Spinning and Dyeing

Oh Boy! One of my fav knitting websites has in the Spring issue lots of stuff about spinning, spindles and wheels ..and -wow-dyeing wool for spinning! Which is a current focus of mine : how to simplify the process of permanent dyeing of wool. This webpage from knitty.com is the best yet. http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/FEATKSdishwasherdyeing.html

I and also seen a few other interesting techniques, like using colored tissue paper; a French website has a good overview of the process. I tried it and have come to the conclusion that the dyes used in France must be more “runny” but I did mange to get a raspberry, red, other pinks and purple roving done- all rather more pastel than I prefer. Just in case you are curious:
http://www.tricotin.com/fiche41.htm

I used a free online translation service and it was very funny to interpret, their rendition. Anyway- color is cool!

Knitting World Cup

Did you join the Knitting Olympics?

Now you can join the Knitting World Cup!
Cast on : 9th June 2006 18:00 (Central European Time)
Finish by: final whistle 21:30 (CET) on 9th July 2006

Competition Rules:

1. Choose any project you will find a challenge.
2. You must complete it within the time frame.
3. No casting on before kick off
4. Finish before final whistle of the final match
5. “Training” sessions of tension squares are allowed prior to kick off.

Football(as in soccor) widows and knitting fiends get your team (i.e. project) selected now.

To join, email the yarn monkey yarn.monkey@yahoo.com and you'll be added to the teams list.

There will be a prize draw from the winners for some stichin' and bitchin' swag.

Continental Knitting

Today was a very inspirational day. The machine knitting guild folks did a fashion show and I saw some very nicely done items, creativity galore! A new member arrived today- the second man now in the guild. He goes to a class many of us attend- the daytime one of the night class I attend (same teacher) on Monday nights, when I can. Most Mondays.

The other fellow will soon be the President of the Guild! Very focussed and organized. He is also teaching himself to handknit. I had given him the heads up that I would be more than willing to help with tips there. He was so happy to show me his first efforts, apparently he went to the web and studied and started from there. I gave him the tip about slipping the first stitch to create an even edge.

I love the continental(aka German) knitting style (versus “throwing”) and commented on this when he watched me cast on and start knitting; he noticed my method was different than most others around. He tried both and wants to learn continental! Wo-hoo. My buddy likes the English (aka throwing) style (there are others too). I suppose the way you learn is the way you are most comfortable with. Years ago, I went to a HK Guild and the first thing they told me was- we need you to do Continental style of knitting, to be most efficient and “hand friendly”. No biggie- I was already there. Others in the guild told me of their struggle to “switch” but that they DID then see the merit.

Kinda reminds me of another area....I use a Mac! ......Oh...nevermind...we don’t want to go there. In my other “hobby life” I am a Macintosh User Group leader....Apple Ambassador is my title. Have held most positions including Pres forever...I also was given title of Queenie....guess they want to keep me around forever! Somebody has to do it- and it has been me...for way too long but I still enjoy the club.

Hope everyone is enjoying the Spring Weather! Sun at last. Tomorrow is gardening day for me! Parsnip seeds, beans, peas, carrots,beets more onions basil and some starts of greens will be going in. Still have plenty of chard- onions- strawberries-various flowers- and herbs around. Hot weather stuff like squash, tomatoes and peppers can wait a bit still. Have weeded and composted - now to plant!

Pulling Sheep over Dutch Eyes, Silkworms and WOOL

LOL just had to lift this image off of the NY Times. The article is just as amusing. NY Times article

The long and short of it is that it violated the ban on highway advertising and due to 15% increase in bookings- the offending hotel is determined to continue the practice.

On another note i am hoping to resist the temptation to grow silkworms....I have seen this being done at TAC, Day Program I am affliated with and am sooo tempted. I joined a caterpillar breeding list serve (groan- can hardly keep up with the various (fibers-dye-spin- knit- machine knit) ones I am on already. The list will serve as vicarious thrills. I do not need yet another fiber related hobby.

Just in case you really want to see what is all about, below is the moderator‘s website pages about it all, that got me into trouble; Growing slikworms

Yesterday i bought about 10 lbs of raw fleece. and will be making a puppy blanket to go along with the bed (see previous post) during this coming weekend. Of course the weather is great so other activities beckon...The wool will be flicked and rubbed into a Felted Piece and I will add lots of loose yarn pieces to it, so should end up pretty interesting looking. An artist friend of mine has given me lots of tips The wool is so fab-various sheep- white, grey and “black” from sheep lovingly tended year around at an Animal Program for the developmentally delayed. Minimal VM! That’s vegetative matter for the unintiated.

GTG!

Woolly Events...

Lots of list-talk from our East Coast spinning and knitting folks these days about the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. We do have a few events going on the West Coast- spread out through September. Best known of course is the Black Sheep Gathering in Oregon, in June.

More Locally an interesting one is the Dixon Lambtown Saturday, July 29th, 2006, from 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. There are quite a few interesting classes in spinning, knitting and dyeing. Since the location is about an hour drive, this may be my “Big Event” this year.

Other upcoming events mainly around Northern California include:(Sorry no time to HTML it all...)

May 5 CNCH 06: Delivery due date for non-judged Gallery entries at Modesto Convention Center
May 5 – 7 CNCH 2006 California Landscape Conference of Northern California Handweavers, Modesto, CA. www.cnch.org. Write CNCH, P.O. Box 191119, Sacramento 95819 Conference of Northern California Handweavers
May 6 Spring Splash, Family Day at the Richmond Art Center 1-4PM, 2540 Barrett Ave, Richmond 510-620-6772 or www.therichmondartcenter.org
May 13 Alameda County Fair entry forms due. www.alamedacountfair.com or 925-425-7611
May 13 Forest Home Farms Sheep Sheering Family Day 19953 San Ramon Valley Blvd, San Ramon. 11AM – 3PM Spindles and Flyers guild will teach spinning and felting. More volunteers welcomed. Kim, 925-973-3283, kgiuliano@sanramon.ca.gov or www.ci.san-ramon.ca.us/parks/boone.htm
May 15 CiNCHNotes Deadline for submissions cinchnotes@cnch.org or Susan 415-468-5590
May 20 Haiku Landscape, Shibori Dyeing lecture by Judith Content. de Young Museum, San Francisco. 10AM $5 non-TAC members, no museum admission 415-750-3627 or www.textileartscouncil.org
May 21 S&F Meeting El Cerrito: confirm new officers for 06-07
June 3 Spinners Day at Retzlaff Winery, fleeces food, fun, and special guests 1356 S. Livermore Ave, Livermore. Bring wheel, sunhat and chair, potluck dish and water. 10AM – 5PM $5 admission. Will Taylor 925-228-7223 campbelltaylor@earthlink.com
June 9-10 Alameda County Fair entry delivery days www.alamedacountyfair.com
June 10 Spinners Picnic at West Side Farms, 7097 Westside Road, Healdsburg. Demonstration volunteers wanted. Potluck picnic, fiber sales and spinning next to the Russian River. 10AM – 4PM JoAnn 707-874-3374 or info@wyammyranch.com
June 10 Yard Sale and Fair, Pacific Textile Arts, 450 Alger St, Fort Bragg, CA 707-964-5279
June 23 – 25 Black Sheep Gathering, 86460 Loraine Highway, Eugene, OR 97405-9481, leslie@fishwhistle.com or www.blacksheepgathering.org
June 17 Southern Quiltmaking and Gee’s Bend Quilters lecture, de Young Museum, San Francisco. 10AM $5 non-TAC members, 415-750-3627 or www.textileartscouncil.org
June 18 S&F Meeting El Cerrito and Father’s Day
Jun 25-Jul 1 Convergence 2006, Grand Rapids, MI; HGA biennial fiber conference and workshops. HGA, 1255 Buford Highway, Suite 211, Suwanee, GA 30024 or www.weavespindye.org
June 28 Speed Crochet Contest, Alameda County Fair
July TBD Sheep to Shawl Contest at the Alameda County Fair. Will 925-228-7223 campbelltaylor@earthlink.com
July 5 Speed Knitting Contest at Alameda County Fair. www.alamedacountyfair.com
July 8 Carson Sierra Guild BBQ (and opportunity to visit Heidi’s new home) –
July 28-30 LambTown, Friday spinning competition with free admission. Classes & workshops Sat-Sun. $2 admission, $2 parking www.lambtown.com or 350 West A St., Dixon CA 95620
July 20 Stitch and Pitch, Knitters at SF Giants Game vs. San Diego Padres. Tickets include Stitch n' Pitch tote bag buy at Tickets.com Ticket Giants Dugout Stores or 877.4SFGTIX. http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/sf/ticketing/group_special_events.jsp
July 22-Nov 12 Quilts of Gee’s Bend. Textile Gallery, de Young Museum, San Francisco
Aug 7 – Sept 2 Tamalpias Weavers’ Guild Show, Tiburon library. Reception Aug 8. Dotti Day, 415 924-9436, dottiday@comcast.net
Aug 8 Artists Reception for Tamalpias Weavers’ Guild Show at the Tiburon Library
Aug 13 Samplings Textile Festival, Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St, Oakland. Noon – 5PM Free admission. 510-238-2200 or www.museumca.org
Sept 15-17 80th Annual California Wool and Fiber Festival, with Mendocino county fair and apple show. Boonville 707-894-2591 or www.fiberfestival.com
Oct 3 - ? Innovations in FiberArts III, a biennial, open show. Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Submission date to be determined.
Oct 22-26 Camp Stitches Asilomar $535-$820 web: knittinguniverse.com or 800-237-7099
Oct 29-Nov SOAR, Spin Off Autumn Retreat, Granlibakken, Tahoe City www.interweave.com

Above is actually a tricky way for me to plan and review fiber related things to do, when I am away from home. ;-0

Happy Fiber-ing to you all!

Yet Another Yarn Show

Yesterday I wen to another Yarn and Other Associated Stuff Show. Next year they will probably not hold it so soon after Stitches. The machine knitting Guild had a booth there and I was around to talk and demo about machine knitting. I was also happily surprised to see the Nice Woman (Judie) who gave me my first spindle lesson at Stitches. Yesterday she patiently gave me my first carding lesson. I made quite a few purchases-some nice merino and silk roving, silk tussah, a new spindle, reference card to track my needle collection, a set of needles for sewing, 2 Books on spinning (one about color in spinning), knitting needles, plastic bobbins, and a set of hand cards for processing wool. This is one of 2 local events and most of the items would need to be mail ordered if I wanted them so - I indulged a bit! Actually, I managed to restrain myself....

Thought this little guy was so cute and couldn’t resist adding him to my blog:

fooling around

I managed to almost complete a nice linen/cotton lace Easter shawl but had too much finishing to wear it for Easter. So will do the “hemming“ (so both ends look the same) ..one of these days. I pulled a few needles out of work on Stichworld pattern number 291 to be exact. Beats a few thousand extra passes with a lace carriage.

This Saturday we will be demo’ing a knitting machine for our guild at a show. Due to the hassle involved in returning items, it was suggested everyone just bring items they have created and display them during the time they are volunteering. Opps- most of my completed items are just swatches! LOl...actually a heart, some dishcloths, one hat, a few scarves and a baby sweater have made their way off the needles...Most have been given as gifts. Anyway, I will try to finish the shawl in time.

It’s in Oakland California Thursday 4/20 to 23/2006 (link is below)
The Knit & Crochet Show Spring 2006

As for hand knitting, I am doing up a pair of socks from predyeing the yarn on blanks which I knit on the machine and then painted/dyed for a self striping pattern. I did 2 blanks on nice merino yarn/ EON / on the standard machine. Pinned them down side by side to do the painting to be exactly the same-....Came out pretty nice! If I run out of yarn - which is starting to appear to be the case- I have some yarn still to finish toes with.

Alpaca Show! A Very Fun Event

Yesterday my knitting buddy Leslie and I had a really fun time at an Alpaca Show! Held at the Alameda Fairgrounds, the fiber was yummy, the animals so darn cute. They all were real characters! Before yesterday I only joked about wanting to have an Alpaca; now its going to be a serious thought for my future. It IS Springtime and the young males were so flirty, it was just so funny.

Anyway, the various Show Events gave me a few clues as to the qualities looked for in an Alpaca. Breeders, importers of items, and the public at large mingled freely with the leashed animals as they were waiting for their turn in the ring- very tame and soooo soft, with their full winter coats. Next month is shearing time, according to a knowledgeable person. One Alpaca that had been shorn was rather shockingly slim; now I see how much fiber they carry. Of course, these were all show animals on hand. The one shown was the only spotted one around and was very calm and placed well. She is a yearling.

Anyway, I’ll soon be spinning Alpaca fiber!

The Before Pictures

The water bottle is a 5 gallon size and the exercise ball is the largest available, so you can see the size of this latest piece! This week‘s knitting project is the next felted item. I’ve done plenty of felted berets and cloches and brimmed hats so thought I’d venture forth into giganto land to make a dog bed. A puppy bed to be exact. Not sure yet how it will felt up so here are the before pictures. I have not taken any pix of my hats before felting but suffice it to say they all looked rather strange before shrinking down and being shaped. So this one stands a very good chance of coming out just fine. Especially since size and fit will not be much of a consideration. When she outgrows it- it can be a toy basket or something. The dog will grow to 80 lbs., so this item will be basically just a baby/puppy bed for first months away from the nest. All the wool is from left overs, many of which were hand spun from color experiment pieces. One main yarn is from a very old rug yarn and may not felt very much, coupled with a barely spun wool so may look interesting. It shrinks more in length than width. Size 9 US needles. The stitches are made from 3 yarn stands, which will become obscured. Or maybe a not. Time will tell LOL.. I’ll post the felting regime in progress later.

Shameless plug

My most wonderful man in the world / DH ( dedicated houseboy) is an artist - extraordinarily so- and has a website:
Thomas E Jeweler Website - http:/www/sfstreetartist.com

Some of his jewelry is there for you to see.

The San Francisco Street Artist is a licensed program - a great opportunity for a small artist to sell his/her creations to the public. The image is from Sunday 3/27/06. He is usually at Justin Herman Plaza (near the Ferry Building) on Sat/Sun, weather permitting.

Spinning

This Sunday is the second Spinning Guild meeting and I will be taking a wheel over. DH just replaced a small leather piece that attached the arm to turn the wheel to the treadle, which promptly tore off the first time he stepped on the treadle. Guess I better learn the names of the parts now

This is a loaner wheel until another one is retried from a deep storage spot later this Spring. HAPPY SPRING!!!

Did the ol’dust off and lemon-oil cleaning and ithe Unknown Wheel cleaned up really well. Now to see if I can get it to work. At the last guild meeting I was given several pounds of raw and some once-washed fleece. I managed to procure some antique looking cards and figured out how to wash the stuff too. Wind dried! My first try at carding resulted in an hour long sidetrack in removing rust from the metal edging of the 2 cards. Don’t need rusty wool! I have (book and internet) 2 sets of instructions on using the cards, with 3 different ways to do it (par for the course). Nice to know there are variations. Anyway I did manage to card up some of the fleece I washed and then spun it on my spindle- wow- it was pretty nice going! Smooth.

The wool is a very soft Dorset. Have to give myself a pat on the back- my first yarn done entirely by moi. Lookie Mommie- I did it ALL BY MYSELF. Lol (mom died rather young folks - so forgive the personal aside). Now to find out how to really do it right. The guild folks will set me straight!

Sheep to sweater coming up!!! With some sidetracking into dyeing too.

Off to work. Just figured out my taxes. Yikes- I owe, I owe , so off to work I go (need to force that happy-song-voice in here).
Will be a tight belt time for awhile now- need to change my W-2s now that da kid is not a dependent. But that is another tale in itself!.

Good thing I can spin my own yarn now ( sort of - will be a raw newbie for awhile) and have some wool- time to NOT BUY YARN. My yarn junkie ways will have to be satisfied by the last pink batch of merino waiting to be picked up at the Post Office. eBay - What did we do without you???

No yarn on cones around my neck of the woods anyway. There is one yarn store that has ONE cone but I have never forgiven them since they disssed me when I mentioned I was a machine knitter. Heck- I still knit by hand every day too. Those brats- boycotted for now.

See ya!!

Knitting at Meetings

Recently Ms. Manners in the Boston Globe answered a query about the appropriateness of knitting at meetings with a how rude etc., response. Needless to say, the hordes of knitters on a knitting related list were not too pleased and a shortlived, lively discussion ensued, until it was halted by moderators and the passionate purlers resumed sharing tips and queries.

The below response says it all. I agree,except for I never bother to ask. When I am at monthly meetings at work, after my presentation “part”(which is first)is over (unless I am the minute taker which occurs sometimes), I find knitting has always helped me to listen attentively.

One caveat: On these occasions I do not handle complex patterning that would require looking at any guides. Knitting has definitely helped me endure er a ...integrate into my brain... 3 day workshops, much better than daydreaming ever could have!

Anyway, here it is:
Quote:

Subject: Re: knitting at meetings

Fellow knitters,

I am a psychologist, and have brought my knitting to many workshops
and training sessions. I always ask the presenter whether I can
knit, and so far not only has no one said no, but all have commented
on the benefits of knitting in terms of focus and concentration while
listening. One presenter, a nationally renowned expert in the use of
the body in psychotherapy, said that anyone who thinks that a knitter
cannot be paying full attention "obviously doesn't understand
sensorimotor integration." So there.

Unquote..

Happy Knitting!

Seminar

These are nice images. I will be knitting on my machine- prolly a baby blanket and a ruffled scarf for this:



I belong to a Machine Knitting Guild that puts on workshops every month- sometimes one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

This weekend is a special 2 day seminar. They flew out Sandee Cherry from Illinois ( to NorCal). She was really fun today (Friday) and more to come tomorrow. She really conveys many good tips in with lighthearted humor. I purchased one of her workbooks- a book of patterns and tips and her Designing 101 CD and last but not least a Garter bar V-CD.

The garter bar seems to be a tool I will be using plenty now- I love cabled sweaters and she showed how to use it for cables today. Her 20 minute pants look like a likely project for me too. Soo much was covered today- my head is spinning....with ideas and more insight into just “having at it”.

I Also must confess that I bought a spindle at Stitches West 2 weeks ago and last weekend went to a Spinning Guild meeting. I was able to go home with a great big box of wool I have to wash and prepare. How exciting! Then i had a spinning wheel fall into my hands too, right away.

Dang- not enough hours in the day for my hobbies! Good thing I can knit while I am at work at times! Otherwise I’d go crazy

I’ve been lurking in various knitting listserves and am so amused....there is treasure chest full of support out there!

In the meantime I had the opportunity to get going on my patterning(card) based machines ...then got an electronic (all Brother)
So haven’t had time to do any posting, just too much to do!

Have a nice day ya all...

Knitting Resolution

My commitment to my knitting passion for this week (or two) is to finish the almost done pieces! Actually yesterday I DID finish a pair of socks. I use a little chimney technique to close up the toes, makes a perfect Kitchener type of stitch. The seamless “seam“ . Without the little mouse ears. Lately I always have a sock- in- progress going on.

I also finished another piece by putting the silk ribbon fringe on a scarf I made for a close friend..It was my first Machine Knit tuck patterned piece too. If you don’t count swatches and play learning piueces. Fun. Now she is getting interested in machine knitting. I will prolly set her up with my Singer LK 100. Good basic machine for getting going!

The scarf was made from a nice Angora mix I purchased at a Holiday Machine knitting guild swap based meeting. Most everyone brought yarn to either put in the charity bin or sell, and a few knitting machine items showed up too. I saw my first linker, looked interesting. An antique machine swapped owners too. There was huge stash of very nice coned yarn from the estate of a woman who had died, and the guild became the lucky recipient(s). I bought 8 cones, including the Angora, for next to nothing. This all was a fund-raiser too; the guild made 250 dollars.

In March the Guild will have a 2-Day Special Sandie Cheerie seminar, which everyone is excited about. I always stay for the extra/ guest session the guild meeting has each month. So far I have seen penny socks on ribber/main bed (in the round), a quickie, no ends to sew in poncho technique, shortrowing of skirts and a shirtrow hat. Cut and sew, hand felting and felting adornment of pieces, to name a few. I am still wet behind the ears with Machine knitting but am getting up to speed with lace, patterning, reading patterns, basic techniques. Next Saturday we will be shown as many attachments as we have time for!

One of the more insightful aspects of the guild is the show and tell portion; hand knit or machine knit. Seen some nice designs and brought my latest pieces-a yummy Noro Kureyan sweater, felted bag and felted hat samples(. Berets, bowlers, cloches) and a scarf I accidentally felted. Good thing short, ascot length neck wraps are very in around here (as well as long and “skinny”).

I had this very ancient favorite cashmere scarf-knit up at a Driving School Day years ago-that was tossed in the white wash- read: hot, one cycle. Soak overnight. Run through full cycle. Opps..ended up in the dryer too. Beat up into a great peice! At first I was a bit sad.. my soft and cozy scarf was gone..then realized it had this neat wavy edge. Tom calls it the lasagna noodle scarf since it is white, wavy edged. I wore it with a little Christmas tree pin holding it all together and it received rave comments. It actually had become a bit ragged but had been transformed into something very interesting, The crochet edge has morphed into an edge with a ripple!

Next project I’m going to have to do is rip/frog a piece I changed by mind about. FUG Poncho, what was I thinkng! I had revamped the Martha Poncho into a little just around the shoulders piece and now can’t stand it. Oh well..rippit, rippit coming up. So much for never keeping to a pattern. I usually have better luck with my own stuff anyway.

I have been knitting up a BIG lot of this nice pink yarn at a Church rummage sale - Was prolly a set destined for an Afghan and forgotten about...feltable too. It has provided me with the basis for lots of experiments in socks, hats, felting, baby sweaters. It is perfect for my bulky machine, which had remained in the box so far but I am itching to get it set up.

In the meantime we are redoing our loft, so I have to wait a bit. I live in a nice big loft, and with some transformation of space ~ a new workshop area is coming up for me, courtesy of the loving efforts of my best friend /SIG-O Tom. He is transforming a contiguous area for my craft persuits to be more handy. Instead of co-mingling with my Computer stuff /office space and living room; these areas are getting a bit out of hand.

Later this week I can set up the bulky and get going with it. I will be getting a shipment of dye for protein this week to and have yarn ready to go for some working on mixing colors for dyeing too.


Keeping a knitting blog is fun!

Happy New Year!

Dyeing to Knit

Recently I became fascinated with creating my own colors for yarn and have taken the leap into dyeing yarn. Wool requires a dye that dyes protein, the same dye will also be useful for silk when I get there..In any case a very nice creative woman in my machine knitting guild has expanded on a technique she stumbled across and I just love it! Kind of like painting! Technique is done on a preknit piece of fabric from the yarn you wish to later use as a main color or background.

She is starting to teach out of her home and at some fiber “festivals”. She’s great. Her day job is an attorney for a firm specializing in workman’s comp. Gotta love it.

A bit complicated to explain but suffice it to say, it will be very useful and fun. The color gradiations possible are going to look very nice as the background on a 2 color piece. For starters.

My first experiment was taking two matching pieces of preknit (hooray for knitting machines as fabric producers!) which were laid out side by side and carefully dyed via brushing on matching bands of color. The idea was to have stripped socks in my choice of color combo and ultimately have 2 pairs of perfectly matched striped socks,without the hassel of carefully counting rows and changing yarns. In my choice of colors, the colors produced where the bands met ( to form ann additional color as well) are really interesting too.I’ll be doing the other idea mentioned already after I finish the socks.

Anyway, color work on my yarn is turning out to be quite the addiction-to-be as well. I have a close friend who just went back to Chile for a while and will be returning with a mega treasure trove of Alpaca for me to use for all this -some nice hand processed yarn to work with.

Nuf for now! Happy holidays!

Japanese Knitting Haikus

These are from a Japanese Knitting Website and are most amusing.

(One more stitch... One more row... Ah..? It's dawn.)


(How many pepole have touched with their cheeks on this soft yarn skein?)


(I hate all these 15 rows over the mistake.)


(Praising her work, I mumble to myself "I can do it, too.")


(Autumn winds always drift me into yarn shops.)

You Knit WHAT??

Those of you who have entertaining knitting related reading may like to read this one. Amusing images and reader comments will leave you in stiches..ha ha ha.

http://youknitwhat.blogspot.com/

Upcoming Knitting event calendar / links

5th annual Knit Out & Crochet Too
ANCHORAGE - OCTOBER 15, 2005

Craft Fair
October 20- 23, 2005; Asheville NC,

Fourth Annual Knit-Out & Crochet
October 23rd, 2005; Washington, DC, Sunday

Greater Milwaukee Knitting Guild Market Night!
October 11, 7 p.m Milwaukee

Knit-Out & Crochet 2005
LLANO, Texas - OCTOBER 15, 2005

Michigan Fiber Festival
October 18, 2005, Near Gun Lake Michigan!

Southeastern Animal and
October 21st (workshops only), 22nd and 23rd, 2005; Western North Carolina Ag Center near Ashville.

Y2Knit Knitting Getaway Experience
October 26-30, Heart of the Village Inn, VT

Ginger Luters, author of Module Magic Seminar
November 11-14, 2005, Rochester, New York

Knit Out 2005
November 5, 2005; Charleston, SC

Knitter's Review Weekend Retreat
November 4-6, 2005; Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria, Virginia

Rip Van Winkle Knitting Retreat
November 11, 12 and 13, 2005; Round Top NY

Heartland Knitting Retreat
December 2nd, 3rd and 4th 2005 at the Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan Wisconsin

2006

Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat
February 9-12, 2006; Tacoma, Washington

Stitches West 2006
Feb-16 to Feb-19, 2006 in Santa Clara, CA;

We're Knitting In Funkstown, MD
March 31-Apr 1, 2006; Funkstown, MD

Cape Ann Nordic Knit Retreat
March 24, 25 and 26, 2006; Gloucester, MA

Fiber Retreat
March 10, 11, 12, 2006 ; Jefferson City, Missouri

Mindful Knitting Retreat
March 9-12, 2006; Greensboro, VT

Creativity in the Making.
April 28-30, 2006, Missauga, Ontario

Dallas-Ft. Worth Fiber Festival
April 28-30, 2006; Addison, Texas

Rip Van Winkle Spin Retreat
April 28, 29 and 30, 2006; Round Top, NY

Rip Van Winkle Knit In A Circle Retreat
May 19, 20 and 21, 2006; Round Top, NY

We're Knitting in San Francisco
May 20-21, 2006; San Francisco

Alice Springs Beanie Festival
June 30 - July 3, 2006; Alice Springs, Australia

Knitting Up with the Joanses-Alaskan Tour
August 24- September 3, San Francisco to Alaska and back.

Stitches Midwest 2006
Aug-10 to Aug-13, 2006 in Rosemont, IL

Rip Van Winkle Angora Spin Retreat
September 15, 16 and 17, 2006; Round Top, NY

---

Other sources of information:

Lion Brand’s Calendar.

What kind of blogger am I

Your Blogging Type Is the Private Performer

Your blog is your stage - with your visitors your adoring fans. At least, that's how you write with your witty one liners. And while you like attention, you value your privacy. You're likely to have an anonymous blog - or turn off comments.

What's Your Blogging Personality?

another one!

You Are Miss Piggy

A total princess and diva, you're totally in charge - even if people don't know it. You want to be loved, adored, and worshiped. And you won't settle for anything less. You're going to be a total star, and you won't let any of the "little people" get in your way. Just remember, piggy, never eat more than you can lift!

The Muppet Personality Test

How I caught the Machine Knitting Bug Summer 05

Time for me to start a knitting blog. First posting will be a long one since I have “saved up” some notes.

I have recently become nuts for knitting with a knitting machine (or two, actually) and have a steep learning curve going on now.

Things I have learned:
1) Study carefully the standard being used before you buy a piece of equipment on eBay
2) Have fun and don‘t take yourself too seriously

Mid summer 2005 I started to look around at eBay for a knitting machine and THOUGHT i understood what the deal was with knitting machines. OOPS. Not...

There are oldie but goodies machines out there which have great merit but i was so eager to get a darn thing that that I really did not take the time to study it all as thoroughly as I normally would have done, and do, with most pieces of technology.....
Alright, may be....... I am a impulse shopper in my computer life a bit too (I have a Mac or 4, wifi router or 2,(Airtunes and wifi enabled printing, iPod, various backup FW drives, printers, scanners,yada yada and consider myself fairly technologically savvy ) All those cables, power adaptors, docks, serial to USB converters....you get the picture.

I consider(ed) myself somewhat capable of diving into this new arena- How complicated could it be to set up a knitting machine? As long as there was a manual, I thought.

Have you ever been amused by a device (like a watch for example) that comes with a non-manual?- you know- those how to set up instructions that are close to, if not totally indecipherable? Well, I found myself with a large manual with so many funny little ways of explaining even the most basic of actions to take/ pieces to piece together, that I halfway considered taking up Japanese language classes to figure out the sentence structure.

In any case, buyer beware- knockoffs that you see ONLY one of, may be that way for a reason. Later, when I researched a few knitting machine lists, I DID manage to find someone who used my one of a kind, but she was just as goofy as the Manual and little help developed. I have since joined a Machine Knitters Guild and an Adult Ed Knitting Workshop, so I AM finally getting better and getting it going. It became apparent that a few nuts and bolts were put together improperly- either at the factory or by the previous owner...no wonder it was in pristine condition!. Fortunately I have a built in mechanical support system close at hand- my sig-O aka DH- So that problem was short lived.

Simultaneously, when I was bidding/ eventually purchased the knitting machine and ribber attachment, I actually posted a request in a community area (on Craigslist http://www.craigslist.com ), a request for a donation of a knitting machine and got a nice response. A Singer LK 100 machine, very basic, was gifted to me by a sweet woman! Of course I was severely chastised for placing an off topic, item wanted ad in an improper area-but hey- who looks in wanted?..It was removed in day or 2 but I did get the appeal out successfully... heh heh.

It was great! Up and Running in no time- I took it camping for a week and the even the campground spoiled brat chipmunks were amused and entertained by my efforts. It is a plastic one,(needles are metal (doh), and very lightweight( the other one weighs a ton since it has a metal bed, and is built like a truck, huge).

My first efforts included swatching lots of junk yarn to fool around with tension and gauge. I ended up binding off, turning the piece and rehanging by another edge- changing yarn as I ran out of scraps.. and.... pretty soon I had a bag which needed only a few edges to be stitched together (on machine and by hand) and ~viola~ a big bag!

My first project on the knitting machine was born, in the campgrounds of Mendocino, on the Singer LK 100, a very basic Bulky. The piece was subsequently felted since I was pretty sure I had only used wool (not superwash) yarn.

Usually I knit by hand and felt hats and bags (and socks to become booties) with 2 big strands of wool so was not sure how this would turn out, using only a single strand. I was a bit nervous since I hated the thought of the bag becoming a big , twisted- out-of-recognition-or usability piece, in case one of the yarns had not been woolen yarn.

Low and behold, the bag turned out to be a really really nice one!. WoW. I am/ so far/ too lazy and busy to line it but now it holds a small project (currently self striping socks); I ALWAYS have a small project to carry around close at hand wherever I go. Knitting in Public is a favorite pastime to fill spare moments. .....More of this later...

Back to first throes of Machine Knitting. Being the yarn junkie that I am, I did manage to use this success as as a reasonable excuse to peruse the local(on vacation) Yarn Store and boy was I in luck! (maybe) They had just moved into a larger building and had bags and bags of yarn in huge plastic bags, on sale. One nice Italian yarn caught my eye and several skeins became mine. Vest for DH coming up...Of course they had tons of books too and the most expensive Knitting book I had ever seen, soon became mine. It is really nice- using using natural forms as inspiration for texture/ patterning. Wow- inspiration galore.

Getting interesting stitching patterns on to my knitting proved the next challenge...Of course my machines are, for the most part manual patterning (until I decipher the push buttons and levers on the metal bed one , which will add a few basics and make some patterning possible. Read: stockinette and plenty of handwork (and plenty of playing with needles by hand)...
If you have a Super Speed 350 (Synchroknitter) I would love to hear from you..

Quote:
Early machines had little or no such capability, and the knitter had to pattern the design manually. Subsequent knitting machines use one of three different methods to automatically pattern: punch-card, mylar, and electronic.
Punch-card machines read a special piece of graph paper that has holes punched in it to represent the design to be knit. Mylar machines read a similar graph that is drawn on a clear piece of mylar. Electronic machines have a computer on board that can be programmed with the graph. The most critical difference, besides ease of use, is that the latest electronic machines are capable of reading a design the full width of the needle bed (200 stitches on the standard gauge). Punchcard machines are only capable of reading a graph up to 24 stitches wide per row, which limits the design choices. Electronic machines may also have garment shaping capabilities that tell the knitter when to increase or decrease.
When the knitting machine reads each line of the graphed design, it places the selected needles into the correct working positions to make the pattern. Regardless of type, any knitting machine will repeat the design, whatever size, over and over across the selected needles, unless it's programmed by the knitter to do otherwise. In addition, when all the rows have been knitted, the machine will start over with the first row again unless the design is cancelled.
My advice to anyone buying a new machine knitting is to buy the best that you can, even if it's more than you need right now, because trade-in values are very low. If you should decide later that you want more features, you'll end up spending a lot more than if you just got them in the first place.
The last paragraphs are plagiarized from the below website, which offers a Great Overview of the knitting machine:
http://www.woolfestival.com/articles/knittingmachines1.htm

Of course hindsight is always best. Being a computer technology freak ( I have Mac, know some Unix ) I KNOW I will drool over an electronic knitting machine, eventually, but will ignore the above advice and get a punch card patterning machine as I progress. Non electronic, this step wise approach will be fine for me, to be moving slowly.

So far I am resisting more of eBay‘s lure - amazing how many machines belong to aunts who just could not figure it out and is in like mint/ excellent/new condition after being in the closet for 20 years......hmmmm. However, I have a slew of favorite sellers now and my MK book and accessories collection has grown considerably via eBay.

There are great websites and listserves/ email groups out there to educate oneself about Knitting Machines, techniques,patterns, yarn, deals. I should know- I have spent more time educating myself there, than on my machine, so far. ;-)

Knitting Machine Links
Here are a few of my favorites: I have web archived many to be able to view offline.
http://www.yarn-store.com/knitting-machine-chart.html
http://www.daisyknits.com/
http://maskinstrik.homepage.dk/english/index.htm#Preface <--I LOVE this site as very complete overview of machine knitting. Made a good book for myself to refer to, offline,from this many-chaptered site. Gotta love computers...

http://knittersreview.com/goto.asp?goto=machine The forums here are really fun too.
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Favs for knitting in general:
http://www.knitty.com/ has fun patterns for hand knitting, which I would never give up even if i become a total machine knitting nut, which is quickly bercoming the case.