designcat

Finishing touches For Maui Sun Hat

After wearing the paper hats for a little while I noticed a couple of things that needed improvement:

1. a stiff breeze could lift it right off my head
2. inside, under the brim in front, it gets a little grimy
3. the brim often flipped up like paddington bear's hat

Handily there is one solution to both of the first 2 problems: adding an internal brim band. This is typically a grosgrain ribbon, felt or soft elastic band about 1 to 1.25 inches wide. It prevents the hat material itself from picking up oil from the skin which dirt can cling to. It helps keep the hat on the head by creating a little bit of friction against the head and/or hair.

It also helps with the overall fit. Sometimes when a person loses enough weight or changes their hair style enough their hat will feel too big. Adding a strip of felt, foam or other material behind the inner hat band can make up that little bit of difference.

In the example to the left I'm using a 1 inch wide soft grosgrain ribbon. The hat is a golden color which didn't have an exact match in the ribbons available at our local craft store. This won't really matter since it is on the inside. The ribbon is cut to match the band measurement plus enough extra to let the ends overlap. That seam goes to the center back of the hat. It should align perpendicular to that first row of eight stitches at the top-center of the hat.  I then hand-stitched it through the bottom edge of the band and around the stitches of the hat. Hide knots in the sewing thread behind the ribbon, between the ribbon and the inside of the hat.

After much experimentation I found the Paddington Bear Effect could only be eliminated by adding a ring of hat wire, also known as "millinery wire," to the edge of the brim. Ideally the wire should be connected with a crimp, not by twisting the loose ends of the wire together. The crimp makes a solid ring that won't work its way out of the hat and poke someone.  Covered wire should work better than plain wire since the surface gives the paper yarn something to stick to. Millinery wire can be found at specialty hat-making supply shops and on Etsy and Ebay.  

The trick is to get the ring of wire sized to match the brim of the hat, then crochet over it to connect it to the hat. Use enough stitches to hide the wire completely.

Note: There is also a plastic wire which is connected by melting it together with a flame. I haven't used it. Since this hat is made of paper the joining should be done far enough away from the hat to prevent it from bring ignited. You've gotta keep 'em separated.

 

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a word for waves in sand

Working on a set of knit summer wraps with a long ripple pattern, I wondered what to call them. The combinatio of colors and pattern in theis one reinds me of sand dunes, MK's Person reference Turing patterns because Alan Turing's  chemical biomorphology models form the foundation for studies on physical wave pattern generation and other fractal-based disciplines.

This pattern is essentially a rib, a 1-5 rib, with the one stitch doing a cable right or left every 5 rows. It oscillated back the opposite direction after 5 repeats.

It is is a very limited example, probably just a sine wave but it could generate some interesting patterns with other modifiers.

Interestingly the wave is only visible on the reverse or wrong side. Otherwise it just looks like stockinette,

These examples are from a vintage cone called "Acrylin 75." The white appears to be acrylic and the tan is linen. Its an unusual blend, perhaps intended to limit shrinkage during laundering. Most modern linen-acrylic blends such sa Berroco Remix and Linus have other fiber in them. Unwashed Acrylin 75 has a feel similar to a linen-cotton blend. I'm waiting to see how it literally comes out in the wash.

Dropping a stitch can be tedius or it can be a happy accident. In this case I dropped one early on in several of the one-stitch ribs. Luckily the pattern let them drop all the way down to the cast-on, creating an interesting visual effect on the right side of the knitting.

In this variation think it looks even better the reverse. The openwork allows color to show through. Wouldn't that look awseome over a marin-blue t-shirt or swim suit?

This one reminds me of the lacey traces left behind at water's edge. It isn't sea-foam, per se, but foam created by the sea on the sand.

One looks like the waves were created by wind and the other by water. What should I call them?

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Snow in the Dunes

What does knitting cost?

I've also been asked by customers lower a price or cut a deal on some of my knit garments. Fellow knitters expressed outrage: "They want to pay what?! For a hand-knit silk mohair scarf!? Or one of your wool hats?!" Clearly, outside the craft, folks don't know what knitting costs.

The equation seems easy enough:

Price =  Time+Materials

But it is actually a bit more complicated. 

Price =  (HourlyRate*(TimeToMake+TimeToMarket)) + (ReplacementCost*MaterialsQTY)+SalesFees

Let's assume a customer will buy a hat from a brick and mortar shop for $50. A consignment agreement is usually 50-50 so the shop will get half the price of the item. Even if someone gives me yarn for free this time that doesn't mean I can make the same hat for that cost next time. I either need a consist source or the average price for the yarn I plan to use: a bulky wool-mohair blend yarn in a solid or heathered color. Let's say it takes 1 Skein which costs $8. Knitting the hat takes about 85min. The time to market it is a combination of tasks: print tag, attach tag, deliver to shop: it averages out to about 5 minutes.

$50 =  (HourlyRate*(1.5) + ($8*1)+$25

At this point we can determine how much this hat is paying per hour.

HourlyRate = Price - ((ReplacementCost*MaterialsQTY))+SalesFees)/(TimeToMake+TimeToMarket)

HourlyRate = ($50 - (($8*1)+$25))/(1.5)

$11.33

That's just $.28 per hour above minimum wage in San Francisco! I can't even take $1 off without dropping below minimum wage. Sorry no, I can't give you a discount.

Now you may be wondering what happens if we take the shop out of the loop and sell online. Instead of 50%  the online fee is something like: $.20 + 3.5% of the item price. Time to Market also changes to a different set of tasks: photograph, retouch, write description, post to web and pack to ship: 40min.

HourlyRate = Price - ((ReplacementCost*MaterialsQTY))+($.20 + (Price *.035)))/(TimeToMake+TimeToMarket)

HourlyRate = ($50 - (($8*1)+($.20 + (50 *.035)))/(2)

$20.02

 This is a bit better but it is still puts a knitter's annual salary in the low income category. 

Neither case includes what in the corporate world we'd call burdened expense. There are tools, benefits (i.e. healthcare) and work space which are not represented in the equations. Setting up a booth at a show or holding an open studio begins to take that hourly rate back down again even if there aren't fees for entry. Sorry no, I still can't give you a discount.

 

Skeleton Snakes

Skeletons are creepy. Snakes are creepy. So it follows that the combination is double-creepy. This year the Halloween sucessor to Scary Knit Spiders is Skeleton Snakes!

These things are not inherently frightening, the fear is caused by our impressions. Skulls and skeletons scare us because of ancient cultural taboos stemming from a time before we had any understanding of science. They bring us face to face with death, something which we still don't fully undersand. During the time of plague superstitions about the dead arose because we didn't know about micro-organisms transmitting disease. Snakes are generally classified as untrustworthy because of the way the move. We associate ruthlessness with the speed of their kills.

I find that realism helps create a good representation in textiles of something people find scary. This set of skeletal photos by Ric Morris found on Flickr were very helpful in understanding serpentine osteology. This kind of anatomy is a point of departure. I'm not claiming my pattern is anatomically accurate, it omits a lot. The idea is to replicate identifying shapes and/or movement well and let people's minds add the fear factor. If the work becomes too stylized or the proportions too cartoony it becomes cute.

Both crochet and knit techniques are used in the pattern available on: Etsy: Skeleton Snakes Pattern or Ravelry. I chose one of the techniques, hairpin lace, for its resemblance to the real snake spine. It turns out to be a relatively speedy process once you get started.

My hairpin lace loom was missing the vertical poles so I substituted a pair of US-3 knitting needles. They fit the holes in the bar with a little bit of wiggle room. Wrapping a rubber band around each capped end and using point protectors on the other end made everything stay in place.

Handy tutorials for hairpin lace can be found on a number of blogs. These have good explanations and phots:

• Wee Folk Art: Part 2 of 4 - Crocheting the Strips
• Stitch Diva: Creating the Basic Strip

Although it might be tempting to cut the loops to give the piece an even more relistic feel, it would probably come undone or require an obscene amount of hand-knotting. 

If this little taste of hairpin lace whets your appetite for more check out this dress donated to FIDM.

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Go Long for Circular Needles

A significant advantage of knitting in the round is the ability to try on a garment and make fit adjustments as you go. Using the right length circular needles is one key ingredient.

I recently came across a pattern that called for 36-inch circulars but had sizing options for XS, S, M, L, XL, and 1X. The finished measurements for the largest three sizes exceeds the needle length. Even a medium gal might not be able to manage a test-fitting on a work in progress. Consider a 34-B. If the standard bra measurement equates a B-cup to a 2-inch difference between band and overbust a tight, body-con sweater fills the recommended needles.

Before embarking on a pattern in the round it makes sense not only need to check gauge and sizing we need to check the length of the tools. Alternately every try-on session requires the extra steps of transferring all the stitches to a piece of waste yarn and back to the needles again.

Understanding Grafting

Before grafting knitted ribbing, one should know how to graft simple plain stockinette using  a kitchener stitch. I'll admit that I use kitchener stitch just infrequently enough that I usually look it up before jumping in. The usual references are:

• Knitty's kitchener tutorial  Its is very straightforward and includes photos of actual knitting. It also loads well and is still readable on a mobile device.
• TECHKnitter 's version of kitchener uses a knitting needle rather than a tapestry needle to pull the seaming yarn through. 

Like someone cramming for an exam, I review the instructions and start, whispering my newly memorized instructions as I go. This is part of the problem, not part of the solution.  I don't actually know why I'm going through these motions. There is nothing that tells me why one step is done purlwise and the next knitwise. I align the work as instructed an hope it all comes out right in the end.

At first I thought the issue was that the wasy the work is held I couldn't see what I was doing. seaming is done with the pieces, still on the needles.There is a challenge in not knowing if I did it right until the two stitches are aleady off the needles. If not I have to rip out 3-4 stitches to correct the problem. Vogue Knitting's explanation and illustrations show the pieces laid flat, which helps a little bit with seeing what you're doing.

Rote performance of kitchener doesn't mean the knitter knows why they're making these motions and it doesn't help with joining garter, rib or other patterned work.

One noticible problem appears when attempting to make a continuous cowl from a piece that has been rib-knit flat. The bottom edge stitches and top edge stitches don't match up. At the top of a knit column is a single stitch but at the bottom it is made up of  the two halves of the adjacent purl column. This is commonly called the "half-stitch jog" effect. 

TECHknitter explains several tricks for minimizing the appearance of the half-stitch jog.

Knitting Daily's series of 5 grafting myths is a lengthy but worthwhile read explaining in detail what's going on. Unfortunately the posts are not all linked together so I've listed them here:

• Myth 1: Easier to graft knit than purl
• Myth 2: Grafted ribbing has a half-stitch jog <- Useful for 1-piece cowels.
• Myth 3: A grafted row  = one pattern row (part 1 and part 2)
• Myth 4: Universal formula for grafting any pattern (part 1 and part 2)
• Myth 5: Grafting yarn must come from the back needle.

 

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Toyota 787 Knitting Machine

Bought an old Toyota 787 Knitting Machine which needs some work. Most of the needles are rusted and the sponge bar needs replaced. Bought replacements from The Knitting Closet. While they don't quite match the originals the conmany assures me they should not impair the operation of the machine.

Needles are basically the same lengths but the originals have less material between the post and the hook on the post side and on the back of the hook side. The difference is due to the manufacturing. Toyota parts are no longer made and these happen to fit. Since the overall length is the same and the post is in the same position on the needle they should work normally even if all of the needles in the bed don't match. The carriage operates against the back and front of the post not the top. The only instance it is liable to make a difference is when I'm hand-pushing needles. Might be a good bet to position all the mis-matched needles together at each end of the bed so they're more obvious.

The two needles are pictured to the right overlayed on top of each other to show the difference in the height of the post.  The original is about 3 milimeters longer than the replacements. 

This comparison of the sponge bars shows how badly a new sponge is needed. The original (bottom with black tip) has almost no foam remaining. After removing it from the machine I pulled a bunch of broken-down foam pebbles out of the slot the sponge bar slides into. The replacement (top with white tip) is new so it has the correct amount of foam.

The customer service rep recommended making sure the machine is completely flat before inserting the new bar. Even a 20 - degree angle could cause the bar to go into the machine incorrectly. The needles need to slip under the sponge side of the bar. I won't be able to confirm the machine works until I've cleaned up all of the rustly needles so that the bar can be inserted correctly.

The tips are shaped differently as are the metal parts of the bar. The replacement tip is completely flat but slightly wider where it meets the metal. The original is more angled top-to-bottom and a little narrower.

The metal parts of the bars are different too. The replacement is completely flat along its entire length. The original is shorter on the metal side for the first couple inches on each end before it bumps up. The bumped up area is also slightly concave.

Although the replaement  is 3/4 of an inch longer it only sticks out of the side of the machine a little.  This does not interfere with the carriage's path.

Autumn Convertible Cowl

 

Before: not quite a scarf

 

After the Pastille Convertible Cowl worked out so well I decided to finish up another item in the same manner. The fall colors in this noro-based scarf screamed out against a set of teals and ocean-blues. It was too much rainbow. This photo comes after I clipped a stitch here and there, tore out a couple rows to separate courses and kitchenered the two matching parts together. It also explains why there are needles on both ends of the piece. 

I found some distressed copper/brass buttons at Fabrics, a local discount fabric shop, and had a little consult with MK's person to decide which to use. The right buttons are so hard to find.

On the other hand the Tulips buttonhole instructions at Techknitting were very clear and easy to follow. I did a little practice on some scrap yarn first, just to be sure.  Et Voila!

After: Button any which way convertible cowl

Pink Washcloth

It is a washcloth afterall so who cares what color it is?

Before (ran out of yarn)

After (Finished with white)