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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