random stripes...

Here I am with five colours that need to be used together somehow…why did I choose these? A couple of weeks ago, a girlfriend had on a hoodie – it was Tommy H – I should have known! and it was a couple of grey colours with a red stripe and some white or ivory I think and that’s been stuck in my brain and when I saw two shades of grey, I went all in. I wanted five cones – I thought that would give me a fair shot at determining the quality of this yarn, so I’ll admit, it was an easy pick. It was hard to choose from the website as the colours don’t always look like what you’ll get so adding in the black was last minute and I figured it would go will all the shades no matter what – same reason I chose white over ivory (although I’m totally excited they have ecru, vanilla, and pearl) I may have to order one of every colour! I did find a page on their KKS Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/pg/knitknackshop/photos/?tab=album&album_id=390848707620182] that has all the cones together but no names on them – I guess you can’t have everything but it’s easier to compare when they are all together.
I have been wearing Ozark every time I go out of the house lately and I’m enjoying it – it’s wool and one of these days, it’s bound to get warmer, so I thought I’d do a cotton version. I’m still hooked on that ‘sailor’ collar – I’ve been re-watching Downton Abbey and I never noticed it before, but those ladies did rock the sailor collar over and over! Going to stick with the A-line shape for the body instead of cutting it in to the waist as I did in O – going to try out more random stripes and colour blocking – this may be a bit out of my comfort zone, but, really five colours is, so why not? My basic plan is that it will be outlined in red – I’m going to use the same circular hems but instead of the longstitch facings, make tubular bands in red going up the centre fronts, added later, and I’m thinking that way, I can use the knit side as the outside of the collar – it works in my mind right now anyway! As usual, I start with the sleeves…
Don’t be too shocked! BTW, if you are one of those multiple brand machine owners, the Silver Reed/Studio is the best choice for a project like this – the jam release gives a super-quick free pass for those odd number rows of stripes, or to move to the opposite side for the next colour so you don’t have two ends to darn in at the same place. Also, the fact there is no need to be closing/opening the gate each time the yarn is changed makes for quick progress. If Silver Reed is your only brand, bask in the glory!

ever have one of those days...

It was early  afternoon, a cold, dull day and I thought, hummm… I can go up to the workroom and knock off the front of that baby blankie for Karen, my niece. It’s her due date tomorrow and I want to commit to this before I know the baby gender (we don’t know at this point, but it shouldn’t really matter as it’s all bright crayon colours on a navy background) so I’m not second-guessing my colours after the fact. I’m figuring I can do the front in about an hour and a half, should be no problem. I already have my yarn all in place. Get cast on and yes, I’m still using the orange waste yarn. Now the blanket is a creation of Mar Heck’s from Knitwords #35 – I’ve made it before, so I think I know what I’m doing
http://knitwords.blogspot.ca/2016/03/list-buster.html

I know I have an old system - I’m using DAK7, Windows 2000, SL4 and my Silver Reed SK580 – now, if you’ve been reading me for awhile you may have twigged to the fact that I’m not exactly the biggest fan of DAK – it’s probably my own unfriendly aura that DAK senses and the machine knitting gods do too. And I haven’t used DAK in awhile – I only use it to download large stitch files to the machine and knit-from-screen and as this particular stitch file came as a DAK file, 200 sts by 356 rows, this is really the only way to knit it other than drawing it out on 6 Mylar sheets – totally out of the question, never gonna happen. I have done some tuck patterning recently, using the built-in electronics, no DAK, and everything worked fine. 

On the blanket, there is a solid colour border, so 23 rows plain navy at the beginning – I’m not putting a name in – and there are 10 plain stitches of border at each edge – the picture is knit as a single motif and Mar has explained, on a brother machine, how to have extra yarn ready to wrap the edge stitches so there are no holes at the edge of the picture, before the border. Being the Silver Reed expert that I am (in my own mind anyway), I know this is much easier on this machine. Because the needles do not select (come out like the brother machine), you can wrap the next to the end-of-the-pattern needle with the second colour at the beginning of each row and using the yarn separators, everything works beautifully. I have learned in the past that I don’t need to use the yarn separators – they prevent the second colour from getting tangled in the background yarn until the second colour is required in the patterning of the next row – I simply wrap the needle with the second colour, leave it in B position, and with my hand, hold the second colour yarn slightly below the brushes/arm of the carriage just for the start of the row and it works well.
Back to the work at hand, knit the plain border. On row 23, set to fairisle, add in the second colour, knit the first row of patterning, everything’s fine. Knit the second row - somehow the second colour is knitting at the edge, in the border. Gosh, darney, darn, darn! Rip out the row, reset everything and try again. Same thing happens. Rip out, re-read DAK, knit, same thing. I very calmly take the carriage off, examine the undercarriage and decide that maybe it’s time for some cleaning and maintenance. Get out my tool kit, remove all the brushes and wheels and sure enough, there are a few bits of gunk and mashed up yarn and the transparent plastic round brush covers have a few marks on them, so I replace them. Wipe out the tiny dust bunny babies from the channels, oil it all, put things back on the machine, reset the pattern and I get two rows this time before the mistake. Check the end cams, here’s a thought, maybe they are not in the right position – it is kind of hard to decide it they are set at 100 or at 99…I go back into DAK and delete one stitch from each side of the file so it’s now 198 sts wide. Go through the whole deal again and same thing. I look closer and see that what is happening is that the second colour is actually knitting a row of stockinette which means that the DAK signal has dropped and there is not fairisle needle selection. Okay, this could be serious. I now realize this is an electronics issue and fortunately, I have new end cams and a new curl cord which I swap out – do that and same thing – it’s like freakin’ Groundhog Day! My two-hour window has disappeared, and I am defeated. I face the fact that my Silver Link 4 is quite old now and I am not up to replacing that. Turn everything off, drop the jinxed border from the machine – I’ll go drink my sorrows away!  I'm Netflix-ing 'This Is US' - what a show, makes you forget all your troubles!
This morning, after a good strong coffee, I go up to face reality. Turn on the computer, call up DAK and the pattern and I do a dry run – no yarn, arm off the carriage, set to fairisle, load the pattern and knit, listening to the sound of the clicking needles and watching the winking red/green light on the DAK link box. Ha! It is all working! Make 20 passes like that, all systems go! Still apprehensive, I leave the pattern on, cast-on and get the border knit to the point of row 24, first row of patterning. Re-read DAK for row 24, add in the second colour, set to fairisle, knit, check – it’s all good! Wrap the needle, hold the yarn below, take a deep breath and knit – it works! OMG! I keep going, not daring to take a break – sure enough, within the hour I have the completed front! Victory!
Moral of the story, when using DAK, when you need a re-start, always turn off everything! You know how your computer tells you this may require a restart after you add or remove a program, DAK really needs this – unplug the link, turn off your computer and restart everything before going into panic mode!  Also, Silver Reed people, if you do not have a spare new curl cord and point cams, order them today, just saying!
Have a great weekend!  XO, MAO!

Battle of the sexes...

Summer is coming (sometime, I guess - but it’s been so freaking cold here - if Clinton can use that word so can I!!). It’s rather hard to get my head around cool knitwear - that might be my new oxymoron - you know, I just realized that ‘advanced beginner’ is an oxymoron...gonna have to change that - any ideas???
Okay, so back to planning my summer issue. I do like thread lace and Mar Heck’s Dragonfly shawl pattern and article in No 48 (it's in the mail!!) inspired me to make a new stitch pattern from of a leaf design I’ve been tinkering with. I want something light, airy, cool and suitable for my hot friends in hot places. In going over Mar's article (she does all her knitting on Brother and I do the majority of mine on my Silver Reeds) she had me convinced that knitting thread lace on the Brother was going to work better than on my Silver Reed. You might ask why? Because the machines knit differently. In particular, on the Brother in thread lace, the ‘selected’ needles -the ones brought out - knit only the finer yarn and the non-selected needles knit both threads, so it is possible to get a better edge on Brother, by using the non-selected end needles feature and, if the end needles are selected because of the pattern, you can push them back before knitting the row, resulting in a better edge. On the Silver Reed, in order to make sure the finer yarn knits properly, the end needles are brought out at the beginning of the row, with hold set on one way. This means the end stitches are knit only every second row, with the finer yarn only, making a rather wimpy edge that can be difficult to seam, depending on yarn choice. Even if it knits without bringing out the end needles, moving the point cams still won't make the edge stitches knit with both yarns, in fact the opposite. So, like I said, Mar had me convinced I should use the Brother for this new project. I go to my Brother 970 - I do know how to operate it, but... excuses, excuses...
I have tried out my stitch pattern on the Silver Reed, making a swatch with the yarn I intend to use, a slub rayon (putty) and a very fine cotton rayon yarn in the same light shade. Happy with it! Now, move to the Brother 970. I have planned my shape, drawing it to scale on graph paper in preparation for making notes from which I will write and grade sizes for the pattern for the magazine. It will be a cardy with drapy fronts, and 3/4 sleeve, so the front pieces are asymmetrical. Normally I would draw the shape on mylar for my KR11 knit radar which links to any of my Silver Reeds. I attempt putting the shape into the CB1, something I have not done for quite a long time, but with instruction manual in hand, I get the back shape in, relatively quickly. I entered it as a symmetrical shape, not realizing until after the fact I cannot just alter it to make the fronts and I did not make detailed notes of the places where the program takes over. I have a few choice phrases for the poor CB1 box, decide I will deal with the fronts later, just continue as if only to make the back. I fiddle a few moments, trying to get the ‘box’ to accept my shape file - I begin to feel empathy for poor Steve in the cereal commercial when his wife asks, what else does box say? Box says, shut up, Steve!
The box wants the swatch information and I haven’t made it yet!!! okay, scrap that idea, I’ll put that in later. Download my leaf thread lace into the box, which means, take the box, remembering to take converter and power cord with me, up to my desktop computer which has DesignaKnit and the cord that goes to the box. Do the do, take the box back down, put it on the 970, plug it in, turn the machine on and proceed to make the swatch. Cast on with waste yarn. Knit a row of disposable ravel cord - the only one handy is a light brownish mercerised cotton and, knowing I’ll likely regret this, do it anyway. Remove waste yarn and thread up my 2 yarns - I have 2 tension assemblies on the Silver Reed, so can have waste yarn always threaded up. Knit 16 rows of graded tension hem and sure enough, as I pick up the first row, berate myself for using that beige ravel cord. Half way across, break down and go in search of my work-station bi-focals and florescent lamp. Get to the end of the row, pull out the ravel cord, check all is well with hem. Use next row to join hem and read/select for first row of pattern by setting the carriage to KCll, congratulating myself for making sure I’m outside the turn mark.
Back on the right side, strangely, all needles are selected, instead of the every other I was expecting. Fiddle with the box, make sure I have not inadvertently locked the pattern or something dumb like that - one of those silly little omissions... I push back all the needles and confidently depress both part buttons to get a free pass to re-select and be back on the same side as the yarn...do this several times with same results, before remembering ‘the box’ sometimes doesn’t know it is really attached to the machine - turn off machine, unhook cable, rehook, turn on again and pass carriage across.
What the?? my hem is dangling in mid air - oh yeah, I forgot, on this fifth time, to push the selected needles back!! Holy hell! another oxymoron, emphasis on the MORON!! The needles are selected for my pattern, though!! But just wait!! Against everything I’ve ever taught and preached and know in my heart, instead of breaking it off and remaking the hem, I decide to rehang it. Why does it amaze me when, at the end of this agonizing row I see I’ve missed the second strand on 10 or 12 stitches??? Still calm though, I fix them, taking pride in the fact I shall use this swatch in a teaching demo some day.
Everything back on, re-select without incident, rethread, set to thread lace and knit several rows. Hummmmm - long floats. Why? check both the centre buttons are properly depressed as per thread lace, click them out and in a couple of times, knit a few more rows. Set it to fairisle, top button only to see what happens. Yeah, it’s different, so the thread lace was working. It dawns on me the wrong needles are being selected. Guess I forgot to check the main and contrast in my DAK pattern before I downloaded it - that screws me over all the time!! Okay, I go to the box, find the variation screen, change it to select the opposite needles, go back to my pattern and knit again. Same thing. Oh, maybe I need to be outside the turn again. Do that. Nope. Still the same. Okay, go back to the variation screen, pick up the manual and see that I need to actually click the solid or #2 key to lock the variation negative ON. (Note to self, oh yeah, back on the knit screen, it will have a (v) to indicate there is a variation working!!!) Fix that, go back to the knit screen, re-select, outside the turn just in case. Humph! it works, thread lace knitting as it is meant to be.
What I’ve learned?? I think the Silver Reed is a female machine and the Brother is a male machine!!

Silver words of wisdom....

So, I’m back at my knitting - actually I already have 3 garments ready for the next issue - I’ll tell you about them maybe another time. Today, I’m working on a light green top with a gathered neckline to wear under a jacket or cardy, using Bambu7. It’s quite thin and to make a wider stitch gauge - stockinette at T4 gives 37 sts to 10 cm which restricts the finished width you can get from 200 needles - I’m using a one-row-tuck, what I call a tuck pattern with a row of stockinette on every other row that gives a nice, subtle texture on the knit side, similar to a garter carriage look. The tuck on every other row is enough to add extra width (stitch gauge at T4 is now 29 sts/10 cm) and the every other row stockinette takes the ‘bubbly-ness’ out of the tuck.
I have the Silverlink4 with DAK7 and my standard gauge Silver Reed machine. I’ve been using this system to knit all my garments for the past 4 years and I love knit-from-screen because it shows exactly what needle is doing what on which row - you can’t go wrong!! Before that, I used the SK580 with built-in electronics and the PE1.
The curl cord can get blown out with improper use. Also, I hate to say how old some of my curl cords are and not surprisingly, I have had 2 burn out recently. When this happens, nothing else does, meaning you can program and re-read till the cows come home and no signal goes to the machine and DAK will keep telling you you’re on the wrong side.
How do you know it’s burned out??
Okay, so I have replaced a couple of curl cords and I am pretty careful (I think) about hooking up the electric to everything - I always make sure my SilverLink4 is unplugged from the power source whenever I’m not using it - in between pieces of knitting, even if I’m only taking a break to grab a cup of whatever, I unplug it from the power bar. If I am not using the patterning for a garment, I unplug the curl cord from the carriage, and I park the end in an old pill bottle attached to one of the antennae, to protect the prongs inside from inadvertently coming in contact with anything.
Now, I use this stuff often enough that it comes second-nature and I’m a big short-cutter and when on auto-pilot, may forget to check something - you know what I mean. So. I’m putting in a pattern and everything’s cool and working fine. On row 8, I’ve hung the hem and then go back to knitting in pattern. I usually watch the red/green flash of lights on the end of the SilverLink to make sure the pattern is continuing properly and I’ve also become attuned to the sound the needles patterning make, so I noticed right away on row 12 that the tuck pattern hadn’t happened by the sound or rather, lack of it. So, rip out a row... re-read the pattern and begin again. I get 4 rows knit and again, the familiar little click-click-click was not there. Sure enough, a pattern-less row! At least it has the courtesy to actually knit the row when you are doing tuck and the signal is lost - if I was using the lace carriage, there would be major drama happening!! When the signal is lost with the lace carriage, all stitches act as a selected stitch and transfer off, resulting with everything on the floor!!! Also, it occurs to me that I did not get a signal from ‘Matthew’ (that’s what I call my DAK screen in honour of Matthew Bragg, the creator of DAK)telling me I'm on the wrong side. So, third time is a charm, but I decided to investigate first. I checked my curl cord - I had put a tag with the date on it up near the top, out of the way and yes, it’s a new one. Remembering that my last garment was stockinette, I checked my connection into the carriage and wouldn’t you know, I had not pushed it down fully, probably resulting in a weak connection. Re-read one more time and zip-zam-zoom, in no time, I’m shaping the underarm and then finishing off the shoulder, 357 rows, no lost pattern once!!
So, here are some Silver Reed/SilverLink/DAK/knit-from-screen safety rules from me for you.
1. Always unplug the link from the power source when not in use. Leaving it plugged for an extended period of time creates a constant heat and can cause the wires to burn out in the SilverLink or the curl cord. Do not leave it plugged into a power bar unless you are turning off the power bar each time.
2. When making connections between the SilverLink and the carriage (which is your curl cord), make sure there is no power to the SilverLink - it can be connected to your computer, but not the direct power source. If you have the USB connection, this protects the SilverLink and the computer and allows you to connect those two things without unplugging everything, but it does not protect the curl cord.
3. No need to unplug the SilverLink from the curl cord each time.
4. To prevent the curl cord from stretching out unnecessarily, unplug it from the carriage when not in use and protect end (see above) or park carriage in the middle of the needle bed.
5. It’s a good idea to have an extra curl cord on hand.
Oh, and the Bambu7 top turned out great - look for it in the next issue!!