Having a prolific month

I finished the first of the three tank tops I am making ready for our Thanksgiving family get together in New Jersey.

I made it on the recently purchased Singer Memomatic 700 using the SRP 60 ribber purchased at the same time.

I still need to replace many needles on it but they haven't arrived yet.  They are coming from Hong Kong.  The price is much better but the delivery time is somewhat longer.

The plastic side racks for the ends of the carriage I ordered on Sept. 6th have just arrived at our local PO today.  Hopefully they will be delivered today.  Have to sign for the package as it comes registered mail. Our mail here arrives around 2.30pm.  Sod's law will mean they won't bring them out till tomorrow when we'll be out all day at the hospital for my husband.

I love how the sleeve edges came out on the tank top but wasn't so happy about the neckline.  I have to read up again on necklines and the best way of finishing them.  I know a lot of my problem is casting off rather than casting off onto waste yarn.  The next one I am going to try using the waste yarn method.

Also the next one I will make with a deeper neckline.

 

Now which one to start next and what colours to use?

The little jacket is finished

Yesterday we traveled to Eldorado Springs to find the store I had heard about.  What a surprise, it is a lovely store.  It is a hardware/variety store with a large fabrics/knitting section that sells all sorts of sewing notions and yarns.  I got an open ended white zipper with plastic teeth which is the type that I originally tried to find.

I found some verigated yarn there too that would knit on the machine.  It is a merino wool/bamboo/nylon mix and is machine washable.  Not sure how bamboo gets into knitting yarn, but what do I know?  I will use it as a contrast colour on something for the youngest granddaughter.  Hopefully it will make the fairisle look especially nice.  Or, I may do a band of tuck stitch using it, who knows where the fancy will take me.

First job is to wind it onto a cone to make it easier to use. It is a yarn used to knit socks apparently but I haven't ventured into socks yet.

Have to finish the tank top first.  Have to do the ribbing round the neck and armholes.

I still have to wash it

I thought the colours were very pretty

The Singer Memomatic knit radar works perfectly

I have tested the knit radar on the Memomatic and it works great.  I decided the easiest and most practical way to test it was to knit something so I am knitting a tank top for our Californian grandson.  I will knit another for the New Jersey grandson too and something for our granddaughter too as we are all meeting up in New Jersey for Thanksgiving this year.

Some of the needles on the Memomatic still have stiff latches that don't open flat.  They do knit OK but I have ordered 100 new needles from the Hong Kong Knitting shop and will replace the worst.  I have already changed about 50.  They really were in a bad way.  I tried soaking them in alcohol to free them up but to no avail.

The stiffness is most noticeable when I cast off.  The machine must not have been used in a good while for them to become so stiff.

I attached the YC5 colour changer to test it on this machine

The pattern running through

The YC5 colour changer can only be used if the ribber is attached so changing colour when ribbing is very simple. (now that I have a ribber that works well lol). On just main bed knitting I use it to hold the yarn whilst using a contrast colour.  Much simpler than before when I was trying to put the unused yarn behind the machine and getting all tangled up.  Also I found a simple way to hold the pieces together for taking photos.  Safety pins.  So simple, it took me over a year to think of it!

Just threw this one in to show the beautiful fawn triplets who come visiting almost every day

Yesterday I located a store about 40 miles away that has a 12" white bottom opening zipper so I can finish the little jacket.  We will make the trip out today to get it and do some grocery shopping and go to one of our favourite restaurants for lunch.

I was going to order one online which probably would have worked out cheaper but this way we help to keep a local business going and get to have a delicious barbecue lunch.

Update on the new Singer memomatic 700, SRP 60 ribber and LC2 lace carriage

This is one of my boring journal posts that I do so I have a record of my return journey into machine knitting.  I do this so I have both a record and also, incase, when I get even older and forget things I can look back, (assuming, of course, that I remember I have a blog!)


As mentioned in a previous blog, the SRP 60 ribber works great.

Yesterday I got round to setting up the knitting machine to try it.  I had cleaned it a few days beforehand. Yesterday I oiled it before setting out.

At first there was a bit of a problem knitting on it,  the stitches weren't knitting properly and I had to manipulate some needles by hand to complete some of the stitches. I was told that it hadn't been used in many years and I am sure that is true.   I replaced some bent looking needles and some needles that had stiff little flicky things.

Then I ran the carriage back and forth many times to get the little flicky things loosened up and tried again.  Success this time!

I tried changing the tension, did some tuck stitch and some fairisle.  All went well.

I still have to try the knit radar and put the ribber on it.  This afternoon I will try the ribber then to test the knit radar I might knit another little baby cardigan as the one I just finished is really a little big for a baby, it is more like for a toddler.

On a sadder note, well sadder for me anyway, I don't think the LC2 lace carriage is salvageable.  The drums won't move on it, clearly something is wrong with it.  I had mentioned that some pieces of metal had fallen out of it but I thought they were part of the casing that the plastic top rested on and clipped to.  Seems like they were part of some internal workings that have now rendered the drums stuck.

As a last ditch hope I will take it to the knitting shop guy who sells new Studio machines.  I am not sure if he does repairs or not but if he doesn't he may be able to get me just a replacement carriage. I don't need the front plate or the weights or punchcards as they all came with it.

I am still tickled pink with the deal I got.  The only problem now is that I am wrestling with selling it on.  I want to keep it as a backup machine so I won't have to be without one.

I know they are still available to buy used but they are getting more scarce and more expensive.

Now just to convince my husband lol as I had told him we should start a little knitting machine selling sideline.

Who knew........there were so many different types of zippers?

Yesterday, we drove to our nearest Walmart Superstore (35 miles away) to get an open ended zipper for the little jacket.  Now this is a store we visit regularly to shop, like every five or so days.  So they must have been very busy in that time because the fabrics and sewing notions section had reduced in size by at least 50% and their inventory of zippers had reduced even more.  So no open ended zippers in the size I wanted.

I was very disappointed but it wasn't a wasted journey because we had to do grocery shopping.

But! I still don't have a zipper.  The next choices are even further away and I know gas isn't as expensive here in the US as it is in the UK but hey, 10 gallons of gas to go to Kansas City is $36 and that is way too much to pay for a zipper.

So I looked online last night and found this sight.

http://www.stanssewingsupplies.com/catalogs/store.asp?pid=235361

I spent a long time looking through this sight and was amazed at all the different types of zippers there are.  I love the ones with multi coloured teeth.

This jacket doesn't call for that though.

The other good thing about this site is that you can get a zip shortened to whatever length you need and as  12  1/2" would be the perfect size I can now get one in my colour of choice and the exact length I want.

The total cost would be about $12, including shipping, which is a lot for a zipper but it would be perfect so I am happy and no driving in the hot weather or wear and tear on the vehicle.

Sometimes things work out for the best.

And now I want to make myself  a jacket so I can get the multi-coloured teeth zipper.

To wash or not to wash......a knitted item as a gift that is!

I have a question.  If you make a gift for someone, say like a child's sweater or jacket or blanket, do you wash it before you give it to the recipient?

I usually do not because to me, (and I have weird preconceived ideas I know) It feels like it's not new if it's been washed.

I am itching to wash the new jacket I made, well after I sew the zipper in, I will be.  I think washing settles a knitted garment but I can't seem to get this silly preconceived notion out of my head.

Then there's the fear that if I wash it it will stretch or shrink or look terrible then I would have wasted my time.

I am such a nutcase sometimes!

Let me know what you do please.

Thanks.

Decided not to do pattern on sleeves so little fingers don't get caught

Not sure about these inset sleeves.  They were not so noticeable when I used this pattern using tuck stitch but with stockinette they show up.  I tried to make them a feature by exaggerating the join and letting the casting off show. I really don't like using waste yarn then picking up the stitches.  Think I might have to learn to like it! Many of my hand knitting habits sneak into my machine knitting I'm afraid.