Category: Uncategorized

WORK IN PROGRESS

I was lucky enough to begin knitting at a time when seminars were international and abundant, Susanna Lewis was teaching at some of them and hosting 3-day hands-on workshops, and Passap in particular hosted yearly “Passap University” events for a few years in different parts of the country.
As pointed out in a previous post, some of my note-taking is in the form of scrawls.
This is information I find myself reviewing and gathering from various sources,  it may require future edits.
An amended index Patterning with needles out of work, Passap University handout The library of built-in patterns and associated techniques in the E6 is huge, associated with technique numbers. Any DIY designs often can be knit with familiarity with just a few technique numbers and disregarding the associated lock settings.
The knit commonly known as DBJ in many other brands is referred to as double bed 2 color or more fair isle, additional lock settings are suggested using specific technique numbers, but not those offered in the manual itself.
3 and 4-color knitting is appealing to many, the associated samples are evocative of industrial knitting.  Thin yarns are a must, and for large pieces or garments, the number of lock passes is absolutely daunting let alone if combined with added settings and arrow changes and bleed through becomes a factor in the resulting color mix. On the whole, I have kept more than 2 color knitting out of my wheelhouse with the exception of occasional Brother swatches.
Abbreviations that are often encountered:
FB front bed
BB back bed
CC contrast color
col color
MC main color
L left
R right
ss stitch size
st stitch
pat pattern
<— left arrow key
—> right arrow key
<—> both arrow keys
0 no arrow keys
HP half pitch, racking handle down
Semi-auto patterns require manual lock setting changes as often as every 2 knit rows
180 Birdseye double bed fair isle; UX can be tried as an alternative to LX
181 Birdseye double bed fair isle, the background color on reverse, “single blister”
182 Double-bed fair isle, vertical stripes on the reverse
183 Double-bed fair isle, striper backing
184 Double-bed birdseye fair isle with long-stitch
can be used for planning release stitches after casting on only on the back bed,
or try N/OX for a tuck jacquard variation
185 Double-bed fair isle with long stitch, half Milano, may be used for drop stitch lace after casting on on the back bed only; knit 2 rows with yarn followed by 2 rows with no yarn to drop stitches. Other techniques may be used with a stitch ditcher, requiring fewer carriage passes
For Pile knitting: cast on the back bed, change setting to FX<— pushers 1X1 work, rest/LX, drop stitches from the front bed periodically
186 Double-bed fantasy fair isle striped tuck stitch, knit 2 rows N/KX, 2 rows N/N
187 Double-bed fair isle with alternating tuck st on every row on the reverse as per the manual, in addition:
For wavy rib, pushers back bed 1X1 work/rest, 2R col 1 AX <—/LX, 2R col 2 AX0/LX For nopps, pushers back bed 2X2 work/rest, change locks  col 1 2R AX <—/LX, col 2 6 rows AX0/LX, but change color every 2 rows
188 Double-bed fair isle with half fisherman’s rib on reverse
189 Double-bed fair isle with contrasting stitch formations in contrast and background (semi-automatic)
190 Double-bed fair isle with contrasting stitch formations for contrast and background (semi-automatic)
191 Double-bed fair isle with two tucks on the reverse side
192 Double-bed fair isle with pintucks (semi-auto, no combo), double blister, color 2 blisters 2R col 1 N/LX, 4R col 2 BX0/LX, BB 2 pushers in work for each of the 2 end needles
For nopps change settings from slip to tuck, 2 rows col 1 N/N, 4R col 2 AX/KX, 1 pusher work position each end BB
193 Double-bed fair isle with pintucks (semi-auto, combo), embossed pin tuck
194 Double-bed fair isle with pintucks (semi-auto, combo)
195 Double-bed fair isle in 3 cols 57,85,93,94,96,97,98,102,107,109
196 Double-bed fair isle in 3 cols, tucks on the reverse side
197 Double-bed fair isle in 3 cols, spotted effect
198 Double-bed fair isle in fisherman’s rib and 3 cols
199 Double-bed fair isle in 3 cols, tucks on every row reverse side
200 Double-bed fair isle in 3 cols, contrasting   formations on BB
204 Double-bed fair isle in 3 cols, pintuck effect (semi-auto, combo)
205 Double-bed fair isle in 3 cols, pintuck effect (semi-auto, combo)
206 Double-bed fair isle in 3 cols, pintuck effect (semi-auto, combo)
207 Double-bed birds-eye fair isle in 4 cols
207 Change locks to N/KX for fantasy fair isle 
208 Double-bed birds-eye fair isle in 4 cols, tucks on the reverse side
209 Double-bed birds-eye fair isle in 4 cols, spotted effect on the reverse side
210 Double-bed fair isle in Fisherman’s rib and 4 cols
211 Double-bed birds-eye fair isle in 4 cols, tucks on every row reverse side
212 Double-bed fair isle in 4 cols, contrasting st formations on BB (semi-auto)
216 Double-bed fair isle in 4 cols, pintuck effect (semi-auto)
217 Double-bed fair isle in 4 cols, pintuck effect (semi-auto)
218 Double-bed fair isle in 4 cols, pintuck effect (semi-auto)
243 Tubular fair isle in 2 cols, as alternative try back bed all pushers up, CX, no arrow key
245 Intarsia in 2 colors
246 Intarsia in 3 colors
248 Intarsia in 4 colors
250 Pintuck formed where there are black squares in st pat, can try for drop st after casting on BB only
251 Pintuck formed where there are white squares in st pat
252 Pintuck formed where there are black squares in st pat
253 Pintuck formed where there are black squares in st pat
254 Pintuck formed where there are black squares in st pat, pintuck with spotted effect
255 Pintuck formed where there are white squares in st pat, pintuck with spotted effect

WORK IN PROGRESS

Full automation of “held” shapes using slip stitch alone is possible, involves careful planning of the design repeat, an understanding of necessary sequences in “holding” techniques, and results in large, long repeats for recurring shapes.
The starting side for preselection rows varies depending on the design.
Pattern knitting is worked with both cam buttons set to slip, end needle selection must be canceled.
All stitches on the knitting bed must be cleared with each pass of the carriage from side to side.
As shapes grow, test periodically for any yarn loops accidentally caught on the gate pegs.
The overall downloaded program needs to include repeats planned for the number of stitches in work on the needle bed. This is the standard requirement for Ayab, on my 930 the default img2track programming is for a single motif.
If working on an odd number of needles, whether the needle selection is pushed to the right or left of center varies depending on the brand of machine used and changes if horizontal mirroring of the design is added.
It is helpful  to begin with small, narrow repeats for practice. Assorted samples from previous posts:
a ruffle also using the garter bar a couple of zig-zags only one of many pleat variations that may be enlarged and planned for the width of the bed in knitting items such as sideways skirts repeats planned for texture bumps and slits shell shapes Testing the idea on a limited width with small intended shapes helps one iron out errors in logic or knitting sequences,  I prefer to start with a colored chart, making it easier to follow movements of the yarn, carriages, and color changes The chart was then loaded in Gimp, the Mode changed to bitmapped B/W, and the image then scaled to the final width of 74 X 96. For this exercise, I chose to keep the shapes equal distances apart (marked in green), mirrored the image on my 930 to produce the shapes in the same direction. In this instance, as is often encountered in lace knitting, an odd number of rows between repeat segments will allow for the carriage to start from the opposite side in order to reverse the direction of the shaps. The first preselection row may start from either side depending on whether the downloaded image is mirrored or not, whether by intention or automatically by the machine model’s auto settings. The default isolation in img2track is fine, ayab knitters are required to program the repeat in width to match the number of needles in use, so this would work for both I did run into an operator problem: had managed to save the repeat so rather than being all B/W there was a single row of color at its base, which caused mispatterning only when that #1 design row was knit.
With that amended, the selection problem was eliminated The same shapes always starting on the same edge A will distort that edge. Extra rows of the alternate color can vary shapes of the striping between them. Single shape rows could be floated much farther apart on solid ground, or one to which other colors or techniques are added, and finally, the reversing shapes produce a more balanced height at both sides.

WORK IN PROGRESS

Copyright can be a touchy, sometimes murky subject. In my teaching days at a design school, each instructor was responsible for accumulating what amounted to a “textbook” with any expected readings and required information for students attending the classes. There was an arrangement with a single copy center that actually paid a fee set by the government in order to be allowed to provide a service. Teachers supplied boxed material on a single-sided copy per page sheets, withdrew it at the end of the term. The copy center would make double-sided copies from each sheet in the original, bind them, making them available for purchase for only the cost of what it may have been to customers using copiers to make their own per sheet. My intro to knitting “book” evolved into 330 pages, costing students as far as I can recall about $30. An overall bibliography and often credit in sections were included. This all was happening pre-internet browser searches and easy downloads.
I have often not included a definition for some of the terms used in my posts. Also, I did not share information from manuals and company publications until they, in turn, became easily available online, long after the companies that published them went out of business.
A list of common abbreviations: Test and gauge swatches

From the Brother Knitting Techniques Book
I personally prefer to measure gauge on the purl side, where to my eye the start and end of the color transitions appear clearer.
The Passap advice was quite different. This is from the Duomatic 80 manual
and it was followed by tables that helped with calculation conversions based on measurements. When using Japanese machines while executing some DBJ or highly textured stitches, a larger swatch should become the go-to when measuring gauge for garments by default. Using 100X100 combined with the use of metric measurements facilitates the maths and use of devices such as the knitleader, where measurements in millimeters are required.

A “long swatch” exploring a card from a “censored” selection from the factory-supplied punchcard packet in as many techniques as possible became a required assignment In KM model manuals a list was sometimes provided suggesting what cam settings might be suitable for each card
Factory supplied cards were usually marked with a number and letter as seen above, but oddly as model numbers changed, sometimes either or both of the latter would change as well. A table of my own after a quick review of my stash:
1S, 2R,3J/S, 3P, 4D, 5J, 6P, 7G, 8S/J, 9G, 10D, 13G, 101, 102, 103, 107, 108, 109

Macknit was a short lived magazine published for a few issues in the 1980s. This was published in their spring/summer issue 1986, p.7