Return of the MK mojo and knitting through stash

Sad to say, it took a week's holiday off work (and then not until Thursday) for me to destress enough and do some actual machine knitting. We did manage to catch up with relatives and see Shakespeare's birthplace, something that's been on my bucket list for ages. It's tiny and a bit disappointing when compared with the other properties, ie Mary Arden's and Anne Hathaway's cottages. Luckily we have a ticket which allows us entrance to all three until the end of September this year. It was further complicated by a coach load of French students who were determined to take ridiculous selfies in front of displays of text in the small museum that precedes the historic property. Ugh, I do wish mobile phones could be banned in certain areas - take selfies in the garden, by all means, when you're not under people's noses, but not when other paying customers are trying to squint past you and look at things! 

First up was the Christine shawl. This is my second attempt - my first was frogged when I ran out of yarn. My copy of the pattern has no indication of yardage or yarn weight. Anyway, I spied some terracotta coloured yarn, picked up some months ago for a donation. It had been doubled and made into yarn cakes, and came with the single yarn on a cone, which declared that it was Atkinson Sienna. It is a "wiggly" yarn, like a boucle but with no slubs, and seemed to be about a 3ply so I thought it would be perfect for this project. All went well until I was about 150 rows from the end. The shawl is loosely based on one of Bill King's designs, where you knit a "mock rib" of 3 needles in work, 1 out, and use short row shaping three times to make a turn that sits around the neck. It starts and ends with 240 rows of straight knitting. Yes, the last yarn cake had clearly had a visit from moths, or at least one end had, because it snapped repeatedly. Even though I wound off the first layer, the damage continued. In the end I was tying on the snapped yarn and letting the knots fall where they may. I would usually tie on at the ends but this went on for quite some time! Anyway, I managed to cast off (the remainder of the yarn is now in the bin!) and after weaving in the ends I deliberately washed the shawl at 60 degrees C. The yarn develops a slight haze but it was partly to felt it and hopefully give it some strength. By some stroke of luck, it worked - no holes appeared in the wash! The shawl is waiting on a press before it gets a photo shoot.

Second up was a simple baby blanket on the Passap, another "let's just knit something, ANYTHING, to get rid of some stash" project. The loose instructions are here. I cast on across the whole bed of the E6000 using cast on 6 (slip cast on in 4 rows) and knitted 8 rows at ss5 in stocking stitch. The yarn is two ends of acrylic that makes roughly a 3 ply. I used a simple diamond tuck stitch pattern (1008 tech 130) which is in the pattern book. All went well for about 450 rows, and then I got repeated error 200, which indicates a dirty sensor. Oh, my word. I knew the machine needed some cleaning - I was genuinely surprised just HOW MUCH black fluff Miss Swiss can pack away before she gets grumpy. It took two attempts to clean - the front lock consists of plates that move up and down, depending on what you are doing, and there's no easy way to clean them out other than painstakingly going at them with either a toothbrush OR carefully with a dental pick. I managed to restart the pattern, albeit in the wrong place, and completed roughly 600 rows, followed by a further 9 rows stocking stitch and a very loose row. Took it off on waste yarn and latch tooled it away from the machine. The blanket turned out really well - I need to either apply an edge, or just kill it and be done with it (so another reason to get the iron out, but never on Sundays as there are other things to be ironed too, and that equates to housework for me!). Edit to add: in the end, I added a simple 3x3 cable braid to the cast on edge, to hide some loopiness. I couldn't face adding it all the way around and indeed it wasn't necessary anyway!

I must say that the E6000 manual is very badly written - even though I vaguely remember how to reset the pattern, it's not at all easy to find that in the manual and both the contents and index page could have done with serious expansion. I almost feel as if someone should have written a book to explain the manual. Resetting the patterning is something one will need to know when knitting a round neck or v neck front, so not exactly a small matter!

So I finally got my mojo back and am wondering what I can make next. I also swatched two cones of kingfisher blue yarn and established that one of them is definitely too dense for the SK840 and for this sweater that is on my bucket list. What a pity I'm nose to the grind again tomorrow, next day off is May Day. Boo hiss! If I could only turn my creative interests into a profitable side hustle... :)

Current mood: inspired

Knitting Machine Maintenance notes

I was lucky enough to attend a talk recently by Neil Collison, of Knitting Machine Repairs, at the Long Buckby machine knitting club, and took these notes. Hopefully they will help others who for reasons of geography cannot use Neil's excellent services. I left my faulty garter carriage with him - it would sit on the bed and make all the right noises, but only knit a few stitches and then sit there chugging away and not moving. He returned it very quickly and replaced a circuit board. The only hitch in the whole transaction was that my email provider refused to accept his, so invoicing ended up being done via Whatsapp!

Brother sinker plate

• Remove yarn from around brushes

• Brush wheels can be replaced with rubber ones

Lubricants

• Gun oil (not bore oil)

• Sewing machine oil

Retainer bars

• Spartan or Andeeknits in the UK, they are ordered in bulk from Germany

Maintenance steps

1. Push needles to UWP, use clean paintbrush to brush out the needle strip area and the back rail area

2. Run a finger along the needles, the latches that don't drop back are bent

3. Open all latches, push down quite hard. Use a piece of paper to flick the latches shut.

4. Return the needles to A position. Stroke along whilst pushing forward, this checks the needles for straightness

5. If any needles get jammed low in their channel, you may need to release the patterning belt to free them.

Cleaning

Neil uses a solution of 2 parts iso propyl alcohol to 1 part surgical spirits. This is used to soak stuck components eg stuck buttons (requires some carriage disassembly). Items should be soaked for a few seconds and then wiped off. You can also use the paintbrush to get the solution into difficult areas. Disassembly of the plastic lid from the carriage is done by loosening the brass coloured screws. 

For needles, use surgical spirits with a few drops of oil in a jar. Soak needles for an hour. You can clean needles in situ - when the retainer bar removed, wipe in HOLD with the cleaning fluid, push them down and put them back into position and clean off.

Use a clean paintbrush dipped in the oil/spirit solution to clean the front rail. You can also use cotton buds dipped in the solution to clean small, tight areas eg rails, slots on the underside of the carriage. 

If you are doing a full clean, use a cat tail brush to clean out the retainer bar slot. If you put a small 90 degree bend in the handle end of the brush, you can use it to retract the brush easily by winding it back out. 

Knitmaster drums: use WD40 to loosen seized drums (this was the only time he would use WD40). 

Plastic parts: Flash all purpose cleaner is fine for plastic parts

The carriage underside: apply the gun oil to the two large cams. Rub it into the grooves using your fingers. Oil the front and rear rails. 

Passap jaws: apply surgical spirit with the jaws open. Passaps take 6 to 8 hours to service. Brush out the needle slots with surgical spirit only and a toothbrush. When all has been cleaned, replace the middle 40 needles on both beds, set to N/N and “air knit” for a bit to bed in the needles. Add 10 needles each side on both beds, repeat until all needles are back in place. Repeat this with the pushers. Set front and back beds to alternate the pushers every row. 

Going round in circles (Kegworth) 2024

It's always a highlight over December / January to get the invite for the annual CSM event in Kegworth - even more so this year, with our somewhat challenging Christmas. After not teaching last year, I realised that for me, I knit socks better alone, without the delicious distractions of pretty yarn, lovely people, interesting gadgets and plentiful workshops taking my attention elsewhere. But there's a place for just knitting socks if that's what you want to do, and plenty of people do just that! 

Anyway, because the Cog had managed to "book" our car before me to go on a snowboarding trip that weekend, I had arranged a hire car. After discussion with P who was travelling with me, we decided to take her car and cancel the hire because I was still able to get a refund. Unfortunately, her car developed a minor fault the following day - one of those faults that go away if you wait ten minutes - but she thought we would be ok. So we duly set off from mine at 2pm, pleased at how we'd managed to fit everything in. Alas, her car went into "limp" mode before we'd even got to the M1, so she sensibly pulled over into a layby. We tried waiting and starting, locking ourselves in and starting, and even an on-off ignition thing that was supposed to reset the computer - then THREE lights were on, not just the engine light, and it wouldn't start at all. Hubby and relations were called; the cavalry duly arrived and of course the car started perfectly (though the engine light was still on). Hubby drove us back to theirs and a hire vehicle was booked. They couldn't get to us before 6pm, so P kindly rustled up a tea of pizza, salad and very nice ice-cream (salted caramel, ooh!). The "van" turned out to be a Ford Fiesta van, so basically my old diesel Fiesta with no back seats, slightly longer doors and whited-out windows. Tiny, but we managed to fit everything bar the trolley. It was dark by now, and as it's a car I'm very familiar with, I took the wheel and we were at our destination without further incident. I think P has been asking hubby to replace the car for some time, but as he's a classic car restorer I think he's rather reluctant! The delay meant we just had time for a drink and catch up with friends, and we missed both the rush hour and the noisy cabin-crew-in-training that use this hotel for aircraft dry runs, so win-win! My other friend C wasn't so lucky; they didn't leave until half 8, and a lorry tipped over on the M1, so they didn't get to the hotel until 11pm (we went to bed at half 10). It's only a 45 minute drive when things are good!

On Saturday I attended the "how to dismantle your machine" talk by Hilary first thing, which was fascinating - my machine is overdue a good clean. At 11am I demonstrated the circular/slip ribber cast on  - lesson learned, use my smartphone in future for taking down email addresses, because I email my hand-outs as PDFs to save on printing, and there's always at least one person whose handwriting I can't read, so I got a few bounces later. After lunch, there was a short talk on the history of machine knitting by Matthew, and how to knit flip-top mittens with a gored thumb from Jo. Someone offered to buy the Dean and Bean, part way through that - I asked if she could give me a shout at the end of the talk before she left (only thirty minutes), but when I went to look for her, she was nowhere to be found! I thought it was a bit rude (especially as she'd knocked £150 off my asking price which was already £50 off from the $ price bought new, not to mention import duties), but clearly it wasn't meant to be!

On Sunday, I helped out in the "newbies" room for a bit, before reprising the circular/slip ribber cast on again. After lunch, Jo demonstrated simple fingerless mittens (with vertical or horizontal slits), and a lovely Swedish lady Lina demonstrated how she does colourwork. I managed to sell the D&B machine to a lovely lady who offered me more than the disappearing woman, so all's well that ends well. 

The hotel isn't great - the beds are hard, the pillows flat, the walls so thin that at one point I could hear the ladies on one side talking whilst also listening to someone's tv on the other side. My kettle had a hairline crack, so I ended up with some damp tea bags in a bit of a puddle on Saturday night! But I don't go for the accomodation, I go for the event; the staff are lovely and I remember quite a few of them from previous years - one even patched me up when I caught my finger on something sharp. Yes, a bit of sock yarn was purchased, plus a few random gadgets. All in all, a great weekend and I learnt quite a lot, including that the heel I work is called the "suicide heel" by some! I guess I've just been lucky with it, in that case!

Very pretty 3d printed CSM

Bill King popped up and brought a fascinating Harrison V bed

It could only be a Bill King sock - knitted for a pantomime dame, no less!

A very shiny Erlbacher!

I didn't get the make of this 3d printed machine but it looks really cool!

Current mood: exhausted but inspired

... can't they?

Well, I spoke too soon - the refund still hasn't shown up, but a letter informing them that legal action would be next got an email response within hours (almost as if they have a lawyer on standby - suspicious much?). I'll think on it a few days before I respond, seeing as they've dragged it out this long. Funny how their email hasn't worked since January (but in that period, they did manage to send some spam inviting me to buy a second device! As if!)

Anyroad, enough of that - I made this vest / tanktop this weekend just gone. It was supposed to have had short sleeves - the yarn's some kind of brushed acrylic, with no label - but as soon as I'd done the front, back and one sleeve I could see there was not going to be enough yarn. So I frogged the one sleeve, and applied the neckbands. There was just enough yarn to replace sleeves with a bit of ribbing. Alas, had I foreseen this, I would probably have selected a set-in sleeve design instead - the ribbing sticks out a bit over the shoulders, and looks a little odd to me. Then again, I've never quite understood the point of tanktops, seeing as I rarely wear blouses I could wear a tanktop over (and anyway, I'm always a bit too warm, so warming the body is the last thing I need!). I'm quite happy with it despite all that, another one for the charity pile I think. I'm an anomaly, a machine knitter who doesn't wear or even keep much of her output. I ought to stick to socks and wristwarmers, because those I do wear, but I think I'd get bored only making them!

There's never a dull moment here - we discovered we had some loose roof tiles a few weeks ago, and managed to get a roofer to take a look. We were informed that a lot of the honeycomb mesh was missing at the rear of the house (which explains why we were getting a starling nesting every year). The roof was duly fixed last week - tonight I went into the attic to get something and startled the bird, which is presumably now trapped. I left the rear bedroom windows open, barred all other exits and waited downstairs, hoping that it might be drawn by the light, but by this time it was dusk and the poor thing is still up there and terrified. I've left some water up there; hopefully we can try again tomorrow when daylight returns. Alas, I think there might be some damage to the roof felt in a few places, so I'll have to get pictures and possibly get the roofer back again.

I've got some fun things planned in March, so I am looking forward to that. More soon!

Current mood: really rather fed up at the moment!

Things can only get better...

TLDR 2 paragraphs: the car issues get resolved somewhat

I'm cautiously optimistic that the issues with the car are solved (financially, anyway; a full refund is pending). Still annoyed about the perception of how I was treated, as I had to resort to chasing them on the 'phone several times a week by the end. "I'll be in touch" seemed to be meaningless (I started to keep a communications log, mostly my calling them). They peed off more than three of my many hats - engineers (we do a good job, not a bodge, or we admit we are incapable and find someone who is), quality control (first install had zero), safety rep (first install electrically unsafe), and fire marshall (ditto). I think I will send a letter of complaint, because I'm still financially in deficit because of this, but I'm happy to write that off just to be shot of the whole matter really. I was poised to start legal proceedings tomorrow. It's rather handy to have a sister in law (retired teacher of law at secondary school level) who can turn a 4 page rant into bullet points, and then put the correct legal letter (just the facts, ma'am) at the front. But it will wait until I see the dosh. I might also cc trading standards, because this could have become a very serious matter. Let's hope they're wrong about my car still having battery issues - we'll find out soon enough I guess! Cannot test it at the mo because my cousin is repairing and calibrating our voltmeter which had blown fuses. 

So my sleep is still pretty shot. Dropping asleep at 8pm in front of the telly, fighting it until 9pm, then going to bed and waking up at 2am? Programmes that make no sense because my consciousness is in and out? Rubbish! So exhausted today, I feel drunk and woozy (and I had one bottle of beer last night, so it's not a hangover). I suspect I'm on the brink of nervous exhaustion, and I'm noticing my varifocals more, hence the wooziness. It'll pass, I hope!

Anyway, actual craft content! The cardigan below is Drop's Red Berry Hill, except I didn't knit it in coloured stripes, nor use the right yarn (this is James C Brett marble chunky) - and I did add the cables. Possibly could have been a smidge longer (I have a long torso and short legs), and it doesn't quite fit around my bust so if I made it again I'd add a few rows, but overall I'm pretty happy with it. I'm wearing it right now, in fact. 

Plus the finished tunisian crochet cushion. Mum said she thought the sideways sheep looked like pacman?

I just added press studs in the end, a zip probably would have been better but not something I felt up to tackling.

Today we've both just piddled about, I've been getting some minor tasks done. My favourite kind of day is a day with no plan. Yesterday I marched around town like a mad thing (my calves are screaming right now) getting provisions and library books, whilst the Cog watched the footie. We had planned to visit a distant relative, but he's poorly AND got COVID, so he postponed. I did get to catch up with C about planning a two day machine knitting seminar at her arts venue. Watch this space! I hope it comes off, because there's quite a bit of interest, but I mustn't say more until things are more firm. But of course I'm already making plans in my head. It's nice to have a fun thing to focus on, instead of the nightmare of the last nine weeks which pretty much erased any good feeling around Xmas. Spring is springing, and hopefully someone will be round next week to put in missing honeycomb mesh in the roof (the builders left it out 20 years ago, shocking!), because Ms Starling is back for year 3 of nest building already, and I need her to move elsewhere! 

It's very nice to see lighter evenings and buds on everything. Hurray for spring, now I just need to slow down and breathe again! We've got some time off coming up too. Lots to look forward to!

Current mood: exhausted but vertical (only just)

February witterings and a thought about Passap training videos...

Crikey, February already? Being flat out at work does at least make time fly. The socks I posted about last time have been adjusted - the too-long one has been partially tinked and handknit to match length-wise, and I've knit the first of another pair of tubular socks on the Dean & Bean CSM to prove to myself that I CAN knit a matching pair - wish me luck!

TLDR: car issues, health issues, work issues

The car issues seem to be gradually coming to a close - I have come to the conclusion that the immobiliser company don't know how to use email or landlines and don't even have a customer service department. Apparently my problems will get resolved, they just can't be bothered to keep me in the loop (they seem to be forgetting whose money it is). There's still finger-pointing going on. I have resolved to call them every Friday like clockwork until they get this sorted, the squeaky wheel getting the oil. Having friendly receptionists that get you down off the ceiling is all well and good, but if nothing ever actually happens then she's just decorative alas. On the plus side, I did get my car returned this week after a stupid accident where I forgot to apply the handbrake (well, it's electronic, so not visually obvious!) and the car decided to use a Tesla as a doorstop, which got me a cracked bumper (the Tesla got the worst of it). Whoops. Car is back, nice and shiny, AND the garage updated the software. Bit of an expensive way to get it valleted though, do not recommend! Very impressed with Privilege (insurance company), the repair was done quickly and the various companies involved have kept me well-informed throughout. The whole thing has been sorted within 10 days, I'm just waiting on the hire car company to pick up their vehicle. The immobiliser company could learn a thing or two from them! 

The Cog very kindly bought a nasty cold back from Austria, and is still coughing very loudly ten days later. I am debating hiding his passport so he can't go away next month  - first COVID, now this, whatever next, leprosy?! So far I seem to be fine, but I suspect the adrenalin caused by the stress of the previous paragraph is keeping my immune system and blood pressure on high alert. So sleep has been very, very scarce lately - woken up by constant coughing, and then seized with fury over the car issues. If I do dream at all, it's brief snatches of a nightmarish kind (the horror (!) of wearing muddy jeans I thought were clean, a nasty double-murder, that sort of thing). Not a combination I'd recommend. 

Work has been flat out. Nov-Mar is probably our busiest time of the year, not helped by the loss of my good friend and colleague LB and the maternity leave of another colleague. We have a new member of staff in place finally but they are fully booked with "meetings" next week, so resource-wise we are still understaffed. Patience is a virtue I don't possess, and there are only 40 hours in a week, so... they get what I have time to do, and no more. It doesn't help that one particular engineer always seems to leave it 'til lunchtime Friday to ask for more work; he doesn't use the correct channels, and the planning is done early Friday so he's always too late. My braincells can't cope with much more than 40 hours, and anyway it's unpaid. 

Now, onto actual crafting content!

The tunisian crochet sheep cushion got press-studs during a Zoom meeting, it's just awaiting its final photo shoot. I'm part-way through adding press-studs to a hot pink knit-weave cardigan I gained in an estate sale and didn't have the heart / will to frog. It's not even very well finished, but I will continue! I guess I should have just chucked it, but being acrylic I couldn't bear the thought of it going into the bin and outlasting all of humanity as pieces. Yeah, I don't have enough with my own unfinished projects, I get landed with others!

We had a fairly successful Zoom meeting this week where I gave everyone that attended a quick tour of the Passap E6000. I am thinking of creating some videos to share on Youtube, because there's not much info out there for the E6000 and the manual seems to be written for upgraders, not beginners. I wonder if there would be any interest? I've recently lost the video editing software on my works laptop - I suspect ICT thought it was dodgy (in a legal sense) and removed it without notice. As we are imminently upgrading to W11 in a few weeks (where one can no longer install software without permission) and I will be switching to Adobe Premiere, I will need a period of learning the new software methinks. I've learnt one needs to watermark videos, lest some unscrupulous soul claims it as their own work and charges for it. 

The return of the longer days / increased daylight is helping me to get out of my crafting funk, albeit slowly. I have a few more "not quite finished, don't need much to complete" projects to get done and then I can let startitis kick in again. 

Well, that turned into quite the epistle! Onwards and upwards, as they say!

Current mood: annoyed but determined

Someone can't count...

Ugh!

Current mood: annoyed