PM 10 Punching Machine

I received this punching machine in a box of machine knitting items given to me.  It was filthy and I didn't even know if it worked or how it worked.  Found this handy video that got me started.  Still not sure if it works.  Got the tray that holds the card to stop willy nilly sliding back and forth and now it's stuck at the beginning and won't move.  Time to give it a good clean, open her up and see what's going on.  Looks like it would be a pretty fun and handy tool to have.

Discovering My Intarsia Carriage

It's been sitting in a box in my craft room for years calling me.  I didn't really know what intarsia was until I hand knitted a hat as a Christmas present for my daughter.  I was having trouble getting the pattern to work and sent a picture to an experienced hand knitter friend.  She sent back "Oh you're doing intarsia you need to twist the yarns."  I looked up videos on what the heck I was supposed to do and it was simpler than I thought.

When I had a bag to do out of the same book as the above hat I thought why couldn't I do it on my knitting machine.  OH!  I have that intarsia carriage let's get it out and see how to use it.  Meanwhile, looking online at a YouTube video of a machine knitting pattern done by a Russian gal I came across a video of her using the intarsia carriage to knit my arch nemesis yarn Sashay.  I was quite excited that I recognized that it was an intarsia carriage and I gave myself a V-8 forehead slap, because why didn't I think of using it myself.  It made making a Filly Scarf on the knitting machine that much easier.  I had gotten it down to 2 hours.  Greatly faster and greatly less frustrating than doing it by hand.  If I could do it faster that would be even better as I had 3 skeins of that stuff left that I was very tempted to throw it in the trash.  Yes, it's aggravated me that much.  So much so that one skein was on my craft room floor.  Every time I saw it there I didn't think "Oh I should pick that up."  I thought, "Oh that's right where you belong."

Today with the intarsia carriage I made peace with Sashay.  In one hour I had knitted a Filly scarf easy.

 I found out the weight I used was too much.  Took it off when scarf was about 12 inches long and the weight of the scarf was plenty.  The needle set up was from the video.  I could easily hang the Sashay skipping every other hole with the needles that far a part.

 Can I refind the video on YouTube?  No!  It's in Russian, so I can't even search for it.  When I come across it again I'll post it.  It gave me such a wonderful idea.

Big thank you to my commenter Misha Moon for giving me the link to the youtube video:  Video Lesson "Curly" scarf.

Sashay!

It's a beautiful frilly and frustrating lace yarn.  My machine knitting group ladies are making scarves with it "hand over fist."  What does that mean?  Ahhh it's a nautical term in reference to pulling a rope quickly and continuously.  Well, they are making them quickly and seems like continuously as every time I see them I'll get a report "I've made seven Sashay scarves."

I was told they were very easy and fast to make.  I don't know if it's that I'm a novice hand knitter or I'm easily aggravated, but I couldn't get into knitting one by hand.  The yarn confused me.  I'd get lost in the many different holes and then it all fell right off my needles into my lap.  That was it.  What in the H, E, double toothpicks was I going to do with 4 skeins of Sashay yarn!

I got to thinking I might be able to use my knitting machine to knit up one of these scarves.  I've been working with my garter bar lately and I thought hmmmm I might be able to use it with the pattern for this scarf.  I wouldn't be able to use the carriage and traditionally knit this yarn, but I could use the needles and the garter bar to get the look the pattern calls for.

The pattern calls for casting on 6 stitches and that's what my MK ladies have been doing. I thought the scarf was awfully long. I'm kind of short and it seems to hang pretty low on me.  There is the option of using 10 stitches, but I didn't want it too short. I went for 8 stitches.

I hung 8 holes along the edge skipping every other hole of the Sashay.  That was a tip given to me by every women in my MK group, but one.  The one said every stitch would give a nice filly scarf just fine.  She's kind of bossy, but what she knits is always gorgeous.  After the 3rd lady secretly told me to skip every other stitch I decided to go by the majority.  After Thanksgiving though I'm going to use the every stitch method and just see what the difference would be.

 

Yes, you heard it right I will be making more of these scarves.  Putting them on the knitting machine really helped organize the yarn for me.  I'd hang 8 stitches and then using my transfer tool handle horizontally I'd pull all the stitches through.  Then I used my garter bar to flip the knitting.  Once I got a groove going it went pretty quickly.  I'd say it took me a total of 4 hours to finish the scarf.

 

There is a gal on Ravelry that did not flip the work and even though the scarf had a definite right side/wrong side she said either side was lovely.  I wanted to follow the pattern on the wrapper though and it is one continuous circle to get this frilly scarf.

 

8 stitches was perfect for me.  It measures 46 inches.  It really have a nice frilly feeling, but it has substance.  Not too airy.

 

Looking a bit like a I'm wearing a clown ruff here, but really in person and with the right outfit it's going to be a gorgeous scarf.

The Dreaded Garter Bar

At least that's what I always thought of it.  I just recently started working with it as a member of my Sacramento Guild is doing a charity project.  She asked me to help out and she'd teach me how to make "baby doll clothes" as she likes to call them.  I call them doll clothes.  I have no reason to make baby doll clothes, but I'm always happy to help with a charity project.  I also thought it was a great time to finally dust off my garter bar and actually work with it.

It wasn't easy at first.  Had several rows that looked like this.

But once I figured out Becky's garter bar had a slight bend in the middle I was finally able to account for that and become successful.  I was teasing with my friend Bonnie, who had also joined the project and lesson that I was sweating profusely each time I had to use the garter bar.  And that I think I was getting a ulcer.  We figured that we needed to practice on something we didn't care about.  Messing up in the middle of a hat was too stressful.

 

As with anything learning your tools and practice I was able to successfully get a many rows turned for the "baby doll hats."  I think the garter bar and I will become friends in the very near future.

 

 

Once I get a hat and matching coat done I'll post a photo.

 

Knitting Again with the Knit Leader

Felt so good to machine knit today.  It's been a very long time.  Our Sacramento Guild was having a lesson on Knit Leaders.  I've seen them used, but have never used one.  I have one built into my machine for gosh sakes I should find out if it works and find out how to use it.  Carolyn gave a great explanation.  I didn't know I had to have a swatch, but we decided to use her swap and pretend it was mine.  That way I learned out to measure it and how to use the stitch guide, the rulers, the patterns, and the built in knit leader.  I should look up in my manual what exactly everything is called.  I brought the wrong manual to class.  Fortunately, Carolyn has my exact machine at home and knew how to use it.

Here I am all set up.  I just did a small portion of the pattern to get an idea of how it worked.  I did from about 2 inches below the arm hole shaping on up to the neck line.  It really worked out great.  Not a lot of thinking needed to be done with the knit leader in action.  It told me where to decrease and what needles to do it on.  I found it quite fascinating.

Here's my little sweater experiment armhole.  I was quite impressed.  I also loved this little gizmo Carolyn's husband made her.  I'm talking about the board that is under my knitting.  It is a piece of wood with a piece of sandpaper glued to it.  It was too terribly rough, but had enough traction that when you lay a swat or in this case my sweater experiment it holds the knitting out rather than it rolling.  I liked that I could see what was going on without having to block it.  It's just an experiment and I will be unraveling it.

It felt so strange to be knitting.  My cast on and cast off skills were definitely week, but by hour 2 I was feeling like a pro again.  Time to knit myself a sweater.

My Tools

When I'm using my tools I move the set I want standard or bulky and snap the 3 tiers so it's on the top.

I keep it sitting on a little box I'm using as a make shift table.  It's the perfect height for me to reach the tools and yet they are out of the way of the carriage when it's moving.

The bottom is basically miscellaneous items I use and items I seldom use.

Pool The Tools

This is my new game plan after talking to fellow experienced machine knitters.  I got confused, because I have a knitting machine that has no tools.  Yet I also own that same machine with complete tools.  One is my home machine set up with a ribber.  The other I bought to travel to machine knitting meetings.  I often show up forgetting that it has no tools with it.  Then I can't really use it with no tools.  Fellow knitters are very generous and will lend me tools, but I hate bothering them.  So, I started thinking I'd buy tools for it.  Yet I have a complete set of tools for it at home.  Why buy another set?  "Does not compute, does not compute" would often go on in my brain.

I started taking a poll and talking to fellow machine knitters about how they handled their tools.  What I found out is more knitters than not keep their tools in a tool kit rather than keeping a set with each machine.  This idea kind of bothered me too.  I was worried about loosing the tools I have with each machine.  YET the idea of pooling the tools kept coming up.  I decided to give it a go.  I wanted a tool box where I could have an area for standard tools and and area for the bulky tools.  I didn't want to mix them.  I also needed a tool kit that wouldn't be too heavy to carry.  I also told myself I'd use a Sharpie to label the tools with which machine they go to in case I want to put them all back.

I found the above organizer at Target.  It has three levels and is a very good size for the tools.  I labeled the tools and put them into it.  I carried it to my first meeting.  It worked out great.  It wasn't too heavy.  What I found out later was it works great at home.  More than great really.  I'm very clumsy with my tools when I'm working.  I put them onto the lid of the knitting machine as it sits behind the machine on the stand.  Problem is I don't put them down in the same spot.  They get under the yarn.  Under the pattern.  Who knows where they go sometimes.  I spend more times looking for tools than knitting.  Well, at least it feels like that.  With this new organizer I use tools out of it and place them back into it.  I only have to look in a 6"X 9" area.  It's been such a relief to find my tools when I'm concentrating on a machine knitting project.

Sacramento Machine Knitters Guild March 10th Meeting

SOCKS!  That was the theme of the meeting.  What shocked me was the interest.  The mere mention of machine knit socks usually scares people, but obviously not us here in the Sacramento Area.  There were 13 people at the meeting and 7 machines set up.



I had brought one of my standard machines and of course it was the one that has no tools.  Made a note to do something about that.  When so many machines started coming in I thought just as well put it away and let another machine get set up.

Marilynn called people and told them to make some ribbing on needles and bring it in.  I knew that most people wouldn't want to or know how to do this.  Only Marilynn and Kathleen... OK me and Julia too came with ribbing.  Mine and Julia's was made with our knitting machines and ribbers.  Julia had brought machine knitting supplies and sock yarn to sell.  I decided that since I had made 3 whole socks that I would help.  :)

Thinking that a few would not have ribbing I brought my laptop in so we could view Diana's Single Bed Sew-As-You-Go Sock.  With it's mock rib option it came in handy.  Erica with Becky's help made Diana's sock.

Kathleen with her ribbing made the sock pattern Marilynn brought in.  I just roved around teaching, learning and just watching.  I really enjoyed myself.  I thought it was a great meeting.

Not everyone worked on socks.  3 knitters were there to learn the basics like how to get their machine working.  Been there done that!  One knitter had her machine working and was learning the e-wrap cast-on and how to cast-off.

What I learned was I needed to figure out my tool situation with my machine.  Should I buy tools?  I have standard tools with another machine.  Should I use that set with both machines?  I really had a big problem sort of robbing one machine to use with another.  So, I quizzed the machine knitter's over at Ravelry.  The consensus was "pool the tools."  Many have a tool box with standard and bulky tools separate, but in the same box.  Though I still have some guilt about doing this it really makes a lot of sense to me.  Why buy more tools when I have a lot of great tools.  What I've decided to do is label with a Sharpie which tool came from which machine in case I ever want to put the tools all back with their machines.

Day 3 "25 Days of Diana"

I just got through untangling the biggest rat's nest from my ribber and knitting machine.  OH MY GOSH!  I couldn't even move my carriage off the needles.  After using my tools and removing the yarn from the needles was I able to move the needles enough to get the carriage off the machine and really work on untangling the yarn.  Whew.

I finished the hat part of the Tam and everything went smoothly.  First hat was definitely good practice.  The hat band is another story.  Going to begin band number 3.  I think it's a whole tension thing.  The zero tension is too tight for this yarn.

OK this yarn is just a pain in the butt on the standard.  Even  tension 6 was tight.  I don't know what this band is going to look like.  One thing about the ribber is your knitting is a surprise.  I knitted 16 rows and just hoped and prayed it was doing OK.  Without a ribber I can catch mistakes early and fix them.  My ribbed band may be a big mess, but I won't know for a while yet.

Which brings me to the double eyed needle.  I just LOVE it.  A couple came with my machine, but I didn't use it.  Since setting up the ribber I decided to get it out.  Wow it sure makes life easy.

Another thing I did today was provided a Orthodontic treatments to my machine weights.  When I got them their teeth were bent.  Some weights more than others.  I always have trouble getting them to hook on.  Well used my one eye transfer knitting tool probably not smart as I was a little afraid I'd break it, but it worked great straightening the teeth on my weights.  What really amazed me was how much easier the weights hooked on to my knitting.  I can't believe I let myself suffer for so long knowing the teeth were crooked.

Well, once the ribber came down the band was not so good.  Mainly, because of my choice of yarn.  I picked a cotton yarn that matched the Tam I made.  I ran out of yarn at the end of the 6th wedge.  The cotton yarn made a very stiff scratchy band.  Not something one wants on their head.

I'm done knitting today.  Very successful though.  I got another Tam done easily. I straighten the snaggle teeth of my weights.  And I caught up on my Glee episodes on Hulu.com.