Nancy N – Page 4 – Measured Threads

March 3, 2016

CSM Ribbing Help

I was working on a ribbed sock for my son today, and made a couple of videos to help other CSMers.

First, my new favorite tool, the flat, bent tip needle (Bodkin needle).

I would really like one about 2 inches longer, but haven’t found it yet. This one is almost three inches long. I use it to help when I am switching to my working yarn with the ribber in place on the my circular sock machine. You need to thread the yarn into the machine and get it down into the cylinder to knit with it. This needle is much easier for me to use than a latch hook tool that is fished up from below. Check out my little video below.

Next is a video to show you how I latch up or “pick up” a dropped ribber stitch. I had a lot of experience latching them up until I got my ribber correctly timed to the machine and the yarn guide placement adjusted correctly. The only other videos I found about picking up stitches showed how to latch up a dropped cylinder stitch. So this morning when I dropped a rib stitch when transferring it to the cylinder needle, I knew I would have a dropped stitch to fix when I took the ribber off. So here it is.

March 1, 2016March 1, 2016

Hyrna með krónuprjóni

My local weavers guild has started a member challenge called UnFinished Objects Finally Finished. (UFOFF). Last week I dug a shawl in its bag out of a box on my yarn storage shelves. No pattern or notes were with it. Today I located the book and made a copy of the chart and translation page for the instructions. A few years back I was in a lace shawl knitting phase. I had finished a lovely shawl from a book called Þríhyrnur og langsjöl / or Three-cornered and long shawls by Sigridur Halldorsdottir. The book was in written in Icelandic but came with a translation of some of the text in the book. The patterns are all charted.

The first shawl I knit from the book was called Hyrna Herbogar and it was fun, but tricky.

For my second one, I chose a simpler pattern based on Old Shale lace called Hyrna Með Krónuprjóni (or HMK as it will be referred to from now on). Here is the photo from the book. Mine will look different since I chose a striping sock yarn called Noro Kuryeon in natural colors.

Based on my project notes in Ravelry, I began working on HMK March 16, 2009 and sometime in May, 2009, put it down. From the posts in the Three Cornered Knitters group on Ravelry it appears that I had figured out I was going to run out of yarn for the second time. The post says I had 34% remaining to knit and only 32% of my total yarn remaining (checked by weighing it in grams on a digital scale before and during the knitting). Then there was also a post that said I traded some handmade soap for the some Kuryeon Sock color 149 that another Ravelry member had leftover when she finished her socks. The yarn came pretty quickly after the trade was negotiated, but I never picked HMK back up to start knitting again.

How did I know how far I was you ask? I am a geeky knitter and I like to make spreadsheets for shawl patterns to keep track of my yarn usage and percentage completed.

So to document how far the shawl was when I picked it back up to finish, here she is two weeks shy of 7 years after beginning.

Fortunately all my stitch markers were still in place. Based on the number of stitches in the first section of the chart, I figured out I was on row 13 of the 32 row repeat. Then I remembered the spread sheet and counted the total number of stitches on the needle to figure out the actual row I was on and it matched with that row of the repeat. It was a simple knit 3, purl to the last 3 stitches, knit 3. Then I went on to row 14 on the chart and was a stitch off when I got to the center. (The chart is only half the shawl, then you mirror it for the other half as you knit.) Fortunately the stitch markers helped me narrow down that the mistake was in the section closest to the center. I read my knitting, compared it to the chart, and figured out that about 6 stitches away from the center and 3 rows below, my needle had caught a strand and I had knit it as if it were a stitch, increasing by one stitch in that section. It was an easy fix, I just dropped the unneeded stitch down the 3 rows to where I had caught it and can now knit on! I have 168 stitches on the needle (started with 384) and I am on row 76 of 130 and 21,512 stitches out of 26,128 total to be knit therefore it is 82% complete. Each row decreases as I knit, so it should go pretty quickly. I will update my progress on Instagram if you’d like to follow. #UFOFF

February 5, 2016

Mixed Warp Workshop Day 1

I’m taking a workshop on creating a mixed warp at the Weavers Guild of Greater Cincinnati. Today in the first 4 hours of the workshop, we learned a little about color theory and value. Colors may be different but have the same value on the grayscale. In our first group exercise we sorted yarns by value. Here is how they sorted out.

Here is the sorted yarn viewed as a grayscale image.

Sometimes they can really fool you. Yellows and yarns that have some variegation or sparkle can be very difficult to sort. One of the theories of choosing the yarns is they can be any different colors but will look good together as long as they are about the same value.

Then you have to consider your fiber types, and textures of yarn and decide what will fibers will do taking into consideration how they will stretch in the warp and shrink in the finishing. We learned about the properties of different fibers such as wool, acrylic, silk, cotton and flax and how to decide how well they will mix together.

Then you choose something that will add a little “pop” of color or sparkle in the warp or to be used as a supplementary warp.

In my first go through in selecting 5 to 7 yarns from what I had to choose from, this is what I came up with and here is how they came out on the grayscale.

And here is what they look like in color.

Its hard to see in a picture, but one of my yarns (the grayish one) had a little bit of silver sparkle to it.

After choosing some possibilities, we learned how to figure out the sett (how close together they should be) of yarns of different thicknesses, taking into consideration the percentage of each we will be using, the structure we will weave and the weft we are going to use. That part can be very tricky.

Tomorrow in an all day session we will lean different approaches to winding the warp and dressing the loom with a mixed warp. It should be a great day!

December 19, 2015December 19, 2015

Cleveland Sucks Socks

These Cleveland Browns Socks were a bit painful for me to knit as a die hard Cincinnati Bengals fan. But, my love for my son (also a die hard Bengals fan) outweighed my distaste for the Browns. His girlfriend is from the Cleveland area and is a Browns fan, and I wanted a Christmas gift to give to her. Fortunately, the Browns have had a dismal record this year and the Bengals beat them both times we played them or I might not have been able to overcome the loathing enough to do it. (Mom did say she put a curse on the socks to keep them from beating the Bengals in the future). They lost to Pittsburgh once this year, but maybe the socks will bring them the luck the need to beat the Squealers Steelers in their January 3 game. I actually hate Pittsburgh more, so sorry Juliann (my sister-in-law) there are no Steelers themed socks in your future.

December 6, 2015December 6, 2015

Be Kind To Your Socks

Now that I am selling more of my Measured Steps socks, I thought I would put up a post about caring for them. I typically use high quality German sock yarns when I knit. They are a superwash wool/nylon blend, which means that you can machine wash, gentle cycle and tumble dry on the lowest heat setting if you so desire. But, I always recommend to hand wash, lay flat to dry or drape over a towel bar. I use mild shampoo and lukewarm water, let them soak in the sink while I take a shower, rinse and squeeze out water, roll in a towel and press on it get out even more water. An occasional rinse with hair conditioner is nice too. If you lay them on a heat vent, they will dry overnight. You can wear them two times before washing if you let them air out between wearings.

They should not shrink appreciably in the washing machine and dryer if you follow the instructions from the yarn company, but there is abrasion in washer agitation and tumble drying which can cause the wool to pill and look worn sooner than if you hand washed your socks. If you insist on machine washing, turn them inside out and put them in a lingerie bag to keep them from rubbing and getting snagged on things. The good thing about the yarn is you won’t ruin your socks if they end up the the washer/dryer by accident, but if you treat them kindly you will keep them looking their best and lasting longer. I also recommend not walking around in your stocking feet in the house. Put some slippers on,e specially if you have rugs (friction again). Keep your toenails trimmed to help keep the toes from wearing out. Yes your socks will eventually wear out, but I usually get 3-4 years of frequent wear out of a pair of socks made with good quality sock yarn.