Wednesdays at the asylum: “Barbie” knitter stand

Over the past few months I have been intermittently involved with a local maker space, artisan’s asylum. Beginning November 13th, we are going to try a free fiber arts work night, with the aim of working, sharing, and learning from each other, and with the possibility of classes being planned if the need arises. My background is fibers with an emphasis on knitting. I have long planned on trying a tubular knit in thin yarn that could in turn be knit (whether by hand or on the machine) or crocheted like some of the ribbon yarns now in use onto a background for ruffles or used for insertions, applique, etc. Thinking about what possible random demo/work item I could bring to the first meet I resurrected my Barbie Knit Hits knitter and various cord makers and spools. Managing lengths of the tubes as they are knit with a plastic knitter that likes to wander can be a tad challenging. At one point in time I had the delusions that I would play with kumihimo braiding, and built a crude “stand”, with both a square and a round top and necessity meets invention: the square top turns out to be the perfect size support and here is my “hobby knitter stand” in hands free other than for cranking operation

11/20/ 2013: the tape pictured below was knit using the equipment above, knitting a length in 8/4 slub rayon

attempting to use it as “ribbon yarn” on a standard machine: (1) at first I tried hanging a complete stitch/row on each needle on standard KM, the fabric was too flat (2) results were better when hanging every other stitch/row chain on every needle, fabric was heavy and to spread things out a bit more I (3) switched to using EOS/R on 2 km needles, and skipping the third. How to make it go round? (4) remove knitting on garter bar, turn over, “hang” ribbon on garter bar in proper configuration, slide all stitches back on machine and keep knitting. Stitch gauge on 4.5 KM anchors knit tape securely, as tape is tugged at stitches closest to plain knit elongate, edges ruffle

purl side