possibilities...

The Waynesboro, PA thing was great – I came home on a big high! Everyone was so nice, and we had a lot of fun! Thanks to Susan and Elizabeth, the shop owners at The Knitting Cottage, for bringing me there and thanks to all who came! It was great to see some faces from the past and it was awesome to see so many younger, newer knitters! Paula took great care of me and her husband gets special mention – now, I think I have everything! Look at this! It’s a toilet paper roll holder for ravel cord! OMG! It sits on your table; you just grab the end and it just reels off! Hope you’re green with envy!
Spring is here, the snow’s gone and I’m having a hard time getting into the knitting rhythm so thought a list might help…
My friend Vickie heard about my Juxtapose hoodies and she wants one with just the small stripes on the sleeves and hood, with solid colour body – I’ve knit for her before so it’s ok, I can do that but what do I have in Bonita? That hot pink colour that she likes but do I have enough navy for the stripes? Will that ivory look ok or maybe the light blue? Oh gosh, I may have to swatch a bit…I did drop by the fabric store to check out zippers and they have plastic-tooth separating in the pink…

UFO cold shoulder

The Waynesboro people liked my E Fisher Knockoff and want the pattern so I could work on that. I have a UFO of light gray WCD that I could re-use. I only have dark colours and don’t want to waste good stuff on another prototype. The reason this is a UFO, I think, is the colour. I could always over-dye it...I was making that cold shoulder top on the standard gauge, like the one I made for Rhiana, https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2017/12/photoshoot.html. Hers was Yeomans Panama and I had decided to try it in the gray WCD. Had made it for myself previously in a marsh print WCD, loved it and wore it a lot.
https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2016/05/it-really-wasnt-secret.html. People wanted the pattern. Had it almost done in my size and hated it. Hence the UFO. This could be a teaching moment - how to knit with used WCD…
Well, before I get to that, maybe I’ll practise on something else. Before going to PA, I tried on my LBD from Knitwords #52. Haven’t had much opportunity to wear it and I thought I might put it on with Becca but I don’t like the neckline now, so didn’t take it with me. I’m thinking maybe give that a revamp. Rip it back to the underarm and reknit with a higher, closer-fitting jewel neckline…

odds 'n ends...

Got the E Fisher Knock-off done, washed and dried and it fits! Funny thing, I made a new swatch after the fact! Ha! you say! What good is that? The first one with the old 580 carriage read 26 sts and 50 rows to 10 cm. With the 840 carriage (same stitch dial number, same overhead tension, same weights) it says 26 sts and 56 rows to 10 cm! Let it rest overnight and it was the same as the first one. The pieces looked big when I steamed them  (they always do before it gets a chance to relax), fresh off the machine, and it was a little big after the putting together because I couldn't wait. Washed and tossed in dryer for 15 minutes - it was perfect, no steaming necessary! Love the shape of it and the way sideways knitting and the one-row-tuck patterning controlled the colour distribution of this 'variegated' yarn.
The point of making the second swatch was to have a baseline for future use.
Now I have something brand new to take to Waynesboro, PA for this weekend!
This really was a super-quick project, virtually no finishing - I'll have to make another in a solid, light colour when I come back and explain a few more of the details. 

Before that project, while I was still pondering the fact the lace carriage still worked, I dashed off a couple of pockets for Uptown. Used my ‘patch pocket with chained edge method’, washed and dried them several times, just tossing them in with my vacation laundry loads, pressing them in-between to add some wear and patina. Pinned the pockets in place and tried it on. Because I couldn’t get the placement with matching the pattern, angled them slightly – works for me! Stitched them in place with the sewing machine.
Finished off the second Juxtapose Hoodie – switched back to the 580 carriage just in case – just needs a wash before sewing in the zipper.

new-to-me machine...

You might have been able to read between the lines and see that I was in a pickle – my beloved SK580 that I purchased brand new back in 1989 – yeah, like 30 years ago! and it has like the equivalent of a hundred thousand million miles on it, gave up the ghost. Tried everything I could think of but, finally, reality sucks! What to do? what to do? I could just continue knitting stockinette and stripes and the lace carriage still works but I will really miss that one-row-tuck technique that I used for the E Fisher knockoff and for many other lightweight garments.
https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2018/06/fingers-crossed.html

Made some calls and there is no cheap fix, but long-story short, finally settled on a used SK840 which is the same machine as mine, without the built-in electronics. I thought what that means is I have to go back to knitting with DesignaKnit for patterning, I think and, that means purchasing a new cable…
I’ll be honest here. Before I left, in one last attempt to figure out what was wrong, I actually knit a swatch (you hear that, I did make a swatch!) for my own E Fisher knockoff (Wool Crepe Deluxe in Tacoma – love the fabric and the colours, sort of camo-ish), everything worked fine. I made the sleeves (no longstitch, just main bed patterning), everything worked fine. When I set up to knit the Back, and engaged the rib bed, nada! Tried that several times, ate half a jar of peanut butter. Changed up and was going to use different edgings that did not require the rib bed. Several more attempts, the rest of the PB, and had to face the fact the carriage was dead.
Back to yesterday and I have this ‘new’ machine. My mind is telling me that the 840 carriage will work on my old 580 bed but I can’t find anything in print that says that. I reasoned that the LC580 lace carriage works on both beds so why would the knit carriages not be interchangeable.


Plug your nose and jump in! That’s what I did. Rather than take the time to dismantle the whole 580, I just took the ‘new’ carriage, plugged it into the 580 bed and began knitting! It worked! OMGG! Got both the Back and Front made, no problem! I had briefly considered making a new swatch but in the excitement, tossed caution to the wind! As I was putting the pieces altogether, it did seem a tad bigger than I thought but oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained…it’s knitting in pattern! So happy!

mileage thoughts...

There was a lot of driving/riding…It’s like 1500 miles, one way to Pigeon Forge and although manfriend did the driving, I feel like I did but worse, if you know what I mean. That’s a lot of thinking time! So many things and ideas, like why didn’t I ever try putting a longstitch self-facing for the sloped edge of a pouch pocket? Will the carriage from the SK840 work on the SK580 needle bed? I need pockets on that Uptown long duster. Will the patch pocket technique work for lace? Will the dye-lot show? Oh wait, it was never dye-lot-ed…will that make a difference? The age of the yarn, the number of times the original had been laundered? Where it’s been pressed/ironed? Why do some drivers think they own the left lane? Oh gosh, I never told them about angling the latch tool to get a larger stitch for that chained edge…should I sew up the vent at the bottom of the sleeves on the Juxtapose Hoodie?
Big thanks to the Tennessee Valley Machine Knitters! The venue was great; attendance was superb (they came from all over); lots of great questions and feed back! Becky, the AV lady was fabulous; shout out to Eloise, my timekeeper, and Sonia for taking care of my sales; to Margy and the rest of the TVMK organizers, thanks to all! The food and the weather, pretty awesome but it’s great to be home!

couldn't help it...

Wanted so badly to wear this!

Not to worry, I made another so I could demo the zipper for the Tennessee Valley Machine Knitters!

How to choose what colours? By the proper zipper? I have quite a stockpile...Works for me!
My new strategy for yarn consumption for 2019 is one for me, one for another person. I can’t possibly make everything for me and I do have a raft of sisters, nieces and girlfriends! That way I can also use the colours I’m not really crazy about and give it away!
Road trip – talk to you in a couple of weeks!

juxtapose hoodie...

Just finishing up the hood. I changed it up a little from the Manfriend Hoodie pattern. Because I decided the hood would be nicer in the 4-row, narrow stripe sequence, I thought the front edge would look neat with a narrow stockinette band around the face instead of the folded-inside hem which forms the casing for the drawstring.
The stockinette band would enclose the edge where the second colour is carried up the stripe and made a little smaller to naturally draw in the hood, so no drawstring is required, like Omega  (from Serial Stuff #4) http://www.knitwords.com/bookstore.html
 https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2017/01/multitasking.html
is done and like you’d do for a child since drawstrings around the neck are now frowned upon. Also grafted the shortrowed top of the hood and managed to get it looking just like the 4-row repeat!
Attached the hood according to my original instructions.

ready for the wash

The ends are all sewn in and it’s ready for the wash, just one final thing.

done except for sewing zipper
with the sewing machine

The centre front edges have had no finishing because that’s where the zipper goes (it all needs to be laundered to get the shrinkage out of the way before that) and the pocket isn’t joined at that side.I do a running basting stitch through the two edges to ‘attach‘ the pocket – I find this makes it a bit easier to deal with after the wash/dry process when you have to hang that edge.

This is so cute! And I’m so proud of it! Wish you could see it! Oh, yeah, you could! Come to Pigeon Forge! I’ll have it there, showing you how to sew in the zipper!!

no yarn marks...

hang 2nd side, matching stripes

One of the bonuses of knitting matching stripes!
 You know I do everything I can on the machine – it makes a much better job than trying to mattress stitch seams by hand. Notice, the ends are mostly sewn before this. To do the underarm/side seam, it’s too long to hang the whole thing at one time. Hang the side from hem to underarm seam. Pick up the whole outside edge stitch, hanging evenly without stretching. Hang second side, matching stripes and filling in between.

close latches, knit tight row

 Now, basically I want a really tight row to make the seam and close it up snug, so the second colour isn’t peeking through the seam at any point. Carriage at left – going to knit a tight row (T0 – told you, tight!).

chain off loose row

The trick here is to bring the needles out and close the latches before knitting across. With the latches closed, they won’t catch into the closed/selvedge edge and cause a jam. But, first, measure out about 3 yards of the yarn and leaving that tail at the left, knit tightly to the right. Manually knit a loose row over this (don’t cut the yarn) and chain off, right to left to last stitch.



hang 2nd section without cutting yarn

Holding the last stitch on the latch tool, move it to the right end of the needle bed, along with main yarn. Now hang the sleeve underarm seam from right to left, matching stripes. Knit the tight row from right to left with the tail you reserved at the beginning, remembering to close the latches. Now, manually knit the loose row, again from right to left with the threaded-up yarn. Chain off and look at that beautiful seam!