Geeks Gone Wild

Now this is cool! I stumbled upon this evidence of Geeks Gone Wild on the internet. A group of very smart people (engineers, software developers and the like) got together for a "camp" of sort to play around with art and machines. They created an automatic sock machine that is driven by breath power!

Mediamatic.net - Untitled Sock Project 2010

And the winner is . . . ?

I have finally found a pattern and yarn which will become make my next sweater.  I found the pattern for a simple sleeveless shell featuring a single cable. The pattern was by Crystal Palace Yarns and used their Bamboozle. The cotton/bamboo/nylon blend promises " a great feel and a luster" a "soft core", and best of all that "the elastic nylon maintains the shape of a garment and prevents vertical stretching while wearing".

I love, love, love the color! It is bright, but the color range isn't extreme and I can envision wearing it with a navy suit in my office. I think cool and classy. I promise to follow up and let you know what I think when the yarn arrives. The pattern for my size requires 7 skeins, but I ordered 8 so that I can play with it a little first. I have worked with cotton on my Bond USM and it is a little difficult to knit. I think that the small amount of nylon will enable it to "give" and make it easier to knit.

Here it is!!!

I finally finished the sweater for my great nephew this afternoon.

Now I am looking for a pattern for something that I can wear. Perhaps something sleeveless and summery that I can wear to work. Wow, this is going to be a fun summer!

Making My Own Tools

As I said in an earlier post, I know that others have gone before me and that I am not reinventing the wheel. To that note, I took a page out of another Bond Ultimate Sweater Machine user's book. Clogden21's YouTube video shows several homemade tools that she has made. The one I wanted to try first was her weights made of fishing sinkers. Here is my version.

I went to the sporting goods department at Walmart and purchased some fishing sinkers. I wanted 2 oz weights but only found 1 oz weights left on the shelf.
They are cheap and I can work with those for the time being. If my experiment works, than I will get some 2 oz weights, too.

While clogden21 coated her weights in plastic, I decided to paint them. I chose a spray paint that was made for all types of products including metal and which came in a wide choice of colors. I think that was the hardest thing to do: choose the color. I wanted to go with a hot pink, but they were sold out of that color so I went with lavender.


The directions recommended that the spray painting be done where there was plenty of air and that the area be protected for over spray so I chose to do the painting in our garage. Even though it was the garage, I did protect the floor with paper bags so that the DH wouldn't wonder why the garage floor was lavender.

I sprayed the weights with 2 coats of paint letting them dry between coats according to the directions on the can of paint.

I also went to Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Store and purchased some "pleater" curtain hooks. I like the length of the hooks and the fact that there are four "tines" that can distribute the weight over more than one stitch. Although with only one oz weights, there is not too much weight to distribute!

Using a pair of pliers, I flattened the bottom of the hook enough so that the weight would hang straight down. After sliding the weight onto the hook, I pinched the hook closed in order to prevent the weight from slipping off.

Okay, tools aren't supposed to be cute or pretty, but I think they are! And I can't wait to use them.

Happy Knitting!

Be on the Look Out For -- Stolen Sweaters!

What a horrible thing it would be if one of your best hand-knitted sweaters was stolen! How much worse would it be if it were 17 sweaters? And step it up yet one more level -- what if those 17 sweaters were the ones you made as part of your published book on knitting?

A knitter saves the day! And two sweaters! | OregonLive.com

According to the article by Mary Mooney, copy editor for the Oregonian, two have been recovered and 15 remain missing. You can also read about the knitters own thoughts about her reunion with her sweaters found.

Sweater Adventure: One Arm Down -- One to Go

So here I am this close to finishing! It only took me about an hour and a half to work the first sleeve. I made good notes while I worked on the sleeve. I wrote down exactly which rows have decreases and I hope that I can successfully complete a MATCHING set. So far I am really happy with my experimental sweater. By the way, the color in the picture above is a good representation of the actual color as I took the pictures outside. The below pictures were taken indoors with a flash and the colors are way off.

Now, I know that many have gone before me, and I am definitely not re-inventing the wheel; but I figured out that I could use a lifeline to help me knit the ribbing on the cuff. When I completed the 56 rows needed for the sleeve, I took a piece of contrasting waste yarn and using a yarn needle, wove it into each stitch. I then knitted the 12 rows for the ribbed cuff.

The yellow waste yarn not only marked how far down to ladder down for the ribbing, it prevented the yarn from raveling past where I wanted to go.

If you look carefully in the photo on the right, my hook tool is in the same loop that the yarn runs through. It is easy to catch the right loop to begin the purl column of the ribbing. When the ribbing was done and I had cast off, the waste yarn easily pulled out.

I am still not 100 percent happy with the way the ribbing looks. It looks uneven and no matter what I do, it does not seem to improve. I am hoping that it is the yarn and that projects with a good wool yarn will not look so bad.

Not looking forward to sewing in all the yarn ends either, but I was not sure if I had enough of the main color to finish. And it is really nice looking with the stripes.

Happy Knitting!

Bond Ultimate Sweater Machine Needle Positions

Although I have only been using this machine for a short while, I feel really comfortable with it and as I have always been mechanically inclined, I understand how it works. As a manager in my work, I often teach new employees how to perform tasks so I am also comfortable in teaching. So this is for my new friend who also bought a Bond Ultimate Sweater Machine and needs a little help understanding needle positions. The best way to do this is with pictures.

This is the non-working position.

The non-working position is for needles that are not being used in the pattern or at least not being used in the present part of the pattern. The nub at the back of the needle is all the way back to the rear of the knitting bed.

Working position.

The working position is where the tip of the needle is at the foremost edge of the bed.

Forward working position.

You can tell the forward working position because the latch of the needle when open is right at the forward edge of the knitting bed. When using the "yellow card" the needles will line up in this position. You must have the needle latches OPEN at this position when you begin to knit -- otherwise you might have all your knitting land on the floor.

Holding position

When the needles are as far forward as possible, this is holding position. Any yarn on these needles will not knit when the carriage is passed across the knitting bed.

Sweater Adventure Update

Traveling set me back in my machine knitting, but now that I am home, I made some progress today with my great-nephew's sweater. I have completed the back and front, connected both shoulders and knitted the neck line.

I tried steam blocking the back when I had it done, but it did not seem to make a difference at all. I am not sure that I was getting enough steam into it as I was using my iron and I was afraid to get the iron too close to the yarn. Melted sweaters don't go over well as gifts.

I found out that there is quite a difference of opinion on whether or not you even have to block acrylic yarn.  Some say that blocking an acrylic sweater is not necessary. I heard that when acrylic yarns were created, one of the selling points was that it blocked in the dryer. But there are others who swear by blocking acrylic yarn. I was directed to an excellent blog by BeadKnitter Pattern. The pictures of the before and after of the baby cardigan that she blocks are amazing! BeadKnitter used a Jiffy Steamer which is way different than an iron and is now on my future wish list.  But since I don't have said steamer, I will try the whole "blocking in the dryer" thing.

I know that this is a "practice" sweater, but now that I have put a face to the recipient I'm a little afraid to mess it up. So tackling the sleeves is scaring me. The first one will not be any trouble -- it will be the second one which will bother me. Sleeves are supposed to look alike, what if I can't get them to match.

Wish me luck! I'll let you know how it goes.

Cuff Redo

Redo of Mitten Cuff

Painful as it was, I am really glad I went ahead and frogged my mitten. The gauge on the cuff is much better and I am happier with what will be the wider stripes on the green. The slower graduation will be prettier in my opinion and the fewer ends to weave in will be nicer as well!

Have Yarn -- Will Travel.

Lion Brand Wool Ease Scarf

One of the nice things that I have found is that knitting travels well. I have been knitting occasionally on my daily commute into Chicago.  My latest travel project is this simple 3 X 3 ribbed scarf. I found this unfinished object ("UFO") in a drawer and have been traveling with it in my backpack. The yarn is a wool blend by Lion Brand and is so soft and fluffy that I find it comforting to work with. I am not sure what relaxes me more -- just the action of the knitting itself or the comforting fuzziness of the yarn.

I am leaving for a conference tomorrow. The DH has decided to come with me, so it is great that I will be able to knit when he is driving. I dislike driving so hopefully with a 12 hour trip each way, I will get about 18 hours of knitting done. That means I should be able to finish this project and restart my mittens.

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Yes. . . the mittens. The lovely cuff that I shared in an earlier post, I will be frogging that today and beginning over. After I got started with the hand part of the mitten which is in stockinette stitch, my gauge tightened up and the mitten won't be big enough. So I will be starting over with a larger needle size for that part of the mitten. It kills me to rip out all that work, but I wouldn't like them the way they are.  I will also make wider stripes for the green in the ribbing as I was getting way too many ends to hide.

Sweater Adventure

As I said in one of my earlier posts, " Using the pattern book would have been a logical way of learning how to use the [Bond] machine, -- but I have never been too logical." So with little practice behind me, I have jumped right in to sweater production.

First sweater attempt -- this is the back. The yellow yarn is
waste yarn and is not part of the project.

I decided that the best thing to do would be to make a "practice sweater". So I dragged out some old acrylic yarn that I did not like to knit or crochet with anymore and decided to make myself a sweater. I figured if it looked lousy it could just be one I wore to work in the yard.

Four hours later, I pulled the back of the sweater off of the knitting machine and thought, "this looks a little big. . ."

Lesson Learned:

Read the directions CAREFULLY. The yarn called for in the pattern was "light worsted" I missed the word light and used worsted weight. A sweater size 42 turned into a 54. Hmmmmm.

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Un-raveling the yarn was rather fun. Normally taking apart a project would leave me a weeping mess; but the fact that it took me only four hours to knit the back of a sweater big enough for a 300 pound linebacker, gave me the ability to rip away! As I was ripping out all the stitches, it occurred to me that maybe I should make a smaller sweater -- something more along the lines of what a child would wear. Thank the good LORD for making little great-nephews! He's going to get a sweater whether he likes it or not. But I still had the "light worsted vs worsted weight" issue. 

Lesson Learned:

The math you learned in 5th grade still works today. If the light worsted  is 17 stitches to 4 inches, and the worsted weight that I used is 15 stitches to 4 inches, then to get the same size sweater, I just take the number of stitches, divide by 17 and multiply by 15.  So for the cast on, the pattern called for 62 stitches. Sixty-two divided by 17 and multiplied by 15 is 54.706. That is almost 55, but I was pretty sure I needed an even number of stitches, so I used 56. For what ever reason, the gauge called for 23 rows and I was getting that with the worsted weight; I think that has more to do with the keyplates than the size of the yarn.

Notice again, my interesting weights.

I love the colors that I used. I think it is really "manly" looking. It will be cute on a little boy. (I certainly hope it is wearable).  Now I am ready to steam the back to remove the curl and then it is on to the front of the sweater! Wish me luck!

Pinned out for steaming -- I need to buy some
blocking wires.

The Machine! 2

Machine Knit Ear Flap Hat (Chullo)

Is this cool or what. Not just because I made it, but I just think it is so cool that you CAN make it on a machine. In reading the pattern that I found on Marzipanknits, I had no idea how it was to be put together, I could not see how the ear flaps were formed, but I followed the directions and a hat appeared! The pattern was written with another machine in mind and I used a slightly heavier yarn, so although the pattern called for a gauge of 5 stitches and 7 rows to the inch, I ended up with 3 1/2 stitches and 5 rows per inch. Luckily, the pattern was for a small child and I ended up with an adult sized hat. If it had been an adult sized hat, the resulting hat may have been big enough for a gorilla!

The green yarn is waste yarn and does not become part
 of the ending design.

Sometimes, necessity truly is the mother of invention.  The patten calls for placing claw weights near the knitting as you knit. I have not yet bought claw weights, so I improvised. Two paper clasps holding up a kitchen grater, hanging from S hooks. I guess I should order a couple of claw weights. If ever I want to knit and the grater has just been used for coleslaw, I may have trouble!

My next move is to use my Knitting Nancy to make the tassels on the ear flap.