 rows of the panel done on 5.00mm needles.

Well my friend Shelley decided that she Must Have one too, and would I make her one and would I accept some Bendi Harmony as payment. Why yes I do believe I would!

Sooo.. daughter #2 came to visit last weekend, bringing her delightful newish boyf, her knitting, HIS knitting, they were making laptop covers intending to felt them. Well the boyf had already mastered a ribbed beanie on the Passap and wore his beanie all winter. Now he decided to knit his laptop cover on the Plastic Fantastic. Of course I had Shelley's half made Gathered Pullover along with mine for reference. She loved the jumper, tried mine on - of course too big and to long, but none the less, could I make her one too?

She hasn't asked me to knit her a jumper before so I thought I'd be nice and do one for her too.

Here is a picture of the front, and below it is being put back onto the machine, ready to knit the rest of the front. there isn't very much difference between T5 and the 5.00 mm needles I knitted the motif on.

Here is the photo of the neck band, which I get asked about a lot: seen is it's original, as written curling stocking stitch neck, with the crochet between each stitch being done. It's a single crochet, on a 5.00mm hook.

Working Bendi Harmony on the KX 350

Working Notes on the 350 with Harmony cotton blend.

Bendigo Woollen Mills Harmony 8ply
Swatched shown is:
Crocheted edge with latch tool
T6 40R : 18S & 32R /10cm
T5 20R : 20S & 30R /10cm
T4 20R : 22S & 28R /10cm

I wanted to try the crocheted edge as described in Susan Guaglium's Hand Manipulated Stitches for Machine Knitters: 5.00mm crochet hook worked best. The latch tool was too tight and uneven.

I'm making Gathered Pullover from IK Winter 07, but flat not in the round. The beginning of the pattern says: This sweater is worked in a much larger gauge than the yarn calls for to create a fabric with drape and fluidity.
With that in mind, I went with the T5, almost the same tension as the original design. The crocheted edge, a little bit of shaping and the cable panel will add a little bit of interest while I learn how to use the machine.

Notes for the Back
Cast on 100, 6 crocheted back rows, straight for a bit, dec 1 st each side every 4th row, about 30 rows straight, inc 1 st each side every 6th row, but to 98 sts, work straight till 40cm, work armhole shaping, taking off the extra side stitch, do the decreases as written, work 64 rows, do shortrow shaping for the shoulders: hold 5 sts each end till 20 are held each side, work rows to have one complete row taken off the machine.

Notes for the Sleeves:
CO 50, 6 crochet back rows, T5, inc ev 8 rows to 78. to RC 150, dec as written but with a few more rows in the cap, 50 incl last rows T10, which I used to cast off.

Notes for the Front.
Work as for back to RC76, where the fun started. Ok I tried to do the cables, where more experienced machiners would know better. I managed one. the came to a grinding (yes literally grinding) halt. So, off the machine it came, to see what I could do. I was all set to rip it back and redesign a simple panel - however I really liked the single cable and partial second cross I'd managed before the wheels fell of (Ok no they didn't but there was some groaning). The Plan was to knit up the panel, but with an extra stitch at the end of the panel have a purl though the whole motif, put it back on the machine knit up both sides, combine and keep going. however... the 5.00mm needles work so well, no noticeable difference between where the machine stopped and I started, so I knitted the motif on the 5.00s. The other thing I changed was to start the neck divide after the armhole shaping had been completed.

Neckband notes:
Decided to put the crotched edge around the neck. Using 5.00mm circs, picked up the stitches and knitted 4 rounds in total, on the centre front I did 3 tog each round. I put rows of crochet through the pick up row and the next 3 rows. The one on top of the pick up round was done after the event, but the other rows were done between the stitches on the circ cable, which was much quicker, but the next row was a bit tight but doable. Cast off normally.

Things I learnt:

• it's easier to use than the Passap
• taking off the machine with a small circ needle, fixing the problem works best
• I can't use the latch tool and get an even stitch.
• picking up stitches to rehanging is very easy
• the cast on comb and claw weights are excellent and doesn't need any other weight.
• not to lean on the plastic machine
• make sure that the yarn doesn't get out of position when doing short rows - or it ends up in a heap on the floor.
• when you flip the H lever cam thingy to N, it just knits up all the stitches without me having to put them back on the hooks, love this feature.
• when ripping back, put the undone stuff in a pile and put it through the second whisker until it's taken it all back up again, then unthread and off we go. saves heaps of time.
• T10 on the last row them crochet off make an excellent cast off.
• You can't do more than one set of 4x4 cables and only just do one at that.
• I don't think this machine has been used before.

Very happy with the first thing I made on this quiet little achiever.