Tag Archives: acatherinenoon

Weaving, Woven, Fabric!

Knoontime Knitting

I’ve been weaving, as I mentioned in my article “Weaving!”  My fourth class was tonight and I’m nearly done!  I’ll need to finish the actual fabric coming off the loom in my next lesson, which will be the first in a series of learning how to use a four harness loom.  But I unwound the fabric today and… my goodness!  It’s really long!

The Cricket is portable!  It fits well inside a Peapod bag, and isn’t very heavy.  It’s a little unwieldy, but I was able to carry it on the train without too much fuss.

This is the fully-dressed loom, with the warp all wrapped around the beam.

I decided to look down inside the bag, just to show how compact this little guy is.  I’m also amazed by how big the Peapod bag is.  ~grin~

I’ll post more later, about the beginning process of the weaving, the yarns I used, and the ending process – with the finished fabric – after I get some sleep.

Happy weaving!

Tunisian Snafu

Knoontime Knitting

As in anything, the grace to be a beginner is a necessary prerequisite to becoming more than a beginner.

I suppose, therefore, that I’m doing it right.

In working with my new Mochi Mini yarn, which is coming off the hook beautifully, I encountered the same problem I have with ‘regular’ crochet:  I added stitches.

As you can see in the image on the left, there is an extra stitch hump moving out in a graceful wave to the left.  What happened was that I counted the stitches on my hook, and got 40.  Before the last stitch, I should have had 41 so that the last stitch makes 42.

I added a stitch, and went on like normal.

Then, I counted.

I have 44.

For you math geeks, 44 = more than 42.

~headdesk~

I took it off the hook and started back up with a test yarn, Lion Brand’s Wool Ease worsted weight in ivory.  This way, I’ll be able to practice the stitch in a larger yarn that I can easily see.  I’m having trouble making the left edge neat, but I’ll keep trying.  I may need to go back to the instructor and review that last stitch, or see what I can find on You Tube that works with my way of thinking (I have trouble translating stuff sometimes, so I usually do better with a live instructor).

Weaving!

Knoontime Knitting

As some of you know, I’ve recently purchased a Cricket Rigid Heddle Loom. I didn’t post an update on it when I bought it, but I’ve been collecting weaving books (there aren’t a huge number for the rigid heddle loom, but there are a few).

Last night, I took my first class at the Chicago Weaving School! It was great fun. Natalie Boyett is a great instructor. If you are ever in the Chicago area and have thought of weaving, this is the place for you. She has actual dressed looms that you can use without having to work through the setup process, and thus can see if it’s even something you’d like to try or not. But believe me, it’s fun!

I’ve taken a couple pictures of dressing the loom, and wanted to share my experiences.

First, one has to put the loom together. I didn’t think to take before pix, but it was a challenge for me since I don’t translate 2-D to 3-D very well. But if you don’t have that problem, it’s easy, and even if you DO have that problem, I was able to follow the instructions and get things going.

Once the loom is put together, the next step is to dress it, or “warp” it. The warp are the long continuous threads in the fabric, the weft are the crossways ones. The Cricket comes with two skeins of Lion Brand Wool Ease, which would work, but Natalie suggested I try some weaving yarns and do a color sampler. Color interacts much differently with weaving than knitting, so I followed her advice.

My loom is ten inches wide on the warp surface, with eight pins to the inch – think of that as the gauge. The eight pins are one inch wide, so there are ten sets of eight across width – giving me ten colors, each one inch wide, to work with.

We went left to right, the colors of the spectrum (remember Roy G. Biv from art class? if not, read on and I’ll explain it) as well as black, brown and ivory. Roy G. Biv is a mnemonic to remember the colors of the visible spectrum, or, in layman’s language, the colors of the rainbow. They are Red, Orange, Yellow (Roy), Green (G.), Blue, Indigo and Violet (Biv).

Here’s what the loom looks like half dressed, with the warp threads still wound around the warping peg:


A view from the top, looking at the back of the loom, is here:


This particular warp will be the length of the table (and as I’m typing, I realize that I neglected to measure that, but I’d guess around five feet or 60 inches). If I wanted something longer, I would use a warping board.

We did finish dressing the loom last night, but it was very late so I didn’t take pictures. I will post another update once I get some more pictures to share.

Update on Design

Knoontime Knitting

My bag is coming along. I’ve finished the main body, and put in a round of purl stitches for a fold. Then the lining is stockinette.

The unit is 12″ wide, 9″ deep, and 0.75″ thick. This view shows the 12″ width. I’ll need to block the outside, the 9″ part, to make sure it fits. I’ll pick up stitches at the top and add an envelope closure, and probably make a button.

This view shows the lining inside the bag. I couldn’t get it down inside deeply because of the needles; while I could slip the stitches off to a string as a holder, I don’t really need to see how it works since I can size it by putting the unit itself inside to ensure it fits.

This shows the ridge of the purl row separating the pattern fabric from the lining. You can even see in this shot how the lining leans away from the body. That will make the lining sit down inside without tacking.

I’ll update soon with more.

What Am I Designing Now!

Knoontime Knitting

I have an AlphaSmart 2000 portable keyboard that I use to write while I’m on the train or the bus. I got to thinking, it needs a cover! I knit!

These two things taste great together!

So. Here’s what I did:
I knit a gauge swatch on size 7 dpn (double point needles, the kind used for making socks). I got a good gauge from them, but realized when I started to cast on that 100 stitches wouldn’t fit on them.

I knit a gauge swatch on size 9 circulars, 24″, without really thinking about the length of the circular part. I realized, though, that if my circumference wasn’t 24″, I was toasted when I wanted to cast on since I wanted to knit in the round.

The third time’s the charm. I found my size 7 circulars with I think 8″ or 12″, and knit a gauge swatch. Then I figured, 9″ x 2, plus 1.5″ is 19.5. Make it an even 20.

Just a smidge too small to make it around the circular part. The unit is 12″ wide, though, and even though I originally wanted the stitches to face the other way, 12″ x 2 + 1.5″ works on circulars that are the length I have, but only just barely.

I did a knitted cast on and realized two things: I should have cast on one needle size up, since it’s a pretty tight cast on, and that the knitted cast on curls just like stockinette fabric does, even if you use a straight weave for the fabric itself. This isn’t a bad thing, exactly, it’s just a thing – but I got to thinking: next, I want to try a ribbed knit cast on, and see if purl stitches work as well as knit stitches, to eliminate the curl.

I have about 4.5″ on the needles now, and today decided to make sure it “fit.” That’s what this picture is:

I like the fit quite well, actually. I think I’ll do two rows of reverse stockinette, then another 9″ of plain stockinette, for a lining; finished with a 3 needle bind off. The closure will be picked up and knitted into a triangle, with a button closure. I need some sort of window cover for privacy, but I haven’t worked out yet how I want to do that.

The stitch for the body is a garter rib stitch: 1 row of rib, 1 row of knit. That gives a purl bump in the rib columns that’s pretty but retains the elasticity of a true rib.

Fabricloff!

Knoontime Knitting

So, I took an artist date yesterday. I decided to check out a new fabric store in Bucktown. Back in the day, Bucktown was NOT a neighborhood you wanted to be caught dead in.

Well, I guess if you wanted to be caught dead, you would want to go there…
Anyway, you get the point. So I decide to check out this new place, and it’s pretty darned cool! They don’t even bill themselves as a store first; it’s a DIY Sewing School and Fabric Store. My kinda place! It’s called the Needle Shop, http://www.theneedleshop.net/ , and it’s in a little storefront in amongst brownstones and houses and puppies and yuppies.

I wandered through the front room, which is filled with bolts of pretty designer fabrics, and then to the back room which has their books and patterns. The clearance rack caught my eye and I found some pretty Aboriginal print fabric. And I did something I don’t usually do – I passed up on a book, which I’ve realized I have a LOT of, and bought the fabric! It was on sale for $7 a yard, and is a lovely Kaffe Fassett print that I found, after looking it up, came all the way from Westminster Fabrics in London!

Wowsers.

Here’s a pic of it, not yet prewashed. I have about 3 yards and 4 inches, so I think I’ll at least make a pair of pants and either a top or a jacket, depending on how much I can squeeze out of it. I’m also going to take it to the knitting shop and see if I can find some yarn to match, and make a sweater with a square neck and short sleeves.

Stay tuned!

Camera Bag

Knoontime Knitting

So, I sez to my friend, Friend, what kind of a bag would you like? And she sez to me, she sez, Well, I’d like a camera bag.

In camo.

…

Have I mentioned before that I HATE camo?

I must have mentioned this.

In fact, my friend, she started giggling because we had talked, at length, on just this very topic the day before while hiking. I sez to my friend, Friend, do you have a hat I could borrow for this here desert hiking in the sun? And she sez to me, she sez, sure! Here you go!

It’s camo.

…

Have I mentioned before that I HATE camo?

So this bag. Well, it’s a camera bag, for a wee little bitty camera of a thing. So I knitted a swatch, and I knitted a sock, and I closed the sock with the three needle bind off, and I picked up the gusset for the lid, and I knitted the lid.

I even did some lace, but you can’t really see. The end is sort of diagonal, which I don’t like much, so I think I’ll do another one. And I want to add a strap. But I finished the bag. Poof!

In camo.

…

Have I mentioned before that I HATE camo?

It’s quite roomy inside. I showed this picture to my friend, and she said it looks like a little mouth. Which of course makes me want to make a version of the bag with ears and teeth…

This is the inside of the cover. There’s actually a small lace pattern in the triangle that forms the flap, but you can’t see it since the yarn is so dark.

This is with the flap closed. The line of the flap at the point of the triangle is angled down and to the right, which I don’t like; I want it to be square. What I think I’ll do is start the next bag from this point, rather than end here, and then cast on the extra stitches for the body and go from there.

Even with white in the background, you can’t see the lace. It’s a pity, but a good lesson: on dark yarn, use a textural pattern and not lace to see it – or use bigger needles (or block the heck out of it).

This is how it looks when I hold it straight, but I’m still not really happy with the closure. I do want to find a cool wooden button to use for the clasp, and I may make a prototype with a button since it will be used in the field on the fly.

And here is the back in all its glory. I did the top part in a garter rib pattern that actually looks quite nice in this yarn; I may do the whole thing next time in that stitch for added padding against the camera body.

Another thought I have is to do a lining, so that there’s extra padding to protect the camera – I just don’t want the bag to be too bulky. We shall see.

Spring Bag

Knoontime Knitting

I’m on a kick to make more gift bags. I found a cool overdye at Michael’s, and I like the colors. I think it looks like Spring or Ostara.

I did the top as straight knitting, but I used a knitted cast on instead of long tail. I like the way it comes out, since you can’t really see the edge and it looks very neat and clean. It’s looser than long tail, too, which is nice; although when working that first row off the cast on row it sometimes is tight.

I used a slip-stitch pattern from Barbara Walker’s stitch dictionary, A First Treasury of Knitting Patterns which has been re-released by Schoolhouse Press. I actually didn’t like the way it looked with this yarn, which surprised me. I have found it to be pretty on some overdyes, whereas on others it looks flat and muddy – which I thought it did, here.

I switched back to plain knitting for the next segment, and then experimented with a Garter Rib. I tried doing the plain rows by switching between knit and purl by row for the first segment, then doing purl every straight row for the final segment.

It wasn’t until I finished and turned the bag inside out to seam it that I realized my error – I did the stitch inside-out!

I like the way it turned out, but for the next bag with this yarn I’ll do the garter rib for the whole thing and see how that looks. I used the three needle bind of for the end and made a 3-stitch i-cord for the cord. On the whole, I like how it looked.

The yarn is worsted-weight, and I used a size 7 needle, which is much smaller than I’d usually use for this yarn thickness. The resultant fabric is quite dense, which I like for the purpose of the gift bag.

Element Bag

Knoontime Knitting

I recently experimented with a pattern for a gift bag, which is really a very simple project. I used pearl cotton, gauge 5 and gauge 12, to create the bag. Starting with yellow for East and Air, I then used red for South and Fire, (both yellow and red are the gauge 5), then navy blue for West and Water, and finally green for North and Earth. For the i-cord, I used indigo and violet, both gauge 12, held together to make it thicker. Take a look:

You can see the difference in yarn thickness between the 5 and 12 sizes. I used a Size 3 (US) set of double-pointed needles to make the bag (and plan to switch away from my usually beloved bamboo and purchase some steel ones; anything smaller than Size 5 (US) is too bendy in the bamboo and wood).

For the next bag, I plan to use only the size 5 thread; I found the size 12 too thin and the resultant fabric too flimsy for what I wanted. I could double up on the 12, but that would use twice as much yarn and I don’t need that thickness for warmth or durability, just appearance.

This is a top view of the finished bag, with all colors visible but the i-cord untied. The finished bag clocked in around four inches tall.

This is the finished bag. The pattern I used calls for a 3 needle bind off, which I did use; I also like stepped decreases though did not use that for this bag. They give a more rounded finish.

Birthday Project

Knoontime Knitting

Happy birthday to meeeee! (Actually, my birthday is May 8th, but still…) I received some money for a gift and took myself to get a Bucilla needlepoint kit. I didn’t realize this, but Bucilla is now owned by Plaid Online, a collection of a number of handicraft providers.

I selected “Oriental Crane,” a lovely pattern of painted canvass needlepoint. It comes with crewel wool, floss, metallic thread and beads. I’m looking forward to working on it. I haven’t completed it (I’ve only just started separating the yarns), but I’m enjoying the colors.

The only complaint I have is the instructions are awful. They are written in about six different languages and it appears that in trying to solve the problem of being an international company, they’ve missed the mark. While there are six languages, the actual instructions are so skimpy that if I weren’t an experienced needle worker I would be lost. For example, if I handed the kit to my husband, who is good at needlepoint but not very experienced, he wouldn’t know how to complete the kit. It’s a shame.

I’ll post more in-process pictures once I have something interesting to look at, but here’s the design so you can at least see what I’m doing.

I’m thinking I might frame it and hang it on my wall at my office. We’ll see.