I ordered a wool winder today

I have been researching wool winders for a while.  After I screwed up rewinding my cone two days ago I realised that sooner would be better than lately as I need to rewind that into a usable cone so I can use it on my current project. (more about that later)  There are some all metal ones on the market.  One of them has more gears than the other making it go faster.  That was the one I was going to order, it was $42.  The other one was $40.  After looking around ebay some more this morning I found someone else selling the one with lesser gears for less money, $36.95 and they had a make an offer option too.  Also, they had stated that they had tried the winders and found the two metal yarn feeders to be substandard as the finish on them was rough and they had replaced them with nicely chromed feeders.

I made an offer of $33 expecting it to be rejected but they accepted it and my wool winder is on it's way. I made the offer and then went out to mow.  While driving around on the mower I was thinking I should just have paid the full price and be done with it cos they have 48hrs to accept or decline your offer. I had only been out about half an hour when my husband came out and called me over to say they had accepted my offer so he was going to pay for it. (We use the same ebay and paypal account lol)

Wow, I just checked on ebay to find the listing number to post and he has upped the price to $39.95.  Didn't I do well?

Anway this is the item link

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Large-Metal-Yarn-Fiber-Wool-String-Ball-Winder-10-oz-/390351167670?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ae2be20b6#ht_735wt_997

Can't wait for it to get here.

Now back to my project.  I have emailed my daughter in law to get up to date measurements for my granddaughter so I can make the correct size of jacket for her so will proceed with that when I get them later tonight.  (She is out on a photo shoot right now, she is a professional photographer).

Tomorrow will be out all day at the VA hospital with my husband so will be Friday when i get back to it.

I wish I was as prolific with my knitting as some of my knitter friends.

A disappointing afternoon

I was ready and eager to start on my next garment.  I have a knit radar pattern I like, I have the yarn, I had a spare few hours.  It was the perfect time.

I started off great.  The ribbing went well, the transfer to main bed went well, I set up the tuck patterning perfectly and the knit radar was working wonderfully. I glanced at the carriage and misinterpretated what I saw.  The lever was on tuck and to the left and opposite the 4 on the tension dial.  I misread it as the tension being on 4 and I wanted it to be 6.  I had only done a few rows in the tuck pattern so thought it wouldn't make too much difference to change the tension to 6.  So what did I do???? I moved the lever back to the centre so it was opposite the 6 and continued knitting.

Duh!  It was doing stockinette.  I was confused until I realised what I had done.

Oh well, no big deal, just unravel it and start again.  I wound it back onto the cone but did it too tightly and made it into a kingpin shape.

Oh well, no big deal until I tried knitting with it and it wouldn't unravel because of the bulge at the top.

Fortunately I had another cone so I set the new one up and started again.

This time the ribbing wasn't going well and when I dropped the main bed after transferring the stitches I could see that it had done it's weird thing that it does sometimes.

Oh well no big deal, just unravel it and start again.  I also resited the ribber.

I started again,  this time the rib went perfectly, the transfer to main bed went perfectly and it started knitting perfectly.

I was nearly up to the armhole shaping when I saw that something wasn't right with the pattern.  It had started about 5 rows down in the middle.  I thought that the knitting had caught on the gate pins but it wasn't that.  I guessed it was a dropped stitch so was not recoverable as it is tuck stitch. After i took it off i could see that was exactly what had happened.  It had dropped a stitch.  Thinking about it I think I should have hung weights all along and not just at the edges.  I still had the ribber cast on comb attached with weights on it but I think the knitting needed to be weighted too in the middle.  Will try that next time.

This time it was a big deal.  The afternoon had gone by and it was time for dinner.

Oh well, there's always tomorrow!  

I do think I am going to like using the knit radar.  Just have to up my inventory of patterns.

Finally have a plan for my next project

I wanted to knit a cardigan for my grand daughter who is 4.  I eagerly awaited the knit radar patterns arrival but was confused by them....for a while.  In the meantime I had decided to knit her one from a regular machine knit pattern but when I was checking it out it wasn't going to turn out any bigger than the sweater I knitted for my grandson who is 15 months old so that was a bust!  Also, I realized that my tuck stitch pattern didn't grow as quickly as stocking stitch does so knitting from the pattern I had it wouldn't be anywhere near long enough and whereas it isn't difficult to work out how many extra rows you need to lengthen the body part I wouldn't be quite sure how many extra rows would be needed for the sleeve shaping etc.  I realized that the knit radar would be perfect because it is based on your actual swatch and moves the paper accordingly.

I went back to the knit radar patterns.  I had eventually worked out about the sideways knitting but didn't want to try one of those for my first attempt, plus I am bound and determined to do it in tuck stitch and the patterns weren't suited for that.

There was a nice pattern however for a hoodie but it only went to a size 3 which wouldn't be big enough.
Then I had a brainwave.  Well I think it is, but my knitter friends probably know all this and wouldn't think it was clever at all.

Anyway, here is my plan.

I am going to use a different size ruler thingy (heaven only knows what they are called but they are the things that slip into the knit radar part of the machine that gives you the number of stitches) which will give me more stitches and I will adjust the number of rows on the knit radar so that it doesn't go through the machine so fast. This should give me a bigger garment using the pattern.

I may decide to do just a regular neckband but probably not as it calls for a zipper which makes it more of a jacket than a cardigan so the hood will be appropriate. The pattern calls for a band across the top of the sleeve in a different colour so I might do that and make the hood the same colour as the band.  I have blue yarn the same color as the sweater I knitted for my grandson and a lovely lilac colour yarn which will contrast with it very nicely and make it girly.

I am ready now to start.  I am happy with my pattern choice and I have finally finished punching all the missing cards from the original set that came with the machine so there's nothing to stop me now........

except the mowing and the dozen other things that I need to get done but I will find the time, I am eager to try the knit radar.

Help needed please

I received the knit radar patterns I bought off of ebay.  There isn't one that is exactly what I wanted so will probably proceed with the other pattern.

A couple of the patterns show either the front and backs or the arms knitted sideways.  Is this normal?  Why would you knit a front or a sleeve in two parts?  I am confused but that isn't hard to do these days lol!

Here is the girl's sweater pattern with the sideways sleeves :-

If you click on my photos they enlarge so you can see them better.

How do I do a sleeve?  Do I start with just the few stitches at the narrow edge?  What happens when AI get to the end of the first part of the pattern?  Do I take the pattern out and turn it upside down and proceed so the sleeve knits in one piece?  If so, why didn't they just show it as one piece?

All and any help will be appreciated.

Why do they make things so complicated?????

The other problem with this is that the tuck pattern I want to use won't work sideways. It is the one Alex posted and has vertical lines to mimic Arran knitting and I really want to use it.  Besides I have 4 different swatches I made using that pattern to ascertain how many rows and stitches I needed so I know exactly what tension and what ruler I have to use now.

Another question I have is does the paper have to be exactly this wide?  I have some blank graph paper sheets which came with the machine but it is narrower than the sheets that these patterns come on.  Could I trace the pattern from these ones onto the narrower paper so that it feeds the way I want it to?  I just want to knit a sleeve starting at the bottom. (Hope that makes sense).

Now wouldn't you just believe it? my camera battery went flat!

But! I was not to be beaten, I took this next one with my husband's phone so hopefully you can read it.

Can anyone translate into idiot proof instructions the part about the sleeves.

Picture not too clear but this is what it says:-

Knit back

Finish the knitting by waste knitting

Knit front

Finish the knitting by waste knitting

Knit four pieces of the sleeve for back and front sleeves.

With waste yarn, cast on and knit several rows.

Work partial knitting by increasing stitches to shape underarm

Finish the knitting by waste knitting

Knit two pieces of yolk in a symmetrical pattern

*Before knitting yoke join the front sleeve to the armhole

Pick up last row stitches of front and sleeve and place them onto needles.

Knit the neckband

Knit two pieces of the cuff.

Thanks in anticipation.

Always learning

After ironing the swatch I re washed it and tumble dried it.  It didn't go back to it's original state so ironing is a definite no no for a sweater.  However I now know that I can use the tuck patterns to knit a scarf.  Un-ironed it curls at the edges so would not be good for a scarf but after it has been ironed even if you re-wash and tumble dry it , it still stays flat.  So something else learned!

I now have a bunch of swatches in the washing machine to see how they react to the washing and drying process.  

Yes!, it is cool and damp outside today so the tumble dryer will be in use.

Such a nice change from the heat we have had all summer.

Also my knit radar patterns haven't arrived yet so in readiness I have found a pattern I can use.  I am trying to hold out until they get here.

Still punching away at the punch cards to bring my set up to the original 20.  I have four more to do so have done six. They are quite tedious lol but gives me something to do while my husband watches College football! (*see note below)

Went to a city wide garage sale yesterday to out nearest town.  For my English friends a garage sale is like a jumble sale except it is done from your house and usually in the garage, most of which are two car garages or more.  Yesterday it was a good job as it poured with rain most of the day.  I went with the hope of finding some yarn or knitting stuff and even the hopes that someone had a machine for sale that they had been storing under the bed for years.  No such luck!  But I did pick up an upright Dirt Devil cyclonic vacuum for $5, (the lady was selling everything half price because it was raining),  a thick fluffy rug for a dollar, (now I can burn the dog's bed which is decidedly smelly and I don't want to pollute my washing machine by washing it in it). I also got an unused Circulon griddle pan for $2 ( an absolute bargain and I haggled too cos it was marked at $3 and our old one is at the end of it's useful life) and a Swiffer Wetjet for $2. So a good $10's worth in my humble opinion.

Will do some more punching today. Currently watching the Man U v Chelsea game.  My husband is an avid soccer (football) fan even though he is a Yank lol.

*In the US and Canada, they refer to what we know as football as soccer so as not to confuse it with their version of football which is actually more like rugby.

I think that as the Yanks and Canadians use our language they could at least use the right words lol but I am a lonely British voice in the middle or Redneck land so I usually keep those thoughts to myself!

I remember now why I don't iron anymore!

That's not exactly true.  I do iron shirts when required, ie. weddings and funerals but knitwear never! I either dry it flat if it calls for that but mostly I machine wash and tumble dry.

Today I decided to do the swatch for the next sweater or cardigan (still undecided until my patterns arrive).  It looked great.  I didn't take a photo.  The book said to steam press the swatch before measuring.

Now where did I put the iron again?  Oh yes, I remember, up in the spare bedroom closet.  So I found it and set the ironing board up and plugged it in.  I added the water and pressed the swatch. It is now almost half as big as it was before I ironed it and the tuck stitch pattern is flattened!  Now as I am sure my daughters in law don't iron knitwear either I am going to have to wash and tumble dry the swatch and hope it goes back to it's original state before taking the measurements I will use.

Out of curiosity I will take the pressed swatch measurements too just to see the difference.  The book did say to wait a couple of hours before doing that so maybe it will shrink back a bit.

Off to hide the darned iron again!

well darn!!!!!

I was bidding on a very old machine.  A Knittax M2.  The good thing was that the  mailing was very reasonable and that makes a big difference here in the US.  I was high bidder at $5.55 but at the last minute someone came in.  I upped my highest bid a couple of times but I wasn't prepared to go above $18.  After all, I don't need it, I have a super machine and ribber.  I just wanted it but where do you draw the line?  For me it is about practicality.  We are seniors on a fixed income so I bid up to my maximum and it went for a few cents more.

Oh well, there will be another one one day.

I hate bidding on ebay, it raises my blood pressure!

Definition of time dragging.....

When you've got a bid in on ebay and you are the highest bidder and there's only five minutes to go and you don't know whether or not to up your highest bid cos do you want to miss it for a dollar or two!!!!!!

Will let you know in 5 minutes folks.........

Filling in time

As I am waiting for my knit radar patterns to arrive before starting on another sweater I decided to go on an internet  hunt for my missing punch cards.  When I bought my machine the only things missing were 10 of the original punch card set of 20 and the knit radar patterns.  I have purchased one set of kid's knit radar patterns from ebay UK and can purchase a man's set later from them, so am on my way to getting  those. Still need to locate a woman's set or the original set which I believe had men's women's and kid's patterns

I found one site that had two images of all the patterns in the original punch card set and miraculously I found a pdf file which had images of each punch card individually.  I printed the ones I was missing and have started on punching them.

As several of my missing cards were for tuck patterns there are a lot of holes to punch lol!

I have done three so far.  Two were perfect but on the busiest one I made a mistake. Had to get out the nail varnish again!  At least this is something I can do in the comfort of our living room.

I also found a site where I could purchase the original set of punch cards for $24.95 plus shipping and might at some later date purchase them but for now I will punch away!  I need other stuff first.

Any recommendations for a good wool winder?  Do I need to buy a jumbo one or will a standard one suffice?

KR7 patterns on ebay

This is the link to the patterns I bought on ebay.  They seem like a great deal so I am posting it on here in case anyone is looking for patterns.  The sale ends soon it says.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KR7-Patterns-Knitmaster-Empisal-Silver-Knitting-Machine-/190289077199?pt=UK_Crafts_Knitting_Crochet_EH&hash=item2c4e1ce3cf#ht_940wt_1293

Grrrrrr!

Is any one else getting their blog attacked by something that makes words into links?  I had to go back and change the past few blogs because some of the words were showing up in green and were links to sites giving away things.  Anyone know how to stop this please?????????

I got me a whirly gig!

I had forgotten to post about my successful eBay bid.  I wanted to pick up a wool winder and a skein holder at some point so I can obtain skeins of yarn if I see something I really like.  I didn't want to pay a lot as the likelihood of using them very often is quite remote.  Anyway, I saw the whirly gig on ebay so thought I would put in a bid.  I was prepared to pay up to $10.  I entered when it was around $5.  I got it for $8.52 brand new with $5.95 postage. Around $9.40 UKP all in. Another seller was selling them for $14.99 plus postage of $8.00 so I think I got a good deal.

Here it is....

Next is the wool winder and then some skein yarn.

Also I found a KR7 children's pattern set on sale on ebay-uk for 1.82 UKP and postage of 4 UKP buy it now so I bought those too.  Will perhaps wait for them to get here before I start on my next project so I can use the Knit radar.  Also I still have some of Susan's videos to watch on using knit radar.  I watched four last night.  Our internet is quite slow so watching videos takes up a lot of bandwidth so I do it at night after my husband has gone to bed so as not to interfere with his computer use.

I will do a swatch in the meantime and see if I can work out which ruler thingy to use.

The same company also has a website for online sales.  They have a man's set too for 5.82 UKP with 5 UKP postage.  I will buy them if I like using the knit radar. I am sure I can find something in there I can use as a base for making myself a sweater.  Gotta love pay pal for being able to purchase using different currency.

The finished product

Well here it is, finished finally.  A big learning experience on this one but thoroughly enjoyed every minute even if the air was a tad blue at times.  Only Boris the dog was in earshot so no harm done lol.  He likes to come and lie down in the room when I'm knitting.

Not going to start on the next one for a few days.  Now that the temperature has cooled down a bit it's time to get out and catch up with the seven acres of mowing that really needs doing.

Will be checking in though every day to see how my fellow bloggers are doing on their projects.

Finally got the neckband done and attached and a reminder to self to think twice about doing a mitred ribbed V neck sweater ever, ever again!

In my last post I had knitted one part of the neckband, finally realizing that I couldn't do increasing on the ribber with the cast on comb still between the two beds.  So I ventured on with the second half but this time casted it off tighter.  It attached to the garment OK and i could see that the tighter cast off was much better.

So I decided to re do the other part of the neckband.  I did try the obvious thing of just undoing the casting off and putting it back on the machine and casting off again but it was taking forever and I dropped a stitch that I couldn't pick up so decided to just re knit it.  That part doesn't take very long at all.  Then I casted it off tightly.......way too tightly as I discovered when I tried to put it back on the machine to join it to the garment.  So, I did a third one and this time was successful!  The only thing I am a little disappointed in is the thickness of the join.  Had I been able to leave the neckband,without having to cast it off, on the machine and bring the garment to it it would have been better. But doing the mitred neckline was the reason I couldn't do it that way.

So my neckband took almost as long as the rest of it lol.  I could never make a living out of this! I would be working for pennies per hour at the speed I go!

So here it is pre final sewing up.  Look at all the ends!  where do they all come from??????

This is all I have to show for nearly three hours knitting lol!

Alex and Susan have been very productive, not so me today!  I still can't do increasing in rib when I have just casted on and the cast on comb is still up between the gate pegs of the two beds. There just isn't room to hand the big hook thing on there to hold down the zig zag made by pulling out an extra needle.  So not to be beaten I decided to reverse what I wanted to do and make the mitre by increasing instead.  This means though, that I can't use the nice casted ON edge as the open edge and as I have to have the casted OFF edge as the open edge, I can't leave the neckband on the machine and bring the garment to it.

So, I did a sample run on waste yarn to see if I could get the neckband back on the needles and bring the garment to it and get that on too then join them to see how it would look.  It actually will work fine.

So then I decided to do the first half of the neckband (well, it's actually more than half as it goes across the back then across the top of one arm and down one side of the front) and goodness only knows what I did wrong but it was only knitting on every other stitch like I was doing mock rib but I was using the ribber!!!!! Go figure on that one lol.

Anyway, I tried again and this time was more successful.

So my nearly three hour knitted stint produced only this.....but there were a few more lessons learned too.

I am just hoping that the open edge isn't wrinkly when it's all joined up.  Hopefully it will stretch out enough for it not to be.

Tomorrow I will finish the other part of the neckband and attach it all together.

Looking forward to the next project with tuck stitch.        

Google saves the day!

After seeing Alex's tuck stitch swatch I decided to knit my next garment in tuck.  He kindly put up the link to the punch card pattern he used and I printed it out last night.

Today I decided to mark up a blank and punch it out.  As you can see it has a lot of holes to punch and I decided to make it the full length of the blank card rather than the shortened one.

I was doing great until my husband came into the room and started chatting.  At that point I should have laid it down....but no, I was feeling over confident and carried on punching away.  I punched a wrong hole.  aarrgghh!!!!!

It took a long time to mark and punch and I didn't want to start all over again.  I thought about using sellotape but it would cover up some of the holes I'd already punched and then it wouldn't have a little hole in it for me to use to re-punch them.

'Google it' my husband said.......so i did and found this very useful tip which I expect you all know but thought I would post about it in case anyone didn't. It was actually in part of the description of a puncher for sale.

Punch Card Punch - This punch card puncher is used for 24 stitch punch cards. Transfer your punch card design to the blank punch card. There is a little point on the cutter in the punch card puncher that you position in the tiny hole of the card. Squeeze the trigger and the hole is punched. If you make a mistake and punch out the wrong hole, take one of the round pieces that collect in the non-breakable reservoir on the puncher. Position it in the incorrect hole. You might want to take a toothpick to hold it there for the next step. Take some red colored nail polish and dab on a tiny bit to glue the center back into the hole. Use red nail polish (or something similar) so you can see where you made the repair. When you go to use the card, check the red spots incase the hole came away from the card. This doesn't usually happen, but it's a great way to make sure.

The amazing thing is that I had nail polish.  I don't usually wear it but I knew that at some time in the distant past I had bought some so I rummaged through my bathroom cabinet and found a bottle which was amazingly still usable.  It wasn't red though!