Circular Sock Machine Success!

For the last two years I have been attempting to make socks on my antique Gearhart circular sock machine.  I joined a local group and go to the meetings but I just couldn't get the hang of it.  I seldom tried at home because it was just too frustrating.  Well, persistance paid off and I have finished two pair of socks.  They aren't perfect but they are good enough to give to friends!  This is the first pair, with the toes pinned together.  I have since learned how to do the Kitchener stitch and sewed the toes shut. This pair is for me.  The second pair is going to be a
Birthday gift for a friend.

In August there is a CSM Crank In.  Three days of sock making with all the helpful advice you could ever want.  I am signed up for two classes, lace making on the CSM, and mittens.   It is being held at a hotel about 20 minutes from home, how great is that?  It took ten years to find a sock machine after falling in love with them at the Finger Lakes Fiber Arts Festival.   Hard to believe but I found one in a box at a yard sale,  then I found a second one at a little thrift shop.  I would never knit socks by hand, but I love using the antique machine.

Finished Sweater

Well, here it is, the finished sweater.  I can fit myself and one other person inside, but I am going to wear it anyway.  I really like the purple stripes, it may have been too boring without them.  I lost the chip for my camera with all my pictures on it, but it magically reappeared a few days ago.  (That is my excuse for not posting on this blog for months.) I really love the pattern, but if I made it again it wouldn't  be quite so wide.  One size doesn't really fit all.

Sweater progress, or not?

I have been working on my sweater, but it has become evident that there will not be enough yarn.  In my stash of fibers was this purple carded Romney, same fleece, prepared differently.  I had dyed it and then carded it on a drum carder.  Last fall I bought some wool combs and  pulling the carded wool through the combs removed most of the yucky bits that the drum carder doesn't remove. 

I like the two colors together so adding some asymetrical stripes to the front of the sweater may be a successful plan B.  The pattern is a cardigan done in one piece, starting at lower back, so I won't have to tink or frog, just start knitting stripes. 

Since  originally purchasing the Romney fleece several years ago, I have learned so much about preparing fiber.  If I had flicked the ends of the staples before putting them through the carder, it would have removed all the short bits and bobs that make pills and slubs in your handspun yarn.  While spinning the purple I kept plucking out anything bumpy so the singles are looking good.  I am almost done spinning, hopefully there will be enough yardage to finish the sweater without having to add another color.

Spin Dye Knit!

A few years ago I bought a beautiful Romney fleece to use in felting projects.  I washed it and rented a drum carder from the weavers guild and started to process it.  The fiber was so long that I really had a difficult time with the carder.  I finally gave most of it to Lisa Skillman of Troll Bridge Farm to process at a mill.  I ended up with two beautiful rolls of pencil roving.  Fast forward a couple of years and I finally learned how to spin.  I found a Kiwi wheel at the flea market for $45 and stared at it for a year or so then finally decided to take a class.  After some practice I spun up about 7or 8 hundred yards of that romney so that I could knit a sweater.    Here is a picture of the yarn after I scoured it for dyeing.  I couldn't believe how white it was after a soak in synthrapol.  It was quite gray before, probably oil from the mill.

 

I planned to dye it a celery green color, but it came out a lot darker than I planned.  I started with a gold dye and added some gunmetal, then black, then  brown. 

 

Anyway,  it looked about right here in the dyepot, that was before it was heated to 180 degrees and the vinegar was added.  It just kept getting darker, but the commitment was made.  I left it in the dye bath about 30 minutes, took it out, cooled and rinsed it.  The light in the basement is a bare bulb and it just doesn't give a true indication of  color.  It looked kind of mossy brown, but I could live with it.  When I brought it upstairs into the natural light it looked completely different.  It is such a lovely shade of green, sort of like freshly cooked mustard greens. 

I am going to knit myself a sweater.

Loom Controlled Shibori Chenille Scarf with Heat Set Pleats

In the Sept/Oct 2011 issue of Handwoven Magazine there is a draft for a dress woven with chenille with heat set pleats.  I have never woven with chenille (it intimidates me)  but in my stash was a skein that was perfect for making this project.  I used the draft to make a scarf, not the whole dress.  The scarf is woven in plain weave, but the gathering threads follow an eight shaft twill pattern.  Four picks plain weave, one pick gathering thread.  The warp is a rayon chenille, the weft is poly machine embroidery thread.  Pretty slow weaving.

These pictures show the scarf after I took it off the loom, and the pleating and tying.

After all the threads were gathered and tied, the scarf was steamed for 30 minutes.

I let it dry, which took forever, and then started removing the supplemental threads.  One of the threads had broken when I was knotting the threads and although it didn't look like it would cause a problem, there was a definite flat spot in the scarf.  ARGHH

                                                                                                                                                                                 

repair gathers.

 I thought about it for a few weeks, and then decided to try to repleat the flat spot.  Using a needle and thread I regathered the flat area and the space around it, pulled it all tight, then steamed the spot over a tea kettle.



  It worked!  The flat spot is gone, the scarf is soft and lush.  You can't put this scarf in the dryer as you would with a flat chenille scarf or your pleats would relax, so it doesn't have quite the same surface that most chenille scarves have.   I am  also worried that the tails will worm over time.  There was enough warp for two scarves on the loom and the second one is just a plain weave chenille scarf.  I twisted the tails 30 times in one direction with 3 strands in each side and they still wormed.  I have been told to only use 4 strands total and twist 50 times.  Sooooo,  I will untie and retwist, again.  I have already done it twice and it is still wrong.