Trish Knits.com

Category: Products

  • Crankin’ Out the Cords

    I’ve been busy cranking out the i-cords with my handy dandy cord knitter machine:

    two i-cords next to balls of yarn
    two i-cords next to balls of yarn

    The two cords that I have made so far were done with Rowan Wool Cotton and Cascade 220. Now I’m wondering if I should try it tomorrow with my Noro Kureyon yarn. Should I dare? If so, I’ll let you know how it goes.

    This machine works well, if you use it very slowly and make sure you push the errant stitches down on the hooks so they’re below the latches as the next bit of yarn is being caught in the hooks. And I find I have to put my hand down on the base to hold it steady as I crank because the suction cups don’t stick well on my table. Your mileage may vary on that. I definitely need to use the weight to hold the cord down as it comes out the bottom. That helps a lot. So I alternate between using my thumb to push the stitches down as it goes round and round (I only need to do this every four or five stitches) and placing my palm on the base of the machine as I crank.

    The second cord went way faster than the first. The first one took all evening to get the rhythm of the thing. The second took just under two hours. So, despite its quirks, I say this thing is a success. For me at least, the not-speed-knitter, it was way faster than doing it by hand. So, yay! Only the fattest cords will be done by hand. So this project will go very fast. That, my friends, is a very good thing.

    A Beautiful Little Song

    Someone on Ravelry posted this little song on YouTube on Monday. I heard it yesterday for the first time and it just about brought me to tears. Have a listen:

    See? I told you so.

    Listen to this article
    Listen to this article

  • New Knitting Toy

    Today the Brownies left a box with this in it on my porch:

    Singer Spool Knitter
    Singer Spool Knitter

    It’s the Singer Spool Knitter! I got it because I really, really want to make one of these, which is the Spaghetti Scrap Scarf by Circé Belles Boucles. Her blog is in French, but the images are amazing. Have a look.

    I admit that my motives for doing this scarf are a bit more macabre than that beautiful, funky design would suggest. I want to use mine to make grey, black, and dark purple cords along with one cord of my eyeball yarn that I recently acquired from Insubordiknit. I see that the product is sold out, so I do feel lucky to have some. How creepy would that be, a black and grey snaky scarf with stringy eyeballs popping out now and then? I think it is the perfect Halloween costume.

    So anyway, I bought this Singer gadget hearing on one of my knitting lists that it does heavier yarns than some of the other spool knitters do, so I thought it would be worth a try. We’ll see. The yarn in the photo isn’t anywhere near worsted weight, and it took me a while to get the hang of it to do this one bit of cord that I have so far. We’ll have to see how far it will go. I’m pretty lazy about knitting cords, and the thought of doing them all by hand doesn’t excite me, but the scarf itself does, so we shall see how it goes. Of course I don’t expect to be able to knit the eyeball yarn on my little spool gadget, but if I could knock some of the others out that way? I’d be really, really happy.

    Gotta run. It’s Leno’s last night, and I’m watching. When it was Johnny’s last night, 17 years ago, it was the night before my husband and I moved in together, thus, a major turning point in my life. Nothing so earth-shattering this time around, but I gotta wonder if something’s not looming.

    **Update**

    Guess what??? While watching Leno I did try to use the spool knitter with Wool of the Andes yarn, which is worsted weight. Guess what?? It WORKED. As long as I went really slowly and made sure that my previous round of stitches would drop below the latch on the hook before the hook picked up the next round. Yes, I mean REAAALLLLLLYYYYYY slow. But it’s still faster than knitting it myself. I think it’ll be good. Yay!!

    Listen to this article
    Listen to this article

  • Is it Yarn Yet?

    Tonight I played with my new drop spindle and some roving that was here, and look:

    Spun yarn on a drop spindle
    Spun yarn on a drop spindle

    It took a few tries, but guess what? It’s yarn! My roving on the other end is a bit of a twisty mess but I am trying to get the hang of managing the twist as it spins. Of course I spent the evening doing this instead of knitting on my scarf for my friend Jen. But I did get quite a lot of knitting done on the commute today. I still have hope that between now and the weekend, some miracle will happen and I will be able to get the scarf done.

    But hey, my first yarn! How exciting is that? Ok, it’s only a few inches of yarn, but it’s yarn! Who would have ever thought I’d get excited about making my own yarn, when I’ve been promising myself all these knitting years that I really don’t need another fiber obsession? I can tell already that spinning is seriously addictive. I’ve got a typical all-over soreness that I get from tensing up when I learn something new. I hope I can get comfortable enough soon so that this feeling goes away. I guess that means there’s more practice spinning in my future!

    What is it?

    Lookie at what I got in the mail today:

    seed stitcher tool
    seed stitcher tool

    I used to knit with a Bond Incredible Sweater Machine, but stopped completely when I learned to hand knit. I really don’t have room to set it up in my house since the addition of a little boy, first with playpens, and now with train tables and Legos abound. But there are one or two little gadgets I miss, especially this one, as I recently found out.

    This little double ended latch hook tool is used to create seed stitch on the machine, which is really only capable of producing stockinette on its own. Well, in working on my February Lady Sweater, and dropping garter stitches one too many times, I realized that this tool is something that would make it so much easier to fix the dropped garter stitch. Basically, on the knit side you grab the ladder in the latch and pull through as you would with a crochet hook, but then you push it through to the other end and grab the stitch in the other direction for the purl side. I’d make a video to show what I mean, but there’s one on the Knitting Today site already. It shows the tool in use on a machine, but hand knitters can easily see what’s happening to the fabric and figure it out. I think everyone who garter stitches a lot needs one of these!

    Back to the scarf knitting tomorrow. Maybe I’ll post a pic then. See ya!

    Listen to this article
    Listen to this article

  • New Stuff in the Knitting Bag!

    It’s been a mundane Saturday at my house. But, perhaps I’ve needed one. My DH let me sleep in til 11:30 this morning. I can’t remember the last time I did that! I got quite a bit of knitting done on my scarf in progress, but I am not going to show you that. Let’s just say it now looks like it’s going to be a scarf when it grows up, but realistically, there’s no chance in you-know-where that it’s going to be done by next Sunday. So instead, I thought I would show you some of my latest knitting-related acquisitions. First, I’ll start off with a wonderful new book I got while at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year.

    Everything Old is New Again for Baby

    This adorable little book, Vintage Baby Knits: More Than 40 Heirloom Patterns from the 1920s to the 1950s is really no little knitting book. It contains a plethora of patterns for babies. My mother had some old knitting books from the 50s in her collection–I remember reading them and not understanding a thing about what they were trying to tell me to do. Many years later, I of course became a knitter, and you know what? I went looking for those patterns, and was dismayed to discover that I still didn’t understand them. This book attempts to solve that problem. The author, Kristen Rengren, is a lover of vintage knits and has translated some classic baby wear designs from decades past into modern knitting language and modern yarns.

    The photographs in the book are just too adorable for words; who could resist all of the adorable wee babes wearing beautiful knitwear?

    There are many cardigans to choose from, and cute little booties and soakers, and pullovers and blankets, and an adorable hat or two. There are even some toys tucked in there, so just about everything you could ever want to knit for a baby is contained within the pages. An adorable sailor sweater and classic argyle are among the vintage looks… and lots of lacy, delicate little things that just make it so fun to dress the little one. There’s even a gorgeous christening gown, that maybe if I start it now, I’ll be done by the time my 13-year-old daughter becomes a mother (sometime in her 30s, of course!).

    I see that Amazon has this book for a very reasonable price, so if you love to knit baby things, go get this book now! You won’t regret it. I paid list price, but I don’t mind. I got to meet the author at the festival, and see? Mine is signed:

    Kristen Rengren signed my copy of Vintage Baby Knits
    Kristen Rengren signed my copy of Vintage Baby Knits

    You Spin Me Right Round

    Also while at the festival I bought one of these:

    Golding Drop Spindle
    Golding Drop Spindle

    It’s a drop spindle by Golding and it is a beautiful thing. Now, I’ve tried my hand at drop spindling a couple of times, and I haven’t had much luck with it yet. I bought some practice roving at the festival for a very good price, and I’m going to learn how to spin if it kills me. Why, do you ask, am I so thusly determined? Well, wouldn’t YOU be determined if THIS was waiting for you???

    purple, olive and brown roving
    purple, olive and brown roving

    Uh huh. I thought so. When I start something, I dive in with both feet. I wasn’t content just to have my little inexpensive scratchy roving. I needed an incentive, and this is it. It’s a Lorna’s Laces Wool Top Roving in the “Purple Iris” colorway. It is SO soft. I’m half tempted to stick some wiggle eyes on it and call it a stuffed animal and let it be. Who am I to think I can make some pretty yarn out of that? I hope I can do it some bit of justice. Meanwhile I’ll practice away on my gray Icelandic roving. I’m sure my yarn will have some interesting textures, but isn’t that half the fun?

    Meanwhile, I’ve got a scarf to finish. Better run. See you soon!

    Listen to this article
    Listen to this article

  • Just This One Thing…

    There’s just this:

    New Knitting Bag
    New Knitting Bag

    Namaste Laguna. In eggplant. Nirvana. That is all.

    Listen to this article
    Listen to this article

  • Victory!

    Can you believe it?? It’s DONE!

    Trish with navy blue yarn all balled up
    Trish with navy blue yarn all balled up

    I spent nearly all week working on the first of three balls of navy blue silk yarn, and I finally felt like I hit a breakthrough late last night, so stayed up way too late winding yarn. Then, by this afternoon, with help from the kids (who find my ball winder to be most fascinating) the first ball was done. Then this afternoon my good friend Steve came over and asked me why my ball winder and swift were out, and I showed him the remaining two hanks. Next thing I know, he had the twisted mass of yarn all straightened out and ready to go on my swift, and so the second ball went much quicker!

    Trish winding yarn
    Trish winding yarn

    Once Steve got it all figured out about which end was which, after a few times of untwisting the yarn from around the hank it was actually pretty smooth going. I sometimes wonder if it’s my eyesight and perhaps I can’t see where the yarn is going, so I set it up wrong in the first place? I don’t know… but Steve was able to get it all sorted out, so the rest of the yarn got balled up today! Yay!

    Yarn on jumbo ball winder
    Yarn on jumbo ball winder

    I actually love my ball winder. It’s the Jumbo Ball Winder by Strauch. I got it last year at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and I have loved it! It was so worth the money to have something so sturdy. I got it because even though it comes with a clamp to clamp it to a table, it’s not 100% necessary to use the clamp, as long as you don’t wind it at breakneck speed. All of my tables have aprons under the table top so none of the ball winder clamps work on my tables anyway. So this one is good and sturdy and as you can see, it winds HUGE balls!

    After I did the second ball, my mom and Tony showed up and prepared dinner, so Steve settled on the floor to tackle the third ball:

    Steve winds the yarn
    Steve winds the yarn

    Next thing I know, BoyZilla wanted to take a turn on the ball winder:

    BoyZilla and Steve wind the yarn
    BoyZilla and Steve wind the yarn

    So, the yarn has been conquered and tamed into balls, and soon it will be on its way to becoming the February Lady Sweater.

    This week… I swatch.

    Listen to this article
    Listen to this article