odds 'n ends...

Got the E Fisher Knock-off done, washed and dried and it fits! Funny thing, I made a new swatch after the fact! Ha! you say! What good is that? The first one with the old 580 carriage read 26 sts and 50 rows to 10 cm. With the 840 carriage (same stitch dial number, same overhead tension, same weights) it says 26 sts and 56 rows to 10 cm! Let it rest overnight and it was the same as the first one. The pieces looked big when I steamed them  (they always do before it gets a chance to relax), fresh off the machine, and it was a little big after the putting together because I couldn't wait. Washed and tossed in dryer for 15 minutes - it was perfect, no steaming necessary! Love the shape of it and the way sideways knitting and the one-row-tuck patterning controlled the colour distribution of this 'variegated' yarn.
The point of making the second swatch was to have a baseline for future use.
Now I have something brand new to take to Waynesboro, PA for this weekend!
This really was a super-quick project, virtually no finishing - I'll have to make another in a solid, light colour when I come back and explain a few more of the details. 

Before that project, while I was still pondering the fact the lace carriage still worked, I dashed off a couple of pockets for Uptown. Used my ‘patch pocket with chained edge method’, washed and dried them several times, just tossing them in with my vacation laundry loads, pressing them in-between to add some wear and patina. Pinned the pockets in place and tried it on. Because I couldn’t get the placement with matching the pattern, angled them slightly – works for me! Stitched them in place with the sewing machine.
Finished off the second Juxtapose Hoodie – switched back to the 580 carriage just in case – just needs a wash before sewing in the zipper.

new-to-me machine...

You might have been able to read between the lines and see that I was in a pickle – my beloved SK580 that I purchased brand new back in 1989 – yeah, like 30 years ago! and it has like the equivalent of a hundred thousand million miles on it, gave up the ghost. Tried everything I could think of but, finally, reality sucks! What to do? what to do? I could just continue knitting stockinette and stripes and the lace carriage still works but I will really miss that one-row-tuck technique that I used for the E Fisher knockoff and for many other lightweight garments.
https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2018/06/fingers-crossed.html

Made some calls and there is no cheap fix, but long-story short, finally settled on a used SK840 which is the same machine as mine, without the built-in electronics. I thought what that means is I have to go back to knitting with DesignaKnit for patterning, I think and, that means purchasing a new cable…
I’ll be honest here. Before I left, in one last attempt to figure out what was wrong, I actually knit a swatch (you hear that, I did make a swatch!) for my own E Fisher knockoff (Wool Crepe Deluxe in Tacoma – love the fabric and the colours, sort of camo-ish), everything worked fine. I made the sleeves (no longstitch, just main bed patterning), everything worked fine. When I set up to knit the Back, and engaged the rib bed, nada! Tried that several times, ate half a jar of peanut butter. Changed up and was going to use different edgings that did not require the rib bed. Several more attempts, the rest of the PB, and had to face the fact the carriage was dead.
Back to yesterday and I have this ‘new’ machine. My mind is telling me that the 840 carriage will work on my old 580 bed but I can’t find anything in print that says that. I reasoned that the LC580 lace carriage works on both beds so why would the knit carriages not be interchangeable.


Plug your nose and jump in! That’s what I did. Rather than take the time to dismantle the whole 580, I just took the ‘new’ carriage, plugged it into the 580 bed and began knitting! It worked! OMGG! Got both the Back and Front made, no problem! I had briefly considered making a new swatch but in the excitement, tossed caution to the wind! As I was putting the pieces altogether, it did seem a tad bigger than I thought but oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained…it’s knitting in pattern! So happy!

determination...

Got the back knit, row by row, watching carefully that I had a knit row and then a tuck row. It seemed to be dropping the signal more at the right side which was okay because it would knit the tuck row and then I just needed to manually advance the pattern row and it would knit plain to the left. It took some time, but I managed it, going on pure determination, still not too sure what was going wrong. The only thing that saved me here was the fact the stitch pattern was a 20-row repeat and I could use that multiple of ten to match the garment row counter easily. Had to do the same on the front. Sometimes I’d get lucky and it would knit 15 to 20 rows without losing the pattern, but I persevered and got it done over the weekend. The patterning is quite subtle anyway, especially in this darker colour.

The hemline looks great. I stuck with the 5 sts of longstitch just for the extra weight, to ensure the hem wouldn’t roll up. The neckline looks really good too - I am so impressed! I changed it to only 3 stitches on the rib bed, with the end needle on the ribber, because it doesn’t need the extra weight as it fits around the neck, just needs to lay flat and I wanted it to be narrow. It did the job and looks fabulous! It’s kind of what I’d call a bateau/boat neckline – there is very little shaping – the back neck is 3 cm deep and the front, 6 cm, with the width at 24 cm across. It is not stretchy but just fits over my head with a wee bit to spare, looks neat and so easy, with no extra finishing!
Time for the sleeves. I could knit them plain and no one would think anything of it, but I have this thing about giving up – can’t do it, and I go for the tuck patterning. Don’t need the ribber here because there is no longstitch. Hang the open stitches, purl side facing, because the knit side is the right/outside. Set up the patterning and, taking a deep breath, begin. It’s patterning flawlessly! I can’t believe it! I begin knitting quickly, thinking the stars are aligned and I’d better get this done while things are good. Get the whole sleeve done, not one single error or dropped signal. Then it dawns on me! The mis-patterning was only when I had the ribber linked up for the longstitch! Could it be that was just pulling the carriage slightly forward, causing the patterning faults? Maybe all I needed to do was adjust the ribber? Right now, I don’t care, just super ecstatic to get this finished up! Thanks for the inspiration, Eileen Fisher! Happy Birthday, Janet!

geek alert...

technical ingredients follow, this is not just reading entertainment!
Having printed out a page of the Side Steps pattern – I thought it might be prudent to note any changes I made because you never know – I could forget what I did by the time I may get around to trying again? Who knows? But did I read it? no! of course not! I always think I know what I’m doing! The machine was set up for double bed work and as I put my hand on the carriage, I felt so good because it dawned on me, I was actually going to be knitting single bed, except for the 5 stitches at the hem side that would be the longstitch facing there. Those could be added next, but I wanted a plain row of stockinette for the initial row. Almost as though you were watching, I quickly changed to the knit arm as if I intended to do that all along and cast-on – I need two sections here, one for the sleeve stitches and the rest for the side seam. Duh! how about some weight, particularly as I would be using the double bed. I quit and wrote yesterday’s story – see what I mean? any excuse!
Fresh this morning, here I am at the machine even before my workout (I can do that anytime). Just to refresh your memory (and mine but I can use you as the excuse!) the one-row-tuck is set up so every other row is plain and that’s when we want the longstitch to do the work on the rib bed so there are clean stitches opposite, no tucks on the main bed, that would interfere with making neat stitches on every other row on the rib bed, right? Right!
Cast on each section separately, using the single bed ribber comb method, https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2008/11/i-just-have-to-tell-you-i-finally.html
here’s how I did it: Bring out the needles you want, every other needle only. If using the knit carriage, obviously you don’t have the ribber up. If the ribber arm is on, you need to have the ribber engaged. With waste yarn, T10 (as loose as you can get), knit one row. Move the carriage out of the way (drop the rib bed to make it easier), take the ribber comb, with the wire out and insert it from below, same way as always, poking the fingers between the sinker loops. When it is successfully in there, with the sinker loops on your side of the prongs, tip the bottom of the comb back so the prongs come forward, allowing you to insert the wire, without catching the needles or sinker posts. Drop the comb. It falls below everything. Bring all needles to work, set stitch size to main tension, and knit 10-12 rows.

 

What I did this time: using the half width comb for the side seam portion (#75-0-10 ns) first, and then the small comb for the sleeve section (#11-60 ns) but leave everything between/behind the beds (add a row of ravel cord on each section to make it easier when rehanging later). With the carriage at the left, T8, stockinette, knit 1 row. Change to rib arm (read/program your row here) and add 5 sts at left on ribber for the facing, end needle on ribber (less than my usual seven because that’s what E Fisher did). Fingers crossed – that’s what swatches are for! Set to tuck (you added weights, didn’t you?) and knit row. The rib needles have a loop on them, which is enough to cast them on - don't worry, no one is going to see them anyway and we don't want a difficult, complicated join between the Back and Front! This row was the tuck row. Back at the right side, now, set the ribber to knit those facing stitches only on every other row which in this case is 0-1, same as in Rectangles.

Everything is knitting beautifully, shaping/increasing at right edge for the shoulder slope and life is good! UH-oh, the shortrowed dart/gore is coming up – probably a good time to take a break and get that workout in! ;)

the moment of truth...

All put together, just need to figure out the collar and which colour pockets to use…I did cut a fabric collar (sorry for the black fabric – it obviously doesn’t photo with great detail but hopefully you get the idea), pinned it in place, made a few adjustments and a snip here and there on the sample piece. I drew it out on my knit contour mylar - then remembered to turn it around and draw it the way I would knit it, from the hem at the back toward the neckline!

Pinned the knitted piece in place around the neckline, tried it on (makes a difference!). Decided I wanted it a tad wider, and a bit longer on the back part. I also added about 8 rows of shortrowing to curve the bottom as it looked shorter across the back of the shoulders. Made the second version and it looks good – Here’s me impressed! I thought I'd have to make it at least three times to get it right and, was prepared to!

Now to knit a belt - 'Wendy' wore hers open in the front with the belt just tied across the back - I'm going to try that and the belt will be knit tubular in the café colour that I've decided on for the pockets.
Just a bit of final finishing and I’m almost ready to show it off – Knit Knack Shop’s Spring Fling, in Peru, Indiana (April 13, 14) here I come! Hope to see you there!
P.S. hoping it is Spring by then!
P.S.S. I'll post a real life modelling of it at a later date!

kinda busy here...

Let’s analyze the situation. Look how I’m including you in this ;-)! I don’t like that large patch of ‘willow’ (gray) on the front above the olive/waist area. I was going to use that colour for the patch pocket…maybe the pocket will tie it in better? maybe have to change that? Actually, the more I look at it, it seems the pockets and belt of the AON coat are fabric but I’m not going there!  And who knew that 2 RTRs could/would change the width of a stripe? Why didn’t I know that? Ar-r-r-g-g-gh!
Issues with the collar are also sneaking in – I know you’re probably not going to like this, but my version of the collar (sort of like a sailor collar) is going to be that khaki circular hem, straight across at the back, the width of the shoulder line, and then black, with the longstitch facings at each edge, coming up around the neck to meet up with the facings from the fronts (which overlap slightly in the centre) and it will look like a vee or shawl collar turn-back when attached to the collar – the part I think you won’t like is the back/purl side of the collar will be showing as the outside but I’m okay with that.
What I’m going to do here is finish/redo(?) the fronts (they will match each other), do some seaming, fit the sleeves in, then try it on. I’ll cut a collar mock-up from fabric that I can pin in place and use to get the right size/feel for it – tell you more later! Good thing I got a lot of yarn!
I can’t remember the last time I was so excited about a project! Master class coming up!
P.S. Notes for knitting stripes: for stockinette, make your yarn changes at opposites sides. End one colour, say at the right. Yarn tail at right. Do a free pass and start next colour from left. This way, you won’t have to darn in ends over top of each other. However, when in longstitch mode, make yarn changes on the side opposite longstitch so you won’t have ends to darn in on the open/facing side. XO

plan D...

I knit the Back, doing all those RTRs quite happily, blissfully even. My dilemma with the Back was whether to shape the waistline, which I did – most everything I’ve made recently has been quite A-line and I felt it was time to get back to shape. I love the final look and hardly paused before jumping right into knitting the Front.

In my mind, all I needed to do was to take the 8-stitch ribber longstitch facing off on waste yarn manually, turn the main bed work with the garter bar and rehang the ribber facing sts at the other side for the 12 rows of the stripe. In reality, the ribber stitches were now behind the main bed side of the purl stitches – no place to hang them! I know you’re laughing now and it doesn’t matter.

I calmly took it off again, turned it back around, figuring I could just reform the stitches to purl side manually after they were knit on the main bed. I messed around with that and wasted the good part of an hour before facing the fact this was an exercise in futility. Though I did learn how best to unravel a row that was reformed, as I abandoned that tactic, you don't need to know how because it was futile! Go ahead and laugh louder - get it all out of your system! I don't mind - I just here to entertain!  I rethought the situation – I was going to go through hell and back to make two purl side stripes in the front that were then going to be mostly covered with a patch pocket in another colour – wow! What was I thinking? It will be just another design feature!
But that longstitch facing does look good!
I did the next best thing, went to my granddaughter’s hockey game. There’s always another day!

swatch hack...

 Grabbed several cones and made a quick swatch!
Cast on 25-0-25 sts on the main bed. Put #21 needle on each side out of work – this will mark the centre 40 sts all the way up without having to hang yarn marks. Did a quick, hung hem. I am using T7, based on my vast (;-)) general knowledge – I know the gauge will be 29-30 stitches and 39-40 rows to 10 cm - and I want the narrow stripes to be about one inch, so, picking the colours randomly, knit 10 rows of each. This eliminates the need to make marking rows to keep track of the 60 rows to measure for the row gauge – just count off 6 stripes. All the yarns are Forsell Pure New 4 ply Wool, except the tweedy one which is my favourite here – it is an oldie, NLA of course, called Rutland Tweed (also by Forsell) and it will knit at the same gauge as the plain wools. I chose it because it has the little flecks of khaki, grey and black that I think will tie all these colours together.
My vision has khaki for the bottom edges and I see it as a circular hem, meaning that it looks like plain stockinette but it’s done on the double bed. Much quicker, no waste yarn, no rehanging stitches, just transfer up to the main bed at the end. I do have another reason for opting for the double bed technique – the front bands are going to be the automatic long stitch facings that I love and since you need the ribber for that, may as well get it going from the beginning.
I find that knitting up stripes like this gives a better perspective of how the colours blend and mix together and if there is a colour you don’t like, it’s easy to fold that stripe out of the swatch and put other colours side by side without having to reknit it all.
I got so excited, couldn’t resist jumping right in. You know it, I made the Sleeves while I mull over what I want on the Back. I looked up an old bell-sleeve pattern (KW# 35, Made to Fade) that I knew would serve (not too big or exaggerated) and put that sleeve schematic in my KR11.
The circular hem is beautiful and so easy! I wanted one stripe of the tweed on the narrowest part of the sleeve and here’s the thing – I always like the purl side of this tweed better – the little blobby spots show up more, and I thought, why not? Never one to shy away from an RTR or two, I took it off, turned it, knit the tweed, turned it back and finished off with the olive. It's adds another dimension and I like the added detail of the little dotted line from the first RTR. This may come back to bite me as the fronts will have the long stitch facing but I’ll deal with that tomorrow!

aran-look scarf...

The Last Red Scarf  (Red Scarf  for Aids Awareness)
Machine: 4.5mm standard gauge with ribber. Knit on Silver Reed 580/SRP60N
Yarn: red Forsell Shamal 4 ply, 20% wool, 80% acrylic, 2520yds/lb (would be T7-8 stockinette) or any fine 4 ply yarn that knits a rib comfortably.
Gauge: Not really critical - Tuck Rib, T8/5, 24 sts and 50 rows to 10 cm/4 in.
FNR hem: Swing H5, all ns working, both beds. End ns on MB. Cast on WY, T4/4, K1R. Hang comb and one large weight in centre. Knit several rows. Set for circular and knit ravel cord in circular, 2 rows. CAR, set to knit both beds, both ways. RC000. Bring all needles out. MC, T3/3, K1R. Rack to H4, bring all needles out. T4/4, K1R. Rack H5. T5/5, K1R. T6/6, knit to RC008. Swing P. Transfer to MB, leaving 2 sts on RB (see stitch chart from yesterday) - all in work on MB; 10 out, 2 in work on RB.
Set back to Swing H. T8/5 Set to tuck rib:
Silver: set pattern to begin, punch card, release card. Electronic, inspection lite off. MB, cam lever to tuck, side levers back at triangle; RB, pick knob on tuck symbol, left set lever on 1, right set lever on 0.
Brother: set pattern to begin. MB, both tuck buttons in; RB, left cam lever down  to N, tucking lever to P, right tucking lever up to P-R.
Tuck pattern: 24 st X 18 row repeat.
SilverReed, enter as shown, white squares are tuck stitches.
Silver with DAK, have Main/X on white square.
Brother, enter as shown.
TIP: for this stitch pattern, if needle selection and needle arrangement is correct, there will be a tucked stitch on the main bed between the 2 rib stitches after the first row of pattern is knit.
Cancel tuck on last 4 end needles each side - Silver- move point cams in; Brother electronic, enter width that you wish the tuck to pattern to; other - pull all 4 edge ns out to cancel patterning before knitting the row (or not - it really isn't a big deal but I thought it looked nicer without the MB tucking into the longstitch...)
Bring 25-0-26 ns to work on main bed. Set to H5 and bring ns on ribber to work so outside ns are on MB - one less than knit bed. Set up and knit FNR hem as above to RC008. CAR. Download pattern (read punchcard or set up for pattern knitting as above).
Leaving 5 sts at each side for tucked longstitch facing, transfer RB sts to main bed except for the 2 either side of the vertical tuck line in stitch pattern that will be at #6Left and #7Right if you are using same stitch pattern.
Knit 715 rows or desired length (150 cm/5 ft) ending at suitable place in pattern, like middle of a diamond. Cancel tuck on both beds, K1R. Swing P, fill in empty ns on RB with heel stitch from MB. Swing H, T6/6, K7R. T10/10+, K1R.
Set for circular knitting. With waste yarn, T5/7, K20R circular. T5/5, FNR, K2R. Remove from machine.
This is a method to give the cast-off edge good elasticity and look similar to cast on edge. Block and steam, steaming WY as well, to set stitches. Remove last two rows of waste yarn to open the end. Fold waste yarn out. Using latch tool, start at side opposite to yarn end. Chain cast off with latch tool by picking up end stitch, put behind latch. Pick up next stitch from other side of WY and pull through. Continue going back and forth across row. At end, pull yarn end through to anchor. Remove waste yarn. Darn in ends.

Did you notice I didn't grade the tension at the end of the FNR hem? I found it just caused grief for the cast-off because of the tight stitches and really didn't make a difference in the look of the cast-off compared to the cast-on!

Analysis: This was really quick - I did it in less than an hour - and easy and made a very pretty scarf! I love the fabric - I used it before in Serial Stuff 2, Tuck Rib Cardi, which I still love and wear a lot - I think this has inspired me to knit it - the TRC,  again, perhaps incorporating the longstitch facings!
Red scarf for Aids Awareness count: 8!

One-R-T...

I'm feeling the pressure! The 15th of the month is coming and I know I gotta do that red scarf thing and I hate to disappoint - I know you're anxious with anticipation and, I'd like to get it out of the way because I have other things to put on this machine. Rhiana, my granddaughter, was over the other day and asking for her panda sweater! I was hoping to put it off until the fall - thought it might be a back-to-school thing for her but she wants it now and was giving me a gentle reminder. I also figured she wouldn't like the yarn I chose - I thought it was going to be too green, not turquoise-y enough but she loved it! It's the same colour as her soccer uniform! What was I thinking? And, I have a couple of ideas for a new dress that I want to get to for going to DFW in October - don't worry, I am working on the Church Cardi so this is just in-betweens!
One-Row-Tuck - this is such a great technique, one of my favourties! It has a nice texture, looks good from either side and with the plain longstitch bands on each side to finish the edges automatically, I think it makes a nice scarf and a great learning project if you haven't tried either of these techniques. I think I've talked about both here (one row tuck and longstitch facings) before so do a search to find more if you're intrigued.
I have included my chosen stitch pattern here - if you want the DAK file, email me at knitwords@shaw.ca - I won't hold my breath though!
So here's the Red Scarf for Aids Awareness for June! I'm calling it

 'One-R-T Scarf for June'.

End needles on RB. Use number strip on RB to select needles, and count needle spaces on RB only. MB sts are included as they occur within outside RB needles. Either side can be right side. Pattern is tucking on MB to left and knitting all sts to right.
Program as below. Set cam lever to tuck.
Punchcard 24 sts X 48 rows, make as shown, making holes for grey squares and leaving white blank, adding double row of holes top and bottom to join card.
Circular Hem. Swing H5. Arrange for full needle rib, end ns on RB. Cast on WY. Knit several rows. Set to circular. T4/6, ravel cord, K2R. Move carriages to left without knitting. Bring ns all out. This will cancel the circular setting and make a zigzag row (without having to change the settings back and forth). MC, T2/2, K1R. Hang comb and one weight. RC000. Knit circular, grading tension by increasing one full number for each row to T8/10, RC014. Swing P. Transfer sts to MB, leaving outside end sts on RB for longstitch facings as directed. Swing H. Program pattern and use next row to read/select. T9/7, K1R. RC000. Set to tuck.

Plain Longstitch. The stitch is single bed tuck on the main bed, but longstitch self-facings require a few (6-7 at each side) sts on the rib bed. Knit with RB engaged. The longstitch is created by needles on RB knitting in one direction only, when carriage is passing to left in this case. MB, set as for pattern (tuck).
RB Settings for Longstitch:
Silver, left set lever 1,  right set lever 0.
Brother, left cam lever to N, right cam lever to PR.
Yarn: Yeomans Panama - I would stockinette this at T7 but with adding tuck, wanting the scarf to be soft and making the yarn to go further, I'm knitting the main bed at T9. The longstitch facing is variable depending on your yarn - I used 7 on the rib bed because they are knitting only every other row - try it out first of course ;-) - if the facing is too tight it will be shorter at the sides than the main fabric. If too loose it will curl inward.
SCARF: Bring 25-0-25 ns to work on main bed. Set to H5 and bring ns on ribber to work so outside ns are on ribber - one more than knit bed. Cast waste yarn in zigzag, hang comb and 1 large weight. Knit several rows, ending CAR. Switch to circular for the ravel cord, K2R. Move carriages to left and make hem as above to RC014. Transfer sts as above. Download pattern (read punchcard or set up for pattern knitting as above). Knit 600 rows or desired length (150 cm/5 ft), ending CAL after the plain row. Now, this is the only hard part - we need to get everything back in work to make the circular hem. Bring the rib bed needles to work to fill in between the facings. Not really hard, I should have said just a little bit of work. Set the ribber back to Swing P so the needles are directly opposite and using the single prong tool, hang the heel stitch from the main bed stitches on the opposite rib bed needle - you could just do a zigzag row at low tension over the whole thing and hope for the best - it will work, but won't look so great - your choice! After you have all the rib needles filled in, set to circular. T8/10, K2R. Grade tension down by one number to match beginning hem. RC014. Cancel circular. Zigzag, T7/7, K1R.
With WY, T5/5, K20R circular knitting. FNR, K2R. Remove from machine. Steam WY to set stitches. Remove last two rows to open the end. Fold waste yarn out. Using latch tool, start at side opposite to yarn end and chain cast off by picking up end stitch, put behind latch. Pick up next stitch from other side of WY and pull through. Continue going back and forth across row. At end, pull yarn end through to anchor. Remove waste yarn. Darn in ends.
Analysis: This was a very quick knit! I did find that yarn spray helped eliminate/reduce the clunking at the left side on every other row when the rib bed needles were needed. No close knit bar was required. I have used these techniques on multiple garments/patterns both in KNITWORDS and in my Serial Stuff series. I hope you love it as much as I do!
Red Scarf for Aids Awareness count: 7

rash promises....

Do you ever do that? Promise something to someone and then after, think, why did I do that? Anyway, I did do that when I was in St Cloud in September... Everyone seemed to like my 'Karen's wedding stole' so much and several people asked for the pattern and I did it - blithely said, 'oh yeah, I'll write that up and put it on my blog for free...
Well, you probably don't want to hear what I had to go through (trying to install DK8 on new computer to get stitch picture printed; searching for photos because I forgot where I put them; learning to type all over again because texting spoils you with auto-correct; trying to put a pdf on this blog...). I do have the pattern for the stole done as a pdf but can't figure out how to add it here, so just email me at knitwords@shaw.ca and put TLR stole pdf in the subject line and I'd be more than happy to send it to you...thanks for being patient!

I also promised to do a mid gauge version of the RTR Lace Cardi...I AM working on it!

PS - these swatches are just practises - not the actual yarn I'll be using...