Yep, that is it. Swatches. That is all I have gotten done post holiday. I guess it is not really post holiday. It is actually “in between” holidays since it is Dec. 28 and not yet past Jan 1. The weather has been so nice. We been riding a lot and not spending much time indoors. I did put a new needle number strip on my KH 270 if that counts for anything.
Seriously though, I have finished some handwoven for gifting and I am now moving on to weave another draft. The “gifting” draft (below) was an experiment in a small design with 16 shafts and 16 treadles. The fabric is very nice and will work great for towels. I designed a leaf draft for 16 shaft 32 treadles (3rd photo below). I am not happy with the sample so I have redesigned/redrafted and will be sampling again. These were woven on the AVL with Compudobby.
I was busy as usual and I forgot to post a Christmas greeting, so here it is! Better late than never, right?
Summer is finally fading and cooler fall weather is here. 🙂 Designaknit (DAK) 9 has been released, so lots of reading up on the new update and testing new features. So far, I can see it is a big improvement over DAK 8. Hoping to post some projects soon… 😉
We have five kittens and a beautiful mother cat. We rarely have kittens because all of our cats are spay/neutered These also will all be spay/neutered when it is time. This young (and very pregnant) cat showed up at our other rural property up the road. She is friendly and not a feral cat. I guess someone’s pet at some time…not sure why she was just left at the side of the road… We named her Keemun. She is very thin so I am working on getting some weight on her. The kittens are doing great and the mother cat (Keemun), even though she is quite young, is a great mother.
I have been working on a few blankets (on the Passap E6000). I have a long list and never seem to get caught up… Just a few samples right now before working on the final blankets. Yes, samples and swatches are required before getting to the final design. I have not decided on the final stitch techniques…
The one below is a Quaker design/pattern knit with Technique 186 on the Passap. Technique 186 is great for getting a larger size, but the pattern is not as easy to see. This pattern has a lot of geometric design which seems to get lost with the tuck stitches (see photo of knit sample off the machine). The dark color is dark purple 2/17 one strand and the white is 2 strands of 2/24. This was knit at 80-0-80 on the beds (good size for baby blanket). Both back bed needles are on the back bed –breaking the needle rule which is required for tuck .
The Designaknit pattern below was edited further before knitting, but you get the idea of how it would look knit in a regular double jacquard without tuck patterning.
Screenshot from DesignaknitA look during knitting…Fresh off the machine before washing and blocking.
The next blanket is also a work in progress. Still figuring out tensions and a suitable stitch pattern. This sample started at a tighter tension of 3 and I changed it (loosened) to 4 (and will probably knit final blanket at tension 4.2). One strand each color of 2/24. Next sample will be with 2 strands each color of 2/24 and higher/looser tension (with Tech 186 or 187). This blanket is 80-0-80 on the machine 3 color Technique 195. Kept the needle rule of front bed left needle is end and back bed right needle is end, but I will put both on back bed for next sample because of the striping on the right side of the knitting (which you can see in the last photo).
The final blanket is a small baby size. For a larger size 2 strands of each color and a much looser tension will be good.
