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 :-)

New knitted hat for the little one

Here in the Netherlands most kids go to school at age 4. My son has started school on Dec 17, went for 4 days until the holiday break and over the course of these 4 days has lost two hats...
To replace them I found this lovely pattern on Ravelry: I Heart Cables provided for free by Justyna Lorkowska.
Unfortunately Jakob doesn't like the pompom so I had to omit it but knit a tiny little point instead.

Since there were many comments that the pattern runs very large I figured I can try knitting it in DK weight yarn instead of worsted. In terms of width this worked well but the hat turned out way too short. So I tore back to the ribbing and added two of the first cable repeat sections. Now it's a tiny bit high but he loves it and I think he looks very cute - but of course I am his mom :-)
For the point I decreased to 6 sts (vs 12 in the original pattern) and knitted about 6 rows, then pulled the yarn through the sts and wove in the end.
I used selvedge sts on the ear flaps to give them a finished look.

 And with his new hat he didn't even mind the bicycling helmet too much.

Ravelry notes here.

Homemade Lip Balm

I wanted to give family and friends a tiny something for Christmas and remembered a tutorial that iMake has generously posted a while back on her awesome crafting blog at www.imake.gg.

She made lip balm and filled it in beautiful little tins, decorated with round labels. The blog post provides detailed instruction, and makes the process very easy. I searched for the supplies in the Netherlands, and found all the ingredients I needed at www.hekserij.nl. Unfortunately they only had small plastic containers - I would have preferred the tins. And I didn't have the time to make or order round labels, and cut square ones, but all in all I like the result:

I chose peppermint as the main flavor and just a few drops of orange to spice it up.

Very Sheepy Lazy Kate

My brother-in-law made the cutest Lazy Kates!
I got one and, of course, my sister has one, but he enjoyed himself so much making these that there are 3 more available for purchase.

Dimensions: length 37cm from nose to tail, width 15cm clearance between the sides, height 26cm
Accommodates bobbins up to 15cm long and 15cm diameter.
This one is made of untreated wood.
There is a little bag with the stuff needed to tension the bobbins.

Price €35 plus shipping (6,75 within the Netherlands, please ask me for other countries, can also be shipped within Germany)

There are two more, one is treated with oil and one with beeswax. I will post or send pictures of these upon request. These are €40.

If you are interested you can email me at usch at uschengelmann dot com.Or go to my Etsy shop.

Another Reversible Moebius Cowl

I love cowls and I love Moebius!
This time I tried knitting the Reversible Cable Moebius Cowl in a DK yarn to see what the fit would be if I followed the pattern without modifications .
I chose some lovely Malabrigo Silky Merino I had in my stash, and here is the result:

The cowl hugs my neck a little closer than the Aran/worsted weight version - just what I wanted. Using this exceptionally soft yarn was the perfect choice.
Since my 42" needle cable is used in a different project I tried a 47" cable. I was quite wary whether this would work, adding a Magic Loop into the double circle Moebius mix, but it turned out to work just fine!

Now I am wondering whether I can knit a much smaller Moebius using magic Loop. I will keep you posted.

Pekaboo - Ladybug

And here is the second one...
Peekaboo project bag - Ladybug

Available here.

Peekaboo project bag with transparent window

Have you ever left the house in a rush and grabbed the wrong project bag for the trip?
Like the complicated cabled glove project instead of the vanilla socks?

Well, I have... So my scatterbrain led to a new sewing project - a project bag with a window!

Now I can quickly grab the appropriate project for the where I am going to. A vanilla sock for the movies, something in a light color for our evening SnB group, something a little more complicated if I go somewhere alone. Perfect!

I had so much fun sewing this bag, that I sewed more. And now I am listing them as a new item in my Etsy shop.
The first one is: 
Peekaboo project bag - Blue circles

 All bags are made of 100% cotton fabric on the outside and a 100% cotton lining in natural color. The drawstrings serve as handles, and the bags have a rectangular flat bottom.

I will continue to list other fabrics options, but you can always check currently available fabrics in the current Etsy listing (third picture) and send me a message.

Grafting cheat sheet

For quite some time I have been interested in learning how to graft purl stitches or a combination of knit and purl stitches, for example, in ribbing.
Then recently, a knitting friend gave me an interesting article to read that explained the entire topic in detail and also provided step by step instructions and charts.
However, since I understand the concept, but can't remember the different steps for different combinations of knit and purl stitches I wanted a small chart that I can put in my tool kit. So I created a cheat sheet.

Since the topic came up at the last Rotterdam Stitch'nBitch, and others were interested in my cheat sheet, here it is (the sheet and the instructions assume that you know the basics of grafting):

Comments:
V = knit stich
- = purl stitch
I used 'V' for the knit stitch because it resembles what a knit stitch looks like, and '-' for the purl stitch for the same reason.

The fields marked in blue are the first two stitches on the front needle to be grafted.

Check the first two stitches on your front needle and find a match in one of the blue fields.
Then look at the chart above the blue field to see in which direction you will need to insert the grafting needle.

Example:
If you are working a 2 x 2 rib (2 knit stitches, 2 purl stitches) and your first two stitches on the front needle are two knit stitches:
use chart A,

Front needle: 
insert the grafting needle into the first stitch as if to knit (and drop the stitch), then insert the grafting needle into the second stitch as if to purl:

Back needle:
insert the grafting needle into the first stitch as if to purl (and drop the stitch), then insert the grafting needle into the second stitch as if to knit:

Continuing the 2 x 2 rib, your next stitch combination would be a knit and then a purl stitch; so use chart B next.

You are welcome to print the chart if you feel it might be useful to you. I printed and laminated it and keep it in my tool kit.

Happy grafting.

Edit: There was a typo in the original chart - which I corrected and updated Nov 20. My apologies!!

First Bloom II on its way to the USA

iMake has randomly chosen a winner from all the entries in her blog post about the May giveaway.

Thank you all so much for the wonderful, kind and encouraging comments!

The winner chose First Bloom II, which is already packaged to leave for its journey to the US.

It is a lovely blend of Merino and silk, the fiber was dyed by Squoosh Fiberarts.
I spun it into a light fingering weight yarn that would make a beautiful shawlette. I am excited to see what it will grow up to be!

Last day of May Giveaway Offer

Remember to enter the iMake May giveaway for which I am offering up one skein of the handspun yarn listed in my Etsy shop.
For instructions on entering please read this blog post, but also listen to the podcast   - it's well worth it!

From weaving leftovers to knitting pattern

I have had this beautiful yarn sitting in my stash for more than 4 years: the blue colorway of Blue Sky Alpacas, Alpaca/Silk.It was leftover from a weaving project I did for a small show in Tacoma, WA.
The piece is called Walk on the Beach and includes shells, dried algae and drift wood from a beach on San Juan Island. These items were woven into the piece with the help of supplemental warp threads made of a stainless steel/silk thread.

I had 4 skeins of the blue yarn left over and finally found the perfect knitting project for it: a light shrug that drapes beautifully and features armholes so it doesn't slip off my shoulders.


.

It can be worn with the front panels hanging down loosely or pinned across the bust with a nice shawl pin.

Since some of my friends would also like to knit this shrug, I wrote up the pattern which is currently up for testing on Ravelry in the Free Pattern Testers group. It will be published when the test knit is compelted.

Textured Stitches - a book review

A Playful Day is a wonderful podcast and blog that I listen to / read regularly. According to the host it "attracts fellow crafters, yarnies and small dogs. It's playful because that's what life should be." A statement I heartily agree with!

Following a recent donation incentive offer by A Playful Day I won - a knitting book! Like many of us I LOVE knitting books, have 3 shelves full already and a ton more titles listed on a wishlist. However, I am often a little dissappointed when I actually get new (to me) books, usually because of my personal preferences and not due to any major problems with the books themselves.

The book I received from A Playful Day has been on my wanted list for quite some time: Textured Stitches by Connie Chang Chinchio.

This book is absolutely wonderful!
There are 11 tops/sweaters/cardigans and 8 smaller projects including gloves, hats, a shawl and a headband (women patterns only).
Most of the designs are based on larger areas of simple stockinette stitch but they include wonderful textured details created with cables, traveling stitches, ribs etc.- rather simple means to achieve great results.

What I particularly love about the designs is that most are knit from fingering or DK weight yarn - even the sweaters and cardigans. This means lots of mindless knitting interrupted by areas where you need to pay attention - a great mix in my opinion - but even beter it makes for elegant, drapey pieces.
The finishing of the garnments looks very sophisticated, clean and professional.


The layout of the book is well done: the items are modeled in full in a way that clearly shows the construction, and there is a close-up of each textured stitch pattern.The charts are large enough for comfortable reading and schematics make it simple to modify certain areas of a garnment.

The author lists errata for three of the patterns on a book errata page. 

I recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind lots of stockinette knitting and loves tailored fits.

May Giveaway - 1 skein of handspun

One of my favourite podcasts is iMake. The host, Martine, not only shares her knitting adventures but many other crafts including papercrafts, sewing, jewellery making, photography, amongst others. And she provides the listeners with a little insight into Guernsey culture, a place I have never been to but now desperately want to visit!

Every month iMake offers a giveaway to listeners - and this month I am sponsoring the giveaway by offering up one skein of the handspun yarn listed in my Etsy shop.
For instructions on entering please read this blog post, but also listen to the podcast   - it's well worth it!

Hernia is bad for spinning

After 4 months, I am finally spinning again, jipieh!
I suffered from a ruptured disk in mid December, and unfortunately sitting was and still is more painful than any other position. I was able to knit lying on the couch, and I did spin on my spindle walking around the house, but my beautiful Rose sat neglected in a corner of the living room.
But finally, the pain is bearable and being able to spin again makes up for it.

This is what I produced over the past 2 weeks:

Spun from a Merino/silk batt handcarded by All the Pretty Fibers.

 Spun from a Merino batt handcarded by Lady's Turn.

 Spun from a Shetland/Silk batt handcarded by Enchanted Knoll Farm

Spun from a Merino/Tencel/Silk batt handcarded by Enchanted Knoll Farm

Reversible knitting

Cowls, cowls, cowls....

I recently made my first Moebius cowl following Cat Bordhi's Moebius Cast-On instructions on Youtube.
What a genius technique!

The pattern for this cowl was Sivia Harding's Harmonia's Rings Cowl, a beautiful cowl pattern using the Moebius Cast-on method.

I used some worsted weight yarn, which I had handspun from handpainted Targhee top.




Even though the pattern is absolutely wonderful, I did want to make a few changes to the fit.

So I cast on for another Moebius cowl, shaping it slightly differently and trying out different stitch patters.
Since these cowls show the 'right' and the 'wrong' side of the knitted piece a reversible pattern is required.

Unfortunately I do not own any of the Reversible Knitting books available, for example Lynne Barr's Reversible Knitting - which would have sped up choosing stitch patterns, I guess - but I still came up with a few stitch patterns that work well.

If you want to try this too, my tip is to use ribs; ribs in many shapes or formats. The cowls in the picture at the top all look quite different but the patterns are all based on ribs - alternating knit and purl stitches or rows.

From left to right:
1: 1x1 rib, broken up by a few garter stitch rows
2: simple 2x2 rib
3: horizontal ribs by alternating a few rows of stockinette stitch with a few rows reverse stockinette stitch
4: simple 1x1 rib in chunky yarn
5: 2 rows of 2x2 rib, 1 purl row, 1 knit row
6: simple 1x1 rib in worsted yarn
7: reversible cables combined with 1x1 rib


My latest one is a more refined reversible cable pattern - in progress here:

I now have far too many cowls for me to wear, so some of them are available in my Etsy shop :-)