I have actually been doing stuff, even though I have not been posting.

I finally used up all the warp that I had wound onto the loom. I had a lot of problems though with the warp tension going more and more uneven as I progressed. Rather than saying that it was the inexperienced weavers fault, I decided that the 90 year old worn out loom parts were to blame and decided to replace this particular piece. The sectional warping beam.
I did not want to pay the price for Maple as was probably used for the original, so I bought Poplar. Milled it to size and nailed and glued it up.

I really wanted to do something more like the metal section dividers of the Lerclerc loom, but could not find anything readily available to make that happen, something along the lines of a large stainless steel fence staple.

I decided to go along with the original design until I find what I would rather have, retrofitting shouldn't be too much of a problem. So, 3/8" dowel sharpened in the pencil sharpener and then cut to length, x76. When was the last tiome one of you sharpened 76 pencils in a row?

A light sanding with 22o grit sandpaper, x 76.

And now it's time to quit and drink beer for the rest of the evening.

I did contact Clayton Boyer though, an incredible designer and builder of wooden gear clocks.
His wife is a fiber artist and he has designed some items for her. I challenged him to design plans for a specific piece that I would dearly love to have, but don't have the mechanical abilities necessary to design myself. A geared device that can twist 2 strands of rags together and, in the same operation, with the use of only one crank, then wind it into a ball. We'll see if he can come up with such a plan. If anyone can, it's him. He's a wooden gear and device genius.

That then leaves me with the question; "can I follow his plans"?

No Posts, but I am knitting

Several weeks ago I finally recieved my portfolios of Herbert Niebling patterns and promptly started knitting. There wasn't a pattern that fit exactly what I was looking for, a large circular tablecloth for Partner, so I started with the center of "heinke, transitioned into "Dahlie" then "Edith". I now have about 1000 stitches on the needle per round and still have a ways to go. I forget how many balls of Karabella Vintage cotton I've purchased so far. I may eventually just give up and bind the dang thing off and call it good enough, not yet, eventually.

The Arminée Shawl

See corrected version here.
I used Elsebeth Lavold silky wool, charcoal colored, 3 1/2 skeins, and size 7 U.S. needles.

Errata - if counting rows as odd only, row 11 should have a yarn over before and after the center pivot column, it's the 6th row up from the beginning. Thanks Dennis!
The interlocking Diamond modules should also have a left decrease after the yarn over at the "bottle neck". the 4th Module up on the right should also have the same stitches as all the other modules. dang, it's hard to rewrite these things from your notes into a legible chart.

The Arminée Scarf

Adaptation of a stitch pattern from Lisl Fanderls "Bäuerliches Stricken" books.
There is also a larger triangular Shawl version, I only have my handwritten chart for that though. I'll publish that pattern when I get it charted up legibly. My beautiful assistant Maisie helped me block it on the Attic floor.
Click on Image to see it larger.

Oooops, forgot to say that I used Elsebeth Lavold silky wool on size U.S. 8, 5mm needles.

Dog Hair Blanket

A friend in Wyoming who had a half Coyote dog had saved the hair from brushings and wanted a blanket knit from the yarn that she had made from it. I gamely went along and even knitted outside while spending time with my dog and the pig. It was such a big project that I wanted to work as much as possible and get it done with.
Using a shawl pattern from MMario over at Men Who Knit.
I cast on for 4 shawls and knit in the round from the center out. It got really big.
Maisie was kind enough to pose with the finished blanket. I imagine her fur would yield a very similar yarn.
A detail shot.
In order though, to show how big it really is, Partner also stood by it.
I told you it got really big.

Doggy Drama

Read about it here.

Hier lesen, Sorry nur auf Englisch.

Blick / glimpse. Now with text.

Hallo Leute, es wird ein paar Tage dauern dies Eintrag auf Deutsch umgestzt wird, ich bitte auf Geduld , (Ja, ich weiss wohl dass ich habe Früher so 'ne Versprechung gemacht und es noch nicht getan, drückt mir die daumen das dieses Mal es geht besser ;D)

Hello Folks, it's going to be a while before I get this entry translated into German, please be patient. ( Yes, i know I've made similar promises in the past, and broken them, cross your fingers and hope I do better this time.;D)
Part 1.
Part 2.
Intermezzo.

Okay, we know from our percentage formula that as soon as we reach the place where we want to start the armhole steeks we need to place 20 stitches on hold. Then using Eunny Jangs steek method, I chose 5 as the number of stitches for my steek. We continue knitting, decreasing every other round on both sides of the steek, for about another inch and then, using the same steek method, we begin the V-neck opening.
NOTE: I put 2 stitches on reserve at the beginning of the neck opening, in a round that did not have decreases so that the decreases for arm holes and neck openings would be in the same rows.

Klick on photos to enlarge.

When I got to the shoulders I knit across to the v-neck, bound off the steek stitches and the worked a couple of short rows to give the shoulder some shape. Then the arm steek stitches were bound off and the back was worked with matching short rows to the front. The yarn should be at the armhole openings top. Now, the fun part, to join the shoulder I used the cowichan shoulder join. This is a 3 needle bind off with a special twist. I worked from the inside, but if you work it from the outside it will leave a nice decorative double row of stitches. With the stitches to be joined on 2 needles held next to each other in the left hand, take up a second needle, preferably a short one, I had an old wooden needle that I cut down, sharpened with the pencil sharpener and sanded with 1000 grit sandpaper. From the near needle of stitches knit 1 stitch, pivot the working needle to position it ready to purl one stitch from the far needle. You are using BOTH ends of the working needle. You'll now have 2 stitches on the working needle. Now, with the end of the needle that you used to knit 1 stitch, knit 1 more stitch from the near needle and pass the first stitch over it, with the purl end of the working needle purl one stitch from the far needle and pass the first purl stitch over it. Repeat to end of shoulder join. In this case I have ywo colors of yarn, so I worked 1 knit and purl in one color and the next in the second color so that both colors would be in place to continue knitting. Now knit across the back, bind off the second armhole steek, work the matching short rows on the second shoulder and repeat the shoulder join steps.
Now stabilize and cut your steeks. See the Eunny Jang lesson. I use her crocheted steeks.

You're now ready to pick up and knit the stitches down one side of the neck opening, knit one of the 2 set aside stitches, make one stitch, knit the other saved stitch, these three stitches will be used to work a decrease at the point of the neck opening. Pick up and knit the other side of the neck opening.

The band; I chose to use a "braided" decorative band rather than a ribbed band. Knit a round doing 1 stitch color A, one stitch color B, repeatingly. (For the neck opening I only did one of these rounds and found after finishing the band that I wanted two rows of it but was too lazy to go back and re-do it. I did the double round on the armholes though.) working a slip one , knit two together pass slipped stitch over decrease at the v of the opening, this rather awkward to accomplish nicely in this particular band treatment and I fumbled around with it and still don't have any good tips on making work well.

Now, pull both colors of yarn to the front and purl 1 color A, bring color B up in front of color A and purl the next stitch, repeat purling 1 color A, one color B to end of round always bringing the new color up in front of the old color. This twists the yarn coming from the balls into a great big long twist, I've found that if a pull a few yards out of the balls first and gently comb the twist with my finger as I work it helps prevent it becoming too much of a mess.

For the next round you will purl 1 A, 1 B bringing the new color up BEHIND the old color, this untwists your yarn. Pull the yarns back to the back side and knit a round, or two of the alternating colors. Break off the secondary color and purl 1 round in primary color, knit 5 rounds plain and cast off, I found that a purl cast off looks neater.

Fold the band under at the purl round and sew into place. Pick up and knit the stitches for one and then the other armholes using the same "treatment", no "V" to fumble around with though.

Block and wear.

I think I could have picked up fewer stitches around the neck opening and it would have looked a little better.

Provisional cast-on / Provisorisches Anschalg

Am I the only one who didn't know this slick method of a crocheted provisional cast-on? I've always done it the old fashioned way, crochet a chain and then pick up and knit the stitches.

Bin ich der Einziger der wusste diese schlichte gehäkelte provisorische Anschlag Methode nicht? Vorher habe ich es immer altmodisch eine Kette gehäkelt und danach sorgfaltig die Maschen aufgehebt.

Video, in Englisch.

Auf Deutsch, nur Bilder und eine beschreibung.

Mein jungste "Sweaterweste" ist fertig, hoffentkich werde ich noch diese woche die Zeit haben um darüber zu posten.

My latest sweater vest is finished, hopefully I'll find the time to post about it this week.

Knäule....

... die ich an niemand wünschen würde. Guckt Mal was das schönste puppy der welt hat mir angetan, ob ich es wieder recht machen kann weiss ich noch nicht.

Tangles that I wouldn't wish on anyone. Just look at what the most beautiful puppy in the world has done to me. If I can ever make it right again, I just don't know.

Planning a Vest/ Eine Weste plannen

After doing this sample I decided to go ahead and knit up a vest. Here's the basic plan. This can be worked in any yarn on any size needles, just do a test swatch and then do the math to get your numbers. I'm using Cascade 220 and U.S. #8/5mm needles.
NOTE: All knit stitches are worked through the back loop to form a twisted stitch that stands out from the background.

Click Photo to enlarge



The pattern is 18 stitches wide so our 100% number has to be divisible by 18.
As we can see in the sample, a standard ribbing is not going to flow nicely in to the pattern stitches of the body, so we need to adapt our ribbing. In this case we want to begin our ribbing with purl 2 and follow the knit and purl stitch pattern of the body. As to the 90% cast on number, this will also mess up the flow from ribbing to body pattern. There is a space of 2 purl stitches between each of the pattern sets, this is the only place where we can increase without affecting the flow so our cast on number will be a multiple of 17 and we'll do an increase between the panels of pattern. In this case I cast on 238 stitches. the ribbing is then Purl 2, *Knit 2, P2, for the next 14 stitches ending with a knit 2, Purl 3 and repeat from * to end of round ending with a Purl 1. Work the ribbing to desired width incorporating the second color in the last row of the ribbing in each of the Knit 2 slots, and working an increase stitch into the center of each of the Purl 3 slots. Begin the chart and knit until you have the desired body length. body length can be determined by measuring the distance between the bottom and armhole of a favorite garment.

Next; we'll talk about beginning the armhole steeks, but first I have to knit the body of my sweater so it may be a while.

P.s. How much yarn will be needed? I'm not sure. This sweater used 800 grams. I have 400 grams of the main color and 250 grams of the secondary color, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it's enough.
Part 2

Zugmaschen/ travelling stitch

I put this question out there on "men who knit", how to do two color cables? Now I'm asking you guys, especially the German speakers. This was my experiment. A combination of "fairisle" and traditional German travelling stitches. I had a lot of difficulty keeping the stitches loose enough, I kept pulling the stitches too tight resulting in problems with the next row. Relax Lars, relax, loosen up. Is the result worth the effort? I'm not sure yet, I'll have to think about it.

Ich stellte diese Frage schon auf "men who knit", wie strickte man Zopfen in zwei Farben? Jetzt frag ich Euch, besonderes die in der deutsch sprechende Raum. Hier die Ergebnis meine Experimentierung. Eine Zusammensetzung "fairisle" und alte deutsche "Zugmaschen". Ich hatte Problemen locker genug zu bleiben, ich zog die Maschen immer zu straf, deswegen waren die Maschen in die nächste Reihe sehr problematisch. Entspann dich Lars, entspann dich, bleib locker. Lohnt sich die Mühe? Weiss ich noch nicht, darüber muss ich noch nachgrübeln.