Whaling, eh? [Permalink]

Tue Feb 06 08:32:34 EST 2007
Category [Photo Op]

I'm not really sure how many visitors to the downtown Toronto Sheraton would recognize a whaling sound, whether loud and continuous or not...

Live-In Help [Permalink]

Sun Dec 03 17:29:38 EST 2006
Category [Misc.]

We have absolutely no excuse:  between the 2 of us, we really ought to be able to keep the house clean.  But the sad, and no longer deniable truth is:  we don't!  Somehow, there are always more important, or even more interesting, things to do on weekends and evenings than drag the (nice, powerful, well-featured, perfectly-functioning) vacuum around the house.  Oh, yeah, it scares the cat -- *that's* why we don't do it ;-)

We came home after a weekend away a few weeks ago, and somehow we'd reached a tipping point.  We could no longer put up with crunching our way across the hardwoods, swirling dust kittens in our wake.

We opted for "live-in" help:




It's a Roomba vacuum robot.  Set it to go in any given room, and it will wander around the room for about an hour,  swirling its brushes and sucking up dirt, dust, cat hair and small objects in its way.  It bumps into and navigates around furniture.   It goes *under* furniture!

Now,  you have to move things like wires out of the way, and pull chairs away from tables (if you want the space under the table vacuumed) -- starts to sound like more prepwork than it's worth?  Well, first, you'd wind up moving that furniture as you go.  Second, once you set the Roomba to go, you can walk away and do something else.  Anything else.   Of course, you won't -- because it's fascinating to watch the Roomba in action.

Apparently, some very high percentage of Roomba's acquire names, and it's easy to understand why, as it darts around the room, (re)discovering each table leg, humming to itself.  It's not an "it", it's more like a pet.  Oh, and the cat is more curious about it than terrified by it.

So, we've had it a few weeks now, and I've actually managed to pretty much vacuum the house with it every weekend.  You set it up in one room, let it do its thing while you take care of something else.  When it's recharged from that effort, set it to go in another room.  It seems to work well to interleave it with other activities around the house.

If I wasn't sufficiently convinced that this was saving time and energy before, I was reminded in full detail today, as I hauled the regular vacuum cleaner around the house just to take care of some of the things Roomba can't get:  the very edge of the carpet near walls, etc).   I think I've re-inflammed my tennis elbow...

We'll see how well it stands up, and how long I manage to be good about sending it around the house on a regular basis.   At least a more regular basis than our previous efforts -- the Roomba's first tour of our kitchen / kitchen table area yielded this:



Yeah, I'll say we needed help...

Output from a Week of Meetings [Permalink]

Sun Nov 26 13:45:29 EST 2006
Category [Knitting]

There are many positive things about knitting during meetings.  Key among them are the facts that it promotes the avoidance of a boredom-induced headache, and that attention on the meeting subject is greatly enhanced (as compared to what it would be if you were reading e-mail, instead, for instance).

If you see me knitting during a meeting, you know that I'm paying attention!

Other positive effects -- after a week of meetings, I know I have accomplished something!

These are knit in Koigu KPPPM, colourway K426, using Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Feather & Fan pattern.




I liked the pattern a lot -- the fact that there is absolutely no toe seam is a big win, and the short-rowing was manageable.   Though, it was pointed out to me that these socks have no heel gussets, meaning that the heel-to-top-of-foot distance is not enlarged.  Luckily, I apparently don't have high arches.

If at first you don't succeed... [Permalink]

Mon Oct 30 22:42:06 EST 2006
Category [Knitting]

Briefly -- an update on the Daisy Meadow Scarf that I gave up on last Fall, and had started working on again using 6mm needles and Lang Venezia Color mohair/nylon yarn.

It's now completed, except it's apparently a shawl, not a scarf ;-)



There is also a wild theory that the NZ merino wool that came in the original kit might get knitted into a lace scarf by my knitting machine, but that's subject to the machine acquiescing to knitting a decent number of rows without rebelliously dropping a stitch -- not an accommodation we've yet reached.

And, of course, I'm now desperately setting up a new travel project, as this one is completed.

Maritime Morning [Permalink]

Fri Aug 18 03:27:15 EDT 2006
Category [Knitting]

This is a mid-vacation posting -- or, at least, I'm writing it while on vacation.  It's not at all clear that it will be posted before I get home, as this is a proper vacation -- which is to say, there is no connectivity, not even of the cell phone variety!

As promised, another FO has popped out of one of my active queues:

This is the "Maritime Morning" pattern I bought as a kit from Whale Cove Knitters on our vacation last year.  The yarn is Briggs & Little Regal, a 2-ply wool I've used before.  I really quite like this yarn -- it has enough of a twist that it retains stitch definition and very nice body to the overall garment even after lots of wearing and several washings.

I finished up the sleeves as we drove north for our vacation.  I sewed it up and wove in the ends over the course of a couple of evenings.  And then, after the requisite picture on our hotel bed, voila, it leapt out of my knitting bag and into his luggage ;-) 

Naturally, there was yarn waiting to leap *into* my knitting bag, so the next sweater is well underway.

And I'm not meaning to imply there hasn't been appropriate stash enhancement along the way.  More on that, some other time...  :-)

FO! [Permalink]

Sat Jul 29 22:45:02 EDT 2006
Category [Knitting]

At last, I have an FO to report!  Yes, a number of things are in the hopper, and a couple of my various queues ("big project", "travel project", "knitting machine project", "design project") are ready to pop an FO. 

E.g., the "other project" I mentioned in my tale of woe about knitting machine gauge issues is now complete.   

Being checked out by The Inspector	Being modelled  (*very* briefly!) in >30oC + humidity

I used the Bond USM knitting machine to do the plain knit parts of the front, back, and sleeves.  The long cuffs & bottom decoration are handknit from some embossed leaf patterns in Barbara Walker's Treasury (can't recall which volume(s)).  The long cuffs are somewhat longer than I'd intended, due to that maddening gauge problem, but I think it mostly works.  The wool is from some sheep I've met, in Vermont:

USM-created pieces	Riverview Farm denizens

And, The Inspector is all tuckered out.  Here she is, trying to hold down the luggage (yes, a different piece of luggage) so we won't disappear for our vacation -- no such, luck, sweetie!

Welcome to the next level...! [Permalink]

Mon Jun 19 11:27:43 EDT 2006
Category [Knitting]

Well, after years of talk-talk-talk and self-debate about stepping up to a "real" knitting machine, one eBay transaction and 3 weeks of waiting produced this in the front hall:

Yes, boxes!   They are, from left to right:

• a Brother KH930 (badged as a KnitKing III)
• 4 colour changer and a knitleader
• a  Brother KR900 ribber

Which translates to:  a 15-20 year old standard-gauge knitting machine.

Set up, it looks something like this:



Note the very spindly antennae bits -- that's the 4-colour changer, which allows 4 different yarns to be available for knitting at any given time.  For each yarn, the mast provides proper tensioning so that it feeds evenly and smoothly into the knitting machine.  This should help prevent the wild fluctuations in gauge such as I experienced with my last knitting project on the Bond USM.  (Of course, it works better when the yarn is threaded correctly, which it is *not* in the picture above.  Shhhh ;-) ).

And, here is how it looks from the operator perspective:



That's the main unit and ribbing bed, attached together in an "A" frame.  Essentially, they act like 2 separate knitting machines, pointed at each other -- so the main bed knits, while the ribber purls (inverted knit).

And, you had better believe there are any number of intricate combinations and permutations to make interesting output from those 2 beds working together.  Click the picture below for a closer like of the 2 beds together:


And it's going to take a lot of time to explore

• the basic machine
• the machine & ribber and all they can do together
• the electronic side of the machine -- complete with 555 built-in pattern motifs that it "knows".

I'm starting modestly -- here's some ribbing (being transferred back to the main bed to continue knitting) and a first test swatch! (Click for larger).


First impressions?

Well, I have to say, the time spent with the Bond USM was excellent training for working with this machine -- it helped to learn about the basic mechanics of machine knitting.  Which means I have a crawling start with this new machine!  And many more vistas to explore.  It's certainly been wildly engaging so far -- of the "forget what time it is" and "oops, wasn't I supposed to change loads in the laundry?" variety :-)

Next will be a lot of playing around with scrap yarn;  no specific plans for a full project yet.

Travel is Soooo Exhausting! [Permalink]

Mon Jun 12 21:56:57 EDT 2006
Category [Photo Op]

KM MLE -- (Not so) Beautiful Letdown [Permalink]

Wed May 24 22:36:33 EDT 2006
Category [Knitting]

But... and there's always a "but", isn't there?  Here, it comes in Part 3 of my tale.

Okay, so maybe you want to see some of fruits of my labours.  Here is the back piece, after blocking.

Perhaps you don't notice anything odd about this piece.  You don't, after all,  have any sense of what the dimensions were supposed to be.  But, I did.  And I knew, by the end of my knitting day, that there was big, big trouble.  While the gauge swatch had in fact "relaxed" and shrunk up a bit overnight and after blocking, it did not shrink by 25%.  And, friends, the sleeves (my pattern-shortened sleeves!) were a good 4 inches longer than the 20 intended inches.

Consistently, all the pieces were far too long.  Before I give details about how much too long, let me also observe that the knitted rows are WILDLY different tensions even in relative proximity in the knitted piece!  Count the gauge yourself -- and particularly, note the difference between inch 1 and inch 2 here (click for larger image):





And the hard, cold numbers are in the table below.  Note that the target gauge, from the carefully made swatch, was  4.63 stitches/inch and  6.50 rows/inch.

Piece	Per inch gauge		At target gauge		At average gauge
	Stitches	Rows	Width (in)	Length (in)	Width (in)	Length (in)
Sleeve A	4.39	5.27	14.70	20.46	15.36	24.50
Sleeve B	4.53	5.37	14.70	20.46	15.36	24.50
Front A	4.34	5.33	11.03	19.08	11.52	22.84
Front B	4.43	5.51	11.03	19.08	11.52	22.84
Back	4.43	5.66	19.89	17.85	20.79	21.37

In short -- the width (stitch gauge) is somewhat off but mostly pretty consistent.  The length (row gauge) is vastly off and the total range is greater.


So, I hunted around for advice on the net, and various knitting machine groups and whatnot.  The best and only advice I found anywhere, for machine knitting, was "make a big swatch".  I'll say.  Like, maybe the size of an intended piece of the knitting?!

But, there was very little to be found about the variability.  Most of it seemed to be in groups specifically oriented to Bond knitting machines.  Maybe I did not search well enough.  But, I begin to suspect that the basic problem is that the Ultimate Sweater Machine does not have a tension mast, and therefore is much more susceptible to perturbations in the flow of yarn to the machine.  I mean, I have actually knit with this thing enough to believe I am conscious of keeping the yarn free-flowing and having enough available for each row before I make a pass with the knitting carriage.  If I am not careful enough, I don't know where to begin to be more careful!

I also began to wonder if this was a problem particular to this project.

It happens that I have another knitting machine work in progress, for which all the sweater pieces are knitted up.  This other project is intended to have long, raised motif cuffs and edges (from one of Barbara Walker's Treasuries), knitted on by hand.  That's the part that's in progress, and why I had not yet noticed that, yes, this sweater has serious gauge problems, too!    It was supposed to be 4.25 stitches/inch and 5.25 rows/inch, but the average is actually 4.30  stitches/inch and 6.15 rows/inch.  So, the pieces are shorter (the sleeves are about an inch shorter than intended; the body is about 2 inches too short).  Short will be easier to deal with in this context -- I will make the handknit border a little longer :-)

In that project, though, there isn't the same effect of obviously uneven rows.  Differences -- the yarn is rougher ("grabbier"); it was coned yarn, not balled, so there was less variability in the tension as the yarn came from the source.  (I'm guessing here, based on what I've read.  I still think I did a credible job of making sure the balled yarn was pulled out and available before starting each row in the green Svale project).

So... where from here?!

For the green Svale cardigan -- absolutely no choice but to rip it all out.  I'll probably do another tension swatch (big!) with the #1 keyplate, to try to get something that better approximates the original target gauge (the yarn seems too loosely knitted in what I have on the #2 keyplate).

I'm not (yet) completely demoralized at the prospect of having to rip out the sweater.  It was, after all, only 1 day's work, and so far it is a Major Learning Experience.  The bigger issue is making sure I have enough learning now to reduce the likelihood of it happening again. 

On that point, I guess I have learned a few things:
knit a very large (pattern piece sized) swatch to test gauge;
be very very careful about consistent pressure on the yarn feeding the machine;
(maybe) pay attention to make sure my own pressure on the carriage is constant as I move it back and forth.

If that doesn't work --

1. is it me?  In which case, can I learn enough to get beyond this before I get totally frustrated?
2. is it the plastic bed machine?  In which case, a more serious machine is in order! 
3. is it machine knitting in general?  In which case -- machine knitting has to be one of the more frustrating pastimes invented.

As there are a lot of machine knitters out there, I'm going to go ahead and assume #3 is simply not it.  And I'll work on #1 & #2.

KM MLE -- Engagement! [Permalink]

Wed May 17 22:49:29 EDT 2006
Category [Knitting]

Waaay back when, I wondered out loud about the merits of working with a knitting machine.  It's a question I'm still wrestling with, still using my cheap little Bond "Ultimate Sweater Machine" basic knitting machine.  It's not that the question is that unanswerable -- rather, I just don't have large chunks of time to devote to the question, and it's a background question.  (Besides, the longer I noodle on the question, the longer I can defer the major expense of a *serious* knitting machine should I determine a favourable answer to the question ;-) ).

But, this past weekend, project in hand, I sat down at the knitting machine in keen anticipation of working some more on the answer.

And, it was a good day!   This *is* a different activity than handknitting.  The pieces sure come together much more quickly.  And, while you're not as inimately involved with each stitch as you are with handknitting, I found a similar sort of satisfaction at the completion of each *row*.  It had a  good rhythm.   There was mental stimulation and a sense of satisfaction in construction as I mapped the printed instructions into actions on the knitting machine.  I cherished the mechanical row counter -- no way you can keep up with critical row counts as they are just zipping by so quickly!


*Zip* *zip* *zip*.... *zip* -- pause, toss another ball band away, and start up again -- *zip*...

It's just s different set of puzzlework than handknitting.

In no time, the back was done.  And then the 2 front pieces.  There was some mild consternation as I realized that the pattern pieces were described for facing the right side of the work, and on my knitting machine you actually see the back of the work all the time (i.e., I was inverting the placement of the increases/decreases on either side of the piece).  No matter in this pattern -- as it has left-right symmetry.

I wandered off to take care of the rest of my obligations for the day, but soon found myself back at the machine thinking, "If I could just finish the sleeves, I could get it all blocked during the week next week!".  Soon a sleeve was done.  More household obligations.  And then another sleeve.

Hurrah!  Sweater in a day!

And, this time out with the machine left me with a pretty positive afterglow -- all set to reach out and work that next generation knitting machine into the budget, by hook or by crook!   I really felt I'd made significant progress on getting to know the machine -- relatively few "near death experiences" (wherein the knitting machine just ejects your entire work, usually within rows of completion -- "just because"), no doubt because I am getting good at sensing when they are about to happen and step in with some prevention.

Yeee-up.  I did mention there was a part 3 to this story, didn't I?

KM MLE -- Anticipation! [Permalink]

Tue May 16 22:53:20 EDT 2006
Category [Knitting]

Well, this weekend provided a rather Major Learning Experience on the machine knitting front -- major enough that I'm going to break it into 3 separate postings.  And this is part 1...

It started a couple of weeks ago with the Jean Frost book, Jackets (the "Tremont" pattern) and some Dale Svale yarn in light green.  If you haven't seen it, the Jackets book provides a real inspiration for elegant, work attire knitting.  And I've been looking for good summer-weigh jackets for years. 

In particular, the Tremont jacket is a simple, waist-length jacket with crocheted trim, and little accents like a single vent in the jacket back. 

To be elegant, of course, the Jean Frost patterns are all done in pretty fine gauge -- like 20 stitches and 26 rows per 4".  Okay, that's not sock-like fine, but for vast tracts of stockinette back it's daunting enough!  It's enough to make you think longingly of bulky icelandic sweater knitting... or your knitting machine.

This wasn't going to be any slap-dab job, so I headed off to the knitting machine and made a couple of gauge swatches (with differnt tensions on the machine (keyplates, on mine)).  I noted the tension when I took them off the machine.  I checked it again a day later -- after the swatches had recovered from the stretching stress of machine knitting.  And then I blocked them both.

I got a gauge that was "pretty close" to the gauge called for in the pattern, but not close enough to just wing it (yes, I know full well that a small difference in gauge on 4" can wreck a planned-to-be 20" sweater).  Also, when you are knitting on the machine, it's not like you can follow a standard pattern that says "knit until the piece measures X inches long" -- because the whole thing is so stretched out. (See this picture if this isn't ringing any bells).    Instead, you absolutely must rely on your gauge, pre-calculate how many rows are required to make that length, and then simply knit that many rows and move on to the next step. So, I needed to do some figuring -- how many stitches should I actually cast on to get the desired width, and how many rows did I need to knit between increases/decreases on the various pieces?

Well, fortunately, I have just the tool for the job!  I pulled out the Design-A-Knit, punched in the actual gauge I had gotten along with  the desired measurements (shortening those sleeves as I went!).  What I got out of the program was a reasonable guide for what I needed to do (how many rows, what increments etc.

And I was all set to sit down at my knitting machine, with my instructions to knit the basic body for the jacket in my dimensions, using the yarn I had, before resuming the handwork aspect to add the crochet trim and finish up.

I had all this done by Saturday morning,  and a rare open Saturday in which I could sit down and actually work with the knitting machine for a few hours.  Perhaps even enough to produce the jacket pieces, so I might be wearing this new jacket in a matter of days, not months!

How did that go?  Well, you'll have to wait for the next installment, wherein we will pick up the discussion of whether knitting machines have a place in a handknitters heart.

Never met a yarn store I didn't like... [Permalink]

Sun May 07 22:23:35 EDT 2006
Category [Knitting]

Instead of getting to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, I spent Friday & Saturday at a meeting in Boston. But, I couldn't quite stifle the fibre urge, so I found my way to the local yarn store -- Woolcott and Co.

I have to admit, having read the chapter on socks in the Wendy Knits book, I was feeling a strong urge for sock yarn. I've largely avoided knitting socks; my memories of knitted socks are of heavier, stockier hose than I personally care to wear. But, Wendy's description of commercial socks as being things you wear and wash until they shrivel up and need replacing... struck a chord. Having successfully made some socks in the past, I thought maybe I ought to try a pair (or two) for myself. Or, I will need more travel knitting projects, and I can only make use of so many shawls. Or, it was a good excuse to look for yarn that does not exist in my stash...

I found these, from Schaefer Yarn (the wool is "Anne", a merino/mohair/nylon blend):

Or, there's one with blues & greens:

And one that is intended to be more browns & blacks -- to go with slacks & shoes I'm likely to be wearing:

As always, with variegated yarns, I wonder what the colours will look like when knit up, and what the striping/pooling effects will be. Sometime last night it started to occur to me that the black & brown yarn might pool sort of like, say, a tortoiseshell coloured cat. Hmmm... what do you think?

Triangle Shawl [Permalink]

Tue May 02 22:04:22 EDT 2006
Category [Knitting]

A while back, having had enough "learning opportunities" (aka, trials and tribulations), I decided to aim for a simple travel project -- the goal was to maximize the satisfaction in a project that was simple and portable enough for knitting while in transit and in meetings.

My eye was drawn to this artful yarn, Fiesta's LaBoheme:

I managed to ball the second skein properly, but wondered if I was going to have half a shawl with well-aligned colour variations between the 2 strands (from the second ball) and half the shawl with mohair/nylon mismatches.  Well, turns out that even with the best of care, the two strands get misaligned while knitting -- and I'm not the only one to have observed this behaviour.

 C'est la vie!

And the final knitted object looks like this:



You can see what's particularly compelling about this yarn in the detail below -- the mohair gives it a shaggy, thick texture, and the nylon gives the colours the energy to "pop" out:



Here's an artsy closeup (with wonky colurs):




My lesson learned, though.  Next time, I'll simply work from 2 balls of yarn if I want to integrate textures, even if that means that one yarn is a solid colour and the other variegated.  Buying them conjoined, as in LaBoheme, doesn't seem worth the added cost and heartache.

Some Actual Knitting Content! [Permalink]

Mon May 01 22:37:06 EDT 2006
Category [Knitting]

Yes, while the blog has been quiet, the knitting needles have not been idle.  Lots of travel this year, and  therefore focus on travel knitting projects!

This weekend, I did the official blocking and finishing of my Kiri Shawl. 

I made it using Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace, Ravenswood colourway, on 4mm needles.  It was an excellent travel project -- it took about 3oz of yarn (where the 4oz skein is 1250yds of Helen's Lace), so it was light and portable!

Some more pictures, showing the colours to better advantage:


And some detail:


I have to say, looking at some  other kiris, I have to wonder if I should have blocked it out more aggressively to accentuate and extend the lacey bits.  On the other hand, I like that there is still some texture in the knitted squares.  So, maybe I'll block it more aggressively some other time, or maybe I'll leave that for another project.

Another project, did you say?  Why, yes!


This is the Fiddlesticks Daisy Meadow Scarf pattern that I gave up on last Fall, but this time I'm using Lang Venezia Color nylon/mohair yarn and a considerably looser gauge.  I'm mostly managing to keep track of the pattern this time around (a fair bit of practice with keeping track of lace in that Kiri pattern!).

When in Australia... [Permalink]

Thu Mar 02 23:07:11 EST 2006
Category [Knitting]

...buy yarn!

G'day! [Permalink]

Thu Mar 02 23:04:48 EST 2006
Category [Photo Op]

DAKing! [Permalink]

Sat Feb 11 22:16:12 EST 2006
Category [Knitting]

You may recall that I returned from vacation with inspiration and a passle of Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair.  Of course, the challenge is to create a constructive design with those colours that is vibrant without being an angry fruit salad.   More gifted people than myself can do this sort of design in their head.   I've been toying with software to help the design process (for this and other projects) for a couple of years.  The problem is that it's not exactly a common activity and there isn't much by way of cheap off the shelf software.

Well, here's a version 0.1 of the (front panel of the) design! 

Yes, yes, there's plenty more to work on!  A couple little glitches to take care of, and a step back to consider the overall effect and how it might be adjusted.  But, that's turning out to be the fun and easy part of the process!

As with so many things, I had to learn the hard way that the very first step in designing a sweater is something that no tool can help with:  having a clue about what I was trying to achieve!    Or, determining the basic broad brushstrokes of what I was trying to achieve, before using tools to help draft up, review and adjust possible designs to satisfy the overall plan.

Pencil and paper works pretty well for the broad brushstroke theorizing.

But, I sought tools to help me quickly test and review theories (more quickly than actually knitting up a demo sweater).   There are at least 3 basic activities I wanted to be able to undertake:

1. designing colour motifs with repeats
   
2. swapping colours in selected areas
3. mapping one or more motifs onto (sweater) pattern pieces, and adjusting the overall layout as necessary
   

One time I had to do colour design work, I developed a complex process involving laying out (coloured) squares in a drawing package, and using an image manipulation software package to separate different colours into different layers and swap them appropriately... Ow!

Since then, I've come across a number of cross stitch design programs, like PC/MacStitch.  They do a nice job of laying out motifs and letting you manipulate colours (activities 1 & 2, above).  And there are software packages to do sweater design (how many rows/stitches/increases to create a sweater shape, given a particular gauge, etc), such as KnitWare.   These are all useful and interesting.  But I never found a reasonable way to achieve activity #3 above, across these 2 different software package types.

And I knew there was one software package that could do it all.  DesignAKnit is the "industry standard" of knitting design software and knitting machine control.  There are no other kinds -- nothing else that can support the same range of design activities.    Nothing else that can control electronic knitting machines.  And I'd like to say, nothing else that is written to be compatible with something as creaky as Windows 3.1:

• IBM PC Compatible computer with 386 processor, or higher
• at least 8Mb RAM (16Mb recommended).
• SVGA (the program can run in VGA mode, but this restricts you to 16 basic colours.)
• Windows 3.x, Windows 9x, NT4, ME, Win2K, XP
• 7Mb hard disk space.

Yes.  It is priced as semi-industrial software.  And it still constrains you to 8.3 filename conventions.  That's probably why it took me years, and considerable playing with the demo version, to convince myself it was worth shelling out.

Well, a few weeks ago, I shelled.  And I am pleased with the result!  The user interface takes some getting used to; I'm sure I'll be learning it for years.  But once you figure out how to do things with it, it does them quite well.  The design above was the result of an afternoon of playing with the software.  'Scuse me, I have some more design playing to do ;-)

Knitting Heritage [Permalink]

Sun Feb 05 17:42:20 EST 2006
Category [Knitting]

She of the yarn-stealing dogs wondered whether kids generally appreciate the things we knit for them, and treasure them when we knitters are gone. 

I can't answer that question in a general way, but I can give a few examples from my own experience.

My grandmother was the first real knitter I knew, and she made lots of stuff for her grandchildren:  sweaters, mitts, socks, and so on.  She passed away more than 15 years ago, but I can tell you there's still plenty of her needlework gracing my every day life.

When I go running in the winter, I pull on these mitts to keep my fingers warm:



And I think of her every time I pull them out of the closet, and I smile.

Some winter gear I've rather outgrown, but still cherish for its lighthearted design motif:



And, yes, if you look really closely, you can see that it is actually snowing in this scene:



But, it's not just in knitwear that I remember my grandmother.  She also made a set of crocheted placemats, that grace our dining room table when we have guests to dinner:



Generally, I'm trying to avoid needing the physical therapist.  But I have to say that I still certainly appreciate these knitted items, and the memories that each one brings to mind every time I have occasion to put them to use!

DIY Knitting Machine! [Permalink]

Thu Jan 12 14:14:40 EST 2006
Category [Knitting]

Thanks to Michael for pointing me at this intriguing device:  Tom Johnson's Lego knitting machine!  Shall I feel inspired to build my own?  Alas, probably not...

See also this description, as well as Tom Johnson's gallery and quicktime movie.

Christmas Cookies [Permalink]

Wed Jan 04 09:32:04 EST 2006
Category [Misc.]

Perhaps it was the beguiling recipes presented in various of my favourite recipe sources, or it may have been a vague recollection of the array of goodies presented in tiered plates at New Year's dinner celebrations in years gone by...  but I can no longer deny that I have fallen into a Christmas ritual of making Christmas cookies. I mean -- there is nothing else to be doing at this time of year, right?! I also seem to have fallen for a particular type of Christmas cookie, the sugar cookie.  All the cookies on the left are instances of sugar cookie -- the maple pecan swirls (from Cook's Illustrated) on top, the chocolate peppermint pinwheels in the middle (Alton Brown/Good Eats), and the gingerbread folk on the bottom (a different Cook's Illustrated recipe). In all cases, a prodigious quantity of butter is mixed with flour and a pile of sugar, with various other flavours being added to create the different cookies. The thing about making several (slightly different) batches of them is that you start to notice the similarities, differences, and interesting features...

There seem to be 2 basic mixing techniques used for making sugar cookies.  One is the standard cookie approach of creaming the sugar into the butter, and then incorporating the wet and dry ingredients in stages (1/3 of dry, 1/2 wet, 1/3 dry, 1/2 wet, 1/3 dry, for eg). 

The other, less common, is what I know as the "pie dough" technique -- mixing together the dry ingredients, and then blending in chunks of butter to make a crumbly mixture to which the wet ingredients are added.

At a guess -- the first method produces more uniform textured cookies; the second can produce more flakey ones.  But, I haven't (yet) tried swapping the mixing methods between 2 standard cookies and seeing what difference prevails. 

What does seem to make an interesting difference is the tool used to do the mixing.

Until this year, I made all my Christmas cookies with a food processor -- it was the only device I had with the "oomph" to handle the heavy cookie dough, and it was a tool recommended in one of the Cook's Illustrated recipes.  It works pretty well, if you don't have a mixer with a flat blade.

When my old mixer keeled this year, I got a mixer with both oomph and a flat blade, and tested it out on the cookie recipes. The one place it seemed to make a big difference was in the "pie dough" method cookie, the maple pecan swirls (top of the tiered plate, above).  The dough browned up very nicely, and was considerably more delicate (as in, tender) than usual.  That seems to make some kind of sense -- a food processor blade can cut the butter so quickly/completely that it actually melts, reducing the size of the butter chunks needed to make pockets/flakey tenderness.  Makes me wonder whether it would be interesting to make actual pie dough with this mixer.

This year also brought some lessons in ingredients.  The gingerbread recipe I use (from Cook's Illustrated) emphasizes dried ground ginger as the source of gingery heat in the cookie.  It also provides directions for adding crystalized or fresh ginger as well, as desired.  Typically, I make my ginger cookies with the added crystalized ginger.  For some reason, perhaps the spirit of culinary adventure, I decided this year to use fresh ginger.

Even as I was adding it, I knew there was an issue with the recipe.  Crystalized ginger is, essentially, coated in extra sugar.  Of course, fresh ginger is not.   I was not particularly worried about the sweetness of the resulting cookie, but rather the raw dough texture.  And, it turns out, I was right to be worried:  the resulting dough was far, far, FAR too wet to successfully cut into shapes.  Even after a day in the fridge, when I rolled the dough out it stuck to the parchment paper and generally refused to allow me to lift the cut shapes out and onto the baking sheets.  So, I simply rolled it into a log and sliced it into thin rounds (extreme right, below). 



The fresh ginger did impart an interesting level of complexity to the cookie, so I'll probably experiment more.  But, sugar is hygroscopic -- the additional sugar of the crystallized ginger presumably sucks up enough of the moisture in the dough to leave a more workable dough.

And experiment more I will -- soon, even!  Because a friend in Sweden has sent me these delightful additions to my cutter collection, and they are just crying out to be tested!

Still Unbelieving [Permalink]

Wed Dec 28 09:39:47 EST 2005
Category [Misc.]

As I mentioned, Quebec grocery stores have been selling (unconsecrated) hosts as snack food for years.  Apparently, the Canadian national press has woken up to this fact, and The Globe and Mail recently published this story about it.

The important S-word [Permalink]

Sun Dec 18 22:55:15 EST 2005
Category [Misc.]

A friend recently pointed me at an article describing the important differences between success and satisfaction.   One of the free articles available from Corporate Adventure's site, it clearly has a larger message for the career-minded (of either gender, IMO):  success is always measured externally, and something over which you have relatively little direct control.  Nevertheless, it is the metric we most often use as a yardstick for our professional careers.  I found their definition of "satisfaction" a little lacking, but take note of the point that it's something developed and measured internally. 

In a well-balanced world, success should follow satisfaction:  if you perform well and expand your abilities, you may excel; if you excel, that should be rewarded with various marks of success.  However, too often it seems our professional environments are fixated on success and obtaining its marks by any means:  e.g., it's more important to "be a VP" than to learn how to lead projects and work groups to implement their goals.    Much of the point of this article is that success-hunting leaves little time or energy to develop the substance from which satisfaction is derived. 

In that well-balanced world, satisfaction is not the runner-up to success:  it is at least a peer, if not a better.   Satisfaction does not mean stasis or stagnation -- for the lively mind, it requires constant growth and refinement. 

Plunging back into the knitting realm -- having read this article after my post about knitting perseverance, it strikes me that a much simpler way to describe the issues with the "broccoli" is that  they are giving me absolutely no satisfaction (for the various reasons described);  and while I could press on with these projects in the pursuit of some sort of external success, what's really the point of that?  For me, knitting is supposed to be a fun pastime!  So, that's it.  From here on out, if I'm not happy with the way a project is shaping up, I'm ripping it out and waiting to have a better inspiration for the yarn.

Knitting Broccoli [Permalink]

Sun Nov 06 12:30:17 EST 2005
Category [Knitting]

No, while yarn has certainly been made from any number of surprising substances, I'm not suggesting that it has been constructed from that green veggie we know and love as "broccoli".  I was thinking more along the lines of  "If you don't eat your...".

Since finishing my last really fun project, a crochet baby blanket, in August:



I have been focusing on the broccoli side of the knitting project plate.  And, let me tell you, dessert is nowhere in sight!

So, what exactly am I talking about?  Well, knitting is a simple process of pulling yarn through successive loops and creating fabric.  While that in itself is rythmic and relaxing, it's not enough to keep you fueled and working through something of project scale.  You need something more to drive you along, or else you wind up in a situation where you're "Not Feeling the Love".

Mechanically carrying out sequences of knitting instructions to achieve a result is something like driving a long, straight, uncongested highway.   An example:  the 401 between Montreal and Toronto -- hours and hours of straight, uninterrupted multilane highway, with no call for driving skills and no real variation in the scenery.  You can make that drive easily enough (if you don't fall asleep from boredom) -- because it's easily achievable in a day, you count off the hours and you presumably have the anticipation of something interesting awaiting your arrival.

Knitting a simple scarf is analogous to that Montreal-Toronto drive:  the end is reasonably in sight, so you can just press on with the motivation of anticipated target achievement.  But some knitting projects are larger in scale.   For a sweater project, I need something that progresses at a higher speed (e.g., bulky knits) and at least lets me get to project milestones "within a day's drive".  Or, it has to have interesting waypoints -- new bits of intarsia, fairisle  present more challenges. 

Sometimes the road is that smooth and easy, but the trip is much much longer -- how do you stay motivated for, say, a week's worth of driving on the same multilane highway with no real breaks?  What happens when there are navigational setbacks?  Or you set out, and are unconvinced by the scenery along the way (unconvinced that the destination is going to have been worth the trip)?

Broccoli, I tell you.  "I have to finish this piece before I move on to another [more interesting, dessert-like] project."

I spent some time wrestling with a Fiddlesticks pattern, from a kit I picked up while on vacation.  This is the Daisy Meadow Scarf, at its peak:


Note the partial row, in the picture.  I shot the photo just after I discovered an irremediable error and right before I ripped it all out (not the only time, on this project). 

So, here's the thing:

• I clearly have troubles understanding lace patterns.  I don't "see" the pattern as I'm knitting, it's not obvious to me how each row is supposed to relate to the previous one as I knit.  This is "knitting blind", and it's like a crap shoot if I'll get to the end of the row without having messed something up.  Clearly, in the scene above, I didn't win the shoot.
• I don't like garter stitch at the best of times.  I think it's ugly.  If you peer closely, you will observe that the scarf above is all about garter stitch.
• I'm not that excited about the colour happenings in that NZ merino wool.  The picture is more sedate than the reality, which is more like a subdued pastel psychotic event than the shaded texture that appears here.
• So why am I knitting this, again?!

Well, at the moment, I'm not -- ripped back to a ball of yarn and awaiting confidence (in pattern reading) and inspiration (e.g., alternate needles? Addis are at the ready).  There is a theory that, once blocked, wondrous things happen to lace, transforming it from ugly duckling into beautiful Swan.

Yeah, that holds until about Oshawa, and then there's just miles and miles of 401 stretching out ahead of you -- that is to say, belief that this will all just work out even though it looks horrid now can only carry me only so far, and it doesn't appear to be to the end of the scarf.

But, that's a fairly recent travail.

In 2002, after an hour of wandering through the LYS, with very patient spouse in tow, I settled on some Berroco Flax linen ("Fondant" colour) and a Vogue pattern magazine.  I intended to make a summer tank top -- until I got started and realized how little give there was in the linen yarn.  So, I switched to a pattern in the issue that was actually intended for the linen yarn.

Clearly, this project got off to a bad start -- a somewhat stressed purchase ("must make selection and go!"); second choice on the project plan; and a Vogue pattern, at that.  I've long held the belief that Vogue is all about *wanting* their couture, not about enabling you to achieve it.   It was quickly a case of "do I really want to *go* to Toronto?" -- destination uncertainty.  I remain skeptical that it'll actually come together properly, and that deep seated conviction has hampered any real progress over the intervening *years*.




What you're seeing is the back and 2 front panels of a drop-stitch pattern cardigan.  Specific stitches are set up on the first row after the ribbing, knit all the way to the top of the piece, and then dropped down to the bottom, right before you bind off.  That's the theory.  I'm still uncertain why the dropped stitches are going to remain as ladders, and not simply dissolve into looser stitches on either side, over time and with washings/wearing.  Okay, I'm almost convinced it's inevitable, unless I am Very Very Careful with this article of clothing (likelihood:  nil).  Hence, this clear case of destination anxiety.

Yes, I started this project in 2002, and after some months, set it aside in favour of making progress on something (anything) else.  Every now and again, I've picked it up and plodded along,  between projects.  For the most part, it's actually just straight knitting on 4mm needles, so there's no real reason not to just blast through execution of it.  Stop and think about this for a minute -- because months elapsed between the start and finish of any piece of this pattern, I have to go back to math to figure out *which* stitches to drop at the top of a piece, and hope I haven't made any mistakes in the execution, so that they actually line up with the set stitches in the initial row...



These are the sleeves; knitting finished (and sleeves 2 inches too long; another fault of not paying attention as I worked on them over 6 months).  I'm ready to drop.  Think I didn't make any increment mistakes along the way?  Well, I dropped stitches and then discovered I *had* made one increment error, and had to embark on an extensive S&R to retrieve the incorrectly dropped stitches and get the right ones off the needle.  Hard to find the patience for that kind of thing when you are Really Really Convinced this is Not Going To Work Anyway!

Sigh.

The next step is going to be assembly; if that looks halfway respectable, I'll put the effort into knitting the buttton band and tying off the ends.    If not...

Well, clearly it's time for dessert, anyway!

Bad service at the restaurant? [Permalink]

Thu Oct 20 23:27:39 EDT 2005
Category [Photo Op]

Funny, no one showed up.

Unbelievers [Permalink]

Sun Oct 02 23:08:55 EDT 2005
Category [Misc.]

For those who didn't believe it was true... yes, in a random regular grocery store in the province of Quebec, for your snacking pleasure:

Northern Virginia Driving -- a Rough Guide [Permalink]

Mon Aug 08 13:37:28 EDT 2005
Category [Misc.]

In case you should ever find yourself driving in or through northern Virginia, here is a guide to the local rules of the road to inform your experience, unless you prefer to drive safely.    YMMV. 

Keep left, except to pass. 

No matter what speed you are driving, you are not slower traffic.  Of course, this sometimes means the left lane is heavily congested.  Use the probably-empty right lane to pass.    If there are vehicles in the right lane, you are not obliged to drive faster to overtake them.  Match their speed.   For entertainment, use the rearview mirror to watch impatient drivers switch back and forth between lanes behind you.

Drive by expectation, not observation. 

This is particularly important at times of the day when sunlight is blinding you.  You understand this will occasionally lead to crashing into parked cars when observation would have deviated from your expectation.

Vary your speed.  

There's too much traffic to use the cruise control -- set your foot at a fixed angle on the accelerator, creep up hills and race down the other side.  Vehicles attempting to overtake you on the uphill can wait until the next hill to do so.

At all costs, avoid being behind trucks or other slow moving vehicles. 

If you detect one in your lane between your position and the horizon, change lanes immediately.

Shoulder-check on lane changes. 

If possible, make eye contact with the driver in the other lane to be sure they are aware they need to brake urgently to accommodate you.  If you are unable to make eye contact, do not signal; simply drift over slowly but firmly.

Exercise judgement when pulling onto a busy roadway. 

If you are uncertain whether there is enough time to pull into traffic safely, wait.  Until you are certain there is not.  Then pull in.

Execute questionable manoeuvres slowly and cautiously. 

While this increases the likelihood of an accident, it signals to other drivers that you have accurately assessed the situation and are progressing in full knowledge of the danger.

Use your 4-ways (hazards) when driving in inclement weather. 

Northern Virginia is prone to drive-by thunderstorms and other meteorological conditions that can make roadways unsafe.  Turn on your 4-ways to signal the dangerous conditions to other drivers around you.  Consider increasing your speed.

Above all else...

If another vehicle occupies the space you were moving to, or otherwise fails conform to your desires, do not show surprise.  Express irritation and question the circumstances that have so incommoded you.  Your car is better than theirs.  If in doubt, consider replacing it.

Squares, Rectangles and Blocking [Permalink]

Fri Aug 05 10:35:19 EDT 2005
Category [Knitting]

The second most common instruction in knitting instructions, right after "check your gauge!", is to "block" everything.

Well, I've been knitting sweaters and suchlike for almost 20 years, and let me fill you in on a dirty little secret:

I've
       never
                blocked
                            anything!

*gulp*  :-)

Blocking a knitted piece typically involves getting it wet, spreading it out and pegging it to the desired shape, and then allowing it to dry in that shape.  One of the essential purposes is to allow the yarn in the knitted stitches to equilibrate into something like uniformity; sometimes easing or relaxing the overall piece.  By pegging it into the desired shape, the piece will hold that form when dry.  It is good advice, right up there with swatching for gauge, but I'd never really felt the need.  Oh, sure, I've washed plenty of my hand knit sweaters in twenty years, and dried them flat -- achieving something like the effect of blocking, after the fact.    But I have a rather cavalier, or perhaps brutal, attitude towards knitwear:  it simply had better be able to stand up to regular (gentle) washing, or else it's just a decoration.

Then I got my lovely silk La Luz yarn, and knit a lacey scarf.  Although it looks nice and flat in pictures, I had trouble keeping it from curling at the edges (in spite of the crochet trim).  And, I've read that you don't really see the lace pattern properly until you've blocked the final piece.

Well, this left me with a quandary:

• clearly, the scarf had to be blocked. 
  

But,

• the Fiesta La Luz silk yarn comes with detailed care instructions -- not just "dryclean only", but the inner panel of the label points out that, since silk does not have a "memory",  it should not be flattened because it will not rebound.  It will stay flattened.  Hmm -- seems in direct contradiction with the "dry clean" assertion.

At any rate, these 2 requirements were clearly at odds with each other.  As a result the silk scarf stayed (carefully) folded on my dresser for some weeks. 

That is, until I started on a second La Luz silk scarf, in the Branching Out pattern, and realized that the pattern would need particular help in being brought to light:



So, I bit the bullet (pin?), dunked the lace scarf, towel-rolled it to dampness, and pinned it out on some fresh towels:


And I waited overnight to let it dry.  This is what became of it:


It may not be obvious from the picture, as compared to previous pictures, but the scarf is much more ready to lie flat, and the lace pattern is well exposed.  It is, as promised by the label, quite flat.  It almost looks a little squished, or ironed.  For a silk scarf, I think this is actually appropriate -- you want a thin, flow-y material.  I'm not sure it would be suitable for all applications.   It does make me wonder a little about yarns that are part silk, part wool or some other fiber -- like the silk/alpaca blend I bought earlier this year.

If you want to see more stitch detail, click here:




And how did it all work out for the new scarf?  (Which was knit, by the way, with the La Luz Alaska colourway that I got as part of my Knit Happens strike!).  Similarly, it is flatter than when I was working on it.  But you can see that the pattern is much clearer than it was showing up as I was working on it.

Maritime Inspirations [Permalink]

Wed Jul 20 08:56:26 EDT 2005
Category [Knitting]

When you spend several days surrounded by maritime vistas, enjoying sights such as these....

... what do you think?  Well, it turns out that I think this:


Stopping in Putney, VT, on the way back from the Atlantic coast afforded the possibility to browse at the Green Mountain Spinnery.  And that's  Mountain Mohair in Raven, Maritime, Ice Blue, Glacier Lake, Raspberry and Claret, for  a sweater to be named later... ;-)

Engineering a leap [Permalink]

Fri Jun 10 23:22:58 EDT 2005
Category [Knitting]

Another finished object!



This is hand knit, my first real "lace-y" knitting!  It was a fun knit, but it did take a fair bit of time. 

Here's the kind of progress I would make during a solid day of meetings (i.e., probably a few hours' worth of knitting).

Day 1	Day 2

So, you can imagine, it took a few months to complete.  And, as I got more familiar with the lace pattern, I got to wondering.... could I replicate this on the machine? 

The hand knit pattern was worked in 4 rows:  one "action" row, and 3 stockinette, with columns of reverse stockinette in between horizontal pattern repeats.  To translate that to the machine, it would mean doing 1 set up row, and passing the carriage back and forth 4 times (to knit the four rows).  The key difference:  in the hand knit version, you do things like "slip one stitch, knit 3 together, pass the slipped stitch over the new stitch" and various "yarn over, knit one" steps.  That is, a lot of back-and-forth between the needles, or horizontal displacement of the stitches.  You simply cannot do that sort of tossing back and forth of stitches between needles on my simple knitting machine.

Sooo... I needed to figure out how to pre-position all the stitches from the previous row so that the knitting machine would create the right effect in one knitting pass of the carriage.   That would mean shifting four of the loops to a single needle, to accomplish the same "knit three together and pass stitch over" effect.

The first few efforts demonstrated another requirement -- I needed to make it work in a way that  would not break the machine.  Cramming 4 loops onto one needle kind of bent things out of shape, and the carriage wasn't happy about trying to knit it.

In the end, I wound up moving those 4 stitches and pushing the needle fully forward so that it wasn't knitted by the carriage (and I pulled the needle through to knit it by hand after I'd passed the carriage).  Then I shifted the stitches in the middle of the fan pattern to make room for the yarn-over/loops.  The stitch shifting went something like this:




And, this is what it looked like as a test swatch:

What *are* you trying to say?! [Permalink]

Sun Jun 05 21:49:05 EDT 2005
Category [Photo Op]

Knit (will eventually) happen... [Permalink]

Tue May 31 17:35:39 EDT 2005
Category [Knitting]

I can no longer deny it -- I have a "stash".   No, I'm not talking about the inherited ends of nylon yarns from grandmother and aunts.  I have started buying yarn "just cause", where "just cause" means "just cause it was so pretty / felt so amazing / it called out to me from the shelves!".  It's still but a small thing -- a micro stash, a proto stash... but a stash it incontrovertibly is.

On Sunday, my ever-patient LYS-widower spouse drove me to Knit Happens for an hour of guilt-free abandon brought to me by my former co-workers' very generous gift certificate! 

And while knit hasn't yet (hence the stash), this is what happened...

Bamboo

No, not just a name -- this is actually made from bamboo.  It's Alchemy Bamboo ("Good Earth"), and the photo doesn't do justice to the intensity of the colour.  It will grow up to be... Well, I have no idea.  That's why it's a *stash* :-)

Cathay

This is Debbie Bliss's Cathy ("white").  That bit of sheen you see is probably from the 15% silk mixed with the 50% cotton and 35% viscose microfibre.  It looks like it's going to have very nice drape.  When I figure out what I want to make with this yarn (after playing with this ball), it will no doubt become trim on the larger project.

LaLuz

What -- you thought I was going to make an escape without some more LaLuz Silk? The "Alaska" colourway calllllled to me.  It will probably become another scarf.  Mmmm.

Tweed

This is Jaeger's Luxury Tweed ("Fern").   It's a merino lambswool/alpaca blend.  It's got just enough texture to justify the name "tweed", and I'm thinking this could grow up to be one colour in a multi-coloured cardigan with more of its friends.

Cashmere & Cotton

This is Rowan's CashCotton 4-ply.  And, yes, I did purposefully buy enough for a project!  It's amazingly light.  I'm thinking summer cardigan.  I'm also thinking I was insane to think I'd knit something this fine by hand, so this may feed the machine (stay tuned to see how that works out :-) ).

Inspiration

And, because that  much indulgence bears further inspiration -- the classics of knitting patterns (lace, cables, etc).



Yum.  A *very* pleasant way to spend a guilt-free hour, and anticipation of many more to come!

What's in a name... [Permalink]

Tue May 17 21:22:11 EDT 2005
Category [Photo Op]

I'm a little at a loss as to how I'm supposed to call this



a *head* set...?!

Once you've done silk... [Permalink]

Thu May 05 09:07:06 EDT 2005
Category [Knitting]

Once upon a time, before I embarked on this latest round of travel,




I finished some knitting!

I used one skein of the Fiesta LaLuz 100% Silk yarn that I'd mentioned, and put together a lace-themed scarf.



This is the "iris" colourway of the silk yarn for the knit scarf, with a little bit of double crochet edging done in "lichen".  For information, the scarf is approximately 8" wide, and 40" long, and that used virtually all of the 2oz skein of LaLuz.

I haven't quite finalized what I intend to make with the rest of the 4 skeins of "lichen" that I have.  I had originally thought "tank top"!  But,  I'm a little concerned about wear; this is still somewhat delicate as a fibre.  Maybe I'm waiting to hear how other LaLuz projects wear :-)  Failing that, I might extend the lacy scarf theme, and do something shawl-like.  The fact that I've worn a shawl-like thing exactly once in my adult life gives me some pause, however...

Whatever it is, it will be fun.  Working with LaLuz is vaguely addictive.  And once you've worked with this extraordinarily soft yarn, it is very hard to go back to anything else!  The project I suspended to do the silk scarf is a baby blanket, and let me tell you the baby yarn felt nasty and scratchy after a week of silk.  on't tell the impending baby that ;-) 

In motion [Permalink]

Sat Apr 30 04:18:40 EDT 2005
Category [Photo Op]

Subject to further update...

Supply, Demand and the Challenges of Feeding a Knitting Habit [Permalink]

Wed Mar 30 23:04:36 EST 2005
Category [Knitting]

Like many avid knitters, on more than one occasion I've run up against a shortcoming in the hobby yarn supply chain.  The problem manifests itself when you hit your local yarn store to stock up for some new project and have the devil of a time finding the yarn you were looking for (or, indeed, any suitable yarn in a pleasaing colour,  appropriate weight and composition, and sufficient number of skeins in the same dye lot).

That may sound a little odd when you consider that any yarn store of even mediocre repute is literally *bursting* with skeins of tantalizing colour, texture and composition.   Some places, the yarn is even hanging from the ceiling! But, pragmatically, no one can stock a reasonable cross-section of all the interesting (and trendy) things in a range of colours and sufficient quantity of each for more than a few customers' projects in each.

I imagine that, from the yarn store's perspective, the competing factors are:

• relatively small footprint for storage/display
• 50-100 relatively well-known yarn wholesalers (thanks, Internet!), as well as some number of interesting local yarn producers, of all of which it might be reasonable to stock from 5 - 10 at any given time
  
• each yarn company produces anywhere from 1 to 10 different yarns (fibre composition, weights, etc)
• each yarn is available in 5 - 30 different colours (or colourways)
• it typically takes 500g - 1kg (ten to twenty 50g balls) to make a sweater project
  
• in a *densely* populated area, there is perhaps 1 serious yarn store in 100 square miles

So, any given yarn store might stock 3,000 distinct yarn/colours, and if we say the store gets enough yarn to make 1 sweater, we're talking something like 60,000 balls of yarn.  Which strikes me as a lot!  Until someone else gets to the one yarn/colour that I was interested in making a sweater from before I do.

That is, even such a seemingly generous collection of yarn in the local yarn shop can't possibly encompass a significant cross section of what I (a random avid knitter) have read about in this month's magazines, cruising the World Wide Web, or generally reading knitting blogs.

Or, when I do walk into a store, brush by a skein of Fiesta Yarn's La Luz, immediately turn back to let my fingers fasten feverishly round the delicate silk spun fibers, and get over the sticker shock, I'm instantly crushed when it turns out they only have 2 skeins of the colour Lichen. 

What to do. 

And the next yarn store over, some 10 miles away, doesn't *carry* La Luz.  (Not that I could mix and match between stores -- that dreaded dye lot challenge).

Undone.   Flattened.  Morose.

It seems that each yarn store is (and, given the density of them, has to be) an expert specialty shop.  Unlike other specialty shops, they haven't quite been undone by the Internet, because it is barely possible to get accurate colour representation from photograph to computer screen, let alone *anything* about how the yarn actually feels in person.  (Though the Knitter's Review does seem to provide a reasonable facsimile of real world experience for the yarns they do review.  Not quite the same as the f2f (finger-to-fibre) experience, but very useful!).

So, it seems like it would be worthwhile to do some hybridization here.  I very much want to continue to have local yarn shops, where I can go browse, chat,  get inspired, and buy plenty of yarn when they have what I'm looking for.  But, I would also like to be able to capitalize on the Internet's strengths in allowing communication between independent parties with mutual interest.    I wonder if there's a yellow pages or auction or Amazon model that would work:

• a central location for  knitters to put in requests for specific yarns/colours/dye lots
• participating yarn retailers could search/browse/filter incoming requests and match them against stock they have (particularly stock they are looking to get rid of) -- for some or all of the total request
• when the full request is met by one or more retailers, the yarn is gathered from the various retailers and shipped to the knitter

Clearly, the devil is in the details of making sure the yarn is as advertised (ratings on providers would probably help), that it all gets to the requester, and that the payment subdivided and sent to the providing retailers.  But it's certainly no crazier than Ebay or Amazon as an idea, even though the scale would clearly be a lot smaller (if you stay focused on yarn; I wonder if this generalizes?).  The upside for knitters would be getting the yarn they want.  The upside for yarn stores would be a much wider target market and the potential to cycle out the yarn that wasn't as popular in their geographic area as it might have turned out to be in some other one.

Oh, and if you know that much about the yarn you want, why don't you just go to the yarn wholesaler to buy it?  Well, because they are wholesalers, and a lot of them don't want to deal with individual customers.   The premier issue of INKnitters has a really interesting article that provides insight into the challenges of packaging hand knitting supplies, as seen from that end of the marketplace.

Fortunately for me, the La Luz/Lichen story is on track to have a happy ending.  Patternworks claims to be shipping me my requested amount -- this time, I was fortunate enough to find an online place that could tell me it had the colour I was looking for, in sufficient quantity.  

Voice over... thin air! [Permalink]

Fri Mar 04 13:18:22 EST 2005
Category [Net Working]

Some weeks ago, I finally downloaded a SIP softphone, and, with a lot of help from my friends, got my self set up in a SIP gateway. "At last!", I thought, "I am the last kid on the block to get into VoIP!".

And then I looked around for colleagues with whom to test this SIP stuff. And found that remarkably few of them have SIP fully set up -- (soft)phone, gateway, etc. Tap, tap, tap... Apparently SIP isn't a lot of fun if you don't also have a bridge to the POTS, and a phone number for your SIP reality, to boot.

Then, this morning, one of my few SIP-connected friends jabbered at me that he wanted to try out his SIP softphone. Cool. Except that he couldn't get his softphone registered from his notebook-on-the-move, because his SIP gateway only accepts connections from known IP addresses. Foiled again!

So, we did what so many other people are doing -- we each downloaded a skype client, and created user accounts at Skype.

Now, Skype is really not the "right Internet technical solution". It's proprietary. It's based on a centralized server for everything -- single point of failure, no point to point, etc. SIP is a much better, more generalized (and generalizable) model.

But, Skype has the one powerful and overriding feature:

It works.

So, my friend and I connected by voice via Skype -- made all the more fun because my friend was sitting on a flight from Europe to the US at the time, using the airline's inflight mobile broadband service.

GEEK!

Let me say,

it sounded much better than those inseat phones!

the transmission delay was about 1.5 sec

if he'd been using headphones, I wouldn't even have had to talk over my 3sec-delayed self on the call!

FUN with technology!

Enough talk... more knit! [Permalink]

Thu Mar 03 09:08:29 EST 2005
Category [Knitting]

Enough talk *about* knitting... here's some actual knitting output!  Hot off the needles, a handknit crewneck sweater,

which I knit with some Schaeffer Yarns hand-painted merino wool

that absolutely leapt out of the basket at me when I bought the yarn for my knitting machine cardigan (still in progress).

I mean, really, how could you say "no" to this?

Observe that this sweater is cleverly finished just in time for next week's IETF 62 meeting, in Minneapolis.

Digital Photography to Digital Darkroom [Permalink]

Thu Feb 24 09:31:37 EST 2005
Category [Photo Op]

Step one in digital photography is to get a good digital camera.  Step two, which seems to follow with amazing alacrity, is to undertake some "digital darkroom" activities...

The cat pictures I posted last had already had some processing done to them (they are lighter than the original versions), but I got some helpful pointers (*ahem*) that the colour casting could be improved, etc etc.  So, here they are again after another round of GIMPing.

and


I think these are better... though that may be because GIMP always wins by war of attrition.  I fiddle with various colour levels & curves until I convince myself I have made it as good as it is going to get... Achievment, or laziness?  Who can say!  (And I look forward to finding out, in the comments...).

I can say that I find the art of digital colour manipulation somewhat anti-intuitive.  Histograms-R-us:


Yes,  I *could* have just updated the photo files for the last post.  But talking about digital darkroom stuff counts as a new post :-)

WHAT?! [Permalink]

Wed Feb 16 22:01:34 EST 2005
Category [Photo Op]

Why Knit? [Permalink]

Mon Feb 14 22:26:46 EST 2005
Category [Knitting]

To my on-line ramblings about "why do I want a knitting machine?", Michael Mealling
reminded me...

Which is all true.

What I've been doing in the meantime is trying to figure out whether my imaginings and knitting machine reality actually line up at some point, or whether I'd be looking for a knitting machine to do something it can't.

I handknit because

1. I like the actual physical activity of knitting.  It's rhythmic and soothing, keeping just enough of my brain engaged not to be boring, and yet not so much that I'm distracted from everything else.  It's a great way to relax and free up your brain for creative thinking.
2. I like the regular progression towards instantiating an interesting design.  It would be hard to knit a long, long strip of plain knitting in a single colour.  A sweater or sock has an interesting shape.  Cables and colours add other interesting design elements.

And, the more I've knit, the more interested in colours and yarn textures I've gotten.  Yes, I can look at a yarn catalogue and drool, or get lost in a fairisle pattern book.  ("Obsession, noun" -- look it up ;-)  ).

Now, with my experience so far with a knitting machine, #1 above is pretty much gone.  Yeah, there is some rhythm in the back and forth, but there's also a lot of holding-of-breath-hope-it-doesn't-fly-off-the-needles-this-row going on.  Not so soothing.  That might go away with more practice, or a different machine.  I can't tell.  I haven't yet found anyone who really could tell me (either because it's hard to find people who actually *have* knitting machines, or becaues the words I'm saying make no sense, or both :-)  ).

And it's less clear to me now how far you can get with #2, without a lot of that non-rhythmic interfacing with the machine (aka work).  At least on a completely manual machine, texture (cables, lace) requires fiddling with stitches on the needlebed; colour changes require pre-meditated manual intervention to pull a certain subset of needles forward, and maybe a second pass with the shuttle.  Apart from the fact that this is very far away from the "dancing needles" you can achieve with handknitting, all of this fiddling slows you down:  maybe it's no faster than handknitting, or maybe it just deters you from embarking on more complex things with the knitting machine.  So #2 starts fading away, too.

A couple of caveats on that last point -- I have no insight into what a completely *electronic* machine can do, except that I hear they can do *wonders* with colour changes themselves.  But then, would I be spectating on the creation of the knitted article, and taking all of my creativity to the design phase?   And where would I find the $5-8k to drop on a machine?  I think I'd like to have more than a hypothetical answer to "why do *I* want to do this, before even trying to find that kind of money!

Wondering about that, I started looking into knitting design software more seriously (again).  But, I'll save that for another blog entry!

As a final thought -- clearly, some people have and love knitting machines.  They must be doing something fun with them!  Are they finding better answers to my #1 and #2 above, or are they finding some other answer altogether?

Contextual Scenery [Permalink]

Thu Feb 10 21:54:48 EST 2005
Category [Misc.]

I was at NANOG33 last week -- it was my first trip to Las Vegas.

What can I say? I really hard a hard time relating to this scenery:

I just find it kind of creepy to be starting my work day by getting into an elevator with an octogenarian, stooped over his cane, telling the world, "I had a terrible night!  They took all my hard-earned pension money!  Oh, well.  Maybe I'll be luckier today".  And he was probably serious.

I resonated much more closely with this (Red Rock Canyon)

Beyond rectangular [Permalink]

Sun Jan 30 17:14:45 EST 2005
Category [Knitting]

Back to the question of "what's simpler than a rectangle?".  Well, another rectangle, it turns out.

This, in case it isn't perfectly apparent, is the back of a sweater (cardigan, in fact).  (The little bits of pink yarn are the markers for the sleeves).  It's done in Lana Gatto I bought at Hunt Country Yarns last Fall, knit at 21 stitches and 28 rows to 4".  I chose that yarn for a couple of reasons.  The primary one was that it is a nice yarn, one that I'd be happy to work with by hand.  I want the machine to show me its best side, and I need the yarn to be an ally as opposed to a foe.  (Crappy yarn can be really frustrating and yield mediocre results.  At least, that's been *my* excuse for upscaling in the yarn-purchasing department :^) ).

What makes this project easier than the last is that it's all straight knitting, with the (major) exception of the ribbing.  The fact that it's done with straight knitting means that you can, essentially, just keep shuttling back and forth across the entire machine bed, creating inches in minutes.  The front pieces and sleeves will be a little fiddlier -- they will involve increments and decrements.

The ribbing is a *major* exception.  Again, with this simple (single-bed) machine, you create the ribbing by knitting the requisite rows, then dropping every other stitch and latching back up to the current row.  TE-DI-OUS.

So, how fast was it?  Well, roughly speaking, the times were as follows:

• 15 minutes to cast on and knit the 22 rows for the ribbing
• 60 minutes to do the ribbing part of the ribbing (drop & relatch)
• 50 minutes to knit the remainder of the back
• 40 minutes to cast off

In round numbers, a sweater back in just under 3 hours.  I know *I* can't knit that fast.

As for the quality of the results -- the ribbing is kind of scary, I think.




Very 'ladder-ish".  That's because the ribbing was done on a larger gauge.  I'm hoping/assuming it'll calm down with wearing/washing.

The rest of the knitting seems pretty even and acceptable.  Probably more even than I could knit at that gauge :-)

So, we'll see how it looks when I've finished the other pieces and sewn them all up.

Oh, and why the fixation on speed/how long it took?  Well, because I haven't yet figured out why I would want to use a knitting machine to do something I enjoy doing by hand.  I know other people have found their own reasons.  I just haven't found mine.  I'm trying to puzzle out whether I'm attracted to knitting machines for the sheer geekiness of them, or if there's something more interesting there that *I* want to do with one.  Thoughts &insights welcomed!

Fanning the flames... [Permalink]

Fri Jan 28 18:46:19 EST 2005
Category [Net Working]

Further on the subject of "traditional media" versus the advent of blogs... Who's got it more together?! .

A happy intersection [Permalink]

Thu Jan 27 13:44:13 EST 2005
Category [All]

I must confess that sometimes, during conferences and technical meetings, I pull out my laptop and get lost in my e-mail.  While I think we are living in an age where divided attention is the norm (can anyone do just one thing at a time anymore?!), it is pretty hard to both pay attention to live discussions and not inadvertently flame off your e-mail correspondents.   Or vice versa.

For that reason,  when I've travelled to a meeting with checked baggage, I often bring a small needlework project (like, say, socks).  Honestly, that does improve attention to the activity at the front of the room!

It also has a very positive side effect of finding other people with similar needlework inclinations. And, of course, interesting swapping of ideas.  On this trip, I've met up with one of these comrades and discovered that she, too, has one of these hybrid needlework/techno blogs.  Check out xmlgrrl for intriguing stitchery and xml insight!

Now, as soon as I figure out how to add links on my sidebar...

Blog on a roll [Permalink]

Thu Jan 27 13:00:22 EST 2005
Category [Net Working]

There's a lot of hype about how blogs are revolutionizing the Internet and/or publication media (see, e.g., Jesse Oxfeld's "Blog Revolution").  By way of trying to throw cold water on such excited statements, Kevin Maney wrote in USA Today, "Chill, blogophiles; you're not the first to do what you're doing".

From my perspective, blogs are an important evolution in the Internet infoscape, although in many respects they are reinventing what the early Internet (and then web) were about.  That is, for users, the real thrill of networking includes being able to contribute to the *world*, to be heard, to reach out and touch people you never would have reached otherwise.  That was as true with e-mail (mailing lists), net news, and the early web as it is for blogs today.  While initially anyone could reasonably set up a mailing list, a news group, or a web site, to some extent they've been overtaken by the glitzier efforts backed by commercial endeavours.  And while most of the blog wave (this one included!) may be ephemeral crap, the important thing is that the barrier to entry is low enough that no prejudgement of value is necessary.  I.e., anyone can do it, and there is no prejudice about who will be most successful, or indeed, what the definition of "successful" will be.

I think that's an incredibly important characteristic of Internet technologies, and the fact that a new form was invented even as older fora were becoming commercialized and unidirectional is a sign of good health.  That is, while I have no objection to making money with the Internet, and I certainly enjoy the ease of online commercial services, I believe we would lose a lot if the Internet became the exclusive domain of deep pocketed commercial interests with (essentially) unidirectional, passive consumption media delivery as envisioned by some in the days of dot-boom.

So, Kevin Maney writes that "Thomas Paine was basically a blogger -- in 1776", and that "blogs are another turn of  history's wheel, not a radical departure".  Well, yes.  But, to my way of thinking, that's exactly *why* they are interesting and exciting.  There's still a pulse!

Wherefore KnitBot? [Permalink]

Wed Jan 19 22:31:39 EST 2005
Category [Knitting]

Wherefore "knitbot"

Some 8 or 9 years ago, I learned of the existence of something called a "knitting machine".  A hand knitter of some years' experience, I was fascinated and curious.  I.e., instantly obsessed.   Somehow, my expression of this obsession provoked the creation of the term ("knitting", "robot" -- get it?), and I decided to adopt it wholeheartedly.

While I've been eyeing knitting machines for years, it was only fairly recently that I actually acquired one.   The really interesting and intricate ones cost several thousand dollars, which is somewhat obsession-damping.

I've started with a really basic machine, the Bond "Ultimate Sweater Machine".  I'll pull in some links of other interesting machines (i.e., the ones that cost some ten times as much!) at a later date, but for the moment I'm going to simply share some experiences from my first, completed end-to-end, knitting machine project.

A blanket I thought I would start with something relatively unchallenging -- a rectangle.  I've made such blankets by hand before -- typically all in crochet, because I think I would get insanely bored trying to do that much straight knitting with so little variation. So, the two key questions were: Is it faster on the machine, or simply more aggravating (as automation so often is!) Is it fun?

Note that the result is really a hybrid -- the knitting machine did the main part of the blanket (with some hand-manipulations described below), but the lacy edge was a standard hand-crochet finish.

The project The blanket is done as 3 strips of 3 squares.  There are 2 reasons for this: the knitting machine uses one needle per stitch; there are 39 stitches in each strip (i.e., 118 stitches across).  The machine has only 100 needles.  Yes, you can expand the USM, but I can't expand my table! the colour changes for the "middle square"; I would have had to change colour twice on each row.  While that's doable ("intarsia"), it's not a technique I felt ready to tackle with the machine. So, instead I tried another challenging technique -- "seam as you go" (see Heidi's page for technique details).  Essentially, you do the 2 outer side panels, and then, as you're working the middle panel, you're hooking the outer ones on to the edge working needle row by (every other) row.  It does produce a very nice, smooth fabric.  But it does also mean that you have to stop and fiddle with the knitting after *every* row.

Fiddling at every row distracts from the machine's best feature:  the ability to toss off row after row of knitting with astonishing speed.  For that reason, the row counter (little black box showing behind the needle bed) is a must-have. It's very hard *not* to lose track of how many rows you've done with a knitting machine!

You might observe the curling edges on the work in progress here.  Let's just say I later added crochet lace edge row after row until it subdued the curl.

Stitch motif You may be wondering how the X's and O's are created in the panels.  Each of these is created by reversing (i.e., turning a knit into a purl) a series of stitches on consecutive rows.  It's the usual knitting motif thing. What's a little more challenging with the knitting machine (or, at least, a basic one like this) is that you have to knit the stitches, and then  go back, manually drop the stitches (carefully!) and re-work them by hand up to the machine's needle.  Again, this takes away from the overall speed the machine can offer the process. To give you an idea -- it would take about 10 minutes to cast on and knit one of the panels in plain stitching.  With the X / O motif, it took more like 45 minutes per panel (which was down from the original 60 - 90minutes, before I'd gotten into the rhythm of things).

Voila! Total, this represents some 15 hours of work.  How does this compare to a hand-knit one?  I've no idea -- I don't track my knitting time that way, because I tend to hand knit in 20 min here, 10 min there.  As compared to the ones I've crocheted before... it probably took about the same amount of time. It *was* fun, once I got the tension set correctly for the yarn, and got into the rhythm of making a square.  I overcame the earlier temptations to simply scrap the project, because I'd get 20 rows in, have a carriage mishap, and wind up with the whole thing unravelling.

So, what's next?  Probably something simpler.  What's simpler than a rectangle, you say?...

Project... completion [Permalink]

Sat Nov 27 22:03:43 EST 2004
Category [All]

Ta-da! Completed work!

A sock!  Well, one of two, really:


Finally, viewed sans foot, in profile, as it were:


Now, to the casual observer, this would appear to be a blog entry about a knitting project.  In fact, it's an expose of (digital) image capture devices. 

The first picture was taken with my world-travelled, tried & trusty Canon Digital Elph S300 -- a 2 Megapixel affair.  For the most part, it does quite reputable work.  Recently,  a Canon 20D (8 Megapixel, and an SLR at that) found its way into the household.  And it's a lot of fun to work with.  The results will (pardon me) blow your socks off.  Picture number 2 above was taken with the 20D (and subsequently dumbed down to blog-able size, so some of the lustre has been lost).  Let me just say that, once I got my fingers wrapped around the 20D, a long series of sock pictures followed in rapid succession... Sigh. 

Nevertheless, a 3rd methodology was brought to bear to attempt to elicit the best possible capture of knitting project completion.  The results (picture #3) are pretty good, but the flat bed of the scanner was not quite large enough to accommodate the entire sock.

This was my first pair of knitted socks.  Having survived the experience of turning a  heel (two, in fact), I wonder about making more seasonal stockings:

Free Christmas stocking knitting patterns
Christmas Stocking Pattern Book

You hadda question? [Permalink]

Wed Nov 17 22:48:49 EST 2004
Category [All]

You had a question?

I didn't think so. You may recall that I said this blog was not going to be about knitting.  (Well, you'd have to recall, as the blog software and I had another "incident" a few weeks ago, and it turfed my entire blog.  All of it. Gone-zo.  Sigh.  **knitbot sinks into a blissful, if passing,  delusion that "all" was a lot.)   Well, I lied.  Or changed my mind.  Who can say?

Rather than talk about my own knitting, I suspect I'll be sharing more pointers to other knitting that I find breath-taking and inspiring.

Let me start... Although there is a regular progression of interesting stuff on Wendy Knits!, one sweater in particular that leaps out (at me) is her Henry VIII sweater.  It's an awesome pattern (colour and motif interplay) and clearly amazing execution (err, that would be knitting!), too.  Don't know about you, but I'm struggling my way through a pair of socks on 2.25mm needles (US1); I can't fathom doing an entire sweater on US2 & US3.

Some of you may have been wondering "Where's the cat?!".  Guiness is working on her beauty rest...