Splicing Encore

I've been doing a lot of splicing this week:



A few more tips for those that are new to splicing on the sock machine.

You may have noticed in yesterday's photos that I stop my yarn carrier, to begin my splice, just at the left yellow hash mark (the margin for heel/toe decreases).

When I'm doing the last row before the splice I slow down my cranking and stop when the last needle before the yellow mark is down in the slot and JUST BEFORE the first needle after the yellow mark is down.

When I cut my old yarn and fold it back, I make the folding point of reference 3 needles BEFORE the RIGHT HAND yellow mark. That is to say, I lead the yarn forward, pinch it at the 3rd needle before the mark and fold the tail backwards from there.

This is on the 54 cylinder and it may vary a little on other sizes.

By using these reference points, the ACTUAL change point where the old yarn and new yarn cross is mid-way between the two yellow marks, and so these little transitions will all appear in a line going down the centre of the back of the sock.

Thus:

So - even though I am stopping my yarn carrier at the yellow hash mark, my actual crossover is 5 or 6 stitches further to the right.

It is NOT a good idea, IMHO, to splice yarns such that the crossover happens AT the yellow mark - even when doing a colour change for heel and toe only - there is too much going on at those marks when you do decreases and increase for heels and toes. For heels and toes I still splice so that the crossover is centre-back.

A Little Tug
When you look at the finished sock with slices in it from the good side, you will see that the final doubled stitch of the new yarn in each change is a little loose.

That's because you loosen the tension a bit when you let go of the tail during the final stitch.

A little tug on the tails (on the wrong side) snugs these up very nicely. Personally, I wash the sock first, then after blocking I give the tails a gentle tug and trim them to about 3/4".

And finally to the post office:

Jesse and I finally made it to town for a pick up at the post office.

Jesse is looking a little confused - I was trying to get him to sit up on top of the boxes and he was pretty sure I was trying to make him do something he shouldn't be doing!

Ain't it a Splice

I've copied my reply to an email about how to splice colours on the sock machine. I took some pictures to try and illustrate my comments. The photos in the series can be clicked for closeup.

My camera was fixed at about 3 o'clock to the side of the machine.

Stop with the yarn carrier about 7 o'clock. The position doesn't really matter, but it makes cleaner work if you stop and start at the same point with each change, and I find it preferable to 'hide' the changes at the back of the sock.

Cut the 'old yarn' leaving a tail of ~ 6 inches. Pull the old yarn into the cylinder side of the yarn carrier. (So the yarn carrier is now void of yarn).

Hold the tail FORWARDS about half the length of the tail. Then fold the tail BACKWARDS. So the tail is now doubled against itself. Lay the doubled yarn under the first three needles that will knit next, leaving the end of the tail inside the cylinder and be sure the yarn is under the hook but on above the latch. Holding the folded end of the tail, with gentle tension, carefully knit forward three or four stitches.

This will catch the doubled yarn and leave you with a loop.

Take the new yarn and feed it through your mast topper and yarn carrier as you would normally do. Feed the new yarn THROUGH the loop the remains from the tail of the old yarn. Feed through a tail of the new yarn several inches worth, and hold/lay/lead that new tail FORWARDS in the direction of knit.

Try to hold it with enough tension that it is properly under the hooks and above the latches of the next stitches that will knit, and the tension should also hold the loop of the old line 'straight' so that it will be caught by the needles when you start to knit. Carefully knit forward several stitches.

Your knit will be a tad stiffer as you are knitting double yarn - the loop on the old yarn and also the tail of the new yarn you are holding forward, plus the new yarn that is feeding through the yarn carrier.

This is one of those things where you may feel all thumbs in the beginning. But it becomes very quick and easy with practice. The main thing is to be sure the yarn is always UNDER the hooks but ABOVE the latches when you turn the crank.

There are other ways to splice yarn on the sock machine. With the method illustrated there is a BIG BONUS , especially if you are doing muliple changes - there are no ends to weave in when you are done - this method knits in the ends on the fly.

At the Dye Pot

This is one STRANGE batch:



If you can peek through the steam, you will see that the skein in the top right is pale blue, while the remaining skeins are charcoal grey. ALL skeins are 75% wool 25% nylon sock yarn and all went into the pot un-dyed. The skein that is pale blue is single ply and the others are 3 ply.


And see how the scrap yarn ties on the charcoal grey skeins are ALSO pale blue. These scraps are 100% wool, 2 ply worsted weight.

Cripes. It's not even Halloween until tomorrow, but the goblins are at work already!

With the three skeins (in photo above) removed from the pot, I've added some more dye to the bath with the pale blue skein....its brewing right now and we'll see what it does....

Photo from Hell

This is a pair of 50/50 wool/tencel socks I knit last week.

And here is some skeins of the same yarn:

I took a kazillion photos of this yarn to try and get a true colour. I tried on white, pale blue, and black backgrounds. I tried auto,manual and assorted scene settings.

These are as close as I can get. The sock is close but the skeins are not very true. What is showing black is actually a blend of blacks and blues, and what is showing lavender is actually quite a bit deeper in colour - more of a purple-lavender.

I swear, some colours just don't want their picture taken. At least not on my Samsung.

To console myself, I wound some skeins of new yarn that arrived from the mill on Friday.

This is lambs wool from the 2007 shearing in May. It is blended with 25% nylon. The yarn is singles that is normally plied into 2 ply sport weight yarn.

Last year I had the sport weight done with the lambs wool without nylon, and plied at the mill. (You may recall I used this yarn for my LolliSox, with woolly nylon reinforcement in the heels and toes.)

With the singles I will have several other options, all of which will involve a little more work but will yield a little more fun.

The yardage is ~ 400 yd/ 100 g. In other words, similar to standard 4 ply sock yarn. So I may make light weight socks with some of it - and test to see how the singles perform unplied.

But primary idea - dye and ply separate batches, or use one strand dyed and one strand natural - all to get a heather effect sport yarn.

And of course, to take it a step further, hand paint the two plies in different colour themes and then ply them together.

Of course a bonus with the sock machine is that I can simply knit two or more strands together and they will ply themselves while feeding into the machine.

And also from the mill on Friday:

This is a cool new blend - 60% alpaca, 20% wool, 20% nylon.

Alpaca on its own would be a crap sock yarn as it has no memory. And it is a very fine fibre but lacks strength. Throw in the wool for memory and the nylon for strength and voila.....

The fawn colour is natural. And it's light enough to visit the dye room!

I'd really like to bang of a few pair of socks with these arrivals today, but the post office phoned and the rest of my order has arrived, with more variations on a sock yarn theme.

More Harry

Here is another pair of HP Socks made with my Cranberry and Toffee sock yarn, 75% wool, 25% nylon, ~ 400 m/ 112 g.

I modified the pattern slightly from the last pair so that the stripe immediately preceding and following the heel was the same size as the other stripes.

My stripes are 10 rows, and in the first pair I split the stripe with the heel - the result had the striping consistent down the full front of the sock, but split at the heel.

In this version I did the first 5 rows of the heel in the same colour as the preceding stripe, before changing colour. And likewise, I change the colour back when I had 5 rows remaining to be done in the heel. (This instead of doing the entire heel in one colour.)

I think this version looks better. There is a bit of an optical illusion though and the stripes about the heel seem a tad narrower yet. I think I'll add one more row of the stripe colour off the heel next go.

I finished up several other pairs of socks, and the batch of wool/tencel yarn I dyed earlier in the week.

But my !#%!#$&!@#@ camera is really mucking about with my colours. I dyed the wool/tencel lilac and it looks blue in the pics. And I knit a pair of Kaffe socks that have a really nice rich forest green - almost emerald, and the photo has no green at all. None!

But this picture came out ok:


This is a little Infant Hat I made as the first project on my newly-cleaned Verdun 47, 72 cylinder.

The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, colour Flamingo.

The pattern is almost identical to the Set-up Bonnet I made yesterday, with the exception that after I hang the pico hem, I reduced the tension a little every 10 rows.

I start with the tension about 2.5 revolutions looser than I would use for the same yarn being knit as a sock. And I finish with the tension comparable to a sock.

For this hat I did 40 rows, pico, 40 rows, hang hem, and then 60 rows (reducing tension as I go). I finished by leaving a long tail which I wove over and under the loops of the final row, then pulled in like a draw string once the scrap yarn was removed.

And finally, I wove the end in through the purls on the inside to finish it off.

Too bad I don't have a baby to give it to!

Oh, wait a minute.....

The clan was expanded by one this week, born to the eldest son of the eldest son.

And it looks like she needs a hat ;o)

NZAK Revisited

For the first day in many, its not raining.

Here, Norman and some of the girls are enjoying the much absent sun, and a sky that is much bluer than it appears in the photo.

I'm not complaining about the rain. I'm grateful for it. I'd be more grateful if some of it collected in the ponds, but the ground is so thirsty that whatever falls gets sucked right in.

NZAK

I had another go at D's NZAK. On crank-in day we were not having much luck. It appeared the cams were jambing and I undertook to take the beast apart and have a boo.

That I did, and I also (don't tell the guys) watched the dvd manual twice through.

The cams had just a little burring. Not a lot but perhaps enough to interfere. I gave them a gentle sanding with plumbers' emery paper and gave everything a very good drink of oil.

The results:



The NZAK is different, in some respects, than the Legare or Verdun. I didn't catch mention of that on my first time through the dvd, but I did catch it on the second view. The cams are upside down compared to my machines and thus the knitting process isn't identical on the inside of the machine, even though it appears identical on the outside. More on this another day - I need more photos to illustrate the point.

My first project on D's NZAK:


The same as my first project on ANY sock machine - knitting a set-up bonnet to take the place of the ghastly wire beasts manufactured for starting the knit (You need something to hang the weights on.)


The set-up bonnet is identical to a baby hat except both ends are left open.

The recipe for this bonnet, on the 72 cylinder:

All needles in place (no mock rib) and tension set quite loose. Knit 20 rows.

Rehang the first stitch on the second needle, the third stitch on the fourth needle and so on all around the cylinder. Knit one row.

Knit 20 rows and then hang the stitches of row # 1 onto the last row. (You have just made a pico hem).

Knit about 10 - 12 inches. Tie on scrap, leaving a long tail, and do 15 or so rows. Take the bonnet off the machine. Finish off the end by weaving the tail through each of the stitches.

(You can also kitchener the end closed, but its better to have it open in case you drop a needle (or your glasses) in the machine!)

No Sock???

I haven't tried a heel yet on the NZAK.

One step at a time.....

A Bit of This and That

Here is the book I was using yesterday to attempt the lace socks. I bought it on eBay.



The pattern I used was called Twist, not Waves as I previously reported. (This is a problem with the computer being in the house and all the sock stuff being out in the shack and my memory lasting less than 50 feet.)

I've done some of the simpler patterns in the book, notably the hearts and the mini-diamonds - seen in the centre bottom, and just above, respectively.

I'm still at a loss to explain the sudden increase in tension after the heel that foiled my attempt at the Twist pattern. There were no obvious culprits such as the yarn snagging on something, or the yarn wrapping around the mast head.

I examined the pair of socks I first made with Stormy Waters last week, and I counted stitches per inch before the heel, immediately after the heel, and further down the foot. All measurements showed 10 stitches per inch - no change in tension mid sock.

Hmmmmm

The socks I checked against hadn't been washed or blocked yet, so there was no change in gauge from that.

Speaking of which


I needs must catch up with my washing and blocking!

A Little CSM Maintenance



This is the 72 cylinder I removed from the Verdun 47 a few weeks ago - and finally I've got round to cleaning it.

Look at all the sock-jam I took out of the needle slots. I used the small flat head screw driver to quickly remove this kucky.

After that



A good once-over with an old toothbrush and a bit of varsol.

Now this baby is ready to go home to its machine and make some more socks.

And at the Sock Machine

I did a few pairs this morning on the 54. They are still on the machine where they will remain until I can schedule some kitchener time. Maybe tomorrow.....

A Little R and D

Today I put some R and D time on the sock machine. My project was to knit a textured pattern - accomplished by the manual re-hanging of individual stitches.

I selected a Wave styled pattern developed by Jenny Deters.

First task was to mark off my needles into groups of 6.

I used Whiteout to mark the divisions on the cylinder. I can remove it with a finger nail when the project is finished. Working on the 54 cylinder, I have 9 groups of 6. I got as close to centering the pattern on the top of the foot as possible.

The pattern repeat is 20 rows long. Each pattern may be considered divided in half, with the first 10 rows making the wave wax and the other 10 rows making it wane. Stitches are re-hung in one row, then a complete row knit without any re-hanging , then stitches re-hung in the third row and so on.

You can see I made a goof-up - looking at about three o'clock - the first part of the pattern is facing opposite slant to the same rows between 9 and 2 o'clock.

I accomplished this boo boo by failing to remember that I am facing the INSIDE of the needles on the top half of the sock machine, but facing the OUTSIDE of the needles on the bottom half. (It was at this point that this became an R and D sock!)

By the second half of the first pattern repeat I got the orientation sorted, and completed the leg, having three repeats (60 rows) in all after the hem top.

I carried on knitting stockinette on the bottom of the sock and re-hanging stitches on the top of the sock, as to continue the pattern down the top of the sock.

Alas, after turning the heel, the pattern stitches on the top of the foot became very very tight, rendering it difficult to transfer stitches. Ultimately, the yarn broke and that was the end of R and D for the day!

But you can see there were some elements of success in the pattern. (And you can also see in the top row of the pattern where my boo boo in orientation was.)

I was using my Stormy Waters wool/tencel sock yarn. Perhaps not the best choice of fibres to begin with as the wool/tencel blend is less elastic than the wool/nylon blends, and therefor more difficult to lift a stitch off its needle and stretch it on to the neighbouring needle.

But is was a miserable rainy day and I thought my Stormy Waters sock yarn would like to have some waves in it.

Apparently not!

Meanwhile in the dye pot



This is another batch of wool/tencel sock yarn, cooling down in the dye bath. This lot - variegated Lilac.

Stormy Waters

This is 50% wool 50% tencel sock yarn, dyed with Prochem Colonial Blue. Laurie thinks the colour looks like a storm, so I've named it Stormy Waters. I think that will be a swell name.

Here's how it knit up into a Medium sized sock. This sock yarn will be great for jeans-wear. The tencel contributes a lustrous look and a silk like feel, and it offers an non synthetic alternative to nylon for strength.

It was a little easier to knit with on the sock machine than the silk blends - not quite as stiff. Backing off my tension by 1/4 turn was sufficient for an easy crank.

Out back on the farm


Jesse and I went on cow patrol again today (I don't know if that makes me a cowboy) - to see if any more cows have broken through the fence from next door.

It was a beautiful day for a walk. And after cranking one pair of socks I couldn't resist some outdoors time.

This is a deer.

At least it would have been if I had been quicker to get the camera turned on!

As Jesse and I approached the corner of this paddock I heard a substantial snort. We were less than 50 feet away from a buck. He had three large points and one small point on each side of his rack.

I can't believe I didn't have my camera at the ready - Jesse and I have startled deer near this gate on several occasions.

The picture is facing west, and the gate goes into the south-east corner of last paddock on the farm (Paddock R)- it is about 12 acres of heavy bush. It is also mostly a very large hill, dropping off quite suddenly at the back, and more gently to the (right) side. The drop in elevation is about 100 feet between the south and north edges of the paddock.

There are lots of wild apple trees in the paddock, and a marshy area on the low land usually (not this summer) provides water to the deer.

Having found no cows, Jesse and I headed back to the farmstead, pausing to take this picture.

We have about one more week to enjoy walking out back.

Then its deer season, heralded by van loads of city people armed to the teeth who begin shooting well before daybreak and well after sunset (both illegal).

I hope they don't get the buck I saw today.

I hope they get a cow....

Out of the Pot

This is the batch of 50/50 wool/tencel sock yarn dyed Colonial Blue Oops.

I like the blend of colours and there were no blanks spots. I will be anxious to get a pair of socks knit with this stuff!

The tencel has an almost silk feel to it. It is a little heavier than standard 4 ply sock yarn and should make a great spring or fall sock.

What's more, it offers another alternative to those who don't wear synthetics but who are too hard on socks to wear fingering weight pure wool. (At the moment my only alternative for such feet is a wool/bamboo blend, Pro Natura, by Trekking.)

And as promised, some socks handknit by P:






These are all after patterns in Sock Hop by Joseph Madl for Philospher's Wool.

The yarn is all my mule spun purebred Columbia sheep, 2 ply worseted weight (~ 210 m/ 112 g) , and all colours were dyed in the pot here at the farm.

And at the farm this weekend?


Jesse (or I suppose I could call him Phil) is counting the round bales of hay to see if we have enough for the winter. We don't.

I'm VERY late buying hay this year, but with the drought I haven't been sure how many sheep, if any, would remain on the farm.

Back at the Pot

I wound some skeins of my HP Sock Yarn today. Here they are with a sample sock (click for larger):

This picture is fairly true to the colour, at least on my monitor.

Something I'm trying with my photography - standing on the other side of the camera than what I usually do - I think I'm interfering less with overhead light (daylight bulbs). Maybe better results....


I wound these skeins off the cone today:

This is 50% wool 50% tencel sock yarn. I'll have to double check the yardage but I believe is ~ 385/ 112 g, or just a tad heavier than my 75/25 wool nylon sock yarn.

I really must come up with an improved method for winding off skeins from the cone. I lost count on two of these skeins, and ended up with 340 revolutions instead of 240. So those two skeins are ~ 160 g.

Nevertheless....into the pot:


I'm dyeing these Colonial Blue, with my usual Prochem Washfast acid dye. These are being done with the Oops method.

I need a new name for my Oops method. It was only a mistake the first time! Now its de rigeur. Hmmm - maybe I'll call it my De Rigeur yarn.

When P was here for the crank-in yesterday she dropped off some hand knitting that she's done for me.

Here's a gorgeous hat she knit with my wool/alpaca blend; all worsted weight and all natural colours. Isn't it great!



Tomorrow I'm going to show you some socks she hand knit with my home dyed worsted weight mule spinner yarn. So yummy!

And the answer to the question belabouring you all as you read today's blog. YES. I have high speed.

It will take some getting used to upload times measured in seconds instead of tens of minutes or longer.

But what's with Ravelry? I haven't been able to get the site to come up. What use is high speed with no ravelry ;o(

New Addy My new email is doug at hsfx dot ca. I'll keep the old email active for a time as well, as I transition things over to the new server.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood

Here is my latest hand painted yarn knit up:

This is the HP theme, in various tones of Cranberry and Toffee. The socks are sized medium, done on the 54 cylinder. (Click for larger).

I also got a few of these banged off this week:



These are my Eco Socks that I am replenishing for fall sales. To refresh your memory (ok, and mine too) I use one large leftover scrap for the hem top, heels and toes, and then 26 other smaller scraps (~ 2 grams each is enough) to do 10 rows of each in the legs and feet of the socks. A large pair in this method requires 35 different yarns.

Great for knitting a hole in your 'ends drawer'.

And here is a batch of Lopi-style yarn I dye a little while ago:

I'm just getting around to picking the chaff out of this yarn. I've got 4 skeins done and need a few more hours of tv time to finish picking the rest.

The dye is Prochem Washfast Acid Dye, done in my Oops method with colour Chestnut. I only had 3 tsp of dye left and I usually use 4 tsp (per 2 lbs yarn) so I'll call this batch Chestnut Lite.

Today we had an official cranking day as E, D, P joined me for an all out us-against-them assault on the sock making machines.

There were some moments, to be sure, but all left further along than when they arrived and hopefully everyone is encouraged to carry on the climb up the curve.

We'll be doing this again, so if you are interested in joining us for our next cranking day, don't be shy. Experience not required ;o)

One More Sleep

Tomorrow I am supposed to be getting Hi Speed. They have to put up an antenna tower and the weather forecast includes thunder storms, so maybe it will be put off. But one can always hope.

This U-tube virgin needs some speed. And the thoughts of loading a jpg into flickr in less than 20 minutes - I can hardly contain myself.

I'll keep the DSL account going until I'm sure that all is well, and then I'll dump it (and my email address).

I don't know why that reminds me, but it does,

of going through my mothers stuff after she died. I came across an Eatons credit card. (Eatons, now defunct, was a higher end department store). The credit card was made of paper - medium weight card stock like a business card. The text was clearly done individually on a typewriter - and my mother's name and the store manager's signature were filled in with a blue fountain pen.

Her account number .... 7.

Funny, here I am not so many years later b*tching about DSL ;o)