Podcasting for Machine Knitters

An Awesome event! Pictures only.

I’ll be recording a podcast later this week .  If you’d like to be part of the podcast and I’ve talked to you about doing it… make that easy phone call.  If you’d like to be part of the podcast but don’t know how send me a quick email  (isrbrown AT twcny DOT rr DOT com just replace the capped words with their symbols before you email)  I’ll give you the secret number and a few tips.  You can ask questions, talk about Iwannaknit whatever you want.

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^Right Click & Save Target as for the podcast!

WOW.. thats pretty much all I have to say…  but I say a WHOLE bunch more in the podcast that is being published along with this entry! 

Here are some links, I discuss the event in depth in the podcast.  There are things I forget to mention though.  I just want to say a public THANK YOU to each of the Demonstrators and Vendors!  You’ll find their links permanently to the right in short order.  You should visit the links as you read this though.  Add them to your favorites.  There is new info at each site as to seminars and new products.  VERY WELL DONE!  WOW!

Please support these folks in their future efforts!

Silver Needle’s Fingerlakes Machine Knitting Seminar  Next year’s event is April 23rd & 24th 2010!  MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Carolyn Barnett - FABULOUS INSPIRATION!!!

Ileen Levy - AWESOME IDEAS & SHOPPING! 

Mary Anne Oger - AMAZING!  has anyone seen the magazine site recently?  Thats kind of fun! I just went there to make sure I got the link right. 

Charlene Shafer - ROCKING MY DESIGN A KNIT WORLD!                                  Charlene brought our attention to a new Tamm yarn … called Bebe… which is offered in many solid and variegated colors.  Check it out!

BT YARNS - FOR YARN SHOPPING!!!  In addition to their sales check out the neat new clip for attaching patterns to our yarn masts!

All the attendees!  All of you.  There are no words for the fabulous attitudes and camaraderie that I hope we all experienced.  Without you these events cannot be a success.  This was a great event and I appreciate having met and enjoyed your company.

My pictures have not come out well so if you care to share pictures please comment!

One of the things we argue about with ourselves is… can we do this?  I have arguements like this all the time.  Its sad but true.  One side of the brain says “sure why not” and continues sipping its martini.  The other side looks at it, studies it, turns it round and round, then says … “you need to test it”.  While side B was studying side A is already having at and having switched to wine.  Side B realizes that side A is a mess and wonders how it ever got into this relationship.  Eventually side A switches to coffee and side B is having its first scotch of the day and the body moves to the 3rd swatch.   The body is drinking tea, trying to calm the brain.  The heart is pumping away saying I LOVE THIS STUFF!

OK so I had some time, lol had some time.  I took some time today to do some technique swatching for Portia.  Remember Portia?  If you don’t click on Portia and you’ll see a picture of it. 

I have  to ensure that I will be able to knit Portia on my mid gauge.  I hadn’t gotten that far.   The body says:” I mean I know “I can” come hell or high water, and I don’t care what side B says. “  I knew that it is probably not going to happen on the chunky.  WHY?  Well the needles on the chunky are 9mm apart.  The midgauge? About 2mm less. You wouldn’t think 2mm would be critical to the success or failure of a project, but they are.   Its cabled which means stretch to the next set of needles is going to be harder on the chunky than on the mid-gauge.  Side B was sure of this.  Side A convinced the body to try it.  So an attempt was made on the chunky resulting in failure.  Immediately turning to the mid-gauge even lacking a 4-prong tool the cable is very doable.  The Heart & Body now know its better on the midgauge.  YAY!  YAY! YAY! YAY!  Everyone is happy.

Technique swatch knitted on the midgauge.

If you would like to be informed as soon as the class listings for Iwannaknit 2009 Hosted by Knitting Today  come out…

Sign up here

Susan G. will be there.  I do not know her teaching plan but frankly hope to fit a class or two in to my own schedule.  Michelle Teasley, Anna McClellan and JoanMcGowan-Michael are also on the teaching team.  

Do you think it will be un-cool for me to fall down and let Susan G know that I worship her?  I mean it in a totally knitting and non-religious manner.  I mean I think on sight I may faint or at the least squeal.  Very unproffessional, I need professional help on this.   I felt this way with Lorna & Teena   last year and upon meeting  found people just as human and nutsy as I am.   Glad to call both friends.

I am teaching 3 classes this year.  Basics, Artful Knitting & Sage Gauge.  I am most excited about Sage Gauge.  I am a student of gauge myself.  A great deal is changing about our fibers, their content, and of course, dye.

Basics this class is one of my regular offerings at Iwannaknit.  If you wanna knit on a knitting machine this is THE class to take.  I can take you from setting up so it works, actual knitting and  casting off.  In this class you will learn more about  actual knitting on ANY type of machine than in any other hands on course.  Jargon, tips, tricks, tools, reading patterns… everything.  Everything YOU need to know to get on the right track with YOUR machine.  We have 2 small projects that are intended to be completed during this class.

Sage Gauge is something of a compilation.  Its not all about my opinion, its about fiber, knitting and treatment .  I have my own secrets.  Since I can’t seem to get them to prove out … I decided to study gauge in depth.  Its totally about fiber, knitting your swatch but in the end… its about how you treat the swatch.  Some math comes into this picture but its sooo easy! We are going to put our heads on this issue and students are going to come away with knowledge and confidence ready to take on their next mystery design projects!

Artful Knitting In this classroom adventure students are going to learn so much about putting color into their work.  OK OK … so I am not a color whiz.  I depend on artists  or photographs to create my Artful knitting.  Artist or not, you will come out of this class familiar with the joys of Intarsia and Fair Isle Work.    From a manual standpoint you will be able to create pictures and colorful work with your machine.  This is critical for successful activities using automatic features in machines that can handle these artistic effects.  YOU CAN knit a work of art no matter your machine.  I will show you the many ways of getting there.  Manual and computer based  techniques and programs will be demonstrated.

Other than enthusiasm I think the neatest thing I have to offer as an instructor is my willingness to take on challenges that others might not.  I teach basics for metal and plastic beds.  I love that hand knitters are interested and exploring machine knitting.  I don’t think you have to have the latest upgrades to make it work.

I welcome all of my students to email me and stay in contact. Success rocks my world.  Failure or blocks make me feel useful when I come up with resolutions.  I don’t have all the answers but I sure try to find em!

The MLP Afghan intarsia portion is done. I’d say that 60% now to work in all the ends, back it and voila Emma has a new blankie. 

I’ve figured out why I love Intarsia… to me it is like cross stitch I used to love cross stitch.

OH and as a P.S. Darn good thing MK World got rescheduled our entire Cable system went down in my area for hours!!

I am throwing this announcement here because I think some people that come to the sessions regularly might see it. I’ve had to admit I can’t do it all and MK World Live was the easiest to adjust.  Free Session will be Next Saturday, probably.

If you don’t know about MK World Live you can go there.

WELL OOPS!!!  I forgot to share the results.  Totally my bad.  Its worse than that.  I hadn’t intended to hit Publish.  I thought I’d saved the prior post as a draft.  Not going to fix it.  I am human if ya’ll didn’t know, consider yourselves informed. 

OK so.. Dye Day Results.

 I gave myself an A+ For Yarn Diet adherence on this one.   I am not sure what this hank was supposed to be eventually.  It was intended to be dyed quite some time ago.  But, it was ready to go and I needed dye ready pre-owned yarn.

For this event we were using Jacquard and Pro Chem Dyes under Carrie Barraco’s careful tutelage.  I feel like I could do this on my own but I hope whenever I do dye work that I am able to have friends to join me.  It makes it that much more fun.

For this hank of yarn I asked my dye mates for help.  I wanted something not purple so of course I had to pick Grape Juice I wanted some brown, so I selected chestnut, I wanted a little brightness so Key Lime was the choice.  Someone else had been using Salmon before I started at that workstation and I decideed that would look great.  Carrie got me started and I followed.
Now this is a sock blank.  I kinda went crazy.  They had syringes.  I am thinking I’ll invest in squirt guns for future dye day fun.   (just a thought!)

The same colors are in this sock blank as above with added turquoise, and fuschia.  Wait a second… where did the yellow come from?  I don’t remember putting yellow in there.  LOL well it was an adventure and these will be fun socks!  I’ll do a before and after blog entry when I knit them up so we can see how this insanity ends up.

So that was fun.  While we waited for our newly dyed yarns to set and rinse.  We sat around and talked, knitting, spinning, fiber in general, projects and all kinds of wonderful things fiber.

I kinda failed with my yarn diet because the sock blank was a purchase (thank you Julie). Once the topic turned to spinning and I had active spinsters nearby I decided to look at the roving that Carrie had available.  So I broke down and bought two. Here is a picture of one.   I was told that this would spin up wonderfully since I am a beginner.  I have another braid of Corrieadale that is pinks and browns.  I am looking forward to playing with those.

Here I share a picture of my first bit of yarn.  Its WAY over spun very uneven and frankly looks like crap.  I am going to knit myself a little bracelet or an anklet from it. 

Most of my friends know that DH is not enjoying the effects of the economic downturn.  Although we knew that last December.  Unfortunately for us.. it got bad for EVERYONE.  So the yarn diet must be very strict going forward.  I’ve or We’ve been VERY bad lately about yarn purchases (he is such a fabulous enabler) what with Portia coming soon.  Oh and then there is the Afghan for a certain young lady. 

Can you identify this?  Yeah, I had to go buy the yarn for this one too.  Sheesh.  I am bad.  But its going to be gorgeous and I am having a good time knitting it.  I love projects like this.  Very directed BUT… I get to pretend I am artistic and make a few subtle changes to the design as I go along.

Someday, I’ll get a podcast up.  In the meantime you get to deal with my ramblings and picture saturated blog entries.

Had a fun day with yarn colorista & Socks in the City Podcaster Carrie B. and a few new friends. Here are my results.. I am excited about what these are going to look like when knitted up. Now to schedule that knitting! He he he

In my ever present desire to share how I do things I thought I’d share some of my progress and notes as I go along working on converting this pattern from HK to MK.  No, I am not going to share every little bit about the pattern because it is not my design.  I’ll share some notes about the processes I go through to take an HK pattern to MK.

My process starts prior to my purchase.  When I consider an HK pattern I look very closely at the photography to see if it appears to be MK possible.  Most things are but some are not (very few though).  Still prior to purchase I look at the special instructions, the notes and do a quick scan of the pattern.  I don’t like to make major modifications to a pattern just because I am using a Machine.  They often end up  looking less like the original than desired.    I can hand knit and have a relatively good knowledge, and have purchased patterns to hand knit.  I just don’t love doing it like I love machine knitting.  So I buy the pattern if it looks good with intent to MK eventually. 

Once at home I sit down and really read through all of the instructions.  This is the planning point.  I make every effort to knit to the pattern’s suggested gauge.  So my planning is based on the original pattern and nothing else.  I write out my machine knitting instructions.  Sometimes this means creating a chart.  I generally use Excel spreadsheets to do this.  I do now own DAK but I have not gotten very far with my learning to really use DAK yet.   So for this project those of you that don’t own DAK will be able to follow along.  DAK users can use DAK and I am sure it would be super simple but I am on a deadline.  What do I do when I am on a deadline?  I do what I know. 

So for the moment I have been charting using Excel.  My personal charts use my own version of shorthand and let me put notes for myself all over the place.  I also put the entire project’s charts in one file.  This works for me.  I know there are other methods.   There are also knitting fonts and accepted symbols that are used for Hand Knitting.  I try to use those when I make something public but for myself?  I go with what I know.  But I can easily change my symbols and abbreviations if I end up making something public.

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ON MY SOAP BOX

Machine Knitters do not have specific symbols that are to be used for  charting.   I read, (oh yes I do!) and find symbols vary pretty wildly between designers.  Most  stick with HK symbols and then move to what works.  I use a computer and some of the symbols that have previously been hand drawn are not conducive to computer users.  The differences in descriptions for some symbols between HK & MK can be confounding!    Most excellent designers will describe their charts in great detail  and this is a life saver.  If they could all use one method our MK World would be rocking!  I would love to see a consortium of  MK Designers and Machine Knitters come up with a simplified table of Machine Knitting Symbols that were computer friendly.  The goal would be ease of use and of course better charting and chart reading!

(sorry for the tirade)__________________________________________

OK so here I am sharing a little teeny tiny shot of a portion of my chart being created based on the pattern.

Tiny part of my incomplete chart

Not going to say what part it is, Not going to say how complete it is.  This is simply an example of what works for me. 

I discovered a small problem with my plan.  The cables are 8 stitch, and I knew that.  I figured I would use a combination of my multi prongs and have no problemo.  WRONG!  I tried to test this during the last MK World Live Session.  I wasn’t demonstrating just knitting as we talked.  I have 2 3×3,  2 2×2, & 2 1×1 prong tools (these come with metal bed machines btw).  You might think this is all you would ever need.  But the prongs are combined so that no two are exactly alike.  I sat there staring at my tools for over an hour after the session.  Trying to figure out how to come up with the needed 4×4 combination that would be needed at the same times.  I couldn’t do it.    I need spares for my mid gauge but I went searching thinking I could find a larger multi prong for my mid gauge.    I did find one product that I am considering purchasing.  I’ve bought from this person in the past and love her products.  I haven’t decided yet.  I may come up with something.  So, Portia and her cables are on hold because I DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TOOLS!  Decision on that purchase by this weekend.    I’ll be swatching the ribbing portion this weekend to see if I can match the pattern requirement.

The Pony

OH .. and you are wondering what is up?  The PONY?  Well I have a DG who will soon be 3 and I need to make her something for her Birthday this year.   Its not just any darned Pony its a  My Little Pony.  Preferably Pinkie Pie.  Of course this Little Pony could be a Disney Princess just as easily my favorite has always been Snow White.  I do however LOVE LOVE LOVE horses.  I had a few My Little Pony items myself as did my sister (many) and my daughters (an oodle at least).  I love that these toys continue to be favorites with our little girls.

Back to the MK Portion of this story.  So I am going to knit something with a “My Little Pony” motif.   Guess what I did?  I used DAK!  It worked quite well.   I am also going to do the chart using PC Stitch so I can compare the two.  I used to chart color work using excel until I finally broke down and purchased PC Stitch.  I have mentioned it before.  So I am not going to link to it right now but I love the results I get.  I am pleased with what I ended up with in DAK also.  I’ll share more on that later this weekend.  I am torn between knitting an afghan or a pillow  cover or two.  Perhaps more, our other gd2 was given some MLP look a likes for her birthday and loves them to death.  So I might do her a pillow for her 3rd birthday (2-2010) as well.  As it stands now I owe GD2 a hoodie.  Good thing she doesn’t know that right?

My deadline for the MLP  knitting project is 3/20.  Portia is due 3/31.  GD2’s Hoodie?  (uhm I dunno? but soon very soon!)

Happy Knitting To all!

And I really did have one. I was looking for an Orifice Hook. Now before you non spinners think I am talking dirty…. an Orifice Hook is a tool used to pull your thread through the guide or orifice on a spinning wheel. The friend that loaned me her spinning wheel lost the original or whatever came with the wheel. She had rebent a paper clip to serve the purpose. This works just fine, but the paper clip was making me kind of crazy. Because it is ugly and my friends wheel is pretty.

I don’t know if she’ll like the beads I picked out to decorate it but.. I’ll remake one more suited to her tastes. But here is the the one I made for now.

Orifice Hook for my Friend's Spinning Wheel

Mission Accomplished!