Knit topological shapes

It is possible to construct topological shapes via knitting. In HK this may be done on circulars. One out of many tutorials may be found here, and the mathematical knitting is a very good, extensive resource.

A recent forum post on knitting such shapes on the machine led me to dig out an old sample of mine knit with brass wire and holding on the km flatbed; since I never actually determined an end-use, the donut hole inner seam was never joined.
In this view, the piece is about 3 inches in height, and 8 inches across
 
a side view

Photos of my work: memory lane 1

I had a long interval of time when I did not record any of my work with photographs. I have slides from my student days, but even  as I first sold my work I have always leaned toward one of a kind or limited edition items. My knitting history began back in the days of what are now out of date cameras, and professional photographers were too expensive for the volume of inventory created and expected sales, so I often opted for no photos. At some point I accepted my own limited skill in photography, and began to record items as they were being made for record keeping more so than any other reason. With the start of  my presence online I graduated from one camera to another and then to instant iPhone gratification, my photography collection grew, and became simply what it was. I recently “went pro” on flickr, and have been adding photos of some of my early work, and of my little bit of publishing patterns in Studio by White Design magazine in the early 1990s, which may be found in my “memory lane” set on flickr. I have great admiration for anyone that publishes patterns and the work involved in doing so, though perhaps shared platforms for documents being as common as they are now might make the process easier.

Studio by White Design in its short lived glossy color format was the company publication in the early 90s. The constraints for any patterns were that they needed to promote an accessory, had to be in the requested assigned category ie men, children, etc, and help the reader learn a technique. At times yarn companies and publisher would have relationships, and kits for executing the patterns were offered. I designed 3 sweaters for them, these are the accompanying magazine shots

FW 93: 2col tuck mosaic for both punchcard and electronic

FW 94: an intarsia sweater using striping, FI, pin tucks, eyelets and rolled edges all on single bed

Summer 95 a slip stitch sweater

Entrelac pretender 3

This larger cousin uses the slip stitch setting combined with short rows to create an “entrelac-like” fabric on punchcard machines.
It helps to be familiar with both techniques before attempting this fabric. I am not providing specific directions for knitting, but the repeats are correct and tested, and are intended as a springboard, not a “how-to”.The related punchcard repeats.
The blue tape is used on both sides of the card to mask off holes resulting from punching errors.  The needle bed markings to help track motif placement (red for the red card, which corresponds to needle tape factory markings for repeats, black marks are halfway in between for the opposing shapes)As each set of repeats for each card is completed the punchcards are exchanged. KC direction is marked on them, with knitting beginning on the opposite side. I found the fabric more manageable when I completed and began each design sequence and color change by beginning and ending with an all-knit row in that color. The bottom of the swatch shows the difference in the side edges if half repeats are not planned for. If this were a production item it would actually be possible to work out the repeat on enough cards so they could be used as a continuous roll rather than having to so frequently reinsert and rejoin them. This sample was knit in Jaggerspun wool, and since wool has memory, the resulting 3D texture remains after steaming, resulting in a noticeable difference from the previously knit acrylic swatches.

This is the purl side with obvious changes in width and some problem yarn feeding and the knit side

There is a large number of rows between repeats, so there will be yarn ends that need to be dealt with, but they are far fewer than in knitting individual motifs, and only at the sides of the piece.

Studio simple lace punchcards used on Brother

My previous post and a few others addressed some of the issues in knitting lace and the differences between machines. In this instance, I am exploring the use of cards that are designed for transferring and knitting at the same time.
Brother transfer lace is the result of using 2 different carriages.
The studio card used  the resulting fabric

To knit using LC for transfers:
cancel end needle selection on knit carriage underside if possible or push end needles back manually if needed to avoid their corresponding stitches being transferred throughout the piece; set up for knitting the pattern as usual, punchcard row 3 (marked in pencil) becomes row 1 of the design when the above card is used in brother machine; the arrows always indicate the direction the lace carriage will move across the knit to make transfers in the direction of that same arrow
begin pattern knitting with COR, card locked, change knob on KC, needles will be selected  for transfers moving to the left
release punchcard
LCOR moves to left transferring and is released off the machine (same needle selection appears, but those needles are now emptied of yarn)
COL: KC moves left to right, knitting the single row, all needle hooks are full, and new needle selection occurs
LCOL: makes transfers in the direction of the arrow, and is released
These steps are repeated throughout the knit, with the knit carriage knitting and selecting, the lace carriage following its selection to make the required transfers
If there is no pattern needle selection with the KC pass on any row(s), continue to knit until there is needle selection, and begin the process using lace carriage to transfer in the direction of the arrow now in view above the card reader, and once again releasing it after a single pass
A caution: hesitation and reversal in the movement of carriages in Brother machines advance the card in the reader, and result in mistakes in patterning; if errors are to be corrected or such movements need to be made for any reason, it is worth locking the card, checking row numbers, remembering to release the card before continuing, and visually checking pattern after the next knit row.

Another option is hand transfers:
KCOL: lock the card on the appropriate row, row 3 if using a Studio brand one
The KC is set to knit, with no cam buttons pushed in. As a result, there will be needle selection, but no patterning.
KCOL: make the first selection row left to right, release the card, and set it to advance normally, disregarding arrow markings on the card
KCOR: transfer stitches on preselected needles onto adjacent needles to the left, away from the KC, and knit back to the left 
KCOL: transfer preselected stitches to the right and follow with a knit row to the right.
After each selection row hand transfers continue to be made away from the knit carriage, with transfers on odd-numbered design rows toward the left and on even-numbered rows toward the right.
Blank rows on the original design repeat will have no needle selection or hand transfers, the KC continues to advance the card and knit, producing stocking stitch for the necessary number of rows.
Before any knit rows when using tools for hand transfers, check that needles have not been accidentally returned to the A position to avoid ladder formation instead of eyelets or proper patterning.

Color reduction/conversions, Mac Os

A recent forum post brought up the question that rises periodically on how to reduce colors in photographs, scans, etc. so as to be able to in turn use the image in a low-resolution medium such as knit. There are very many ways to achieve this. The post had specifically asked for low cost or free alternatives using Mac software, so I began playing, and compiled the following document detailing some of my processes, addressing large scale, non-repetitive images in Color reductions for knitting. The document samples were simple, straightforward conversions, with no further “tweaking”.

Mac Os: iPhoto, Preview, further software downloads:

Free:  img2trak, HyperDither, XnConvert

99 cents One bit Camera
an option for Mac users, Bitcam

Free to try, $39.95 to buy GraphicConverter, the developer site
diffusion, halftone, pattern, custom A tutorial for owners of Photoshop   diffusion, halftone, pattern, custom With thanks to my test subjects: RoccoOne bit camera and my sofa fabric

An online service that will do the conversion for you: Knitpro, and a free service GitHub May 2019: ditherlicious

A later post on the topic, showing the many faces of Rocco

Hound’s tooth FI variations

It appears hound’s teeth are turning up on runways everywhere, along with plaids. There are many variants of the pattern, and excel and other software programs make playing with motifs, literal and not so much, easy and quick studies. History of the particular platter may be found @ http://www.tess-elation.co.uk/houndstooth/history, analysis of the math involved: https://archive.bridgesmathart.org/2012/bridges2012-299.pdf

the Studio punchcard version the Brother version a more block-like one, similar to some found on woven fabrics a petite cousin  playing with the negative space (no longer suitable for punchcard)some repeats lined up some “doodles” of mine  from an online search adding simple shapes a weaving draft more weaving drafts, scaled for knitting, repeat isolated, and tiled for preview

color reversals

vertical pattern combo with other design, repeat is 8 rows by 47stsfrom a punchcard pattern book 

going large,28X2848 X 48going a little “crazy”, a 134 X134 pixel image, followed by tiling of it from a 3 color weaving draft inspiration

 

 

Garter bar/ short row trim

A recent MK forum request for a HK trim look alike led me to the following experiment :

the hand-knit trim

There are multiple ways to achieve knit and purl combinations on the KM. Brother garter carriage will do so “automatically” albeit slowly, ribbers may be used in combination with main beds, ladders may be latched up by hand, or one may use the garter bars to turn work over. When large widths are required the options are to use multiple panels, or to knit the fabric sideways letting the width become the length. Some HK fabrics are impractical if not impossible to duplicate on standard home knitting machines, and compromises are chosen. I tried to create a distant relative of the proposed trim, with a bit of family resemblance.

Below the short section to my garter bar is pictured. I mark every 10 eyelets with nail polish on my GBs to help with tracking stitch counts (do same with centers of ribber combs). The photo shows it in the position in which it needs to be held to take stitches off the machine prior to turning them over. The hollows under the eyelets (1) provide room for the needle hooks to slip under the yarn and catch the stitches when work is flipped over. Hollows under eyelets occur on the side with the convex ridge (2). There are many online sources for using the bars, now available in multiple gauges, including an article by Susan Guagliumi.

my working graph

I worked my edging on multiple of 12 stitches. The purl/knit symbols represent how the knit will appear when viewed on the side where the held shape is convex. Work begins by knitting foundation rows and using waste yarn at the start with open stitches on the first row of knitting if the ruffle is to be seamed/joined at its ends upon completion. The magenta/green rows represent respective whole rows to be turned to the reverse side using the garter bar after each knitting sequence is completed. Testing first is required to establish the optimum stitch size for a gauge that will allow for easy stitch movement in transferring stitches on and off the garter bar:

arrows on the blue ground indicate the position of KC at beginning of sequences

end knitting of first “purl” section COR, turn work over (magenta)

COL: knit one row across all stitches, carriage moves to the right (pink). I find it easier after holding starts to move the carriage to the opposite side by taking it physically off the machine and leaving settings alone, results in fewer yarn tangles and problems for me.

COR: set the machine for hold except for the first 2 stitches on right. I tried one stitch at a time first, but the wedge was too deep, so I began working bringing stitches to hold 2 at a time, carriage side first. Stitches could be held opposite the carriage as well, but that created a set of additional holes when one returns to knitting those stitches in the opposite direction, and a pointy edge  (segment marked with dot #2, more on a later post on miters and spirals). The number of stitches brought to hold can be varied as needed, the goal here is a symmetrical result.

COR: when only 2 needles at left are left in hold opposite carriage, knit an even number of rows (orange area, I chose to knit 4, then 6 rows in my test)

COR: when the last 2 stitches on right have been knit for 2 rows (green) transfer all the stitches to the garter bar

Get carriage to left, COL: return stitches to needles, knit for an odd number of rows (magenta, COR), turn work over

COL: knit one row across all stitches to right (pink)

COR: begin holding sequence again

I began the sample with 5 rows in between the mitered shapes and then tried 11. This is labor-intensive if produced in significant lengths, so a choice can be made depending on personal taste and patience. Though it could be attached as one knits the item it is intended to trim, there is enough going on I would probably estimate the length, take it off on waste yarn, and hang it onto the larger item. If longer, the trim may be unraveled to suit. If an addition is required it may be added on but at least working with the much larger bulk of materials will not be for the duration. Holding lever may be set to knit for single passes prior to turning work over in sections using holding, or stitches may be pushed into work by hand.

dot 1 rests on “killed acrylic”  repeat test, the remaining sample is knit in wool: dot 2 marks the extra holes when the holding sequence is changed   as described above

with five “purl” rows between turning and holding

11 “purl” rows between turning and holding

the reverse side

about half the wool portion of the ruffle was pressed, the knit became smoother, the edges less rolled. Those are properties that can become a design choice/decision

If an all stocking stitch ruffle serves the purpose this could be the start of the working repeat for using slip stitch to knit programmed needles selected to patterning position; here the black dots represent areas that knit, white squares stitches in holding. The repeat must be an even number of rows, using it as drawn, the starting side depends on whether one is using a punchcard machine or electronics

For some hints on how to use the garter bar see later post 

Knit QR codes 1, repeats from BW images

A video on this topic. I work using Mac OS 10.10 at the moment. When I first wrote on this topic, I downloaded a then free converter The app, Aztec Code Generator, is now no longer free (11/2015) but costs $ 1.99 to purchase. There is a still free, online QR generator

my beginning code

the original image size was reduced to 60 pixels square, and in turn to 40 pixels square respectively, then magnified to 600 times for superimposing the single stitch grid as described in the video; screen-captured image saves are needed for saving gridded images

the 60 stitch repeat

the 40 stitch repeat

using the Aztec code generator to control output size

Screen Shot 2015-11-13 at 9.30.23 AM

saved

Untitled

X1,000, cropped and gridded

screenshot_43

not all units are created equal: areas numbered indicate where some of the horizontal units are 5 wide rather than as most 4, and closer inspection will reveal the same for some vertical units. Reconfiguring the grid ie to 4X4 pixels would be an alternative way to “resize” the image, but fails because of the disparities when the unit is applied overallscreenshot_43

trying the same process on this BW jpeg, the resulting repeats require further cleanup and editing along edges of shapes

using GIMP: 40 stitch repeat, no additional scaling, converted to 1bit BW, could use a bit of clean up, I prefer to work with a black grid

40s scroll

24 stitch24s scroll

as an afterthought: results using img2track to pixelate the same image before gridding

please note these scroll graphs are not accurate working repeats to be knit as they are

it is always a good idea to test tiling for any “surprises” before any actual knittingscreenshot_41

11/2015_Knitting’ low resolution is reflected in the number of stitches and rows per inch or per repeat. In this instance, Gimp was again used to scale and process the image

Today’s generated image: happy holidays QR code, Aztec code generator, 300 pixels square including white border

happy holidayscolor mode converted to 1-bit B&W; 100 stitch repeat

&H100

scaling, gridding for 30 stitch repeat

HH30st

for 24 stitch repeat: note loss of detail as stitch and row counts are reduced

h&h24

and happy holidays via the free, online generator static_qr_code_without_logousing the generator options to control available output size

QR generator

The above begs many questions. Upon investigation, it appears there are 18 2D bar code variants, some static, some dynamic. Qrme is a UK site that provides information on trackable QR codes, forums, and more. Their page shows scaled in size codes modules.

Entrelac pretender 2

This is another fabric combining holding and slip stitch to create shapes. Below is my first working repeat, the colored lines indicate a dividing line that would give me a black square on either side for setting up the second, split repeat to reverse the direction of the knit stitches.
I am sharing not to provide a pattern or specific how-to, but to provide some ideas for technique experimentation by readers with some experience and familiarity with the combined use of patterning and holding.

My mylar repeat as used on the 910 appears in the direction as drawn on the knit side, while punchcard models using suitable width repeats knit repeats in the direction as drawn on the purl side. Later electronics automatically mirror programmed repeats, true of my later model 930. Depending on the model in use this electronic repeat may require mirroring before or after downloading.  A newer chart of the design, with row numbers requiring actions highlighted on the left of each repeat.  Machines that automatically mirror would be selecting this  Air knitting is a good way to test pattern placement on the needle bed prior to any knitting.
When the slip stitch setting is used and segments are worked on only part of the needle bed or with needles out of work, end needle selection is usually canceled. On electronic machines, this is done using the KCII cam setting.
Each 22-row program is used across one full row of “entrelacs”.
The bottom repeat as given above preselects KCII <–,  knits left to right, and the top repeat preselects KCII->, knits right to left on the 910.
Each horizontal segment knits on groups of 22 stitches and ends on “half” a repeat.
The half repeats combined with the reversal of the knit direction result in a balanced fabric.
As the direction is reversed, the alternate repeat needs to be programmed. A bit on method:
COR for bottom mylar repeat KCII <- knit all stitches color A,
COL set the machine to slip <->, bring all but the first 22 sts on the left to hold, and knit 20 rows.
The resulting shape is being created from left to right when the top is reached the stitches at the left of the sequence will be in the B position, and the ones on the right will be in work.
COL: at this point push the next 22 sts into work, knit to the right.
COR: return first repeat 22 sts to hold position, and continue in pattern for 21 rows.
COL: bring the next group into work, and knit/move across the selected number of needles.
COR: bring the previous grouping of 22 out to hold. Repeat as needed for the desired width.
When the full row of shapes is completed and the last group of needles is preselected, COR: cancel holding and slip, knit one row on all stitches to the opposite side, and change color to B if desired.
COL: program subsequent repeat, KCII, select ->.
COR: set cam buttons to slip <->, KC to hold, bring all but the first 22 needles on right into work, and reverse the full sequence.
My swatch was worked on needles 34L to 21R and had an interesting 3D texture until I pressed it.
The differences in the size of the eyelets at the tops and bottoms of the shapes are due to the fact that when stitches are brought out to hold on the carriage side, an automatic wrap is created, reducing the size of the small slits usually formed in short row knitting.
I like to press the initial studies to have a clearer definition of the edges of the resulting shapes and the location of color changes so as not to disrupt the pattern.  There will be yarn ends to be dealt with where color changes occur, some could be knit in with the same color while making the piece. I can imagine that if the 2 rows of all knit stitches are eliminated between entrelac rows, even more variations could be done with added colors, but I personally am not “going there”.