I like making things: The latest trials and errors

Friday, July 13, 2012

The latest trials and errors

After the family departed I decided to get back to knitting and try the colour changer. I had moved the desk with the machine on before they came so the kids couldn't get to it for fear they would hurt themselves.

What a disastrous time I have been having. The moving around must have dislodged everything because it just wouldn't rib at all and the YC5 has to be used in conjunction with the ribber.

I ended up taking the whole set up down and setting it back up again. I mustn't have it quite right because it still throws a wobbler now and again when it is ribbing although it is a heck of a lot better.

I then ventured on to try the colour changer and after many thwarted attempts I can now get it to change colour when doing 1 x 1 rib.

The seller of the YC5 didn't come through with another mast so right now I can only use two colours with it. I am impressed with the mechanics of the YC5 and realise that there are a lot of mechanics and fine tuning involved with machine knitting.

I want to try doing two coloured tuck stitch next as the main reason for getting the colour changer is to be able to get a colured pattern without floats.

I have looked at doing double jaquard but as I said above my ribber doesn't seem to function well for big areas of knitting and if Phil (a knitting blogger friend) can't master it what chance do I have???

My time for knitting is limited as it is and I am itching to make something so I will keep with simple for now.

I realise I am never going to aspire to doing really fancy work and that really wasn't my intent when I bought the machine, it's just that the machine is capable of doing so much that I feel that I should be utilising it's capabilities.

There is a new baby arriving in the family in November and they live in Canada so it will be cold and need cardies and sweaters. Most of our little ones live in warmer climes so don't need too many winter woolies lol.

Not a very entertaining blog this time but there is a lighter side to it......Barbie got some new clothes!

Our little four year old grand daughter got to play with Barbie and her clothes on their recent visit and her eyes lit up when she saw all the clothes so now I don't feel so silly turning my practice pieces into Barbie dresses. Might have to buy a sister for Barbie as she has so many clothes now!

Presenting the latest Barbie creations..........

Yeah! the ribber is working again

Woops! got a ridge, not sure how

Trying different spacing. After this the ribbing went awry, not sure why it does that

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I started this blog in 2011: Ever since my Mum taught me to knit at the age of about six or seven I have made things. Back then it was doll clothes. I was also inspired by Mrs Levitt an elderly lady who had a sewing room in a conservatory type room on the back of her house. I would sit and watch her in awe as she sewed.

When I was a child living in England the school system was such that you started at 5 years, did two years in Infant School, then four years in Primary School then five to seven years in Secondary School, depending on whether you chose to stay on after fifth form to get qualifications to go to University. I can't remember much of the Infant school other than making the standard square doily thingy from fabric that had holes in it so you could embroider patterns into it. A bit like the modern day cross stitch fabric but with bigger holes and spaces to make it easy for small hands to use. I also remember with great joy getting a toy sewing machine one Christmas which sewed only chain stitch but I did make doll clothes on it and that was before I started Primary school. I do have very vivid recollections of Primary school and having sewing and knitting lessons. In Primary school I knitted gloves and made a dress from scratch hand sewing it all.

Secondary school continued on with sewing by which time I had progressed to using full sized sewing machines and was making more intricate skirts and dresses. My parents bought me a proper sewing machine when I was thirteen. I used that same machine right up until I emigrated to Canada at age forty six years.

I have always had a fascination for sewing machines and knitting machines. I bought my first knitting machine at around age twenty one from an ad in a newspaper for twelve pounds. I had absolutely no idea what one was just that I wanted one. I trundled on the bus to the address in the advert and handed over my twelve pounds having absolutely no idea what I had really bought. Fortunately it came with a manual. It was an aged Knitmaster, very basic and I loved it. I wore it out. Next was a Brother push button one which I didn't keep because it was at a time in my life when things were difficult. Later on in my life, around forty, when things were better I bought a brand new Brother punchard machine with a ribber attachment. I loved it and made many things. Life took a different turn, I moved countries twice and along the way, regrettably I sold it.

Now, through the universe's blessing I now have another machine. It is a vintage one because they stopped making them early 90's but works perfectly and I love it. So I decided to make this blog to document my knitting progress and include sewing projects.

In 2013: we embarked on a new hobby, leather-work. My husband got started with it and it drew me in. It is something we can do together. We have a workshop so have plenty of room to work. We added another workbench for me to work on in 2013. We already had one but we were tripping over each other both trying to work at it. We only make things we want to make. It is strictly a hobby. We made some things for our good neighbours who help us out a lot. I am also working on Christmas presents. So this blog now incorporates the leather-work. Knitting and sewing will always be my first love though.

Fast forward to 2023 and now age almost 75 years. I have seven sewing machines, four knitting machines, several ribber attachments and a garter carriage for one of the machines. I am blessed beyond words, but I know that I have more than enough machines to keep me going in my lifetime so I don’t think I will be adding to my collection any time soon……….unless a nice embroidery machine manifests itself very cheaply.

I am a Brit living in the USA, sometimes I spell like a Brit and sometimes like an American. Sometimes I use slang and even make grammatical errors. I blog for the pleasure of it and to record my endeavours in the event that my memory fades, as I am sure it will with more age. I will be able to look back and remind myself of the things I have made along the way. So please forgive my mistakes when reading about my life making things here in the hinterlands and I hope you get as much enjoyment from my blog as I do from reading the blogs I follow.

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Friday, July 13, 2012

The latest trials and errors

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