trial and errors...

I’ll admit, it was a few weeks before I had a chance to get down to business and there was a lot of pondering going on. I had settled on the mesh lace stitch (the tuck lace mesh from the shopping bag closes up too much unless something is stretching it out and I didn't want it to be me!;)) and settled on Montana 2 ply yarn doubled  (https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2021/05/brittany-is-very-fine-314-2-ply-cotton.html ).

To be honest, it was the only white cotton I had, 4 partial cones adding up to almost 950g which would be more than enough and even with the differing dye lots, they all looked the same, colour wise.

If I was knitting stockinette or tuck, there is the option of plating to make sure there wasn’t a patchy colour distribution from running two dyelots, but this was lace on the silver reed and because of the separate lace carriage, no plating allowed but my backup plan was to overdye to a light ecru shade. I’d make swatches and see what happened…

Starting with a stockinette swatch, I then programmed in the mesh lace - It wasn’t really promising…dropped stitches everywhere! Yes, I had changed the sponge bar! https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-elephant-in-room.html 

Left that on pause and went to this blog and searched lace carriage knitting - ohmigosh, a lot of reading! I was sure I had fully covered this topic but couldn’t find what I wanted - what to do if your lace carriage knitting isn’t working…

1. Check the needles. If the stitch is dropping in the same place, over and over, change the needle. In lace, it’s difficult to tell which needle, the transferee or the receiver - change both of them.
   
   
   
2. Still happening, look at the sinker posts/gate pegs - a bent one can interfere with the transfer.
3. Maybe the tension/stitch size isn’t right. Too tight and stitches drop instead of transferring.. Too loose and the transferred stitch may end up over a sinker post.
4. Even weighting - makes a big difference, too much weight and stitches don’t transfer. Not enough weight, same thing. (https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2008/11/i-just-have-to-tell-you-i-finally.html)
   
   
   
   
5. Change the yarn and see if that stitch pattern knits with a smooth acrylic. If it does, likely the first yarn isn’t suitable for that particular pattern - try another one, stitch pattern, I mean.

This was supposed to be a fun, easy project, not an endurance test. If you can’t make a perfect swatch, it isn’t likely to get better making larger pieces! I moved on to #5 and set up for that ‘Me  Cozy’ lace https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2021/04/deja-vu.html

 that I still love so much. It worked flawlessly with the doubled cotton - it has more than enough holes to be loose and airy-looking!

motivation…

Did you think I was done? You’d never hear from me again? Ha! I’m like a bad penny, always turning up! Persistent, my middle name!

I’ve been machine knitting for 35 years. It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to come up with something to knit - what could be new, what do I need/want now? What would be fun and, most important,  what do I have the yarn for?

A couple of weeks ago, it hit! 

The inspiration, I mean! On our afternoon talk show, 

‘The Social’, Elvira Kurt was guest-hosting, and when she came out in this mesh, oversized sweater, I was, like, what is that? It was white, quite loose and airy looking and I thought, that’s perfect for a throw-on coverup! 

Oh sure, I have lots of cardigans that work with different things and occasions, but they usually mean getting redressed from the ground up. White, loose-fitting, cool and airy would go over anything and you’re out the door! I got all fired up and excited! 

I had that show on my PVR so I could rerun it and snap a few pictures to get a better look. Elvira is a cute, diminutive comedian and she mugged for the cameras, so I do apologize if she looks a little goofy, and the over-size on her is much larger than it will be on me but you’ll get the idea…

I do have 4 part-cones of white Montana, 2 ply cotton, 3 different dye lots, I’m thinking that mesh-lace stitch, https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2022/01/its-2022.html 

from the red Bonita hoodie…maybe I'll tell you what I planned and what I did...

now it's a bread bag...

I made a few more bags, using up leftovers and found a new use! I make gluten-free bread for my son and sometimes he comes to get it before it's totally cool and I never seem to have a clean paper bag large enough! Here's my revised pattern - hope you use it whether you're a beginner or not! I'm using it to get back into the practise of knitting! 

Shopping Bag - Japanese Machine Version  by Mary  Anne Oger

4,5mm flat bed machine, no ribber required

Yeoman Yarns Cannele, mercerized cotton.

Gauge, not really important, but T7, mesh, 28 sts and 40 row to10 cm. Finished weight, 185g, finished flat size, 40 cm wide X 38 cm high.

Notes: Bag is knit from top of one side to bottom and back up other side with handles attached at each top side as you go. Then side edge is rehung to make neat sides. Knit side is used as right side throughout. Every other needle birdseye tuck is single bed knit. Stitch pattern used is the 1X1 birdseye pattern double width. This means that with every other needle in work, the tuck is alternating every other needle on every other row and it is not necessary to worry about proper needle selection.

Punchcard machines, make card as shown. Electronics, program as shown. Set to tuck.

HANDLES: 8-0-8 ns. Cast on WY and ravel cord. Leaving long tails at each end of MC, knit stockinette, T5, K160R. WY, K16R. MC, K160R. Remove on WY.

BAG: 60-0-61 ns. Cast on WY and ravel cord. MC, T6, K10R. (If desired, transfer to EON for Picot - Transfer 2nd and every other stitch to next left needle for picot, empty ns in WP). T9, K1R. T6, K10R. RC021. Pick up sts from first row of MC to make hem. Remove WY. Take one end of handle, purl side facing, hang starting on 30th needle from end, toward centre. Repeat at other side with other end of same strap.T7, K10R. 

MESH: Transfer to EON, empty ns out of work. Hang weights for tuck knitting. Set up stitch pattern and use next row to read/select if necessary. T4, K1R (Note, this tighter row makes a smaller hole, going into the tuck on every other needle!). RC000. Program for tuck, T7, K116R.     BOTTOM OF BAG: Bring all ns to work. RC000. T6, K20R. T9, K1R. T6, K20R. SECOND MESH SIDE: Transfer to EON, empty ns out of work. T4, K1R, using this row to program. Set to tuck. T7, K116R. Bring all ns to work. T4, K1R. 

SECOND TOP HEM: RC000. T6, K10R, ending at right. This next row is a marker row for the top hem. T10, K1R. T6, K10R. (If desired make picot row as above.) T9, K1R. T6, K10R. Hang sinker loops of marked row. Take the other handle, knit side facing, hang from 30th needle  from each end as first side. Manually knit very loose row and chain off.

Side Panels. 75-0-75 ns. Wrong side facing, pick up side of bag, hanging half

outside edge stitch, from bottom of stockinette top on each end with centre fold line of bottom at 0. Bring needles out and close latches.  CAR, MC, T8, K1R. T6, K11R, ending CAR. Take MC out of feeder - do not cut. Put right side in hold. Knit waste yarn on left side, about 1 inch. Drop from ns. Place carriage back at right, rethread MC. Cancel hold. K1R to return ns to work. Rip out last row, leaving sts in hooks of ns in B position. Fold left side over to correspond and hang these sts on top of right side. Manually knit very loose row and chain off.

Sew the handles up on to top edge of band. Darn in ends. Press well.

Have fun and make several! 

shopping bag retrospective…

I’m here and I’ve committed myself to making one of those ‘Take an Old Bag Shopping’  thingys, for a hostess gift - the pattern was in Knitwords No 44, back in 2007. https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-every-brother-knitter-should-know.html

A Passap knitter had sent me a bag and the pattern, done on a  Passap machine and you know, I can be honest now, enough time has passed! When it first came in, I remember thinking, what the heck? Who wants to make a shopping bag? They give you plastic bags at the grocery store!  Was I worried about my carbon footprint? Get a life! Remember, it was almost 15 years ago and did I care? Honestly, not really! But seriously, the reality was, I had 48 pages of magazine to fill with knitting stuff! I couldn’t afford to go around being snooty.

Anyway, I did end up translating and writing the pattern for Japanese machines and, back in the day, I made that bag so many times, virtually every one I knew got at least one, probably made it at least twenty times. It is a great hostess gift! But, here I am today, it’s been a while and I’ve read my notes and all the old blogposts about it, gearing myself up for this - there’s not a lot of time for dillydallying- I need to have it ready to go within five days. 

Pulled out my old ‘cheat sheet’ pattern - still have my original bag, looked it over, familiarizing myself with the various details. Went to my machine (Silver electronic standard gauge) and put in a new sponge bar - haven’t knit anything since the end of April and even my aging brain remembers to do this -  https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-elephant-in-room.html

Loaded in the stitch pattern and did some ‘air knitting’ 

to check the pattern and felt I was ready to jump in. 

Now, at the top of my cheat sheet, it says, in block caps, under Handles, LEAVE LONG TAILS…did I do that? No, of course not. The long tails are for sewing up the edges of the handles onto the top hem. Next part is the top hem of the first side - the original pattern calls for a picot hem - did I do that? Hell, no! For some reason that isn’t on my cheat sheet! This is a freakin’ shopping bag! Who needs a picot hem? This will be a ‘boy bag’! Kept going, got ‘er done and it was only when I was attempting to sew up the handles, I noticed the second one was botched - put on backwards! Ah, no one will ever notice! It's a freakin' shopping bag!

Oh my, even with the mistakes, this was fun! Much better than watching the news!

done and dusted...

 every thing's finished up! Looks good to me!

prewash

final!

second chance…

Yay! Completed the sleeve, no problem, at least 5gs left! So happy, I jumped right in to get that neckband done! My memory is not quite what it used to be but even though I think I know what I’m doing, it has been a few weeks since I made all those swatches. I did what I thought was going to work with the English rib happening on the rib bed and, almost holding my breath, hung the neckline. I’ll admit, even though I’m usually telling you to get rid of the waste yarn once you’ve got every thing hung, I left it on the neckline, just in case! Ha! Didn’t need it! Looks good! Can hardly wait to get this all finished up, and washed and dried, to show you!

In case you're really following along (I can only hope), here's what I did:

1. 75-0-75 ns. Swing P5. Arrange for 1X1 rib. Manual wrap cast on.

2. RC000.T5/5, K1R. Hang comb and weights. Bring ns out to make sure that all is well.

3. T4/4. K8R. T7/7, K1R (fold row). T4/4. K8R.

4. CAR. Set for English rib, tuck on RB. K2R.

5. Swung English rib: Rack to P7, K2R, rack to P5, K2R for 8 rows. You should be back at P5.

6. On MB, bring empty ns to work. Transfer all to MB.

7. Hang neck edge sts from WY with RIGHT side facing you. There will be 2 sets of sts on needles.

8. Stockinette, garment tension, K3R. Remove on WY. Join other shoulder and seam neckband. Backstitch the 3 rows of plain knitting to front of garment, stitching through open loops of last row of main yarn.

9. Fold cast-on edge to inside and handstitch with running stitch, loosely to last row of 1X1 above racking.

r.o.y.a...

That’s running-out-of-yarn-anxiety! 

Just to recap, I had a small cone of 70g and an almost full cone, 490g, both ‘surf’ but turns out they’re different dye lots! They look the same on the cone but we’ve all been there - that line when you add the next one in tells the tale! What I’m doing to disguise it is using the small cone for the ribbed bands - 10 rows of 1X1 on the body, just enough to hem it and hold it down, and, 30 rows of 2X2(2X1) industrial rib for the cuff, giving it a little more oomph and body for a man-cuff -  the line created by the variance in the stitches between the rib and the 1RT will be enough to hide the dye lot differences. 

Back is done, it weighs 160g; Front, 158g. First sleeve done and there’s 74g left on the larger cone. Do the math and the first sleeve took 74g…oh, man that’s gonna be close! Normally, after the back and front, I’d join one shoulder and do the neckband especially after all those practises but I don’t dare, even though I’m using a different yarn for the neckband…gotta make sure to get the second sleeve before putting it all together, just in case!