Empty Nest, Pendant Bags and Lip Balm

The last of the chicks went off to college and we are left with an empty nest! What to do with all that TIME? I got right back to the knitting machine.

In previous blogs, I told how those cell bags were made with no seams. Now I made them smaller for use as pendant bags and lip balm bags. You can see how small the pendat bags are. Use them for treasures - or the tooth fairy!

Check out the bags at http://www.blazingneedles.etsy.com/

Taking my time with personalized blankets

I guess we all try to do it - get the last mile out of a tank of gas before refilling, hoping there is enough milk for the cereal to save a trip to the store.

Now if you are a machine knitter, you know that the machine HAS to be kept clean. Gunk builds up on the rails and carriage from the oil used to keep the machine running. I usually clean mine every day ... but ... setting up for blankets takes a while and I wanted to squeeze the last blanket out before cleaning. Bad move. There right down the middle was an error.

Sigh. I lost my work and had to clean the machine and set up again anyway. I hope I remember this the next time I am tempted to extend my cleaning period. But I probably won't.

You can see my personalized blankets at http://www.blazingneedles.etsy.com

My first "Section Sale"

I decided to try something new at my etsy site http://www.blazingneedles.etsy.com/ The entire section with mugrugs and coasters is 20% off. As always, I would rather create than market!

The mugrugs have always been popular - they are unique and low priced. I have several more designs to photo, including a football.

There will be another "section sale" next week. I haven't decided which section yet, so check back!

New Hebrew Name Blanket

My original blanket design is now in a catalog, so I sat down and came up with a new one! Designing is half the fun. My designs are done on a computer and then translated to my loom. Ususally it takes a few iterations before I am happy with a new design. I plan to try a Greek name blanket as well.

Israel - day 8

Sigh - the last day. Rani takes us to the old city.



Rani knows everything about Israel. He takes us to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the upper room of the last supper, the western wall, King David's tomb, shopping in the Arab quarter (got some great jewelry!) excavations of ancient sites and so much more.



It is a fantastic day and we leave for Ben Gurian airport tired, happy, sad to leave and wanting to come back.

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Israel - day 6-7

On to Eilat!! Eilat is located at the northern end of the Red Sea. It is a resort city with 5 star hotels, scuba, snorkling, wind surfing and a jumping night life. You can also stand on the shore and see Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia!!

The only problem is that you have to drive through the Negev desert to get there. Unlike the Judean desert, this one is mostly flat and boring. But we did find a McDonald's!!

We needed a rest from all the site-seeing. Eilat has a coral reef and gorgeous salt water fish. Snorkling in the sea is like being in an aquarium. The most beautiful fish are within arms reach. I will have to get the underwater camera pictures developed for you to see. We spent our time in the water and in the mall.

Before leaving, we traveled to the Egyptian border for a few pictures. Back through the Negev to Jerusalem. We stopped at a McDonalds at the Dead Sea - the lowest McDonalds in the world! Way below sea level. There was Ronald.

Tomorrow is our last day and we will spend it with our friend and guide, Rani, in the Old City.
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Israel - day 5

We are back in Jerusalem staying with friends at their house in a new area just outside the city. It is a beautiful 'desert' house with a view to die for.

Today, our friend Rani will take us to see many Christian places of worship that commemorate times in Jesus' life. DS friend is Christian and we all want to see the churches. We visit the site where the Good Samaritan story takes place, where the Beatitudes were spoken and many others. We visit an ancient Roman site with shops and a theater. We see the Sea of Galilee adn the Jordan River. The river is very small - not the gushing waterway you would expect - it is the desert, after all!

Many pilgrims bathe in the Jordan - see the picture of people in white robes. Then we are off to the Golan Heights, once occupied by Syria. It is best to have a guide for this part!! We see a monestary built into the side of a cliff - talk about getting away from it all :) The road up to Golan is narrow and winding, but our trusty Kia minivan made it in fine style.

Back to our hotel in Jerusalem for the night, then off to Eilat for some snorkling.
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Israel, Day 4

Today we spent visiting friends. Ofir and Nurit live on a kibbutz. A kibbutz started out as a collective farm, but now they are more free market. Ofir and his son, Rotem, took us to Rosh Hanikra. This town is on the Lebanon border. Relations with are fairly peaceful right now. Rosh Hanikra has some great caves where the sea rushes in with a boom. We toured through the caves and got a picture of the guys with their arms in Lebanon!

The British built a rail line through the caves from Lebanon to Israel prior to Israel becoming a state. The rail line was blown up during the war for independence by the Israelis.

After Roah Hanikra, we had lunch in an Arab town at a small cafe. The owners were friends of Rotem. We feasted on falafel ( fried chick peas in pita with salad - sort of like an Arab taco), hummas (ground chick peas), arab salads etc. The food just kept coming!

Then back to Jerusalem. Check out the pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/blazingneedles/sets/72157605641416319/

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Israel - Day 3

Hi again!



Today we traveled North to Caesaria and Nahariya. Caesaria is a city built by Herod (the guy was a great builder) . It is an interesting combination of ancient ruins and modern use. The colosseum and hippodrom are still there and in pretty good shape for their age. The colosseum is also used for concerts! The sound is that good! Caesaria is right on the Mediterranean with a beautiful view.

We then took off for the resort town of Nahariya. The boys went swimming in the Mediterrnean. The rest of us found some great food - falafel and schwarma. We met up to watch some soccer (what else) at an outdoor cafe.

Catch the photos at:
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Israel - Day 2

Today we headed out for Masada and the Dead Sea.

Masada is a flat topped mountain deep in the Judean desert. It is an excellent location for a fortress and that is exactly what King Herod did with it. Herod created a spa in the desert. There were baths, agriculture, mosaics and a sumptuous lifestyle - all created on the backs of slaves. After Herods time, Masada stood empty until the first century. Rome was attacking all the Jews in the area. A small band retreated to Herods fortress. They lived in the protected palace for years, dividing the great rooms into smaller houses for their families. Rome decided to eradicate them. To fo this, Rome marched our their armies and encamped around Masada. But the Jews, with their water and food could last forever. Vespasian decided to build a ramp to roll up their giant war machine and end the stand off. The night before the battering ram would knock down the walls, the Jews decided they were not going to be slaves. They drew lots. The men killed their wives and children. Those who drew the lots killed the men and the final men killed those left and then took his own life. The Romans entered to death.

The Dead Sea was our second stop. The sea has no outlet and so is chock full of awful tasting minerals. But those minerals also make you incredabley bouyant! You float way above where you would in fresh water. It is a unique experience. Even the boys, who have almost no body fat, floated.

Check here for pictures of opur second day.

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Israel - Day 1

We left Newark on the great adventure on Sunday and landed 11 hours later in Tel Aviv. There was 5 of us - 2 parents, 1 daughter, 1 son and the son's best friend. We rented a car and drove to Jerusalem. We were tired but didn't want to waste time sleeping.

We took off for the Old City Jerusalem. Jersualem in divided into 4 quarters - Jewish, Armenian, Arab and Christian. WE started in the Arab quarter with the shops. The Arab shops are along very narrow streets and the shops are outside. The smells are wonderful. We ate some terrific desserts at one of the stalls.

We then went to the Jewish quarter to see the Western Wall, the holiest spot for Jews. This is the remant of the second temple. We girls had to where skirts over our shorts and the guys had to cover their heads.

We also spent some time on the Via Del a Rosa or way of the cross. It is amazing how precious this area is to so many religions.

We collapsed at our hotel to rest for our next day. See pictures of our first day at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blazingneedles/sets/72157605558627998/

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New Adventures

Well - I tried stretching myself and trying something new. Jewelry. It started with me buying a beautiful pendant from a friend on Etsy - Zuda Gay. She does lovely polymer clay work. I had the pendant sitting around on my work table for a while until the creative spirit moved me. Then it came! I knitted a cord of cotton to go around the neck 3 times. I then crocheted bobbles to add an accent and close the necklace. I was happy with the results!

Then I tried a crocheted necklace with a blue pearl cotton. It was a blast to do. It was a good piece to make while traveling in the car.

I have to finish a cashmere knitted necklace over wooden beads. I have been trying to find the right type of clasp. Stay tuned!

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Machine Knitting - Part 7

Is there any competition between hand and machine knitters?

I walked into a yarn store with my draft of a scarf to buy the expensive yarn I needed. I had designed it and machine knit it in a cheap yarn. This allowed me to see where the flaws in my design were and correct them. I probably knit 2 or 3 scarves until I got it right. A knitter ran up to me to see the scarf, looked at it, asked if it was machine knit and then walked away when I said it was. The owner was clearly embarrassed.

Since I do both, I can see both sides of the issue. Hand knitters feels that machine knitters are 'cheating'. Machine knitters feel that hand knitters have no idea how much time and talent it takes to machine knit. They are clearly 2 similar, yet different crafts.

Hand knitting is recognizable to any knitter. It has a great, one of a kind look. Machine knitting sometimes looks too perfect. There is a lot of love in a hand knit garment. Unfortunately, no one is willing to pay the price that these pieces of art deserve. Hours and hours of work go into sweaters. People complain about spending $300 on a sweater when they can buy a sweater for much less at WalMart. But a store bought sweater has none of the beauty of hand made.

Machine knitters call our works 'hand loomed' or 'hand crafted'. There is also a lot of work, talent and love in machine made knits. We think of knitting machines like sewing machines. No one looks at a dress made by a crafter on a sewing machine as less of a craft. It is using a tool and talent to create. It usually takes us less time to make a piece, but that doesn't account for all the time to learn our craft.

I believe there is a place for both crafts. Lots of love and hand work go into both. I enjoy doing both - I sure can't take a machine on a car trip, or curl up with my machine in front of the fire. But I can't produce my one-of-a-kind scarves at an affordable price knitting by hand.

Hand knitters - as one of you - I salute your craft and the lovely work you do. Machine-knitters - as one of you - I salute your craft and the time and talent it takes to do what you do.

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Machine Knitting Part 6

About those bags ...

If you have seen one of my knit bags up close, you will notice that there are no seams - none on the bottom, none on the sides. That is done with the ribber and circular knitting. The knitting machine can knit a 'tube' of yarn! The carriage can be set so that it knits on the main bed for one pass and the ribber for the next - back and forth, back and forth. You end up with the same thing as you would knitting on circular needles by hand.

The end is cast on to seal it and then the circular knitting begins. When the bag is the correct length, the stitches on the ribber are bound off creating a neat edge. I continue knitting on the main bed, reducing the stitches as I go to form the flap. The strap is called an "I cord". It is 3 stitches knit on the main bed to the desired length. The fabric naturally rolls and forms that nice cord. I attach the cord all the way down to the end of the bag on the inside to give it stability. To attach it just at the top of the bag would save on yarn, but would make the bag sag.

There is much more that I want to experiment with my machines. I have a whiteboard full of ideas, from wire jewelry to woven bags. I will keep my blog updated as I make new things. There is just one more installment of this series right now - my views on machine knitting vs hand knitting. See you soon!

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Machine Knitting - Part 5

So what about those baskets?

Those are done with a lace stitch. I can do those with hand manipulated stitches or with a lace carriage. To use the lace carriage, I take off the regular main bed carriage and put on the lace carriage. Sometimes I do the lace by hand, sometimes with the carriage. The carriage is very tempermental - it needs a very clean machine, a fairly new sponge bar (holds the needles down) and lots of weight. It is faster than hand manipulated, but frustrating.

Lace is done by moving a stitch to the next needle to get a hole. The next carriage pass closes the hole. That gives the open pattern. My baskets are done with a very simple lace pattern. The baskets are so small that anything more complicated would get lost. I admit that I haven't spent much time yet on the more complicated fashion lace, but it is on my to-do list.

It takes time to design the correct size for the lace to fit my forms. After the lace is knit, I sew up the seams and prepare a starch mix. The lace is put in the starch and then stretched over the form. I secure it with wooden clothes pins until it is dry. I usually do lace in the winter so I can dry it on our boiler - that is really fast.

The lace is then taken off the form and decorated. I decorate the top of the baskets and the edges of the box tops. The baskets are stiff and keep their shape as long as they are not subjected to too much moisture (like in a bathroom).

OK - I noticed that your knit bags do not have any seams on the sides or the bottom! How do you so that? Stay tuned for Part 6!

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Machine Knitting - Part 4

Those are pretty fancy stitches on the blankets. How do you do that?

The lacy stitches on the blanket are called tuck stitches. Selected needles hold the stitch in the hook for one or more rows instead of knitting it off. Then all the stitches on that hook are knitted at once. This gives an interesting open pattern. I use a double bed tuck on the blankets - double bed means I use the main bed and the ribber. So on the blankets, I switch from tuck, to double jacquard and back to tuck. The tuck gives the lacy texture and the double jacquard puts in the name. This is all controlled by how I tell the computer to knit and how I adjust the carriage.

But that is not all the stitches I can do! Slip stitch passes the yarn in front of selected needles to form a pattern that is different from tuck. Do a slip in 2 colors and you have another intersting pattern. I can also do a weaving stitch to make thing like placemats. This allows me to use a heavier yarn than my standard maching usually can handle by passing the yarn in front of the needles and not through the carriage. Then there is plating where 2 yarns are knitted together with one yarn showing on one side and the other on the back.

Ok, OK - but what about those starched baskets? They look like they have holes in the knit! Yep - part 5 will let you in on the secrets of lace knitting.

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Machine Knitting - Part 3

The blankets must be done differently because both sides are 'good' sides. How do you do that?

Remember, the scarves were done in fairisle. That means that the yarn was carried behind the knitting causing 'floats'. That is fine for scarves because they are folded in half and all those ugly floats are inside and can't be seen. The blankets, mugrugs, wine cozies need 2 good sides. Enter the RIBBER!

A ribber is a separate (read expensive) addition that hangs on the bottom of the main bed. at a 90 degree angle. You can see in the picture that only one of my machines has a ribber. Ribbers make the ribbing on the bottom, cuffs and necks of sweaters, of course, but they do much more.

A ribber can do double jacquard! I use 2 strands of yarn and a color changer. That is the arm shaped thingy at the end of my machine. The carriage picks up one color and does 2 passes, then picks up the other color for another 2 passes. One side has the pattern, the other side has stripes - or plain if you prefer. The material is double thick with no floats.

The mugrugs and cozies are all double jacquard. My blankets are actually a combination of double jacquard and a tuck stitch - but more about that in ..... (wait for it) ..... Part 4!

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Knitting Machines - Part 2

OK - how DO you get the designs in there? My scarves are done in machine knitting fairisle. Fairisle is repeating small patterns done in 2 colors - like you see in sweaters and mittens. Fairisle in machine knitting is using 2 colors, carrying one behind the other, regardless of the pattern.

Patterns can be machine knit in 3 ways - hand manipulated, punch card and electronic. All of these involve moving the needles to accept or reject the yarn. I use electronic. My ideas are drawn on a computer using special software. Since I was a computer engineer, I feel very comfortable with this. The computer screen is a grid that I 'draw' on. I can use jpegs, photos or text in my designs. It takes a long time to design a scarf. Sometimes what looks good on the screen does not transfer well to yarn. It is trial and error.

When I am happy with the design, I begin to knit. The carriage can accomodate 2 strands of yarn, one for the background and one for the pattern. The carriage is set to 'fairisle', the yarns are placed in the carriage and cast on to the machine. Weights are placed on the knitting to keep tension on the needles. My yarn comes on 4 lb. cones.

The pattern is fed electronically from the computer to the carriage, moving the needles into position. I have a motor that moves the carriage for me to eliminate repetitive motion damage to my hands. This way I can do 100 scarves in a reasonable amount of time.

The scarves then have to be finished - the long seam linked together, edges surged to prevent unravelling, the scarf steamed and blocked to size and then the fringe sewn on. Voila! A scarf!

Next - how do you do the blankets with the names?

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Machine Knitting - Part 1

I am a machine knitter as well as a hand knitter and crocheter. Though many people knit and crochet, there were few machine knitters. There are probably 2 reasons - expense and time. Knitting machines can cost over $1000!! And then you need the rest of the "stuff" - ribbers, tools, yarn winders, etc etc etc. And the learning curve is very steep - you HAVE to take lessons before you knit the first stitch (actually it is next to impossible to get started without someone showing you).



A knitting machine is about the size of an electronic keyboard. There are different sizes of machines for different yarn. Yes - that means if you have an expensive machine to knit sports weight yarn, you will need ANOTHER expensive machine for bulky! YIKES! Generally there are 4 sizes - lace, standard, mid and bulky gauge. My standard has 200 needles (and, yes, they are SHARP). They look like little latch hooks. A carraige runs over the needles and makes the stitch. One pass of the carriage equals one row. That is where the speed comes it.



My main business is making scarves and hats for fundraisers. I have done scarves for schools, symphonies, swim teams, soccer teams, graduating seniors, class reunions, family get-togethers etc. I design the scarves with the chosen colors, words and designs. Here are a few: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blazingneedles/sets/72157603877767278/

Next installment - How do you get the designs in there?

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More Cacti

We have been traveling to lot of soccer games in far away places recently. That gives me plenty of time to crochet cacti in the car. So with my bag of yarn at my feet and hook in my hand, I crochet away the travel time.

I had some heavy white yarn in the bag and decided to try an 'albino' cactus. I combined the white with some fun fur that I had and really liked the results. Sort of weird and funky.

What do you think?

Barb
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Chag Sameach - Passover

Well, it looks like we won't have our usual 28 people for our Passover Seder this year. We are down to around 20. But we will still move all the furniture out of the living room and set up tables. Then we cook, cook, cook - matzah ball soup, turkey roast, noodle kugel, potatoes, broccoli, fruit and cookies for dessert. There are not any small children this year to look for the afikomen, but my 18 year old son says his friends still like to look for it. So we will have BIG kids hunting all over the house to earn the prize - a candy bar. I love Passover.

I have had lots of orders for my L'Chaim wine cozy. I expect they are for hostess gifts for Passover. L'Chaim means "to life" in Hebrew.

Barb
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Vietnamese Blanket

I got a request to do a personalized blanket with a Vietnamese name. I have done Hebrew names, but this was the first Vietnamese name. Being a computer geek, I was able to take the word file I was given, change the font, import it into Paint and export as a jpg file. This went to my DAK program and was converted to an stp file of the proper size for the blanket. Whew!

After that, the knitting was easy!

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More Lace!

I have spent the past week making more lace baskets. I snooped around the stores in the area looking for interesting forms. At a party store, I found an interesting flower shaped box with a lid. The first try was just the bottom - I liked the way it came out. Of course, after I took the picture, I ate the M&Ms. That's a flaw in my character.

Found some shamrock cookie cutters at a Michael's that I will try out for next St. Pat's Day, and more Christmas cookie cutters at a kitchen store. Half the fun is the hunt! I never really know what I am hunting for until I find it.

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The Sun is Shining!

Is is beautiful out today - cold but sunny. I will take the sun anyday. I took advantage of the brightness to re-photo some of my knit lace baskets. Our porch is glassed in, but not heated. That means I can take great pictures with a back drop of my white wicker table or the slate floor. But I can only stay out until my hands freeze.

We also have our orchids on the porch. They are covered with plastic and a heating pad keeps them just warm enough. Some orchids need the cold to bloom. We have fair luck with ours - several bloom every year. When they do, it is worth the wait.

In fact, I can't wait until it is warm enough to sit on the porch with the orchids.

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Personalized Scarves

I designed scarves for a friend with a daughter who plays college basketeball. I had made one last year for one of the girls and they decided it would make a great senior gift. These have the girls names and numbers on them.

I have made senior scarves before for soccer teams with initials and numbers. They are fun to do - a little different than doing 100 of the same thing.

Scarf season is about over, but I do get orders in the summer for fall distribution. Nothing like making scarves when it is HOT out.

See my school scarves at www.YORKnits.com

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South Street - the Hippest Place in Town

Anyone remember the Orlon's song about Philly? We are in Philly for the weekend. We can see the Ben Franklin Bridge from our window and we ate a cheesesteak with whiz for lunch. It doesn't get better than that.

I did pick up some cookie cutters that I want to use as forms for lace boxes and baskets. Other than that, our time has been spent at the historical sites, art galleries and museums.

Its nice to get away!

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Bunnies and Shamrocks

I finished the bunny and shamrock mugrugs. Next, on to some sports mugrugs. I have already designed football, baseballs, volleyballs and soccer balls. Now I have to decide what colors would look good and then knit them up. They really are fun to do.

The list is endless of all the projects I want to do. But that is a good thing.

Tomorrow a fellow etsy crafter and I are going to meet for lunch. We found that we lived a few blocks from each other! Small world.

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I finished another English/Hebrew name blanket

I love doing these blankets. Some little one out there has a blanket with their own name on it. I used a different trim on this one. It is called a worn trim - it looks much nicer than it sounds. I think it gave a great finished edge to the blanket.

The weather was awful today so I got a lot accomplished. Lots of ice on the trees and bushes. I went out and shook the ice off the trees and large bushes in hopes that they wouldn't break under the weight. Only one looks sort of lopsided, but it may come around.

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Easter and St.Pat's Day

I have been working on mugrugs for Easter & St.Pat's Day. I ran off several shamrocks today and will finish them tomorrow. Then come the bunnies. I think I will end the mugrug marathon with some sport themes. A set of 4 with different sports would be nice.

The special order blanket is finished and awaiting approval.

Hope to have both posted tomorrow.

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Working with lace

I have found out some thing about lace, starch and pointy things. They don't work well together. I can make great hearts, eggs, rounds, ovals etc, but when it comes to stars, I will have to come up with another idea. The points cling to the starch and mangle badly when I try to tke the form out. I will keep working on it. Check out my knit lace on my etsy site.

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Knit lace boxes and baskets

I have been spending a lot of time knitting lace for the starched lace boxes and baskets. Cruising a craft store, I found forms for stars, rounds, ovals and maybe a shamrock. I am not sure how the shamrock will work out with all those indents. It has taken quite a while to figure out how to do the starching, but I think they look good now. More later as detail develop on the shamrock.

Scarves scarves scarves

I have had quite a few orders recently for personalized scarves. Most of them have been through word of mouth and some from my website http://www.yorknits.com/. They are fun to do. My goal is to see one of my scarves walking around town.

I actually did see one in Orlando when we were there for a soccer tournament. I ran after the woman. I guess I am lucky I didn't get arrested as a stalker, but I had to see which one it was!

As soon as my daughter educated me on blogging, I will get pictures up.

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Good and bad day

It is beautiful weather here, but I will be attending a funeral for my husband's aunt. I am fortunate, being an only child with no living relatives around, to be very close to Mike's family.

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First Post!

OK - I am new at this blogging thing. Even though I spent many years as a software engineer, I WROTE the programs, not used them. So writing here is going to get some getting used to. Keep coming back as I get used to this.

www.YORKnits.com
www.blazingneedles.etsy.com
http://www.icraft.ca/member_products.php
http://lov.li/users/4483