Transhader - University Weaving Project

A while ago, my friend Marcel, who works at the Technical University Delft and runs the Bucky Lab, asked me whether I could advise two students of his who want to weave some fabric for an assignment.
The general assignment was to create a sun shading device based on textiles.
Lotte and Leonard chose to create 'an up- and downwards movable 6-meter exterior sun screen on spindles with a transition from opaque fabric texture at the top to rather transparent texture at the bottom'.
Of course I was happy to help. When the two came to my house it turned out that they were well prepared - they had already studied the basics of weaving, knew the essential terms, and had put quite some thought into the requirements and possibilities for their particular project.

The goal was to create a piece a fabric that gradually changes from opaque to almost transparent, while keeping in mind that the final result was to be manufacturable industrially. Thus, hand-manipulated weaves were out of the question. We figured that changing the distance between the weft threads was the solution, and Lotte and Leonard plan to have 9 sections of different rates of transparency throughout the piece.
First I gave them my Flip rigid heddle loom to practice. Then we installed my 8-shaft table loom at the university where they started out with a narrow sample strip.

I showed them how to warp the loom and gave them a couple of hints on how to keep the tension homogenous. I am not sure how long the sample turned out to be because shortly thereafter they sent me a picture with the warp threads covering the entire width of the loom. 

They got the tension near perfect - not easy with inelastic cotton warp threads.

I am excited to see the result.

And the winner is ...

takingaturn! Congratulations - you will get the Field of Dreams 1 skein (no. 2 has been sold).

It took me a while to get my random number generator aka Jakob to chose the winner because the day I picked up the wheel I feel ill with acute bronchitis. Fortunately for me this happened at my sister's house in Germany, where she nursed me while also taking care of my son. Unfortunately it kept me from my new wheel - I still havn't really touched it because it's taking much longer than expected to recharge my batteries.

Nevertheless, here it is:

my almost brand new Schacht Reeves 30" made of ash wood.

The picture includes my still beloved Rose for scale :-)

Field of Dreams 1 is a light fingering weight yarn spun from Shetland fibre hand painted by Spunky Eclectic.

Take a guess

- and you can win a skein of my handspun yarns!

I am SO excited - as of next Wednesday, a new spinning wheel will come to live with me.
I have been saving for this for some time and even though my piggy bank isn't nearly fat enough I couldn't pass the opportunity when I saw someone offer the wheel I want last week.

Name the brand and model of the wheel you think I will get in the comments section. From the correct entries I will randomly choose a name, and send the winner one skein of my handspun yarns. Please include your favorite colours or the colours you like least and I will try to send you something appropriate.

Just one hint - it's definitely not made for artyarn.

There are only two people who know for sure what wheel it is, the seller and a spinning friend. If my spinning friend comments she well deserves a skein of yarn for enabling me :-) !!

Spickzettel für den Maschenstich bei rechten und linken Maschen

Den Post habe ich schon vor einiger Zeit auf englisch geschrieben. Da aber immer wieder Anfragen nach einer deutschen Variante kamen, das ganze jetzt hier auf deutsch. (the original English post about grafting different knit/purl stitch combinations can be found here)


Ich wollte schon seit einiger Zeit lernen, wie man unterschiedliche rechte/linke Maschenkombinationen im Maschenstich miteinander verbindet, wie beispielsweise im Rippenmuster.
Kürzlich habe ich dann einen ausführlichen Artikel darüber gelesen, der die einzelnen Schritte detailliert erklärt.
Da ich zwar das Prinzip verstehe, mir die Abfolge allerdings nie richtig merken kann, habe ich mir einen Spickzettel gemacht.

Da einige meiner StrickfreundInnen auch daran interessiert waren, schreib ich es hier für Euch auf.
(Die Anleitung geht allerdings davon aus, dass man den regulären Maschenstich für rechte Maschen kennt)

Legende:
V = rechte Masche
- = linke Masche
back needle = hintere Nadel
front needle =  vordere Nadel
next stitch =  nächste Masche
current stitch =  aktuelle Masche


Die blau markierten Felder sind jeweils die ersten zwei Maschen auf der vorderen Nadel.

Schau dir die ersten zwei Maschen auf der vorderen Nadel an und suche eine Übereinstimmung mit einem der blauen Felder
Schau dann in die kleine Grafik über dem blauen Feld, um zu sehen, in welche Richtung die 'Nähnadel' in die Maschen geführt werden muss.

Beispiel:
Bei einem 2re/2li Rippenmuster sind die ersten 2 Maschen auf der vorderen Nadel 2 rechte Maschen:
also Grafik A,

Vordere Nadel: 
Führe die Nähnadel wie beim Stricken einer rechten Masche in die erste Masche ein (und lass die Masche dann fallen), und dann wie zum Stricken einer linken Masche in die 2. Masche:

Hintere Nadel:
Führe die Nähnadel wie beim Stricken einer linken Masche in die erste Masche ein (und lass die Masche dann fallen), und dann wie zum Stricken einer rechten Masche in die 2. Masche:

Wenn man im 2re/2li Rippenmuster fortfährt, ist die nächste Maschenkombination eine rechte und eine linke Masche, daher als nächstes Grafik B benutzen.

Ihr könnt die Grafik gerne ausdrucken. Ich hab sie gedruckt und laminiert und in meinen Strickbeutel getan.

Happy grafting.

Form Follows Function Cowl

I just published my latest pattern - Form Follows Function Cowl:

This cowl pattern is influenced by one of the most well known architectural principles. 

The pattern used three different stitch patterns to create sections of different elasticity and texture. The different sections serve different functional purposes

• The mid section is knit in k1/p1 rib to provide optimum stretchiness so that the cowl hugs the neck closely. 
• The upper/outer section is knit in half-brioche which draws in less than the ribbed section and therefore fits nicely over it without having to change the stitch count. 
• The yoke section is raglan-shaped and knit in stockinette stitch to fit smoothly underneath any jacket.

 The pattern comes in three sizes (child, small adult, large adult) and suits males and females alike.

Finished the Blues

Finally, I am back behind the spinning wheel on a regular basis and not only 5 minutes here and there!
After 12 months of issues with my back I feel reborn:-)

The one I just finished last night is from a merino/silk batt hand carded by All the Pretty Fibers that I spun into a super soft and squishy 2-ply yarn.

 
The first yarn I worked on after the break is made of beautiful Superfine Baby Alpaca, hand dyed by Amanda.from www.MandaCrafts.co.uk.
I spun it into N-plied, sock weight yarn.

Since it has been dreadfully grey and dull here in Rotterdam for weeks, I next grabbed a very colorful club shipment from Spunky Eclectic, colorway Field of Dreams.
I split the tops lengthwise for a 2-plied yarn without mixing colors. As you can see that only worked for one of the skeins :-)