in northern spain we function

under non-stop drizzle. day3.

sampling fairisle first. had never done it therefore i need to understand the way needles work so i can tackle the short row eyelets.if you look closely on the top half there's a column of white stitches in between the colored columns. when worked in fair isle + short rows these produce stripes. looking forward to that. (* ^ ω ^) still don't know where my files are,some were migrated to the cloud some are in the old CPU.

feels like going back in time when i had things stored in four different houses in three different countries. (シ_ _)シ 

at least i found my emojis.

neki desu

mesh

more short rows samples this time  creating meshes.you need to focus very well on what youre knitting therefore phone off. you work with a group of stitche, bring to work another group and put to hold the one you just worked. keeping track of the groups by marking them on the needle bed.trusted bottle of alcohol-what would i do without it-takes care of  the effacement of marks.

 this sample brings up various possibilities such as working with variegated yarns and creating cables that cross in random ways. it's becoming an unbelievabe source of intellectual excitement..

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one never stops learning

thank goodness.apologies for the photos.new CPU and new photo editing program. i am learning as i edit so it's going to take some time until i become functional.

the other side of learning is the knitting samples i am tackling. following alessandrina's (aka my k guru) knitting experiments and explanations 

i am working on eyelets and short rows.

i've never been atexture person as i consider it

the facile side of textiles.however these inspire new possibilities.

happy thinking about them now that i have time.

 

to those of you in the states happy fourth.celebrate freedom while you can.

neki desu 

 

two hundred minus 3

almost full needle bed. 1000 ,yes one thousand rows of knitted silk bourette with no breakage, no mishap.

a major feat. this is going to be mordanted and painted with natural dyes  which have to be extracted first. then unravelled and  the resulting yarn ,hopefully  pretty, will be knit into a sweater of sorts. stay tuned because this is a looong process.

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ma

still working on it. the interval between two notes, the empty space, not as emptiness but full of potential.

this needs a good blocking,but i'm pretty pleased.

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dont tell me it's not

a nice combo. me who did not understand green and hated it have turned green. talk about influenced by surroundings! even participating in a citizen's movement against the construction of a roundabout. it means wrecking the green belt around the city something than qualifies as a crime against nature.

working on another panes series.went back to the original 6x8 matrix because the larger one didn't cut it.

note to self : need to get back to weaving.

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should have paid more attention

in physics class at the uni. discovered with a DUH that many problems in the feeding of the yarn have to do with the height of the cone and it's distance from the tension unit on the tension mast. ¯\ ( ツ) /¯

the good news is that i won't die -note the spelling- ignorant.

knitting full bed - 3 needles  on my brother 890 punchcard workhorse.

this is a blank that is going to be scoured and-note the spelling- dyed then unraveled to knit the resulting  variegated yarn. the method is still to be defined whether batch dye with MX dyes or painted with natural dyes and different mordants and auxiliaries

dreaming of a silk bourette fashion statement garment  (￣ω￣ )

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what is the girl to do

with all the scads of samples?currently using them to try out what ifs and other stuff.

 

these are going through a puff paint

experiment. the top one needs more heat gun.

being a fishline knit, one has to proceed carefully with this one.yet it holds a lot of possibilities. am going to work more with the fishline samples.

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when proportions are wrong

there's no other way than to unravel and start again. this came out pathetically off. the colors are good but the rest is pitiful ⋋__⋌

the other day there was a discussion on one of the k forums about sharing fups so as not to discourage beginners . everybody lives in a perfect instagram world  and reality does not match it. i've done my share of reality bites here.

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if there's a change in scale

things happen. i'm sure that if ironed it will lay flat but i'm not sure if i like it flat.

i am having quite the time working with those acid colors, long ago bought at lunatic fringe when they were in florida.vintage.

also playing with the idea of stamping in some of the panes,but still havent come around to the whats, the hows are already nailed.

all those failed little numbers are good as try out grounds.

GEEZZ already june.this is going too fast.

neki desu 

 

hesitation and trepidation

joining these on the machine and knitting a band at 

the bottom. felt it was like cheating so my inner purist kept frowning and disapproving.

but wait.

it's perfectly kosher, actually it IS the way to piece a sweater other that by hand. (there's also a linker if you're into gadgets  (￣ω￣ )

 so here i am trying to convert the parts into a whole.we shall see. 

neki desu

 

the pleasure of learning

you can knit a stitch pattern and hold needles in the same row!!! major breakthrough in the knitting learning curve. self teaching is a steep climb, but the joys are more intense. great concentration is needed and that's the challenge.

 working on a series about the concept of ma ; have not worked on a series since pandemic times.

find it mildly amusing that i am doing with knitting what i did in my earlier weaving years, that is, taking  traditional weave structures, in this case stitch patterns and giving them a twist.

this one came out as expected yet it still needs a good blocking.

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as envisioned

bouncing off the walls. pressing is going to square it,

after numerous trials and errors the light bulb went voila ! i realized that in order to get the sequence right i could follow the instructions for double bed jacquard bcse the machine doesn't really care if it's jacquard, single bed or whatever. for dbj you need to start on the right and that gives an extra row which synchs  colors, rows and color changes which  change at left.

so it's the original image with 4 rows of color 2 not the previous 6 rows which  resulted in a much too thick separation between squares. compare top and bottom photos and you'll see what i mean.

 now i am  testing the ways to do slip   and hold so that i can knit areas of

solid color.

i chickened out here and knitted three separate panels.

it never ceases to fascinate me how two pieces knitted using the same stitch and with the same row count can be different.the middle one is longer bcse it's stockinette, but the slip ones?

go figure.  ¯\ ( ツ) /¯

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crusade

i am on a good instructions crusade. those who aren't able to give so should refrain from teaching or writing books. sorry.

look what is accomplished  when a self taught person who knows how to read follows clear instructions.

i'ts amazing what one can do if one knows how to read:cooking,knitting,weaving,printing stitching.. should i continue? 

 it goes without saying that not everyone can enjoy attending live classes or seminars. a lot of people depend on on line tutorials and books to learn or advance their craft.

maybe i'ts my inner teacher that makes me aware of the importance of clear instructions and the shocking lack of them. that extra line makes or breaks things, spread misinformation  or quality insights. you see it every day in the world of dyers  where gross misinformation  is going around causing in the best case frustration. 

 going back to knitting this sample the only issue i had was not enough weights;that qualifies as operator error and it's easily solved.

if you're into machine knitting visit alessandrina   and enjoy a  field day of clear step by step how to's .

neki desu

 

working the original plan

although not completely satisfied because of the width of the horizontals  this came out quite palatable.

 

these are going to be the base for a series i am percolating.

all the sampling is towards this goal.

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all day and all of the night

 working many many samples until i got the stuff right. maybe it's my faulty knowledge, maybe it's that extra line of instruction missing but i wasn't getting it.

no one told me, no book nor instruction said that there have to be 2 extra rows knitted to get the right needle selection, the one that holds the second color in order to have 2 verticals framing the square. ¯\ ( ツ) /¯   the joys of self studying. 

        

those two extra passes however make the square a rectangle. シ  (_ _)シ

need to work at it to get  the right aspect ratio.

not working either.duplicated the holding thread,but the squares shrank. still more work to be done.

neki desu 

 

color me ms.samples

more honeycomb samples this time in wool.the bottom rows were 2 color tuck which resulted in nothing much. sometimes using two colors alter the results dramatically. i think that as cotton is less stretchy than wool it holds the honeycomb shape better.

top and bottom mesh lace.

a take off from a video in youtube.

this is for an electronic using DAK to make the pattern. i  personally find im2track much easier to convert to graphic knitting patterns,but this time i wanted to use the 890 which is a punch card machineie. non electronic.

studying the pattern closely i whatiffed using the instructions on the lace carriage and knitting plain with the knit carriage .the results were similar.

note to self: i need to do something with knitting samples because they are growing.

neki desu

 

honeycomb

this year with very few flowers to feed bees i am vicariously working with honeycomb.

this one's  two colors on a single bed brother 890 an indestructible workhorse gifted years ago by my fairy godmother  m(_ _)m  from england. if that machine were to be produced again it would be a best seller. no need to complicate a well designed product with unnecessary cumbersome bells and whistles,   their mentality is to avoid the unnecessary in every aspect of life . japanese technology rocks.

neki desu

 

yet another rant,beware

a two color sample the bottom is tuck which gives a cute seed like pattern . top is slip and the outcome is stipes. as much as i didn't sample for weaving i am sampling like  a fiend with knitting. in weaving i guess you can fudge it, but knitting is more critical especially when you intend to knit a sweater.

although you can always knit cloth and use cut and sew method to fashion a sweater.

and now rant time.

 have gotten used to not being able to comment on blogs other than blogger since blogger aka google phased out the universal id. not much that one can do.

now they're phasing out the universal analytics. ⋋__⋌   the new one is extremely complicated starting with the obscure nomenclature used to name things. i've been trying without success to migrate, or whatever it's called now, and i 'm pretty much fed up. 

not any longer happy with having people creating free content and creating a following engaging readers they want it all now.

the bottom line seems that they've added a lot of bells and whistles and they want people to subscribe to the service. people who blog or  personal web sites do not seem to have a place in their business scheme. tremendously darwinian: adapt, migrate or die. 

or in business speak :pay,pay,pay.

neki desu

 

things that happen

when you stamp with dimensional paint on fishline. there's room here for a lot of experimentation. care must be taken with the heat gun or the outcome is a  scorched and fried piece. fups  are great for experimenting new things. no fear of taking them into a more fup dimension.

btw, the white squares are knitted in mohair.

there's also the option of coloring or stamping on fishline. stamping is trickier, but with care it's doable. laying color on it is a no brainer.

will also look on the foiling possibility .

had not been aware that i was in a post pandemic rut.my nature walks are so awesome that they shaded this fact. thanks to the infamous workshop my gears are gyrating again. 

today's the 28th. where did april go?

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