The International Fiber Conspiracy and Lars Stuff

It's been a while...

2010-12-29T15:59:00.000-08:00

... I've been doing stuff, just not posting about it.
Yesterday I went to buy rags for my rugs and found some really great stuff. On my way home I always pass by the Pendleton woolen mills outlet store. I have always meant to stop in but never have, until yesterday. After weaving the blankets they cut a narrow strip off the edge, and, they sell those strips at the outlet store. I bought a bunch of them. I was lucky enough to get 4 1/2 pounds all in the same color. I think it was trimmed from this blanket.
I also picked up a bunch in several different colors.

I spooled up the glacier wool and started weaving,

It looks like this. I'm pleased.

I've also been busy working on a hat pattern. This picture shows them all inside out, the one on the head is the only one that is not fully reversible.

Here it is from the right side, the rest are the same hats as above, just from their reversed side.

transferring the process from inside my head to a written, understandable set of instructions is proving challenging though.

Im published, sort of.

2010-09-30T22:02:00.000-07:00

My knit Market bag is now available in 4 Portland, Oregon area stores.
Close knit
TheNaked Sheep
Happy knits Please click on these links for more info on each store.
and Twisted.
Happy knits and Twisted will be carrying an expanded more comprehensive version, "The Knit Mesh Maket Bag Tutorial", and will sell it to you as an individual if you call them. I still have to supply them with copies, (wait until Wednesday to call, unless you want to express anxiousness to get the pattern.)
Close knit has not yet had an opportunity to weigh in on which version they will carry, they only know about, and have, the abbreviated version, "Knit Mesh Shopping Bag" or whether they'll sell it to you if you call. I have no doubt that they are willing to do that though. I'll be talking to them again this coming week.
The Naked Sheep has opted to sell only the abbreviated version, at this point. That may well change. They will probably also sell it you if you call, I forgot to ask when I talked to her today.
I personally will not sell it to you as an individual. It is not available from me on-line. I want the pattern to be available only to locally owned and operated yarn shops and their customers, and support local businesses and economies. I have initiated contact with Wild Purls in Billings, Montana. Not local to me, but perhaps local to you. Call and tell them you're interested. That is my intent. I have a freind in Texas who will be visiting The Tinsmith's Wife in Comfort. Again not local to me, but local to others.
Do you understand the theme here yet? I want to support any locally owned and operated business, anywhere! Put your local shop in touch with me. My pattern is not available on the web.
The abbreviated "Knit Mesh Shopping bag" walks you through the basic pattern and 2 variations, with a basic instruction on how to use the pattern to go further. "The Knit Mesh Market Bag Tutorial" will give you a basic pattern, a few instructions on stepping outside of the set parameters, it only takes a few for us mischief makers, 9 variations on the basic "body" of the bag, and a couple of hints on how to spice up the overall design. Your imagination is the only limit on the possibilities.

I promise...

2010-09-28T20:55:00.001-07:00

...I've not been ignoring you all. Lots is going on, I've just been lazy about writing. new stuff coming soon.

The whole neighborhood smells delicious

2010-09-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

...and the smell is coming from my house. I'm baking chocolate chip cookies. I won't claim, like everyone else, that my cookies are the best chocolate cookies ever, but I will claim that they are pretty darn good.

Cream together:
1 cup (2 sticks) Butter and
1/2 cup white sugar,
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar ( the more it smells like molasses, the better.)
The creaming should last 3 to 4 minutes, more fluffily mixed equals better cookies.

Add;
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, real vanilla
a dash of almond extract
2 eggs, 1 at a time beating well between additions

Sift together;
2 1/2 cups flour, (1 cup can be whole wheat if you have a wierdo living in your house
that insists even cookies have to be healthier)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt, (kosher or sea is best)
a generous pinch of cinnamon.

mix dry ingredients into butter, sugar, egg mixture just until incorporated. Do not overmix.

gently stir in 3/4 cup chopped walnuts and 1 or so cups each of chocolate chips and butterscotch chips.

Put generous tablespoonfuls of cookie dough onto a baking sheet about 3 inches apart and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 12-14 minutes. Allow to cool on the sheet a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Be adventurous, use different kinds of nuts, I like sweetened coconut flakes. If using salted nuts though, use a little less of the actual salt in the recipe.

Peanut butter chips and white chocolte chips are also fantastic substitutions!

Making an old chair new(er)

2010-08-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

Some 25 years ago I rescued 4 pieces of furniture from a barn in Wyoming. One piece is stamped with "Old Hickory, Hendersonville, Indiana." It looks like the company still exists, though in Shelbyville. The original seats and backs were rotted away so I used some cotton clothesline rope to weave new seats. It was all I could think of at the time.
Not a great solution, but it's lasted all these years. For years I've been thinking I should learn to weave rush chair seats, but never got around to it. I've seen chairs with shaker tape seats, but hadn't really thought about it much. Several weeks ago I scored a huge piece of denim at the thrift shop. I'd been collecting old jeans, but haven't gotten around to weaving a rug out them yet. Yesterday i decided to use the denim and weave a new seat for one of the chairs. I cut the material into 3"/7.5cm wide strips.

Sewed the ends together, folded them in half, folded the edges to the middle and stitched this into a 3/4"/1.75cm wide "tape".

To add a little extra padding to the seat I mixed together oak shavings from my surface planer with some loom waste and stuffed it into a fabric envelope.

About half way across the seat as you're winding on the "warp" you tuck the pad in between the two layers of tape and continue to wind on the warp. I used only the large piece of denim for the warp and then used the old Jeans scraps for the weft.

Splices are done on the bottom of the seat. The use of a thimble is highly recommended!

With the seat complete I proceeded to cut off the cotton clothesline from the back. I love my old hunting knife.

I couldn't resist. I had a piece of heavy weight red cotton twill and decided to use it to jazz things up a bit. The front porch never looked so cheerful.

Next up, the love seat. If you were a fan of "Green Acres", you'll recognize this as same make of love seat that the Ziffels had on their front porch, Arnold courted Susy Hainey on that love seat.

I may need to take a few weeks off before I tackle that though.

To market, to market... a grocery bag.

2010-08-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

Portland is considering banning plastic grocery bags. I agree, the litter they create is immense. I cannot, however, endorse the use of paper bags. The line of trees left along the highways does not hide the miles and miles of deforested land behind them.
I decided to revist the traditional european string shopping bag. I looked around on the internet and found some knit or crochet option patterns. I took that info and came up with this.

I had a 5 pound cone of 12 ply cotton/ poly string. I weighed my finished bag and had 8 ounces/.25 kg. Any cotton, hemp, linen string would be acceptable.
I used a 24 inch/60cm size 6US/4mm and a US10 1/2/6.5mm circular needle. I would probably use a size US9/5.5mm on my next one though.
The bag holds a lot.

On the smaller needle, cast on 42 stitches, knit about 4inches/10cm in garter stitch.

Pick up and knit 20 stitches on the short edge, then the 42 stitches on the long edge, and 21 stitches on the final short edge.

One could, alternatively, use a provisional cast on.

There should be a total of 125 stitches.

Knit 3 or 4 rows in the round.

Change to the larger needle and knit 1 row.
Begin pattern.

I opted for; yarn over, knit 2 together through back loop/twice, knit 2.

One could also do ; yarn over, knit 2 together. Any lace pattern is going to work if you do the math right.

Just keep going until you have about 10 inches/26cm of bag.

Switch back to the smaller needle and knit about an inch. Do garter stitch for an half or so inch.

Final row. (based on my count, your count will be based on your pattern and numbers)

knit 6, the distance from bag sides to handle. Knit 8, the handle stitches. Bind off looseley 14 stitches using a larger needle. On the working needle knit 8 handle stitches, the 6 handle to side stitches, the 20 side stitches and another 6 side to handle stitches, total of 32 stitches. Knit another 6 stitches and then 8 handle stitches. With the larger needle bind off 14 stitches. Working needle now knits 8 handle stitches. Knit the remaining stitches, 6 handle to side, 21 side and 6 more side to handle. You should be back to the first 8 handle stitches. Knit these back and forth in garter stitch for 12 inches/30cm. Measure the 12 inches/30cm with the handle band stretched out. place the handle on top of the next 8 stitches so that after binding off you will be able to continue on without breaking off the string. Do a 3 needle bind off of the 8 handle stitches.

With larger needle bind off 32 stitches. Knit the second handle to match the first, attach with 3 needle bind off. Bind off remaining 33 stitches with larger needle. Weave in and secure the loose ends.

experimentation

2010-08-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

Using up random materials and trying out a new weaving technique yielded this rug. 24x52 inches/ 61x132 cm.
Die Ausnutzungen verschiedene Materie und die Ausprobierung ein neuer Webtechnik ergab Dieser "Trasmatta". 61x132cm.

Out with the old.

2010-07-31T14:15:00.000-07:00

The complaint was that this old wooden clothes drying rack was staining the white t-shirts and underwear. I'm not surprised, it has been around collecting dust and grime for years.
I was going to just build a new based on the old one but looked around and found these plans.
The wood dimensions seemed a bit flimsy to me though. I used 5/8" dowels and 3/4x1 1/2" supports. I also decided to not go to the all the trouble of shouldering the dowels and just did everything with 5/8" holes. I figure that if the supports slide along the dowels too much I can always pin them with 1/4 pegs later. I also used 4' rather than 3 foot dowels.

It was a little tricky getting all the parts in the right places. But I finally got it right.

Now I have a fresh new and much roomier drying rack for the laundry room.

I just need to wash some laundry now, hang it to dry instead of using the machine, and watch those energy savings pile up.

After weeks of sulking...

2010-07-25T17:22:00.000-07:00

...because I was told that my projects were too messy to be worked on out in the garden because it made it too embarrassing to have freinds over, I finally went in to the woodshop and began a project. I have been using a chair piled with pillows and folded up blankets to sit on while weaving. It's time to actually build a taller chair. This chair will be based more on the welsh stick chair, images, instructions for the adventurous, than a windsor chair, the style just suits me, personally better.
Several weeks ago I went to the log yard and picked up some elm that Joolz had set aside for me.
He harvests trees in Portland, mills them and resells them to be used for building projects. Yet another Portland "green" company, and totally to my liking.
He also had a nice piece of oak cut off that I also took thinking it might be nice for making crest rails. I unloaded it off the top of the car and split it out on the sidewalk.
Today I used the draw knife and shaving horse to rough out the legs. It's definitely not as nice as working on the shaving horse out in the garden, but it's an age old tradition to suffer for one's art;-D

The seat will be some 26"/66cm above the floor, a good 9"/23cm higher than most chairs. I've already determined that I would like the leg tenons to be a full inch/3cm in diameter where they pierce the seat instead of the 5/8" /1.6cm of the previous 2 chairs, chair 1, chair 2. This means that I will need a new tenon shaver as well. Based on my Elia Bizzarri tenon rounder and using a scrap of maple from building the face plate for my bench vise,( for some reason I never did translate that particular entry into english, if you don't do german, just enjoy the pictures). The blade will be a Kunz spokeshave blade. I'll let you know how it turns out. Using a taper reamer in maple is a bit of a task, but didn't take as long as I feared.

More later as progress warrants.

sectional beam warping

2010-07-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

I know some of are very unfamiliar with how my loom is warped. I found a video on the Leclrec loom site. Just scroll down the page to the sectional beam warping video and click to play. it is a 15 minute video, though only about the first 10-12 minutes deal with the warping on.

Cool pig

2010-07-09T20:15:00.001-07:00

When it gets this hot I have to do something to cool off the Ollie pig.
I put a wet towel over her and periodically spritz her with more water. She doesn't mind at all.
I tried the "pigs like mud" theory, no go. This pig doesn't even like her feet to get wet. Much less be smeared with mud. She is used to having something on her back though. After she grew too big and too fast for me to keep knitting sweaters for her, I made her her own blanket to be covered in when she went outside in the cold.
She has still not shed all of her winter bristles, she prefers to sport a Mohawk for a few weeks before shedding all. Unfortunately, where she has shed she is subject to mosquito attacks.
She has been living full time outside for the past 2 or 3 years. Convincing a 200 pound pig to go outside in the rain got to be too much of a hassle. She would go up to 32 hours before I could convince her to go outside. I decided it would be healthier for her to live outside and go potty whenever she decided than to live in the house and go only when I could force her to go outside.
She never peed in her bed when she lived in the house, but now that she has an outside piggy shelter.....

I have actually been doing stuff, even though I have not been posting.

2010-06-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

I finally used up all the warp that I had wound onto the loom. I had a lot of problems though with the warp tension going more and more uneven as I progressed. Rather than saying that it was the inexperienced weavers fault, I decided that the 90 year old worn out loom parts were to blame and decided to replace this particular piece. The sectional warping beam.
I did not want to pay the price for Maple as was probably used for the original, so I bought Poplar. Milled it to size and nailed and glued it up.

I really wanted to do something more like the metal section dividers of the Lerclerc loom, but could not find anything readily available to make that happen, something along the lines of a large stainless steel fence staple.

I decided to go along with the original design until I find what I would rather have, retrofitting shouldn't be too much of a problem. So, 3/8" dowel sharpened in the pencil sharpener and then cut to length, x76. When was the last tiome one of you sharpened 76 pencils in a row?

A light sanding with 22o grit sandpaper, x 76.

And now it's time to quit and drink beer for the rest of the evening.

I did contact Clayton Boyer though, an incredible designer and builder of wooden gear clocks.
His wife is a fiber artist and he has designed some items for her. I challenged him to design plans for a specific piece that I would dearly love to have, but don't have the mechanical abilities necessary to design myself. A geared device that can twist 2 strands of rags together and, in the same operation, with the use of only one crank, then wind it into a ball. We'll see if he can come up with such a plan. If anyone can, it's him. He's a wooden gear and device genius.

That then leaves me with the question; "can I follow his plans"?

The wood is starting to tell me...

2010-05-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

... What kind of a chair it wants to be. It turns out that it wants to be a bit different than what I had in mind for it. It wants to be more rustic and natural. Maybe not THIS rustic, but definitely not refined. Looks like I'll need to go out and find a more appropriate piece of seat wood than what I have on hand.
Der Holz fingt an, mir zu erzählen was für ein Stuhl er will werden. Nicht genau was ich plannte, eher primitiv und natur gemass. Da muss ich jetzt ein Sitzbrett aussuchen der mehr geeignet ist als was ich schon habe.

The black locust tree was cut down last year and is truthfully now too dry for this technique, but I can still work with it. It is also more knotty than is preferred. My wood guy and I are just getting to know one another though and he seems to have an understanding of what I'm doing and should be able to supply me with wood more suited to my needs in the future, which reminds me, he was looking at felling an Elm last week, I need to call him.

Das Blacklocustbaum war im vergangene Jahr gefällt und wirklich ist schon zu ausgetrocknet für dies Technik aber ich kann noch damit was anfangen. Er ist auch knotiger als gemöcht. Mein Holzmann und ich aber nur angefangen haben uns zu kennen, er schaint aber zu verstehen was ich tue und soll zukunftiger mir ausstatten können mit was ich brauche. Da erinnere ich, er hat ein Ulm angeschaut dass er fallen würde, ich muss ihm anrufen.

(click on any image to enlarge it)

I have the two arms and crest rail roughed out. I really want to keep the rustic edge of darker wood even though I know it isn't really very sound wood, but then I'm not an expert chairmaker and am allowed to do things "wrong". (can you see the mischevious smile of the creative rather than technique oriented guy?)
Die 2 Armlehne und der Gipfelkamm sind schon grob entworfen. Ich will den dunkler Holz am Randen haben, auch wenn ich weiss das er nicht genau vernünftig ist. Ich bin aber kein Expert und kann was "falsch" tun. (könnt ihr der schelmischer Lächeln der eher kreativ als techniker Mann hier sehen?)
I have also built a rooting frame for rooting cuttings from various trees and shrubs from around the garden. Hopefully some of the cuttings will strike and turn into potential material for future bonsai. It's an old cement mixing trough that had gotten holes in it. I built up a wooden frame on top of it and have an old window over it to create a kind of mini greenhouse.

Ich habe auch ein Minipflanzhaus gebaut worin ich hoffe die Abschneidungen von Bäumer und Buschen Wurzeln zu schlagen würden. Die würden zukunftiger potenzial Bonsai werden.

What's up Lars?

2010-05-09T09:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Geoff and I went to the annual Bonsai exhibit at the Portland Japanese gardens.

I've been collecting some tree and shrub seedlings from around our garden. maybe some day a couple of them will have the potential to become Bonsai.
Meanwhile I've knocked together some old scrap wood into molds for making some paper/cement training pots.
I'll do a post later on the pots.

I've also got my log soaking to keep it wet until I start making chair parts.
And I'm warming up the soil to get ready tp put in the tomatoes.
I've almost used up the warp I have on the loom and will soon be able to wind on a new one, one which will hopefully be evenly tensioned across the loom.

It's spring you know, it's time to get involved with as many projects as possible;D

wood fibers

2010-05-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

It's spring, it will soon be time to hang out in the yard after work and on weekends. Naturally any red blooded guys thoughts turn to woodworking at this time of year. I went to a local wood yard this morning and came away with a chunk of black locust wood.

Let's see how it splits out.

This is a selection of similar versions of my goal.
I'll let you all know how it goes.

For my sister on a tragic annivesary.

2010-04-29T21:12:00.000-07:00

It's been 3 years as of today, and I'm sure the pain of her 19 year old daughters death is as fresh as it was then. I only hope that the joy she has in raising her grandson, son of her dead daughter, helps her live on.
Containment
I've heard it said that an object one makes with their own hands absorbs and retains the thoughts and feelings of the maker for all eternity. I look now at the ceramic jar, with lid, that I made so long ago and try to remember when I made it. Was it after the funeral of my mother? I think so. What was I thinking when I made it? Did I think of my mother, the funeral, the get together afterwards with family and the inherent weirdness that comes from such events?I know for sure that I made this vessel before my grandmother died, and before my oldest sisters boy drowned in the river. I could not attend either of these funerals. The jar however was in my younger sisters house through both of these occasions. Can anon-sentient object continue to absorb the psychic energy that flows daily from the sentient beings around it?I made the jar on a pottery wheel, the process of which creates a round vessel. While it was still wet I took boards and pushed in the sides to make it somewhat square. In creating something do we try to force a thing in to a shape that reflects our need to change our own lives? What emotional pressure did I exert while exerting the physical pressures required to push the inherent roundness of this vessel into a squarer shape? Did I secretly, or perhaps not so secretly, try to gain some control over the life that was going on around me? Is artistic endeavor a way of dealing with what Life has or has not given me? Now, I watch as the vessel I made is lowered into the ground by nephew and niece, my younger sisters children, two young adults having their last physical contact with their sister.A vessel is made to contain things, ashes or memories, secrets that it now takes with it to the grave.

What? You're surprised it's still about rugs?

2010-04-05T21:46:00.000-07:00

Sewing up measured sequences of rag strips for a symetrically planned rug

Winding them on to shuttles and placing them in order, left to right.

Thinking about what to do next. So many choices.

Maybe one in purples, or maybe one using primary red, blue,yellow, etc as in this former Mickey Mouse curtain?

Okay, one more time

2010-04-04T21:53:00.001-07:00

I have restrung the loom. Unfortunately I have two separate "original" booklets on how it should be done. One instructed me to wind on 20 threads per section to weave at 8 ends per inch. This didn't make sense, but I did it. It looked wrong when I got to the point of beginning to weave so I double checked, looking at both booklets. The second booklet said wind on 16 threads per 2 inch section, this made a lot more sense, but I already had 30 yards of warp wound on at 20 per section for 12 sections. I decided to go with the the 10 threads per inch and wound on 2 more sections to reach my desired 28 inch width. I didn't manage to thread the warp tensioning box exactly the same though, and the 2 new, outside sections are a little looser than the 12 others. Not Good! But I'm limping along until I've used up this warp.
One rug is finished, 26 by 60 inches, yeah, the 28 inch desired width narrowed down to 26, that's a technicality that I still need some practice on.
It's kind of a somber rug though, color wise, so my next one is something a little brighter.

I also added an overhead shuttle rack to the loom. The original would have been more solid, but I'm working on a budget here and used what I had in the shop, plus $3.

Not there yet

2010-03-29T21:24:00.001-07:00

After almost a week of working on the loom itself, (related reading Here , and Here). I was ready to wind on the warp this weekend. It didn't go well and I had to rethink how it could be done, (related story here) . Success! I got the warp wound on, 30 yards/27.4 meters.
I then threaded all 240 threads through separate heddles and then sleyed, (scroll down a little) them through the reed. (Note, the author of the sleying entry threads their loom from front to back, my loom is done back to front, so all their steps in warping the loom are the reverse of what happens on my loom.)
I tied the warp on to the lease stick,
wove a couple of inches with old loom waste and string to spread the warp threads evenly,
wrapped the chosen colored rags on shuttles,

and commenced to weave.

I'm not pleased. I'm using 8 threads per inch/3.2 per cm, 1 up - 1 down and find the resulting rug just too thin. I think I'll go back and rethread the heddles to 2 up - 2 down and try again.

A lot of work to reach a point where you realize you need to go back and do it over sure, but, better to fix the problem now than to try and go forward to an end result that you already know is going to be a disappointment.

Back to the drawing board.

2010-03-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

After attempting to warp on following the original instructions, from some 80 years ago, as well as missing some loom parts and having to guess at what they might look like, I ended with tangled and broken threads. I decided to do some more thinking and visited my friend the internet. There I found that most people with a sectional warp beam loom use a detached spool rack and a warp tensioning box. Okay. Into the woodshop to see what scraps I had on hand to come up with these items. Voila...
The woodshop is getting low on scraps but I managed to find the pieces to come up with a spool rack, of course I had to dismantle my original home built loom to use it's leg assembly. I had an assortment of wood doweling, and some T-pins. The base of the tensioning box is oak and the side piece is poplar. The idea is that the warp threads come into the box through 1 set of pins and wrap over and under the dowels in a series that adds the right amount of tension, they then feed out through another set of pins and on to the warp beam in the right order.

It seems to be working.

The overview of this set up from the back of the loom.

Now, I need to finish winding on and thread the heddles and sley the reed so I can get on with some weaving.

2 problems solved, on to the next one

2010-03-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, i've built and attached the new treadle brace/ spool rack.
The next problem was how to control the threads as they come off the spools. The original loom would have had a wire with multiple loops bent in several different directions. No clear picture of how it should have looked, and a later edition of the instruction manual stated that the newer versions of this loom were equipped with" a thin board with wire staples". Okay, what? My solution, a board with eye hooks. I don't know yet if it is a good solution. I have to solve the next problem before I know how this solution works.

New Blog discovery.

2010-03-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

A great Blog for the man, or woman who needs advice on doing things, like the death star watermelon.

Man Made (Click on to jump to his blog)

Loom repair

2010-03-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

The part of the loom that I was sure I would have to replace sooner rather than later did break soon.

I can't afford a nice piece of maple to make the part I need so I took a few pieces of old pallet wood from work and made do. As you can see, the original would have also had some holes where "spindles" would have been inserted. These hold the spools of warp thread while you wind on the warp. since my wood is a soft wood, rather than a hard wood, I made the piece thicker than the original.And, since it was such a nice evening out in the garden, I went out there to do part of the work.

Power tools do help speed up the woodworking, but the old handtools are very pleasant to use. No noise, and,well... they are hand tools.

The new piece is shaping up nicely, but that is definitely enough for today. Piggy and dog also want some attention as well.

Got shuttles?

2010-03-22T08:13:00.000-07:00

I had 2 shuttles that I made from a piece of cedar, this next project will require more than that.
Tablesaw,
Drill press,

Band saw,

dremel and sander.

Okay, I've got shuttles; the 2 cedar, 2 oak,3 poplar and 9 makore. It's a good thing that save all my scraps of lumber.

Yep, another rug.

2010-03-20T15:19:00.001-07:00

This one was woven at 10 warp threads per inch. 21x41 inches / 53x104 cm
Up close.

I'm waiting on the new rug warp that I ordered and can't weave until it gets here. So in the meantime I have a little loom repair to do as well as preparing rags for the next rugs.

Cutting them into strips.

Sewing the strips together and winding them into balls.

A rug request

2010-03-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

I have a request for a set of 3 rugs, I'm thinking this will be the pallette. They are for a ladies bedroom.
I have to do a little loom repair before I can begin the project though. The board that the foot treadles are attached to broke in half. I knew it was going to happen sometime and would be the first thing that needed replaced, I just didn't know it would happen so soon.

Uh oh! Look who moved into the guest bedroom today.

2010-02-28T18:27:00.000-08:00

It's a Union Custom Loom. This one has been around for a few years, possibly since they first started making them in 1918. The guy I bought it from had rescued it from an old barn and cleaned it up and reassembled it. It's going to take some fiddling around and a little more tender loving care before it's up and running again. You guys know me though, a woodworking and fiber project combined is my favorite.
P.S. Future Guests, I'll need a little forewarning to shuffle things around and set up the bed for you;)

The latest rug.

2010-02-28T11:55:00.001-08:00

My newest rug.
Mein jungster Geflickteteppich.
Min nya trasmatta.

23x63 inches/58x160cm. just a little larger the previous(the blue/grey one)

The whole collection.

Die ganze Sammlung.

De hela samling.

Building up a stash of rag rug rags

2010-02-22T09:53:00.000-08:00

And there's another pile of old sheets at the other end of the room.

Rug #6

2010-02-16T07:36:00.001-08:00

Just finishing up rug #6. . Thanks to Ulf's advice the edges are a little more even.
It measures 22x52 inches/ 56x132cm.

The left edge is bit longer than the right, the warp strings were somehow a little looser along there. I need to learn how to warp the loom more evenly.

The weaving room

2010-02-08T09:35:00.001-08:00

Min vävstuga. Meine Webstube.
(click on fotos for enlargement)
In the background the 60+ lbs./@30kg of old bedsheets for the weaving rags. On the loom the new rug for in front of the Door. Below, the rug finished.
It's a little bit narrower on one end. I still need to work on that, but I am learning. I am also trying to think out how to make extra heddles/ harnesses for this loom so that I can do twill weaving. I need to find somewhere that has a loom set up so that I can see how they work.

Table place mats.

2010-02-01T13:25:00.001-08:00

Using Partners old blue workshirts and an assortment of fabric scraps I wove up 4 place mats for the dining table.
My original intention was to make 6, but I had problems keeping an even tension in that length of warp string and gave up after 4. Maybe later I'll do the other 2, I do still have the fabric strips ready for them.
The next project will be a rug using torn sheet as the warp threads. i went to the goodwill bin store where they sell old clothes by the pound. When I went to the register they weighed my cart and I had 66 pounds/ around 30 kilos of old bed sheets. That's going to be a lot of rugs;D

The first rug is off the new loom

2010-01-19T12:32:00.001-08:00

Made from Flannel scraps, sheets and shirts on cotton string it measures 22"x54" (56cmx137cm). Large enough to absorb lots of mud and rain from any puppy paw that has to walk over it to get back in the house ;)
While building the loom I also built a knitting frame to use my T-shirt scraps. It makes a nice thick double knit fabric, but frankly, I'm not that impressed with the process. Hooking the preceding loops up over the new loops is tedious. It's probably easier than knitting such a large heavy piece on really long big needles but I think I'll stick to woven rag rugs.
The piece is 30"/76cm wide, which will probably end up being it's length as I think I'm just going a couple more inches and binding off. Been there, done that, moving on.

The Loom is finished, for now.

2010-01-18T09:33:00.000-08:00

I finished the loom over the weekend. I put some pegs on the bottom of the back to use as a warping board, you have to sit on the floor to do it, but it works. there are a few things that need to be improved on, but overall it seems to work fairly well.

I started building a loom today.

2010-01-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

It is pretty specific to rag rug weaving but is looking good so far.

More here.

Rag Rug, Part two

2010-01-08T10:13:00.000-08:00

After getting some advice I ripped out the first rug weaving attempt and started over. The result is the one on the floor. The hanging rug is my second rug and I am now working on the third one. Between rugs number 2 and 3 I discovered what heddle bars and shed sticks are for so this one is going even faster.

I feel almost secure enough to now build a more advanced vertical floor loom. Something along the lines of this.
But a lot less expensive. I have most of the materials needed on hand in my woodshop, I just need to figure out the design of the loom based on what I have to work with.

(click on photo for enlarged view)

Question for the weavers

2009-12-31T10:00:00.000-08:00

Partner was complaining the other day that there were not enough rag rugs to always have a clean one on hand for when the dog goes out and in. Portland is really wet in the winter.
I of course immediately began thinking on how to turn all my old fabric scraps and worn out clothes into rugs. I know almost nothing about weaving but was willing to give it a go. As my mind worked on solving problems that were occurring there I began knitting a rug from old T-shirts, (see below). I wasn't really pleased with the resulting fabric but was having problems resolving the issue of joining the strips end to end without having to stop and sew them on as I went. A single long strip sewn together beforehand seemed like a bad idea as there would then be a lot of "tail" to pull through with each pass through the loom and I didn't want to build a complicated loom. I finally stumbled on to the idea of slitting the end of each strip and then joining the kind of like joining two loops. No bulky knots!
For the loom I just took 4 boards, two of which were drilled with pilot holes every 1/2 inch and screwed those two to the other two. A double strand of string was then strung on to the frame and with the use of a bamboo "collar pointer" weaving commenced.

I'm getting an "hourglass" shape thing going on though. Should the nails be closer together? Is there a trick I need to know to avoid this situation?

Here's the knit rug start. It's old T-shirts cut in continuous spirals and wound up as "yarn" and garter stitch knit on size 11 U.S. needles.

so far this fall...

2009-11-11T13:32:00.001-08:00

...1 scarf, 1 hat and two pairs of mittens. All of which are already very much needed. It's chilly out there.

prototype puppy pullover for Pepper

2009-11-09T10:24:00.000-08:00

The shaping and sizing are a little off, but now I have the info to go ahead and rewrite the pattern to fit better.

I'm delusional, again. / Wiedermal bin ich selbsttäuschend.

2009-10-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

(Deutsch nach dem englisch)
Yes boys and girls it's that time of year again. The time of year when we courageous, yet foolish, knitters tell ourselves that we can do it this time. We CAN knit a sweater that the man that lurks in our lives will not only like, but also will actually wear.
This time I've decided on a sort of hybridized Nordic cardigan with a more Cowichan inspired motif.
The details are still fuzzy, I'll work it out as I go.
The colors I'd envisioned were a dark and a light grey, with blue, mustard, rust and burgundy accents. At the yarn store I bought light and dark brown with light and dark green and rust accent colors. I apparently left my brain in the car when I went into the store and instead of buying 600 to 700 grams of the primary color I bought that many yards. My secondary color was one they had only one skein of on hand, but hey, they would order more for me. I also forgot that I didn't have the correct needle that I thought I'd need. This morning after realizing my temporary lapse of cognitive thinking, I mean by that the yarn error, not the fact that I am knitting a sweater for a man who will just put it in the closet forever and ever, I called my LYS to see if they had more of the yarn on hand. They didn't. Luckily I found both colors I need at Angelika's website. Less than an hour after ordering she e-mailed to say that it was already in the post and on it's way1 Thanks Angelika!

Ja Kinners, es ist noch wieder an dem Zeit worauf wir mutig, aber auch narrisch, Strickern uns selbsttäuschen und uns sagen dass wir können es dieses Mal tun. Wir können ja ein Pulli für den Mann der in unsere Leben rumlungert stricken. Ein Pulli der er wird nicht nur mögen, aber auch tragen.
Dieses mal habe ich mich entscheidet es soll ein Cardigan sein so wie so, teilweise Nordic und auch Cowichan inspiriert. Die Details sollen/werden sie sich erst Später erklären.
Die Farben die ich im Sinnesbild hatte waren dunkel und auch hell Grau, dazu blau, senf und burgundy betonungfarben. Was ich kaufte waren hell und dunkel Braun, dazu hell und dunkel Grün und Rost. Wahrscheinlich, als ich im Laden ging, hinterlasste ich mein Gehirn im Auto. Statt 600-700 Gram der primärfarbe Garn zu kaufen, kaufte ich 600-700 Meter. Mein Wahl für Zweitfarbe hatten sie nur eine Balle, Na, die könnten doch mehr bestellen. Ich vergass auch dass ich brauchte die richtige Nadel.
Heutmorgen als ich merkte meine temporär Sinnungsunfähigkeit, über die Garnfarben meine ich, nicht um dass ich wollte ein Pulli stricken der würdet nur im Schrank sitzen, rief ich der Laden an und fragte ob es gab noch mehr Garn. Leider nicht. Glücklicherweise fand ich ein Website dass nicht nur beide Farben hatte aber binnen ein Stunde waren sie schon verpackt und unterweg, Danke Angelika.

I can't seem to get a really good picture...

2009-10-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

...of the tablecloth I recently finished.
It is knit from Karabella vintage cotton, color #309 on US8,5mm, needles.
The design is based on 3 Herbert Niebling designs.
The finished size is 108 inches, 2.75 meters, across and weighs 3.5 pounds, 1.5 kg. My estimate is about 4200 yards, 3900 meters, of yarn were used. I lost track of how many skeins I ended up buying. Probably around 30. Luckily the dye lot never changed.

How can anyone resist...

2009-10-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

... using autumn colors for some project? I'm making either gloves or mittens.

No Posts, but I am knitting

2009-07-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago I finally recieved my portfolios of Herbert Niebling patterns and promptly started knitting. There wasn't a pattern that fit exactly what I was looking for, a large circular tablecloth for Partner, so I started with the center of "heinke, transitioned into "Dahlie" then "Edith". I now have about 1000 stitches on the needle per round and still have a ways to go. I forget how many balls of Karabella Vintage cotton I've purchased so far. I may eventually just give up and bind the dang thing off and call it good enough, not yet, eventually.

Arminée with corrections

2009-03-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

The Arminée Shawl

2009-03-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

See corrected version here.
I used Elsebeth Lavold silky wool, charcoal colored, 3 1/2 skeins, and size 7 U.S. needles.

Errata - if counting rows as odd only, row 11 should have a yarn over before and after the center pivot column, it's the 6th row up from the beginning. Thanks Dennis!
The interlocking Diamond modules should also have a left decrease after the yarn over at the "bottle neck". the 4th Module up on the right should also have the same stitches as all the other modules. dang, it's hard to rewrite these things from your notes into a legible chart.

The Arminée Scarf

2009-03-26T13:10:00.000-07:00

Adaptation of a stitch pattern from Lisl Fanderls "Bäuerliches Stricken" books.
There is also a larger triangular Shawl version, I only have my handwritten chart for that though. I'll publish that pattern when I get it charted up legibly. My beautiful assistant Maisie helped me block it on the Attic floor.
Click on Image to see it larger.

Oooops, forgot to say that I used Elsebeth Lavold silky wool on size U.S. 8, 5mm needles.

Dog Hair Blanket

2009-03-09T09:56:00.000-07:00

A friend in Wyoming who had a half Coyote dog had saved the hair from brushings and wanted a blanket knit from the yarn that she had made from it. I gamely went along and even knitted outside while spending time with my dog and the pig. It was such a big project that I wanted to work as much as possible and get it done with.
Using a shawl pattern from MMario over at Men Who Knit.
I cast on for 4 shawls and knit in the round from the center out. It got really big.
Maisie was kind enough to pose with the finished blanket. I imagine her fur would yield a very similar yarn.
A detail shot.
In order though, to show how big it really is, Partner also stood by it.
I told you it got really big.

Rust scarf

2009-01-23T17:43:00.001-08:00

Cascade 220 on size U.S. 8 needles.Cast on 28.Knit 6 rows garter stitch.Slip1,k5,yo,k2tog.tbl,p2,yo,p2tog,k2,yo,k2togtbl,p2,yo,p2tog,k2,yo,k2togtbl,k4repeat this row over and over until you have the length you want.knit 5 rows garter stitch and bind off.

The Green scarf/ der grüne Schal.

2009-01-16T10:49:00.000-08:00

*X*O*X*O ,
*X*O*X*O ,
*X*O*X*O ,
OO*X*OOO ,
O*SOZ*OO ,
O=Knit/Recht Masche
S=knit 2 together/2 zusammen rechts
Z= knit together through back loop/ 2 zusammen, verdreht
X= knit 3 together/ 3 zusammen rechts
*= yarn over/ Umschlag

Cast on multiples of 8, I did 40. 4 stitches on each side are the border, these will always be a knit.
Slip the first stitch on every row.
Knit garter stitch for 6 rows.

Row 1: Begin pattern, working from bottom right. (read chart from right to left, bottom to top.)
Row 2,4,6,8,10,etc. Knit or purl as stitch indicates, I just worked them all as knit stitches.
Continue pattern.
Finish with 6 garter stitch rows.

Aufschlag so viele Maschen die durch 8 teilbar sind. Bei mir war es 40.
4 Maschen am Beide Ende sind Randmaschen, die sind immer rechts gestrickt.
An jede Reihe hebe die erste Masche nur ab.
Stricke 6 Reihe mit rechte Maschen.

Reihe 1: Fing mit der Muster an. Arbeite von unten rechts. ( lese die Karte von rechts nach links, unten nach oben.
Reihe 2,4,6,8,10, u.s.w. Stricke die Maschen wie sie sich zeigen. Ich habe die Alle nur als rechts Maschen abgestrickt.
Weiter machen nach der Muster.
mach der Schal denn mit 6 Reihe rechts Maschen fertig.

I've not been entirely idle.

2009-01-14T13:10:00.000-08:00

Someone over on the Men Who Knit site was looking for a simple hat pattern, so, here's my basic hat instructions, the variation possibilities are endless.

Cast on multiples of 6 stitches. I generally go for 96 on size 8 DPN.
Knit 1, purl 1 or K2,P2, or K2, P1, your choice of ribbing for however far you want it to go up the hat.
If you want the ribbing to turn up like in the picture work ribbing for 2 inches and purl 1 row as a crease line.
After you have about 4 inches of the hat "body" start working the decreases. I generally put in a decorative row or two at his point to transition from what ever stitch pattern I'm using, i.e. cables, before going in to the decreases. I often use the "braid" as described in this entry.
The decreases are worked every other row. divide number of stitches by 6 and knit two together where this number falls,
for example; 96 divided by 6 = 16, so every 15th and 16th stithes are knit together.
knit 1 row
next row every 14th and 15th stitches are knit together
etc.
when you're down to 5 or 6 stitches between dividing points work the decrease every round.
when you have only 6 stitches left on the needles break off the yarn, thread it through remaining stitches, pull through to inside and weave in.
Weave in any loose ends.
You have a hat.

Sewing a vest

2008-12-17T09:42:00.000-08:00

Partner recently lost some weight and wants new vests that are more flattering to his current figure. The shape and style needed to be somewhere between these two and sort of like this pattern.

I pulled this pattern out of the file...
... and traced it out in the size I thought appropriate, without seam allowances.
I then redrew some of the lines to reflect how he wanted the vest to look.

Using scrap fabric I then sewed together a test vest, adding seam allowances only at the shoulder and sides. I then pinned it where it needed more adjustments.
The shoulders needed a little more slope to them.
And it needed to be a little smaller across the front.
He has said that he wanted it to be short, but I convinced him it should be a little longer than he thought and lengthened it. Don't forget to do both front and back when making longer or shorter.
Make a second tracing of the front and cut it at about 1/3 to 2/3.
Now cut two front facings and two interfacings from the smaller 1/3, remembering to add seam allowances. And two front linings from the larger piece. Sew the front facings and interfacings to the lining and press open.
Cut two pieces of back from the lining fabric and sew in the darts, pressing the darts towards the center on one and towards the edges on the other.
Right sides together sew the two fronts to one of the backs at the shoulders, same with the front linings and the other back. A proper vest should have no fewer than 10 seperate pieces. Depending on whether there are pockets and /or collars and back straps this number can easily double.
Right sides together sew the inside of the vest to the outside leaving the sides open.
Clip all curves and corners carefully.
Turn vest inside out through the shoulders.
Press flat using a presssing cloth if necessary to avoid damaging the fabric.
Through the back pull the sides from one side inside out, pin and sew.
Press flat and sew the othe side as far as possible on the machine and finish stitching by hand.

Edge stitch along all edges.Mark the buttonholes on the left front and work them.
Add the buttons and make sure that partner has it properly buttoned BEFORE taking the picture.
Back view.
I left out some photos to keep the post shorter, if something needs clarified please feel free to contact me.

Deswegen, because he wanted this.

Knitwear for men.

2008-11-11T14:36:00.000-08:00

Here's the pattern.

Picture and idea stolen from Justin, his blog entry here.

The G.ee W.hiz I geuss it's a Bush hat

2008-11-02T14:31:00.000-08:00

Start with an idea but no real plan as to how to make it work.

Size 8 U.S. Needles/ 5mm

Cascade 220 yarn.

Cast on 108 stitches.

Join into a round and work k2, p2 ribbing for 2 inches/ 5cm twisting all the knit stitches. (knit through back of loop).

This yarn was originally a sock that I started and wasn't working out so well so I ripped it out and rewound it not bothering to take out the stripes.

In the hat the stripes didn't really work out all that great but let's not fix it, let's just keep going as if everything is okay. we didn't really have a plan to start with so just keep going.

Begin pattern rows;

Row 1. Begins between the first 2 K stitches. Place a marker.

Bring the yarn forward, slip the next K stitch and P stitch onto the right needle, bring the left needle forward and through the k stitch, slip both stitches off the right needle letting the purl stitch dangle in mid air before catching it back up onto the right needle. insert left needle into P stitch and purl. Bring yarn to the back and K next stitch. (twisted, ktbl)

Now slip the next p stitch and K stitch onto the right needle, bring left needlebehind the work and through the P stitch, slip them off the right needle letting the K stitch dangle before catching it up with the right needle. Insert left needle and K this stitch, p1. Repeat to end of round.

Row 2. knit or Purl the stitches as they are. All Knit stitches are still twisted.

Row 3. P1, cross the 2 k stitches and knit them similar to above instructions, P1. Repeat to end of round.

Row 4. Repeat row 2.

Row 5. as row 1 but the K and P stitches move in opposite directions.

Keep repeating these 4 rows until you have about 5 inches/ 12 cm

Doesn't that make a lovely trellis pattern?

Now it's time to start the decreases.

Decide that you cast on 100 stitches, DO NOT go back and count.

100 divides well by 4, but is 4 decreases per round enough? Probably not. 100 doesn't divide by 6 but it does divide by 5. Pentagonal is good! okay every 20 stitches k 2 together, or in my case it happened to be P 2 together.

Hmmm... there are extra stitches at the end of the round. Do NOT go back and fix it, just keep going as if everything is okay. Decrease every other round staying in Pattern as much as possible, don't worry that it's not really working out evenly or well. Fumble forward! When you have 70 stitches left on the needles you'll realize that you're very confused and your lovely trellis is a mess. Don't stop and fix anything. Go back to your friend the pentagon, forget about the Trellis pattern you intended, knit all stitches twisted, you started with twisted stitches and by golly you're going to finish with the twisted stitches, decreasing evenly 5 stitches per round every round until you have 5 stitches left.

Break off yarn, thread it through the remaining 5 stitches pull tail through to the inside and weave it in. weave in the cast on tail and you're finished.

The most important thing to remember with this hat is to never acknowledge the bad judgement calls, ignore erorrs, don't fix anything, just keep going as if everything is okay.

Buddy Bärs

2008-10-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

Almost finished. Fast fertig.

Ta Da! And it matches my fireplace. Und, es passt zu mein Kamin.

Detail.
Rückseite. From the back.
U.S. #8 nneddles. 5mm Nadeln.
Elsebeth Lavold silky wool, double strand. Doppelfaden.

Percentage method.

Steeking.

Chart for bears from "Enchanted knitting", Catherine Cartwright-Jones and Roy Jones.

Cardigan Pullunder

2008-10-01T09:28:00.001-07:00

Using my standard percentage method, I knit this cardigan on size 8 US /5mm needles with Cascade 220 yarn. The front and armhole openings were steeked.

Slippers/ Latschen

2008-09-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

Using Fibre trends felted clog pattern #AC-33x
I've knit 2 pairs of slippers with Cascade 220 yarn.
I use a U.S. size 10 1/2 (6 1/2mm)instead of the recommended U.S. 13 (9mm). it's less work to felt them that way.
Here you can see the 2 new pair with an old one that is the desired size.
Instead of using energy that is hard on the environment I felt by hand using a bucket and a toilet plunger, new and used only for this purpose. A little bit of mild detergent and some hot water and a lot of Lars energy. I do change the water 2 or 3 times during the process, it still only takes 3 or 4 gallons of hot water instead of however many gallons it takes to fill and run the washing machine 3 or 4 times.

After about 30 minutes one pair is shrinking faster than the other pair. For some reason some colors felt less than others, always do a swatch and test this, unless you're me and just take a chance. So, more work on the one pair.

Finally they're all about the right size and can be stuffed with T-shirts and shaped and left to dry. It usually takes about 3 days for them to dry, I take the T-shirts out after a day.

Around my house the slippers get holes in the bottom after a few months of use so I sew on the leather soles available through Fibre Trends.

I think they're a little overpriced though and this time bought some inexpensive leather and cut out my own soles. i have an old leather punch so it's no problem for me to make my own.

...a lesson in English

2008-09-07T14:01:00.000-07:00

...Noch jemand hier, der sein Englisch verbessern möchte...???
...Mir kann es für diesen Blog jedenfalls nicht schaden...

1. Englisch für Anfänger:

(for beginners)

Drei Hexen schauen sich drei Swatch Uhren
an. Welche Hexe schaut welche Swatch Uhr an?

Und nun das Ganze in Englisch...:

Three witches watch three swatch watches.
Which witch watches which swatch watch?

---

2. Englisch für Fortgeschrittene:

(advanced english)

Drei geschlechtsumgewandelte Hexen schauen
sich drei Swatch Uhrenknöpfe an. Welche
geschlechtsumgewandelte Hexe schaut sich
welchen Swatch Uhrenknopf an?

Das Ganze wieder in Englisch...:

Three switched witches watch three Swatch
watch switches. Which switched witch watches
which Swatch watch switch?

---

3. Englisch im Endstadium:

(at the end)

Drei Schweizer Hexen-Schlampen, die sich
wünschen geschlechtsumgewandelt zu sein,
schauen sich Schweizer Swatch Uhrenknöpfe
an. Welche Schweizer Hexen-Schlampe, die sich
wünscht geschlechtsumgewandelt zu sein,
schaut sich welchen Schweizer Swatch
Uhrenknopf an?

Und nochmal in Englisch...:

Three swiss witch-bitches, which wished to
be switched swiss witch-bitches, wish to watch
three swiss Swatch watch switches. Which
swiss witch-bitch which wishes to be a
switched swiss witch-bitch, wishes to watch
which swiss Swatch watch switch?

Easy, oder?

Die Herbststürme nahen...

2008-09-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

Es wird kalt und windig. Ostfriesland, zieh Dich warm an!

Paperfibers aren't not very applicative on stormy weather...
Wrap up warmly, East Frisia...!!!

Willste nicht bald mal wieder was stricken, Lars? Papierfasern sind nicht so sehr geeignet für stürmische Tage...

Waiting for new trousers / Eine Hose für Harm

2008-08-14T05:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I took my sewing machine and sat down to finish new trousers for Harm.
Do you remember?

He can't be without cigarettes. Until waiting he told me about East Frisian peculiarities. The Frisians are a very specialy race. There exist a lot of jokes about them.

Now Harm is nearly finished and only waiting for the stick on his Hand, what will help, to move his arm. It's a shame, that he's only a puppet... . Now I must go on, to complet his buddies.
It's desolate for an East Frisian Farmer too, to be lonesome for a long time.

___________________________

Nun wartet Harm nur noch auf den Stock der an seiner Hand befestigt wird, damit sie geführt werden kann. Wirklich schade, dass er nur eine Stabpuppe ist.
Als nächstes sind seine Kumpels an der Reihe, denn lange alleine zu sein, ist selbst für einen Ostfriesen zu einsam...

Ein Ostfriese kommt in den Baumarkt und sagt zum Verkäufer:
"Ich benötige einen 3er und 5er Bohrer."
Der Verkäufer:
"Warum kaufen Sie nicht gleich ein Sortiment, das ist auch nicht teurer."
"Ich brauche aber nur einen 3er und einen 5er Bohrer."
"Nun gut, aber wozu denn ?"
"Ich muss ein 8er Loch bohren."
Darauf der Verkäufer:
"Nehmen Sie zwei 4er, dann müssen Sie nicht umspannen."
________

2008-08-10T05:58:00.000-07:00

Schaut, was ich gefunden habe...!
Ist das nicht f u n - tastisch?

Erkennt Ihr Lars Strickmuster wieder?
...Und a tears knitting?

Gratuliere, Lars!
...Und Dank an 'Photofunia.com'
für diese f u n - tastische Werbung!

__________

Zusatz in eigener Sache: Sorry Lars, aber das konnte ich mir nicht verkneifen... :-)
Ich hoffe, es ist in Ordnung so...
Rita

Doggy Drama

2008-08-09T10:05:00.000-07:00

Read about it here.

Hier lesen, Sorry nur auf Englisch.

Blick / glimpse. Now with text.

2008-08-06T20:06:00.000-07:00

Hallo Leute, es wird ein paar Tage dauern dies Eintrag auf Deutsch umgestzt wird, ich bitte auf Geduld , (Ja, ich weiss wohl dass ich habe Früher so 'ne Versprechung gemacht und es noch nicht getan, drückt mir die daumen das dieses Mal es geht besser ;D)

Hello Folks, it's going to be a while before I get this entry translated into German, please be patient. ( Yes, i know I've made similar promises in the past, and broken them, cross your fingers and hope I do better this time.;D)
Part 1.
Part 2.
Intermezzo.

Okay, we know from our percentage formula that as soon as we reach the place where we want to start the armhole steeks we need to place 20 stitches on hold. Then using Eunny Jangs steek method, I chose 5 as the number of stitches for my steek. We continue knitting, decreasing every other round on both sides of the steek, for about another inch and then, using the same steek method, we begin the V-neck opening.
NOTE: I put 2 stitches on reserve at the beginning of the neck opening, in a round that did not have decreases so that the decreases for arm holes and neck openings would be in the same rows.

Klick on photos to enlarge.

When I got to the shoulders I knit across to the v-neck, bound off the steek stitches and the worked a couple of short rows to give the shoulder some shape. Then the arm steek stitches were bound off and the back was worked with matching short rows to the front. The yarn should be at the armhole openings top. Now, the fun part, to join the shoulder I used the cowichan shoulder join. This is a 3 needle bind off with a special twist. I worked from the inside, but if you work it from the outside it will leave a nice decorative double row of stitches. With the stitches to be joined on 2 needles held next to each other in the left hand, take up a second needle, preferably a short one, I had an old wooden needle that I cut down, sharpened with the pencil sharpener and sanded with 1000 grit sandpaper. From the near needle of stitches knit 1 stitch, pivot the working needle to position it ready to purl one stitch from the far needle. You are using BOTH ends of the working needle. You'll now have 2 stitches on the working needle. Now, with the end of the needle that you used to knit 1 stitch, knit 1 more stitch from the near needle and pass the first stitch over it, with the purl end of the working needle purl one stitch from the far needle and pass the first purl stitch over it. Repeat to end of shoulder join. In this case I have ywo colors of yarn, so I worked 1 knit and purl in one color and the next in the second color so that both colors would be in place to continue knitting. Now knit across the back, bind off the second armhole steek, work the matching short rows on the second shoulder and repeat the shoulder join steps.
Now stabilize and cut your steeks. See the Eunny Jang lesson. I use her crocheted steeks.

You're now ready to pick up and knit the stitches down one side of the neck opening, knit one of the 2 set aside stitches, make one stitch, knit the other saved stitch, these three stitches will be used to work a decrease at the point of the neck opening. Pick up and knit the other side of the neck opening.

The band; I chose to use a "braided" decorative band rather than a ribbed band. Knit a round doing 1 stitch color A, one stitch color B, repeatingly. (For the neck opening I only did one of these rounds and found after finishing the band that I wanted two rows of it but was too lazy to go back and re-do it. I did the double round on the armholes though.) working a slip one , knit two together pass slipped stitch over decrease at the v of the opening, this rather awkward to accomplish nicely in this particular band treatment and I fumbled around with it and still don't have any good tips on making work well.

Now, pull both colors of yarn to the front and purl 1 color A, bring color B up in front of color A and purl the next stitch, repeat purling 1 color A, one color B to end of round always bringing the new color up in front of the old color. This twists the yarn coming from the balls into a great big long twist, I've found that if a pull a few yards out of the balls first and gently comb the twist with my finger as I work it helps prevent it becoming too much of a mess.

For the next round you will purl 1 A, 1 B bringing the new color up BEHIND the old color, this untwists your yarn. Pull the yarns back to the back side and knit a round, or two of the alternating colors. Break off the secondary color and purl 1 round in primary color, knit 5 rounds plain and cast off, I found that a purl cast off looks neater.

Fold the band under at the purl round and sew into place. Pick up and knit the stitches for one and then the other armholes using the same "treatment", no "V" to fumble around with though.

Block and wear.

I think I could have picked up fewer stitches around the neck opening and it would have looked a little better.

Provisional cast-on / Provisorisches Anschalg

2008-08-06T18:08:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one who didn't know this slick method of a crocheted provisional cast-on? I've always done it the old fashioned way, crochet a chain and then pick up and knit the stitches.

Bin ich der Einziger der wusste diese schlichte gehäkelte provisorische Anschlag Methode nicht? Vorher habe ich es immer altmodisch eine Kette gehäkelt und danach sorgfaltig die Maschen aufgehebt.

Video, in Englisch.

Auf Deutsch, nur Bilder und eine beschreibung.

Mein jungste "Sweaterweste" ist fertig, hoffentkich werde ich noch diese woche die Zeit haben um darüber zu posten.

My latest sweater vest is finished, hopefully I'll find the time to post about it this week.

Ideen / Ideas

2008-08-03T20:22:00.001-07:00

The sweater vest I've been working on is almost finished and already there are ideas racing through my head about the next project, okay they've been in there for about a week now.

Der Pullunder an dem ich jetzt arbeite ist fast fertig. Scon schwirren Ideen durch mein Kopf über was die nächste Projekt sein soll. Na, ich muss zugeben, die sind schon Da seit eine Woche.
These two yarn balls have been sitting next to each other for a few weeks now and I've grown to reallylike the two colors together. But what should I do with the two colors together? Then I found a pair of gloves in a drawer that I had made for Geoff a few years ago. Adapted from a pattern for Sanquhar gloves, a scottish town known for their glove knitting. Eureka!

Diese zwei garnknäule haben seit wochen nebeneinander gesessen und ich langsam lernte die zwei farben zusammen zu lieben. Aber was zu tun? dann, in eine Schublade, fand ich handschuhe die ich für Geoff vor eine paar Jahre gestrickt habe. Umgestellt nach ein Sanquhar Muster, ein schottische dorf erkannt für Handschuhe stricken. (Klick auf obigen links) Yreka!

I'm considering a cardigan, yes with steeks, I've grown rather fearless about steeking. There arises though a question. Should I do a provisional cast on, go right into the pattern, and then wait until I'm knitting the button bands and knit the bottom ribbing along with them?

Ich überlege ob es ein Cardigan sein soll, und doch ja mit Steeks. Ich fürchte mich vor Steeks jetzt nicht. Es gibt aber denn eine Frage; soll ich eine provisorisch Anschlag verwenden, der Muster gleich anfangen, und warten ab bis ich die Knopfbänder stricke und der Bundchen muster dann stricken?

shirt pattern, review

2008-07-27T19:01:00.000-07:00

A fabric that I've had for several months finall y got made into a shirt, it turned out to be a handsome shirt but I'm not so sure about the pattern.
I bought a new shirt pattern on-line which looked pretty nice, it was not inexpensive at $19.95 but I thought, hey, it says industry techniques etc. from Islander sewing patterns. This pattern is definitely not for beginners, and even people who know a thing or two about shirt making are going to find some of the instructions a little unclear, but, you can always spend even more money buying the videos that will clarify it for you. The inset pocket, as one example, is made of two pieces of fabric, one a 1/4 inch longer than the other. Nowhere in the instructions is it mentioned which piece to use where, I made a guess, it turned out to be a good guess. a nice feature but an example of the the poorly written instructions. Nancy Pray, the designer of the pattern does include a tip, buy the video.
Another example is the front shirt yokes, there is a right and a left, both pieces of pattern say to cut two. There is no mention of what to do with the second piece. I really like the trick they use for attaching the front yokes to the back yokes, and it was explained well enough for me to follow, but again, if you don't understand you can spend more than the almost 20 bucks you already spent for the pattern and buy the video. i totally did not understand the instructions for attaching the collar and collar stand, but luckily had enough experience with shirt making to do something that also worked, which at that point was very difficult, but doable. If only I'd spent the extra money for the video, I'm sure it would have been very easy.
Luckily, I made a short sleeve shirt this first time, or I'd have had deal with the cuff attaching incomplete instructions, unless of course, I'd bought the video.
In short, it's a nice looking shirt. The Pattern is way overpriced for the the quality of instructions that come with it, and seems to be intentionally vague in order to get people to buy the videos.

Knäule....

2008-07-23T18:15:00.001-07:00

... die ich an niemand wünschen würde. Guckt Mal was das schönste puppy der welt hat mir angetan, ob ich es wieder recht machen kann weiss ich noch nicht.

Tangles that I wouldn't wish on anyone. Just look at what the most beautiful puppy in the world has done to me. If I can ever make it right again, I just don't know.

Fabric

2008-07-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

Haben alle die neue Stoff von Etsuko fabrics gesehen? Hier mein lieblings Muster, ja, das sind Streifen. Von Hier erhaltbar.

Has everyone seen the new fabrics from Etsuko? This is my favorite print, yes it's stripes, which you can purchase here.
Auch nicht zu verpassen, Reprodepot.

Don't miss the great fabrics Reprodepot.

felted animals/ gefilzte Tiere

2008-07-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

A good tip from Faserfimmel. A new book from Brigitte Krag-Hansen. Animal Felt, nature true felted animals, also available in German.

Eine gute Hinweise von Faserfimmel.
Ein neues Buch von Brigitte Krag_Hansen. Tiere naturgetreu filzen,
schaut Mal Hier um zu sehen wo es erhaltbar auf Deutsch ist.

another way to use fibers...

2008-07-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

First approach to draft text in english... I hope, you are generous, my english is infernal...

Today I started a new attempt to finish my puppets.
I began to work with a clot of squashy pulp and modeled heads, hands and a pair of feet. They had to dry off about two weeks, than I polished and had to prime the material, meantime it's colored and finished.

'Harm', my hands down favorite, is an East Frisian farmer who always is smoking.
His motto: "Kopf hoch, auch wenn der Hals dreckig ist!" ("Head up, even the neck is dirty though...")

Fietje, his little son is very streetwise.

Last but not least, there is Don Peperoni, Sicilian..., known for best Pasta, Pizza, Gelati and Co... .
His German Language is as horrible as my English
___________
Oha, ich fürchte, Englisch kann ganz schön hart sein...
Das ausgehärtete Material ist es übrigens auch, es hat etwa die Festigkeit von Hartholz und lässt sich auch so bearbeiten.
Eben Holzköpfe.

Nourishment for knitting

2008-07-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

Pinapple-carrotcake pancakes.

Part Two, the vest.

2008-07-04T18:53:00.001-07:00

Part 1

It already weighs 100 grams and is only 1/7 finished. I think I better get some more yarn. It's a very dense not very elastic fabric.

Es wiegt schon 100gm und ist nur 1/7 fertig. ich denk ich soll ja mehr Garn kaufen. Es ergibt ein dickes nicht sehr dehnbares Stoff.

Click on photos to enlarge
A closer view. Eine näher Ansicht.

And just so you all know who the most beautiful dog in the world is, Maisie.

Und so das Ihr wisset wer ist die Hund am schönsten in dem ganzen Welt, Maisie.

Planning a Vest/ Eine Weste plannen

2008-07-02T07:42:00.000-07:00

After doing this sample I decided to go ahead and knit up a vest. Here's the basic plan. This can be worked in any yarn on any size needles, just do a test swatch and then do the math to get your numbers. I'm using Cascade 220 and U.S. #8/5mm needles.
NOTE: All knit stitches are worked through the back loop to form a twisted stitch that stands out from the background.

Click Photo to enlarge

The pattern is 18 stitches wide so our 100% number has to be divisible by 18.
As we can see in the sample, a standard ribbing is not going to flow nicely in to the pattern stitches of the body, so we need to adapt our ribbing. In this case we want to begin our ribbing with purl 2 and follow the knit and purl stitch pattern of the body. As to the 90% cast on number, this will also mess up the flow from ribbing to body pattern. There is a space of 2 purl stitches between each of the pattern sets, this is the only place where we can increase without affecting the flow so our cast on number will be a multiple of 17 and we'll do an increase between the panels of pattern. In this case I cast on 238 stitches. the ribbing is then Purl 2, *Knit 2, P2, for the next 14 stitches ending with a knit 2, Purl 3 and repeat from * to end of round ending with a Purl 1. Work the ribbing to desired width incorporating the second color in the last row of the ribbing in each of the Knit 2 slots, and working an increase stitch into the center of each of the Purl 3 slots. Begin the chart and knit until you have the desired body length. body length can be determined by measuring the distance between the bottom and armhole of a favorite garment.

Next; we'll talk about beginning the armhole steeks, but first I have to knit the body of my sweater so it may be a while.

P.s. How much yarn will be needed? I'm not sure. This sweater used 800 grams. I have 400 grams of the main color and 250 grams of the secondary color, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it's enough.
Part 2

Zugmaschen/ travelling stitch

2008-06-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

I put this question out there on "men who knit", how to do two color cables? Now I'm asking you guys, especially the German speakers. This was my experiment. A combination of "fairisle" and traditional German travelling stitches. I had a lot of difficulty keeping the stitches loose enough, I kept pulling the stitches too tight resulting in problems with the next row. Relax Lars, relax, loosen up. Is the result worth the effort? I'm not sure yet, I'll have to think about it.

Ich stellte diese Frage schon auf "men who knit", wie strickte man Zopfen in zwei Farben? Jetzt frag ich Euch, besonderes die in der deutsch sprechende Raum. Hier die Ergebnis meine Experimentierung. Eine Zusammensetzung "fairisle" und alte deutsche "Zugmaschen". Ich hatte Problemen locker genug zu bleiben, ich zog die Maschen immer zu straf, deswegen waren die Maschen in die nächste Reihe sehr problematisch. Entspann dich Lars, entspann dich, bleib locker. Lohnt sich die Mühe? Weiss ich noch nicht, darüber muss ich noch nachgrübeln.

Another vest/Noch ein Pullunder

2008-06-29T14:43:00.001-07:00

Yarn/Garn - Elsebeth Lavold silky wool. 250 grams total. I had several colors in my "Stash".
Needles - U.S. #6, 4 mm

Pattern? Anleitung - the percentage method. Modified for a vest.

When knitting Fairisle I carry one color on each hand kniiting "continental" with the left and "english" with the right, two handed knitting goes so much faster.

I knit in the round and did steeks for the neck and armholes.

I used Eunny Jangs crocheted steeks.

Cutting your knitting is a little scary, but not so bad.

deine Stricken zu schneiden ist ein Bischen fürchterlich, aber gar nicht so schlecht.

The resulting fabric is so thin and light i'm a little worried that it won't hold it's shape in wearing. What a shame, I still have a lot of this brand of yarn in my stash.

Die ergebenen Stoff ist so dünn und leicht dass ich fürchte sie wird sich nicht ihre Form halten wenn man sie trägt, schade, ich habe noch Viele diese Garn in meine Stash.

...nur Flickwerk

2008-06-29T03:48:00.000-07:00

Vielleicht kennst Du das Gefühl wie es ist, auf einem weißen, unbeleckten Untergrund malen zu wollen, er gähnt Dich an. So habe ich damit begonnen, nach Strukturen zu suchen, nach Unebenheiten, die mich herausfordern, ja gelegentlich provozieren.

Ähnlich wie beim Malen ergeht es mir mit Stoffen. Materialreste des Quilts haben mir keine Ruhe gelassen.
Diese Handtasche ist das Ergebnis. Sie ist durch drei Lagen eng gesteppt, was ihr eine gewisse Festigkeit verleiht, dennoch ist sie leicht und in der Maschine waschbar. Innen befinden sich zwei verschließbare Seitenfächer und am oberen Rand vier Schlaufen, durch die man Kordel oder Tuch ziehen kann.

(Unter uns: ...Davon existieren noch immer Stoffreste, und ich kann mich nicht trennen...).

zerpflückt, zerfleddert, geflickt

2008-06-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, hier bin ich also. Lars hat mich mit großen Worten angekündigt und ich wage nun einen zaghaften Versuch, mich ein wenig zu etablieren. Das Ergebnis hält noch nicht, was Lars verspricht. Ich will versuchen, mich zu bessern.

Ich führe einen verzweifelten Kampf mit der Technik.
Meine Kamera ist beleidigt, sie führt ein Eigenleben und der PC versteckt lieb gewonnene Dokumente heimtückisch in undurchsichtigen Programmen.Ich werde ihm freundlich zureden und um sein Vertrauen werben...

Hier die ersten halbwegs brauchbaren Fotos, die ich der neuen Kamera entlocken konnte, leider immer noch etwas unscharf. Ich stelle sie trotzdem ein.

Ihr seht meinen ersten richtigen Quilt. Früher habe ich immer nur flüchtig durchgesteppt, so gefällt es mir besser, allerdings empfinde ich diese Arbeit inzwischen als unruhig, obwohl ich sie nach wie vor mag.
Ich habe für den Behang nur alte, vorgewaschene und zum Teil selbst eingefärbte Stoffe verwendet. Vielleicht mag ich ihn eben darum, es sind Erinnerungen, ...seziert und neu zusammengefügt.
Vielleicht war es der Versuch, ein wenig Schicksal zu spielen, Dinge neu zu ordnen...

Welcome new contributors

2008-06-22T08:13:00.000-07:00

Grannie Annie, in Montana, U.S.A., has kindly agreed to be a contributor to this blog. she is a crochteting fiend and I look forward to seeing her work and tips on the art/craft.

Herzlich Wilkommen Grannie Annie!

And also Rita, she is a doll maker and paper sculptor, quilter,knitter and sewer (also painter and writer), in Ostfriesland Germany. We look forward to seeing her fiber works, including wood fibers.

Welcome , welcome liebe Rita.

Cast-on / Anschlag

2008-06-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

***EDIT***Instead of drawing and uploading and describing all techniques, when possible I'll link to a video that will do it better than I can.

Statt zu zeichnen, hochladen und beschreiben wie ich jeder Teknik tue, werde ich, wenn möglich Links herstellen die können Alles besser als ich erklären.
The Long Tail Cast on.

The twisted German long tail cast-on, my favorite.

There are others, but these are the ones I use.

Pullover

2008-06-17T16:02:00.001-07:00

Vor anderthalb Jahre fing ich an ein Pulli zu stricken. Ich hatte die Bücher "Bäuerliches Stricken 1,2 und 3" von Lisl Fanderl gekauft. Ich wollte Alle die Strickmuster ausprobieren aber hatte mich entscheiden nur diesen zu verwenden.

A year and a half ago I started knitting a sweater. I'd bought the books "Bäuerliches Stricken 1,2 and 3" by Lisl Fanderl, versuch sie auch bei Amazon.de zu finden. I wanted to try out all the stitch patterns but decided to narrow it down to these.
After a year or so I had only this much sweater and wasn't enjoying myself and kept finding errors.

Nach ein Jahr oder so hatte ich nur dies und es machte kein Spass und ich fand immer wieder Fehlern.
Ich hab es Alle denn aufgezieht und entschiedete auf nur eine der Strickmustern.

I pulled it all out and settled on just one of the stitch patterns.
Es ging denn doch schnell und nach nur 6 Wochen hatte ich ein gefertigte Pulli, es gibt noch kleine Probleme, Dinge die ich anders hätte tun sollten aber er sieht(aber wenn auch nur von die Ferne) ganz gut aus.

Things went really quickly then and in only 6 weeks I had a finished sweater. There are still some little mistakes, and things I should have done differently, but it's still (even if only from a distance) a good looking sweater.

Garn/yarn cascade 220 - 8 skeins/Bälle

Nadeln/needles U.S. #8 - 5mm

Pattern/Anleitung - Percentage method

U.F.O.s

2008-06-15T15:50:00.001-07:00

Wer hat die nicht, UngeFertigte Objekte?
Who doesn't have them, UnFinished Objects?
Die Socke mit die Bären habe ich Einmal fertig gestrickt aber meine Festigkeit war zu locker und ich musste sie aufziehen. Beide "Paaren" sind schon ungefähr 4 Jahre ungefertigt.

The sock with the bear was finished once but my tension was too loose and I ripped it out. Both "pairs" have been unfinished for about 4 years now.

Anleitung/Pattern - basic sock pattern
Charts - Enchanted Knitting.
needles/Nadeln US #0, 2mm
Garn/Yarn - Socka Stahlwolle, The red is Schachenmayr Regia

Cardigan für Neffe/ cardigan for nephew

2008-06-14T17:55:00.000-07:00

Vor eineinhalb Jahre strickte ich ein Cardigan für der Sohn meiner Nichte.

A year and a half ago I knit a cardigan for my nieces son.
Pattern/Anleitung - Monkey Suits # 13
Garn/ yarn - Elsebeth Lavold silky wool
Needles/ Nadeln - US#6, 4mm

Hat/Hut - Hats, a knitter's dozen
The Four corners hat. I always change the pattern around the band though.

Der ist mein lieblings Hut zu stricken. This is my favorite hat to knit

Introduction

2008-06-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

Ein strickender Mann? Ja die gibt es. Ich wollte ein neuer blog eröffnen in dem ich über Strickzeuge reden könnte ohne die nicht Strickern die mein andere Blog mitlesen zu langweilen. Wir werden ja sehen wie es hier weiter geht.

A knitting man? Yes, they exist. I decided to start a new blog so that I could talk about my knitting without boring the non- kniiters who read my other blog. We'll see how it goes here.

Yarn/ Garn- cascade 220

Needles/Nadeln- Us #8 ,5mm

Pattern/Anleitung- improvised If you really want to know how I did it contact me and I'll try to explain.

Wenn Sie wirklich wissen willen wie ich es getan habe, Kontakt mir und ich werde versuchen es zu erklären.

Inspired by/inspiriert durch This/dies over at Brooklyn tweed.