Henley Passaped

Updated: 21 Jan 09.

I want to make Henley Perfected on the machine, but to do the lace as written is just a little beyond my reach. I'll up date my notes as I go and unless I get a really smooth idea to action thing happening, I expect to take a couple of months to plan and do.

Project working notes:

Project: Henley Perfected but with AX pattern.
Trialling T4.5 - 6 StSt; T4 - 5.5 Pat.

Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 3ply cone wool in Blueberry. a really nice purlish blue.

I tried a couple and really like the pattern in Passap book 11, number 1682. It's not too difficult, done on front bed, has a 2 needle edge.

Pattern set up: GX/AX.
Needle and Pusher set up: 11 . 1 . 11 . 1 . 11 (etc)
the . stitches each side of the . 1 . (centre stitches) are transferred onto the 1 (centre stitches).
Pattern begins with 11 . 1 (WP) . 11 . 1 (RP) . 11 and so on. In other words, every second centre stitch (. 1 .) is put into rest position.
Knit 6 rows.
Swap single needle pushers (centre stitches) (ie WP to RP / RP to WP). this was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
Pattern is done half T less than StSt seems to work best.

Trialling the ridge division:
Bring needles from back bed into WP; 1 R N/N; 3R GX/N; transfer back bed using U70.
will look through the pattern books to see if there's anything in there I can try.

Daughters, Dentists, Fabric and Fiddling with knitting.

This week's knitting efforts were put on the back burner for visiting daughters. My darling Anth visited early in the week, bringing fabric for Bush Fire Brigade display tablecloths. We cut 'em out, got 'em hemmed and put some elastic in some. I did manage to put the beaded edge on the tuck lace shawl. 100 beads later... but I could do this while chatting, no harm for a truly tiresome task. We found some really nice green Cleckheaton Bamboo to make her a Berrocco top.

Anth departed for home and a couple of hours later.. the revolving door which is my home, brought in Loz. This time she has fabric for a fancy dress costume. Next morning, she goes off to do some shopping we get time to do a bit of drafting before Dentist appointment. Luckily for us, we found our excellent dentist who makes the necessary adjustment to her, wasn't really ill and was able to go home. Inbetween time we looked through the Bendi samples and bought her some 2 ply Plum to make her her very own tuck stitch shawl and some yarn for her Shalom. And I did manage to chat and get the OTHER beaded end of the shawl cast off.

I undid a couple of rows on my Crescent Moon Shawl and redid them, I was a bit miffed, but it didn't take long to rip it back and redo. I think I did one too many rows of the pattern, which is why is wasn't turning out right! Dah! Next thing was to do the excel spreadsheet for the extra rows it needs (done).

I did a couple of trial AX pattern for my Henley style half and half jumper, and I've settled on Passap book 11, No 1682. Photos soon.

Guitmerozis Shawl/Scarf

I decided to do a straight (as in no shaping just knit back and forth - straight) piece to acclimatise myself with AX patterns. I want to make Henley Perfected from my Interweave Knits mag, but I'm fairly certain to do it all on the machine is just a little beyond my reach. So... what else to do but an easier version with an AX auto or semi auto pattern. As a preproject I decided to make Jana Trent's Passap DM80 Tuck Lace Shawl/Scarf as a practice piece.

Working Notes:

Caston: I tried several methods, firstly in main yarn; 1:1 rib, transferred stitches, adding various weights as per the original instructions. Well I think my main problem with this is I don't have a cast on comb and couldn't come up with any way to add weight without pulling the whole thing to blahhdom. Next was scrap yarn, again 1:1 rib, transferred (then got sick of that and just dropped them) started with lace yarn and problems again with weights. Next idea, set up needles for pattern, using waste yarn again, and not worrying about the quality of the caston, T5, N/N, 1R; rack 1 nd to left, 1R; rack 1 nd to right; keep knitting and eventually knits all sts and long enough to attach weights. Success (and a really rotten first couple of cast on rows).

Weights: Problem: no cast on comb. After successfully casting on with waste yarn, and before I finished knitting with it, I attached my weights. Using silver crochet hook, picked up paperclip with lock attached and evenly spaced them across the work, until work is exposed and then can be hooked into fabric. I did manage to hook the heel grips at the end. Padlocks work remarkably well.

Knitting 2ply lace on T7: problem: dropped stitches. Constant weight must be applied at all times. On the first couple of runs, I moved the weight but allowed the live stitches to be weightless, resulting in too many dropped stitches. I tried several types of weights I have on hand and the smooth padlocks, directly hooked in the fabric, worked best, no pulling or overstretching. The heel grips went on the very end, as I could get them higher up inside the machine and that eliminated edge problems.

Dropped stitches: Cause: not keeping weight on live stitches at all times. On the final attempt, I managed to keep pressure on the live stitches as I repositioned the weights over 700 rows, and about halfway through I dropped 2 stitches, which I dropped back and relatched when I finished knitting. (crochet hook v latch tool: use the latch tool). I initially stopped, flipped levers and repositioned weight on row 6, but ... so many dropped stitches later, trialled and thought better, to knit row 1 then stop. I think this helped and if not, no harm done either way.

Undoing rows: Successfully and carefully done, making sure there were no dropped stitches, keeping weight on needles and using red tool where necessary. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, STOP flip levers. NOT keep on knittin' and countin' to 10).

Cast off: no dramas. N/N on scrap.

Finish: All scrap now removed, after - best guess - over 2000 rows to knit a 700 row shawl/scarf. I now know how the AX tuck stitch works! Now to decide whether to put in some glass bead on the ends, (after I finish my cotton top, of course!).

Beaded Cast off, both ends. I used the method in the Swallowtail Shawl, but with beads; make a point with PVA glue, wait till dry; thread about 100 beads; knit first stitch, with a bead in the centre of the new stitch, ie draw the first loop over the bead; *knit one, knit both sts through back of loop, with the bead in the centre, a bit of a fiddle - pass both loops over the bead, drawing it up between the loops * , repeat to end. Took me a while to do.. but worth it.

I'm looking at the pattern books to see which pattern I'll put on the Henley and do a sampler.

Starting up the New Year

What have I been doing instead of posting in the blog? I've been busy knitting, oddly enough, and when not knitting this past fortnight there's been Christmas, family, visiting, movie with friend and a funeral.
I made Shazza a pair of socks to cheer her up.

I've managed to get the 4ply cotton to knit and should finish the back today.

On the hand knits, I've been doing the Shalom vest, for the SnB knit and when it's late and I'm not able to do the necessary concentration to do the Japanese Feather and Fan shawl.

I'm really going to have to admit to choosing the wrong wool for my CPH, it has hit yet another hurdle, as I was finishing the bands, I've done one repeat of the cable less on one front... but I've had a really good look at it and I have to say, the handknitted Mystique 8plys have a much nicer finish. I'm almost ready to frog it and knit something else, then choose one of the Classic or Rustics to put through the machine. I know not everything goes through the machine, but learning to be tough and rip it if it's not what I hoped is hard going!

Twis the week before Christmas

This week has been a finishing week.

On 16th I knitted the last stitch, wove in ends grafted edge for my Hot socks Nanna rug:

I started in March 08; it is 8 x 15 squares, half square border, 7 x 100g sock wool. 2 x 100g grey socks wool, done in garter stitch with 2.5 needles, and took over 170 hours to knit. And on my legs and feet as I type.

Then later on 16th, I knitted the last couple of rows of my Fetching Mitts: As there are 7695 finished pairs of these on Ravelry (as at 9.00AM Sydney Oz time, 21 Dec) I decided to take an "arty" photo:

Although there is a cool breeze coming through the window and making my feet cold, it aint cold enough for me to wear these.. they are in the drawer waiting for 09.

Having finished both these and doing RnR (rip and redo) of my knitting machine Minty Fresh and building up the strength to go another round with the KM - there was only one thing to do:

Pick up my CPH and knit. I went with the collar and looked on Rav to see how other collar doers did, so, collar first, and bands extending across the collar. That decided, I've done the collar and button band and am onto the buttonhole band. Shelley, my SnB friend gave me a quick lesson on mattress stitch, and I've even sewed up about 10cm of one of the sides.

I did make a positive start on my Crescent Moon scarf, I've redone the "cast on 13 sts" to the same as the Swallowtail shawl, do the K2 garter and pick up the purl bumps, very happy with this, much much better, and have taken it's prelim photo, may rip it back and redo a little section I went back and didn't fix very well, I will do a post just for it sometime next week, after I've had a bit more of a think about it.

It was a cool day yesterday so I asked daughter #1 to help me model my Drops sleeved shawl, here is my "arty" photo, the rest are on flickr or Rav.


So as I'd done some "arty" photos, I got friended on flickr by a photographer... Oh my stars! I shall never whinge about stupid arty photos again! It's my pet hate and proof that it's one anyone can take, but show me the knitted item as it really is: front, back, no hands in the way, no belt pulling in a too big, no arms over the head to cover the lousy sleeve cap contruction.. only showing the side view to hide the fact that it makes a skinny model look frumpy.. (ranty over now). So that will teach me, wont it?

Well, I'd like to wish everyone a wonderful stress free Merry Christmas. (And thank you for reading.) And give you one of my beaded cards:

SSS Britannia

Swirly Shawly Sleevy Britannia is finished. It is my thinner version of Drops Pinwheel Cardigan. One of the comments against this style of garment was that a circle doesn't make a cardigan. I think that is probably correct, so I decided to make a shawl and put sleeves in it to keep it from falling off. That decided, I went to the stash and chose 4 x 200g Bendi Mystique Britannia. Once started, I continued on the largest chart to 20 stitches between the pattern, measured, and kept going to 26 stitches, plus pattern. Then put in the sleeve division (on waste yarn); PM/50/80/50/PM (marker/ sleeve/ shoulder/ sleeve/ marker) and when I do another one, I'd add 10 to the shoulder 50/90/50. The PM designates underside of sleeve.

I decided to knit up as much of the wool as possible, so I completed both sleeve and put the remainder into the shawl section: one extra repeat of the 12 row pattern (as shown in the middle size) and repeated 12 rows ribbing once so I have 6 repeats, not 3, casting off on the final pattern row. (720 stitches, measures 110 cm in diameter.)

Sleeve: pick up 50 + 6, dec 2 sts every 6 rows to 78, continue in 3:3 rib/berry stitch, but dec 2 sts every 4th pattern row to 66 sts, then 13 repeats of 4 row pattern in total, casting off instead of doing the final pattern row.

I'm thrilled with my shawl (with sleeves). I'm do feel every little cool breeze and will get a lot of wear with it staying put. (Even if I treat it like track pants - never to be worn out of the front door!!)

Minty Fresh aka Pull a Torsades 468

I've decided to try making this on the Passap. Here is it's first attempt picture:
Problem: ladders, cables crossed in the wrong place, rib too tight.

Link: 468 Pull a Torsades from Bergere de France free pattern.

I'm making it in Bendigo 4ply Cotton, which is new to me and the machine.

Working notes:
I used some knit-in elastic for the rib. I didn't think things through, and on the first attempt, I didn't put in a marker (remove the pushers from the rail) for the cable and went two stitches out of alignment. I forgot to do some of the cables and I had ladders for not putting the handle down for this type of stitch alignment. AND the tension was too tight on the rib and too loose on the body. I will need to put an extra needle into work behind the cables on the row prior, to allow the cables to cross comfortably.

Rib 2:2 (cast on T1, N/N x 1; T3, CX/CX x 2; T3, N/N x 1; RCOOO) T3, N/N x 12**.
**11th rib row: T4.25, don't put knit in elastic. (probably easier to do 7:4 rib from the start or quicker to do rib by hand and put onto machine).
Number x9th rows: Two needles put behind cables.

OK T4.25 is too tight I got sick of putting the stitches back onto the needles, didn't have that problem with T5. I'm going to trial doing 7:4 rib, with elastic should be fine, at T4.5, then do body in T4.75.

Now picture: rib T4.75; body T6.5

Swatched as per Stephanie's instructions, and did the various stitch sizes recommended. I settled on 6.5. It is loose off the machine, but will shrink down when washed. I'm doing a bit each day and it's getting easier to flip the 2 pairs of stitches, and the cables are no dramas. I've put 2 spares behind the cables for ease, which has made eyelet style holes, and there's a few ladders, but I think they will be ok. Nothing I can't wear when finished.