Still working on lace pieces, sorting out the differences and issues in this knit fabric type. My shawls are one-of-a-kind or limited edition items. The fiber content and finished sizes vary.
This is the repeat as it may appear in a hand-knit lace graph. Not enough symbols in Knitbird, the design was achieved by using the Aire River knitting font, and applying appropriate symbols to an excel grid
border transition detail shot
the shawl
A new word discovery for me today, apparently not to many others out there. For ideas in crochet, on making it 1, and for the same method used to obtain continuous bias strips 2.
I made a plastic bag woven piece back in my student days, it was woven, rya knotted onto a wool warp, with jingle bells and pom-poms as both a decorative and a sound element; in an instance of art school need to name I called the piece my “Ceremonial Costume for an Acid Rain Dance”. At the time colored plastic bags were hard to find, friends mailed them to me from wherever they traveled.
Switching to the abbreviated cowls/collars I found I needed lighter weight large “buttons”. These are hard to find or often expensive enough that in production the added cost would affect pricing significantly. As an avid collector of craft and multi-media supplies, I have a significant stash of polymer clay dating back from months to decades. In an ah ah! the moment I made prototypes for what I thought might solve the button weight and supply problem. After the fact, I began to do searches on the care of polymer clay buttons and methods used in making them, which in turn led to a big oops! moment.
I recommend dry cleaning for most of my items unless they are felted ones, in which case hand washing or even a gentle washing machine cycle in cold water works just fine. Polymer clay it turns out does not like dry cleaning chemicals. If used on items cleaned that way it is recommended that the button be covered with plastic wrap and aluminum foil prior to exposure to cleaning agents. Hot water washes and driers also damage the clay, cool water hand /machine gentle washing appears to not be a problem.
Here are some online sources on these related topics: for a wealth of information on polymer buttons. Ready-made molds and ideas may be found here. Button shanks are available if that method of securing the buttons is desired.
The option I am choosing to pursue is making the button removable when the item is cleaned, which led to a search for button covers. Local chains that carry sewing notions had not even heard of them. A local mom-and-pop craft store, however, had an endless supply in their “backroom” dating back to when they were “in vogue”. Have to love elderly owners that are the shop version of inventory software and can just “go to” things that have not been out on the selling floor in years.
For anyone not familiar with them, here is an image of the item, available in a few sizes depending on the source.
The plan of the moment is to affix the baked clay to the flat metal surface with glue such as E6000 and further test the idea. Having the removable cover also means clay could be painted and finishes could be varied in ways that would not be possible if the item was to undergo dry cleaning. My sample first efforts which I will torture/test are below. If not buttons perhaps all that clay may mutate to use in shawl pins.
My usual fall inventory is in production once again, new this year: an abbreviated version of my scarves to be worn as a buttoned “cowl”. Length is approximately 29.5 inches. Width varies slightly depending on small variations on yarn weight/thickness, averaging around 9 inches or a bit more. Below are images of my first sample/ ideas on “how to wear”
A Baktus is a very simple triangular scarf/shawl. I have many oddball skeins of sock yarn, it is possible to knit a small baktus with a single one. An online search will yield many free patterns, most for hand knitting, easily adapted for the KM. Many patterns are free, including some in the latest catalog at Garn Studio.
Such scarves may be worn in hoodie and bib styles, or as neck/ shoulder wraps.
I am not personally fond of triangles with no shaping, so I thought I would try a KM version, rounding the bottom point of the triangle.
Here are the results, with yarn tails still attached.
front view
back view
I began with casting on 5 stitches, and increasing one stitch every 4 rows on one side up to the required length, then adding a short row “spiral” section, and removing that piece on waste yarn from the KM. A second identical piece was knit, and the 2 halves in turn joined on the KM. Part of the goal was to evaluate alternate joins for future lace shawl triangular pieces.
Finished measurements after blocking were: 36 in in length on straight edge for each half, 12.5 in @ widest point.
The width is in the common range for handknit versions, the length of 72 total longer than the common 55-63, but suitable for a loose tying of scarf.
This piece will be in my “consider qualities” pile for a while. Personal taste and preference do not necessarily match that of others, or those receiving item as a gift or purchasing it.
It truly does help to look up once in a while. I was totally engrossed in my lace transfers. Ikea large footstool places me at perfect height for really good view of stitches as they are formed. Both extension rails now have suspension help since I am using most of the needle bed and carriages need to go far off the bed. Stops are set up at rail ends so enthusiastic movement of the one carriage cannot send the other one flying off the rail and crashing onto floor. Got a great rhythm going. Yarn began to “pull” and lo and behold this is why! The pink cocoon is the waste yarn used in knitting the white shawl in the previous post.
The finished black shawl
The now finished white shawl with a 2 gate peg bind off and a longer border after some pressing, in need of final blocking. Shawls measure approximately 25 X 80 inches.
I am trying to knit a shawl in the latest lace scarf pattern repeat. Using most of the needle bed is making it necessary to take KH far off the end of the KM, ergo the bungee cord (which may keep the extension rail from going out the window with the KM if I reach the appropriate frustration level).
Knitting in black is great on aging eyeballs! My studio is my attic space, and as can be seen, this punchcard machine is nestled at the moment in a very “neat” corner of it. I own 2 lace carriages for Bro punchcard machines, one is appropriate for this KM, the other for a later model. The usual mantra is not to exchange carriages between models without cautious evaluation, it is sometimes simply not workable. For lace, I found the “correct” carriage drops stitches easily, the “incorrect” one is harder to push, but drops far less often.
I mark the punchcard rows on which the arrow markings occur/ need to be placed by drawing across that row with a colored pencil; in addition to serving as a reminder for when the knit rows with the opposing carriage need to happen, this gives me reference points for the beginning of each transfer sequence for correcting mistakes when unraveling back to last knit row. Because this lace is much more labor-intensive than that used in the previous shawls the plan is to knit in a border at its top rather than on rehung open stitches, one at a time, sideways (this can take several hours and a lot of patience).
More lace thoughts: lace repeats don’t necessarily have to begin on row 1 of any repeat. Here I chose to begin on RC 33 of my card so as to “go” for complete diamond shapes centered on the bottom and top. If the first knit row of the scarf/shawl is rehung at half of the desired finished length, a vertical mirror pivot for the lace pattern is created. When this is the plan, a contrasting thread may be placed where the 0 marking is on the needle tape, between the 2 needle ones (one of the brother oddities is the 2 needle one positions, R and L of 0) on the first row knit after the waste knitting; marking the needle tape with water-soluble markers along easily identified repeat points can also assure proper placement on the needle bed. When the knit is rehung for mirroring, the loop where the marker sits is placed on needle 1L, rehanging away from the center, every needle will be “filled”. Those needle tape markings may spare the grief of missing any stitches after rehanging, before removing waste yarn. On the standard KM single-width may max out at 18-20 inches. Steaming the edge that will be rehung helps make stitches more stable and visible prior to doing so. This is an image of a small border test with dropped stitches along with the mirror point, and a 2 gate peg bind off
Part of half a scarf on the machine, there are added temporary markings on the needle tape for needles with specific vertical areas in pattern repeat, 
My new production line of lace scarves, of varying fiber content, after pressing. There is an average of 10 lace carriage passes for every one row knit. Though a bit daunting for production, I am considering knitting some shawls in the same pattern and am in the process of exploring repeats for shawl borders.
A large gauge swatch is important: I suggest 100 sts by 100 rows. For a bolero style garment with a “shawl” collar, a place to start is with bottom and top sections measuring at least 6 inches in height, and for the middle rectangle to measure 22in W by 23in L. Again, a muslin in a purchased knit of the center section will help decide how much of it needs to be seamed to allow for an armhole opening, keeping in mind that the opening in the machine knit may have less stretch than the test muslin knit. The number of stitches cast on is based on those required for section B, with adjustments made to allow for lining up pattern repeats in seaming up the finished piece.
Beginning the knit with a cast on that allows for maximum stretch, test out rib pattern (A), transfer to a mostly single bed for (B), bind off, and treat the swatch in the same way the finished garment will be: ie. steam, wash, etc. Testing the stretch in the cast-on edge and its immediate fabric neighbor will define how the large a “shawl collar”may be achieved. A more “circular” shape when worn may be obtained by adjusting height while keeping in mind that a true circle would have a circumference approximately 3 times its diameter which in this test would be based on the stitch count obtained in knitting the width of the swatch in the B pattern.
If a significantly larger “donut” is required in the design, every needle rib can be ended in a row of stocking stitch after transferring stitches to the main knitting bed, taken off the machine, and rehung on fewer stitches prior to knitting B. Same step is taken when joining the last section.
Trial basting side seams will ensure armhole fitting comfortably. If more of a cap sleeve is desired, stitches may be added in the location of armholes during knitting B, or bands may be knit onto or stitched onto armhole after completion of the piece. Suggestions for cast on will follow.
