Chain cable HK experiment

Several months ago menswear began to appear featuring versions of chained cables. There are some published sources for such patterns, some available for purchase online ie in Ravelry,  while others may be found in the Barbara Walker Treasury Books. One HK version from the latter may be found here. I decided to play with excel and experiment further. I used Aire River Design font (no longer available) on my Mac to generate the symbols used. Columns and rows may be easily edited to adjust the height and width of repeat to suit the design process. I charted only knit “right side rows”. On purl rows, one simply reverses the previous row’s purl/knit sequences

the first linear repeat (outlined in orange)

I tend to prefer brick repeats in odd numbers across the piece: this instance adds reverse knit rows in the center of the cables as well for more surface texture, seed stitch may be another consideration

a quick swatch testing the repeat in random cotton from my stash

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Knitting continues

I have been working on a series of tuck reversible chenille scarves. Color changing occurs every 2 rows. I do use 2 carriages. IMO the brother 2 color single bed changer was one of the worst designed accessories ever. The chenille is cranky, knitting is slow, and one is looking at the back of the knit so the pattern is not immediately obvious to the eye. These are a few colorways

thinking I had the knitting down, got to # 12 scarf, realized I needed to knit 10 more rows after canceling needle selection, “corrected” for row count, finished knitting the pattern, completed the edging, and realized the “corrected” rows were off and that this whole scarf has a mystery repeat. Here is an image of the front of the piece after unraveling edging and back to a row ready for rehanging next to a previously knit “how it should look”

it is an interesting variation of the pattern repeat, but without fiddling with starting rows, I have no clear idea how to duplicate it should I want to. Knitting rooms seem to have days when they are full of goblins.

I have some issues with my back and right arm was looking for an easier way to manage the knitting of these things and the reach required to get the carriages off the beds while knitting with the opposing one and had forgotten about this particular “stand”. A few years ago I broke my right shoulder, and as I began to regain use of the arm I went looking for an adjustable height, stable KM “stand”. A friend found this for me. It is what I can only be described as an ancient, asylum quality hospital bedside stand. It is probably at least part iron since magnets stick to its metal parts, are very heavy, has a huge adjustable height range, and does not budge during knitting in spite of the fact it is on wheels, while it is easily moved when one wants to do so. It was “free” as well, an added bonus.

When knitting fabrics single bed I do not work with the ribber engaged, have no idea if the added weight would be an issue or if the clearance is adequate for attaching it to the “stand”, but using the ribber clamps with the main bed at an angle seems to make crankier fabrics easier to knit. The crank for raising/lowering the height easily stores lace extension rails.

A kitchen timer is handy to get an accurate gauge as to how long the items actually take to knit from beginning to completion in helping set retail prices for new items, and kitchen scales to weigh cones before and after (grams or ounces) aid not just to gauge the cost of materials, but also to be certain that yarn quantity is adequate to finish the piece.

In static season some of the problems with yarn management or electronic KM pattern shifts can be resolved by both having a grounding wire, and using a humidifier. One such model may be seen in the lower left of the photo, is very inexpensive, designed for use in nurseries, on the noisy side, but requires no special care other than occasionally cleaning out the water container, and uses tap water.

Canned air can help remove fiber dust during knitting so it does not become part of the finished piece when using a brush or small vacuum is impractical, it is best not to use it in places where the fuzz is likely to get blown into springs and electronic parts, however.

Paper towel holders can serve as yarn cone holders for ones that tip over easily, and the extra straight arm they sometimes have in models similar to the one below can help hold upright yarn wounds on tubes of various sizes, an alternative to the usual horizontal ways of managing such.

Craft ribbon holders can serve the same purpose if one wants to feed tubes horizontally in addition to the old super low tech tricks of HK needles poked through a variety of holders with caps to help secure them in place

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Slip/ tuck stitch experiments

These scarves were designed using the same method as described for mazes and mosaics, they are knit in rayon chenille, fringes are composed of  i_cords applied to cast on and bound off edges. The smaller shape/repeat allows for more control over fabric width while retaining full repeats

blue ovals: 11X58 inches excluding 3 inch fringe

BW: 9.5 X 58 inches excluding 4.5 inch fringe

time to stop playing and get back to winter inventory production!

hot off the presses 11/10: tuck stitch 11 X 60 rayon chenille

an unplanned “mutation”

scarves measure and average 9(+) inches in width, 60(+) in length after blocking

11/17/2012: some colorways

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More play with dropped stitches

I am interested in trying to introduce designs into drop stitch grounds, and my leaf obsession is at least temporarily back. In working with a vine shape, I found having the vine create the dropped stitches created a too loosely knit, unrecognizable fabric, so on to color reverse. The resulting swatch is a bit of a brain teaser : “find the vine”

the companion ruffle: these blocking pins are great for blocking, may be pressed over

both were a lesson in gauge; using same tension etc. as in blue shawl this scarf is inches narrower, and the ruffles were not wide enough , will have to be re knit; only difference in fabrics was the change in yarn color, not its composition. “Back to the drawing board”

the finished piece measuring 14 X 74: 2 ways to wear it

Mosaics and mazes: machine knits_ from design to pattern

Maze patterns have long vertical and horizontal lines broken by regular gaps and the pattern lines change course from the vertical to horizontal, and vice versa. Maze cards can be identified by completely punched sections, some alternating with every other square marked for two rows, usually geometrically shaped. Areas of stocking stitch produce horizontal colored stripes, and alternating pattern stitches that slip or tuck cause the vertical stripes, which are sometimes pulled nearly diagonal by the influence of tuck or slip. The fabric will be unbalanced because the number of needles slipping or tucking will not be the same on every row. Odd rows form 2 color horizontal stripes, even rows vertical stripes, with color changes occurring every 2 rows.

Mosaics have a brick arrangement (tessellae), with clear perimeters and cores, and stepped diagonals (frets) that are partially formed bricks, their positive and negative spaces are created by the use of contrasting colors. The stripe sequence is not as obvious. The punchcard looks even less like the original design.

In single bed work, the reverse of the fabric will show the original design in the texture of its slip or tuck stitches. There usually will be no floats longer than one or two stitches.

The knit side may look like a fair isle but the back lacks the usual long floats, hence the name “float-less fair isle”

The row gauge is compressed. Tuck fabrics are short and fat, slip ones tend to be short and thin. Some patterns elongate in washing. The tension used is usually one number higher or more than that used for stocking stitch for slip patterns to reduce their narrowing, tuck patterns may also have to be adjusted to suit. Smooth yarns in contrasting colors are the easiest to establish and test the pattern, then the choices can be far more personal.

Designing your own: traditional “rules”

  1. if scale matters consider that the height of 2 rows may equal the width of one stitch
  2. start small, let each square on your graph whether on graph paper, in a design program or spreadsheet/vector program cell equal one stitch, each line on the graph represents 2 rows of knitting, when knitting the pattern double-length specific to KM may be used. The unfilled squares represent the lighter color/color1, the colored squares represent the dark/color2
  3. no more than one stitch to tuck, two to slip at a time
  4. row 1 and all odd-numbered rows (most stitches knit) can have any number of squares marked, the slipped (tuck, or slip/part tuck in alternating directions) are represented by blank grids (no more than 2 side by side for slip, single for tuck), they are generally knit in the lighter color/color1
  5. even-numbered rows must have single squares marked, they are generally knit in the darker color/color 2, there should be no more than 2 “light squares”/ unpunched holes side by side, the slipped (tuck or part/slip tuck in alternating directions) are represented by marked grids
  6. vertical lines must begin and end on odd-numbered rows
  7. vertical lines must always consist of an odd number of rows in total
  8. the finished design must be an even number of rows to allow for traveling back and forth to the color changer for picking up and carrying the subsequent color
  9. if the design is not to be elongated check to see that every light square to be worked in the dark color is present in the row below, that every dark square in the row to be worked in the light color is also present in the row below

Susanna’s chapter on mosaics has information on fabrics where “rules” get broken. Changing the order of the colors or introducing a third color may yield pleasant surprises. Knitting is started on a non-patterning row with first-row selection toward the color changer in Japanese machines. If you have a machine that preselects needles: color must always change when the needle selection changes. Four movements of the carriage are required to produce two rows of knitting.

One approach with a design that breaks rules:

masking alternate rows and “separating them”: odd rows knitting in color 1

dark squares get punched out/ drawn, light ones tuck or slip depending on cam settings

color 2 knitting even rows:

light squares are punched out/drawn and will knit, dark squares ones tuck or slip depending on cam settings

colored areas below are those to be punched overall

I used Excel to eliminate yellow fill on odd rows, darker fill on even. Many articles on this subject date back to graph paper, pencil, and eraser days. Quick color fills including empty make the process quicker with software. Still finding the image above confusing, it may be easier to decide what to draw on the card/mylar if all areas to be punched are dark, blank squares can then be more easily identified and marked, punching everything else or coloring them in and using color reverse if your machine has that ability. In the image below the lighter color is replaced by a darker one

the resulting card, which needs to be elongated X2

The swatches were knit using both the slip and tuck settings (also breaking the usual rule). Some of the tuck rows have a bit of color scrambling likely due to the amount of side by side tuck loops in the repeat not knitting off properly in those spots

slip stitch front

the back

tuck front shows the repeating trouble spots

tuck back

point grids for developing designs are of 2 types

in turn, the pattern may be drawn over them

staggered units may require some cleanup and “erasing”, as represented by pink squares

when the shape is what one desires, color separation follows as for the design at beginning of the post

Susanna Lewis at one time did publish a technique that could be entered in the E6000 that essentially did the separation; wincrea does not presently download techniques, there are other programs that can, and/or a combination of card reader sheet and computer download may be used, but that is for another day.

Mosaics and mazes from “FI” “universal” patterns

Many punchcards that obey the usual restrictions for tuck, in particular, may be used to create “random” mazes and mosaics, with color changes happening every two rows. Test swatches will show differences in surface texture, patterning, width, and height of the knit. It is useful to use clearly contrasting colors to study how the structure of the fabric is affected by different techniques. This test series explores the quality of the stitches created, along with using different knit carriage cam settings, although this repeat does not produce designs typical of either mosaics or mazes.
The swatches were knit during a class demo, for easy visibility, not as studies for finished garments or accessories. They were produced on Brother punchcard KM, using a single bed color changer. Electronic KMs advance a row for each pass of the carriage regardless of its beginning position/side. As noted in later blog post shares, such fabrics are produced more quickly and easily if an electronic is available with  2 compatible carriages for use.
Yet another single color variation, missing here, would be to use opposing buttons for tuck/slip.
The first preselection row is toward the color changer.  The FI pattern front with a bit of bleed-through where floats were hung up on the purl side

tuck 1 color slip 1 color  tuck 2 colors slip 2 colors  last but not least, slip stitch adding a third color front, still changing colors every 2 rows

This is a factory punchcard design, a smaller repeat. The repeat enlarged and punched for use in the pictured samples

Working out the kinks in my drop stitch lace saga

Still geared up for accessories, I felt compelled to come up with an edging: the following is an end stitch release knit. Prior to binding off the “tape” end stitches are transferred to the knitting bed, and then they and the remaining stitches are bound off. The transferred stitches do not drop and create a long stitch double knit segment. I am still working with the white acrylic
bound off and before release with the release starting after release
after pressing: flat, edge stitches too short attached to back bed before knitting pattern  (purl side)knit side alpaca and silk swatch, surprise: this baby knits up/steams fairly flat! The most regular dropped stitches happened when the stitch ditcher was used at least as frequently as every 4 rows, the lock was too hard to push with it resting on the knitting bed before each pass. I thought I might break down and use a built-in technique and my color changer to drop stitches: Technique 256 here I come, and figlet! this is a completely different fabric and there is one row of loops formed for every 4 passes of the lock I now get why some people call drop stitch with this technique mock garter stitch, but that is so not what I was going for, so back to the drawing board for me! I have an idea….
if the repeat is twice as long, and 2 of the 4 rows are knit without yarn, then loops created on the first 2 rows should in theory be dropped. Tech 130 in essence doubles repeat length. Using it and the same back bed pusher arrangement and settings as tech 256 the fabric is much more like the original, but tension now needs to be adjusted, denser knit stitches are now too loose… time for a very long break! you can’t always get what you want, do you sometimes get what you need? Curses! triple the number of stitches and tension problems occur, stitches don’t want to drop in specific areas of knit, now using a combination of empty lock and occasional hand ditching, different yarn, totally different look fabric than on the first sample: here it is on the machine
this shows why any lace needs blocking. Finishing on the Brother: bottom and top of ruffle rehung and cast off around 2 gate-pegs for length matching width of “pleats”; piece and “ruffles” also rehung for the same type of join after 1 row of knitting through both layers. The finished piece measuring 17X60 inches after partial blocking.  A different stitch pattern (E6000 1130) in the white acrylic color striping in the alpaca/silk blend, requiring dealing with yarn ends at color changer side. I had an interesting experience while knitting the one above of both locks jamming in the color changer. So many ways to have fun! and … I still want some bubbles!
A thicker yarn, larger tension difference between the locks, a bit more bubble on the knit side, but  too  much effort to knit

Mosaics and Mazes: knitting on the machines

Two great books on the subjects by Kathleen Kinder:

another article/printable PDF resource by Susan Guagliumi (this link no longer works, subscription and login are presently required on her site for access to her free pubs)

Susanna Lewis:  “A machine knitter’s guide to creating fabrics” pp. 71-78, 1986. “Designing your mosaics” and “Figurative designs in machine knitting” were published in To and Fro Magazine, and presented at Passap University app. 1992

Denise Musk: “The technique of Slipstitch” pp. 36-46 1989

Barbara Walker Mosaic knitting companion CD by Morgan Hicks 381 motifs “charted and converted for your electronic knitting machine or crochet, .pat or .pcx format”.

A DVD stitch compendium salute to Barbara and an interview with her. Most reviews online describe as it being most suitable for beginning knitters. For a treasure of her treasury patterns including some cable stitches, one may visit The Walker Treasury Project. The group’s photostream may be found on Flickr.

 

Knit bubbles and “stitch ditchers/dumpers”

I encountered a photo of a commercial sweater not too long ago while knit surfing the web

and a bubble blanket available at Nordstrom’s during 2012

I had already been considering laces other than transfer ones for yarns that have been too crotchety to knit in that particular technique, and my Passap has been knitting idol for far too long.  The fabric above seems to alter between purl and knit sequences that would require transferring all stitches to the opposite bed for every other pattern sequence: out of my range of patience and time. The number of fabrics involving “lace” produced using the ribber involves a series of names with sometimes variations simply being specific to the technique performed on a particular brand, though possible on all. On the list: drive lace, pick rib, summer fair isle, drop stitch lace, etc. The above commercially produced knits seemed to be good candidates for drop stitch lace.

Since I recently posted on knitting long loops/stitches single bed, it seems natural to follow up that post as well with creating long stitches using the ribber and using automatic patterning as well. The following photo is familiar to most Brother users:

In this instance the fabric is produced as a hand technique, requiring racking and row counting. The process is easier if all stitches are transferred to ribber in Japanese KMs or back bed on Passap, and long stitches are then created by selected stitches knitting on the opposing bed, and in turn, being dropped. Punching a card, drawing on mylar, or downloading to machines makes it possible to do so in a pattern much more easily.

Punchcard books have several useable examples for such patterns. Two methods of release are used. One is end release, where the pattern is knit until the piece is completed, and stitches are dropped then. This works in friendly yarns and continuous repeats uninterrupted by rows of stocking stitch. If the design is interrupted, then the regular dropping of stitches whether at the end of the repeat or intermittently throughout is either required or preferable, depending on the design.

As for dropping those loops that will form the long stitches, one can do so “manually” with improvised tools. For more “automatic” dropping of stitches using knit carriage in Brother patterning, one may punch a card or draw a mylar with a method akin to the color separation that will allow for a pass of the KH carriage across the knit with no yarn in the feeder, “color 2” is actually “no yarn/empty” while establishing the proper needle selection on its return. Studio selects and knits in the same row, so needle selection disruption is not an issue, and in Passap techniques are built into the console that allows for “free/no yarn” passes. Both instances involve extra “knit” rows per item. Other alternative tools may be used that help the stitch ditching process. Studio brand had their P carriage and Brother their own “D slider” for the bulky KM.

The Studio P carriage pulls needles on the main bed from B to C position going from right to left, then returning them back to B position going from left to right. On the ribber, it may be used to bring the needles up to C position for “safe knitting. (Studio needle positions are A, B, C, D, while Brother skipped the letter C, continuing with D and E). A video from Susan Guagliumi shows a later model than the one pictured below, used as well to bring needles out after hand techniques as opposed to pulling them out by hand or to insure thicker yarn knitting.

The Brother Bulky KR 260 D slider only moves in one direction, from left to right, completing the in and out needle position operation in one pass. End needle selection needs to be canceled. It is not usable on ribbers. After operating it from left to right, it is simply lifted off.  The knit carriage position while the transfers are occurring may vary depending on personal preference and whether the yarn changer is in use or not.

Studio 4.5 mm/ Bro 9 mm bulky viewed from the front

Studio 4.5mm/ Bro 9 mm bulky viewed from the back

Directions on altering the studio tool for use on Brother machines

Passap’s need was answered by an Australian woman: Faye Butcher,  who developed the item shown below. Such tools were often discussed in seminars and publications of the time, in conjunction with pile or “carpet” knitting, so “P” for such knitting in Studio, and “carpet stitch tool” for Passap, seen below

front view

rear view

in use on the front rail

If patterning for long stitches occurs on the front bed, the Passap tool sits on the rail where you see it in the photo, it will release all stitches from needles in its path. Often directions for using it recommend its use for 2 passes with locks on right. Passap preselects pushers for the next row of knitting as Brother preselects needles, pushers are below the rail, so in theory, they should be unaffected bypasses of its travels. Once things are up, going, and “working” I have found it possible to align the tool as seen in the photo ahead of the next lock pass, so on the right of the lock from left to right, to its left from right to left, a bit of pressure will keep it in its place, and stitches are released each pass of the lock. This may result in having to operate the lock with one hand. There is also an optimum speed: if the movement is not smooth and regular and needles are jostled, pusher selection may be altered in response, thus resulting in a patterning “mistake” on the next row. Challenging yarns may make this method impossible.

Some samples follow: the yarn used was acrylic, I attempted to press it on swatch completion, and this flattened the fabric considerably. Of note: the disparity in width between the stockinette portions of the swatches, and the dropped stitch segments

too open

a bit closer, much more so before steaming

a “mistake” that may lead to a future accessory, with some revising and planning

I am using Stitch Painter to plot out my repeats, exporting files as .cut files, using wincrea to import them, and downloading to the console with a cable purchased from England. I replaced an ill tower dell with a 64-bit dell laptop half its age, and am now running Windows XP instead of 98! My leaps into the present technologies/software are made using apple products. Technique 129 will work, color may need to be reversed using the alter loop, or within wincrea depending on how the pattern is drawn in the original graph, but that is a topic for another day (see April 2011 post: a bit on Passap for some information on Tech129). Back lock on N throughout, front lock on LX (slip/part on the main bed for Japanese KMs). Single bed slip and tuck stitches may also produce “bubbles” of a different quality.

Coincidentally the 10th-anniversary issue of Knitty has just been released, arriving in my virtual mailbox this AM. There are 2 patterns in the issue that may be of interest, one is tin roof, the other employs ribbed/bobble/bubble for hand knitters. Another hand knit version by Kieran Foley may be found here